Ahead of them, a single defensive line of Marauders trotted forward, closing the gap. They outnumbered Shaleen’s remaining warriors, but that didn’t matter. They pressed forward, pushing their mounts to their limits. The Marauders spurred their mounts into a full gallop, closing the distance between them.
Kor’s squad tightened up and leveled their spears toward the approaching warriors.
Shaleen took a deep breath and drew her blade. She quickly reversed her grip and held it low along her thigh. She would have to trust her instincts and her training. She focused upon the moment, clearing her mind. She did not hear the thundering feet of the danketh. She did not see the approaching wall of eight spears hurtling toward her warriors. All she saw was the field beyond.
Kor shouted out a command, and their line turned straight into the oncoming Marauders. They leveled their spears, preparing to use them as lances to dismount the enemy. Nothing mattered but this one play…and Shaleen’s skill.
Thirty meters.
Twenty.
Ten.
In a flash, Shaleen surged up with her arms and tucked her legs beneath her. She leapt forward with one massive push of her legs as the warriors crashed together. Spears struck the breastplates of warriors on both sides, sending them flying or knocking them sideways.
Shaleen sailed low over the heads of the Marauders, her body outstretched. She did a single somersault over them as she descended. Uncurling her body, she felt her feet touch the ground. Tucking her head to protect the Subahn-ghi, she tumbled forward once, twice, in a controlled roll as her armor dug gouges into the dirt. She came up to her feet and did a cartwheel to slow her progress. She nearly lost her sword but recovered quickly and came down on her feet at a dead run.
The stadium roared in one voice, the sound of it pressing down upon her. Their cheers fueled her on. She pushed her body as hard as she could, storming forward toward the lone Marauder warrior as she crossed the thirty-meter line. No danketh could cross that line. The Marauders behind her would have to dismount in order to catch her, and it was too late for that.
Gorsheik drew his blade, a long, blunted shaft of gleaming titanium, and strode forward fearlessly. She shifted her own blade and held it in front of her as her arms and legs pumped. At ten meters, she slowed her pace to a jog, her heart pounding in her chest.
“You’ve spent yourself, girl,” Gorsheik shouted as they closed on each other. “On his best day, not even your brother, Hishkara, was able to defeat me in single combat, and he was always your better.” He gave her a toothy, confident grin. “The Subahn-ghi is about to be mine.”
The end zone lay only twenty meters behind him.
Shaleen ignored his words. She focused on the fact that Gorsheik was older and slower than when he had faced her brother four years earlier. More importantly, she’d trained like no other for the past two years, until not even her father could best her, and he had trained her eldest brother, Hishkara.
But will it be enough?
She did what she could to control her breathing and raised her sword into a guard position.
When they were five meters apart, Gorsheik charged her, blade held above his head.
She lifted her own and received his slash, feeling the impact vibrate down through her arm. She pushed the blade aside and slashed at his mid-section as he leapt backwards.
He struck again, and she parried the blow, but he kicked her right thigh.
She let the blow carry her leg back and tumbled to the side, coming up in a low guard position just in time to block another attack. The opening was there, and she took it.
She punched him in the chest as hard as she could, driving him back, and then slammed her blade down into his thigh. He staggered and came up in a guard position. His eyes flicked to something behind her, and she heard the pounding footsteps of warriors.
“They’re coming for you,” he said. “I just need to hold you here.”
Shaleen tightened her grip on her weapon.
All or nothing, she thought.
She raised her blade and let out a battle cry that would have made her ancestors proud.
She slashed down at his head with a light, two-handed blow which he blocked easily. Twisting her torso, she swung the blade around and up toward him, shifting the weapon into her left hand. He lowered his weapon and blocked the attack. Their weapons clanged together, but Shaleen was already twisting her body again. She spun and brought her arm around in a lightning fast backhand. The back of her fist smashed into the side of his head with another clang of metal on metal. Gorsheik’s head snapped around with the blow. She swung her body around again, taking advantage of his stunned state and brought the blade around as hard as she could. She caught him in the side of the head with the flat of her blade.
The blow rang across the stadium, and the crown cheered again.
Gorsheik dropped to the ground as if he’d been thrown there.
The footsteps behind Shaleen were even closer.
“Watch out!” Kor shouted above the screaming crowd.
Shaleen didn’t look. She bolted for the end zone as though her life depended upon it.
The world went quiet. She didn’t hear the pounding footsteps behind her or the cheering crowd. There was only the end zone, and when she crossed into it, she came to a stop, sucking in air as her heart did its best to pound its way out of her chest. She stood there, bent over slightly with her hands on her thighs as she tried to catch her breath.
“SU—BAHN!…SU—BAHN!…SU—BAHN!” The word was repeated over and over again, a thundering chant that washed down upon her from the entire stadium. Every spectator, regardless of which team they had come in rooting for, was celebrating the victory of the Subahn.
When she could breathe again, she turned around to see both teams dismounted. Every one of them—including Gorsheik—had taken a knee and was bowing their heads toward her.
* * *
The Celebration
Kael - Vorwhol Homeworld
Championship Party - Kullbwa City
Shaleen pulled a hearty draught from a tall tankard and stared out at the starport only a dozen kilometers away. Set beneath a cloudless, starry sky, it was a complex pattern of bright lights, illuminated runways, and curved buildings that was her world’s gateway to other worlds. She stood on a wide balcony of the hotel where her company had been housed for the game. Behind her, a party raged, with over a hundred Vorwhol celebrating their victory.
She’d endured several hours of congratulations and revelry, but now that the season was over and the championship banner destined for her family’s hold in the north, she felt empty. The victory and the match were things to be proud of, and indeed she was. But she found herself asking a simple question.
Is this all?
The next season would be a challenge. Defending their title and having the championship game in their home city would be something to strive for, but now that she’d achieved the greatest victory in the game of Talgeth, part of her, deep down inside, wondered if there was any point to it. She wanted more, but she’d achieved the pinnacle. Where does one go after the last victory is achieved?
“Shaleen?” Her brother’s voice came from only a few meters behind her.
She pulled her eyes away from the gleaming lights of the starport and turned to face her youngest brother.
“Are you okay?” he asked. The two of them had always been the closest amongst her siblings. She’d gotten along with Halek, who had a fierce countenance and was prone to cynicism, and they held a deep respect for one another. None of them, however, had ever gotten along with her eldest brother, Hishkara, who had embraced the primary religion of the Vorwhol and joined a cult of some kind. They hadn’t heard from him in nearly four years, and his parting had been an angry one.
She smiled.
“Yes,” she said, raising her tankard to him. “I’m fine. Just thinking is all.” She nodded toward the party inside. “It was too loud to do that in there, so I came out he
re.”
“I get you,” he acknowledged, raising his own tankard. He moved up to the railing and leaned against it beside her. “My shoulder and back are sore from all of the congratulatory slaps I’ve received.”
“I’ll need a masseuse just to work those muscles out,” she agreed, “never mind what happened in the game.”
He chuckled softly.
“Where’s da?” she asked, wondering where her father had gotten off to. He’d nearly lost his mind when they’d won. The championship was something he’d dreamed of since he was a youngling.
“He got a call and disappeared into one of the side rooms.”
She gave him a nod, hoping everything was alright.
“We really did it, didn’t we?” He gave her a sidelong glance. “You did it.”
“The Emerald Sword did it, Kor,” she said a bit more emphatically than she intended. “How’s Halek’s shoulder?”
“Bruised, but not dislocated. He got hammered pretty hard on that last charge, but he’ll be fine in a few days…as will most of the rest of the team. We just heard, Subai and Ruggar may not be able to play next year, and we have several that probably won’t be fully recovered until the middle of next season. But everyone else is ready to start training tomorrow, if you order it.”
“That’s good,” she replied. She was happy there hadn’t been any fatalities, but she lamented the loss of Subai and, especially, Ruggar, who was the best striker they had. They would feel his loss.
“Shaleen!” her father called out from the doorway. His voice was urgent and thick with pained worry.
She turned to find his face a mask of heartache. His golden eyes bored into her, and his maroon skin seemed a half-shade paler. Something was terribly wrong.
“Da, what is it?” She felt fear clench at her heart. She’d never seen him look like that.
“Your brother,” he said slowly. “He has taken a company of Subahn Rhazi zealots and is raiding the Elwharri frontier.”
The Elwharri were a mammalian race whose region of space bordered with that of the Vorwhol. They’d warred hundreds of years in the past, but there had been peace since then. Her father lowered his head and let out a long breath. He clenched his fists once and then raised his golden eyes to meet hers. “To clean the stain of dishonor, you must hunt your brother down and kill him.”
Shaleen gasped. She searched her father’s face, hoping it was some sort of mistake…something…anything but that.
“Dear gods,” Kor said, his voice full of shock and disbelief.
“I just received a call from the Bith magistrate at the gate,” her father continued. “She informed me that Hishkara has gone rogue, raiding colonies in an outer Elwharri system, a world called Soung.”
“Soung?” she asked. The name sounded familiar to her. “Wasn’t that the—”
“It was the first world we conquered before pushing them back and forcing the peace treaty,” her father finished for her. “They’re all low-tech colonists now, mining and farming for trade with other systems.”
“I knew he hated the Elwharri, but this?” Shaleen asked, shaking her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s that damned cult of his.” Her father blew out an angry breath. “Hishkara has around 50 armed, armored, and mounted Vorwhol who have adopted the ancient battle philosophies of Tomahnkhor.” Her father shook his head. “I wanted you all to embrace the faith of our people, but what he’s done is treacherous and a blight upon both the Tomahnkhor and our family’s honor.” He reached out and placed a hand upon her shoulder, gripping it firmly. “Our honor bleeds, Shaleen. As eldest, you must hunt down your brother and take his life. He has reverted to the old ways of the ancient Tahn Kree, although I’m sure he thinks he is Subahn.” He searched her eyes. “The Bith are giving us this one chance to handle our family honor per the Gate Accords. If you fail, the Bith will task some human mercenaries to do it for us. We cannot permit this shame.”
“Humans?” Kor asked. “I’ve never heard of them.”
“I know nothing of them,” her father said. “What I do know is that they cannot be allowed to take your brother, alive or dead. If they do, our family’s honor will be forever stained with the blood of the Elwharri.” Her father slipped a hand into his hide jacket. “Here, I know you’ve never shown much interest, but you need to read this if you are to begin to understand your brother.”
“What is it?” she asked, taking the slate.
“It’s the Tomahnkhor and a litany of supporting texts that include our history, the different interpretations of the Tomahnkhor, and a good deal of supporting information. Everything you need is in there. Read it on your journey.”
She stared down at the slate, trying to wrap her head around what was going on. Kill? Her brother? She wasn’t sure she could do that.
“Journey?” she asked, lifting nervous eyes. “When do we leave?”
“In two days.” He turned and looked at the warriors gathered in the room behind him. “It is my hope they will join you, but you must tell them they are under no obligation. And you must be the one to ask. You are their Kosai, and those who follow will become true Subahn, like our ancestors.”
Shaleen nodded once and swallowed hard.
Will they follow me into true battle? Or will they stay behind?
She stepped around her father, with Kor close behind. She moved to the center of the room and paused. She took a few moments to look at every member of the Emerald Sword. They were her friends, her comrades…and in many respects, they had become her family. She knew them all, and she couldn’t help but feel guilty about what she was about to ask of them.
“Warriors!” she shouted. “I will have peace,” she added, letting her voice carry over the crowd.
Every face turned toward her, and the room went silent. They looked at her expectantly, wondering what their Kosai might require of them. She let her eyes pass quickly over them, taking in the array of colored hides and horned crowns. These were her people, her family. And in that moment, she knew what their answer would be.
She took one deep breath and spoke to them slowly, her words carrying the weight of import.
“I have been called upon to seek out true battle.” There was a round of surprised grunts from those around her. “Many of you remember my brother, Hishkara. You know that he chose a path of zealotry.” She saw a number of them nodding. Hishkara had once been their Kosai. He had been a fierce and demanding leader, but he had never led them astray. Honor had been important to him, perhaps too important. When he’d left, Shaleen had moved from the position of lead striker to Kosai. “He and fifty of his faithful have dishonorably attacked Elwharri colonies upon the world Soung. We do not know why, but it is up to me and my brothers to take his life and remove the stain of blood he has placed upon our honor. The three of us will be leaving in two days to find my brother and end his life. I must humbly ask if any of you will help us do this terrible thing, but you must understand that you are under no obligation, and your honor will remain intact should you decline this request. Neither I nor my father will think any less of you.” She took a moment and scanned their faces once again. “So,” she said, lifting her hands, “who among you will help me cleanse our honor? Step forward if you will become my Subahn.”
As one, every member of the Emerald Sword took one step forward and raised a fist in the sign of solidarity. There was no hesitation—not even a pause. They were all with her. They were Subahn.
She turned and faced her father, a proud look upon her face.
“We will not fail, Father,” she said with all the determination she possessed. “And I will read the Tomahnkhor as you suggested.” She hesitated for just a moment. “I just hope it will be enough.”
“It will have to be, Child,” he said.
She looked into his golden eyes. She saw no doubt there, and it gave her a sense of confidence that had been absent a moment before.
* * *
The Departure
/> Kael System
En Route to the Gate
Shaleen entered the stall where Kor and Halek were brushing down their danketh. Both Sula and Oni purred with satisfaction—a sound like logs tumbling down a hill—as their riders tended to them. Their muzzles were bloody from the freshly thawed animal carcasses that had been their meal for the day. The rest of the mounts had also been fed and were being similarly tended to by their riders in a long double-row of stalls aboard the Vorwhol transport that would carry them to Soung.
They both turned as she entered the stall, weak smiles crossing their faces.
“Are the weapons stowed?” she asked, looking at Halek.
He nodded.
“All of our gear has been stowed—armor, melee weapons, and firearms.” He shot her an anxious stare.
“I know,” she said, and her voice carried a hint of doubt. “I’ve only ever shot at wild game.” A weak smile crossed her lips. All of her father’s children were excellent hunters and more than capable of making a shot when it counted, even from the back of a danketh.
But to shoot at a Vorwhol?
Halek gave her an almost disdainful look.
“Did you feel the bloodsurge when your prey fell?” he asked.
She thought back and realized that she had felt something. A jolt or surge of exultation. After every kill, she rode a high that she experienced nowhere else. Hunter and prey.
“Yes,” she said simply.
“Then you must see them only as prey…as Tahn Kree,” Halek said, emphasizing the name of the enemy of their ancient ancestors. The disgust was apparent on his face. Of the three of them, he had been the most outraged by what their brother had done…was doing. “They have taken up the mantle of the enemy. Why? We can only guess, but their motives are irrelevant.” He clenched a taloned fist, and his burgundy hide looked like dark blood in the bright lights of the stall. “We are the Subahn, and he has covered our honor with the blood of innocent farmers, miners, and traders.”
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