The Quest (Sanshlian Series Book 1)

by Dani Hoots

  “What?”

  David turned his head to face me. “Why haven’t you killed us already? You had so many chances. You just sit there, defenseless, like someone who is weak. You aren’t weak and we all know it. What are you planning?”

  I remained silent. This was my chance, my chance to tell him what he wanted to hear. The reason he thinks I am doing all of this for.

  “What are you planning, Arcadia?!”

  “I miss him, okay?” He didn’t think I would admit it, and truthfully I wouldn’t but he wanted to hear it. “I miss my brother. I miss being on Garvner with him and my father. I should have killed him. I should have killed you all but I couldn’t. I can’t do it. I would never be able to go back to the memories I had of him and Father again. It’s the only thing I can look back on that isn’t covered in blood. If I kill him, I will lose that memory forever. I would lose my father forever.” That was a lie. Killing Rik wouldn’t make me lose my father. I had already lost him long ago.

  “So it’s all because of your father?” he bought it. I nodded. “Then why don’t you want to find Sanshli?”

  “Because it can’t be real. It just can’t. Besides, it’s a suicide mission. If we got caught, I would have to kill him. I would have to kill all of you,” I explained.

  “Well,” he placed his glasses back on. “I guess you just have to make sure we don’t get caught then.”

  I gave him a perplexed look. “Excuse me?”

  “You know the Imperial army better than any of us. What is the best way to get on Ttkas?”

  “There is no ‘best way’. There are just many wrong ways,” I thought for a moment. “Unless...”

  “Unless what?”

  I placed my finger on my chin. “We had a Class Three ship.”

  “Okay, there’s a start. We will see if we can find a Class Three ship...” David began.

  “No,” I interrupted him. “All of your ships are stolen. We need one that isn’t stolen. Too risky if it had been reported.”

  “Where will we find a Class Three ship that we can borrow?”

  “You mean borrow without stealing? I’m not sure,” I said, then smiled. “I take that back. I know someone on Recar.”

  “Recar isn’t too far from here. Just a couple of days out. Barely even out of the way. Ttkas is about five days from there. We could be there within a week.”

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself, David, we still have to finish translating this.”

  He shook his head. “But we can do that on the way. Give us something to do instead of playing cards.”

  “True, we do need to find something else to do.” We had been doing nothing but cards for the past three weeks.

  Concern filled his face. “Why, are you sick of cards?”

  “How can you not be?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “I guess I just don’t get sick of card games.”

  “Lucky for me,” I whispered under my breath.

  “Hello?” a voice called out from outside the room. It wasn’t Will or Rik’s.

  “Who is that?” I whispered.

  David looked out towards the doorway. “I don’t know but they will probably see the entrance and come in here.”

  I knew the only way to get the man to go away and not see me. I sprung up and grabbed David by the collar.

  I shoved him against the wall. “Kiss me!” I ordered.

  “What?” he choked out, confused as to what I was asking him. Probably hadn’t ever had someone ask him that.

  “I said kiss me!”

  I pressed my lips firmly against his. He hesitated for a brief second, and then realized what I was doing. He wrapped his arms tightly around me. I heard the person enter the doorway.

  “I thought I heard... Oh, sorry,” the man said as he entered the room.

  David looked around my head at him. “Can I help you?” I kept my face away from the stranger by nuzzling David’s neck.

  “No, I was just checking up to make sure everything was alright. I heard someone say to check down here to make sure no one was dead. I didn’t know if he was serious or not so I came.”

  “No, I’m afraid no one is dead down here,” David grinned.

  The man laughed. “Guess he was just trying to ruin your fun.”

  “I guess so,” David agreed.

  “Well then, I’ll leave you two to it.” I heard his footsteps echo then become silent. I took a deep breath.

  “That was even closer. We need to leave as soon as we can. Any longer and someone might discover me.” David stayed silent, rubbing his chin. “What?”

  “That wasn’t the first time you have done that to not get caught, huh?”

  I shoved him back towards the table.

  “Anyway, you think Will sent him down?” I asked as I sat down.

  “Wouldn’t put it past him. Probably figured you killed me by now,” David sat down as well.

  I started flipping through the books. “I think this one just talks about the war between Nygard and the rest of Sanshli.”

  “What about the other two?” David inquired.

  I pulled them out of the satchel and flipped through them. The symbols were the same. Exactly the same. Word for word on each page.

  “They are exactly the same,” I whispered.

  “What?”

  I double checked my findings. “See how the symbols are the same on each page,” I turned it towards him. “These books are all identical.”

  “Why would they be the same?”

  “Maybe there’s a hidden clue somewhere. Something we don’t see,” I ran my fingers through my hair. “This is going to be harder than we thought.”

  “Isn’t it always?”

  I flipped through more pages. “At least I only have to translate one book then.”

  I grabbed the piece of charcoal that was lying on the table and started jotting down notes in the margins of the paper. Before I forgot, I pulled out the watch and acted like I was using it as a decoder. I didn’t need David figuring out I had been lying.

  Truth was the watch did nothing. I had lied. There were strange markings on it but they had nothing to do with the script. I wanted to see if they trusted me enough to let me stay. If I told them the watch helped decode the markings, they didn’t need me anymore. They could kill me, but they didn’t. Rik did trust me. Unless, of course, Rik knew I had been lying, that Father’s watch had no markings in it to help with the code.

  I began to translate the book. The books told of the war between the Sanshlians and Nygard. Everything that was said in them was told to us by our father. How Nygard found the book, how he kept it a secret, how he became powerful. All of it. This probably is where Father got his information from. I pondered on the thought of how he came about these books. I looked up at David who was sitting there, silent, fiddling with his thumbs.

  “Is there anything in there about the beast?” David questioned.

  I felt my heart jump a beat. “Excuse me?”

  “The beast that is protecting the planet.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Oh, it’s just part of an old song about a beast that guards Sanshli. The first lines go something like, ‘His roar echoes through the forest, His eyes pierce through the night, Searching for his long lost master, Who will set things right,’” he tried to hold the tune. “Our father used to sing it to us as children. Will still plays it on his guitar sometimes. Just a little song. I was just wondering if it was in there.”

  “I just thought maybe you were serious. That there was a beast.”

  “For all we know there could be one waiting for us. Is there anything in there about it?”

  I motioned to the book. “Not so far. Father never mentioned it either.” I thought back to my dreams. Could it be the same beast chasing me that was in that song?

  “How do you know about the beast if your father never told you about it?” David inquired.

  I shrugged. “I must have heard it somewher
e else.”

  “The beast is in your dream isn’t he?” I stayed silent which answered his question. “I wondered. You talk in your sleep you know.”

  “I do?”

  “Yes.”

  No one had told me that before, then again no one would be present to hear me, except for Jack that is. “What do I say?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t understand any of it. I presume you are having dreams of Sanshli still, then.” I ignored him and started looking through the books. “I thought so.”

  David stopped questioning me. I peeked up at him over the book I held. I didn’t realize I talked in my sleep. I wondered how many nights he had overheard me and what exactly I had been saying. I thought about asking him more about it but I decided not to.

  David searched through the books, trying to figure out if there was something different about them while I translated the sections that I could. I got a good portion of a page done before either of us said anything to the other.

  “You could tell me how the watch works you know. Then we could translate this faster,” David tried to reason once again.

  I shook my head, “I’m not going to show you, David.”

  “I wouldn’t hurt you.”

  “You aren’t the one I am afraid of,” I said. He left the matter alone.

  I looked at the watch. The script that was engraved inside the watch was Sanshlian though. I tried translating when I found it but I didn’t know what it said. It was just a bunch of letters that meant nothing. I wrote it down a while back trying to figure out what it meant but I had no luck. It read, ‘vki riohv qubb hii, vki riohv qubb ncaq’. It had to be some sort of riddle but even with all my years of training in decoding in the Empire I still didn’t know.

  A couple of hours passed as David watched me translate the book. I didn’t even get a few pages in before Rik came storming into the room with Amanda trailing behind, trying to calm him down.

  “Those idiots!” he shouted as he slammed his fists against the table.

  “Rik, calm down,” Amanda placed her hand on his back. He shrugged her away.

  “What? What happened?” David inquired.

  Rik started pacing around. “They are still going through with the Ttkassian attack. They won’t listen to me about it being a trap. That the Empire knows they are coming.”

  “So, you didn’t lie,” I whispered under my breath.

  “No, I didn’t lie, Arcadia. That Imperial general pushed too hard, I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. Besides, I knew if I told him then he would execute me. That was all I needed, both of us in that room,” Rik explained.

  “And you can’t tell them that can you? That you told the Empire is how they know about the attack?” I added. Rik’s cold glare answered my questioned. “If they go through with that attack it’s not just simply losing the battle, it will be the end of the P.A.E.”

  Rik stopped pacing. “What do you mean?”

  “The P.A.E. are going at it full force, right? I can guarantee that just beyond this system there are Class Five ships waiting for them to leave. Once they leave, the Imperial ships will come in and attack Valle and destroy whatever is left of this place. It’s not just the battle on Ttkas you have to worry about; it’s the total destruction of the P.A.E.”

  “How do you know that?” Rik’s eyes became cold.

  “I’m the Emperor’s shadow. I know everything that is going on. Or did, anyway. All I know is that they were going to be ready for your attack and plan an attack on Valle.”

  “And you are just now telling me this?”

  “When have I had time to tell you? Besides, would it have even mattered? The P.A.E. doesn’t believe you about any of it.”

  Rik rubbed his temples. “Then us finding Sanshli is the P.A.E.’s last hope. If we fail, the P.A.E. will be destroyed forever.”

  “Then we have to beat them to Ttkas. Before the battle breaks loose,” David chimed in.

  “That’s going to be a little hard,” Rik stated.

  “Why? When are they leaving?” I inquired.

  “Two days from now,” Rik answered.

  David closed the books and started packing them in the satchel. “Then we need to leave right now. We can’t get caught with them.”

  “But there won’t be enough time. We have to go to Recar first,” I added.

  “We? I thought you didn’t want to be in on this,” Rik questioned.

  “Well, I can’t stay here now, can I? And we need a Class Three ship and I know just the man who will let me borrow one.”

  Chapter 12

  We hurried back to Rik’s ship. There wasn’t anything else we needed from this planet and we had to beat the rest of the P.A.E. to Ttkas. If the P.A.E. beat us to Ttkas, then it would be near impossible for us to land. The war would cause all ships coming into Ttkas to be on standby. We didn’t need that to happen. They would have to make sure ships coming in were safe and secure and conduct a mandatory search. We would be discovered right away. No, we had to beat them there with a Class Three ship.

  No one stopped us as we made our way down the ruined streets and past the broken buildings. I, of course, tried to cover most of my face as we passed citizens in the street. Just as I thought we had made it safely through the city, I heard a voice call out from behind us.

  “Rik! Wait up!” the voice was familiar. I held my head down low and stayed near David, who at this point wrapped his arm around me and held me close. He was getting a little too used to acting like I was weak.

  “Cameron, what is it?” Rik impatiently asked.

  “I just want to know why you are harboring an Imperial.”

  Rik was taken aback. “What makes you say that?”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “I’m not harboring an Imperial,” Rik answered.

  “Is that so? Then how about that woman with David shows her face,” the man gestured to me.

  Everyone froze. I started laughing, knowing this would eventually happen. I pulled away my hood and examined the man who accused me. He stood tall and firm. I knew the type, relying more on strength than on smarts. That would be his downfall. Two of his buddies were with him who were just the same. It wasn’t going to take much on my part.

  “What gave me away?” I asked, knowing the answer.

  “Will told us,” Jonathan answered without hesitation. Just as I had thought. I would have to deal with him later.

  “Is that so,” I rubbed my chin. “Just you three, then?”

  “Arcadia, please...” David began. He knew what was about to happen. It wasn’t my fault; these idiots were compromising the mission. Both Rik’s and mine.

  “Uh, yeah. We wanted you for ourselves. Make you pay for all the things you have done to our people,” Jonathan grinned, thinking he could take me. He really couldn’t. I figured the P.A.E. wouldn’t try to take me on with small numbers after what I had done to so many of them. They surprised me every time.

  “So you are the only ones that know? Very interesting,” I peered around. No one was in this part of the space port. Lucky for me, unlucky for them. “But that was a very bad move.”

  “We will see about that!” he yelled out and the two with him charged with their knives. I stepped out of the way, grabbing their arms and forcing them to stab each other. I turned back to Cameron. With a face stricken with horror, he watched his friends die within a matter of seconds. In rage, he charged at me. I quickly grabbed one of the other men’s knives and blocked him from stabbing me.

  “Arcadia, don’t!” Rik called out, but I ignored him and thrust the knife I had retrieved into his chest. He collapsed at my feet.

  “Where’s Will?” I questioned coldly as I headed up the ramp. Blood dripped slowly from the knife I still held.

  “Arcadia, wait a second,” David tried to stop me.

  “I’m not going to kill him; I’m just going to teach him a lesson about manners. That’s all.”

  I’m not sure what they thought I was
going to do to him, but they didn’t stop me. I made my way to his cabin and lightly knocked on his door. It opened.

  Will’s eyes widened. “You’re...”

  “Alive? You think a couple of brutes would be able to stop me?” I shoved him back into his quarters, locking the door behind us.

  He tried to pull out his gun, but I grabbed his wrist, forcing him to drop it.

  I placed the knife under his chin. “Were you going to shoot me?”

  “Damn right I was. You deserve to die,” he still persisted even though I had a knife to his throat.

  “Maybe, but not by your hands. I am trying to help you Will. Have I done anything to make you suspicious of me? Have I done anything to hurt you during this mission of yours?” I yelled more than questioned.

  “No, which makes me even more suspicious.”

  “You can’t just assume someone is guilty and punish them. You have to have proof,” I argued.

  “You are telling me you had proof of guilt for everyone you have killed over the years? I am having problems believing that.”

  “Everyone I have killed is guilty for a crime one way or another,” I whispered.

  “So then, if I have proof you will betray us, I can kill you?”

  “Oh, don’t worry, you will never get proof and you will never be able to kill me.”

  He sat down on his bunk. “Are you going to kill me?”

  “Who said I was going to kill you? I’m just here to tell you that with every attempt to kill me, someone will die. Anyone you send after me will die,” I gently wiped the blood on the knife off onto his shirt. “All that blood will be on you. You understand? All of it. Don’t think just because I killed them that it’s my fault. You sent them after me. You did this to them.”

  I threw the knife on the bed and walked out of his cabin. I didn’t need more of his slander. David was outside the door waiting for me.

  “He won’t be doing that again,” I said as I headed towards the bridge.

  David followed. “What did you do?”

  “Just told him that any blood that is shed is on him.”

  “You didn’t hurt him?”

  “No. He’s part of Rik’s crew, not mine. If Rik wants to hurt him he can, but I doubt he would,” I said. “Although, if someone of my crew ever questioned my authority, I would punish them.”