“I could not care less what you are called. Where is Kella?” Tallei demanded.
“I am here, Tallei,” Kella said from behind her mentor.
Tallei turned and stepped back, her good eye narrowed on the laser pistol Kella aimed at her. Ash cleared his throat when Tallei’s hand moved down along her side.
“I wouldn’t, lady. I promised myself I’d never kill a woman if I could help it. Please don’t make me break that promise,” he warned, stepping out from behind the table.
Tallei’s gaze moved down to his hand resting on his Staff. Her fingers curled and she looked back up at him. Ash didn’t miss the subtle expression of disbelief in her eye.
“The legend is true? The Ancient Knights of the Gallant Order have returned?” Tallei asked with a sneer.
“Let’s just say we’re here and you have someone I want. Where is he?” Ash demanded.
“He… The one who was in the container?” Tallei asked, glancing at the empty pod.
“Yeah, that one,” Ash said.
Tallei turned to look at Kella. “I will tell you where he is in return for payment,” she replied with a shrug.
“No,” Kella said, her voice strong and her aim steady even as her stomach churned with fear. “You will tell us where he is now, Tallei. If you do, I might let you live.”
“Payment?” Ash asked, warily watching Tallei walk closer to the pod. He moved so he could see her hands. “What kind of payment?”
“I want Kella,” Tallei said, stopping in front of the pod.
“Fuck that,” Ash replied, his gaze flickering to the stony mask on Kella’s face when Tallei said her name. It was obvious that Kella had suspected what her mentor would demand. “Kella is not an option.”
Tallei turned and smiled. “I expected you to refuse,” she said.
Ash heard the sound of something dropping to the floor at the same time as Tallei finished her last word. He caught a brief glance of a red light a moment before Tallei kicked it toward him. A low curse escaped Ash and he dove to the side.
A loud explosion tossed the nearest table and chair up into the air. Tallei turned at the same time as Kella fired. Ash covered his ringing ears and shook his head. He couldn’t see Kella from this angle. All he could see were the legs of the tables and chairs and bottom of the pod.
He rose up and stumbled back away from the blade that came close to slicing his neck wide open. He jumped back again when Tallei attacked him with a second blade. In the background, he could see the old woman kneeling over Kella’s prone form. A low hiss of pain escaped him when the tip of the knife cut through the sleeve of his robe.
“Kella!” Ash yelled, glancing between her and Tallei.
“She lies dying by my blade, Ancient Knight,” Tallei sneered. “I told her what would happen if she betrayed me.”
Ash drew in a deep breath and stepped back. “She loved you,” he said, moving into a defensive stance.
“And it made her weak! She should have killed me while my back was turned. Her affection for me left her vulnerable to my blade,” Tallei replied.
“You are one sick bitch,” Ash said, blocking her attack.
“I am the only family she has,” Tallei replied, stepping to the side when Ash blocked another of her blows.
“Family? You call beating her, using her, and training her to kill being a family?” Ash demanded.
Tallei’s cackle really grated on his nerves. There was a note of insanity to it. This woman really wasn’t working on all eight cylinders.
“I was taken as a child and trained just as I took Kella. I was older than Kella was, but I learned fast.” Tallei palmed a knife strapped to her arm and threw it. She hissed when it missed, striking the wall behind Ash when he twisted at the last minute. She snarled and continued to talk, hoping to distract Ash using his feelings for Kella against him.
“I remembered my true family. The one that did nothing to come for me. After my first mission, I returned to the world I remembered and I found them. My younger sister, who was just a babe when I left, had grown up. She had joined with a man and had a daughter. A daughter who should have been mine. A family that should have been mine – but they did not care enough to fight for me,” Tallei sneered.
She threw another knife. She missed him again when he ducked. He was trying to use her blindness against her. Fury coursed through her. This time, she pulled two of the knives from one of the belts at her waist.
Ash blocked Tallei when she lashed out at him. He grabbed her wrist and twisted. The knife in her hand fell to the floor. He blocked the knife in her other hand when she brought it up to stab him in the stomach. She jumped back.
“She is your niece?” Ash asked in disbelief.
“What did you do to my parents?” Kella asked in a trembling voice.
Tallei jerked around in surprise. Her gaze flew from Kella’s pale face to the unusual man with white-blonde hair standing next to her. She turned back to look at Ash. Deep down, Ash was hoping Tallei would get a major case of whiplash from the way she had to turn her head to see them all with just one eye.
“Hey, Sergi. Long time, man,” Ash quipped, trying not to reveal his own surprise.
“Привет. Hi, Ash,” Sergi replied with a grin.
“How long were you planning on just watching?” Ash demanded.
Sergi shrugged. “I don’t know. When you greet a woman by calling her a bitch, I figure it is probably a personal disagreement and I should stay out of it,” he replied.
“Kella, you okay, love?” Ash asked, seeing the blood coating her shoulder.
Kella nodded, not taking her eyes off of Tallei. “What did you do to my parents?” she asked again in a quiet voice.
Tallei’s lip curled. “I killed them. Your father was the first to die, then your mother. I left her alive long enough to see me take you. She knew what your life would be,” she said.
Kella swayed. Memories flashed through her mind in a kaleidoscope of horrifying images. Her mother’s weeping. Her father’s sightless eyes and his body lying in a pool of blood. Her screams as she tried to hold on to her mother.
“I remember…,” she whispered.
“Sergi, catch her,” Ash ordered at the same time as Sergi’s arm wrapped around Kella’s waist.
Using the tip of his boot, Ash picked up the Staff Kubo gave him and extended it. His eyes glittered with fury, but he didn’t let it distract him. Tallei’s hand went to the belt at her waist and she pulled it off with a loud snap.
Ash saw the line of razor sharp blades expand out of the whip that formed. His fingers pressed on the Staff and twin, glowing orbs appeared at each end. Tallei snapped the whip at him. Ash twirled the Staff in both directions with lightning speed. Sections of the whip skidded across the floor, severed by the power locked into the ends of the Staff.
Tallei threw the remains of the whip at him and started to reach into her robe when she staggered to the side. Her good eye widened before it grew dim and she fell forward. Ash jerked back in surprise and looked over at Sergi and Kella.
Sergi pointed at Kella. “She did it,” he said.
Kella stood still, Sergi’s arm still supporting her. Her arm was stretched out and the laser pistol raised. Sergi scooped her up when her legs gave out from under her and her hand lowered as the adrenaline that was fueling her suddenly drained away.
“Kella.”
Ash stepped over Tallei. He briefly glanced down at the dark mark in the center of the old woman’s back. It was better than she deserved for all the misery she had put Kella though. Stepping around the pod, he hurried over to Sergi.
“She is in shock,” Sergi said.
Ash nodded, taking Kella out of Sergi’s arms. He glanced around for a place to set her down so he could examine her wound better. The only place was the pod.
“It looks like we are about to have company, Ash. We need to leave,” Sergi said with a nod of his head toward the front window.
Ash cursed when he saw a
group of Legion soldiers marching down the center of the road. In front was a man who suspiciously resembled General Dracula Landais. He wondered if they were related.
“The cellar,” Kella said. “There is a tunnel that leads to the spaceport. It comes up under my freighter.”
“Go. I will be there in a moment,” Sergi replied.
Ash nodded and turned. He shifted Kella in his arms and growled for her to be quiet when she insisted he put her down. He finally relented when they reached the bottom of the stairs, but only because it was too narrow to carry her through.
“Where’s Sergi?” Ash snapped, waiting in the hidden doorway inside an empty barrel of liquor.
“No worries. I thought we might need some refreshments to celebrate finding each other,” Sergi said, crossing from the bottom of the stairs and holding up two bottles of liquor.
“You are crazier than I am!” Ash muttered, nodding for Sergi to follow Kella.
“You are just now figuring that out? Do you know if anyone else made it?” Sergi asked.
Ash nodded. “Josh did,” he said.
Sergi paused and looked back at Ash. “What of Mei and Julia?” he asked in a quiet voice.
“We don’t know,” Ash admitted. “I’ll tell you once we are out of this place.”
Sergi nodded. “I hope there are better planets than this one. It reminds me too much of home,” he complained.
Ash glanced ahead at Kella. She walked at a steady pace, her back straight and stiff, but he didn’t miss the fact that she occasionally raised her hand to brush it across her face. His heart ached for her.
“I love you,” he murmured softly, knowing she would be able to hear him in the comlink.
Her head bowed and her shoulders trembled, but she didn’t slow down. “I love you, too, Ashton Haze – so, very, very much,” her trembling voice whispered back in his ear.
Epilogue
General Coleridge Landais stood in the center of the bar. In one corner, the shattered remains of a table and chair littered the floor. He turned when one of the soldiers found blood on the floor. It was obvious there had been a fight, but that was not unusual for such an establishment.
He turned his gaze back to the pod sitting in the center of the room. It was the one that was missing from the forest. Leaves and mud still coated the bottom of it.
“Open it,” he ordered, stepping to the side.
Two of the soldiers stepped forward. It took them a moment to find the release. The lid slowly opened, revealing the covered form inside. Coleridge frowned. The cloak had mud along the edges of it. He snapped his fingers and motioned to the soldier near the end of the pod to remove the covering. Fury poured through him when he saw the blank eyes staring up at him. One eye was cloudy.
Curling his fingers into a fist. He bit back the loud curse that threatened to escape him. Instead, he turned to the soldier from the transport.
“What is your name?” Coleridge demanded.
“Sergeant Ri Manta, sir,” Manta replied.
“Commander Manta, discard the body, have this pod delivered to the Battle Cruiser, and order the destruction of the city, including any ships leaving the spaceport,” Coleridge ordered.
“Yes, sir,” Manta replied, turning to bark out orders to several of the soldiers.
Coleridge walked over to the window and stared out. They were in possession of two capsules. He knew of at least two survivors, possibly a third. One of the capsules that landed here had disappeared. He doubted it would ever be found. That did not mean that whoever had been inside it did not survive as well. Finally, there was one more – the one Roan was retrieving.
“Sir, the transport is ready for pick up,” Manta stated.
Coleridge lifted his hand to let the man know he heard him. Turning away, he scanned the room. In the back corner on a table was a basket. Walking over to it, he glanced down inside it. His lips tightened when he saw a small patch inside. Lifting it up, he held it up to the light. It had the same pattern as the one from Torrian and from Tesla Terra.
“Let’s go,” he snapped, turning and striding out of the bar.
The emblem and the strange configuration of stars taunted him. What did they mean? There was one person who knew the legend better than anyone. The archives on Jeslean were destroyed, along with the scholars there, but there was one who still lived. It was time to pay a visit to the old man who lived the life of a hermit.
“She’s real quiet,” Sergi said.
Ash nodded. “She’s been through a lot,” he replied. “Thanks for staying with her and doctoring her up.”
“You teach me how to fly one of these, and I’ll be happy to take over,” Sergi said. “I’ll go sit up front. If I see any bad guys, I’ll play with some of the weapons your girlfriend has loaded on this thing.”
Ash absently nodded. “Just don’t blow anything up!” he called out as an afterthought.
He chuckled when Sergi went off on a tangent in Russian. Sergi was trying not to show how upset he was when he found out that Mei was not in her capsule and they knew nothing about Julia. He shared how he woke up in the forest on Turbinta. At first, he thought he was transported back home. Sergi had actually been very happy when he discovered he wasn’t back in Russia.
“I made some soup for you,” Kella murmured.
Ash looked up in surprise to see Kella standing in front of him. He reached for the cup and wrapped his arm around her waist. Together, they walked back over to the table and slid down onto the bench seat.
“How are you feeling?” Ash asked, placing the cup of soup on the table.
Kella shrugged. “I heal fast,” she replied.
Ash lifted his hand and tilted her chin back so she was forced to look at him. “That’s not what I meant,” he said.
Kella gave him a watery smile. “Sad,” she admitted.
Ash brushed her lips in a tender kiss before he pulled her close. “You are allowed to be,” he said.
Kella chuckled and snuggled up against him. “What do I do now? The only thing I’ve ever known is how to be an assassin,” she murmured.
Ash picked up his cup and took a sip. He thought about it for several minutes before he released a chuckle. Hell, life was crazy; why not make it completely nuts?
“Well, I heard about this really cool rebellion against some major asswipes. Then there’s this Ancient dude who doesn’t know shit about this alien world he woke up in, but everyone thinks he and his friends are these superheroes or something. And well….”
“I think one of them especially needs extra protection,” she said, sitting up and smiling at him.
“He needs a bodyguard, someone who can be with him 24/7 or whatever the cycles are here,” Ash said, setting his cup back down on the table again and turning toward her.
“I accept,” Kella murmured, lifting a hand to cup his cheek.
“She’ll have to teach him new words and how to fly a freighter, but she’ll have to be willing to work for cheap,” he said, turning his head to press a kiss against her palm.
“I understand she accepts lessons in self-defense as payment,” Kella replied.
“Most of all, she’ll have to love me,” Ash finished.
Kella smiled. “Only if he tells her every morning that she is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen,” she whispered, leaning forward to meet his lips.
Neither one of them heard Sergi stop and glance into the galley. Turning, he retraced his steps back to the cockpit. There would be plenty of time to ask questions about the weapons systems.
“Oh Mei, you would be loving this,” Sergi said with a sad grin. “To Julia and Mei. May you both find a place in this new world.”
Sergi lifted the stolen bottle of liquor to his lips. There was a lot to learn about this new world, but he wasn’t alone anymore. He just might survive longer than expected.
To be continued:
Survival Skills: Project Gliese 581g
Sergi wakes to discover that the wars he le
ft behind on Earth were just a training ground for what is to come. He and his friends are caught in the middle of a new war and he will need to use all of his skills to survive.
Additional Books and Information
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Excerpts of S.E. Smith Books
If you would like to read more S.E. Smith stories, she recommends Touch of Frost, the first in her Magic, New Mexico series. Or if you prefer a Paranormal or Western with a twist, you can check out Lily’s Cowboys or Indiana Wild…
Additional Books by S.E. Smith
Short Stories and Novellas
Dragon Lords of Valdier Novella
For the Love of Tia (Book 4.1)
Dragonlings of Valdier Novellas
A Dragonling’s Easter (Book 1.1)
A Dragonling’s Haunted Halloween (Book 1.2)
Night of the Demented Symbiots (Halloween 2)
A Dragonling’s Magical Christmas (Book 1.3)
The Dragonlings’ Very Special Valentine (Book 1.4)
Pets in Space Anthology
A Mate for Matrix
Marastin Dow Warriors Short Story
A Warrior’s Heart (Book 1.1)
Lords of Kassis Novella
Rescuing Mattie (Book 3.1)