James Somers - The rise of Lucin

As they came around one of the buildings with shots pinging against the concrete all about them, Tiet noticed a large drain of some kind running below the street. Just ahead of them, he saw a metal plate that covered an access point to the large pipe below and he seized it with his thoughts.

The cover obeyed and jutted up into the air long enough for them to jump through into the pipe below. The cover came down quickly, but fitted back into place softly to avoid any noise that might give away their escape route. The tunnel stood tall enough for the pair to stand upright. Tiet reached out with his mind in either direction and found that one way ran out of the city to the east.

"It's this way. Come on." He began to jog down the pipe with Emil right on his heels. He ignited his kemstick for light and away they went to find Kale, he hoped.

The hover vehicle they rode in wasn't nearly as fast as he was used to, but Kale found it enjoyable anyway. Juli sat across from him in the large rear compartment while her father piloted the craft from the front.

"Are you sure you're not cold?" she asked.

He shook his head, though his lips may have been quite blue by now. She had the compartment canopy open about halfway and there was snow everywhere around them. Fortunately, his uniform was well insulated and the thermal fibers incorporated within the garment made it suitable for such environments.

Still, it was cold. Juli seemed to be quite used to this sort of weather; thoroughly enjoying the cool wind whipping through her shoulder length auburn hair. Kale thought the sight of her quite nice, though he never would have said so.

The intercom chimed into the compartment with the voice of her father, Olson. "We'll be arriving very soon, young master. If you have any favorites for supper, I can call ahead to my good wife and she will prepare it tonight?"

"Anything would be fine, thank you."

Kale liked this Olsen Barone and his daughter. They had been the only ones willing to trust him among the citizens of the town, even though he had saved them all from their enemies.

Within another fifteen minutes, they arrived at the Barone family's small home, surrounded by snow and trees. This is nice, Kale thought as he scanned the hills around them. The snow had begun to fall again in great flakes, nearly the size of his hand.

Olson put his arm around Juli as they walked from the vehicle toward the wooden house. Kale thought of his own father, far away, without any clue where his own son was. He felt quite sad and guilty at having done this to his parents, but his dreams of murder and the symbyte lying semi-dormant within, cured him of it. This was still for the best.

"Come, Master Kale, Mamma will have something hot for us to warm your bones."

When they entered the house, the scent of burning wood and the wonderful aroma of food filled Kale's nostrils. He had been hooked like a hungry fish. He supposed his last home cooked meal had been before the trials back home-before the symbytes had put them on the run.

An older woman version of Juli met them inside. "Supper's ready, everyone!" she shouted as she hurried back to her cooking. "Juli, help Master Kale to find a spot and then help me in the kitchen."

Juli found him a seat at the small table, big enough to seat about six people then headed off to help her mother. The house was very cozy and warm, with a fire burning in the stone hearth. Even the inner walls remained bare wood of some kind-primitive but peaceful. It reminded Kale of Wynn Gareth's former home for its lack of overt technology.

Wynn had always hated the gleam of it. The old Barudii master enjoyed technology only as a necessity and he had often taken Kale out into the mountains to train for weeks at a time. Even Wynn's Barudii blades and kemsticks were handled in etched wood. Kale had often noted that the ancient Barudii warriors had used adomen blades alone and were still quite deadly even without the use of molecular dispersion fields and pulse blasters.

Juli and her mother soon returned to the table with a number of steaming dishes full of food that smelled even better sitting in front of his face. Kale sat next to Juli's father who heaped his plate and passed the dishes around to him. Kale supposed he would enjoy everything they were serving and piled on the food as her father had done.

When they had all been served, Kale waited. They bowed for prayer and thanked Elithias for their provision and blessings and for the promise to someday return and cleanse the worlds.

That touch of prayer made it feel so much more like his home. Kale felt at ease in a world that he had presumed would be a constant fight for his own life. He felt these people were trustworthy and that he might just find some peace here.

Elam had been waiting too long, by the time Dirge walked into the dank room for their supposedly urgent meeting. And when the Agonotti leader approached, he sensed fear and opportunity on his mind. "Has our arrangement been altered?" Dirge asked.

"I'm not sure I follow," Elam said.

"There are several off-worlders interfering with our hunts."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"My men have informed me that you lost several of your Guardians fighting with them in Sector city." Dirge peered into Elam's eyes, his anger ready to erupt at any moment.

"There was a battle, but we chased them away. They are of no consequence to you-I will deal with the problem," Elam said.

Dirge stalked around the room. "Do not play me for the fool, Elam! I know they are your kind."

Elam did not respond.

"I personally saw one of them, a young boy; walk through a portal of light into our world. I followed him and had my own encounter. He is of your kind, with the same power."

Elam still did not respond. He had wondered himself, if it could be possible, that these interlopers were somehow of his own race, but they had all been wiped out years ago. But the man's face in Sector City-he looked so much like his former king and yet he wasn't. And the young male with him-definitely a Horva, yet with powerful psycho kinesis of his own, a trait never known to the clone race. None of it made sense right now, but it would not do to give away his wonderings and certainly not to Dirge.

"Elam, tell me plainly, do you mean to invade our world with your kind? Has our agreement not been mutually beneficial?"

Dirge baited him. Elam sensed fear in the Agonotti's. "The agreement has indeed been beneficial and it is my intention to continue to make it beneficial, for both of us. I do not know what your people have told you, but these intruders will be dealt with by my warriors."

"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?"