Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3) (3 page)

Chapter 4

"What we got next, Boss?" Prada asked.

"Time to check out the new Mage cannons," I said, "You two should enjoy that."

My two escorts today were Galen Stone and Andrea Prada. Prada spent almost every day with me, just like before but the others had begun cycling through soon after Second Kansas. I don't think I need a bodyguard but they insist.

"I haven't had the pleasure of trying one of those yet," Stone said.

"There are ten new ones and we'll be testin all of em'," I said.

"Nice," Prada said, "Those are fun."

"You just like shootin stuff, Andrea," I said.

"Maybe," she returned, "But who's idea was it to make laser cannons that look like they come from a Star Wars movie?"

"I have no idea what you're talkin about."

"Sure, go on and tell yourself that," she said, "At least you haven't made your swords glow like light sabers yet."

"Lyrica did that a long time ago and Rictor never forgave her," I said.

The mention of my friend always brought with it a sadness, but it wasn't as bad as it had been several months back. For a time, I couldn't even think of Ric without going into a rage. I still feel that rage down inside and there will come a time to release it. They'll come back again and I'll let that beast from its cage. They call me Rash'Tor'Ri, the life ender. I intend to show them they chose the name well.

"True," She said, "He told all of us that if he saw one light saber, he was goin to have the culprit on cleaning duty for a month."

"I remember that," I said with a chuckle, "Jacobs spent over three months cleanin toilets. He said it was worth it though."

"It might have been worth it. I saw Ric's face when Jacobs did it the first time. It was just... utter despair. It was priceless. He grumbled for hours. You would hear a word or two every so often. 'Jaegher' was one of the most frequent. 'Friggin Rourkes' was another."

"I don't see why I got blamed."

She snorted, "You gave orders in 'Yoda' speak for a month after she did that."

"Incorrect in your recollections, certain I am."

Stone laughed aloud.

We had been walking out toward the Gate and it had changed a great deal since Second Kansas. There were so many guns surrounding the gateway, it would be hard to count. There were shields around raised platforms with what looked like laser cannons mounted on top all over the place. The ten new weapons were on the East side so we headed that direction.

"All right," I said as we reached the platform of the first new gun, "Go ahead Stone. You're familiar with the process?"

"I've watched others fire them," he said with a nod, "I just haven't done it myself."

He jumped up on the platform.

The difference between these and a regular gun, would be the ammo. These had no magazine, or power source. They are fueled by a Mage's Soullance. There are shield lenses inside to focus and concentrate the fire into, basically, a laser. It makes a support Mage able to fire a shot that can take out a Wraith. A powerful Mage can do some serious damage with one of these.

This is the same concept I used with the Source weapons. We tried to make lenses out of glass but the Source doesn't work like light, exactly. I had to design shield lenses for the barrels. This is going to be the production chokepoint when we start truly producing the guns. This is why I need Mages. They don't need to be strong, just focused.

This is actually not hard to find. Most support Mages weren't powerful and had made up for it in precision. Some, like the fellow Jacobs had been yelling at, were almost useless. The only thing they are good for is support in making shields. No precision needed to do that except for the lead Mage.

The hair stood up on the back of my neck and my teeth seemed to vibrate as Galen Pulled from the Source. I watched as he channeled it into his lance and fired it into the cannon where a ten inch gout of Soulfire was focused into a two inch beam of concentrated Hell. It ripped the ground out by the Gate and left a trail of melted rock.

Stone had a huge grin on his face as he passed the weapon back and forth across the area in front of it.

I couldn't even imagine what it would look like if Paige fired one of these. There's no guarantee the gun could even handle that much power it might just melt. She's afraid to use it much. One slip with that sort of power and the explosion that Nora Kestril had created at First Kansas would look like child's play.

Paige or I could go through one of these gates and Mage bomb. We could end this war in one fell swoop. We've both talked about doing just that. But if we do, it means we give up on fourteen other worlds of human life out there in the same position as we are, or worse.

Now, with what had happened in Romania, it was even worse for me. I have marked others with the telepathic Mark that I gained from my Kresh DNA. They are my "subjects" you might say. The closest thing I can figure, they are sworn to my service and I am responsible for them. And I am responsible for thousands of humans on Kresh and other worlds along with several million actual Kresh.

I can't just turn my back on them, so we prepare for a long, bloody war.

As Stone finished playing and jumped down, Prada who had been watching started toward the next one.

"My turn," she said with a disturbing smile.

It's probably a good thing I wasn't watching her Soul. I think I may have rubbed off on some of my friends. I get a disturbing amount of joy from sheer destruction. As a matter of fact, I planned to use a couple of the guns as well.

***

We had spent several hours firing the guns and I had sent my escort on back to the base. I liked to spend a little time out by the Gateway be myself every day.

I took my mp3 player from my pocket and affixed it to my shoulder with a small shield. The earbuds were held in place by a small set of shields as well. I had gone through several players by moving so fast that they were slung from pockets to shatter before I had started working out this way.

I pushed play and the grinding guitar and growling voice of Metallica's lead singer pounded in my ears.

My music makes most folks just shake their heads. I love the rage music and it helps me bleed off the huge well of rage inside me. I genuinely feel better after listening to a song filled with rage.

I drew my twin swords from the sheaths on my back and began the Dance of Blades, the fluid changing from stance to stance. Kyra had trained me from the time I could carry a toy sword in this dance. I'm actually one of the few who are considered Master level in the art. Kyra makes the dance look beautiful, Lyrica does the same. Most folks say my dance is scary, probably due to the rage I can bleed off with it. It looks like concentrated fury. I tend to lose myself in the rage as I practice. I usually do my daily session out by the gate.

A few hours later, with Maria Brink, from In This Moment screaming in my ears, I came to rest with a final stance. I was covered in sweat and the great reservoir of rage inside me was noticeably less. If I didn't do this daily, I'm afraid I would blow up.

I sheathed my swords and started back toward the base. Lyrica and I shared a place in the residences at the far side of the base. She'd been working in Wichita all day at the hospital. That's where she spent most days.

If I needed her here for special projects, she would come. But her passion was for healing. She is so much better than me. I think, all the time, of ways I can destroy. She thinks of new ways she can heal others. I don't really understand how she can love me as she does when we are so different.

As I passed the Guards on station I got a few waves, which I returned. I always hear comments that they are unaware I can hear.

"Out at the Gate again..."

"Whatcha think he does out there?"

"Probably hoping they'll show up while he's out there."

Its scary how close to the truth that one was. Sometimes I wish the gate would open while I'm at ground zero.

"Were you here at Second Kansas?"

"No, they say he ripped the Soul right out of one of em."

"He did. I was there he..."

I frowned to myself as I walked out of range. I could have boosted my hearing but I didn't really want to hear more of that conversation. It always seemed to come down to that. The one thing I am most ashamed of is the thing that sticks with everyone's memories.

It doesn't help that the television played that footage for months as its top story. The great invasion is at hand and then that scene and "we have the Soulguard to protect us" stories.

There had been a lot of "Rourke not available for comment" in the reports. I tend to avoid the press. Even Jennifer Alstead had stopped asking for my story as a piece to build up the Soulguard. She had kept asking for some time but my steadfast refusal had finally sunk in. She was still the one who covered most stories about us, and I had done several interviews with her. But she stayed away from some of the things she knew bothered me the most.

Unfortunately, this was just the beginning of what I believed would be the bloodiest war our planet had ever seen. If the Kresh ever get their shit settled we are done for. I hoped they'd never get it together. Our only chance was if they kept coming at us piecemeal as they'd done so far. If they ever got truly unified, they'd run over us with numbers alone.

Chapter 5

"More wings, please," I answered the waitress that had just returned to our table for the fifth time.

She craned her neck to see over Kharl. She looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Where are you putting all of those?" She asked, "You got a hollow leg or something?"

"I'm pretty sure he does," Lyrica answered her.

"He must have," she said with a shake of her head, "That's four plates of wings.

"I could see one of these two," she motioned toward Kharl and Dietrich who almost took up the whole side of the tables that were pulled together. Kyra was almost invisible sitting between the two giants. "But they're both big as a house."

"But I work harder, so I have to eat more," I said. "Those two always just stand around orderin people to do the work."

Dietrich's sneeze sounded disturbingly like 'bullshit' but I knew that couldn't be the case.

"Now that ya mention it," Kharl rumbled, "I could use another plate of wings too."

Dietrich smiled and nodded to the waitress as well, "Definitely need more."

She left as several eyes followed her. There were two grunts as a couple of blows landed and I laughed. I had been smart enough not to look at her so Lyrica hadn't been one of those who had kidney punched two men. Kharl and Trent were both favoring their left sides.

Mattie and Trent had become an item over the last few months and Lyrica had been as happy as she could be. She'd been saying they should just get a room for years.

"So has anyone heard about the attempted bank robbery they had in town last month?"

I groaned as Jacobs asked that question. Lyrica giggled. I couldn't hide that from her anyway. I hadn't told anyone else about it.

It just so happened that Jacobs had witnessed the whole thing. He'd been waiting for a month to tell this at one of the gatherings it seemed. It was a tradition of sorts to tell some story about the antics of a certain Soullord.

"Well," he said with a grin, "Let me tell ya all about it."

"The illustrious potentate and I were at the east branch of Capitol Federal, which happens to be the bank where most Soulguards do their business now.

"In walk these four guys. They looked suspicious to me, although our Boss doesn't even pay any attention. He's busy at the teller countin out all that money he has."

Actually, I had been there seeing if I could afford to buy my lunch.

"Anyway, these guys draw guns and start screamin'. Now I don't wanna be insulting to em, but if you're gonna rob a bank, would ya choose the one that has Soulguards in it at almost any given time?

"I don't think I would. But that's exactly what these geniuses did. Finally the boss looks up from his bucket full of hundred dollar bills and sees what's goin on."

Fourteen dollars and thirty-two cents.

"We all turn around as their leader screams 'Nobody move and nobody gets hurt!'"

"As it turned out this guy was pointin his gun at this lady and her kid. Our intrepid leader freaked out. I mean fiery eyes, death to all, and all that."

He had a point, I did lose it for a minute. I had seen this guy's Soul and I could feel that he wanted to kill. He wanted to kill that little girl and I couldn't abide that. Children are sacred, they are our future and should be protected at all costs.

"Next thing anyone knows, this guy is dangling off the floor by his neck and you can feel all this 'I want to kill you' comin from that side of the bank.

"He says, 'Where's the fun in that?' so the guy wets his pants and the boss regains a little composure and stuffs the guy in a trash can. All you can see stickin out of the trash can is a head and two feet.

"With all this goin on, I just figured 'What the hell?' and grabbed the nearest one to me and stuffed him in another trash can.

"Then we moved on over and grabbed the other two. There was only one more trash can and I got to it first so I stuffed mine inside the can and laughed at him."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what he did with the other one," Kharl said.

"Well, you'd think scotch tape wouldn't really hold a guy."

"Good lord," Kyra said, "How much tape would that even take?"

"Seventy four rolls," I answered.

***

              The C-130 was loud and Prada looked pissed. She always looked pissed when we were in an airplane for some reason.

              We all had our coms attached so we could speak even with the noise.

              "So what we're lookin' for is a unified jump," I said, "There are seven colored targets on the ground in a circular formation. Then there is a center target where I will try to land with two squads. You each have a color on the wristband. After we are airborne, you start getting your bearings and go for your color. I want as tight a formation as you can get."

              "Combat drop or just a drop?" Cristof Damaris asked.

              "The first will be a basic drop," with a grin.

              "First?" Prada asked.

              "Oh yeah," I said with an overabundance of joy, "We got the plane all day and we're gonna take advantage of it."

              I could see her muttering something about "Friggin Soullords" at the other end of the craft with her Mageguards.

              Mageguard is the term we use for one of the Guards who have gone through the Ascension process with either Lyrica or myself. Their Soulstreams are Mage strength but they haven't been through the courses at the Academy to begin instruction on how to properly Pull the Source. They have the strength and speed of a Mage with the skills of a Guard.

              Kharl had shown the power of the Mageguard in the demonstration we had done for the American Government what seemed like a long time ago.

              We had ascended every Guard that had come in with my merry band of misfits. Each Mage had ten Mageguards now. We had been working together for the last six months every chance we got. This just happened to be a day when we could use the planes to practice drops.

              As we neared our target, each Mage looked at their wristband where their target had been placed. I saw Prada muttering again.

              The door opened and the light flashed red. Green would mean to jump. The nearest squad approached the door, Reyna Sereno and her ten. Directly behind her squad was Galen Stone and his. Len Yueh was next, then Prada, Alexei Rostov, Cristof Damaris, Adaya Tovah, Alec Brighton, Asante Xhosa, and Lennox Flynn bringing up the rear.

              The light turned green and Rheyna dived out the back with her guys. As Stone jumped with his I could hear Prada muttering again.

              As she got closer I could hear her.

              "Where's that son of a bitch when you need him?"

              "Who?" Rostov asked from behind her.

              "Rictor Freakin Hughes!" She yelled back just as she got to me.

              I threw her out of the plane.

              As Rostov got close to me he was still laughing.

              I shrugged and, since I needed to gather both of my squads who would hit center with me,              jumped on out of the plane too.

              I dived toward the two squads who would land with me in the center. Both Prada and Rostov were already arranging their groups where they needed to be. I ended my dive by flattening my body out to catch more wind and placed myself in the center.

              Rostov was on my left and Prada to the right. When I looked at her she was looking the other way but she was telling me what she thought of my actions with a rude hand gesture.

              I laughed.

              This one was infinitely easier than the combat drop. Combat drop didn't use shield chutes. The combat drop involves the two squads who jump with me. They are linked to me so I can draw power and I have a shield platform that we are all on top of. It took me a while to perfect the platform without it flipping and dumping us but I finally got it right.

              We go down as fast as possible and then at my signal, the two Mages Pull and I snatch the power. Add that to my own and channel it through the shield, and we have power to brake the shield platform. Once it slows enough, I just turn it off and we drop the rest of the way. Naturally, Prada hates that one even worse than the chute drop. Alec on the other hand loves it.

              That's why I let her squad and Alec's squad do it a second time at the end of the day when I found out we had time for an extra flight.