Horsemen United: Horsemen Origins Books 1-5

by Benjamin Hartman

  The foremen closed in, but the miners drowned them out in shouts of dissent. The foremen threatened to shoot, but the miners took them out.

  Lee hobbled down from his position and walked through the civilians. One by one the miners dropped their equipment, and marched back for the city.

  “What is going on?” One of the guards to the city asked.

  “It’s the miners! They’re marching on us!” The other guard said.

  “Quick! Radio General Quan!” The first guard said. The second guard got on the comm and explained the situation to the General.

  “Let them through,” he replied.

  “Sir?”

  “Let the miners through,” Quan insisted. The two guards looked at each other, but they shut down the forcefield and stood at attention while the miners marched on the city.

  Lee stopped and looked at the gate. His instincts told him that something was wrong, but the miners kept marching. Lee pushed forward, but stayed on high alert.

  The miners walked through the civilian sector of New Peking, but it was as quiet as a ghost town. From what he’d heard, Lee expected there to be Tingchia forcing people out of their homes or executions in the streets. Instead there was nobody. The miners dispersed through the streets to check on their homes.

  Whispers from the miners spread as a wave of fog washed into the crowd. It was a sickly yellow color and it was heavy. It flowed like a river around their legs. They figured that it was another Ophridian fog until the men started coughing and gagging.

  “It’s poison! The Tingers are gassing us!” Jay screamed at the top of his lungs. Another cloud of gas poured in, the mob scrambling away from each other in full panic. Jay pulled on Lee and Zao by the arms and lead through a channel of alleyways into the warehouse district. Lee felt the gas get into his throat, which burned and made him cough. His breathing became constricted, and his vision blurred. Jay kept waving him and Zao ahead until they made it back to their hideout.

  Inside, Lee and Zao couldn’t stop coughing. The three men choked from the fumes they’d inhaled. Jay ripped a canister of pure oxygen out of a container and supplied Lee and Zao with a mask for them to breathe through. The two men inhaled until they’d recovered enough to breath on their own.

  “I can’t believe it,” Lee said. “Yiu Mei...he gassed his own people. The miners, women, children…” He reached down and thumbed Ju’s doll, a stunned silence settled on the room like a heavy blanket. “Where could he even get chemical weapons?”

  Silence echoed through the room.

  “Jay! I’m asking the importer, where could Yiu Mei have gotten these weapons?”

  “Must’ve been from an old military stockpile. I think the company that made ‘em was called Chemron,” Jay said.

  “Then after I kill Yiu Mei, I’m going to hunt down whoever developed those weapons,” Lee said. He looked around the room and then started tearing through all of the supplies in the warehouse.

  “What’re you doing?” Jay asked.

  “I’m going to end this and kill Yiu Mei once and for all or die trying,” Lee said as he grabbed a fresh set of clothes, several knives and an air mask. “You two, go after Quan.”

  “Y’know Lee I’m not really sure if we-”

  “We will,” Zao said. “They all need to die. This regime falls today.” His voice was as sharp as a dagger and steeled with conviction.

  “Good. There is little chance that we’ll come back from this,” Lee said in an even tone.

  “As long as some of them die with me, it doesn’t matter,” Zao said as the two men shook hands. Lee turned to Jay.

  “Right. Been a part of this since the beginnin’. Good luck in there, you’re gonna need it,” Jay said as he and Lee shook hands.

  Lee snapped the oxygen mask onto his face, took a deep breath and then bolted out of the warehouse. The air was still heavy with the clouds of weaponized chlorine which included materials that ate away at the tubes connected to Lee’s oxygen tank.

  “Ai Ya!” Lee cursed to himself as he sprinted through the fog towards the Imperial Gates. He had no plan of how he was going to get into the Imperial Palace, but he would adapt. He knew deep down a way would reveal itself.

  Back inside the warehouse, Zao looked out the window and saw the gas clouds descending onto the streets. He took off his oxygen mask and looked at Jay.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Zao said as he rose from the floor. He coughed out a heavy glob of bloody saliva, then shouldered his rifle.

  “You sure?” Jay asked. “You got hit pretty hard from that gas.”

  “Oh well I guess. Not like I expect to live past this mission, may as well take some of the soldiers with me,” Zao said.

  Jay swallowed hard. “Alright. Where to?”

  “The gas attack came from here in the warehouse district, that’s why there wasn’t much of a gas cloud. Come on!” Zao said as the two ran through the alleyways in between the unadorned cube-shaped buildings. Zao moved with a new sense of zealotry, propelled by his conviction to end the monsters who preyed on the miners of Ophridia.

  Zao followed the trail of smoke until they came to the water treatment facility.

  “Bloody hell! They stopped all the water flow in the sewers and released the chemicals through the water grates!” Jay said.

  “Glad you caught on,” Zao said. His eyes were watery and red, poisoned from the gas that wafted through the air.

  “If we can get the water restarted, that’ll negate the effect of the gas,” Jay said and paused for a moment. “How did you know?”

  “I figured it out,” Zao said as he slammed the butt of his rifle against the door handle and kicked it open.

  Zao walked in, rifle poised to fire. The two men came upon a heap of discarded chemical canisters. “Here are the canisters the Emperor used,” Zao said. “Jay, where did these come from?”

  “Buggered if I know. Someone must’ve brought them off world,” Jay said.

  “Now is not the time to play ignorant,” a voice said from the doorway. It was Quan holding a pistol. Zao aimed his rifle at him, but a squad of Tingchia flooded into the room.

  “What’re you talking about yanse lang?” Zao asked.

  “Your friend here is the one who brought the cargo offworld,” Quan said as he gestured to Jay.

  “You brought those weapons here?” Zao snapped and pointed his gun at his friend.

  “Zao, I can explain,” Jay said as he held his hands in the air. “I’m a respectable contractor who knows the planet well. I was told not to ask any questions when I received the shipment.”

  “Perfect,” Quan muttered to himself.

  “You brought the weapons that killed thousands of innocent people!” Zao screamed.

  “Zao, I swear I had no idea! I coulda just dropped the shipment and left, but I didn’t. I stayed here and fought with you. I’ve bled with you!”

  “Not enough,” Zao replied as he cocked his rifle.

  “Zao! Quan is turning you against me!” Jay pleaded. “He’s making you believe I intentionally brought those weapons to Ophridia!”

  “Interesting thought isn’t it? One in your party starts a terrorism campaign while another brings it to an end,” Quan said.

  “See Zao? He’s using your anger and turning you against me!” Jay said.

  “I’m hardly turning him against you. He just has a clearer idea of who is for and who is against this revolution,” Quan said. “And I’ve allowed this insurrection to go on long enough.”

  “What? Allowed?” Jay asked.

  “Yes. You think your friend would’ve gotten anywhere without my help? I allowed him to spread terror and weaken the Emperor. I allowed him to get inside the Emperor’s Palace to show him how weak he is. My time has come to be the new Em-

  “Bee-jway! We’re not going to listen to this!” Zao hissed. “The entire Ophridian regime must die!” He screamed as he revealed an antimatter grenade from beneath his clothes and pulled the pin.

 
; “Shoot him!” Quan ordered. The Tingchia fired round after round while Jay leaped through the window of the warehouse, into the street and ran away like he was escaping the maw of hell itself. He looked behind and saw the warehouse fill with a bright light followed by a sonic wave that sheared through the metals walls. Shards of metal went in all directions as the warehouse collapsed into a pile of rubble.

  Jay crawled out of the dust-soaked area, coughing from the debris in the air. From the ground he looked up and saw the lights of the Core ships descending upon Ophridia. Someone got his emergency beacon. Jay picked himself up and ran for his warehouse. Inside he tuned into the Core comm frequencies and listened to the instructions being given to civilians on the ground. He then overheard about the chatter said onboard about Yiu Mei.

  “I gotta get to Lee pronto!” Jay said as he dropped the comm device.

  As Lee ran through New Peking, he was surprised by what he saw. The trap the Tingchia had set for the miners had backfired on them. All of the miners were in full revolt and attacking the crimson soldiers who’d tormented them for so long. Smoke rose from the city and cries of the dying loomed everywhere. A group of miners were attacking a platoon of soldiers who were in control of an artillery cannon. Lee had an idea.

  He opened fire on the Tingchia, killing several of them and assisted in the brutal execution of the remaining soldiers. The miners looked to him with tired faces, but they were relieved that he’d helped them.

  “I need to get into the Imperial Palace. Use this to fire on the forcefield protecting it!” Lee ordered.

  “Yes sir!” One of the miners said as they saluted him. The miners turned the cannon, Lee adjusted the angle and they fired upon the forcefield. The cannon rumbled with a shattering boom and the force field in the distance rippled from the impact.

  “Perfect! Keep firing!” Lee said as he ran off. The miners wished him luck and kept up their assault on the forcefield.

  Lee moved block by block, the resistance from the Tingchia growing more fierce. He fought tooth and nail against the soldiers, doing his best to ignore the pain in his leg. As he moved closer to the Imperial City, he kept watch on the forcefield. More ripples. All he could do was hope that once the miners had control of the guns, that they’d keep control of them.

  The miners kept advancing. There weren’t many of the Tingchia left, all of the Imperial Guard were hidden behind the forcefield. Some of the soldiers broke rank and ran to the gate begging to be let in. They clawed like mad, but it was no use.

  The last of the Tingchia resistance broke, and they retreated to a line in front of the forcefield.

  Lee and the miners picked off the remaining Tingchia until the forcefield fell. The soldiers screamed and rejoiced at being let in, but Lee couldn’t discern why they dropped the forcefield now.

  Lee found his answer as he saw two starships rise from within the Imperial Compound. Two of them fired off, circled around and dropped bombs on the civilians.

  Lee cursed under his breath. The third ship loomed in the air, waiting for the appropriate target. He knew that he had to try to get past the gate. He sprinted for the gate to the Imperial Compound, but was rebuffed when the airship opened fire with its gatling turret on the nose of the ship. Lee darted behind a building, but the blaster fire carved through the concrete like a hot knife through butter.

  “C’mon, think of something, anything!” Lee told himself. He looked around the corner of the building, but the blaster bolts burst through the wall he was hiding behind. The wall was ready to collapse on top of him.

  A fiery comet streaked across the sky and slammed into the ship. The ship spun out of control in the blaze of a falling star. Lee looked behind him and saw the smiling faces of the miners still in control of the artillery cannon.

  Lee saluted them and took off into the Imperial Compound. Now that the Emperor was wielding bombers against the citizen revolt, the only way to stop the massacre was to go after the Emperor himself.

  As Lee navigated through the Imperial Buildings, he could hear the orders of officers being shouted as well as the marching boots of the Tingchia. The Emperor’s personal guard had been called out to quell the uprising and judging the fact that most of them were carrying Xeclian disintegration weapons, it was by any means necessary.

  Lee looked back and saw that the miners wielded their cutting torches and lasers like weapons, but they didn’t have a chance against such advanced weaponry. He looked at the gateway and saw two guards still at attention. He took out his rifle and shot both of the guards, then sprinted across the open pathway to the gate’s terminal. Without any grace or subtlety, Lee ripped out the internal hardware, which brought down the entire forcefield protecting the Palace.

  Lee knew that he’d never survive a direct encounter with the guards inside of the palace. He knew that dropping the forcefield would’ve triggered some kind of alarm so he looked for an alternative route.

  The outer steps featured elegantly carved tigers and dragons who served as guardians of the palace. Lee leaped onto the tiger statue in front and then jumped onto the dragon which curled around a pillar and led to the roof. The pain from the jump made him black out for a moment, but he knew that he had to keep moving. He took it all in, and used it as a focusing point of the harm he wanted to inflict on the Emperor.

  From ledge to ledge along the roof Lee jumped and maneuvered around the slippery shingles until he made it to the window of the Emperor’s bedchambers. He had to walk along the wall and make one last jump to the ledge. Below him was a fall over several hundred metres to a grisly death against stone. His leg was on fire and begging him to stop, but Lee stomped his foot to feel the pain and use it to drive him forward.

  He made his final leap of faith to the ledge, smashed the window and crawled inside. Several shards of glass impaled his arms and abdomen as he spilled onto the floor from exhaustion. He looked around the room but noticed that nothing and nobody was there.

  “Of course, he would’ve long since changed his bedroom,” Lee whispered to himself. He went to the door and opened it a crack so that he could see what was going on inside of the palace.

  What he saw surprised even him. There were only a handful of guards remaining to protect the Emperor behind a door across the main room. Lee took out his rifle and checked, only three shots remained. He had to make them count against the remnants of the Emperor’s guard.

  Lee took aim and fired the first shot, which dropped the Imperial guard, but the others retaliated by firing their disintegration rifles at him. Lee rolled away as the wall and doorway were blown to bits. He waited on the floor for the Tingchia to come, but after a few minutes, they never did. He crawled into a corner where he could see them.

  “Wangbadan won’t leave their precious Emperor. Fine by me,” Lee said as he aimed at another Imperial Guard. They were searching around for him, but by the time the guard in his sights noticed him, it was too late. Lee shot the guard and rolled away. The last of the wall protecting him was obliterated in the next volley.

  The last of the guards rallied in front of the door. Lee was down to one shot and he knew that at best he could take out only one guard. He wracked his brain for a way to finish off the remaining soldiers.

  Out of the corner of his eye Lee noticed that the opposing wall was standing strong and that it was thick. Much thicker than what seemed appropriate for the building. The soldiers outside fired on the room, which took out large sections of the floor. The floorboards groaned at the stress and the room began to collapse. The wood creaked and groaned while dust threatened to choke Lee out.

  The dust in the air flowed into a crevice within the wall. In that moment, Lee understood why the wall had held for so long.

  “The hwoon dahn has a secret passageway,” Lee whispered to himself. He leaped across the chasm, tumbled along the floor and sought out the door handle. He heard the click from the inside and the hidden door in the wall swung open.

  The passage was a tight fit, but L
ee managed to squeeze through. The passageway was lined with torn cobwebs, which was a sign that it was put to recent use. The deeper he went, the more it felt like the passages were closing in. There were tangents and side halls, but Lee kept walking straight.

  “Ta ma duh, hwoon dahn must want me to run his little maze,” Lee whispered to himself.

  He heard the soldiers screaming on the outside, but there was a presence in the passageway. Someone entered, and Lee was closing in. He snaked through the corridors until he seized the shoulder of the man he was trailing.

  It was Yiu Mei, the Emperor himself.

  “Convenient how you live, sniveling dog,” He hissed as he tried to point his pistol at Lee.

  “Gunkai you fay-fay duh pee-yen!” Lee screamed as he snapped the Emperor’s elbow. “You will answer for what you’ve done Yiu Mei! You’re lucky that I don’t carve you open and force feed you your worthless guts! Now surrender!”

  Yiu Mei whimpered in the dark hall, the lines on his face deepened by the glow of the light from the other rooms. He looked like a harmless middle-aged man, not some sinister genocidal monster.

  “Surrender!” Lee screamed again. Yiu Mei lowered his pistol to the floor and kneeled down.

  “Make it quick,” Yiu Mei said. Lee put his rifle to Yiu Mei’s head. Up close, he noticed that the Emperor’s eyes and face looked...familiar. It felt as though he recognized the man, but where?