KALE and Juli walked through patches of wild flowers growing everywhere on the valley floor. Merab and Jael were bringing up the rear of the group heading toward the area where a great many transport ships were already landing. Kale's best estimate was well over one hundred ships, each carrying a compliment of rebel fighters of varying number. So far he could not see his father anywhere among those disembarking. He was supposed to be coming with Wynn and Grod in old aerial fighters, but nothing so small was seen yet.
Kale looked for the Maelstrom among the bigger ships that were already down or landing. He needed to find Captain Viche. All of the rebel forces needed to get organized quickly before an attack could be launched against them. The prophecy was very clear-Lucin would be attacking in the valley at some point. He needed Viche to get the other group commanders together by the time his father arrived.
Juli was the first to spot the ship. "Isn't that it over there, the big one, where those people are disembarking?"
"Good eye."
They ran the one hundred yards to reach the Maelstrom. Several men were gathered around another very distinguished man. He appeared to be the leader among them. The man looked worn by battle. His hair was gray, but it gave him a wise appearance and only added to his strength.
"Captain Viche?" asked Kale.
"Yes young man," said Viche. He gave Kale a once-over look.
Kale suddenly felt like his age was factoring into this man's first impression of him.
"Are you, Kale Soone, the king's son?"
"Yes, sir. We need to-"
"Where is your father, boy?"
Juli gave Kale a sideways glance at the boy on the end of the question. Kale noticed it also and he didn't have time for this man's disrespectful attitude.
"Captain Viche, until my father arrives, I am in command here," his tone was polite but firm. "We need to meet with all of the commanders of these groups immediately. An attack is imminent on this valley and we've got to be ready or no one is going to survive this day. Do you understand?" Kale felt a little heavy-handed with the last question, but he just didn't have time for games. Every fiber of his being told him an attack would come very soon. Lucin's forces had been dogging their heels and it was unlikely he had just given up.
"Come with me," said Viche with a little more concern in his voice. "We'll round up the other commanders and try to get this thing organized."
The Captain led the way down the makeshift row between the landed ships pointing to various men as he walked along. They responded as though they understood his desire to meet with them, and they began to follow after them. Juli squeezed Kale's arm as they walked, a playful show at her approval of his bold handling of the older Captain Viche. He shot her a quick sarcastic grin. It was typical for the elder men to disqualify a young man such as himself on appearance only, but he was a king's son and officially a man of proper age according to the Barudii customs. He just wasn't going to stand for the disrespect under such dire circumstances.
Armed men and women were gathering in large groups outside of the vessels they had traveled in. More ships could be seen coming from the southwest. They already had a number of larger vessels on the ground and at least a few thousand armed rebels in sight with more pouring out of the bellies of the ships.
Kale was sizing up the various commanders as they made their way to join their group. They all looked seasoned by what they had faced in their fighting against the Agonotti. Some had visible scars on their necks and faces and one had a noticeable prosthetic hand. He fought the notion that was creeping into his mind-I'm not worthy to take charge of these men.
Here he was, only a child in their eyes. Most of the men were giving him stares comparable with the look Captain Viche had set upon him. They were obviously thinking, who are these kids with Viche?
When they had reached the last man, Viche was trying to gather to their group, he turned to gain their attention. Viche began to talk about the king being in transit to the valley and was saying something more about Kale being the king's son, but it was all fading-something else had caught Kale's attention.
Juli was getting used to showing Kale her affection for him more openly in recent days. She liked him for more than a friend and believed the feeling was mutual. They were young, but Kale was already considered a man by his clan. Juli had caught hold of his hand and it was growing sweaty and tense. The thought had occurred to her that he was either nervous for her to be touching him that way, or apprehensive about having to address all of these rebel commanders. His hand tensed more and she shot a sideways glance to his face. He was staring at the ground just beyond Captain Viche. Kale wasn't paying any attention to her or the meeting going on around him. His eyes were darting from the place behind Viche to various points on the valley floor around them. She saw sweat dripping down his temple in sixty degree weather and she became worried, what's wrong with him?
Kale eyed the shallow grass around the valley, something was making the hair stand up on the back of his neck but he couldn't see it-Danger!
Juli was holding his hand. She leaned in to Kale's ear whispering, "What's wrong?"
Kale wasn't sure if someone else had heard her question, but something changed. Patches of the ground shifted in color for a fraction of a second and Kale instinctively grabbed his blade from his back. Suddenly, he was pulling the weapon from the sheath on his back and the men, still engaged in the meeting, reacted as though threatened by the young man.
Kale wasn't even acknowledging the rebel commanders except to try and protect them. He charged toward Viche with his blade held high. The men reached for him as he pushed toward the bewildered Captain Viche. Kale was too fast for their attempt to restrain him, seconds were passing like hours. Viche went for his blaster pistol strapped on his side. He wouldn't have made it, Kale was already pushing between Viche and another man trying to get past them-a figure was forming from the dust of the ground behind the group.
The Agonotti warrior had only just congealed his form when Kale landed the first strike with his ignited Barudii blade. The warrior was covered by the same morphing exoskeleton Kale had seen on them inside the first underground rebel hangar. He had learned the weakness of their armor in that encounter and wasted no time exploiting it, striking a deep thrust into the joint between the deltoid plate and the left pectoralis plate. He drove the ignited blade up to three quarters of the way in. The Agonotti howled in pain as Kale sliced sideways to remove it through his chest, doing even more fatal damage.
Laser fire erupted all over the valley floor as seemingly thousands of Agonotti materialized among the rebel forces. The rebels present, were utilizing a heavier version of blaster rifle than those he had seen them using before. The rebels were retreating into groups, covering each other in all directions as the Agonotti tried to close in. It wasn't going to be as easy as might have been expected; the rebel blaster rifles were being fired in short bursts that was doing damage to the Agonotti.
Kale was fighting furiously, with Juli in tow. He was trying to find some safe place to take her, but the battle was raging in every direction he turned toward. The Agonotti were taking down the stray soldiers with ease utilizing their melee weapons, but it was the small groups of rebels putting up the most resistance.
Kale spotted Jael and Merab and headed for them, trying to protect Juli as best as he could. An Agonotti warrior materialized behind them and snatched Juli from his grasp, hurling her several feet through the air as he focused on bringing his large, spiked mace to bear on the young Barudii warrior. Kale dodged allowing the head of the mace to chunk into the ground next to him. He swiftly severed the mace's chain and in the same stroke, he hurled his blade between the breastplates of the Agonotti's armor. The Agonotti staggered and Kale hit the creature with a massive kinetic burst that sent it reeling away to the ground some feet away. He ran to help Juli up from the ground and called his weapon from the disintegrating body of the Agonotti. The blade leapt away to find Kale's hand as he continued his move to reach his Horva companions, Jael and Merab.