James Somers - Heir to the King

When he stood and turned to return to the lift, Merin was standing there almost on top of him. Resnoir only had a moment before Merin caught his head with his hands and quickly turned it hard to snap his neck. The body fell to the ground dead.

Merin tapped the switch to open it with his elbow and pushed the body inside. He picked up the metal container from the floor that he had carried the symbyte tissue down in and threw the empty casing inside with Resnior's body.

After shutting the chamber door again he switched the incinerator on and turned to leave. He reached down on his abdomen and began to close the uniform shirt he wore. Underneath it, fluid from the symbyte tissue began to bleed through the cloth. He covered it up with his vestment and walked to the lift, letting the doors close behind him.

A Horva wasn't a hospitable body for Lucin to inhabit. Another would have to be found before the man's natural defenses could respond. Fortunately this planet had many to offer.

DATE: The Year 9042 (Planet Castai-Rex)

THERE was a steady wind blowing across the plains that night that caused Wynn to stoke up the fire that burned inside the custom pit within his living room. The whole space was very open and he liked it that way. The whole back wall was capable of opening up onto the courtyard beyond where he liked to train and teach his personal students.

Many of the soldiers in the Castillian army had decided to extend their training into the Barudii warrior arts, well beyond the normal military regimen. The war had been over for fifteen years now and the military had been on stand down since two years after the last of the Baruk were disposed of. The soldiers reported for regular training but were otherwise free to conduct their own personal lives.

An increasing number of the soldiers had become interested in knowing more about the concepts and tactics used by the Barudii of long ago and had began to come to Wynn for the training. He had been reluctant at first, but as his duties lightened with the end of the war and more people turned to him for additional training, he had decided to begin his own formal program. It brought him a nice income and provided him another means of keeping his own skills up while contributing to the overall well-being of the people.

Wynn sat at his desk near the screened wall leading to the courtyard, which was bathed in moonlight. He liked the feel of nature and tried to keep his home as free from overt technology as was convenient. He wrote upon paper to complete the idea as he formed his lessons to give to his students. Only one of them possessed Barudii psychokinetic abilities, but still they were mastering the ancient fighting techniques that predated the kinesis.

The fire flickered with the wind as he continued his writings in preparation for tomorrow's class with his students. He began to sense something around the edges of his consciousness, and the feeling that something or someone was approaching. He stopped his writing but did not move otherwise. His eyes closed as he tried to fix his mind on what was nearby. Then he had it; a brutish form of the Horva was within the confines of his perimeter wall around the courtyard.

This dangerous form of Horva had managed somehow to survive in the wilds of the planet and only rarely did they venture into populated areas when their food shortages ran low. It appeared one was hunting for food on his property now and likely he was the intended meal.

Wynn stood looking out into the courtyard and with his mind he cut the lights around him, leaving only the firelight flickering behind him. His eyes quickly began to adapt to the moonlight beyond in the courtyard. He could not see anything moving yet with his eyes, but his mind was focusing in on a life form; definitely one of the feral Horva.

His blade leapt off of a wall mount across the room into his outstretched hand as he opened the courtyard access door mentally. Wynn moved quickly and silently into the courtyard toward the figure hiding in the foliage beyond. Suddenly he sensed the creature coming down fast on him from behind. He whirled with his blade, igniting it in mid-swing. He sliced the air behind him but there was no attacker. He searched quickly with his mind but could not sense anyone else at all now.

Wynn was completely perplexed. He had been quite sure of his senses and now he was out here cutting air in the dark like a fool. Suddenly he sensed something again, but it was a different form. He could clearly sense a bathosphore coming up behind him. He whirled again, expecting to find it there, but again there was nothing.

"What's going on here?" he muttered.

Then he heard something approaching, rolling across the ground. He looked to see a wooden ball twice the size of his fist rolling toward him. Simultaneously there were six others coming from directions all round him. He could sense that they were nothing more than wood and yet they were under some control. He realized what was going on just as the balls leapt off the ground to attack him.

He brought his blade to bear as he dodged several of the fast moving objects that began to swirl about him. As they came at him he struck them each in turn, disintegrating them until only one was left. As it came at him again, he seized it with his own mind, halting its advance.

"Alright, Kale, where are you?"

Then he sensed someone coming from behind to attack and he turned to find nothing again. Realizing another trick he turned back in time to meet the real attacker's ignited kemsticks. The dark clad figure was furiously flourishing double sticks at him. He tried to meet the strikes, but they were so fast the light blurred together like a wall of neon in the dark. How had his attacker masked his presence so well and made Wynn sense other creatures instead?

Wynn was beginning to lose ground in the fight and pushed out with his mind against the attacker. The figure sailed backward through the air, flipped over under control and landed on his feet again. Then he linked the ends of the kemsticks together, forming a staff with kemblades at either end.

The attacker sent the staff spinning at his head. He ducked below as it passed inches over his head and thrust the tip of his blade upward to slice both of the linked hilts. The weapon fell into pieces as the dispersion fields shut down and it spun off to the ground. Wynn looked back to find Kale was gone.

"So, trying to get a little surprise practice in, hmm?" he said to himself as he extinguished his blade with a sly smile and walked back into his house. He was amazed by the young man's ability to disguise his presence and trick Wynn's senses so effectively. I think the trials tomorrow will be very interesting indeed.

WHEN Mirah had prepared the morning meal she called for Tiet, then she walked to their son's room to call him. The door opened, and beyond, in the large room that contained a bed, some personal effects and room enough for personal training-sat her thirteen year old son, Kale, polishing up his personal set of kemsticks. He didn't look up as she came in.

"Good morning, Mother."

"Are you hungry Sweetheart?"

"In a minute. I have to finish prepping for the trials."

"Today's the day, are you excited?"

He looked back and smiled then. "Is Father eating a big breakfast? He's going to need it today!"

"I think your father has been ready for this day since the day you were born."

"He won't go easy on me, will he?"

"He loves you more than just about anyone. Knowing how much this means, he won't let up at all."

"Good."

Mirah turned and walked back to the dining room, leaving Kale to finish his preparations. This day was the biggest day in a young Barudii's life; the trials confirmed one as a man and a warrior, worthy to fight in real combat if necessary.