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Greetings fellow readers!
It has been a wonderful week. Still have a nasty cough but for the most part I am doing better, so bonus. One of my clients contacted me to let me know our book was on Amazon. I am so happy for him and hope the sales are what he wants. So far the feedback (those that bother to leave any) have been positive and I am thrilled!
Anyway, you aren't here to listen to me boasting, you are here for the next Fell Dragon part! Two new characters are introduced. The first is the doctor which helped build Saita, later you get to know him as Sellious. The second is Astec, her cousin. Be warned, there is some sensitive material in today's part, reader discretion advised! Enjoy!
“Defective. Is that why you let her go out into the wilds?”
“Defective? How exactly is it defective?”
“She is an eye down. What is the point of designing a fighter that can lose an eye so easily?”
“I’m sure if I poke you with a sharpened stick, you too will lose your eye, despite all your abilities. Its template is organic, if you wanted something a little hardier, then you should have had a robot designed.”
“Why did you let her free?”
“Hehe, let’s call it to achieve the human experience.”
“The ‘human experience’ is making your experiment come undone around the edges.”
“It is fine.”
“She…”
“It.”
“Fine, it is still in the beta phase, why has it not been upgraded? It surprised me when you sent her away, but now I am concerned about your conviction.”
“Because you know she is the only one to survive to this point and the next part is all theory and scraps of knowledge you have dug up from some ancient collection. I can’t even build the contraption with what you have brought me. You need to bring me more.”
A voice hissed and growled. “It is ancient technology, there isn’t exactly much of it remaining nowadays.”
“Well, where did you find it originally?”
“That I am not comfortable telling you, Doctor.”
“Well, the experiment is fourteen years, three months, and two days old. Unless I have a working system I can test in an organic creature and tweak to suit human biology by the time it is 18 I will need to make another like it. Do you know how many children I went through before one managed to survive to see its fifth birthday?”
“Excuses.”
“No, fact. You want this thing made, that is what I require. Heavens knows why you want a human construct; I think one of your kind would be better for the task. Come to think of it...it is designed for your kind.”
“Make the damn system to fit her, that was her purpose, and it hasn’t changed, despite you letting her go.”
“It. Becomes easier burning the carcasses when you don’t see them as living things.”
“Get it done.”
Doran watched in fascination as Saita explored the hospital room with her new eye. She was going through the exercises that Megan had given her and had her left eye squeezed tightly closed. Jarah had insisted on keeping her facial wound covered but Saita bulked and wanted it open for all to see. She was not ashamed by it at all and grinned at anyone who stared at her with pity.
“I earned this by saving my family.” She would say proudly.
Doran would smile and nod his head; it was likely the healthiest attitude she could have, considering what she lost. Jarah had considered it until he caught her scratching at it, so unless she was doing her exercises it remained covered, at least till the end of the week.
“Will the cybernetics give me headaches if I think too much?” She asked him suddenly.
“Not at all. You shouldn’t even be aware of them for the most part. Do colours still seem a little off?”
“Only on waking.” She admitted.
“Try opening your left eye first in the morning and then the right.”
“Did that help you?”
“Yes, now it’s practically second nature.”
“Eyes are pretty weak, aren’t they?”
“I suppose.”
There was some silence before Saita said. “This is not your fault.”
She turned to look at him, fixing her glare on him. “My eye, my scar, none of it is your fault. You know that right? So, could you stop looking at me with so much guilt?”
“Easier said than done, Princess.” He grinned. “But I will try.”
Jarah returned a little while later and applied ointment to the scar, stitches removed some time ago and put a dressing in place.
“Swelling has come down beautifully. I believe I can send you home now, Princess.”
“Why is everyone calling me that? The coronation never happened.”
“Well, while you slept your parents decided to have the ceremony in private. All the documents are signed so you are officially their kid and now a Princess.” Jarah then wrapped a bandage around her head to keep the dressing in place. “I will get your mother to help you with this for the first few times, but you should be able to do this by yourself soon. I’d like as little direct sunlight as possible for at least another week and sleep with the dressings for another month and then you will be dressing free.”
“When will the itching stop?” She rubbed at the bandages.
“When the healing is done, a week to two in your case.”
“And when can she continue her training?” Asked Doran.
Jarah sighed heavily and said. “You and Karesh are going to be the death of me. Give it two more weeks then you can try but for the love of God start slowly. That eye needs to be fully established before you turn her into a full brawler.”
“Brawler?” Saita queried.
“A type of fighter that fights with their body and not just their powers.” Said Doran, almost on instinct to go with her questions.
“Sounds fun.” She grinned.
“That one is on you Jarah.”
“Will you please go home now?” Begged Jarah as he put his equipment away and placed his mask back over his face.
“I will accompany her home.”
“I’m glad I don’t pay your hospital bills.” He turned to Saita. “Eat all your food, I know that you are still nauseous after everything, but you will not get better if you do not eat.”
She stuck her tongue out at him playfully but nodded her head all the same.
“Good girl. I’ll come to check on you this evening before going home.”
As soon as Jarah left the room Saita got off of her bed and went to the window to look out of it. She had a look of confusion on her face.
“What?” Doran came to stand next to her.
“Saseric is an assassin.”
“Yes?”
“But he saved us.”
“Debatable.” Doran rubbed at his belly.
“So not all Lizards hate us?”
“As not all humans hate lizards, yes.”
“Why do they want the royal family dead?”
“Wealth? Resources? No idea.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I love your innocence.” Doran smiled. “Keep it a while longer, and don’t worry about this quite yet.”
“I’m going to change it.” She said with a grin.
“Sure, you are.” he laughed.
“I am!” She turned to face him. “Isn’t that what royal families do? Make a difference? This will be what I do. I will bring peace between the Lizards and Humans. You’ll see.”
“We all have to dream.” He laughed. “Hope I live long enough to see it.”
Saita grinned and said. “Of course, you will, and you get to be my right-hand man as you are my father’s.”
“Well, I thought I would never see the day that I actually hear you use that word, Saita.” Said Karesh as he limped into the room with Aleux.
Saita blushed deeply but said nothing further, only rather accepting a large hug from Aleux with a single arm.
“Talking of right hands,” Karesh turned to Doran. “You have been cleared for duty. You do not have to remain here.”
“He is protecting me.” Muttered the girl as she released her brother.
“And he has done a fine job but now I need him.” Karesh may have said it to Saita, but he looked directly at Doran.
“I keep…” Started the soldier.
“Enough of that.” Said Karesh solemnly. “We are alive, and it is time for us to move on now. Aleux…”
“I’ll keep Saita company.” Said the boy as he hobbled over to the bed. “I am sure Beatrice will be here soon to continue with Saita’s language lessons.”
Doran very well couldn’t disobey his King and all he could do was pat the top of Saita’s head saying. “You will be alright without me?”
She gripped his wrists and looked up at him with a huge smile, the new scar barely impacting on its broadness. “Thank you for everything.”
As he tried to pull away, she gripped his wrist tighter. “I mean it. I remember you holding my hand while I slept. It helped to know that someone was there.”
Only after those words were spoken did she release his hand and return to her bed. Somewhat stunned by her words Doran could only nod his head and follow the beckoning Karesh out of the room.
“Are you ready?” Asked Karesh once they had left the room.
“Well, I am not in uniform but other than that I am mentally and physically ready for duty.”
“I take it that you have heard of what is happening.”
“I heard a rumour.” He nodded his head. “Furor and his troupe have returned home to declare war.”
“It has already happened.” Said Karesh in a hushed tone. “As soon as Pura set foot on the planet, he had every single cold blood rounded up and shipped off. The Lizards did not take too kindly to this, saying they were framed by Saseric’s evidence.”
“And now?”
“Now we prepare for war, and I need every able bodied citizen taking to arms.”
“I am yours to serve, my King.” Doran said.
“We are banding together as a family.” Continued Karesh. “We will be sending what troops we can to bolster the outposts and resource planets, but I need a force I can trust on this world. You have family here Doran, I want you to stay and lead my forces from here.”
“But I thought…”
“The children and Myla need a face they know and can trust.” Whispered Karesh as he continued to walk through the hospital corridors, now far less cramped after the bombs. “I would take you with me, but I opted to have your father accompany me.”
“But Karesh…”
“You and Gaylum need to train Saita as quickly as you can so that she is able to take on your role.”
“She is a child!”
“This is war, there is no time for her to enjoy the life I wish I could give her.” He sighed. “The movement of troops will be starting shortly. I will brief you on what I need of you.”
“You are asking me to put more than twenty years’ worth of training into Saita…”
“In less than a year.”
“Not possible, I couldn’t do that even if you were to present with the brightest minds of our generation. It’s not humanly possible.”
“And that is where Saita has the advantage.” Karesh frowned. “And I am not asking. I am telling you to do this. Squeeze as much information and strategy into her head as you can and squeeze power from her.”
“Karesh she is an innocent child who doesn’t even understand why the Lizards attacked us in the first place. You’re asking me to teach her to blindly fight a war she has no stake in as if she is no better than a weapon, a mercenary.” Doran tried to reason with his friend.
“There is no other option. I must stand with Pura on this.” Karesh ground his teeth. “I need to leave my family and fight for our survival, you need to stand by this planet and protect our interest here. As for Saita, what she is will weigh strongly in our favour, especially if what Viribus says is true.”
“What could that maniac possibly have to say about the child?”
“Berserker, he actually doesn’t like to be called a maniac. He thinks Saita is able to use so many abilities because her original ability was one that could copy and learn from what she saw. Likely this is what prompted the experiments to be done on her.” Karesh stopped and looked out a window close by. “Astec will be arriving soon.”
“Viribus’ son?”
“Yes, we are keeping the royal children guarded on a singular planet. Whether this is foolhardy or brilliant I don’t know but Pura insisted on it.”
“Didn’t Pura want to…”
“Myla and I will never allow it.” Snapped Karesh. “And this is not the time to be thinking of binding children together for the sake of the throne. I need your answer.”
“What?”
“You were cleared for active-duty days ago, but you hung around, holding Saita’s hand as she slept, being there when her own parents couldn’t be. However, nothing will stop you from sneaking away to attempt to help me in this crusade, so I need your answer and a promise.”
“You want me to abandon you?”
“I want you to take charge of a possible future if something goes wrong. I want my son, daughter, and the King’s nephew protected and raised right, to be the next generation that will rule and lead our people to a brighter future. Can you do this?” Karesh turned and lay his hands on Doran’s shoulders, though the man was taller than him. “Can I trust you to raise my children the way you have raised yours? Can I trust you to put them ahead of everything else for the sake of our people?”
Sighing in defeat Doran lowered his head and said. “My King, I will raise my replacement and join you as soon as possible.”
Six months later Karesh and many of his soldiers had departed to fight the various skirmishes that lit up the galaxy in both human and lizard territories. During those six months, Karesh had drilled all three royal children into what was expected of them and then he was gone.
Saita felt completely out of her depth. She had come to this world a little over a year ago with no memory, the barest of grips on the language, and no understanding. Now she was in the middle of a long past due war being trained as not only a soldier but one who was to protect the royal family once Doran was forced to join Karesh. No matter her grip on the language and her understanding of the situation she could not express the way she felt leading to frustrating training sessions and screaming matches with Doran. Myla had tried to intervene, but Doran had rebuked her saying that this was necessary and ordered of him by the King. She felt helpless, sitting on the sidelines watching people die and her daughter slowly turning into a soldier. She threw herself into work and only came out to comfort children or to listen to Doran complain about the pig-headedness that Saita was starting to exhibit.
“The worst mistake Karesh made was to allow that brat here.” he groaned as he rubbed at an aching head.
“I hope you are not referring to Saita.” Myla put down a glass and several tablets before tilting the soldier’s head back. “Follow the light.”
“Might as well be, he is a terrible influence on the girl.” Doran followed the small penlight that Myla moved before him. “I had some semblance of order before he started back chatting. Teenagers.”
“You have a concussion. You need to rest.” Myla set her hands on his head. “No brain bleed so the pills will help for the headache.”
“If I cannot get Astec to listen to the simplest of commands I am going to get nowhere with him.” Doran took the pills and then drank deeply from the glass of water. “And Saita, oh don’t even get me started. Her copying Astec’s horrible attitude is but one of the problems I need to face with her. She still cannot control any of her abilities. The more emotional she gets the worse her techniques. Gaylum has walked out of practice twice and today he didn’t even bother coming back. I am at my wit’s end Myla. Where is the sweet girl that dug through rubble to save our lives?”
“War does terrible things. The children are scared, and they are doing the best that they can. Karesh placed a heavy burden on them, and you are far stricter than what you need to be. Try a little more carrot and less stick.”
“Aleux doesn’t have a problem with my teaching!”
“Aleux was raised in court, he has the breeding and education. Astec is the son of the youngest son, he was never expected to see the throne much less sit on it, and Saita, well, Saita.” Myla smiled. “Do you want me to talk to her?”
“I don’t think it will help.”
“Let me try.”
“Do as you want. My patience is done for the day, and I need something a little stronger than water.”
“Not with the medication I just gave you. Go sleep. Let me handle the children.”
And that brings us to the end of this part. Getting interesting now that war is happening in the background.
Now that I have been spending some time working on the last book in the series, I find I have to go back now and again to fix conversations to help elude to what will happen in the future. I'm rather enjoying myself extending the story after getting stuck for about a year. So, thank you for all of you which have helped me revive this story and actually finish it! Maybe I will finish Royal Guard.
Anyway, please join us again on Tuesday for the next exciting installment. Let me know if you want to be added to the reading list, so that you can get a notification when next I update the story.
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If you have missed any of the parts, you can find them here:
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| Part 1| Part 2|
| Part 3| Part 4|
| Part 5| Part 6|
| Part 7| Part 8|
| Part 9| Part 10|
|Part 11||Part 12|
|Part 13|Part 14|
|Part 15 - You are Here|Part 16 - Updated on Tuesday|
