Chapter 54
T'Sula heaved against her restraints. She was secured at the wrists, and that tie was fastened to the floor by a meter long length of heavy cord. Her dimly lit prison revealed few other details. Walls of a kind that she had never seen before surrounded her. They were not made of wood, metal, or plaster, but rather a thick membrane that pulsed as if it were alive.
The one other feature that was unmistakable was Malek. He stood halfway across the expansive cell, smiling at T'Sula. He had changed little over the years. His hair had thinned a bit, and streaks of gray shot through his once black beard. There were a few extra pounds around his midsection, but he was fit enough to fight if he needed.
T'Sula glared at Malek, wishing that she could kill him with a mere glance. Taking a deep breath, T'Sula forced herself to relax. She remembered her training with Ch'Lan. She was never to kill in anger. If she was to kill Malek, it would have to be the way that things had to go, or else she was nothing more than a murderer. The mere thought of that was reprehensible. She was better than that. She was better than him. She had to be.
T'Sula forced herself to think of something else. She had to trust Corin. She had to trust that he would keep his word, his end of the bargain. She actually believed that he would come for her. What was it about him anyway? Could he be trusted? Why did she want so badly to trust him, to believe in him?
"Now that you're awake, we can begin." Malek called to her mockingly. T'Sula refocused her attention on him, her tormentor. He strode purposefully toward her, keeping his hands hidden behind his back. "I'll wager that you are wondering what I want with you. Rest assured, I don't want you." his breath stank as he inched close to her face. "I only want what's inside you."
"Touch me, and I'll kill you." T'Sula sneered at Malek, her anger threatening to overwhelm her. Being this close to the man made her skin crawl. T'Sula wanted desperately to hurt him. She wanted to hurt him in ways that he could never recover from. Still, her self-control would not allow her to kill him where he stood. She kept reminding herself that she was better than that. She was better than him.
"Come now, without me, you wouldn't be what you are now." Malek smiled a humorless smile. "You must realize that."
T'Sula had enough. Before she could stop herself, she kicked Malek in the groin, re-chambered her leg, then snap kicked him in the face. His head rocked back with an audible crack, then he dropped, limp to the floor. Instantly T'Sula was in motion, searching Malek for the keys to her restraints. It took only a moment before she found the keys, tucked neatly inside a pocket on the leg of his trousers.
Taking the keys in hand, T’Sula unlocked her wrists and bolted for the door. She took the first step, and then fell hard to the deck.
"You'll have to do better than that." Malek sneered as he pulled on T'Sula's ankle.
T'Sula looked at Malek, and then smashed her free foot directly into his nose. The impact shattered the bone and sent blood spraying across the floor. Malek screamed in shock and pain, releasing his grip on T'Sula's leg. She shot to her feet, keeping a safe distance from her adversary.
Malek took his time as he hauled his bulky frame off the deck. T'Sula watched in awe as Malek's nose healed in the time it took him to stand. It was time for her not to hold back. She warily gauged her adversary, now knowing that she was going to have to use lethal force to stop him.
"You're a dead woman!" Malek screamed at T'Sula, and then rushed her. Before she could sidestep him, Malek tackled T'Sula. She moved with the force of his blow, rolling back onto her shoulders as she hit the floor. Thrusting up with her hips and legs, she threw Malek off her, and sprang to her feet, ready to fight.
Malek landed, stunned, on his back. Growling, he rose quickly, and charged T'Sula again. This time he hit her low. T'Sula spread her legs out into a sprawl, and leaned all of her weight onto the back of Malek's neck. The force of her weight drove him into the deck. Keeping him pinned, T'Sula began to pound her fists into the back of head and neck.
Not giving up, Malek struggled against T'Sula's weight. Making sure to keep Malek pinned as she rotated to his side, she grabbed his right arm with both of her hands, and was able to wrap her legs across his neck and chest. T'Sula tightened her grip on Malek's arm as he struggled, and wrenched back with all of her strength.
Almost instantly, the tendons in Malek’s arm snapped, followed by the crack of his elbow and shoulder ripping out of socket. When she felt the damage being done, T'Sula released her arm bar, and moved to her enemy's head. She picked him up slightly, placing one hand on his chin, and the other at the base of his skull. In one violent motion, T'Sula twisted, snapping Malek's neck.
T'Sula stood and looked down at her tormentor. He had been responsible for so many deaths, so much pain. Was it her responsibility, her right to be his executioner? She could never be certain. Too much had transpired in her life to be certain of anything. She was tired of fighting, tired of constantly being on the move, and tired of being an agent of death.
"Cease your aggressions and comply." the words surprised T'Sula as they thundered inside her mind. There was no sound, only the words in her mind. She felt something move behind her. Slowly, T'Sula turned and came face to face with a Ta'Reeth. She had not seen, or heard the creature come into her cell. She was too intent on fighting Malek to notice what had been happening around her, and now she had to pay the price.
The Ta'Reeth looked her straight in the eyes. It was unlike any Ta'Reeth that she had ever seen. Large, deep set black eyes watched, and gauged her every move. The creature looked vaguely human in build and body type, except there was no mouth. Unlike most other Ta'Reeth, this one was not entirely covered in bone. The armor covered the vital areas, and little more. Smooth gray skin covered the creature, giving it a slightly wet look.
"Come with me." the creature spoke directly into T'Sula's thoughts as it turned away from her.
"No." T'Sula stood her ground. As soon as the word was out of her mouth, the Ta'Reeth spun on its heel, bringing a vicious back-fist aimed at T'Sula's head. She immediately blocked with both of her arms, only to be kicked in the stomach. The force of the kick knocked the breath out of T'Sula's lungs and doubled her over. She recovered quickly enough to barely avoid a double hammer fist to the back of her head.
Stepping back, T'Sula recovered her senses, and gave herself space to work. This creature was faster, stronger, and more skilled than Malek. She would have to be careful. T'Sula sank into a fighting stance, keeping most of her weight on her back foot, and her arms guarding her chest.
"Comply now." again the words resounded inside of her mind. T'Sula focused her thoughts, forcing the creature out of her head. The effort almost cost T'Sula her life. As she concentrated, the Ta'Reeth attacked. She moved back slightly as the talons on the tips of the Ta'Reeth's fingers slashed dangerously close to her throat.
T'Sula's attention came instantly back to the fight. She moved back, away from her attacker, trying to find an opening. As she moved, the creature flawlessly mirrored her movements, almost before she made them. Seeing an opening, T’Sula jabbed with her left, and followed with a right hook. The creature blocked the jab, and evaded the right hook, grabbing T'Sula by the arm and throwing her to the ground.
Momentarily stunned, T'Sula scrambled to her feet. She began her attack instantly. Combinations of powerful kicks, feints, blocks, and punches came at the Ta'Reeth with blinding speed. Every strike was either blocked, or simply evaded. Nothing that T'Sula tried worked.
"Enough!" T'Sula heard Malek scream from behind her. The fighting ground to a halt as Malek stepped forward, keeping his pistol trained on T'Sula. She watched him out of the corner of her eye. He had healed once again, showing no signs that he should in fact be dead.
"You will submit, or you will die right now." Malek growled in T'Sula's ear, jamming the barrel of his pistol into her temple.
T'Sula glanced at Malek, then at the Ta'Reeth. In that instant, something happened that had never happened bef
ore. T'Sula Mir entered the state of Mushin, the level of martial arts mastery of mind no mind, the state of being in which one does not actively think about what they are doing. The body simply acts, unencumbered by conscious thought.
T'Sula spun on her heel, grabbing Malek by the wrist, and crushing his elbow with a palm-heel strike. At the same instant, she struck out at the Ta'Reeth with a powerful sidekick. Wrenching Malek's arm around to his back, she sent him sprawling into her other assailant.
Time seemed to stop as the door opened and a dozen more Ta'Reeth flooded into the chamber. They split into two squads, six in each, flanking the room. She faced the new threat, keeping herself in a side stance, with hidden hand. Reaching into her pocket, T'Sula pulled out the knife that Corin had slipped to her when she had gone with Malek. She flicked the button on the handle, and was rewarded with a gleaming steel blade the length of her palm. The knife felt good, natural in her hand. She deftly spun it, so that the blade was coming out of the hammer side of her fist.
She knew that she could not afford to become surrounded. Each of the new combatants was armed with plasma cannons grafted to its arm. Though they were not the same as the other Ta'Reeth in the room, they were still dangerous. These Ta'Reeth were similar to the others that she had fought on Olcai. Black and gray exoskeletal armor covered their powerful, two-meter tall frames. Four bulbous, black eyes sat equidistant around their mouthless heads.
T'Sula engaged her first opponent. She stepped into her sidekick, adding exponential power to her attack. Her kick landed just below the eye of the first Ta'Reeth, sending it crashing into the wall. Before it could recover, T'Sula drove her knife deep into its eye. The Ta'Reeth quivered, and died before it slumped to the floor.
Yanking her knife free, T'Sula spun and engaged her next adversary. Her enemy had barely enough time to aim its plasma cannon at her, before T'Sula knocked it away. With its core exposed, T'Sula closed the distance. She stepped in close, striking upward, driving her knife through the chin, and into the brain stem.
Pulling her blade free as she moved, T'Sula hurled the body into her next target. The impact sent the shot from the plasma cannon wide, incinerating one of its own. Struggling to free itself from the corpse of its comrade, the Ta'Reeth was helpless against T'Sula's attack. She simply stepped over and stomped the base of its skull, severing the spinal cord from the brain stem.
Blasts from plasma cannons began to burn across the room, leaving blistered, wounded flesh covering the living walls. T'Sula dodged the projectiles effortlessly as she raced to her next assailant. The Ta'Reeth had taken a kneeling position, in order to better stabilize its cannon. This left it unable to move quickly enough before T'Sula was upon it.
Without breaking stride, T'Sula raced over the top of the Ta'Reeth. She sent a vicious elbow down upon the top of its head, forcing the spinal column up into the brain. The creature didn't react. It simply fell on its side, dead.
As she ran, T'Sula hefted her knife, and threw it. The blade sank up to the handle in the eye of another Ta'Reeth. She kept running as she grabbed the knife, and pulled it free. One side of the room was now clear of Ta'Reeth, save for the bodies. Half of her attackers were dead, and she felt no remorse. She stayed in Mushin as she moved through the enemy, not daring to stop. Any hesitation and T'Sula would die.
T'Sula ducked under a blast of plasma, sliding into her next target. As she slid, she scissored her legs, taking the Ta'Reeth down with a thud. It hit the ground, and instantly T'Sula used a knife-edge strike, to crush the creature’s brain stem.
She rolled free of the body and hurled her knife. The blade sank deep into the face of the next Ta'Reeth, wounding it, but not killing the beast. T'Sula rolled up underneath the wounded Ta'Reeth. Driving up with her legs, T'Sula grabbed its plasma cannon, and pulled down as she drove through the elbow with her shoulder.
As she snapped the Ta'Reeth's elbow, T'Sula thrust her hip into the creature and threw it to the ground. Keeping her hold on the arm, T'Sula forced an arm bar. She then chambered her foot and thrust it hard against the chin of her foe, snapping its neck with a sickening crack.
Glancing up, she saw Malek standing over her. She threw herself clear of the body, sweeping her legs past Malek's, knocking him to the ground. As he hit the ground, T'Sula grabbed his legs and rolled his feet to his ears. Taking her knee, she thrust it into the small of his back again and again, stopping only when she heard a rewarding crunch.
Looking up from Malek, T'Sula saw that she was surrounded. There was no hope of escaping unscathed. Eight Ta'Reeth lay dead, the other four stood above her, ready to dispense her death.
"You are the key. You will submit." a familiar voice resounded inside T’Sula’s head, threatening to break her out of Mushin. "There is a plan for you. You have no choice."
T'Sula noticed the walls coalescing, growing thicker by the moment. Her lungs began to burn as the air grew thinner. One by one, she forced the unwanted thoughts out of her mind, clearing away the distractions. It was as Ch'Lan had told her so long ago. Only with a clear mind could she function as she needed to combat these monsters. Only with a clear mind could she be who and what she truly was. She was a warrior, one of the few people that could do what was needed.
T'Sula let the thin air fill her lungs. In a burst of speed, she dove for her blade. Freeing it from its prison of flesh, she quickly found it a new home, and then another as she effortlessly dispatched the four remaining Ta'Reeth soldiers. They fell quickly and silently to the floor, never to move again. She paused only for a moment before she turned to face her final adversary, the first Ta'Reeth that had entered her cell, her prison, her momentary world.
It looked at her with those dispassionate, black eyes. In that moment, T'Sula found pity for the creature. For the first time, she realized that it would never feel anything. There would never be joy, passion, or even sorrow in its life. This being knew only one thing, and that was to obey. Obedience was this creature's entire existence.
"You are needed by the Masters. You are the key. Obey." the Ta'Reeth looked at T'Sula. Its eyes conveyed nothing, other than an untapped intelligence, a potential that could never be fulfilled.
She braced herself for what she knew must come. More fighting, unneeded bloodshed, pain that could have been avoided, would inevitably unleash itself here and now. Finally, she understood her Master's teachings. Life did not have to be this way. There were other options, but now it was too late for her, and for this unfortunate creature.
In a blur of motion, both T'Sula and the Ta'Reeth sprang into action. The creature advanced, its claws whipping through the air in front of it, threatening to shred anything they touched. T'Sula grounded her energies, and then filled herself again. She smoothly parried away the dangerous claws, and struck her adversary.
She screamed as her palm struck the creature just below the eyes. Every muscle, every fiber of her being clenched at the same time, sending all of her considerable power through the palm of her hand and into the Ta’Reeth’s body. The force of the blow rippled through its face, deep into the brain, and out the back of its head. Skin, bone, and flesh exploded against the wall as T'Sula's final assailant crumpled to the floor.
T'Sula Mir sank to her knees in exhausted despair. She looked around the blood-covered room, and saw not only dead Ta'Reeth, but her family and friends that had lost their lives in this war. The air still burned her lungs as she sat there, waiting for the oxygen to be gone. She had never wanted to fight this war. She never had a choice. How many people had to die before this madness was finally over?
She had been only a little girl when the Ta'Reeth had come. She remembered watching them from her hiding place. Her father was the first to die, followed by her older brother, and finally they killed her mother. Tears began to flow freely from her eyes as she remembered them. None of them had given her up, and all of them had known where she was. Why had they come? T'Sula would never know. She had resigned herself to that fact.
Why did death
follow her like a shadow? She hated herself for that. Fighting and killing was not what she wanted. She wanted a family, a husband and children, not to be the bringer of death and destruction. She wanted love, to be loved, and to give it freely. She wanted to not be afraid to care for someone else.
They had called her ‘the key’. The key to what? She kept asking herself. Whatever it was, T'Sula could not allow them, the Ta'Reeth, to have it.
Silently T'Sula resigned herself to her fate. She opened her jumpsuit, and her armor just enough, then plunged her knife deep into her heart.
T'Sula Mir cried as she waited for the dark oblivion to come.