Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3)

by Christopher Woods

"For someone who can see as much as you do," she said as we both stopped, "that was awful close."

  "I wasn't payin attention, Mom," I answered with a grin, "Lost in thought, I guess."

  "I can see that," she said, "There's a lot to think about, nowadays."

  "How's Lyr?" she asked.

  "Happy as could be," I answered, "She amazes me on an hourly basis. She's at the hospital at the moment. She said she had a few patients that needed a little more than the rest and she wanted to stay late to take care of em."

  "Doesn't surprise me," Kyra said, "She was always a sweet kid and she's turned into a wonderful woman."

  "I honestly don't know what I'd do without her."

  Kyra smiled, "She set her sights on you as soon as you saved her in Knoxville."

  "She was six," I said.

  "She knew, even back then."

  "I guess so."

  "Did you know," Kyra asked, "She refused to take the official Oath?"

  "No I didn't," I answered, "Why'd she refuse."

  "She said there wouldn’t be any damn oath to keep her from doing whatever she had to do to keep you safe."

  That sent a chill down my spine. Lyrica Jayne is a wonderful person. A person who shows a kindness to others that I couldn't even hope to match. But when the Council had gone off the deep end and tried to kill both myself and Gregor, later, she had destroyed them all.

  I can't fault her for not taking the Oath. It is a great inconvenience at times. There are monsters both Human and Kresh. I had skirted the edge of my Oath several times in the past.

  "That sounds like Lyrica," I said.

  "Yes it does," she agreed.

  "I do have a question for you," I said, "on a totally different subject."

  "What's that?"

  "Guards were able to craft shields for themselves," I said, "What are the chances those same guards can create shields on a smaller scale for a project I am working on?"

  "What do you mean?"

  "Can a Guard connect a small shield to the Source like a Mage does?"

  "I'm not certain how a Mage does that," She said, "but who knew we could craft shields at all? I'd certainly be willing to try something new if it would prove useful."

  "Very useful, indeed," I said.

  "Then I'll try it if you want me to."

  "Tomorrow," I said, "We have a demonstration for the Archmage and our two Generals. If you don't mind, come out to the meeting as well. We'll give it a try after I show you what they'd be for. If Guards can do that part then it will free up a lot of Mages for the main tie-in of the gun."

  "Gun?"

  "We've devised a Source Weapon and I need to put some serious time into production if this demo is successful."

  "You never cease to amaze me, Son," she said, "All those years of everyone trying to hide their skills from everyone else and no new innovations. Then we throw a seventeen year old into the room and everything blows up. I am very proud of you."

  She hugged me and said, "I'll definitely be there tomorrow and I'll bring some others I think may help. Focus is the main thing we need, is it not?"

  "Yeah, the better they are at focusing the better the job will go. Thanks, Mom."

  "You're welcome," she said, "Now get back to running or you'll get flabby."

  She jogged off the way she had been running and began to pick up speed. I returned to my run, as well.

  If I could use Guards to make the lenses in the barrels of the weapons, it would take less Mages for the whole process. Guards were much more plentiful in numbers than Mages.

  Not for lack of trying, though. Lyrica and I average fifty new Mageguards a week. They are going through the Academies as fast as we can run them through. When I joined the Academy, there had been about nine hundred Mages. Now there was close to four hundred new Mages and another eight hundred Mageguards.

  Sunday, we were lined up to add another fifty Mageguards to the ranks. We take volunteers only and they must have enough skill at focusing to survive the process. Among the fifty new volunteers were Trent Deacons and Mattie Riordan.

  I had no doubt in either of my friends, both could handle what focus was necessary to ascend.

  I continued running around the battlefield, and my thoughts inevitably turned to my friend. He'd been one of the few people who knew me from before things went crazy. It seemed there were fewer and fewer of those people.

  I turned another bend in my route and saw someone waiting down the path. It was one of the Shak'Tar. Not one of the several who had stayed with me when the others went back with Gorvelis. It took me a moment to remember his name.

  "Fero Jintera," I said as I approached, "If I remember correctly."

  I saw his smile and felt the rush of happiness that I had remembered his name. I had met him once for about ten minutes. It was soon after Second Kansas. He had brought me a report of the success that Touran Gorvelis had accomplished on Cerres, one of the colonies that were held by the Kresh.

  I also saw Pelin approaching. She had sensed the new presence faster than I had.

  "Master," he said with a nod, "I have come with messages."

  "It's good to see you still kickin' Fero," I said, "How goes the war on Cerres?"

  "Very good, Master," he said.

  "You don't have to call me Master, Fero."

  "He tries to get us not to call him that too, Fero," Pelin said as she walked over, "Pay it no mind. One day, he'll just accept it."

  Fero chuckled. He didn't seem as awestruck as last time and I, for one, am glad of it. It gets old having people look at you that way.

  "What messages do you have for me, Fero?" I asked with a grin.

  "The first is from Gorvelis, Master," he said, "Cerres is ours. We have taken the last village and all on the planet are Marked."

  "What?" I asked with a chill sliding up my spine, "Everyone is Marked?"

  "Yes, Master. Both Human and Kresh are of the clan of Rash'Tor'Ri," he said, proudly.

  I was stunned, and horrified.

  "What is it, Master," Fero asked, "Why are you displeased?"

  "I don't want to Mark anyone, Fero," I said, "I want them to be free."

  He looked at me in confusion. Pelin placed her hand on his shoulder.

  "Our Master is not displeased with you, Fero," she said, "He is of a world that does not know the Mark."

  She passed him a huge amount of knowledge in a sudden burst of her telepathy. His eyes widened in total surprise.

  After she was done he turned to me again, "I must go back immediately and show Touran what it is you are asking of us. It is too late to stop the Mark in Cerres. But He will know what to do."

  I was still stunned.

  "You have a second message for the Master?" Pelin asked.

  "Yes," he said, still flustered by the concept of freedom, "A Farrara'Ti intercepted me before I could get through the Gate to Doran, your Earth. He wishes to speak with Rash'Tor'Ri. He will come here on a date and time set by you. He will come alone. His name is Kil'Sin'Deres."

  I was speechless for a moment as I ran that through my head a few times. Why would Kil'Sin'Deres want to speak to me? Why would he trust me enough to put himself that far in my power? What could he want?

  "Master?" Pelin interrupted my thoughts, "All of those questions can be asked of Kil'Sin'Deres when he comes. You must give him a date and time."

  My thoughts may just have well been words with two telepaths standing in front of me.

  "Five days from now, I'll meet him at the spot we first met, at dusk," I said, "Tell Gorvelis that we don't Mark any other Humans. If you don't tell him anything else, you remember that, Fero."

  "Yes, Master," he said.

  I even forgot to tell him not to call me Master. There was so much in what he'd just told me that I didn't know what to do.

  "Get him fed before he heads back, Pelin," I said, still in a daze.

  What the Hell do I do now? There were thirty million people on Cerres, if my reports had been accurate fr
om the Shak'Tar. I knew he had Marked the Kresh. I had no idea he had Marked the whole damn planet.

  And what the Hell did Kil'Sin'Deres want? Like things weren't complicated enough on Earth.

  Chapter 7

  Paige answered the door to her residence on base to see me standing there with a dazed expression on my face.

  "Oh, my god," she said immediately, "What's happened?"

  "I have a serious problem," I said, "and no idea what I can do about it."

  After I told her the night's events, she just sat there for what seemed like an eternity as she thought.

  "I knew this Mark business was going to come back and bite you, but this is enormous," she said, "The first thing we do is get Lyrica here. She needs to know, immediately. You should have gone to her before coming here, anyway."

  "She is still at the hospital," I said, "Or that would have been the first place I would have gone."

  "Ok," she said, "Next, how can you possibly protect this other world while you are on this one?"

  "Perhaps my meeting with Kil'Sin'Deres will help on that score," I said, "I really have no idea what he wants. Maybe I could convince him to move into the facility for that world."

  "That's if he's still an ally or if he ever was an ally."

  "True," I said, "He's never really declared where he was standing. He did take in my clans when they were Marked in Romania, so I'm hoping he is an ally."

  "The fact that he is coming here alone to meet you looks good for that theory," she said, "but we won't know for sure until then."

  "This is true," I said, "but I need some sort of plan and I think I'm still in shock."

  "My first suggestion would be this," she said, "You are now the sole ruler of a world. It's crazy but it seems to be the fact of the matter. What I will do is ask this ruler to allow the Soulguard to set up an Academy on this world. We can bring them a defense they would get nowhere else."

  I felt a huge swell of relief as I thought of it. There is no one in this world or another who could learn to become a Soulguard faster than a telepath. They are already sworn to me and I am under Oath to the Soulguard. Perhaps we could, together, do something positive for those people.

  "We would need someone who we trust implicitly," I said, "They would have to be pretty strong as well, and well-liked by the men and women who would be goin with them."

  "Someone who could not be corrupted by the power we would be placing in his or her hands. Someone who has been allied with you from almost the beginning."

  "You've got someone in mind, don't you?" I asked.

  Immediately I saw two different faces flash through her memories.

  "I think they would be great choices," I said, "But I'm worried about Darrel."

  Darrel Barnes had been out there at First Kansas with us. He'd been a support for me as I used the power of over two hundred Soulguards to shut down a Gate. He had been given a seat on the Council but, what had happened out there had traumatized him, I think. He avoided me like the plague. He could barely even look at me without his aura flooding with the fear he had felt out there.

  "He's a good man, Colin," she said, "He just has a relentless fear of you."

  "I know," I said, "That's what I'm afraid of. We're sending him out into the middle of thousands of telepaths that are Marked to try to be like me."

  "I still think he could handle that," she said.

  "Ok," I said, "You'd know better than I would. He hasn't spoken to me since First Kansas. The first choice is dead on. Sam would be ideal for something like this. If he's willing, I think he'd do great."

  Sam Keller had been the first Mage Captain I had met in Knoxville and he'd taught me a lot before he was moved out. He'd gotten New York as his next post and we'd kept in touch. He also followed me to First Kansas in defiance of direct orders not to. He, also, was given a seat on Paige's new Council.

  "I might need to do something to make him powerful enough not to raise a stink with the other Mages he might be bypassing."

  "I doubt that," she said, "They won't want a posting like this. To them it would be a sentence to Hell. Start an Academy amidst thirty million people who want to be just like you."

  I snorted, "I guess you got a point there."

  "Now," she said, "Go home and let Gregor and I hash this out. Make sure your gun works and let's get this thing started so we can hurt them when they come back."

  "That I can do," I said, "And I still have to tell Lyr about this. Last time she said I had given her a hard time because she brought home a dog. Lord knows what she'll want to bring home now. How could I even say no?"

  ***

  "I think I better not ever hear another bad comment about my dog," Lyrica said after sitting quietly through my summary of the day.

  She had watched it in my memories as I told her the events.

  "That's all you got to say about it?"

  "It sounds like Paige said most of the important stuff," she said, "So, yeah, that’s about it."

  "I love you," I said, "and I won't give ya any more grief about your ugly, smelly dog."

  "What did I just say?"

  "Truth is truth baby. He's definitely ugly and he smells like he ate the south end of a northbound skunk."

  "One more word," she said, "One more, and I'm opening the door so he can come climb on the bed with us."

  I cringed.

  "That beautiful, sweet animal."

  She laughed her melodic laughter that I loved more than anything.

  Chapter 8

  "The weapon, itself is a pretty simple design," I said, "The stock is a simple, shaped composite. The Source doesn't actually connect to that part, so the electronics inside are relatively safe from damage on that front."

  Each of them held a black piece of composite, roughly shaped like the stock of a rifle with grips for hand holds. There was a slot on the bottom about three inches in diameter.

  "Inside this piece is the circuitry that makes the whole thing work. There is no access to this part. It's a solid mold around the parts so it's water-proof, shock proof, and all that. You can throw it on the ground and not hurt it. Very durable."

  I picked up the next part of the four parts to the weapon system.

  "This is the barrel," I said, "It's roughly the size of a large shotgun barrel. Maybe a little bigger. It's made of hardened steel. Inside the barrel is a focusing lens. It focuses the three inch stream that is released into the barrel to a one and a half inch stream. This makes the barrels last quite a bit longer, since they don't have to squeeze it down with channeling through the metal tubes."

  "The third piece is the part that is connected to the Source by a shield that is shaped like a six inch soul stream."

  I lit up the shield that had been made by Jacobs. I wanted a Mage to do it and Jacobs was more than happy to do it. It was just a shield tube that fed itself with two small tendrils down into the ground.

  "It wasn't too complicated for our test Mage to build and it serves as a channel for the Source to follow as the weapon is activated. The Source will follow the easiest path when that happens and we just gave it a shortcut."

  The piece looked, like a plumbing reducer, to be honest.

  "It's also made of hardened steel," I said, "and inside is another shield lens. This focuses the six inch down to a three inch as it enters the clip or magazine."

  "Now the most important part," I picked up a combat helmet.

  "Inside this helmet is the key to make the whole thing work. When someone puts on the helmet, the tech inside is scanning their brain and sending an exact replica to the gun. In effect making the gun a living being."

  The guy who had tested the gun for me stepped forward. John Hiner was an ex-Air Force mechanic I had run into some time back. He'd volunteered to test the gun from the beginning and had shot it several times already.

  As I handed the helmet to John, I lit up the shields so everyone could see them. John placed the helmet on his head and held the gun stock. The shield to
the clip was still a shield. He then snapped the barrel in place.

  He lifted the clip and slid it into the bottom of the gun with a click. As soon as it clicked, the connection from the helmet to gun reached the conduit to the Source.

  "Holy shit!" Polo said, "Look at that."

  The Source had taken the easiest route to the gun which was the shielded tube already in place. For all intents and purposes the gun now had a six inch Soulstream.

  "Now John tells me it's pretty easy to tell when that happens and it's not too hard to learn to Pull the Source. Unlike a Mage, it's not going to get past the focus and reach the body. Basically anyone can use it, focus or not."

  "Where a Mage can use the Source for all sorts of things, this has just a single way to use it. But an effective way."

  "Fire it up, John."

  As John fired the weapon he braced himself. An inch and a half of pure hell hit the target about a hundred yards out and ripped it to shreds.

  "It's got a kick to it," I said, "He wasn't braced for it the first time he shot it and landed on his ass."

  As he finished firing the gun, John stepped back to the table and unclipped the magazine. As it slipped free the Soulstream was gone, leaving just the shield it had before.

  "That," Marco said, "is impressive. Your first contract will be signed before the day is out."

  "I'll have to put you with Warren Grimes on that part," I said, "I just blow stuff up."

  "I see a rude surprise for the Kresh if we can get these out there in time," Paige said.

  "I certainly hope so," I said, "That's the idea."

  Kyra and several Guards stood at the back of the group. Kyra had a huge grin on her face. We owe the Kresh so much for what they have done to all of us. It's so nice to be a part of the paying back of that debt. A debt of blood and death. This would just be a small part of the Hell I planned to bring to them.

  "You'll have whatever you need," Paige said, "Mages, Guards, just let us know."

  "They'll be paid for their efforts," I said, "Support Mages will be fine and we're about to find out if Guards can make the small shields for the lenses. I'll get back to ya on that."