Clouds of Tyranny (13 page)

Locke opened the door to see Pearl standing
there in her long white T-shirt that stretched all the way down to
her knees, the same shirt she always wore to bed. “You are!” yelled
Pearl as she gave Locke a big hug. “Yup.” Pearl peeked into Locke’s
room where Alex was standing with the duffel bag over her shoulder,
then looked back at Locke and grinned like she knew what was going
on in the moments prior to her intrusion. “This is Alex; she’s from
Pan’dier.” “I’m a horse trainer,” said Alex nervously and abruptly.
Locke sighed, “She was a prisoner of the empire, she has some
information that could be useful to us.” “Really?” said Pearl,
“Like what?” Locke froze and realized that she didn’t actually tell
him anything yet, “It’s late; we’ll all go over it tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.” Locke looked back at Alex and said, “I was just
about to show her to the dorm.” “Really,” scoffed Pearl, “For a
minute I thought this was it,” Pearl winked and turned to head back
to her room, which was across and to the right from Locke’s room,
“Night Locke. Nice to meet you Alex.” Locke hung his head in shame.
“How long do you think she was listening?” He turned to face a
grinning Alex. Alex dropped the duffel again, “So…where were we?”
“It really is late Alex,” said Locke as he scanned her sensual
body.

After grabbing her duffel and her dragon
blade she followed Locke to the women’s dorm. After getting changed
in the bathroom while Locke waited, she emerged in Speedo-styled
panties and a blue half shirt barely covering the bottom of her
breasts. Locke was confused. “I had to cut the shirt, I get very
hot at night,” said Alex nonchalantly. Locke led her to where
Ruthie and Terra were fast asleep, “Okay,” he whispered, “Your
sleeping here above Terra.” Alex draped the duffel bag over one of
the posts and climbed the small steel ladder leading to the top
bunk, never releasing her sword as she slept; It was her answer to
a teddy bear.

When Locke got back to his
room he put the wooden chair back against the adjacent wall where
it was and put the boxes full of coloring and cutting supplies in
the corner then stripped and jumped into bed.
That was close,
he thought;
recalling what went on in this very bed a few moments ago,
It’s like I couldn’t stop myself. I had to touch
her and taste her. Wow, she smelled so good and felt even better.
There’s no way I’m gonna get any sleep tonight.

Terra lay in bed in a deep sleep with the
soft silk sheets beneath her, the cool breeze caressing her flesh
from through the window. She awakened by soft moist lips pressing
against her dry mouth; a sensual tongue licking her lips as a hand
came and it’s fingers glided in between her breasts down to her
belly and curved around to hold her side as the tongue enter her
mouth. She dared not open her eyes. She felt the strong male body
press down against hers as her hands rubbed his back as they
continued to kiss. She moaned in pleasure as she felt pressure and
then something slip inside her; hard, painful, but pleasureful. She
felt it thrust in and out of her slowly, then his hand slid slowly
down her thigh on the side oh her butt. He began exhaling loudly at
the passion he was experiencing with Terra. She moaned louder and
louder feeling him go deep inside her. She had to, she couldn’t
help herself, she had to look. Terra’s eyes slowly shuddered open
to see Locke atop her making love with her. Just the fact that it
was Locke made her moan louder because this what she wanted, all
she ever wanted. Their breathing heightened and he dropped his head
on her shoulder about to fill her with complete tranquility. She
throbbed and felt herself letting go. “Terra!” yelled Ruthie,
waking her up from a very sensual dream.

“What? What?” yelled Terra angrily, mad that
that dream was ruined even though it was just a dream; the only
thing real was the perspiration in her pajama pants. “This is Alex,
a new girl,” said Ruthie excitedly motioning towards Alex. Terra
rubbed her eyes and extended a hand reluctantly, “I’m Terra, nice
to meet you.” Alex shook her hand smiling at her; Alex was wearing
military boots, black cargo fatigues, and a long sleeved mesh top
that hugged her flawless thin body, “Yeah, got here last night.
Locke brought me from Pan’dier last night.” “Ya know,” said Ruthie,
“Terra here has a bit of a crush on our Locke.” “Ruthie!” grunted
Terra angry at Ruthie’s big mouth. “Well, you do.” “Doesn’t matter,
“ scoffed Alex conceitedly, “Your not his type anyway.” Terra
eyeballed Alex, “How would you know? You just met him.” “I bet I’ve
done more with him than you.” Terra got angry as her teeth clenched
together and her fists tightened, “I’m gonna go change.” Terra left
with her change of clothes toward the bathroom. “What’s her
problem?” asked Alex, “I was just breaking her chops.” “Her crush
is really bad. Scary sometimes.” Alex laughed at the inexperience
of young girls, “If you crush on someone, you’ll never get them.
Men like confidence; know your beautiful and they will too.”
“That’s right,” agreed Ruthie, “So, what ‘did’ happen last night.”
“Nothing, just a lot of confusion.”

After Terra dressed from
her nightclothes back into her white skirt and green tank top, she
left the bathroom and saw that everyone else had already gone to
breakfast. Terra walked down the hall thinking about her ‘new’
competition. When she reached the dining area, she walked over to
the infirmary looked in to see how Clyde was faring. Clyde was
reading a book so Terra left him alone and went back; when she
reached the dining area she saw that Alex was in her spot next to
Ruthie. The only vacant spot was next to Pearl where Ray usually
sat, but he was missing. Terra walked around the table and sat next
to Pearl. “Where’s Ray?” asked Terra looking around. Pearl used her
fork to cut off a piece of the grayish meat that sat in front of
her, “He couldn’t behave himself, so he gets to sit over there with
Smith.” Pearl pointed to the next table and Terra’s eyes followed
to see Ray waving to her. She waved back and smiled. “What’d he
do?” inquired Terra. Pearl sighed as she glared at the back of
Ray’s head, “Something along the lines of carpet and drapes at
Alex.” She looked over at Locke who was on the other side of Pearl
and he raised his eyebrows in a halfhearted ‘Hello.’ Terra blushed
and turned away. Locke raised a single eyebrow,
What was that about?
, he thought.
“Did you ever actually meet King Velxeer?” asked Ruthie at Alex.
“No, but my father did.” “Wow, his son is so cute. Cant wait till
he’s king then I can be his queen,” giggled Ruthie. “Not if I beat
ya to it,” winked Alex. Terra’s eyes narrowed at Alex; she dint
much care for this ‘new’ girl, “Aren’t you a little OLD for prince
Luther?” Alex glared in Terra’s direction for rebuttal, “Aren’t you
a little YOUNG for Locke?” Locke’s head peeked up from his
breakfast, “What are you two going on about?” asked Locke sternly,
“Why don’t both of you-“ “Do I have to break up an argument every
single morning?” asked Smith angrily. All got quiet. “We are all on
the same side, you know.” No one said a word and they all went back
to eating. “After breakfast we meet. I need to know what you know,”
he said pointing at Alex.

After breakfast, Pearl, Alex, Terra, Ruthie,
Ray, and Smith went into the meeting room next to Smith’s room; it
had a large table in the center of the room with twenty chairs
around it and the walls were covered with maps of the world,
individual continents, and blueprints of various towns including
Pan’dier. They all sat down and Smith stood waiting. “What are we
waiting for?” asked Pearl. Then, the doc pushed Clyde into the room
in a wheelchair, “I CAN walk, you know,” whined Clyde. “Yes,” said
the doc, “And I can scratch my back with a sickle, but that doesn’t
mean I should, right?” “Please, be my guest,” laughed Clyde. Smith
sighed, “Didn’t you give him any drugs to make him less irritable?”
The doc looked at Smith, “This IS him on drugs.” Ruthie giggled
over in the corner where she was sitting Terra and Ray. The other
end had Alex, Locke, and Pearl; Pearl and Locke were merited with
being at a higher level than everyone else due to their experience
in the field and Alex was seated with them because she has the
information they need. The doc scooted Clyde over next to Ruthie;
the two of them held hands under the table.

“Let’s begin,” began Smith, “Tell me what
the situation is in Pan’dier.” “Well,” Locke began to say, “about
two or three lieutenants as well as approximately fifty soldiers
and a dozen attack dogs scattered throughout the town of Pan’dier.”
Smith nodded, “How are the civilians?” “There being forced to cook
for them and offer their homes as shelter, but no extremities. A
few murders have already occurred, though.” “Good. Now, Alex, tell
me what you know.” Alex stood up as Smith sat down, “Pan’dier is
just as Locke said; though I would have been an additional casualty
if he hadn’t arrived. I do know for a fact that in two weeks they
will take yet another town under their power, but this time there
will be no survivors. Their plan is to take the town from three
sides and kill all who inhabitants it and turn it into another base
to bring prisoners.” “No, where?” asked Pearl. “Harmon.” “Dammit!”
yelled Ray, “That’s my hometown.” “Two weeks, plenty of time to
plan a counter attack,” said Smith, “What else? Any insights on how
many are actually IN the Empire?” “About two hundred thousand
strong and growing larger everyday. Currently, Francisco Gerard is
the head man, Ralph Germ is in charge of diplomacy, and the armies
are commanded by a real homicidal maniac, Krazz.” “Krazz what?”
asked Locke wanting to know his last name. “He just calls himself
Krazz; he brags about killing the innocent and it’s rumored that he
has raped and killed over a thousand little girls. He has no
remorse and no conscience. He will not hesitate to sacrifice a
million lives just to get what he wants. And to top it off; he’s
one of the most skilled fighters anyone has ever seen.” “How do you
know all this?” asked Smith. “Huh? Oh. Uhh, a few of the soldiers
got drunk one night at the pub in Pan’dier and blurted everything
out and I overheard them talking.” “Hmm,” said Smith, “Okay, Locke,
Pearl, and myself will devise a plan to infiltrate Harmon prior to
the empire’s attack to map out our battle strategy,” offered Alex
sounding like an experienced general when she shouldn’t. Ruthie,
take Alex and Terra in the training move and continue your training
with Terra and I want a report on Alex’s capabilities. “Got it!”
said Ruthie. Ruthie gave Clyde a kiss on the cheek and left the
room followed by Terra and Alex.

On the way to the training room Ruthie
enlisted a dozen of the young men from the men’s dorm to challenge
Alex and Terra’s abilities. When they made their way inside there
were three more wooden dummies standing there waiting to test
Terra’s majick. She started by trying to move one of them using
telekinesis; this time it was much easier because of all the
emotional feelings of passion and jealousy inside her. Alex stood
with several young men looking at her. “Okay, which one first?”
Ruthie asked herself. “One?” said Alex, “You three! Let’s go!” she
ordered pointing at three boys of about eighteen years of age. They
hesitated for a moment. “Do yourselves a favor; forget I’m a
woman.” The boys looked at each other and ran towards her; the
first two at the same time and the third behind them. Alex side
kicked the one the right in the chest pushing him into the boy in
back. The boy to her left swung his fist toward her head as she
dodged her face out of the way and caught his arm and turned her
body flipping him over the front of her shoulder. The boy recovered
from her kick and rushed towards her; Alex waited for him to get
close enough and did a back flip extending her right foot forward
kicking him in the chin in midair before landing on her feet. The
last boy ran up and froze just before she roundhouse kicked him
across the cheek. She looked down at her handy work where three
injured boys lay; one of them unconscious. “Next,” she asked. The
rest of the boys stood there shaking their heads from side-to-side.
She laughed and looked over at Ruthie who stood there with her jaw
to the floor. Alex chuckled and looked over at Terra who was
looking right back at her. “You want some too?” yelled Alex with
her arms stretched out to her side. “Sure,” whispered Terra in
anger as she walked slowly and casually to Alex. When she was ten
feet from Alex, Alex put up her fists, “I’ll go easy on you little
girl.” “That makes one of us,” grinned Terra maliciously. Terra
thrust her right palm forward and Alex felt a cannon ball hit her
in the chest as she flew back forty feet till the wall stopped her
and she fell to the floor. “Looks like she brings out the worst in
you,” whispered Ruthie to Terra just before running to check on
Alex. Alex laid there thinking She’s so lucky I promised not to use
MY power, damn you Locke! Ruthie kneeled down to check on Alex,
“You need the doc?” Alex jumped up to her feet like nothing had
happened, “Why would I?” Alex walked out of the training room
giving Terra an evil vengeful look.

“No! Absolutely not!” yelled Smith at
Locke’s idea. “You know damn well he’s a valuable asset,” retorted
Locke. “I kicked him out of here for a reason.” “Smith,”
interrupted Pearl respectfully, “He might be able to help. I mean,
he can go places and not be seen. That’s something that could
benefit us in Harmon.” Smith sighed and slammed his fist on the
table, “Fine, go request his help. Pay him no more than a pound of
gold.” Locke stood up from the table and objected, “One pound to
risk his life for a man that banished him from his home?” “One
pound! If he doesn’t want it, he can stay in the wasteland of a
swamp he lives in,” said Smith then walked out of the meeting room.
Pearl and Locke looked at each other as they heard Smith’s door
slam from next door.