A Soul Divided (The Blood Fire Trilogy Book 1) (9 page)

Chapter 12: Drake

Every bit of Drake’s body burned with a searing pain. Teleportation was stressful on the body. Drake was familiar with the concept of how the teleportation worked. Most well studied Mystics were. But none of them ever actually did it unless the only alternative was death. Because of the incredible amounts of pain involved, some even just opted for death.

But Drake had never feared pain. Enduring pain was just a means to an end.

Drake staggered up to one knee, looking around, trying to gather his bearings. On the table in the middle of the room was a small pyramid made from Hemoignisium with Mystic lettering engraved on it. Drake read its inscription making sure it wasn’t set up as a trap for intruders. It wasn’t. It was 169’s anchor. His teleportation would always bring him back to it. Drake had seen nothing like it before.

He saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He glanced over to see 169 slowly rising to his feet.

It looked like the teleportation spell had caused him as much pain as it had caused Drake. This was the perfect time to take him out. Or at least disable him. It would be wrong to murder even an Anti-Luck without exhausting other options first.

He reached down to draw out his sword, only to realize he’d lost it back at the mine. 169 still had his sword in his hand. There was no way Drake would win this fight.

169’s eyes narrowed as he turned his head and saw Drake on the other side of the room.

“So you hitched a ride along with me, did you?” He said, staggering to his feet.

Drake just smiled at him as he raised his revolver and pulled the trigger. A burst of fast moving air flew into the Anti-Luck’s body, sending him flying backward through the open door behind him. Drake threw his revolver through the air straight into the panel on the side of the door.

“Please work.” He said out loud as his gun hit the panel.

“Door lock engaged.” said a smooth computerized voice.

“Yes!” Drake yelled out. As he dropped back down to the floor.

He took several minutes before rising to his feet and stumble over to pick up his revolver. He could hear 169 banging on the other side of the door.

“You’d better not fire off anything too powerful from that machine of yours.” Drake yelled at him through the door. “You wouldn’t want to put a hole in the wall and get sucked into space.”

The banging continued. It wouldn’t be long before he found a way out of there. Drake needed to get out fast. He left the room at the fastest pace his aching body could muster and stumbled through the hallways of the massive ship, looking in every door as he went. Angela had to be here somewhere. Of course Drake wasn’t sure how he would escape with her if he found her, but he would have to cross that bridge when he came to it. A smile came to his face as he came to the next door and read the small sign posted above it.
Tachyon Drive Control Room.

“That’ll work.” Drake said to himself as he entered the room.

**********************

“What was that sound?” Olivia asked Angela.

“I don’t know,” Angela replied. Since they were locked in their room, they had no way of finding out what the source of the noise was.

“What if he’s brought somebody else on board?” Olivia asked.

“Just how many people do you think this guy kidnaps?” Angela replied.

“I don’t....” Olivia said, but Angela cut her off by making a shushing sound at her.

“Listen,” she said. “Somebody’s coming, I can hear footsteps.”

Olivia could hear them too. They were coming straight to the door. She jumped a little and suppressed a surprised squeak as the door slid open.

“Drake!” Angela yelled out. “I can’t believe you’re here!”

So this was Drake. Olivia had imagined him being much more attractive. This boy looked like he could barely walk, his clothes were soaked in sweat, and he had a horrible, bushy mustache that didn’t seem to be anywhere near the same color as his mess of disheveled hair.

“Can’t believe it? You thought I’d let that guy keep you? Not even I’m that big of a jerk.” Drake said, in what Olivia assumed was intended to be a charming tone, although it was hard to tell with how heavily he was breathing.

The whole ship jolted, knocking the three of them to the ground.

“What just happened?” Olivia asked as she lifted herself back up to her feet.

“The Tachyon drive.” Drake responded, still panting loudly. “I set it to jump every five minutes.”

“What?” Angela asked. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t want 169 to know where we are when we get off.” Drake replied, “Come on, let’s find an escape pod.” Drake turned and looked at Olivia.

“You’re the Human Princess I presume.” He said.

“Yes,” Olivia replied as she looked up to meet his eyes. “Are there others here with you, or have you come alone?”

“Just me.” Drake replied, it sounded like he was catching his breath.

“My father only sent one man? What was he thinking?”

“I’m all he needed to send.” Drake said with a grin. “You can come with me or stay and wait till your daddy sends a rescue that you approve of. Either way, I’m getting off this boat.”

“Fine.” Olivia said. She was surprised by how boldly and disrespectfully Drake spoke to her. Nobody had ever spoken to her that way.

“Alright then.” Drake said as he turned and limped down the hallway. “Let’s go.”

The ship shook violently once again as it made another jump. Olivia grabbed onto the wall to steady herself, but watched as Drake fell to the ground. He seemed so weak. He couldn’t even pick himself back up. Angela had to help him off of the floor.

She shouldn’t judge him though, despite his complete lack of social etiquette, he was saving them, and she should show him proper respect for that.

“There they are!” Drake exclaimed, cutting off Olivia’s train of thought. Olivia looked up and saw a row of small hatches in the wall with the label
For Emergency Use Only
written above them.

“Climb in.” Drake said as he opened the nearest hatch. Olivia followed his orders and climbed in. It was just a small metal room with a few seats, a window of some sort on the front, and a small, basic navigation computer in it.

“Buckle up,” Drake said, pointing to the belts attached to the small uncomfortable looking seats. “These rides can sometimes get bumpy.”

Angela and Olivia obeyed his orders without question as Drake moved to the small computer and pressed a small button labeled
Launch
.

The small pod shook as it detached from the main ship and flew through space. Olivia turned to look back at the ship they had just left. It was an enormous battle cruiser although it looked to be nearly twenty years old.

It had the name Confectrix written on its side. Olivia didn’t know the meaning of that name but it was definitely the language of the Old Earth scholars. The Human Empire had built this ship.

There was a sudden flash of light as the Confectrix made another jump and vanished. The three of them were alone, floating in space.

“Yes!” Drake yelled out, throwing his hands up in the air. His energy was coming back more quickly now, it seemed. “I can’t believe that actually worked! It only took me like thirty seconds to come up with that plan and it worked! I am a genius!”

Both girls stared at him for a moment before Angela broke the silence.

“So where are we going now?” She said.

“I don’t know.” Drake replied. “But I’m hoping we land somewhere with a nice beach we can relax on.”

“What?” Olivia said, not bothering to mask her concern. “How can you not know?”

“I don’t know where we were when we launched the escape pod, so how could I know where we’re going from here?” Drake said.

“Are you sure my father hired you? You can’t even pretend to be competent.”

“That hurts Princess.” Drake said. “Look, the computer on this escape pod is programmed to find the nearest planet with a suitable atmosphere and take us there. Once we’re there, I’ll call the Human Empire to come pick us up.”

“You mean you don’t have a rendezvous point set?” Olivia asked, “What if we land on a planet controlled by the Mystics?”

“We won’t run into a Mystic more dangerous than our friend back on that ship.” Drake answered, “I may not know where we are, but neither does he.”

He had a point, they were away from 169, and Olivia ought to be grateful for that.

“Drake.” Angela said in voice so soft it was almost a whisper. “I appreciate you coming to save me.”

“Thanks.” Drake replied. “You know, I think that’s the first kind thing you’ve ever said to me. Last time I saved you, you got mad at me.”

“I’m sorry about how I treated you before,” Angela said.  “But you are a pirate, and a Mystic. Those aren’t things that usually scream trustworthiness.”

Drake was a Mystic? Her father would never hire a Mystic. He had to be lying.

“How can I trust you?” Olivia blurted out.

“You can’t.” Drake replied in a surprisingly harsh tone. “I’m a Mystic, just like Angela said. My entire family is dead because of the Human Empire, and I should have every reason to want to take revenge on you. But revenge ends up with two people hurting instead of one, so I’m helping you instead. You can be happy that I’m choosing the high road, or you can leave as soon as this pod lands and try to find your own way home. I really don’t care which one you pick.”

“Suitable planet detected. Arrival time estimated in 45 minutes.” A computerized voice came through the speakers built into the walls.

Drake moved over to look at the map now being displayed on the computer screen. His eyes widened and his skin went pale as he read their destination.

“Rabbit’s Foot.” he whispered.

“What?” Angela asked.

“Rabbit’s Foot.” Drake repeated a little louder. “That’s where we’re going, and it’s the last place we want to be.”

“What!?” Angela exclaimed. “Is it dangerous? Why don’t we want to go there?”

“It’s not a good place.”

“You’re going to have to be more specific.” Angela said.

“Sixteen years ago,” Drake began. “There was a race of people on Rabbit’s Foot called the Fortunatus. My people. The Human Empire made the Anti-Lucks, people like 169, to kill them.”

“The Human Empire made 169?” Olivia interrupted.

“You’d think the princess would know more about her own empire.” Drake said.

“I remember the story of Rabbit’s Foot from my history lessons.” Olivia said. “There was nothing in there about Anti-Lucks. You must be mistaken.”

“Well I was there.” Drake said, “So I think I know what happened. But why don’t you tell us the story then? Just make sure to get all the historical facts right.”

“The Fortunatus were the ones who started the war against the Human Empire. We thought that if we defeated them the rest of the Mystics would surrender. So we sent a massive army to defeat them once and for all on their home world. They killed the entire army with some kind of unknown bio-weapon, but the Fortunatus all died too.” Olivia said. “Isn’t that correct?”

“Yeah,” Drake said. “It went something like that, except the Human army was made of Anti-Lucks and the Fortunatus didn’t all die.”

“I’m sorry,” Olivia said, “But your perception of this story is simply wrong.”

“Are either of you going to tell me why we don’t we want to go there?” Angela interjected.

“Because the princess was right about the Fortunatus using a bio-weapon to win that fight.” Drake said. “And it’s a lot scarier than 169.”

Chapter 13: Vahn

“Yes sir, I understand.” Vahn said as he hung up his Line Transceiver. He’d just finished telling the King of Drake’s disappearance. His ego was hurt, and he was more worried now than ever that there was no way to defeat 169; but at least now he could search for other ways to defeat him instead of relying solely on the merits of his criminal half brother.

“Oh good, you’re here!”  Erica said as Vahn walked into his office. “You have a call waiting for you.”

“Ok,” Vahn replied, “I’ll take it in my office.”

“A little information, sir.” Erica said. “The call is from somebody named Titus. We ran a background check on him. He’s a Draco Hominis, wanted for every crime you could come up with, and he was most recently incarcerated in Hades prison on the same day as Drake. Titus was the only survivor. He wants to sell you information.”

Whatever Drake had done in that prison was powerful enough to defeat 169. Learning what had happened could only help their cause.

“Thank you.” Vahn said. “I’ll take that call now.”

Vahn entered his office, the sliding metal doors closing behind him, and hit the answer button. A large figure appeared on the screen. Vahn had dealt with Draco’s before, and was more or less used to their daunting size, but Titus was exceptionally large. By far the biggest Draco Vahn had ever seen.

“Are you the one I need to talk to about getting money for my information?” Titus said over the screen.

“That would depend on what information you offer.” Vahn replied.

“Drake Ashbell.” Titus said. “I know how he killed all the men at your prison. I’ll tell you all about it if you’ll pay me three-thousand Human denarius.”

“If I find your information to be worth that price then I suppose I could pay it to you.” Vahn replied. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got.”

“Do you take me to be an idiot?” Titus roared. “I want you to meet me at the bar called Galaxy’s Edge in the city of Epystilium on the planet Finibus in 15 hours. We’ll negotiate there in person.”

The screen went black.

“Prepare me a ship.” Vahn said to Erica as he exited his office. “I’m going to Finibus.”