Blind Anger

Vixx slammed a metal fist onto his desk. 

"The vile wench," he said. "How could we be so blind?" 

Lt. Aske stood there with his hands behind his back and replied calmly, "She is just a child, milord, and her thoughts are still in a chaotic state. It's hard to read them when they are that young. Wisdom and experience set the patterns which entrenches them in the mind, and they are easier to read." 

"Spare me your mumble jumble crap," Vixx said as he spun around. "You of all people should have read her deeply." 

"Well, there were fleeting thoughts," Aske replied. "But she was trained well. Too well in fact." 

"What do you mean?" Vixx whirled about and faced Aske. "Do you mean that we have a traitor in our midst?" 

"No," Aske replied. "Just that she had inside knowledge." 

"Tear this ship apart," Vixx stated. "I want everyone questioned. I want to know exactly what everyone else knows." 

Aske nodded and left with a smile.

Ramming Speed

Kitty stepped into the cockpit and looked at Drake. She glanced at the charts on the wall and then looked up at the stars. Drake was spinning the wheel about, trying to evade the incoming cannons that the pursuing ships had volleyed. 

"Can't you make this bucket of nails and wood go any faster?" she asked. 

Drake looked at her and flashed a smile and a wink. "Any faster and she'll fall apart." 

"I hate to rain on your parade but one more hit from the pursuing ships and we will be falling apart," she replied.  

"Always the optimist," Drake said to her. "They should be here any second now."

Compasses

Vlad hunched to fit his wide shoulders through the small door below-decks on the Nexus Wave. The candlelight shimmered over the smooth, fitted silver of the warrior's enchanted armour. He frowned when he straightened inside the quarters. 

"What are you doing?" he asked his old friend. 

Chem looked up from the stack of parchment. Notes and diagrams scrawled in different inks, corners torn and crumpled, stains from wax and drinks. Chem shrugged and looked back to the writings. 

Vlad took a deep breath. His voice had an edge to it, a mix of anger and concern. "Every member of The Guard has been working towards this day for over a year. All of our spying and hunting and fighting... The discovery that the Vlaniqk were behind the troubles plaguing Citadel, the discovery of Vixx's plans... We wait now for Kitty's return and the beginning of the final strike against our most dreaded enemies..." 

Chem sighed, interrupting Vlad. "And yes, I'm here reading old journals about memories that may not even be true." 

Vlad sat on the bunk beside the smaller, leaner man. Once Chem had been a rogue adventurer and Vlad his barbarian ally, wandering between the walled cities of an untamed world, seeking risk and reward. Over the years they had somehow become so much more. Champions of a mighty fortress in the dark beyond the sky. Heroes of a hundred worlds. The Commanders of The Guard. Yet whenever peace dawned on the horizon Vlad would leave on one of his nomadic walkabouts, returning as he did almost two years ago when the horns sounded the call. And whenever that call went out, when it was time again to become saviours, Chem would always return to these journals.  

Vlad could not judge him; they each had their own quests and their own questions. "Do they yield any more clues?" he asked. 

Chem shook his head. "They never do." 

A call came from above-decks. "Flares sighted!" 

The two friends climbed quickly and joined the others. Dakk was perched on the shoulder of his Golem, Bekki, giving her a final polish before suiting up. Torvel, the captain, strode over to meet Vlad and Chem.  

Torvel was a minotaur, huge and hoofed and horned, but only a few inches taller than the massive Vlad. "It's Drake's vessel, on course. Carrying both Kitty and the key." 

Vlad grinned. "She did it." He looked down at Chem. "We will have battle soon."

Child's Play

The wood of the wheel was rough under his slender fingers. He let it remind him of tree-bark. The feeling of climbing trees in the forests of his homeworld. He let the memories of the movement echo through his arms, his chest. 

Rand watched as the elf slipped into trance. He looked over his shoulder to check the sail; it was taught, slicing and dragging through the invisible etheric winds. The rudder on the arcanium drive twitched back and forth as Drake's hands gently shifted the wheel one way then another. 

Drake's memories carried him back through battles against goblins, perched in the trees, firing arrows down upon the savage enemies. The tension of draw and release rippling through his arms.  

Rand saw the rudder shake, the ship tilting slightly. He glanced at his long-time partner and friend, hoping the trance took him where he needed to get to soon. 

Farther back still, the long years and years of an elfin life, the swirling fugue of memories, ebbing and flowing in his mind and his body, streaming from the feel of his hands on the wood. Before the battles, play. Childhood games in the treetops with his kin. Running along branches and throwing... yes, the movement surging in his arms... throwing and catching a dagger... A game, a test of skill.

The right memory of balance and precision and focus. 

Rand saw Drake's eyes snap open.  

In the vast sky of stars and darkness and shimmering waves, Drake focused on the three bright stars, shining like the glint of a blade spinning through the air. He grasped the wheel and let the memories of ancient movements run through his arms. And steered the ship towards the place she should be falling...

Cosmic Queen

She drifted into the air, arms open to guide her. She was free like a bird in the sky but she had no control. She moved her arms to guide her like a swimmer in a vast sea. Trying to gain as much distance as her momentum could carry her. Kitty was glad to be free and out in the solitude of space. She had spent thirteen months working her way around the Vlaniqk's command ship and gaining the trust of its captain and crew. 

She kicked with her legs, wishing now that she had brought the flippers with her. An alarm began to echo in her ears; she didn't glance back at all since that would only slow down her pace and she wanted to get as far away from the ship as possible.

Star Swimming

Kitty twisted her waist and slipped through the narrow bars of the vent, one arm hooked through, holding tight. The hull of the massive ship was dented and scorch-marked, the crimson paint chipped and scratched. There was a cannon bay to her left and to her right the hull curved upwards to the foredeck. She had kept her grey tabard on; if anyone saw her she might be able to keep her cover for a few moments. If her timing was right, Drake would be sailing the small escape vessel into position right now. Out there in the softly glowing dark of space. 

Kitty got her bearings, found the three bright stars that marked her route. Vixx would be discovering his missing belongings any moment. She listened back through the vent for sounds of alarm. 

The ether tickled her throat and lungs as she tried to keep her breathing steady, like Maus had taught her when they were little... She was doing this for Citadel, for the Lady Serisia, and for Chem and the kindness he had shown her; but the deepest reason she was risking her life, the real reason she did everything, was for her sister.  

Kitty heard shouting echo down the vent. She checked the three stars once more, hoping that the elf was still as good a pilot as he once was. 

And then she pushed off the hull of the ship and into the sky.

The Stain

Kitty stood in the hallway looking up at the ceiling as Vixx came walking past. Vixx stopped and looked to the ceiling where Kitty was looking. 

"What do you see?" Vixx asked. 

"Ummm," Kitty replied. "Don't you see it?" 

Vixx stared harder at the ceiling trying to locate what she was looking at. A crack or a hole or even a stain. Nothing. 

"What is it?" Vixx inquired, hinting that he had seen it. 

"You're the expert," Kitty said. "You tell me." 

Vixx straightened up and looked at Kitty. "Maybe we should get maintenance down here and look into it." 

Kitty nodded and smiled. "Glad to be of service." 

Vixx smiled and winked at the girl. "Nice work kid!" He turned and continued down the corridor. 

As Vixx disappeared around the corner, Kitty brought her hands out from behind her. In one of them she had snatched Vixx's key and in the other she had taken his money pouch. She smiled a wicked smile because she hadn't lost her touch.

Citadel Book Two

Citadel

The Nexus Wave

Taking the Stand

Serisia listened as the voices in the Council Chamber began to rise, to overlap, then to shout and clash. The fear over the Batteries, the concerns over Lt. Stryker, ongoing complaints from the greedy Merchant houses, word of increased crime within the fortress, and now the reports of Chtakan forces mustering on at least seven worlds. They hadn't even addressed the issue of the Prophecy yet. And all the while the cries of her daughter echoed in her mind; the poor child was sick this morning. 

She rose from her seat. Her white-feathered wings snapped open. The debate ceased. 

"Our first response to these growing troubles," she said, her voice both stern and soothing, "will be to reform The Guard."

Encounter at Turncoat

Chem clenched his teeth. He maintained his breathing. He was in a lot of pain but years of battle had taught him not to cry out. Even though the pain felt white hot, he did not dare let any sound escape through his lips. There would be time to curse and swear later, but now wasn't the time nor the place to be doing so. Sweat poured down from his forehead and he wiped his brow with his left arm. His right arm was useless at the moment until he found a cleric. 

His ears picked up the sound of a crunching leaf. So they weren't as stealthy as everyone thought they were. 

He blended in the shrubs and lay there trying to become one with the woods. Like an elf hiding in plain sight as the Chtaka predatory party passed. He knew his chances were pretty slim, but he figured he would try and blend with the surroundings before going out in a blaze of glory. It might work.

Citadel Portraits II

Rand & Drake

Vlad

Bekki & Dakk

Barroom Encounter

Rand dropped down from the stage. The crowd had gone silent and  all eyes turned to him as he made his way through the throng of patrons in the bar, over to the corner where the barbarian sat. 

"You care to repeat that?" Rand asked of the burly fellow. 

You could hear a coin drop on the counter, it was that silent. 

The barbarian turned to face the thin fellow walking towards him. He just shrugged his shoulder and turned back to his tankard. 

"Get back to your job, little man," the barbarian said. "Someone is going to get hurt." 

"You're damn right someone is going to get hurt," the bard said. "You take back what you said and I just might forget about it."

Tales of Yore

Chem stood with his hands clasped behind his back staring out the bay window, watching the ships come in and out of the harbours. He was dressed in formal grays, his hands in white gloves. He would give anything to be on one of those ship heading out to who-knows-where and exploring the other dimensional settings that the ribbons had to offer. But at the moment some other matters were more pressing. 

The door chimed as it opened; he didn't turn around to see who had entered the quarters. 

"Commander Finder," a young ensign said. "You ready, Milord?" 

Chem looked at his reflection in the window. He saw a reflection of a man who had seen so many friends come and go. 

"Commander?" the ensign said after a several long seconds. 

Chem snapped around and picked up his cap on the edge of a chair. "Sorry. I was just remembering a time when matters like these were rare." 

"I gather he was a close personal friend," the ensign inquired.  

"He was like family," Chem replied and followed the young ensign out into the hallway.