Marcael: A Terraneu Novel, Book Five (4 page)

“My name is Marcael.” He stated when Brennae asked who he was. He was so
captivated by her that he was surprised he had even noticed her attempts at
getting to his weapon. If she had managed to get his Un’bah and stabbed him
with it, he would have deserved it. The dagger of the Kings Knight was something
he had managed to keep all these years. It would have been ironic if she had
managed to kill him with it.

Dragging his attention to Brennae he was taken by surprise when she threw
both arms around his neck and squealed, “Marcael? Not
the
Marcael?” She
was squeezing his neck so hard that he wondered that this might be a trick to
strangle him to death.

“I am not sure if I am
the
anything. I am just Marcael.” He was
hesitant to try to pry the female from around his neck, she felt rather good
hugged against him.

“Baylech has told us so much about you!” She was talking quickly in her
excitement, “You are all he talked about for years and years. I was too young
to remember it, but my family and the councils always bring you up.” Wiggling
in his grip he was not sure what she wanted until she said, “Can you please put
me down.”

When he complied, she made sure to cover her chest, looking shyly at him
under her lashes. Hiding behind his back, she hurriedly put on her dress and
then moved back to face him. “You are a whispered legend around the swimming
pond.” Trying to move around him to the other males, Marcael put his hand on
her arm to stop her. Looking at him she said, “You can let my brothers and
Barrett free now. I know you have a mind freeze on them. I have seen my father
and brothers do it before too. Doesn’t it take a lot of focus to keep them
still like that? They usually never shut up.” She laughed a husky sound that
filled the oasis.

Marcael was stunned that one female could say so
much in such a short time. He tried to regain control of the conversation.
“Hold on please. Did you say
Baylech
told you about me?”
 

“Yes. The entire community of Terraneu has heard
about you. Baylech was one of the men that came through the port pad during the
Antilles attack.” He barely held back a snort of laughter, was she going to
tell him about the mission when he had been there and given the assignments?

“I know about his mission. I am just surprised he
survived.” Marcael stated.

“He was saved by our medical unit. He has been
living in Terraneu all these years.” Brennae grabbed his hand and he looked at
her golden skin, frail and tiny against his much larger pale one “We need to
take you to my father—”

“I am not going to Terraneu.” He stopped short, “but
I will release the hold I have on the males.”

Speaking to
the males in the clearing with him he said,
“I am going to let you free from
the mind freeze I have you under.”
Leveling his gaze on Barrett,
“You
will not move from the grassy bank or speak at all. I have not forgotten what I
saw
—
”

“What exactly did you see?”
One of the
brothers raged at him in mind.

 
“
How long
exactly were you on the other side of the swimming pond?”
He was not sure
if it was the same brother or the other that asked that.

 
“
Who are you anyway?”
He was not going to
bother to answer the questions the three were shouting at him.

“Is this how the families of Terraneu have raised
their sons to act? To molest a female when she says she is not interested?”
He
yelled back at them.

“It was our mind freeze that stopped Barrett when
you barged into the oasis.”

“We value honor and our females. We would never
condone harassing one. It is against all of our laws to hurt one.”

“I was not mol
—
”
Barrett went to
defend himself but immediately stopped when Marcael’s icy glare landed on him.

“You will be silent.”
Marcael roared. His
temper was at the limit of its endurance.

“Stop doing that!” Brennae yelled at the three men.
“You are talking in mind and it’s incredibly rude! Knadyn...Knacayn...! I won’t
be left out of the conversation.”

He turned his gaze to the tiny female and was
astonished at the violet sparks her eyes were shooting at the males. She had
her hands on her hips, her lips pursed and he found her entirely enchanting.

“Brennae—” one of the brothers groaned, he would
have said more but Marcael stopped him.

“She is correct. We are being inconsiderate.” With a
formal bow to the little female, he turned to her brothers. “I apologize for
locking you in mind for so long. I needed to know whom I was dealing with. I am
not sure if you heard us talking therefore I will introduce myself, I am
Marcael.” He did a formal bow to the brothers, not surprised this time when
they smiled widely at him.

“The Marcael?” One of the brothers returned the bow,
“I am Knadyn.”

“I am Knacayn.” The other brother moved with his
identical twin closer to him.

“There is not much time to prepare.” Marcael stated.

“We should get father—” Brennae started to say.

“He is already here.” Marcael said just as another
voice rang out.

“I am already here.”

The little females eyes swung from the male coming
out of the jungle back to him, “How did you know?”

“My armor is equipped with EMP technology. No
cloaking device works for a hundred yards around it. Also he has been trying to
get into my mind.” Marcael turned to face the man who would have been King of
Hedal.
“It will do you no good to try to hold me with your mind. You would
not be successful.”
He hit his closed fist across his chest and bowed low
in the salute a guard gives his King.

Kniam spoke aloud as he walked closer. “We have
taken on an Earth custom of shaking hands in greeting.” He held his hand out
and with a questioning look Marcael took it. In his mind Marcael heard,
“I
will not try to control you again.”
Before he could bring his hand back,
Kniam held it in a firm grip then moved it up and down. “It is nice to finally
meet you Marcael, I am Kniam.”
 

“As I am happy to be able to serve you again —”
Marcael began but stopped when Kniam raised his eyebrow.

“We gave all that up when we left Terra all those
years ago. Our lives have been different here on Terraneu. You do not have to
salute me or call me your King.”

“How would you like me to address you?” Marcael’s
head was spinning. They did not consider themselves Kings or Princes. It seemed
that the he would have a lot to adjust to when this was over, if he managed to
survive that is.

“You may call me by my given name.” Kniam smiled at
him.

“And the others that are still in the trees?”
Marcael asked. “How should I address them?”

Kniam choked back a burst of laughter and called
out, “You can all come forward. We have much to discuss and I’m sure Marcael
will agree not much time.”

Marcael watched as the Princes he was to have served
and two others came out of the trees. When he saw Baylech, he suddenly smiled.

“Baylech?” Striding forward he grabbed the man into
a bear hug, and then smacking his back he looked at the changes time had
wrought on his friend. “Brennae said you had survived.”

“Yes.” Baylech returned the embrace, “I did as you
asked and sabotaged the ANT as much as possible. How has life been on the
Elyon?”

Marcael snorted, “Same as always.” He noticed that
the other males were all standing around watching them. “Sorry, we can catch up
on another day perhaps. Today we are running out of time and I would have a
plan agreed upon.”
 
Turning back to Kniam
he said, “I have an idea on how to finish this madness with Knuan but I need
your help.”

“I will be of whatever assistance I can. What do you
need me to do?” Kniam offered without even asking what would be required.
Marcael’s chest burned painfully at how much like his father this son was.

“Baylech has probably told you that the Elyon will
not function without Knuan. If we kill him, the ship puts all life support on
minimal, locks down all systems and clones a new one. There is nothing we
haven’t tried to end this before getting here, and we lost good men in the
attempts.”

“Why not use self-destruct and blow the ship up?”
Barrett yelled from his spot on the grass.

“You read too much fiction if you think a real ship
traveling in space has a ‘self-destruct’ button on it. What next level kind of
idiot puts that kind of thing in their design?” Marcael snapped.

“What about sacrificing—”

“Enough!” Kniam yelled and he turned his glare from
Barrett to look over at him. “We are not going to second guess decisions made
by Marcael and his men when we know not what their experiences have been. There
will be no more ‘sacrificing’ anything in the attempts at stopping Knuan. We
will work together, we will succeed at ending this, and then we move on with
our lives.”

Marcael might grow to like this leader, it was shame
that the feeling was not likely to be mutual. “As I was saying, I have a plan
that will work.” He turned his back on the grassy bank, his eyes going over the
four brothers. “Knuan trusts me… he will not see what I have in mind coming.”

One of the brothers strode forward to shake his
hand, “Can you tell me why he trusts you this much?” Knollig asked.

Marcael grimaced, “Because I killed your father and
the happiness it gave me is one of the favorite memories Knuan likes me to play
back for him in mind when he grows bored.”

He heard the little female let out a gasp that was quickly drowned out by
the shouts of the males. The oasis was echoing their angry words around.
Marcael blocked them all out, he would wait for it to calm before trying to
talk again.

“I don’t believe it!” Brennae shouted. Marcael turned his gaze to her.
Her violet eyes looked into his deep blue ones, searching for something. “I
don’t believe you.” She whispered fiercely.

Feeling a faint call in his mind he looked up, beyond Brennae to the
forest, he forced his face to become impassive and his gaze icy. They were no
longer alone in the oasis. Colle had tried to warn him the other search parties
were moving to his location but Marcael had been blocking him out. His eyes
flew to Brennae, she had her cloaking device and daggers but only the blades
would do her any good now.

In mind, he yelled to Kniam and
the others,
“Fight only the males that attack you, the others are loyal to
me.”
Aloud he yelled, “The Princes are the priority!” He drew his
weapon. To Brennae he whispered, “Do not bother to cloak they can see you, but
run Brennae!” He reached out a hand and traced his fingers along her face. “Run
now!” He put all the desperation he felt in his voice and that got her moving.
Keeping one eye on the female, he joined the fight. He needed to kill all six
of the men loyal to Knuan or this would be a disaster. Putting his face shield
back up he joined the fray. Moving toward the men like a shadow of death, he
saw a male materialize right in front of the fleeing form of Brennae.

“Leave the female, the Princes are the priority!”
He shouted in
mind sure that the male would listen but he was too far-gone in his frenzy.

“I shall take her to the Elyon.”
The male shouted back,
“Knuan
will reward me.”

“
NO!”
Marcael went to freeze his mind but it was too late. The
male had already initiated transport back to the Elyon, just as he wrapped his
arms around Brennae. The last thing Knuan saw before he went berserk were
violet eyes huge in her pale face, her mouth screaming as she reached a hand
for him. Then she was gone from the clearing. He thought he might have heard
the males of Terraneu all in various degrees of anguish yell her name too.

He had never lost control in combat and that was saying something. He had
been in countless battles, but after seeing Brennae disappear something in his
mind snapped. He killed the other five of Knuan’s men. He knew he had done it
because he was covered in their blood, and there were dead men all over the
clearing. The Princes...no the men of Terraneu, they did not want the title of
Prince, were all around him standing at a wary distance. The only male that
dared come close was Colle.

“Marcael?” His friend was staring at him concern written all over his
face.

He stood there with his blades dripping blood, then shook his head and
turned his eyes to his friend. “Get your armor off. You also Mallex.” His men
instantly started stripping off their clothes. Walking toward the men of
Terraneu, he cleaned off his daggers. They immediately took up a defensive stance
against him.

“What do you think to do?” Kniam asked coldly.

“I cannot go back to the Elyon without the blood of some males of
Terraneu on my blades!” He snapped. “As good as you think you are Knuan will
not believe that you defeated his best scouts without injury!” He stopped
before the males and waited. “The longer you stand there, the longer your
female is on the Elyon without protection.” Just saying it made his blood cold.

It was the magic words. The males all ripped off their arm plates and
held them out.

“I only need a couple of you.” Cutting Knaleg, Knollig and Thian he
turned to hurry back to his friend. Using his taser set at highest level, he
shot the material of Colle and Mallex’s armor so it would look as if they had
suffered fatal battle wounds. Replacing the weapon in its holster he told his
friends, “You two are staying. I need twelve hours then send help to this
oasis. If we are successful in escaping from the Elyon, this is where you will
find us. Twelve hours Colle!”