War of the Fathers (11 page)

“He’s a fool! We can put an end to the Hunwei war
now.” Rend stopped before he slammed his fist into the rock wall beside the
screen, he hadn’t realized he’d moved over and didn’t need a broken hand on top
of everything else. He stepped out onto his balcony and looked at the city far
below, he needed to clear his head.

“We can’t take the chance it’s not over.” His eyes
narrowed when he noticed metallic flashes moving through the
crowds far below
. Would there ever be any end to the
damage Deren had inflicted? It would take the rest of his life to rid the world
of Deren’s mistakes.

“We’re under attack,” Jbyte said.

“Sensor’s failing? I saw the missiles earlier; it was
nothing to worry about.”

“The palace has been breached.”

Rend turned. “How many? Where are they now?”

“Fifteen and they’re on the second floor. Araz’s men.”

“Why’d you let them get that far?”

“My sensors were disabled.”

“And you didn’t notice?” Rend grabbed his rifle from
the closet and as an afterthought a small blaster that fit into his pocket. It
wasn’t his preferred choice for a backup weapon, but it was better than
nothing. Why did everything always happen at once?

Rend readied his rifle and looked at Jbyte, but Deren
stood before him, frowning. Rend growled, and had taken aim before he
remembered that Deren was dead. Then it was Jbyte again, smiling.

Cursed machine. “Get me General Paet.” She’d picked a
bad time to taunt him.

“It’s not my fault they got in.”

Rend was having a hard time believing that. “Just get him.”

After a brief pause, Jbyte responded. “I can’t get
through. Admiral Joner is blocking any attempts to communicate.”

“Try the other ships.”

“All communications are blocked.”

“Melyah take Joner! Can’t you get around it?”

“You’re the one who insisted I relinquish control of
the fleet computers. Regret that yet?”

Rend didn’t answer as he reached into his pocket,
pulled out his tablet and brought the holographic display to life. If she
couldn’t get through, he didn’t need her any longer. He couldn’t take the risk
that she was involved in the breach.

“I didn’t betray you.” Jbyte disappeared.

Rend blinked. He’d been a few steps away from
imprisoning her, but hadn’t completed the process.

“Jbyte?”

No answer.

Rend brought up a status report for the mainframe server
room. Once the attack had begun, the guard on the mainframe should have
tripled, but instead, the display showed the room had been breached. He should
have received an alert when that happened; it was just further proof of Jbyte’s
instability or treachery. He didn't have time to wonder which.

“Either way, they’ve betrayed you too.” Araz’s men
were targeting the hub. Was he desperate enough to destroy it?

Rend had assumed not, but maybe he was wrong. He made
the adjustments necessary to lock down the mainframe
but
hesitated before completing the action. He was the only one that knew how to
access it once it was secured.

There was no time. Araz would have known about the
protective measures before penetrating the
palace and
would be working to disable them
.
So much
for not being an immediate concern,
he
thought, something is only impossible until someone proves it can be done.
Rend
touched the
display in the air
and completed
the process. He’d waited too long already. The doors forty levels below would
close, the blast shields would follow, rendering them impossible to open and in
minutes the oxygen would be sucked from the room and the intruders would be
dead.

When Rend looked up from his tablet, he realized that
he was no longer alone. His first instinct was to raise is rifle until he
recognized his guard.

“Has the palace been secured?”

They didn’t answer as they leveled
their rifles
at him, took him into custody, and led
him out of his office.

1,192 YEARS SINCE THE SEVERING

As Jorad sat on a stool in a corner of the one room
guardhouse, he realized that he was glad he was in Neberan instead of Zecarani.
If he'd been in Zecarani, the guards would have had a
jail
with a heavy locked door
. The thought buoyed him up a little bit. Things
could have been a lot worse; at least he had a chance of escaping this place
without help.

The guardhouse had a rank smell that reminded Jorad of
sweat and mildew and he wished that the windowless holes in the walls were big
enough to let in more air. The stench combined with the smoke from the
fireplace made the room quite uncomfortable. Several beads of sweat were
rolling down his forehead and he could feel the moisture beginning to
accumulate on his back. He frowned as he looked at the holes and had to keep
from shaking his head. They were too small for him to fit through, so he’d have
to use the door to make his escape.

His sword and scabbard hung on a peg near the entrance
and his stool was on the other side of the room, as far away from the door as
they could put him. When Baurn had demanded that he turn over any other weapons
upon arriving at the guardhouse, he had
immediately
given
up two of his daggers but not said anything about the other two in his boots.
Baurn had accepted the weapons and not looked into it further. It hadn't been
long afterward when Thon, Baurn, and the other guards were relieved of duty and
replaced by
those on the
night watch. He
didn't know how long it had been since Thon and the others had rotated off
duty, but he guessed they'd been gone for no more than an hour.

On their way here from the boarding house Thon had
been withdrawn but whenever he’d looked at Jorad, it was obvious to Jorad that
he would be lucky to make it through the night alive. He was surprised that
Thon hadn't come back yet and was expecting him to come walking through the
door at any moment.

Two of the new guards had been left
to keep an eye on
Jorad while the others had
gone
to patrol the town. Jorad had bitten his tongue
when the guards had gossiped about rumors of strangers in the night.  Before he
had left, Thon had told the new guards in detail about the fight at the Gartel
boarding house. Even though it was a very one-sided account, Jorad hadn't tried
to correct Thon. He didn't want to do anything that would have resulted in Thon
attacking him
again
.

Jorad knew both of the guards that had been left to
watch over him—Gorew and Lel—and they were now warming their feet by the
fireplace.
It was a lucky thing that the Neberan town
guard was comprised of volunteers and they couldn't afford to be picky. Of
the two, Jorad figured that Lel was the weaker. He was tall but there wasn't
much to him. Jorad couldn't help but wonder how he had survived in such a rural
community.

While Jorad had waited for the guards to settle down,
he had considered what he might do to escape but his thoughts had gone in
circles as he dealt with his anger and frustration at the situation. Now that
the guards weren’t paying close attention to him, it was time to make his move.
It would be a simple
matter for him
to grab
the daggers from his boots, but what then? He refused to entertain the idea of
killing them; they were just doing their job
and even
though h
e didn’t know either of them very well, they seemed to be decent
enough.
Th
ey
didn’t deserve to die because of Erro’s lies.

Jorad's belly growled and he
wished that he'd eaten
lunch or dinner
. It was
tough to formulate an escape plan on a stomach that had barely had any food in
the last day. Word should have reached Adar by now of his arrest. When it did,
Adar would come to his aid and Jorad hoped to escape before that happened. Adar
could sometimes be a bit heavy handed in his approach to things and Jorad
didn't want to see anybody get killed.

He was also trying to keep his thoughts off Soret but
he couldn't keep from worrying. He didn't know what more he could do to protect
her from the Hunwei. Once he got out of here, Adar wouldn't be willing to wait
around for him to talk to her. They'd leave immediately, perhaps without
returning to the boarding house to gather their things.

He thought of
Erro and found
that his hands were balled into fists
; he unclenched his hands and took
several deep breaths. There wasn't anything he could do as long as he was here.
Maybe he would get lucky and find Soret with his father. She'd been talking
about convincing her parents to leave with them before Thon had interfered. He
focused on this hope, thin as it was, rather than his
fury
at Erro. He promised himself that if he ever saw Erro again, he wasn't going to
let him get away unscathed.

Gorew and Lel were passing the time by telling stories
and sipping on wine. Jorad figured that this meant that they didn’t seem to
regard him as a
threat.
Lel
almost seemed to have forgotten that he was
there and had been chatting on about gossip involving people that Jorad didn’t
know. News of Jorad’s fight with Tere and the others must not have reached these
men yet; otherwise, they would have been more cautious. So much the better for
Jorad.

Gorew noticed Jorad staring at them.

“Enjoy your last evening,” Gorew said with a growl.

“Have you considered the
possibility that I'm
innocent
?
”

“You attacked Thon. Hardly the actions of an innocent
man.” Gorew was shorter than Lel but about the same height as Jorad. He was a
stocky fellow but Jorad was confident he could handle the man if Lel was taken
care of first.

Jorad didn't respond and he stared at Gorew until he
looked away. Jorad crossed his leg and started to pull the dagger out of his
boot. His heart quickened when Gorew glanced at him again but Gorew went back
to his wine after a few moments.

Once Jorad had finished removing his dagger, he kept
his crossed leg between the dagger and the guards. They were only armed with
staffs and those were leaning against the wall. After he was certain that his
dagger was hidden from their view, he waited, trying to think of an excuse to
get one of the guards to approach him. If he asked for a drink of water, would
they see through it? Lel was a little bit slow, but Gorew might
become even more suspicious than he already was
.
Jorad was just about to try it out when Gorew stood and saved him the trouble
by coming several steps closer.

“You're being awfully quiet over there,” Gorew said, “What
are you up to?”

Jorad looked into Gorew’s suspicious face as
innocently as he could.
So much for trying to
incapacitate Lel first. When
Gorew seemed unlikely to move any closer,
Jorad decided that
it would have to do. He could
cover the distance between them quicker than Gorew could react. Springing off
the chair, Jorad lunged for Gorew but he immediately tripped and fell.

Cursed by Melyah! What he’d do for a little luck now.
He sprung to his feet and took a swipe at Gorew with his dagger, trying to miss
anything
important. Gorew saw it coming and easily
sidestepped the attack.

“Watch out!” Gorew said as Lel started to stand,
blinking in surprise. Jorad charged Gorew, grappled with him for a few seconds
and then had his dagger to Gorew’s throat before Lel had figured out what was
going on.

“Stay where you are Lel.” Jorad eased back towards the
door while keeping a tight hold on Gorew. His dagger was digging into Gorew's
throat
but it
hadn't drawn any
blood because Jorad had angled the edge of the blade away
from the man’s neck.

Lel stopped, the confusion evident on his face. His
mug lay broken on the floor in front of him and red wine had spread out like
blood. Jorad was relieved that he'd been able to take control of the situation
so easily. He hoped that Adar and the others were ready to go so that they
could leave as soon as he found them and he prayed that Soret would be with
them. He almost welcomed the thought of seeing Barc and Hira if that meant that
Soret would be coming.

Jorad had just reached his sword where it hung on the
wall when the door opened beside him. He put his back against the wall and
turned Gorew toward the door.

“Don’t come in or I’ll kill him.”

Thon walked in. “Kill him or not, it doesn’t matter,
you’re a dead man.” He was followed by three men, one of whom held a coil of
rope with a noose tied at the end.

Jorad pushed the dagger tighter to Gorew’s throat who
in turn cried out in terror. It reminded Jorad of the first time he’d
slaughtered a chicken and he almost vomited. This wasn’t Gorew’s fault. It
wasn't even Thon's.

The look in Thon’s eyes dared Jorad to slice Gorew’s
throat. Jorad pressed the dagger and strengthened his resolve; he wished that
he'd acted sooner. He shouldn't have spent so much time letting his thoughts
wander while the guards had settled down.

“Thon, don’t let him kill me! Please--”

“Shut up, Gorew!” Thon said.

Jorad was trying to decide what to do next when
somebody kicked in the door. His first thought was that it was Adar coming to
his aid, but he realized that something was wrong when the end of a black stick
was shoved in through the doorway. An explosion filled the room and a mist of
blood, chunks of bone, and bits of brain matter appeared where Lel's head had
been.

A black armored Hunwei entered the room. He was
several feet taller than Thon and almost double the width of a normal man. He
had to duck as he walked through the doorway. Jorad had never before seen armor
like that which the Hunwei wore. It didn’t appear to be made of metal and the
closest thing he could think to compare it to was rock, but that couldn't be
right either. Armor made of rock would have been impossible to move, let alone
wear. The helmet had a face shield and the Hunwei was looking at them through
clear glass. The helmet only partially covered the monster's neck, leaving room
for him to move his head.

The Hunwei pointed his weapon at one of Thon's men and
another explosion filled the room. Jorad could feel the concussive blast from
the weapon on his exposed skin as he saw the man fall over.

As the other men in the room began to react, Jorad
considered his options. His sword was right beside him on the wall but it was
sheathed and would be unwieldy in the tight quarters of the guardhouse. He
still had his daggers. Could he get close enough to the Hunwei to slip one
between the helmet and the neck guard? Given this new enemy, could he somehow
coordinate an attack with the remaining men? Surely, if the four of them rushed
the Hunwei, they'd be able to bring him down. Jorad discarded the idea, Thon
would sooner kill him. It would have to be the daggers.

 Jorad didn’t have time to act on his plan because the
Hunwei pointed the weapon his way and he was forced to dive to the ground,
pushing Gorew out of the way as he did.

Just after the blast went over his head, Jorad charged
the Hunwei. As he ran, he realized there was a good chance it would be the last
thing he would ever do.
Not to mention the stupidest,
he thought
.
The Hunwei was taking aim at Gorew, giving Jorad just the amount of time that
he needed to close the short distance.

He put his head down and shoulder out as he collided
with the monster. Pain ran through his body and he was afraid that he’d broken
a bone or two in his shoulder. He didn't know what he'd imagined would happen
but he hadn't been expecting it to feel like he'd just charged into a rock. The
Hunwei eyes didn't even register a look of shock.

Regardless of the pain, Jorad threw his weight into
the Hunwei again and managed to cause the Hunwei to lose his balance. Taking
advantage of the opportunity, he pushed off the floor with his feet and into
the monster again. He wasn't sure if it was the force of his attack or the
weight of the beast's armor that caused it to fall, but he felt a surge of hope
when the Hunwei toppled over towards the floor.

He fell in a heap on top of the monster. Even though
his breath was knocked out of him, he didn't wait as he started stabbing at the
neck in between the gap in the armor. The dagger couldn’t penetrate, despite
the fact that he could see rough light brown skin peeking through the cracks.
The crack was big enough that the dagger should have been able to reach it with
ease. The blade of his dagger was stopped just a little bit above the skin and
try as he might, it would go no further.

Screaming in rage and frustration, he tried to break
the glass that covered the Hunwei's face, but his dagger glanced off it without
making a scratch. It wasn't until the third try that he realized that the
dagger wasn't even making contact with the glass either. It was behaving in
much the same manner as when he'd tried to pierce the Hunwei's neck. Was that
laughter he saw in the orange eyes of the beast? The Hunwei flung him off, as
easily as Jorad might have kicked a small dog and sent it flying. Jorad bounced
off a wall before skidding to a halt on the floor.