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4: The Revolutionary
"One of them will consent." Deun smirked.
"I should think so, Sire." Yeshin agreed. "Such power – control over all the worlds under both Gamilon and Iscandari control, and the might of the New Order of Guardiana at your command – not even the great Cometine Emperor can boast of that."
"I think the younger girl is more to my liking – Starsha I believe is her name." Deun's eyes narrowed, his devious thoughts giving rise to darker meditations. "The older one is much too stubborn."
"Yes, my lord. But the rulers of Iscandar are followers of Yeshua. They will not lightly hand their daughter over to one who does not share their... religious bent."
"I am aware of the difficulties, Regent." Deun sneered at the man. "Leave the Iscandarians to me. They are not our biggest concern right now." the young man stared at Yeshin. "Have the trackers sent any word about my brother?"
"No, Sire..." the Regent replied. "It seems that... he has somehow acquired the ability to... erase his tracks..."
"He what?! That's not even possible!" Deun roared. "Those idiots have obviously missed something. Tell them to look again!"
"Yes, my lord." Yeshin bowed.
"If they are not intelligent enough to find one outcast and his pet Christian, perhaps we are in need of finding... new help." the prince let the threat hang in the air.
"I promise, your brother will be found – even if I have to track him down and haul him in myself." the Regent replied, a look of cold determination coming over him. "What is to be done with the other one – the Christian?"
"Kill him. Slowly."
"And what of the... other matter, Sire? The one that you agreed that we, the followers of the great Queen Guardiana would be allowed to resolve if we leant you our help with your brother?"
"Just be done with it!" Deun snarled at Yeshin. "And leave my name out of it."
"It shall be done, Leader."
"Well, that was embarrassing..." Desslok said to Masterson once the inn-keeper and his wife left the foyer.
Masterson tried unsuccessfully to hold in a laugh, though he did manage to stem the volume of it. "Not the worst mistake we've ever made though." he smiled.
This earned the admiral's son a half-serious glare. "We seem to have a more important problem than an identity crisis." said Desslok. "My name is the only thing I have left... and I must give it up for a time..." the look on his face changed to one of uncertainty. "Once that one remaining piece of who I am is gone... will you and I be the only ones who really know me...?"
It was a soul-searching question – one that Masterson felt sure that his friend had been wrestling with for a long time, not just since their escape from the palace. The second-born prince had lived in the palace, but he had never truly been a part of the royal family since his mother's death. Leader Deun I, his father, had shunned him because of the mark he bore on his left hand – one identical to the one that Queen Talonka had borne on her own hand. It was too painful a sight for the former Leader to bear, and so he had neglected his second son, showing favor to his elder son, Deun II, who had ultimately betrayed him... to his death.
Ever since he had begun to realize that his father was ignoring him, Desslok had wondered what his true purpose was. He had no faith in anything or anyone but himself; his brother was destined for the throne; the only parent who had loved him was dead; his only real friends were Masterson, Admiral Talan, and Naomi Talan, the admiral's wife. What was there to live for?
The answer to that question was well-known to Masterson and he had often talked with the prince about it. "You are known to Adonai, my friend."
"Adonai." the prince scoffed. "Will you never stop talking about that God of yours?"
"You know the answer to that, Sir." Masterson replied kindly. "He gave me my life. How can I do any less than live for Him?"
Desslok sighed, "What am I to call myself, then?" he changed the subject.
Masterson thought very hard for what seemed like a long time – what was in reality only a minute or two – then something that he had just said to the prince registered in his mind. He chuckled to himself and muttered, "Deuel*..."
"Hmm?" the prince looked at Masterson, "What did you say?"
"Deuel." he repeated.
The prince thought for a moment then nodded and said, "Very well. Until such time as I deem it wise to reveal myself, I shall be known as 'Deuel.'"
The two teenagers sat in silence for another moment.
"I just have one question." said Masterson. "When did you make that interface for Mintra'el?"
The prince smirked. "If I told you everything, Talan, the world would cease to be normal."
Several hours after the arrival of Desslok and Masterson at the inn, darkness began to creep over the forest, encasing everything in a thick blackness that even the double moons and the stars could not completely dispel. The night felt odd somehow. The nocturnal creatures were much too quiet; their hootings, chirpings, screechings, and howlings had come to an abrupt halt, leaving the woods very still. Only the sounds of drizzling rain, sloshing swamp water and buzzing insects could still be heard in the thick night.
Inside the inn, Masterson, feeling restless, got up out of bed and threw on some clothes. Something – he knew not what – had awakened him. He sensed that all was not well.
The first place he went was to the prince's door, which he opened with no trouble – they had bypassed something in the computer system to allow for two people to have access to this room through both the front door and the connecting door – which he was using now.
Masterson stepped over the threshold and into the prince's room. He looked first at his friend to make sure that nothing was amiss with him; he looked normal. Masterson heard the prince's sleep-heavy breathing, but nothing else. He then surveyed the entire room bit by bit, searching for anything out of place.
Everything was as it should be.
With that, Masterson stepped back over the threshold and into his own room. He shut the connecting door quietly and then left his room to scout out the rest of the inn.
Silence turned out to be a challenge as some of the aging floor wanted to groan under his feet as he crept along the dimly-lit hallway.
As he and Desslok – Deuel now – were only one room from the end of the hallway, Masterson checked that last room first. He listened at the door. Hearing nothing, he tried to open it. Locked. He then fiddled with the hand-scanner until he was able to get the door to open.
It slid open for him, presenting him with a pitch-black, empty room. The only denizens were sheet-covered furniture, making the place look like it was full of ghost-factory rejects.
Masterson let the door close behind him and walked cautiously across the room and over to the two windows, one in the far wall, the other in the wall to his right. Moonlight was shifting in and out of the cloud cover outside, causing the light beams to move this way and that across the dark floor.
Once at the far window, he peeked out to see if he could see anyone outside. Why he thought he might, he had no idea. It was just a sense...
He saw nothing. Only bushes and trees graced his vision.
He moved to the other window on his right, looking out over the foothills which he could barely see through the rainy night as they loomed much closer than he had thought.
A sharp bang startled him and he whirled around, instantly drawing his ever-present weapon and pointing it in the direction of the sound. He looked back and forth from one side of the dark room to the other.
It was only a tree branch clanging against the window pane... Feeling silly, he almost shoved his gun back into his holster, but something he couldn't pinpoint told him not to just yet.
There was nothing here. He was quite sure, so he left the room and began a sweep of every room on the hall. He jury-rigged door after door of empty rooms. Finding nothing, he always moved on to the next one.
The last two rooms he had to check on the first floor were David's and Dommel & Elisa's suite. He didn't feel terribly awkward breaking into David's room – it was almost like looking in on the prince – but when it came to the couple's personal space, he finally decided to just listen at the door for a minute.
David Lysis' room was pretty clean for a bachelor's abode – but then again, he did live in an inn, and there were standards to be met – even for a bachelor.
Masterson quickly surveyed the room and peeked out the half-open window. Seeing and hearing nothing amiss, he left as quietly as he had come. He listened at the inn-keeper and his wife's door, but heard only snores which he assumed were the inn-keeper's.
Having settled that everything on the ground floor was as it should be, he trekked up the short flight of stairs to the vacant second level. There, he found more rooms almost identical to the ones on the first floor, if a tiny bit dustier. It looked like this floor hadn't been used for guests in many months – just like the inn-keeper had said.
Nevertheless, Masterson checked each and every room as quickly as he dared, beginning with the rooms all the way at the end of the hall. With every room he searched, a sense of urgency began to grow within him. He quickened his already hurried pace. When he came to the first room on the hall, he made his quick sweep as he had with every other room in the building, looking under furniture, in closets, in the bathroom, in cabinets, and anywhere else there might be an intruder... or something worse.
When he found nothing he nearly breathed a sigh of relief, but his Mossad-enhanced instincts and the Spirit of Adonai warned him that he had missed something.
Masterson sat down on the sheet-covered bed, unsure of what to do. There was no one in the inn who shouldn't be. There were no explosives rigged inside or out – he had scanned the exterior with the hand-held device he had brought along. It was Mossad-issue, so he was confident that it had not given him false information.
From his seat on the bed, he looked out the room's single window. From here he could see one of the planet's two moons. It was still a bit foggy outside due to the continuing drizzle, but he could see the almost-full, glowing sphere through the haze. Perhaps the rain would lift soon. Then they would be able to see exactly where they were before he and the prince continued on their way.
Something glinted in the moonlight. Masterson's gaze was immediately riveted on the spot. There shouldn't be anything metal out here. There were no out-buildings, no vehicles that weren't stowed away.
Someone was out there, and the chances were that if Masterson could see them from here, that they could see him as well if they looked up.
The admiral's son slowly slid off the bed, making sure not to move too quickly and catch the attention of whoever was outside. As soon as he was out of sight, he ducked under the window sill and withdrew the all-weather vision enhancers he had tucked into one of the many inner pockets of the jacket he wore most of the time.
He put on the fancy goggles and ever so slowly peeked up and over the lip of the window.
There! He could just make out, the form of a man holding a sniper rifle. The color of the man's skin was indeterminable in the darkness, but Masterson could see the source of the glint that had given him away. Around his neck hung a silver amulet – just like the ones many of the followers of Guardiana wore – and just like the ones they used to summon the shêdim.
A surge of adrenaline ran through him, telling him to stand up and shoot the sniper right then, but the rational side of him beat down his protective instinct for just long enough to allow him to realize where the sniper was aiming.
The man had his sights trained on something almost directly below Masterson. The prince was sleeping all the way on the other side of the building, so it couldn't be him this man wanted, and David was sleeping on the other side of the inn... that only left one logical conclusion.
As quickly as he dared move, Masterson scurried across the cold floor on his hands and knees, not standing up again until the door was safely shut behind him.
He flew down the stairs, careful to keep his footsteps from echoing too loudly in the stillness. Thankfully the stairs were covered in a soft material that absorbed much of the sound.
Once down the stairs the young man crouched down, careful to stay below the bottom edge of all of the windows that the sniper might be able to have a view of.
He made a quick calculation in his head and dashed down the hallway back to the prince's room, this time going in through the front door.
"Sir!" he whispered as loudly as he dared. "We have a problem!"
"What, Talan?" the prince asked groggily. "Can't it wait until the morning?"
"Assassins don't wait for morning." he countered.
Hearing this the prince's eyes flew open, all thoughts of sleep abandoned. "Deun found us? How?!"
"They're Guardiana. And they're not here for us." Masterson replied.
"I knewthere was something going on here." the prince hissed. "Which room?"
"The first one on the right as you go towards the front door of the inn. The younger brother, David is on the left."
Desslok nodded and, without a sound slipped on his shoes and drew his weapon. "We should enlist the brother." he said before adding ominously, "One way or another, that assassin won't be leaving. Lead the way, Talan."
Masterson held his weapon at the ready as he sneaked back down the hallway towards Dommel and Elisa's room. The darkness around them seeming to close in the closer he and the prince came to the door.
"Adonai, protect us all this night."thought Masterson, "Bring to nought the plans of those who would seek to destroy the innocent. Give us the strength we will need to carry us through whatever we are about to walk into."
With that prayer the soldier of Adonai and the prince entered David Lysis's room. Masterson woke the twenty-something young man up without startling him too much.
"Okay." said David. "It's nice to have guests again and all, but you're supposed to stay in your ownroo –" he was cut off by Masterson's silencing hand clamping over his mouth.
"If you value the lives of your brother and his family you'll be quiet." whispered Talan. "There's a sniper positioned outside their window ready to shoot."
David's eyes got big, betraying his shock.
Masterson removed his hand.
"But... who – why –" stuttered the brother.
"We'd like to ask the same questions." Desslok whispered from across the room.
"Who areyou two?" David asked, his brain still not having quite caught up to reality yet.
"We're friends." Masterson said anonymously before changing the subject, "If you have a weapon I suggest you get it and follow us."
Shaking away what little sleep still remained in his eyes, David reached down into a compartment built into the wall and withdrew a firearm much more serious-looking than either Desslok or Masterson could have guessed.
"You've got a special ops issue assault rifle hidden in your bedroom and you're asking us who weare?" the prince asked with just a hint of sass in his voice.
David laughed quietly. "You never know when you might need some extra fire power. That's the first lesson my brother ever taught me; I took it to heart."
"Let's go then." Masterson said quietly, slipping back out of the room, followed closely by Desslok. David, brandishing his weapon, was not far behind.
They stepped over to the opposite door, listening carefully for any indication that anything had already happened.
No sounds of distress met their ears, only the continuous snoring of the inn-keeper.
Masterson sighed in quiet relief. "They're still alive... for now." he said. "David, I need you with me." he turned to Desslok, "Si – Deuel." he nearly slipped, but recovered in time, "Get behind that sniper. And if it comes to it..." Talan looked the prince in the eye, "You know what will have to be done."
The prince, a hard look in his eyes, nodded and slinked away towards the front door before Masterson could say anything else.
"What did you mean, 'if it comes to it'? If what comes to what?" David asked.
"If we can't take the sniper down from here, he'll have to do whatever's necessary to keep him from escaping or contacting any reinforcements or friends he might have... even if it means taking his life."
David took a deep breath and said, "Never an easy choice..."
"Do you believe in Adonai, my friend?" Masterson asked.
"I do." David said, "And His Son, Yeshua."
The hint of a smile tugged at Masterson's face. "Thank you, my Lord, for this unexpected blessing."He turned to look at the younger Lysis, "Baruch HaShem*! I do as well." he whispered as loudly as he dared. "You are a Christian, then?"
"I am – since my brother returned from the Bolar conflicts years ago."
"Then does your brother share your faith?" Talan asked.
"No... Dommel was never one to depend on anyone other than himself. He doesn't like it when I bring up religion of any sort to him..."
Masterson nodded, "I understand." he checked his weapon, making sure it was fully charged, then said, "Let's take out a sniper, shall we?"
David gave a curt nod. "Your friend should be in position by now."
"Oh," Masterson chuckled, "I think he was ready about half a minute after he left us."
"A quick one, is he?"
"Yes. And smarter than is good for him sometimes." Masterson reached out to rig the door as he had with all the other doors on the rooms he had broken into that night.
"Wait," David stopped him, "I have emergency access to this room. You don't have to do that."
Masterson stepped back and gladly let the other young man open the door. It flew open much too quickly for Masterson's comfort, but he was relieved to see that the bedroom was separate from the living area and that the window in this room had been closed so that no passers-by could look in.
"The computer doesn't talk for this room?" Masterson asked.
"Not for emergency entrance." David replied. "A precaution."
Talan nodded, then took the lead as the two crossed the space. Once there, he put his ear to the bedroom door, listening again.
More snoring.
"Can you open this one too?" he asked David.
In response, the younger Lysis tapped in a seven digit number, then placed his hand on the monitor for scanning.
The indicator light beside the panel changed from red to green and the door slid open, a bit more slowly than the first one, thankfully.
The two immediately dropped to the ground so as not to be seen by the sniper. The window in this room was open, facing the assassin and Masterson was sure that if the man had been looking at the door just then that he would have seen them. No shot came; they had gone unseen.
David and Masterson crawled across the floor, careful to remain below the sniper's line of sight, but weaving their way behind furniture just in case.
"I'll wake Elisa." David whispered, so quietly that Masterson could barely even hear him from a couple of feet away.
Masterson nodded and motioned for him to go ahead and do it.
David crept across the short distance between himself and the bed, careful to keep his weapon from scraping the floor. Any noise right now would cost them all very dearly.
After a small eternity he reached his sister-in-law's side of the bed – the one farthest away from the window.
"Elisa..." he whispered, trying to sound calm. "Elisa, you need to wake up."
Thankfully the woman's face was turned towards David so that he didn't have to talk quite as loudly to be heard.
"Hmmm?" she moaned, still asleep.
"Elisa." he said again, this time tapping her on the shoulder. He would have shaken her a little, but didn't dare do so with the sniper watching.
"Whaaa?" She was starting to come around.
"Are you awake?" he asked, his voice a bit more insistent.
"David." the woman's eyes cracked open and her brow furrowed in confusion, "What are you doing here? And why are you crawling on the floor?"
"Shhh." he cautioned with a finger to his lips. "Elisa, you have to be quiet."
"But why?" she asked.
"Promise me you'll do what I tell you." he said in a deadly serious tone.
"Of course." she whispered back, starting to understand that something was dreadfully amiss. Then she saw the rifle her brother-in-law was holding and all doubts vanished. Her green eyes began to brim with tears, "What's going on, David?"
"There's a sniper stationed outside; he's targeting someone in this room. We think it's Dommel."
The tears she was holding back started to roll down her cheeks. "I don't understand..."
"It's alright." David tried to reassure her. "We'll make sure nothing happens to any of you."
"'We'?" she finally caught the plural usage.
"Yes, me and our two guests." a mirthless smile spread across his face, "They're more than they appear to be, I think." he looked back at Masterson and nodded. "Can you wake Dommel without startling him? Move as slowly and as little possible."
"Alright." she whispered, fear very obviously in her face.
As Masterson watched, Elisa pushed through her terror, shut her eyes and pretended to shift in her sleep, her hand coming to rest right beside her husband's face. He was on his side facing her and his snoring had stopped.
Her eyes still closed, Elisa moved one finger lightly down the bridge of Dommel's nose. She did this several times until the sensation penetrated the man's sleep and his brain notified him that something was touching him.
One hand slowly came up to catch the finger and he opened his eyes to see his wife looking at him – not with a smile as he had expected – but with eyes closed and face grim.
"Elisa... are you awake...?" he asked, confused.
"Yes," she whispered, her mouth barely moving. "Come closer, but move very veryslowly."
He didn't know what was going on, but he humored her, sliding across the foot or two that separated them. His face was now right beside hers and she could feel his breath on her tear-stained cheek.
Noticing the streaks on her face, her husband became concerned. "What's wrong...?"
Elisa opened one eye – the one she was sure the man outside would not see. "Someone's here to kill you..." she whispered. "They're outside right now, watching us..."
Dommel's eyes widened, "You have to get out of here." he whispered back.
"Not without you." she replied stubbornly.
"Dommel!" the younger Lysis interrupted the intimate conversation.
"David! What are you doing here?" he said as quietly as he could.
"Saving you." his brother replied from an undisclosed location on the floor on the other side of the bed. "When I tell you, take Elisa and get down here as fast as you can."
"Are you insane? She can't risk a fall right now!" Dommel said, agitated.
Elisa placed her hand on her husband's chest, careful not to move too quickly. "If I fall, I know you'll catch me." her one open eye looked into his two worried ones, and somehow, that one reassurance brought him the courage he needed to fight for the ones he loved.
"I never wanted to have to fight for my life again," he breathed so that only his wife could hear him, "but for your sake, and for my son's sake, I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe." he leaned forward and gently kissed her forehead, "I love you, Elisa."
"Go!" came the command from David.
In a flash, Dommel vaulted over his wife, wrapped and arm around her, just above her pregnant belly and carried her with him to the floor, absorbing the hard fall and protecting his wife and unborn son from most of the impact.
Two crimson energy bolts tore through the air where they had just been, scorching the wall on the other side of the room.
David flew into action accompanied by Masterson. The teenager scrambled across the floor, taking refuge in the corner beside the window. David shifted the bed so that he could take up residence behind one of the now-angled corners.
"Stay here." Dommel instructed his wife. He rolled across the floor towards where he had stowed the rifle he used for hunting. Snatching it off its perch he stood up and in a bold move, ran back across the room, diving behind the bed where his wife was still huddled, curled protectively around her unborn child.
Dommel came up, aimed his rifle out the window looking in the direction the shot had come from. He didn't see anything, but another bolt whisked by his ear, so close he could feel the heat of it as it passed. He quickly ducked back down behind the bed.
Masterson, his vision enhancers still plastered across his face, stared out into the wet forest, looking for the would-be shooter. He looked and looked until – finally! – he spotted him. He was perched up in a tree, hiding in with several bushy branches. He was starting to re-aim his weapon.
Talan leveled his own gun, zeroing in on the hand holding the rifle. He squeezed off two bolts in quick succession. He thought he had succeeded, but at the last instant, the sniper moved, causing the bolts to ricochet off of the weapon instead of finding their way to the man's hand.
The bolts threw the assassin off balance, causing him to drop his weapon, but he recovered it before it fell out of the tree.
David and his brother, having spotted the sniper as a result of Masterson's shots, took aim and fired in tandem as another round came at them from the sniper.
Dommel grunted in pain and withdrew back behind the bed again, his left shoulder smoking from the bolt the sniper had just fired back at them. Wincing at the pain, he looked down at the burn mark, got a better hold on his weapon and lifted himself up once more to take down this new enemy.
"Get the rifle away from him!" Masterson ordered. "If we can keep him alive we can find out what this is all about."
The Lysis brothers agreed and continued firing into the tree, its leaves how showering the ground below.
All of a sudden, the sniper disappeared from Masterson's vision."Where did you go...?"Without warning, a streak of red hit him right in the center of the chest and he blacked out.
Elisa screamed.
Desslok, unbeknownst to the sniper, was perched about twenty feet behind the man, staring into his back with malicious intensity. This guy was good – too good. Something about him wasn't right.
He would not move in on the sniper unless things started to go badly for those inside.
The prince watched silently as a bolt tore through the inn-keeper's shoulder. But he returned to the fray, looking pained, but far from being out of commission. The assassin hopped from this tree and into the next one over.
The prince followed.
Then the unthinkable happened: Masterson went down.
"Nachash!*"the unuttered yell echoed through his being, fueling some fire burning within him and forcing him to act.
Desslok charged the sniper, hitting him in the back with his shoulder.
The man scrambled to keep his balance and succeeded, but dropped his weapon in the process. He whirled to face this new attacker, whipping out a gun that couldn't have been any longer than four inches in length. He fired at the prince.
Instead of a bolt, a tiny explosive flew towards Desslok. If he had let his attention waver for the slightest fraction of a second, he would have been dead right then. But his hair-trigger reactions did not fail him. He twisted away at the last instant and the explosive flew by his face and embedded itself into the tree trunk thirty feet behind him, blowing away half of it and causing the rest of the treetop to crumple to one side, leaving the prince and his adversary completely exposed.
* Deuel – a Hebrew name meaning "known of Adonai"
* Baruch HaShem – "Thank God"
* Nachash – "snake" or "serpent"