Bloodlord (Soulguard Book 3) (8 page)

Chapter 14

              Just like when I stepped into the facility, it felt like I was home. The second I stepped through the gate, every head turned toward me.

              "I can feel them," I said, "I can feel them all."

              Sam had been right behind me.

              "All of who?"

              "All the people, Sam. I can feel all the people on this world."

              "But there are millions," he said.

              "They're everywhere," I said, "I'm having trouble concentrating."

              "You must push this to the back of your mind, Rash'Tor'Ri," Kil'Sin'Deres said. "This is what it means to be Farrara'Ti. You will feel every being you Mark."

              I pushed the awareness to the back of my mind. I had done something similar back when I was a child. I had made it where I could turn my Sight off and on. Otherwise I would always be seeing power flows instead of what a regular person sees. Now I did so again with this awareness of all those around me. I couldn't shut it off but I could reduce it to a sort of background noise.

              "There," I said, "maybe that'll do it."

              A group of people were walking across the clearing toward us. The person in the lead was Touran Gorvelis, and his Soul was in turmoil.

              He strode forward and knelt before me.

              "I have failed you, Master," he said, "And I offer you my life in return."

              I grasped his shoulder and pulled him to his feet.

              "You haven't failed me, Touran," I said, "We have such different backgrounds, how could you have known?"

              "But..."

              "We're good, Touran. Just no more Marks on Humans. We are now responsible for the safety of this world and that will, for the most part, fall on you. I am here for a short time. But you'll have to take care of this place when I go back."

              "Why are you here?" he asked, "I thought you wouldn't leave until your world was safe."

              I started to answer but I just did what they all do. I just gave him a mental information dump.

              "I see," he said as he looked at Kil'Sin'Deres, "I have never seen a Kresh who would willingly take the Mark. Much less a Farrara'Ti as powerful as Kil'Sin'Deres."

              "It's just part of a much larger plan," I said.

              "I see that, as well. It may work."

              "This half silent half voice conversation is messin with my Chi," Sam said, "Some of us ain't telepathic. You're freakin us out, here."

              "He will be a joy to work with," Gorvelis said, "Are you sure he is not Marked? He has your attitude."

              "Nope, ya can't blame his attitude on me. That's all his."

              "I'm standin right here," he said

              "I'm not so certain," Gorvelis said, "He feels a lot like you."

              "Right here," Sam said again.

              I laughed, "Touran Gorvelis, this is Sam Keller and Darrel Barnes. They will be setting up a Soulguard Academy here on Cerres. Sam will be the one in charge of the military side of it and Darrel the academic side. The others will be trainers and instructors."

              Gorvelis was grinning

              "This is a step on the path of defending Cerres. You've seen the next step in my mind."

              "It will take a week to get the Shak'Tar back here for the Mark. Do you have that much time?"

              "Probably not," I said, "How many do you have here?"

              "Perhaps a hundred," he said

              "It'll do," I said, "I'll use the Kresh from the facility."

              "Kresh do not do that sort of thing," he said.

              I looked at Kil'Sin'Deres and he was grinning.

              "My Kresh will," I said.

              He looked into my burning eyes and said, "They may do it, indeed."

              "They will," I said, "And it'll be the key to winning the war."

              He was still doubtful but I was certain it would work. If not, well, I guess I would wait a week.

              "Send for Pos'Far'Nadir and all of his Ma'Nar," I said, "It shouldn't take long to set this up, so we'll do it tomorrow. In the meantime, what is there to eat on this planet? I can't go back without trying the food out."

              "Always thinkin with his stomach," I heard Sam mutter.

              "We will have a feast!" Gorvelis shouted and the people in the clearing were all back in motion.

              "What did he just say?" Sam asked.

              I hadn't even noticed Gorvelis' switch back to the native language of Cerres. The advantage of telepathy, I suppose.

              "He said we are going to have a feast."

              "It figures."

              "Let us get your men settled," Gorvelis said, "There are plenty of quarters here. This is the Capitol of Cerres and houses well over a thousand people."

              "Good," I said, "Cause there are goin to be a lot more here, soon. We'll be filtering more through the gates as quickly as we can and I plan for the Shak'Tar to be in training as soon as possible."

              "As you wish, Master," he said with a grin.

              "You don't have to call me master."

              "I know."

***

              The facility on this side of the gate was as technologically advanced as the other side. I was to find that the rest of this world was much less so. Cerres had been held back from advancing like Earth had done. They were at a level about with what Earth had been in the seventeen hundreds.

              For decades, any people who advanced past that stage were removed be the Kresh. If this had been done on Earth, our war would have been impossible.

              "You deliberately let us progress so you would have an enemy," I said to Kil'Sin'Deres, "I see where you were going with it. If things work like I plan tomorrow, you'll see if your people will unify for something."

              "What you will ask of them, no Kresh would even think to ask," He said, "I never would even think to ask my people to do a thing like this. That is why I came to you. With my Mark, my people would just look at me in confusion if I asked them for this."

              "Let's hope we get a better reaction than that."

              "I sent for the Ma'Nar of your clans to come here and join this Mark."

              I hadn't even thought of that. That would give us four more to add to the power level. One Kresh'Ma'Nar would equal quite a few of the Shak'Tar, and a Farrara'Ti would make a massive difference.

              "They say my strength is the level of a Farrara'Ti. Add another one and eighteen Ma'Nar, plus a hundred or so Shak'Tar and we should get quite a Mark."

              "That is so," Kil'Sin'Deres said, "If they will understand and accept what you ask of them. It will change our Race completely if we succeed with this plan."

              "Are you sure this is what you want?" I asked, "You know what the Mark does. It changes you. Do you want to take the risk of changing?"

              "I must," he said, "for the sake of my people."

              "I don't want to rule the world, Kil'Sin'Deres. Part of me longs for peace, another for the war. What if my Mark brings you no peace? What if you are at war with yourself all the time? What if the cure is worse than the disease?"

              He laughed, "Rash'Tor'Ri, I have been at war with myself for two thousand years. Some of my choices have been losses, some have been victories. The key to fighting this battle inside me is to keep making choices. When you are afraid to choose, you have lost the war."

              "That makes more sense than I would like to admit," I said.

              "I am not searching for peace, Rash'Tor'Ri," he said, "I search for the unity of my race. Whether it be in war or peace. I tried to unite my race in war with yours. I failed. Now I will try to unite my race in peace with yours. It will result in war with parts of my own race, but I can see a chance of unity amongst many of the others.

              "My race will never unify if not under a Mark. We would never even understand what you call freedom. The Mark gives us what structure my race has. Without it, utter chaos."

              He had made my decision for me, it seemed. I would Mark Kil'Sin'Deres on the next day, for better or worse. Choices must be made or you have already lost the war within yourself. It was sad that I needed to take life lessons from a Demon. But I had more in common with Kil'Sin'Deres than I did with most Humans.

Chapter 15

              "Feast," I said, "means much more than it did before today."

              "No doubt," said Vivian Kray.

              Vivian was one of the Mages who had come over with us.

              "I love food," I said, "but I don't think I could even sample all the different things they have laid out here."

              "I bet you'll try," said Sam with a laugh as he walked up.

              "Of course," I said.

              "Never doubted ya, Boss."

              There were at least ten different animals that had been roasted. Various vegetables and a dark colored bread on the huge table.             

              There were Shak'Tar and Kresh and regular Humans all throughout the enormous room. The tables were of wood and it clashed in my mind with the metallic walls of the building.

              The Makers had made things to last thousands of years. But there was nothing added to what they left. The Kresh aren't technological beings and they had just used what was there. I would have guessed that the Gates, if studied, would advance Earth's technology at a pace that would be staggering.

              And now, Cerres would advance as well. We would bring this world into the same level of technology that Earth has reached.

              It would take some time, I was certain. But, all went right, we would have enough time to send some experts over to examine the tech left by the Makers. It would be very high on my list of things to do when I returned to Earth.

              "Look at this room," Gorvelis said, "can you see the hope of peace, there? I can."

              He was right, three races of beings sat together around a table of food.

              "I can see it, Touran," I said, "It gives me hope that we can survive all of this and coexist."

              "I know now that you don't want the Mark used, Master," he said, "But it is not all bad. The inhabitants of Cerres spent the majority of their time killing one another in useless wars for many purposes. All with the cloud of the Kresh looming over their heads."

              "There is peace among them all now. They are of a single clan. They are all a family. This is what the Mark can be. With the Kresh, the Mark is to mark possession. This Mark is different, it Marks... the word escapes me in your tongue. We belong together."

              "I can see the beauty of it, Touran," I said, "I really can. When I stepped onto this planet I felt like I had come home. But it isn't freedom. Freedom is the right to choose."

              "You once told me that you could choose not to follow a Mark, but I don't see anyone choosing not to. At least some of the Shak'Tar would have chosen not to. Humans are both good and evil. There would have been some of the ones who relished evil that would have chosen not to follow.

              "I see Souls, I see the changes that my Mark made in both the Human and the Kresh. It changes people, Touran. They choose to follow because they were changed into people who would choose to follow. You understand?"

              "I think I do," he answered, "But you are about to use the Mark again, tomorrow."

              "The difference is that Kil'Sin'Deres came to me and asked for this. He chose the path and that is what freedom stands for.

              "America is a free country," I said, "Yet, if you look at it, people don't seem to be free. They're controlled by a government. The key to that system is that Americans choose their government. It's not perfect and over the years the dream has been corrupted some. But the choice was and is there."

              "This is much cleaner than the freedom you speak of," he said, motioning out toward the world of Cerres.

              "But this has to be a choice, too," I said, "If a person chooses to join this it's different than if that choice was placed on them. I chose the fate of you and your men the day I Marked you. You didn't choose it. I did. I didn't have a clue what I was doing at the time but, it's still on me."

              He nodded slowly and I could see and feel his emotions roiling.

              "And I chose to do this," he said, "This worlds fate is on me."

              "Yes, it's on both of us," I said, "For you, Touran, the war is over. Your sole job is to care for these people. Protect them, help them. You are responsible for them, as am I. I am placing you in the position of Governor of Cerres. Keep this world safe. Be ready for more people to come."

              He wasn't happy to be removed from the war, he'd been aching to kill the Kresh from the moment they destroyed his love. But I could also see and feel the iron resolve that had carried him through years of servitude to the very beings he hated. That resolve would make a great leader of the man.

              "I will do as you say," He said, "and if any of these people wish to join our ranks?"

              "If they come and ask to be Marked, you tell them exactly what will happen. If they choose to do it, do as you see fit. They must choose of their own free will."

              "It will be done."

              "Don't think of it as a punishment, Touran," I said, "This position is vital. You'll build a sanctuary for Humanity. And you'll be creating an army with the Soulguard Academy, here. When all is ready, we'll be attacking the Kresh from two different directions."

              "I see the need for this, Rash'Tor'Ri," he said, "I will miss the action of my former life."

              "I understand, completely," I said, "When the war we fight is over, I'll face much the same thing. When it's done I'll come and join you, here, with our family."

              "You are certain you will win this war?"

              "Absolutely," I said, "Look around you. Three races about to have dinner together. Where else have you seen anything like this? How can we lose when we can see this, already?

              "I used to only want to kill em after what happened to my parents. After what happened when they came for me. All I saw was an evil, hate-filled horde. Thanks to you, I see others that are different. Now I don't have an unreasoning hatred for all Kresh. Just the majority of em.

              "And I guess that’s a fair enough start."

              "You are an odd being, Rash'Tor'Ri," Gorvelis said, "I never had that unreasoning hate of all Kresh. I hated the ones who killed her. I hated the one who was our Master. But there were others that were different. I knew this long ago. That is why we lured Pos'Far'Nadir to that meeting where we Marked him. He is different. He accepted the Mark, unlike our Master, Sol'Kor'Vanas.

              "You may find more than you think you will when you start looking for the ones willing to change. The Kresh have not changed in thousands of years. Perhaps many of them truly want to."

              "Let's hope so," I said, "My world is depending on it. Thank God they don't have two of the Gate facilities to my world any more. We might have a chance with only one Great Gate at a time. Two at a time would roll us under in sheer numbers."

              "Pelin has reported that it was your ancestor that did that. Is this true?"

              "By my understanding, it is."

              "I wish it wasn't so dangerous over here for you," he said, "You should see what was left of that facility. It was a building just as large as the one for Cerres. There is nothing left but a great hole in the ground that swallowed the whole building and several of the unimportant buildings surrounding it."

              "That would be a sight to see," I said, "How far away from the Cerres gate is it?"

              "Twenty or so of your miles," he said, "Much too far to risk traveling amidst the Kresh with your mind glow."

              "Twenty miles and it’s still inside the city?"

              "Hub is very large, Rash'Tor'Ri," he said, "It takes days to walk from one end to the other."

              "All that technology, and there's no fast transit system?"

              He took a moment to put the term together with the image I was seeing in my mind.

              "The Makers may have had some sort of system. I have never seen or heard of it. Kresh just use what technology is left. They kept some Humans to throw into the machines to make them work. The Gates require a Human to open them. They kept colonies of Humans just for that purpose and killed and ate many to keep the others in line."

              "I think I understand why the gates need Humans," I said, "I made some weapons under much the same principles."

              His mouth dropped open as he saw in my mind the Source weapon in use.

              "Can any Human use these weapons?"

              "As far as I know," I said, "Why?"

              "Only one in four can use the machines," he said, "They tend to kill the ones they put in the machines that fail."

              That sounded a little ominous. We hadn't tried anyone except John on the guns, so far. If we were limited as the humans on this side were, it could be a problem.

              "We haven't tested enough to know if our odds run the same," I said, "I hope it isn't but the Makers were so far advanced past us that I'm expecting worse, now. Thanks, Touran, way to ruin a guy's day."

              "Always willing to help, Rash'Tor'Ri."

              Damn, even the Shak'Tar were smart asses. What was the world coming to?

              Gorvelis laughed.

              Damn telepathy.

              He laughed harder.