A Warrior's Revenge (13 page)

Her disarrayed thoughts were cleared away,
when his foolish grin came back out and he said, “Chain me to the
wall anytime Princess!”

It all came back to her now. She slammed her
heel down onto his foot and as he grimaced she said in a fierce
whisper with her face only inches from his, “Leave me alone or I
swear I’ll take a knife and make a gelding out of you and thus put
you out of your miserable need to find a mate!”

Eshta was shocked beyond words, when he came
forward with his head and kissed her full on the mouth. What was he
doing? Didn’t he believe her?

A moment passed and then she reeled backward
wiping off her lips afraid to let her reaction to the kiss show.
She slapped him hard and then turned to run away, but she found
herself jerked backward to be slammed up against the door where
Satago had just been pressed back against by her hands.

“I don’t think so Princess! You’re not
running away after a kiss like that!” His lips found hers, as he
kissed her aggressively, even as she kissed him back just as
aggressively.

After a while he let go of one of her hands,
but instead of pushing him away she pulled him closer to her. His
free hand fumbled and found the latch of the door and pulling it
open they both tumbled into the room beyond. The door clanged shut,
as Satago kicked it closed from within the room.

Ellanara and Abby shared a look, as they
glanced away from the scene of passion back down the hall from
them. “The last stronghold has fallen.” Abby said reflectively. “I
suppose it was inevitable, but it was fun to watch while she
lasted.”

Ellanara smiled a little, as she and Abby
worked on a problem outlined on the screen in front of them. “You
know Abby there’s one thing I don’t know much about.”

Abby choked on a fit of laughter and
Ellanara flushed beet red and hotly responded, “Get your mind out
of the gutter Abby! You know I didn’t mean to refer to what you’re
thinking of.”

“You didn’t?” Abby responded innocently.

Ellanara redirected her gaze from the screen
and gave Abby a look of intense meaning.

Abby relented and chuckled before asking,
“What were you referring to dear?”

“Midwifery.”

“Midwifery!” Abby exclaimed in complete
befuddlement.

“Yes we should pray that the babies come in
different stages, which is doubtful and we should brush up on what
we know about bringing a new life into the world.”

Abby laughed outright, “What good do you
think I’m going to be with something like that?” She said, as she
waved her hand back and forth through the counter they were leaning
over, illustrating her inability as an image to touch anything
physical.

Ellanara’s face tightened under the renewed
level of stress that had just been placed on her. Under her breath
she groused, “I hadn’t thought that we would get down to the
business of expanding our population again so soon.”

Abby eyed her speculatively and then said,
“A pity that there wasn’t another Hunter for you. You’ve been alone
for so long, it would have been nice to see you have someone to
enjoy life with as well.” Abby knew her spoken words were
dangerous, because she knew that such words could trigger the fiery
temper that Ellanara had, but usually kept controlled most of the
time.

Abby was surprised by her friend’s reaction,
most notably because it didn’t contain an outburst of temper. All
Ellanara said to Abby in reply was, “It’s been arranged.”

Abby watched Ellanara unconsciously touch
the simple gold necklace at her throat, which Abby knew contained
the two inscribed rings that had been her brothers and his wife’s
once. They’d also been her father’s and her mother’s at one point
in time, but that had been a long time ago.

Abby watched Ellanara closely under the
guise of not seeming to do so. She knew more about those rings than
she was allowed to say. She knew several other things as well, but
she had been sworn to never tell Ellanara and so she kept hold of
her secrets, even though it was very hard to do.

Sometimes Abby felt like she was betraying
her good friend of so many years by not telling her what she knew,
but this was how her father Tadias had wanted it to be. Abby above
all else was loyal to her father’s wishes first, even if it meant
breaking the bonds of a close friendship.

The journey through space stretched into a
month and then two and then a third. Two things became clear,
everyone was heartily sick of being cooped up in the bar-Trinity
and every newly claimed wife was pregnant. The last was both a
happy occurrence and a distressing one for Loric. Happy over the
new life and the promise that it would bring, but worried about all
the fears and insecurities of their fragile existence out here in
space and their ability to protect the new lives that would be born
here.

He lay awake in the small bed consumed by
the worries of protecting so many new innocent little lives and
vulnerable mothers. Even with all the worry about the future he
didn’t regret for a moment in deepening his relationship with Kana
and more than that he didn’t regret on her making him a father
soon.

He was actually looking forward to being a
father. It was a scary proposition in some ways and he wasn’t
really sure what it all entailed, but it didn’t keep him from being
eager to find out. Kana stirred against him and he let his eyes
travel down her. She was so beautiful!

His eyes drifted down to the gentle out
swelling of her stomach and he couldn’t resist laying his hand
against her belly, as he marveled at the new life that lay growing
beneath his hand inside the woman he loved. Life couldn’t get any
better than it was in this moment surely. Loric noticed that Kana’s
eyes were open, as she watched him gently rubbing her slightly
rounded belly.

She smiled broadly at his notice of her
alertness and said, “You want to be a daddy so much don’t you?”

Loric nodded his head quickly unashamed.

Kana turned around to face him and said
looking directly into his eyes, “No matter how much our children
come to love their wonderful daddy the fact stays the same that you
were mine first, Mister Ta’lont!” She finished with a possessive
smile.

He matched her smile and pulled her over on
top of him, “Getting jealous Mrs. Ta’lont? I’m forever yours you
know that.”

“I want to hear you say it.” She said with a
teasing smile.

“I’ll do better than that, I’ll show
you.”

Ellanara didn’t like what she was seeing.
Had they but left one scene of destruction to settle in
another?

She had scanned the entire planet for any
sign of current human habitation and found none. All she’d found
were ruins, such as the one they now glided over top of. It was the
largest ruin and she would’ve liked to have seen it in its glory,
because it must’ve been a spectacular city to behold.

Something about its ruins bothered her
though. She’d analyzed them several times and she kept coming up
with the same answer. The culture that had once lived here and that
must’ve numbered into the many millions had neither been of her
ancestor’s lineage or of the Orlandian’s lineage. It was an
entirely different culture.

Why would the only thing known of the galaxy
in which her ancestors had lived in for thousands of years be the
location of this planet that only bore the remnants of a foreign
culture? Something wasn’t adding up right.

Why would Tadias have not left better
description of the worlds of this system and what had taken place
here. There had been a great battle in this galaxy, but that was
the gist of all that she knew, other than that her ancestors had
lost it. She had certainly found evidence of that battle in the
ancient past. The space around the planet was a jumble of debris
that must have once been defensive weapon arrays and airships.

Where had all the people gone? Had they all
been killed and then if so by whom?

Ellanara initiated the landing of the
bar-Trinity at the outskirts of the once great city. They would
investigate the city in the morning. Hopefully there would be clues
as to discerning what had taken place here so long ago. Her mind
seized on something for a moment and she clutched at her head at
the sudden wrench of her thoughts.

Loric steadied her and she could hear him
asking if she was all right. Was she?

She wasn’t sure, but she nodded anyway and
pushed away from him and completed the task of landing the ship.
Abby came up alongside of her with a look of concern and asked,
“What was that about? You looked…….” Abby trailed off not finishing
her words.

Ellanara looked at her, “I looked like
what?” She asked breathlessly.

“Out of control.” Abby responded in a
whisper.

Ellanara looked down biting at her lip hard.
That described exactly how she’d felt and she didn’t like it at
all! She’d only sensed the presence of something or someone for a
moment, as if her thoughts had been in the process of being delved
through and she had panicked and the intruding presence was
suddenly gone, but she had been shaken to the core.

It was agreed that the investigation of the
city would commence in the morning, which Ellanara suddenly was not
looking forward to like she had been earlier. She begged leave and
escaped to her quarters not wanting to be around anyone for a
while. She felt the questioning gaze of Loric on her, as she left
the room, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to get away.

It was dark and the night was silent. The
strangers’ ship was softly illuminated in the darkness, which was
foolish of them. I sensed that they could not know the condition of
the times that had befallen these worlds, or surely all the lights
would have been off. They had much to learn, if they intended to
survive.

I stepped through the night confidently
towards the impressive ship, careful to be quiet lest I alerted the
guards of my presence. They could not see me because of the
cloaking device I carried, but they could still hear me as I walked
so my feet found their way cautiously in the dark.

The guards outside had the look and presence
of extremely capable warriors. It was not their fault that I had
slipped through their defenses. You can’t guard against what you
can’t see. How bitterly well I had learned that lesson.

I walked up the lowered access ramp directly
into the ship’s interior. Everyone else must’ve been retired for
the night, as the ship seemed devoid of active life. I had sensed
in my scans equal numbers of males to females with their just being
one extra female in the group. There were surprisingly few people
for such a large ship. I had noted that all of the other females,
except for the one, had the unique signature indicative of another
life growing from within.

I looked at the motherhood status of the
majority of the woman, as a positive clue, as to these people’s
moral framework. If the men could still be unabashedly held by the
charms of their women than as a society they had clearly not
rotted, as the Orlandian’s had long since done.

There was one other entity that I had sensed
in my scans, a network program. Not just any network program, it
was in fact the most powerful one I had ever encountered and I
guarded against it most, as it would likely see directly through my
cloaking.

The network system appeared out of nowhere
directly ahead of me in the form of a modestly dressed woman, which
was far different in appearance than most Orlandian systems were
known to showcase themselves by. It was another positive sign, but
I did not like the fact that I had been found out.

I wasn’t sure why I found myself hesitating
to push the kill switch button by my side that would de-integrate
her network pathways and stop her from alerting the crew to my
presence. The system performed a perfectly coordinated ceremonial
bow before me that had been a custom of my people for an untold
number of centuries.

With her head still lowered the system said,
“Welcome Salanicus, son of the last Salaheyin King, only heir to
the throne of the mighty Sallaconese people.”

I stared at her trying to hide my surprise,
“How do you know of me? You are strangers to these worlds are you
not and why is it yet that you seem familiar to me?”

I’d analyzed her again, I was beginning to
doubt whether she was a network at all, because there were several
key differences within her makeup. She looked up at me and I could
see fear on her face that she didn’t bother to hide, her further
openness only served to impress me further. She was unlike any
system I had ever encountered. She had an air of honesty to her
that had long since been absent in any Orlandian design of
technology.

She spoke, “You have not seen me before, but
it is likely that you recognize me because you saw my father, whose
name you were named for as your middle name, which is Tadias.”

My nostrils flared wide, as I sucked in
breath, even as hot seething anger boiled throughout my being in a
silent roar of hate filled wrath. So the cowards among all nations
had finally returned at long last! The Vallian scum had returned to
inspect their handiwork!

I felt myself begin to descend into a
killing rage and every weapon on me lit up. The network flung
herself onto her knees before me crying and sobbing in desperation,
“Please! Please don’t! Don’t hurt them!”

I reached for my cane, just as something
blew across my face. I snatched the object out of the air. It was
the flower blossom from earlier. What did it mean?

God surely couldn’t want me to spare the
lives of these murderous wretched cowards, but what else could the
sign of the blossom mean? I crushed the blossom in my hand.

Trying valiantly to fight down my hatred for
these people I looked down into the network woman’s eyes and asked,
“Why? Why should I spare your wretched lives? Tell me, I want to
know!”