Space Assassins: The Complete Series 1-5, page 37
The guards were at ease, doing this by rote. Another false alarm, no doubt. If something serious had been going down, surely they’d all know about it by now.
So they walked, and they searched, and then they searched some more, always edging closer to the front gates. And from there, it would be a survey of the lone bridge as their last step before declaring this portion of the estate secure.
Hozark and Demelza would stay close to the others, the stench of the large group of them masking the two Wampeh as they made their escape. And by the time the others noticed the two new additions to their numbers had disappeared, the intruders would be long gone.
Or so they had hoped. Oh, if only it could be so easy.
A shrill blast filled the air, and everyone’s skrees alerted at once. The guards pulled the devices from their hips and listened to the group broadcast, and Hozark mimicked the action, bringing his skree close to his face as well.
He and Demelza were not tied into the staff’s communications, but they could hear the announcement easily all the same. The emmik had been slain, and from the look of it, a Wampeh Ghalian was to blame.
Suddenly, this had become much more serious.
The guards all looked around, on edge and ready for a fight from a potentially invisible enemy. Eyes turned to Hozark and Demelza.
“Who are you two, again?” the nearest guard asked, a blade ready in his hand.
“She’s Mizzah. An’ I’m Faloon. Torvak knows us,” he said, nodding to the man with whom they’d just shared a drink.
“Well, we did only just meet,” he replied, unsure.
“Oh, are you fucking serious? You think me an’ her are Wampeh? Think about it, there are two of us, an’ everyone knows they only work alone.”
The others hesitated, unsure what to do next. It was true, everyone knew Wampeh Ghalians’ reputations for always striking alone. And these two had been with them from the start of the search as well.
Slowly, the on-edge Tslavars lowered their guard. Not entirely, but just enough to remove the threat of imminent violence against what were very likely their own people.
“You’ve got a good point,” the leader said. “But you’re new to our group, so we’ll need to confirm your identities all the same. I’m sure you understand.”
“Of course. I’d be surprised if you didn’t,” Demelza replied. “But be quick about it. There’s an assassin loose in the grounds, and we’ve got to stop their escape.”
“Shit, she’s right,” Torvak said. “If the Wampeh makes it past the Zomoki, then it’s a clear shot across the bridge.”
Demelza’s suggestive little seed about the bridge had just sprouted. All it needed now was a little water to make it grow. Water that would be provided not by she or her accomplice, however.
“How can anyone get past the Zomoki?” one of the guards asked. “Those things are terrifying.”
“Who knows? You know how tricky they are,” another replied. “Come on, let’s––”
He had only taken one more step when a brutal spell lashed out and removed his head from his body. Apparently, it had been set within the walls, a booby trap for those heading toward the gates.
“Itzall!” the leader shouted. “Dammit, come on! They had to go this way!”
“This leads right to the bridge!”
“Alert the others!” he said, then took off down the hall, casting his strongest defensive spells as he moved.
The others followed in his tracks, unsure whether he was brave or foolish or both. But with all of their defenses overlapping as they moved, only the strongest of trap spells would be able to harm them, and the one that had taken down their comrade was a rather simple one with not much power behind it. He’d just been caught with his figurative pants down.
“Do you feel that?” Demelza asked as they ran with the others, more trap spells bouncing off their shields.
“Yes,” Hozark replied. “This is Ghalian magic, but it is incredibly weak.”
“Barely enough to harm anyone but those who are caught totally unaware,” Demelza agreed. “But it was certainly enough to get their attention, it seems.”
Another series of spells were triggered when they reached the mighty doors leading out to the front entryway. There, the Zomoki would be scorching the ground between the gates and the bridge as their control collars shocked them into action.
“Stop with the damn Zomoki!” the leader shouted into his skree. “We’re in pursuit of the assassin, they’ve set booby traps and are making for the bridge. Tone down the spells making them spit fire and have them focus on sniffing out Wampeh. And send the others to meet us out front.”
He then charged ahead, his team of Tslavar guards close behind.
“This changes things,” Hozark said as they stepped out onto the spacious entryway.
The Zomoki were dead ahead, one on either side, but they were facing the bridge in front of them, sniffing the air, their collars glowing bright. Whoever had shifted the spells, the deadly animals were now intent on smelling anything non-Tslavar. Even in the middle of a pack of them, the two Wampeh would be detected.
Hozark glanced at Demelza as they ran with the others, growing ever closer to the looming mass of the great beasts. They slowed their pace a little, allowing others to overtake them until they were at the back of the group. But more would be following shortly.
Hozark abruptly turned, and the two ran to the left, hugging the wall of the stronghold as he and Demelza raced toward the narrow path between it and the cliffs leading to the moat below.
The nearest Zomoki spun its head, but it did not spew flames. Its collar spell had been changed to prevent it from roasting their own men, and a shock ran through its neck the moment it even tried. The others took note, however.
“Hey, where are you going?” Torvak called after them, a confused look on his face. “We’re going this way!”
A moment later, the group’s leader was racing toward him, the others close behind in his pursuit.
“They’re both assassins, you idiot!” their leader growled as he sped past. “Hurry! There’s no way off that trail. Have the others go the opposite direction. We’ll box them in.”
It was a foot race, and though the assassins had a head start, they had been seen. More importantly, they had nowhere to run to. And with the full force of Emmik Drazzix’s guards now closing in from both directions, there was simply no way they would escape. Not even two of them could handle that many men.
Then, as he watched with confusion, the two fleeing intruders abruptly turned at a sharp angle, racing not along the path or toward the stronghold’s wall, but to the cliff’s edge.
“They’re not stopping. What are they thinking?” the man wondered as he watched them, dumbfounded.
None who landed on the water’s surface had ever survived more than a few moments. The Nazgari were keen hunters, and the splash and commotion of that first impact always drew them in like hunters to their prey within seconds. To jump was suicide.
And yet, side by side, the fleeing duo did just that, launching themselves from the safety of land into the open air. They fell out of sight, plummeting toward the water below.
But there was no splash.
The guards raced to the edge, magic ready for anything. Anything but the large ship that quickly rose in front of them and flew off in a flash, two escaping killers already dropping through a hatch to the safety of the vessel’s interior.
“Send our ships after them!” the guard yelled, but it was already too late.
Bud banked hard, then climbed steeply toward the relative safety of space. And as soon as they were kissing the atmosphere’s edge, they jumped, the ship vanishing in a magical flash.
“Where are we off to?” Hozark asked as he and Demelza shed their disguises while entering the command chamber.
“We’re headed for a backup location. Laskar jumped on it and plotted it out as soon as you skreed for that emergency pickup when the alarm sounded.”
Hozark nodded his thanks to the copilot. “Well done, Laskar. You have my thanks.”
The ship dropped out of the jump in a distant system. One where no one was looking for them or trying to kill them. At least, not at the moment. The way things had been going, that could change at any time, it seemed.
Hozark relayed what had happened to the others, who listened with rapt attention.
“A Wampeh Ghalian did it? You’re sure?” Bud asked.
“It would seem that way,” Hozark replied.
“And Drazzix was hired by the Council?”
“A member of it, yes.”
They all sat silently a long moment before the pilot spoke again.
“So, what in the worlds do we do now?”
“Now?” Hozark said. “Now we inform Corann.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
The flight back to regroup with the leader of the Five was diverted unexpectedly. Hozark had directed Uzabud to stop at a seemingly innocuous little world along the way. A world that just happened to also be a hub for Ghalian communications.
But so far as Bud and Laskar knew, they had merely stopped for a short respite and to pick up some fresh provisions. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his crewmates, it was that this was simply one of those things Ghalian never spoke of. It was part of what kept them alive this long. A secret network in plain sight in systems all across the galaxy.
And only full-fledged Ghalian knew where they were.
With the concern that a Ghalian was potentially working off-contract, cleaning the trail for the Council of Twenty, now a very real threat, word had to be passed along, and an entirely new set of passcodes enacted while the Five decided how best to deal with this situation.
Their communications were secure, as they were locked within the minds of those carrying them, though occasionally on parchment as well, the words typically self-destructing with a magical flash upon reading. Whatever was going on, those working for the order had to be kept safe.
But as he handed off the message to be forwarded to the network at large, something unexpected happened.
“A message waiting for me?”
“Yes, Master Hozark.”
“But none knew I would be coming to this world.”
“That is correct, Master Hozark. For this reason, the same message has been transmitted across the systems awaiting you at whichever world you should arrive at next. And now that it has been relayed, I shall inform the others, and the message will be purged from the collective.”
It was most unexpected. And it was also disconcerting. For Corann to have gone to these lengths, something quite serious must be afoot. And in light of what they had just learned, he could only wonder what that might be.
“Wait, we’re going where, now?” their pilot asked.
“You heard correct. We are changing our destination to Etratz.”
“But that’s nowhere near where we were planning on––”
“I am aware, Bud. But this is where we are going now. Laskar, will you please plot the new jump for us?”
“You got it, Boss,” the copilot said, confused but not about to step into the middle of that conversation.
“It’s not normal, man. Up and changing things so abruptly when we’ve got such pressing information,” Bud said.
“I am aware. And I appreciate your concern. Truly, I do. But this is a directive from Corann herself.”
Laskar paused from his task. “How did you even hear from her, anyway? I mean, it’s not like you skreed her. At least, not that I’ve seen.”
“It was a fluke,” Hozark lied. “I happened to spot a fellow Ghalian when we were resupplying, and they relayed that she had departed her residence and was now on Etratz. Had we flown to her on Inskip, we would have received the same message, only several days later. So, you see, this good fortune saves us many extraneous days of travel.”
“You spotted another Ghalian here? The most secretive, elusive order of assassins in the galaxy, and you just happened upon one of your buddies?” Laskar asked.
“It is not quite so wildly unlikely as that. You see, we have certain systems in which we often resupply. Nothing terribly exciting, but the odds of encountering one of the order drastically increase given that fact. Still, you are correct, it is a rather rare occurrence. Fortune, it seems, was smiling upon us today.”
Whether or not Laskar bought the story was unclear, but Hozark didn’t much care at this moment. What he did care about was that they needed to get to Corann as quickly as was reasonable.
* * *
Three days’ transit was how long the re-routing had taken them. And in that period, Hozark and his friends had spent a great deal of time going over what they’d learned thus far.
Someone had started a ball in motion. One that would ultimately lead to the capture of Aargun and the near-fatal wounding of a master Ghalian in the process. It was something a great deal of care and planning had gone into. But it was more than just that. Someone had fairly intimate knowledge of several aspects of Ghalian contracts. Not necessarily how they were handled from start to finish, but enough to take advantage of their unlikely intelligence.
The final group truly had no idea what they were doing besides handing off a package to someone as they’d been instructed to, or setting a trap for any who would perhaps retrace those steps.
What their prey had apparently not anticipated was the degree of perseverance Hozark possessed. It must have put them quite on edge when they realized just how close the assassin was getting to unmasking them and discovering their true identity.
And when Emmik Drazzix was found dead, slain by Samara, most likely, the clue as to his hiring to begin the whole process had turned things quite on its head. It hadn’t just been a Council-affiliated person seeking to make a name for themselves by taking out a Ghalian. It was one of the Council of Twenty themselves who had targeted the order. And that had greater implications.
Implications that could draw the entire order into a conflict.
But with the anonymous seal, it could be any one of them who set that plan in motion. And with all of the backstabbing and plotting within the Council, there was simply no taking action until they had something more concrete in hand.
And that was about to materialize.
“Master Corann,” Demelza said as she strode into the cozy bungalow the leader of the Five was currently calling home. “It is good to see you.”
“Demelza. I am pleased at your return,” she replied, but her signature warmth seemed particularly forced today. Something had unsettled her, and for that to happen, it must have been significant.
“Hozark,” she said as her associate joined them.
“Corann.”
“The others?”
“I have instructed them to offload some supplies and then load some others,” he said with a grin. “It should keep them occupied for a little while. Now, what is this all about? We have information you will find most interesting, but something tells me your news may be more pressing.”
Corann cut right to the chase.
“Aargun has been located,” she said, a flash of rage flickering behind her motherly gaze.
“And he is alive?” Demelza asked.
“So far as we know, though not for much longer, I fear, given where he is being held.”
“Where is he, Corann?” Hozark asked.
“Actaris,” she replied.
“That is not good.”
“No, my friend, it is not.”
Demelza was a little surprised by the two master Ghalians’ demeanor. For them to react this way was unusual, to say the least. “What is Actaris?” she asked. “The name is familiar, but I don’t recall why, exactly.”
“A Council black site and stronghold,” Hozark replied, sharing Corann’s grim look. “One of the worst. It has always been something of an off-book facility. An interrogation and torture location available to Council members should they need it.”
“So, it’s not a normal Council operation?” Demelza mused. “Then perhaps it is only minimally staffed. We could––”
“We will,” Corann interrupted. “It is fully staffed, and those within its walls are armed and trained. But we are going to Actaris. We are going to retrieve our brother and deal with those responsible.”
The look in the woman’s eye told Demelza all she needed to know about her commitment to the plan. She was an angry mama bear, and heaven help whoever it was who had harmed her cub.
* * *
“Actaris? You’ve got to be shitting me!” Laskar said when he learned of their destination. “It’s a freakin’ Council stronghold. You said so yourself––it’s a fortress.”
“And the Council’s overconfidence in their safety will be their undoing,” Corann said. And her word was final.
In this one, rare instance, even Laskar knew when to keep his mouth shut.
The beginnings of the plan were already in motion before they had arrived. Corann had called in many of their vast network of spies to facilitate their entry into the fortress. Any information, any revisions to the security protocols, would need to be gathered before they struck.
“The information will be awaiting us on Vandorag,” Corann informed them as they boarded the ship to stow the last of their supplies. But they wouldn’t be leaving. Not yet.
Her own shimmer ship would soon be docked alongside Hozark’s on the hull, another craft ready and waiting to be deployed in this assault. But for the moment, it sat by, awaiting her.
“Okay, plotting a course to Actaris,” Laskar said.
“Not just yet,” the Master Ghalian replied, composing herself and turning to Master Hozark. “First I have something I must do. And Master Hozark, I need something from the Three.”
“The what?” Laskar asked.
“It is a Ghalian thing,” Hozark replied, not elucidating any further.
The Three were the members of the order tasked with keeping the location and access secrets of the Ghalian cache of weapons and wealth. It was a deliberately small number, and access to those items was likewise complex and required some effort.
