New Dawn
Chapter 8

Thecavernous room was lit dimly by a fireplace in the corner and scattered candlesin wall sconces. The air was smoky, the darkness around the sturdy oak tablecomforting in its anonymity. Thirteen heavy, high-backed chairs surrounded thetable, and on one of them sat a young and handsome man, robed in scarlet andhooded. He read through the report that he was holding in eerie silence, theother men watching, barely daring to breathe. The young man looked up when hewas finished, his eyes roaming around the table. Five other men were present.All similarly robed and hooded, though in black rather than red. Looking attheir shadowed faces, he remained expressionless. He'd known each and every oneof these men since birth. They were, after all, his children, though each hadbeen born to him by a different woman. He enjoyed the agony of theiranticipation and let the silence extend for a few more painful moments beforenodding.

“I ampleased with the progress,” he said finally. “You have done well, Camuse.”

“Thank you,Supreme Emperor,” said the cracked and elderly voice of Camuse.

He stoodand bowed to his ruler and father. His health had been failing in recent years,and he knew that he wouldn't be serving the Emperor for much longer.

The Emperorknew the same but made no mention of it nor gave Camuse special treatment. Itwould be a shame to get rid of the man—he had been a loyal servant. The Emperorsighed softly to himself. Maybe he should grant Camuse the same immortality ashe himself had. But then, what good would it do to make an old and frail manimmortal?

“I shalllook forward to completion of this project by the end of the month,” was all hesaid.

His backwas aching on the hard chair.

“If thereis nothing further, you may all be dismissed,” he said, hoping that the meetingwas now over.

“Sire, Ihave received an important report, if I may have permission to take the floor?”The man seated to the left of Camuse stood and bowed to his Emperor.

“What is itnow, Kameru?” the Emperor asked impatiently. Lord Kameru seemed to take greatpain in annoying him at every meeting, and he had little time for the man'sinterfering and pompous manner. He was, however, an excellent Magi, and thatcould not be discounted.

“My agenthas informed me that Lord Hansola has acted out of his jurisdiction,” reportedKameru.

The Emperorcould almost see the delighted, malicious grin that Kameru was smiling underhis dark hood. He leaned forward, putting his chin on his hand.

“And whathas he done this time?” the Emperor asked. This was not the first time thatKameru had tried to indict Hansola. There was some enmity between the two men,though the Emperor couldn't really be bothered to replace out exactly why.

“He hascaptured Princess Ausanne, Ambassador of Britannia. An act of treason, sire.”

The Emperorraised an eyebrow. “Treason? What does capturing a princess have to do withbetraying me? If I understand correctly, Lord Hansola captured Ausanne in theLawless Sea, where we have no jurisdiction against him.”

Kamerucoughed. “I believe that he was trying to incite rebellion against Great Chinaand therefore the Supreme Emperor in Britannia by capturing their princess and ambassador.”He paused for a moment. “We should recall him immediately and strip him of hispower!”

“LordKameru,” said the Emperor, trying to remain calm. “Lord Hansola is a Magi Lordjust as you yourself are, and therefore he has the authority to detain anyonehe suspects to be a threat to the empire. Unless you have some form of solidevidence to back up your claims, then I wish to hear no more of this matter.”

“Then Ishall see what I can do in that respect,” Kameru said mulishly, sitting down.

“Very well.Now, if there is no more business, I suggest we retire.”

The Emperorwaited for no answer, pushing his chair back from the table and marchingtowards the exit. Two guards opened the double doors and saluted. The five menat the table had barely reached their feet to pay their respects when the doorbanged closed behind their ruler.

“TheEmperor trusts Hansola too much,” grumbled Kameru, taking his seat again.

“All willthink you jealous of Hansola's success,” said the oldest of the men at thetable. “You will need irrefutable evidence if you want to bring him down.Something he cannot deny.”

“Perhapsyou can help me, Lord Yealosi. Together we can replace a way to defeat this wilyold fox,” said Kameru, hopefully.

Yealosiwaved a hand, dismissive. “I'm too old for this infighting. Hansola can have myplace at the table if he wants.”

Kameru satback in his seat and brooded. There was nothing more that he wanted than to seethe proud Hansola fall. One by one, the other men left the chamber, and Kameruremained alone with his thoughts.

LordHansola entered the bridge of the Orion,ignoring the saluting officers he passed.

“What isit?” he demanded.

He sat inthe heavy captain's chair. “Put the Admiral through,” he ordered.

“Ad...alSt...kie sp...k...ng,” said a distorted voice through the bridge's speakers.

Hansolahuffed in irritation. “What are you doing here, Stookie? Aren't you supposed tobe guarding the borders somewhere?”

The Admiralwas no great friend of Hansola's, though neither was he an enemy. He was awareof the Admiral's history, which was why he'd made the sarcastic comment aboutguarding the borders. But he would, nevertheless, remain cordial as long asboth men were on the same side.

“My sh...has problems,” the voice crackled again. “Re...ting assistance ... please allow... anchor ... next to your vessel ...”

Thetransmission was terrible, and Hansola was rapidly losing patience at trying todecipher whatever it was that the Admiral wanted. Obviously he needed some helpand wanted to tie up to the Orion.Hansola gave a sigh of irritation.

“Fine,” hesaid to the com.

He turnedto his first officer. “Supervise the tie-up, and replace out what mission he's on.But no one is to board the Orion, andno one is to speak to anyone on board the Argoniswithout my express permission.”

“Yes, sir,”said the young officer. After saluting, he left the bridge.

On thebridge of the Freedom, the crew hadbeen waiting with bated breath. When Hansola's word ‘fine’ echoed through theship's speakers, there was a collective sigh of relief. The bait had been cast,and the fish had bitten. Now all that was left to do was to put a daring planinto action. That shouldn't be a problem,Lucia mused wryly.

“How do weproceed now?” she said, turning to Kabi.

Kabiquickly recounted his plan, keeping instructions simple and brief, and finishedwith a warning. “We must not underestimate this Lord Hansola. He was theyoungest Mageling ever to become a fully fledged Magi Lord. His powers are saidto be second only to those of the Supreme Emperor himself. I have plannedcarefully so that we shall avoid meeting Hansola. But if we should, I want youto leave him to me.”

Benho coughed,and the others turned to him. His face reddened, but he was determined as hesaid: “I wish to go with the assault team. I wish to re-acquaint myself withLord Hansola.”

Maiceestared at his friend in disbelief. “You know Hansola?”

Benho'sgreen eyes burned, and his jaw muscles tensed. He had a vow to keep and hadn'texpected his opportunity to come so soon. But now that it had, he wasn't goingto let it slip through his fingers. Even if that meant revealing a small sliverof his past to those around him.

“Hansolakilled my mother,” he said, his voice barely audible.

Maicee wasabout to speak, but Kabi threatened him with a glare. Now was not the time todiscuss Benho's history. He knew little about the boy, but he knew vengeancewhen he saw it, and also knew that vengeance would not be stopped. If he didn'tallow the boy to come with him, then Benho would replace a way to face Hansolaalone. It would be better all around if he was on the assault team, where Kabicould keep an eye on him.

“It will bedangerous,” Kabi said, looking at Benho.

“Iunderstand,” Benho said, looking Kabi straight in the eye. “But I have waitedlong for this, and I will not be deterred.”

Maiceeshook his head slightly. This was not the Benho he knew. Something had passedbetween Kabi and Benho, and he didn't know what it was. But he saw that Kabiunderstood far more than he did, so he was not surprised when his guardiannodded.

“Fine. Butyou will follow my plans,” he said.

Benho bithis lip but bowed in assent.

“I willlead an assault team on board the Argoni,which will tie up alongside the Orion.A bomb will be placed that will detonate on the Argoni at the given time and will hopefully cause enough confusionto allow us to board the Orionunnoticed. We rescue Princess Ausanne and leave the ship immediately.Understood?”

The othersnodded, but Kabi looked again at Benho.

“The oneand only priority of this mission is to save the princess,” he restated.

Benhoclosed his eyes but then nodded in agreement.

“Maicee,Benho, Lucia, and I will go aboard the Argoni.Bettie will remain here as contact person on the Freedom,” Kabi said.

“Should wefail,” Lucia said, turning to her first officer, “it is up to you to get Nikuand her data disk to Britannia. Whatever the cost, you will act under orders.You will make no attempt to come to the aid of the assault team once the Argoni has set sail. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Captain,”said Bettie, her hand trembling slightly as she saluted. “Orders received andunderstood.”

The battlecruiser Argoni powered down itsengines as it neared the massive, hulking shadow of the Orion. The dreadnought was almost twice the size of the cruiser andsailed slowly as she approached. Signal lights from the Orion guided the smaller vessel safely to the leeward side of theship, until the Argoni was closeenough to tie up alongside her sister.

The hatchof the Argoni opened, revealing anofficer in the standard Imperial Navy uniform. The first officer of the Orion raised his hand, and in onesynchronised movement the Black Knights surrounding him lifted their weapons.

“What isthe meaning of this?” asked Maicee, the naval uniform uncomfortable andstarting to scratch at his skin.

“I am MajorJansen, first officer of the Supreme Emperor's dreadnought Orion,” said the man, arrogantly. “I am under orders from LordHansola that no member of the crew of the Argonishould be allowed to board the Orion.I hope I have made myself clear.”

Crystal clear, thought Maicee to himself, but he forced asmall smile onto his face as he saluted. “Loud and clear, sir,” he said.

“Excellent,I'm glad we have an understanding.” Jansen turned to leave but then swung backto add, almost as an afterthought: “My men will kill anyone who emerges fromthat hatch.” He gave a curt nod and walked away, leaving the Black Knightsstill pointing their bolt blasters at Maicee.

Maicee wentback into the Argoni, cursing Jansenunder his breath.

“You didwell,” said Kabi, noticing his return and the anger on his face. “You were theonly one I could trust to go out there and not lose his temper.”

“Arrogantbastard,” said Maicee.

“As are allBlack Knights,” Kabi said with a smile. “It will be their arrogance that willbe their downfall.” He patted Maicee's shoulder. “And now, you shall have aninterminable wait until nightfall.”

Maiceegroaned. Piracy seemed like an awful lot of waiting and not much action. Ifhe'd have known what was coming, he might have been grateful for the few hoursof quiet rest.

Maiceedidn't know what Kabi had done or how he had done it. All he knew was that thebomb was on board the Argoni andwaiting to be detonated. He had a sneaky suspicion that this all had to do withthe mental tricks that Kabi had shown him when he was disarming the bomb onboard the Freedom, but he saidnothing.

Benho waspacing. He was worried, though he said nothing. His moment was going to comethis night—he was sure of it. And he wanted to speak to no one. He rebuffedconversation even with Maicee, who, far from being offended, had simplyretreated, understanding that Benho needed to be alone with his thoughts. Andthey were terrible, unspeakable thoughts, ones that he had dwelled on for toolong. Tonight, though, tonight he would vanquish them forever.

Nightfallcame quickly. The thin slice of moon hung in the sky, trying hard to illuminatethe darkness of the sea. The waves were calm, the night silent except for thesoft splashing of water on the hull. And still they waited.

It was longafter midnight when Kabi nodded. There was an occasional patrol of BlackKnights circling the decks of the Orion,but most of the dreadnought’s crew seemed to be sleeping. It was time. Heraised a questioning eyebrow at Lucia, who nodded in return. She too agreedthat now was the hour. Closing his eyes for a moment to centre himself, Kabireached down to his chronos and placed his finger on a red icon to the left ofthe clock face.

A deepexplosion echoed through the Argoni,continuing to grumble for a few moments after the initial blast.

“Blowing upthe ship that we're currently on seems somewhat counterintuitive,” said Maicee,still waiting as he knew he must.

“A damnsight easier than blowing up the Orionand possibly taking the princess with it,” observed Kabi, reaching for hischronos a second time. “Besides, it's certainly going to be a distraction.”

He pressedthe red icon again, and a second explosion rocked through the Argoni's engine room, strong enough thistime to damage the hull of the Orion.There was already a flurry of activity on the second ship, with Black Knightsrunning here and there, and now a loud alarm began to ring.

“One moretime, then we need to get going,” Kabi said.

This timethe explosion succeeded in creating a large hole in the side of the Orion, one that was easily reachablefrom the deck of the smaller Argoni.Running out onto the main deck, Kabi quickly bent to one knee and placed hishands over the side of the vessel. Within seconds, a crystallised bridge hadformed between the two ships. Beckoning the others and still holding his handsraised, he crossed from the Argoni tothe Orion, unnoticed by the BlackKnights, who were all still trying to figure out what was going on.

Benhocrossed, his heart thudding with excitement, adrenaline pouring through hisveins. Lucia unholstered her dagger and motioned for Maicee to cross next. Withhis hand on his bolt blaster, he did as he was bid, and the beautiful captainfollowed him.

Theyemerged in a small cabin, the occupants of which were lying dead on the floor,killed by the blast that had created the unnatural entryway into the ship.

“You havean hour before the entire vessel blows,” Kabi warned them, looking at each inturn. “You know what you have to do.”

Luciagrinned at him. “See you in an hour with the princess,” she said.

“Look afterBenho for me,” Kabi told her. “Please.”

“You candepend on me,” she said. And without a further word, she grabbed Benho by thesleeve and pulled him out of the cabin, turning right onto the small corridorthat ran below the main deck.

“Follow meclosely and don't try to be a hero,” cautioned Kabi as he too pulled Maicee bythe sleeve and went out into the corridor, this time turning left.

They ranthrough smoke-clouded hallways, meeting no one and hearing nothing but thecommotion from above decks. They made it down two levels before encounteringanything. Once more dropping down a level, they heard the sound of a voicebarking orders. Kabi smiled to himself.

“Waithere,” he told Maicee.

Maicee wasonly too glad to wait. Running through all that smoke had left him with a rawthroat and gasping for air. He put a hand to the wall and struggled to regainhis breath. Meanwhile, Kabi peeked around a corner and down a long corridor.Seeing three Black Knights, two obviously guarding either side of a door andone yelling at the two guards, he grinned. Bingo. He'd beaten Lucia to it.

Lookingfurther down the corridor, he saw another four Black Knights approaching. Arandom patrol or maybe a changing of the guard. It didn't matter. Now this,this was a challenge. Thinking quickly, he smiled to himself. Yes, he could getthem all, though he'd need both hands to do it. And even better, he thought, Ican get all of them without any of them making a sound. A very satisfyingchallenge.

He closedhis eyes for a moment until he found the place of focus in his mind. Once thepower was thrumming through him, he opened them again and reached for hisdagger. Moving out into the corridor, he lifted his knife by the hilt and threwit, letting it spin lazily through the air until it landed with a thunk in thenape of the soldier who was so rudely barking orders.

All eyesturned to see where the dagger had come from, but Kabi was ready. His handslifted, his fingers directed just so, he released a bolt of the power. Sixsmall, sharp shards of crystal shot out of his fingers, travelling faster thanthe eye could see and impaling themselves neatly in between the eyes of each ofthe remaining six Black Knights.

Not bad, he thought. Not bad at all.

Hearing thethud of falling bodies, Maicee rushed around the corner, almost bumping intoKabi as he did so. But all he found was his uncle, surrounded by fallensoldiers and crystal spikes. His eyes opened in wonder, but he had no time tospeak.

“Let's gobefore reinforcements arrive,” Kabi said.

He made forthe door and, as he'd suspected, it was locked. He sighed theatrically andplaced his palms just in front of the wooden surface, replaceing the place offocus easily and letting the power run through him until the once-solid doorwas a sliding pile of sand at his feet. That was when the screaming started.

“Women,”said Kabi, half irritated, half amused, looking at Maicee.

Through theopen doorway, Maicee could see a young woman huddled on a bed and screamingwith fear. Not knowing what to do or say, he stood motionless until Kabi pushedpast him.

“There's noneed to be afraid, Princess Ausanne,” Kabi said. “We're here to save you.”

He raisedhis hands to show that he was unarmed, though Maicee thought that was a littleironic. From what he'd seen, Kabi's hands were far more dangerous than anyweapon he'd ever encountered.

“Come, wedon't have much time,” Kabi said, reaching out a hand towards the princess.

It was onlyas the girl stumbled closer that Maicee saw her properly. She ... she lookedalmost exactly like the woman in his dream. The woman he’d called ‘mother’. Hefelt paralysed until the girl smiled at him.

“Thankyou,” she said. “Whoever you are. But where are we going?”

“Home,”said Maicee, looking at her and not knowing where the answer had come from butknowing that it was true. They were going home.

“They'recoming,” said Kabi, breaking into the silent communication that was happeningbetween Ausanne and Maicee. “I'll stop them. Hurry back the way we came andprotect the princess.”

Withoutwaiting, and conjuring a long crystal sword out of thin air, Kabi rushed throughthe doorway and turned right. Maicee took hold of the princess's hand andpulled her along with him, trying desperately to remember which corridors theyhad turned down and which stairways they had taken.

Ausannefollowed closely, her heart fluttering strangely. The touch of this man's handhad an odd effect on her, and she wasn't sure why. Wasn't sure why he seemed sofamiliar and yet so strange.

“Stop!”

Maicee'sstomach dropped as he turned the corner, pushed the princess behind him, sawthe huge, towering guard, and drew his bolt blaster all at the same time.Without a second of hesitation, he pulled the trigger, but the guard easilyavoided the shot. He went to shoot again, but as the guard got closer, thetrigger of his blaster jammed. Gods dammit. Throwing the useless weapon at thegiant of a guard, he assumed a defensive position. He hated it when Kabi wasright. His weapon was useless, and now he only had his combat training to relyon.

Seeing theboy's defensive stance, the guard laughed and drew his sword. He was easily ahead and a half taller than the boy, and he probably weighed twice as much aswell. This wasn't going to be a fair fight, but he lusted for blood enough thathe didn't really care.

Frantically,Maicee calculated what he was about to do. He was definitely at a disadvantagehere. He had one shot, and he couldn't afford to waste it. He waited until theabsolute last moment, as the guard's sword was already halfway down its swingbefore he pivoted, turning his body so that the sharp point of his elbowsmashed into the unguarded throat of the soldier. A sickening crack sounded,and the guard collapsed instantly, twitching once before surrendering to death.

Maiceegulped back tears. Both from fright and shock, and because he was trained tosave lives, not to take them. Then he hurriedly wiped his eyes on his sleeve,not wanting the princess to see him cry.

“Welldone,” said a voice from behind.

Kabi'slarge hand descended on Maicee's shoulder.

“I have agood teacher,” Maicee managed to croak.

“I saweverything,” said Kabi, turning the boy to face him. “You used your advantage,your brain, rather than your strength. Nicely plotted.” With a frown he noticedthe tear marks on Maicee's face. “Don't be afraid of your feelings, boy,” hesaid gently. “Let them out. There is worse than this to come, I can promiseyou.”

Maicee, notunderstanding what could be worse but seeing the empathy in Kabi's face,nodded.

“Now, we havea princess to get home, do we not?” Kabi said, wishing desperately that Maiceewould never have to taste the bitterness of battle but knowing that he would.

Twomotionless bodies lay on the floor by Lucia's feet. Delicately, she steppedover an arm, attempting to activate the time bomb she had just installed. Benhostood slightly behind her, his eyes curiously skittering around, looking forsigns, clues, anything. Lucia clicked a lever and stood back.

“There,that's all the bombs we have,” she said. “I hope Kabi had better luck replaceingthe princess than we did.”

She wasabout tell Benho that it was time they got off the ship when he took off down acorridor. One second he was standing behind her, and the next he was in fullflight.

“The bridgehas to be down here,” he shouted over his shoulder.

Keeping theprofile of the dreadnought in his mind and mentally mapping where he and Luciahad been in the ship, he knew this was the only direction that the bridge couldbe in. It had taken him a while to work out, but he knew he was right.

“Come backhere!” hissed Lucia.

But he wasgone. She cursed. There was no way she'd be able to catch up with him; he wasfar faster and had longer legs. Dammit. This was all she needed right now. Afoolish boy putting his personal needs ahead of those of his companions. Didn'the know he could get them all killed?

But Benhowas past thinking. Every fibre of his being was cheering him on, pushing him toreplace the one he'd searched for, the one he'd hated for so long. His mind wasclouded with bloodlust, and he knew that this might be the only chance he wouldget. Somewhere in the back of his head, he heard Lucia's clattering footstepsfollowing him down the long corridor, but he knew that she was far behind.Good. He wasn't going to abandon his personal vendetta for her, no matter howbeautiful she was. He glanced left and right as he ran, looking for a door thathe knew he would recognise, his feet pounding on the floor. Just let him replacehim, let him see him, let him kill him. That was all he wanted, all he'd everasked for. And all the rest could be damned.

Luciafollowed as closely as she could, cursing herself for not bringing atranquiliser dart. But there was little she could do as she saw Benho turntowards a large, metal door and slam into it, bursting it open. All she coulddo was stand back in the shadows, waiting to see if Benho would need help, ifthere would be a way to rescue him and get him off the ship before the damnthing blew to pieces.

The metalof the door bruised his shoulder as he banged it open, but his eyes immediatelylocked on the man standing on the bridge. Tall, elegant, and familiar, he wasflanked by two Black Knights who raised their blasters as the boy stepped ontothe bridge.

“Stop,”said Hansola, holding up his hands to the guards. “He's mine.”

Hansola wasfurious. His blood was boiling in his veins, anger throbbing through hisfingers. He didn't know what the hell was going on in his ship, but someone wasgoing to pay. And this young stripling seemed like just the ticket. He neededto vent his anger, and this boy would do nicely.

“Hansola!”cried Benho, sliding his dagger out of his belt and jumping forwards in acatlike attack.

The MagiLord was surprised that the intruder knew his name, and hr delayed unsheathinghis sword for a split second. But he managed to heft his weapon just in time toparry the boy's attack.

“Think youcan kill a Magi Lord with that puny little thing?” he taunted as Benho withdrewto prepare another attack.

Benhoignored him, coming in again, slashing and jabbing in his own signature combatstyle.

Hansolaparried, but something in the back of his mind was preventing him fromlaunching a full-force attack on this boy. Though he still brandished hissword, a vague familiarity was growing over him. There was something here,something in the way the boy moved, the way he fought. It was, for all theworld, like he was playing with a child, a very angry child. And then he knew.

“Benjamin.”

Benhosneered. “I'm glad you remember me. I am here only to avenge my mother.” Hesprang into another attack, dagger hand flying so fast it was almost a blur.

Frowningand barely considering his defence, Hansola stepped to one side. “We need tospeak. Stop this, Benjamin!”

The boycontinued in his frenzied attack, and losing patience, Hansola lifted his swordand slammed the flat of his blade onto Benho's shoulder. The boy collapsed,groaning, onto the floor. Freed from the effort of defending himself, Hansolatook a breath before speaking.

“I did notkill your mother willingly, as you well know,” he said, his voice more gentlethan any of the Black Knights had ever heard it. “I was forced to.”

“You shouldhave fought for her life!” spat Benho, trying to control his pain enough tostand and failing.

“I couldnot defy the Supreme Emperor!” Hansola's face was dark and strange.

“We couldall have died together if need be,” Benho said. “But instead you chose to bethe Emperor's dog.”

Lucia,seeing that her time had come, silently withdrew her dagger. She needed to endthis, though she didn't know what was happening. She only knew that this shipwas going to blow any minute and she needed to get Benho out. With a flick ofher wrist, she threw the knife at Hansola, who, catching the movement in thecorner of his eye, twisted to avoid it.

But thatmovement was enough. Gathering all his remaining strength, Benho forced his armupwards, thrusting his dagger deep into the heart of Lord Hansola.

“Benjamin ...”said Hansola, slowly sinking to the floor. Blood bubbled from his mouth. “Myson ...”

The twoBlack Knights, who had watched impassively, not believing a child could cutdown their leader, stepped forward, blasters raised, fingers on triggers.Hansola shakily lifted a hand and with the utmost effort caused flames to jetfrom his fingertips, blasting the guards backwards.

“Go, myson,” said Hansola with his dying breath.

Just asLucia dragged the sobbing Benho across the bridge to the Argoni, the Orion beganto blow. The Argoni was barelyafloat, but the others had prepared the life capsule, and it was sitting on thedeck, ready to receive them. As the small, transparent globe loaded with theirlittle company began to float away, the Orionblazed. There was a huge roar, and slowly, slowly, the great dreadnoughtstarted to sink into the waves, dragging the burning Argoni with it.

The firstsun began to rise. On the horizon, the Freedomslowly approached the life capsule.