A Warrior's Return Read online

  A Warrior’s

  Return

  Book Four

  of

  The Warrior Kind

  Guy S. Stanton, III

  Words of Action

  Copyright © 2013 by Guy S. Stanton, III.

  Published by Guy S. Stanton III at Smashwords

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Book Layout ©2013 BookDesignTemplates.com

  Ordering Information:

  A Warrior’s Return is commonly available for sale everywhere eBooks are sold.

  Author Website

  A Warrior’s Return/ Guy S. Stanton, III. -- 1st ed.

  ISBN 978-0-9910565-3-8

  Dedicated to all those, who

  are sinners saved by Grace.

  Chapter One

  Warning!

  Zevin looked up, as he heard the muted noise of what sounded like an alarm of some kind going off within the castle. His eyes met Raya’s and a look of alarm was shared between them. He quickly got up placing Saraenya into Raya’s arms before running into the inner workings of the castle, leaving his wife and young daughter on the breakfast patio of their bedroom.

  The sound of the alarm was emanating from the lower levels and Zevin half tumbled down a steep stairwell in his rush to get to the source of the disturbance. A long hallway opened up before him that appeared to end in a solid wall.

  Zevin didn’t stop. He ran directly through the wall, as if it was a curtain of water or light instead of a hard wall.

  The image of a wall’s flat surface re-materialized into place behind him. The space he had entered was a large space sealed off from the rest of the castle.

  He had noticed the odd absence of rooms in this remote section of the castle, while in the process of remodeling. He’d found the space quite by accident when he’d put his hand up to lean on a wall, as he was investigating, and had watched it disappear through the wall.

  He had walked on through to discover the secret chamber he now stood in. Gavin and Raya could enter the space, but no one else could as they lacked the gene that Tadias had encoded his work with.

  The room had a striking resemblance to the main room of the underground lab that lay underneath Thunder Ridge. It had seemed to come alive when he had entered it the first time and within moments he had been speaking to his sister Ellanara.

  She had been in the underground lab beneath Thunder Ridge when a long unlit icon had flashed up alerting her to something different. Within minutes she had been standing beside her brother in Nassoria.

  The sight of her appearing by his side had almost caused Zevin’s heart to stop. The ability to transport people and items from one lab to the other was only one of the many interesting capabilities of this place.

  It had been a long discovery process. Ellanara seemed to enjoy the challenge of discovering the secrets of the lab and Zevin had only been to glad to let her take the point in unraveling the complexities of technology that the lab housed.

  It was readily apparent that the sorcerer had never found this place. The available power source for this hidden facility was virtually unlimited. The amount of damage he could have inflicted upon the world, with control over such a place, would have been incalculable.

  As Zevin stormed into the space, what he noticed first was the presence of a crystalline display that appeared to have risen out of the floor. He hadn’t known it existed.

  It had a yellow flashing icon on it. The alarm had silenced immediately upon his arrival into the space, but the flashing lights had not stopped.

  A cool modulated voice, similar to the one that had been on the space vessel he’d ridden to Earth, broke the silence.

  “Unknown communication broadcasted on the Liathus frequency. Origin of message, Earth. Selected recipients none. This is a general broadcast. Warning protocol enacted, as any response will be viewable from third parties, as there was no encryption. Proceed with extreme caution, as the framework delivery of the message is of Orlandian design.”

  The voice died off, even as Ellanara appeared beside him.

  Zevin was getting used to his sister’s sudden appearances and simply asked, as she passed by, “Did you hear all that?”

  “Yes.” She responded softly, even as she began to tap away at panels of keys all along the interfaces of the displays within the lab.

  She reached one hand up and touched a piece of equipment attached to her ear.

  “What does your analysis of the signal indicate Abby?”

  The voice of Abby spoke into the room as if the system was there instead of at Thunder Ridge.

  “My analysis of the signal indicates that it is clearly of Orlandian framework and therefore should be presumed hostile; however signal impurities point to it coming from an older outdated source. The signal was also amateurishly sent, which is doubtful of Orlandian structure.”

  “What is going on?” Raya asked, as she walked into the room alone.

  Zevin shook his head indicating that he didn’t have a clue yet as to what was happening.

  Abby’s voice continued, “There is some positive news in my analysis. The signal was cut off abruptly before complete broadcast could be achieved. The signal’s strength died off relatively quickly, after reaching us, and may not have traveled in any legible integrity past us into space.”

  Zevin looked quizzically at his sister, “How is that a good thing Ellanara?”

  Her cool green eyes glanced over at him and then back to the display.

  “Trust me Zevin, that’s a good thing. A very good thing!” She reiterated passionately, as Zevin and Raya continued to look lost, as to what was going on.

  Ellanara looked back at the lit up displays before her, “You’re sure we won’t be located by opening the message Abby?”

  “No only if we respond, which should not be done for any reason, unless of course your father says otherwise!”

  “Point well taken Abby.” Ellanara said under her breath, with a hint of temperament leaking out into her voice.

  “Opening the message now.”

  Three spellbound pairs of eyes lifted to the screen and read the few simple lines of text that appeared there.

  After a moment Raya with a deep frown said, “It doesn’t make any sense. It’s complete nonsense!”

  She looked over at Zevin and Ellanara, only to find them staring with intensity at the riddle on the screen, as if it had all the meaning in the world to them.

  “Isn’t it?” Raya asked.

  Ellanara repeated the simple lines of text on the screen out loud. “All the trees are fallen down, but the four winds are hiding. The butcher has come home, but the baker is still kneading the dough. Who will blow out the candles before they start receding? For now is the time to be deceiving.”

  Zevin glanced at Raya, “It’s my brother Talaric! It has to be! We did this kind of stuff all the time growing up.”

  “But what does it mean?” Raya asked, staring at the words completely perplexed by the riddle posed in the oddly formed sentences.

  Ellanara spoke, “Well take the first line, ‘All the trees are fallen down’,
if the trees are all gone than there is no cover left, Talaric is in danger of being caught, and the next part, ‘but the four winds are hiding’, says he has to keep moving like the wind in order to remain invisible. I’m not sure about the next part, ‘The butcher has come home, but the baker is still kneading the dough. Who will blow out the candles before they start receding? For now is the time to be deceiving.’?”

  Zevin spoke up, “I think it means something like the enemy knows of us and is determined to kill us, but they’re not ready yet, because the dough is still being kneaded it hasn’t had a chance yet to bake. There’s still time to prepare in other words. The last part is a mystery though.”

  Raya spoke up, “They must be enemy warriors or something equivalent to enemy units, but why would they be receding?”

  There was a moment of silence and then Zevin spoke up, “They could be ships of some kind receding through a water vortex channel. They could be headed here!”

  “He’s asking for our help to stop them from coming?” Ellanara asked, but Zevin shook his head no.

  “No Ellanara look at the last part, ‘For now is the time for deceiving.’ That’s saying that what you think the message is saying in the previous statement is actually the opposite. He intends to kill or stop an enemy invasion, but if he fails than the purpose of this message is to give us a chance to prepare ourselves for the coming attack.”

  Ellanara nodded, “I need to go tell father about this!”

  And like that she was gone and Zevin and Raya were alone together in the lab.

  Zevin was looking reflectively at the words on the screen and Raya curious as to why, asked, “What is it Zevin? What are you thinking?”

  Zevin looked at her and smiled, “I didn’t think he ever paid any attention to the silly word games that Gavin, Ellanara and I thought up.”

  Raya stepped into his arms and looked up, “You’re going to go help your brother aren’t you?”

  But surprisingly he shook his head no and she looked at him in surprise, “Why wouldn’t you?”

  Ruefully he stated, “It might sound juvenile of me, since I am a king after all, but the simple statement of fact is, I don’t think my father will let me.”

  “Is that the only reason you’re not going?”

  “No, if whatever Talaric is planning doesn’t work, then the enemy will have to be stopped on our side. This place has the power to protect this world I think, if we can figure it out in time. It’s my responsibility to personally see that my people are kept safe. So I should stay here and figure this lab out. Someone else will have to go.”

  Raya laid her head against his chest and said, “Maybe it’s selfish of me, but I’m glad you’re not going.”

  Zevin hugged her to him and then on a lighter note said, “Even if I can’t get this place to work in defense of our world there’s always you.”

  Raya’s eyebrows rose expressively, “I see, have I been relegated to nothing more than a weapon?”

  “The most beautiful weapon I’ve ever seen!” Zevin said.

  Raya laughed softly, “You’re going to pay for that later!”

  “I know.”

  A moment passed as they held each other, “I’m glad your brother is still alive. I know how much that means to you.”

  Zevin held her closer. It did mean a lot to him that his brother was still alive. What kind of man had his brother become in the years since last he had seen him?

  Chapter Two

  He Sees Me

  Six months previous on Earth

  I sat down to add a little extra makeup to cover up the slight hollow of my cheeks. It had been a lean month. No one had money for either exotic dancers or whores, of which I was both.

  I was finished with the makeup, good thing too, because Tina came in early from her act. Bubbly as ever she rattled on a million miles a second, as her heavy breasts threatened to spill out of the next to nothing costume she wore.

  Even if the costume had slipped off Tina’s chest, her girls wouldn’t have gone anywhere. They were implants, bad ones at that. Everything was cheap these days, even implants, because no one could afford to buy quality, if there was such a thing as quality anymore.

  Tina was getting fat too and that wasn’t good. If she got any fatter she wouldn’t be allowed on the stage and if she wasn’t allowed on the stage, then she could only hope to get high paying encounters with clients, which is where the real money was.

  There were few enough good paying clients as there were without stacking the odds against yourself by getting fat and perceived as cheap. Going from cheap lay to the next cheap encounter, until she was working for a dollar or two was a fast road to hell. With all that cloud of negativity surrounding Tina, she was still my friend and the least I could do was listen to her.

  She was babbling on about something, “Tina! Tina! Slow down what are you trying to say?”

  Tina seemed to gather her scattered wits some and sucked in a big breath and managed to slow the pace of her words down, just barely, “There is a man! A big man! A dangerous man! I know if you try you can get him! Such a man would have to be rich, but rich or not it would be worth it just for the experience! I’d do him for free, but he probably wouldn’t want me.” She finished on a self-deprecating note.

  I stood up and hugged her trying to wipe away the sudden self-realization on Tina’s face, “Of course he would Tina! You have a lot to offer!”

  That was one way of putting it nicely anyway.

  “Now where is this god of a man located?” I asked.

  Tina’s eyes rose to mine and completely serious she responded with, “Oh you won’t miss him Evangelina. He stands out like a wolf among a pack of whining coyotes!”

  I looked at her surprised by the moment of seriousness that came so rarely to her by nature. Giving her one last glance I let go of her and stepped through the curtains and made my way towards the stage, as I went, I let the mask of perceived sensuality settle over me and govern the motions of my body.

  It was easy, once I’d done it enough times. The audience would see everything that they longed for and desired. My alluring movements would make them think that the desire was mutual on my part for them and they would go crazy with yearning for me.

  In reality it was a job, an act I did to survive. It gave me no pleasure and in fact it took away a little more of me every time I did it, but it was the way that it had to be. There was no changing it. It just was.

  I stepped onto the stage amidst the cheers of the gathered throng of lusty club patrons and flashing lights. I paid the crowd of cheering onlookers no real attention; as long as I heard their roars in the background I must be doing everything right.

  Most of them didn’t have much money and what they did have they spent on alcohol and the lust of watching girls like me perform, in a vain effort to escape the reality of their miserable lives of indebted poverty.

  They would’ve sold an organ for a night with me, but I wasn’t interested. I didn’t sell myself cheaply. They had to have real money in order to use my body. I had learned the value of keeping myself as a limited higher end commodity.

  So many of the girls got hooked on drugs and had no choice, but to take any offer that came their way, in order to feed their habit. I had tried drugs, but I found the release they offered not to my liking and I couldn’t afford them anyway. I would have my release when I was dead, but until then I had a purpose, to make money and survive. Death could come soon enough, as it was.

  There were many ways to die in my business; an unhappy client, a client that got too carried away, a random mugging with a knife slipped between my ribs simply for the clothes that I wore, and then there was the perennial favorite of some mentally unstable kook, with a childish fantasy of paying his mother back for locking him in the closet as a child, who’d cut me up into a million pieces. Stuff like that happened every day.

  Death was easy to find in the world I lived in. Life was harder to come by. Introspectively I noted, as I m
oved fluidly across the stage in whatever sway of movement would incite my crowd of onlookers the best, that I definitely needed to focus on eating a little more. It was almost as bad to be too thin in my profession, as it was to be too fat.

  It was just hard to focus on taking the time to eat though. I simply forgot about doing it sometimes, but I was going to have to fix that, if I wanted to keep my appeal and the demand for me high. I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to look for Tina’s man.

  It wasn’t good to pass up a candidate, who might turn out to be a high paying client. I really opened my eyes for the first time during my performance; as it is possible to have your eyes open, but not really see anything, if you keep your mind from focusing.

  Most of the time there wasn’t anything worth focusing on. I began to scan the crowd for the stranger without seeming to do so, as I moved in the dance. I almost came to a stop when my eyes found him, but my experience saved me and I continued on in the dance, without too noticeable of a pause I hoped.

  Every movement of the dance felt unnatural and unpracticed to me now, even though I’d done the act a thousand times before. I could feel his gaze on me now and I wondered how I could have not sensed it from the moment I stepped foot on the stage.

  His presence was so strong that it felt like a cloak had wrapped around me and was choking me with its tight grip. I felt naked, which was crazy because most of the time I essentially was naked. Why should it be any different? But it was!

  The strength of his gaze felt like he was peeling away the layers of my skin and seeing into my deepest inner self. It was awful and I wanted to leave the stage, but I forced myself to gut it out. Curiosity compelled me to glance at him again.

  He just sat there at a table off to the side of the room watching me. Intimidating was too small a word to describe him. He was a gringo. They were many of them in Columbia now; ever since the great nation to the north had fallen, they had migrated down here looking to survive, as everyone else was in an uncertain world.