THE wall flashed with light and the hum of engines began to rise. They could feel the reverberations as ships came into view in the transgate portal.
"They're returning!" said Jayce.
Tiet turned to catch his son's eye-Kale took the cue and signaled the same cautious intent wordlessly to Emil. In a moment the boys were already gone; hidden away in the hangar somewhere-just in case.
Tiet and the others cleared away from the landing area of the hangar floor. Within moments the rock wall was penetrated by a number of large ships coming through the gate, followed by nine smaller fighter craft. The howling of the turbines was amplified a hundred times over in the cavern. The wind whipped up into miniature whirlwinds all across the hangar floor as the freighters extended their skids and settled down quickly onto the pavement.
When the side doors slid back, a man and a woman were behind the first with weapons trained on Tiet and his group. Jayce stepped forward quickly with his hands up telling them, "These people are with me, don't be alarmed."
Tiet noticed more people gathering from the other ships with their weapons at the ready also. They were being encircled quickly. The boys were still out of sight. They wouldn't move unless absolutely necessary. Tiet wondered how well he would be able to fight right now if he had to-his injuries were still limiting his activity quite a bit.
Wynn noticed the ships carried quite a few unarmed women as well. Some of them were with child and all of them looked like they had been laboring somewhere. Grass and dirt matted the fronts of their long skirts right where the knees would have pinned the garments to the ground beneath.
Wynn felt confident. He felt limber and ready to defend the king if necessary. But he didn't perceive any unwarranted hostility among these rebels. They were conducting rescue raids and surely their small group didn't appear to offer much threat if these rebels were fighting the Agonotti.
"Alec, this is King Tiet Soone of the Barudii," said Jayce to the first man that had gotten off of the transport ship.
"King? I didn't think there had been a king since the betrayal of King Isic before we were all born." Alec appeared cynical rather than glad to see them and said, "I thought all of the Barudii were dead, along with all the others left fighting the Vorn on Castai."
"We're from the twin Castai," said Tiet. "We came from across the rift where my father Kale Soone was the king before me."
"The king has ruled on the Castai on this side of the rift for fifteen years now," interrupted Wynn. "There was peace between Vorn and Castillian clans all that time during his rule."
"Peace-with the Vorn?" said Alec with a cautious glance at Merab's dark skin.
"Yes. The Vorn military was defeated as well as the Baruk who came to their aid," said Wynn. "We had peace until the infiltration of another being, believed to be the Mithri Lucin himself in some physical manifestation."
"What?!" Alec was taken aback by that possibility. The name of Lucin was well known as the enemy of Elithias-he was the Fallen One. The others with Alec were all looking very puzzled by the tale. "Why should we believe any of this?" asked Alec.
"A prophet of Elithias, Aija, told us of these prophecies from the Logostus," interrupted Kale as he appeared from behind Alec. "Now, you will understand, sir, that if I had wanted your life, I could very well have had it. My father, the king, has come to help you. He has been sent by the prophet to lead you against the Agonotti and Lucin himself."
"Are you completely mad? Fight against the slanderer himself?" said Alec.
"Elithias is with us," said Emil as he appeared from behind another group of the rebels.
"The boy is right," reiterated Tiet. "The Lord's prophet of the last days has commissioned us by the prophecies to lead the people of Draconis against these cursed spirits. They indwell the physical forms of the Agonotti, because of the curse of Elithias upon them and they can be defeated in those forms."
Tiet stared directly into Alec's eyes. This man was obviously leader among the rebels and his concern for them and the people they had rescued was genuine.
Tiet stepped up to the man, ignoring the rifle barrel that almost touched his chest. "Alec, you don't know me; I realize that. You really may not understand what it is we are telling you-believe me, until we were faced with the prophecies in the Logostus, we didn't understand any of this either. Nevertheless, what we're saying is true and we need your help to fight them."
Alec looked nervous. He eyed his compatriots around him. They seemed as puzzled as he was and they were looking to him to make a decision. He stared back at the king again. This Barudii exuded power he could feel and strangely he wanted to believe him.
Tiet reached a hand out for Alec to take it. After a moment more of indecision, Alec's gun barrel fell and he clasped the Barudii king's hand in agreement.
"I hope you know what you're doing," said Alec.
"So do I, my friend, so do I."