by James Somers
“We shall see, Elam. Our hunt will continue through Odem tomorrow. My people are hungry. I want no interference with the culling this time!”
Dirge did not wait for a response. He turned and stalked back out of the room. At this point, Dirge’s ramblings and pseudo-threats were the least of Elam’s worries. He needed information on these off-worlders. They could not be allowed to expose him before the people. The citizenry remained in Elam’s grip and nothing would take them from him now.
When he exited the secret room, in the hidden mountain pass where they had conducted their meeting, he made his way to the cliff facing beyond and leapt away from it. His command shuttle hovered just off of the side of the mountain with the gang plank extended to him. Elam made his way to the cockpit, where one of his Guardian warriors, Toa, waited for him.
“Sir, we’ve received the coordinates from the Briceton citizen. I’ve already fed the flight plan in and summoned the others to meet us there,” he said.
“Very good, let’s get underway. We don’t want to keep our new friend waiting, do we?”
“Yes, sir. Thrusters online.”
☼
Tiet sat upon the grass quietly while Emil watched him, curiously. They had stopped to rest after exiting the drainage conduit on the edge of the city’s suburbs. But after an hour here, Tiet had still not said a word. His thoughts appeared so focused that even Emil’s voice went unheard.
Then, Tiet suddenly opened his eyes again and stood up.
“I think I’ve been able to locate him.”
Emil was astonished. “Really, where?”
“To the north. It’s far from us, probably three days journey on foot and I don’t see anyone around here offering us a transport.”
“Is he alright?”
“As far as I can perceive. We had better get started.”
Tiet reached in his back satchel and pulled out two food bars. He tossed one to Emil as they began a brisk jog.
“Emil, I’m sure you must have noticed the power emanating from that man back there.”
“I suppose. It was as though an unseen weight pressed me. How is he able to do such things?”
“I may be wrong, but I believe he must be Barudii.”
“But how?”
“I’m not sure how.”
“So, what do we do?”
“Nothing. If we can retrieve Kale and get out of here with minimal trouble then I’ll be happy. As far as this planet is concerned, he can have it.”
“Do you think we can get Kale home safely?”
Tiet looked over at him as they jogged along. “Do you miss him?”
“Kale is my best friend. He always has been and always will be. I only hope that symbyte creature hasn’t harmed him.”
“So do I,” Tiet said. “Kale is very strong willed, but it will be a challenge to fight that thing. I haven’t seen anyone, except you, beat its takeover of mind and body.”
The pair continued to jog briskly in Kale’s perceived direction. They’re only hope—to find him alive and well.
FOUR
The snow fell heavily as Kale stood on the porch watching Olson chop wood for the fire hearth. The wind blew very cold but he was getting used to it now. The countryside around their home was completely white except for the black spires of bare trees jutting up out of the surrounding hillsides. It was absolutely beautiful, he thought.
The women finished the supper dishes together inside and chatted about their guest. Olson puffed on his pipe in between strokes with the axe. Kale thought, how strange to try and do such a strenuous task while inhaling flavored smoke. Still, the aroma was pleasant hanging in the frigid evening air. The sun shone vaguely through the thick clouds, casting a pale glow across the land as dusk battled for dominance.
“Would you like to take a whack at it, Master Soone?”
“Please, Kale is fine, and yes, I would be happy to.”
Kale jumped down off the porch and picked up another axe propped there. He took up a position at the stump as Olson placed another thick log on top for him. He raised the axe high over his head and brought it down precisely, sending the two pieces of log down off the side of the stump.
It satisfied, even relaxed him in a way. Olson gave him a sly grin through his beard as he puffed again on his pipe. Kale placed another log up for the kill and then brought the axe up for another hit. He looked at Mr. Barone again. Olson now stared blankly out into the trees around them. He no longer puffed, but listening.
Then Kale noticed that the noises of nature around them had suddenly fallen silent. It would not have been strange had their not been so much activity from the cold climate birds and tree dwellers only a moment before. Kale felt something else—danger.
He heard only a whisper, like a blade dividing the air. The cracking and splitting of wood followed after as a large tree came crashing through the frozen limbs of the other trees. Kale jumped toward Olson and snared the older man in time to pull him out from under the thunderous explosion of wood and snow hitting the ground behind them.
Kale stood back to his feet in a flash, rolling away from Olson as his kemstick leaped off of his leg-clip to his hand. He did not ignite it—not yet.
Kale scanned the trees with his eyes trying to squint through the heavy flakes of falling snow. Olson lumbered back to his feet, shaking the snow off as he looked at the fallen timber lying in the place he had just been standing.
Kale knew it wasn’t an accident. His senses surveyed beyond his eyes, taking in every detail he could with his mind. Something seemed familiar about the lack of feedback he was getting from his surroundings.
Then, Kale heard it again—that whisper. He realized just in time. Kale snapped his arm up to the side of his head as his kemstick ignited. Something bounced off of its rod of dispersion energy and landed in the snow. He turned and found a sword, vibrating, blade straight down, in the snowy ground. The sword leaped out of the ground, sailing away to find the hand of its owner. He stood fifty yards away in the clearing of trees ahead of them.
Kale half expected to see the dark clad wraith he had faced in the woods upon his arrival and again in the streets of Briceton. Instead, a human male of regal stature stood before him holding the sword.
“Lord Elam,” Olson said in a hushed tone.
“I see they told me the truth, Olson Barone!” His voice boomed across the expanse between them. “You have broken the law by harboring this off-worlder!”
“But he is good. He fought away the Agonotti who invaded our town this morning.”
“You do not realize who you are dealing with, Barone. He is working with the Agonotti to deceive you. His people attacked our home city this afternoon, killing the twins and Colossus!”
“Colossus is dead?”
“At the hand of one of these off-worlders, like him!”
That statement peaked Kale’s curiosity a great deal. Others like himself—off-worlders? Could his father have actually found him so quickly? The thought actually comforted him at the moment.
“Surrender, off-worlder and I will have mercy on you,” Elam said.
“Kale, you had better give up peacefully. We don’t dare oppose the Guardians,” Olson said, fearfully.
“So, this is a Guardian?”
“Lord Elam, the leader of the Guardians,” Olson added.
“I don’t need your mercy, sir! I haven’t done anything except try to help these people. Surely, that isn’t against your law.”
“You’re a spy and a murderer!” Elam shouted, angrily.
“I haven’t killed anyone except those creatures, so far!”
Elam shot forth in fury, his body spinning like a missile on target with his sword extended for the kill. He covered the distance between them in seconds. Kale’s weapon deflected Elam’s strike. The Guardian leader’s sword burst into a dispersion field as well. “It looks like we have something in common after all, Elam,” Kale said.
A furious exchange followed between them. Kale
flipped away, for a moment sensing something in the trees behind him. Sniper!
He deflected one shot, allowing another to pass near him. He whipped another kemstick from his leg clip and hurled it at the tree about three feet below the sniper’s position. It severed the upper portion of the tree which toppled under his weight and came crashing down into the snow with the shooter entangled among the branches. Kale engaged Elam again.
Kale noticed Olson on the porch trying to usher Juli and her mother back inside as the battled raged. Elam showed skill with a blade and Kale knew it was time to up the ante a bit.
Kale flipped over the downed sniper’s roost and called his other kemstick to his hand from the snow where it had landed. He launched into Elam again with dual kemsticks, trying to overpower the Guardian leader. The elder man blew him back into the air with a kinetic thrust. Unexpected, but Kale recovered then somersaulted and landed on his feet.
So, that’s how it’s going to be. Kale noticed others rushing in on armed hover-bikes from the woods around them. He disengaged Elam to dash away from the streams of blaster shots coming at him. Kale ran into the woods as the hover-bikes followed—ten in all.
The shots pelted the snow and timber around him as he dodged through the trees evading the attack. In a moment the bikes would overtake him. Kale flipped back on the pursuer bearing down upon him and made one exacting strike as he tumbled past him in the air. The rider’s body fell into the snow as the hover-bike veered and slammed into a tree.
☼
The woods, beyond their home, flashed with an explosion in the night as Olson and his family peered out the large window in their main room. Elam made his way onto the porch, startling the family inside. “Everybody back,” Olsen whispered to the others as they made their way through the dark house. Elam looked through the window. He had seen the family go in here and they could not be left alive. No witnesses!
Elam summoned his power. The entire window and the wall holding it, shattered into pieces before him. He walked in through the rubble, trying to sense where the family had retreated. If they reported the attack, it might turn all of the civilian populations against him. The allegiance they gave him as protector, not to mention the great wealth and power he had accrued, might cease.
☼
Kale used the night to his advantage. The headlamps on the hover-bikes crossed back and forth more slowly through the snow covered trees as they searched for him. His black uniform perfectly suited the dark. Several hover-bikes grouped together. Kale decided to become the predator in this scenario.
Kale’s kemstick flashed on and off as he jumped on behind the rider of one of the bikes passing nearby. He pushed the body off and took the controls of the speeder—the snow swallowed the rider whole, leaving no trace. Kale steered the hover-bike toward the other speeders still searching for him.
He lined it up and slammed the throttle forward. The hover-bike sped away on a collision course. Kale guided it almost all the way to target—long enough to see the expressions of horror as the headlamps spotlighted the faces of the other hover-bike riders before the impact. Kale leaped away and sailed through the tree limbs to a perch nearby as the speeder collided and ricocheted across several of the vehicles huddled together.
Shots rang out through the darkness into the trees around Kale as another Guardian spotted him. The blasts became more focused. He bolted away. The hover-bike came almost on top of him when he dropped to the ground below and sank completely into a drift of cold powder. As the bike sailed over, Kale flung an ignited kemstick up through the bottom of the vehicle piercing the under plating and severing the left leg of the rider. He wailed and lost control. The whole mess crashed into a nearby tree and burst into flames.
Then Kale sensed his adversary, Elam, and he was on the move. He’s inside Juli’s home!
Kale ran as fast to save them from the Guardian leader. Then he did not sense Elam anymore. More than that, he did not sense Juli or her parents either. Had they already been killed? Kale began to panic as he approached the stump where he and Olson had been cutting wood earlier.
The whole house suddenly burst up and outward into a fireball. Kale felt completely numb throughout his body. He had the sensation of weightlessness—his body being thrown. He surrendered to the overwhelming force of it then crashed down into the snow somewhere away from the destroyed structure.
Kale only heard ringing in his ears. His blurred vision took a moment to bring the grizzly scene back into focus. The Barone home was completely engulfed in flame. His senses reeled. He knew no one could have survived the inferno.
Kale tried to stand, but he was almost too weak to accomplish the task. Then a pain shot through his head—intense but he couldn’t discern its origin. It felt strangely familiar, like the first contact with the symbyte organism as it had fought to infiltrate his body and seize control of his mind and will, but stronger. Kale collapsed to his hands and knees in the snow and gasped for precious breath. He thought he might vomit.
☼
Elam looked on in amazement from a few feet behind the young boy. A voice had called out to him telepathically—not the boy’s mind, but from within him somehow. Some creature inside spoke to him, “Help me seize control of the boy! We must overpower him together!”
Elam had no idea what the being was, but any advantage over an adversary was best exploited while it was available.
Elam exerted his great mental power upon the boy’s weakened mind and felt that effort bolstered by whatever had called out to him for assistance. The boy collapsed face first into the snow and remained still. It worked! This was more than the Guardian leader had hoped for. Elam tapped a com-link and said, “Bring the shuttle. I have the boy.”
“Yes, sir,” replied a voice from the com-link.
Elam knelt next to the boy and rolled him over. He noticed the remarkable resemblance to the man he had faced earlier in the day at Sector City—the warrior with the young Horva at his side. Elam felt quite sure this must be the man’s son. It seemed unlikely that one so young would be on a mission by himself. Then he looked back toward the woods where his own Guardians had just been massacred by the youth—the hover-bikes still smoldered amidst decaying ambers in the snow. He might be young, but this boy is certainly powerful, Elam thought.
The warrior from the Sector City fight had to be Barudii and he was probably searching for the boy. That might make the youth an effective bargaining tool, should the need arise. Then, the being from within the boy’s mind called out to him again. The lad stirred and stood to his feet.
Elam brought his blade to the ready, expecting a fight. Kale spoke, yet it wasn’t him.
“Calm yourself, Master Elam. We can be of use to one another,” Kale said.
Elam looked curiously into the boy’s face. Something sinister and malevolent stared back through the boy’s eyes sending a chill up Elam’s spine.
“I have control of the boy now. Is it true that others like him are on this planet?” Kale asked.
“Yes.”
“It must be the boy’s father seeking after him.”
“Who is his father?” Elam asked.
“He is the Barudii king.”
What? “But that can’t be right.”
“You’re the same as they are, aren’t you, Elam? You are a Barudii.”
“But my people fled many years ago,” Elam said. “Our planet was overrun with the Vorn during the war. Very few of us managed to escape and the king at the time was killed, not having an heir. I’ve never even been to Castai. My grandfather raised me on this planet after his own exodus during the war.”
“He is the king and we must destroy him. I need the boy’s power and a way to return to Castai,” the evil Kale said.
“That has nothing to do with me,” Elam said as he returned his sword to its sheath. “I’ve got my own interests here to look after.”
“If we work together then we could eliminate a common problem.”
Elam studied hi
m for a moment. He heard the sound of his own command shuttle approaching from beyond the trees.
“I could help you, but I need you to assist me with a problem of mine first,” Elam said.
“And that would be?”
“I have a certain arrangement on this planet.”
“I see, and you would like to continue that arrangement?”
“The humanoids that the boy attacked in Briceton are associates of mine. They want a continuing food supply and I want to protect the people from them…to a certain extent.”
“I imagine that protection could be quite profitable,” Kale said with the slightest of grins.
“Anyway, I’ve lost most of my team due to these Barudii interferences and the leader of the Agonotti is now getting cocky. They are great in number, but haven’t been united. With my Guardians, I was able to present a threat great enough to keep the different groups in check. One of the leaders, Dirge, may realize my position is weaker now.”
“And you think he might rebel against you?”
“Exactly. I need to eliminate him without raising suspicions among the Agonotti.”
“But won’t they get a new leader.”
“They’re so willing to follow whoever can give them what they want—I believe I can persuade them to follow me.”
“So, you can have your cake and eat it too? Very nice for you, but if I execute this Agonotti leader for you then won’t they in turn come after me?” Kale asked.
“Not if I appear to kill you first. You kill Dirge and I will pretend to avenge his death quickly in front of his people. The Agonotti will be more willing to follow me then and so they can get the food resources they need. Plus, the people will continue to look to me for the protection they need,” Elam explained.
“And as for me?”
“I’ll smuggle your supposedly dead body out on my shuttle,” he said, pointing to the craft coming in for a landing about forty feet away. “And then we’ll see about getting you to Castai on one of the ships I have at my disposal.”