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29: The Interceptor
"One chance – that's all we have." Raymond Talan looked at all of his tiny crew in turn: Eliora, his wife Naomi, and three Etzuvim: Kivel, Evron, and Beshar. "We have to knock out Deun's communication block. It's already been three months since we first tried. We don't even know if there are any Iscandarians left by now – but we can't give up on them – not yet – and we can't give up on Adonai."
A collective silence fell over the group, that is, until Beshar broke it.
"Admiral, one shot isn't much."
Raymond nodded, "True. But one shot is all our sister-world has... and it may be all we have too."
Beshar's face became grim, then determined. "Then I guess one shot will have to do."
Kivel and Evron added their affirmations.
"The ship will be ready within the hour." Eliora said. "The cloaking technology we've been able to add will greatly increase our odds of successfully doing this."
"Agreed." said Beshar. "That is one edge we do have."
"And what of the... other objective?" Naomi finally jumped in.
"As soon as the barrier is down, you, Eliora, and you, Naomi, must send the messages – one to my son and the heir apparent, and the second to Iscandar." Raymond replied, "Desslok and Masterson must know that they're no longer silenced, and Iscandar must know that she isn't alone anymore."
All present nodded with conviction.
"Let's go then. And may the hand of the Almighty rest upon us." Raymond gave them all one more meaningful look before standing up, and leading the way out to the small ship they had been able to acquire for this one last attempt at breaking down the barrier of silence the Deun had imposed on them all for these three agonizing months.
"So far, so good." Raymond thought as he and Beshar piloted the ship out to where Eliora, Kivel, and Evron had unearthed Deun's hidden communications bunker.
The place looked like an anonymous group of buildings – very much like any other group of buildings located on the outskirts of the capitol. But these buildings, instead of housing military vehicles, or food and water stores, hid Deun's plot to bind and gag the Iscandari population while they died in silence – unable to contact anyone outside their world.
Inside those buildings was Deun's jamming equipment – or rather, the central element of it. Deun was still too intelligent to leave everything in one place. He had dispersed a number of individual broadcasting units throughout Rapha-owr, disguised as various other things. Raymond's group had yet to discover them all, but many of them had already been found and could be dealt with upon the disabling of the system's core. Once the core was down, the rest would be easy.
The ship blended into dark oblivion as Beshar turned the cloak on, hiding them from all prying eyes that might by chance see them.
As they flew over the silent city, everyone looked anxiously toward their target, waiting.
The moons and stars shone through a thick layer of fog that now covered the area. Raymond was grateful for the inclement weather as it further hid their passing – no shadows from the passing ship to give them away.
Within ten minutes they were right above the bunker, just as they had planned to be.
The area was entirely too quiet: no guards, no guns, and most of all, no area shielding to break through. The place was so normal that unless you knew where it was, and what it was, you would have missed it.
Beshar lowered the ship so that it hovered a mere six feet above the roof of the center building. Kivel, Evron, and the Admiral dropped from the ship to the roof without so much as a second thought. The only sounds were the three men's boots hitting the roof. After that, no other sound disturbed the air. The moisture, thickening around them, served to muffle every other sound they made as the three broke into the building.
Naomi watched the men descend through the roof and an inexplicable feeling of dread began to rise in her as the last of them disappeared down into that dark hole.
It was unexpectedly bright and spartan inside the bunker. From the reports Eliora had given him, Raymond had expected it to be a bit less austere – and darker. But, then again, Eliora had been here during the middle of the day, not the dead of night. That would account for some of the discrepancies.
The three men moved quietly through the halls, navigating via a holomap that Eliora had constructed as she, Kivel and Evron scouted this place only seven days beforehand.
The nearer they came to the core of the complex, the more strange everything around them became. The lighting did die down to something resembling twilight, and the furnishings began to take on a bizarre quality, somewhat resembling that of a pagan temple.
Finally, they came to the central core, housed just beyond one final door. They came down a long, dark hallway that led to the core, and all three men froze when they saw the unmistakeable outline of a bear's head looming above the doorway.
A subtle rumbling began to emanate from the other side of the closed door.
Eliora hadn't mentioned the odd Guardiana symbol... And suddenly Raymond knew that something was very wrong.
Kivel stepped forward to trigger the sensor on the door to the main system core.
The hair on the back of Raymond's neck stood on end and he reached out to yank the man back, but instantly, the door opened and a storm of laser fire erupted through the portal, slamming into Kivel and hurling his dead body backwards.
Raymond threw himself to the floor, rolling away from the rain of death coming at him, and Evron just barely evaded the same trap that had downed his fellow half a second before.
The two remaining men found the best cover they could and began shooting back as the Guardiana horde tumbled through the door and out into the hall, bringing a volley of laser fire with them.
"They're – they're – here!" Evron panted as adrenaline began to pulse through him.
"They are." Raymond replied gravely, as he cast one last look at one of his faithful Etzuvim. "And there's only one reason they're here."
"So, Eliora." Beshar said casually, "How long have you known the Admiral?"
"Longer than you have." she replied, staring steadfastly at the communication device in her hand, ready, at any second to send her message of hope to the Prince, and Masterson via Mintra'el's secure channel.
"So how did you meet?" the man continued. "You know how we Etzuvim all met him, but I've no idea how you came to know Admiral Talan."
Eliora tensed at the question, unsure of what had made her so uneasy all of a sudden. She licked her lips, an odd smell meeting her nostrils. She looked at Naomi, who sat beside her. The other woman was also staring at her own communicator, ready to broadcast the group's message to Iscandar. Naomi was apparently paying no heed to the conversation.
"We... had a mutual friend." Eliora replied vaguely.
"I see." Beshar replied, "and, who –"
"Beshar, I would very much like to hold a conversation with you," Eliora interrupted the man, "but I think that now is not a good time to do so."
"Alright then." Beshar sighed, seeming a bit irritated for some reason unknown to Eliora.
Several minutes passed in complete silence.
"They should have been there by now." thought Eliora. "They should have planted the explosives and be heading back –"
An explosion rocked the building beneath them and smoke began to billow out of the far end of it. Suddenly both Eliora and Naomi's comm units came alive and through them they heard sounds they wished they were imagining.
"Get out of here!" Raymond's voice came over the newly re-openned channel accompanied by laser fire, screaming, and yelling. "Kivel" crackle, "Evron" crackle, "dead! You mus" crackle, "eave now! They knew," crackle, "were comi –" more static, "– end the messag –"
The harsh sound of laser fire cut off the last of Raymond's words as the channel suddenly closed.
Without another word, Eliora put the gruesome pieces together. With speed born of much practice, she drew her weapon and pointed it straight at Beshar.
"Get up. Now." she said icily.
"Eliora...?" the man asked nervously, "What're you doing?"
"I'm making sure the zealots don't find out anything else about our plans." she said, fighting back tears for Admiral Talan's inevitable death at the hands of the Guardiana followers. "Naomi." she choked to the other woman, "Please take us out of here. And you," she glared at Beshar, "on the floor, now!"
Beshar grudgingly obeyed Eliora and was soon thoroughly searched and securely bound as Naomi Talan, tears streaming down her own face, flew them out of the area and to a hidden place they never thought they would have to use.
As they flew, Beshar began to jabber, "How do you know I did anything, huh? I'm one of the Etzuvim. I was at Jirel – the Etzuvim don't betray the Admir –"
Beshar was silenced by a swift punch to the face by Eliora, then the woman answered the unconscious man, "Because the Etzuvim – the true Etzuvim – never ask personal questions of those they go on missions with."
Then, Naomi put the coordinates into the navigation computer, and the ship flew itself to their hideaway as both women, in the middle of their own sorrow, sent out the messages the Raymond Talan had given them, spreading hope in the midst of tragedy.
"The communications block has been destroyed – I repeat, the communications block is gone."
Those were the best words that Masterson had heard in the entire three months that they had been without any sort of communications – aside from physically delivering messages, or assigning the local wildlife to do the job. Deun's troops' ayahot had been useful on the occasions that the birds had wandered through the area, but those occurrences were few and far between.
Eliora's message couldn't have come at a better time. It was a relief to finally be able to send messages without all that hassle and wasted time.
As soon as he had received word of the event, Desslok had re-played it for Masterson and the two had relayed the news to the rest of their group.
The one thing about the communique from Eliora that troubled Masterson was the tone of the woman's voice. There was something in it that suggested all was not well, but this was not the time to look into that, but soon enough it would be. One call to his father would clarify it all, Masterson was quite sure.
There was great rejoicing that night among their little band – a circle that had grown in size since the night that Desslok had revealed himself as the rightful heir to Gamilon's throne. In addition to the Lysis household, Zimring, Frakken, Krenshaw, Dara and Constance, and of course, Masterson, there were now a handful of people from the nearby town nestled in the mountains.
None of the new additions knew about the prince's marked hand, but they did know that he was the brother of their current "Leader" and that the former Leader had appointed Desslok to be the next ruler in his stead.
That night passed peacefully; with the news of the opening of the communication channels, everyone seemed a bit less on edge. Even though it meant that the enemy might be able to track them more easily, it also meant the opposite was true – that they could now track the enemy more easily as well.
The morning came swiftly, and with it, the promise of a new beginning for their infant revolution.
The group had outgrown their shack nearly a month ago, and so the band had found themselves a new place to stay, in a few abandoned hovels just above the small mountain town – far enough away not to be noticed, and close enough to both keep watch over the village and make supply runs into it when on a regular basis.
This morning, it was Masterson's turn to go out with Zimring again to pick up another week's worth of supplies.
The group had worked out a barter system with the people of the small town. They provided security from the mercenaries that sometimes came through the area, and they did a good deal of the grunt work involved in building and rebuilding the village homes, as well as sharing some of the hunting duties with the men and women of the town. Even the tannin rakabim* seemed grateful for their added help, and some of Desslok's band had even been able to learn a bit about the art of riding the great scaly beasts.
Masterson was waiting outside one of the hovels for Zimring to come out. The older man seemed to be feeling his age a bit more in the higher altitude and his joints seemed to suffer more in the colder climate, but to Zimring's credit, he never complained about it. He was too stubborn to resort to something that might make him seem like the old hermit he was.
As he waited, the young man began to make his ritual sweep around the area. It had become habit with him when he'd started his time with Mossad. From then on, every idle moment was spent in observation – a habit that had saved him a number of times in the past years, and a habit that he had instilled in the prince in recent years as well. Desslok had come to the point where he had surpassed his teacher, and now the prince was the one showing Masterson things that he had missed.
As he looked around, Masterson saw the normal signs of a Rakab's passing: his tannin's tail marks in the dirt, the claw markings, the rakab's bootprints, a few broken branches and skewed bushes.
The trees were still a bit bare here in the mountains – all except the evergreens of course, which grew in abundance in this area. But though it was still cool during the mountain mornings, the afternoons were suitably warm, and getting warmer as the summer wore on.
The ground cover should be starting to make a comeback in this region as the warm season was nearing its peak, but Masterson noticed that the common summer plants hadn't made a reappearance yet. The difference struck him as odd. Then, he took a closer look at everything around him – clouds, sky, trees, grass, bushes – even the rocks that jutted up out of the ground every now and then. Something about them all seemed... wrong. The trees were somehow duller, the rocks harsher, and the sky sadder. Then he saw something that made the blood within his veins tingle.
Not ten feet away, there was a fissure in the earth – not deep or wide, but long and thin and ugly, running through the ground, leaving a trail of hideousness behind it – almost as if the very planet itself was bleeding from a tiny sore. The trail was black and brown – the colors of death – and as Masterson watched, the trail seemed to seep towards him, just the tiniest bit. It was such a subtle movement that Talan thought he might have imagined it.
"So what've you found this time, Masterson?" David clapped the younger man on the back.
Talan turned to David, his face more grim than the other young man had ever seen it before.
"I think something may have happened – something very... very bad..."
"What... will we do now...?" Naomi asked, tears still running down her face. "We've no one to lead us..."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that..." Eliora put an arm around the other woman, "And Adonai will help us. He's always been our foundation – from the very beginning." Eliora stopped talking for a moment, then something came to her, "Do you remember that day – the day we stopped Aurelia from taking Talonka's sons?"*
Naomi nodded as she swiped at her tears.
"That was... quite a day if I remember correctly." Eliora continued.
"Yeah..." Naomi managed.
"We didn't know if we could win."
"No... we didn't." Naomi agreed, "And I think most of the palace guards thought we were all crazy to try to pull off what we did that day."
"Yes," Eliora chuckled, "I do believe they did. But do you remember, Naomi, that that was also a day we came face to face with the Malha herself...?"
"Yes..." Naomi shivered at the memory. "Why do you mention that?" she wiped away more of her tears, her mourning staid for now as her mind turned to something else.
"Because..." Eliora began, then stopped to take a deep breath, "Frankly, I'm concerned about Raymond, but not overly so... You know him better than I do, but I know that if there's a way to get out of this, he will find it. Chances are, we'll be hearing from him soon. That isn't what really worries me here."
"Then what is...?" Naomi asked, suddenly even more concerned than she had been before.
"I said that I knew Beshar was an imposter because of the questions he asked, but that isn't the whole reason..." Eliora looked right at Naomi, "I finally figured it out... That day – the day we faced Aurelia – I looked into her face and I saw the darkness she cherished in her soul. I saw the very essence of that shêd she harbored..." she licked her lips, "it left an odd taste in my mouth and a sour smell. That was what really gave Beshar away. He smells of that cursed shêd... and you know what that means..."
Naomi gasped and threw her hand over her open mouth, "You don't think Deun's the real mastermind behind this..."
"Not a chance." Eliora said. "And I think I know who is."
* tannin rakabim – dragon riders
* Aurelia's kidnapping attempt – a reference to the first book, The Guardiana