by Unknown
“We’ve got to find out where that place is,� said Grod.
Emil was stunned—he couldn’t take his eyes off of his best friend being taken down by Lucin himself. He had faced the Mithrial-man himself and lost, but for Kale to lose was astounding. Lucin was growing in power to be sure and Emil wondered how they could ever defeat him.
“Emil?� said Grod while shaking his son out of his minor trance. “We’ve not got much time to find Kale.�
Those words pulled him back to the task at hand. The men pulled up the satchels they had carried with them and proceeded down the street looking for the nearest public transport depot. The Barudii’s weakness among the Vorn was not Grod or Emil’s—they blended perfectly with the natives.
☼
LUCIN walked out of the officiator’s suite onto the terrace overlooking the Gaj city arena. The terrace was reserved only for dignitaries and his name had spread quickly as the defeater of the Barudii enemy. Many of the people living in Gaj city could remember the attacks by the Barudii sphere weapon. A large portion of the megalopolis had been destroyed during planet-wide attacks. The sports arena and the entire western city complex were dedicated to those who had lost their lives in the attacks. To have the latest Barudii king bound before them and awaiting a horrible public death was merely justice in their eyes.
It’s the perfect scenario, thought Lucin. They hate the Barudii because of the sphere and none of them seem to understand who I am.
Of course, Lucin was not without his own followers. He had been quite busy assimilating as many Vorn and Horva as possible and then sending those out to assimilate others into his will. In the two weeks after his arrival in the city, Lucin had managed to incorporate nearly ten thousand Vorn and Horva into his group of symbytes. The Horva were best suited for the kind of task he had in mind; complete domination. These later generation clones were certainly not the prized specimens he might have craved. But the first generation clones, like Grod, possessed immunity capable of destroying his symbyte form within their bodies.
The crowd beyond the terrace was cheering wildly. Word was spreading quickly about the great charismatic warrior among their people, Lucin. He alone had been able to defeat and capture the Barudii king. In the middle of the arena was a fair skinned young man; the object of their bloodlust. The Barudii would die as a further memorial to the Vorn that had been killed years ago.
☼
KALE tried to open his eyes, but they did not wish to obey him. He attempted to maneuver, but his bands held him fast to the stone column standing in the arena. Thousands upon thousands of dark skinned people were cheering as they watched him. Kale had a feeling the cheering had little to do with well wishing.
Several barred doors stood at the far end of the arena ahead of him. Kale watched as a dozen leonase paced back and forth just behind the bars. Kale tried to free his hands, but he lacked the strength to pull against the fibrous bands that held him. His face was hurting on one side, but the pain was dulled. They must have drugged me, he thought. Kale couldn’t concentrate enough to utilize his kinesis. He was absolutely defenseless.
☼
EMIL nodded to his father as Grod handed his son the fried meat snacks in a basket, called metin. His father was posing as a vendor and making his way through the crowd as he covertly planted the charges they had carried with them to Demigoth. Grod needed enough to make a good diversion so that Emil could get into the guarded arena and release the king.
Emil watched his best friend strapped to a post inside the arena. He wondered if this was the sort of entertainment the Vorn usually craved. Kale looked bad. Emil could see that his face appeared swollen on at least one side and the flesh tone was mottled with bruising. He didn’t look like he even had the strength to hold up his head.
At the far end of the arena, a leonai was clawing against the bars which kept it from the bound prey being offered. Nearly a dozen of the beasts waited with excitement to tear Kale to pieces before the assembled crowd. The Leonase were stealthy predators in their natural environment and could be found in the grassland areas on several planets including Demigoth and Draconis. They sported short dark gray coats and wooly light gray manes on the males only. It looked like a mixture of sexes waiting to feast upon Emil’s friend.
There were guards posted all around the entrances to the arena area itself; mostly Horva from what Emil could see. They definitely were not the feral type of brute Horva that his father had talked about being produced by the Vorn clone facilities on Castai. These appeared tame enough in their manner, but tough looking nonetheless. His father had been able to rally the Horva of the first generation on Castai to rebel against their Vorn masters—Emil wondered if these Horva were ready for such an uprising to gain their own freedom.
Lucin stepped to a microphone and addressed the thousands of spectators present for the Barudii king’s execution and said, “People of the great city of Gaj—though I am new to your city and your world, you have welcomed me with open arms and thousands of your people have already embraced my plans for the future. I hope to help you rebuild the great empire your clan once enjoyed and the dominion you once held over the other habitable planets of this system.�
Cheers spread across the stadium as the people reveled in the hope of spreading out and conquering as they had in the past before the Barudii sphere weapon came. He continued, saying, “As a show of my power and as a good faith offering to you as allies in this war, I have brought you the king of your mortal enemies, the Barudii. This clan was once believed to be wiped out, but this has not been the case. They survive still and have been gathering a great army with which to attack your planet. Even now, this man’s army may be approaching Demigoth with orders to carry out a brutal invasion and kill your children.�
Emil listened to the Mithrial-man’s lies to the Vorn—the crowd was eating it up. They wanted to hate Kale and the Barudii—they wanted revenge and nothing else was going to satisfy them. Lucin played their emotions like a finely tuned instrument. They were playing with the Devil and didn’t even realize it. This is going to make it very difficult to bring our army against Lucin, thought Emil, he’s preparing them for an invasion that isn’t meant to be against them at all. We’ll never gain them as allies now. They’ll automatically smell deception with anything we try to tell them.
Emil’s com-link beeped. “Yes, Father?�
“Head down to the arena,� said Grod though the link, “I’m setting off the charges in five seconds.�
“Affirmative.�
Emil got up from his seat and moved quickly down the aisle toward the arena floor. It was shielded by a transparent dome with access points guarded by Horva clones. No Problem. Emil was counting the seconds as he made his way to the ground level amid the cheering spectators and Lucin’s tirade booming over them. He turned right on the ground level walking along the edge of the arena floor area just outside of the dome. Emil had his eye on two guards ahead of him at one of the access ports. He wasn’t wearing any weapons. The charges his father had gotten into the arena were a special compound that was organic and able to be triggered by a specific frequency that he could produce with his com-link. The guards had checked over both of them on the way in and had not paid any attention to the recall devices they wore on their wrists.
Many spectators were passing back and forth before the guard at the access point as Emil approached. When he got within twenty feet of them, the first charge went off in the stands among the cheering spectators. A wave of panic quickly passed through the stadium. Emil rushed the guards as they turned toward the sound of the explosion. As the other charges fired, six in all, Emil took down both of the Horva guards with lightning fast hand to hand combinations. He grabbed one of the guard’s pass keys and swiped the card through
the reader at the door. The door unlocked.
Lucin was interrupted by several explosions occurring all over the stadium among the rows of spectator seating. It’s a rescue attempt—Lucin slapped the release button to the cages of the leonase.
Emil ran through the security door onto the arena floor. Kale was twenty yards ahead of him and Emil broke into a full sprint. Out of the corner of his eye, Emil noticed the leonase had been released from their cages and they were heading straight for Kale. I knew I should have grabbed that guard’s weapon!
The leonase had forty yards to close the distance between themselves and their prey. They panted happily as saliva moved into their hungry mouths—they had been deprived of food for two days to be sure they were ready for a feeding frenzy.
Emil was closing the distance fast, but the pack of predators was closing it faster. The first of the leonase got within twenty feet of Kale and leapt at him. Kale didn’t even appear to acknowledge the beast and may have been unconscious. Emil’s friend was moments away from being torn apart. He hit the leonai broadside with a kinetic blast, sending the beast reeling away across the hard dirt floor of the arena. Emil hoped he had hit it hard enough to break its ribs, but the others were still coming in fast. Emil reached Kale and mentally snapped the bonds that held him to the cylinder driven into the arena floor. He fell forward into Emil’s arms—his wounds looked worse up close and he was stripped to the waist and covered in dried blood.
The leonase pack continued to charge in for the prey. Emil pressed the recall switch as they leapt for the young men. The leonase slammed into the column, but the boys had escaped them.
☼
GROD and Emil sat outside of the med-bay waiting as the med-techs and a physician worked on Kale’s wounds. The initial report was extensive facial fractures and two broken ribs. It appeared he would be fine with treatment. Emil was thumbing through the pages of Kale’s copy of the Logostus. Aija the prophet had given it to Kale while they were on board the Equinox traveling across Draconis. It was only one of the copies that the prophet had left with the young prince, but this one was small and complete—it contained all sixty six books within the one volume. Kale had begun to carry it with him everywhere he went, after receiving it, so that he could make reference to the events they were going through with the Agonotti and Lucin. Then Aija walked into the med-lab foyer. He passed by the med-lab window and could see the king on an operating room table with people hovered over him working on his injuries.
“How is our young king, gentlemen?� asked Aija.
“He’ll be fine according to the doctor,� said Grod.
“What happened, Aija?� said Emil. “If you knew this was going to happen—“
“My boy, I didn’t know,� replied the prophet.
Emil did not understand. As Aija sat down before them he continued. “I only know what Elithias shows me. You must be prepared to face evil itself. Lucin is growing in power and anything you have faced before cannot compare to him. He has been alive since the very dawn of time itself; one of the first creations of The Eternal One and one of his greatest. He began as highly favored by Elithias, at least until iniquity was found in him. Lucin desired to be as Elithias with his fellow Mithri and all of creation bowing before him in worship. He was able to pull away a great many in his rebellion and Elithias judged them. For those following in his sin, Elithias cast them down to Draconis and made them to dwell among mortals in half physical forms requiring nourishment of those physical parts—they became the Agonotti. For Lucin himself, the Lord made his spirit to indwell a form as repugnant as his rebellion and as he had infected his brethren with his rebellion so to would he be bound to infect and indwell the physical body of a host in order to live. But he is still an extremely powerful spiritual being. Only The Eternal One can defeat Lucin.�
“Then what are we supposed to do?� asked Grod.
“We are supposed to keep faith and serve the purposes of Elithias,� replied the prophet. “I cannot give you anymore than that—it hasn’t been given to me.
Emil stood and watched the people in the med-lab bandaging his best friend and his king. Then he thought of something he had not thought of before. “Perhaps it has been given to you, Aija—perhaps we have been given more than we realize,� said Emil. He held up before the two men something very valuable the prophet had given Kale weeks ago. He held up a copy of the Logostus.
NOVELS BY JAMES SOMERS
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