Well folks we are now past the halfway point. I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Tell me what you think.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/
"My lord Prelate, if you will follow me, I will take you to the prisoner," Star General Kemp saluted.
"You only have the one?" Gerick said disappointed.
"Our Inquisitors are working on him now. He will not be able to hide the location of the counterpart for long."
"No need... I think I will handle this personally." Gerick grinned. He wanted to make sure the person he held responsible for killing his pet Thomas paid.
Enter the brig Gerick saw that the Inquisitors had indeed been busy... the Proctor, his lip's busted, a bruise growing around his left eye, was tied to a interrogation chair, an IV pumping truth serum into his veins.
"Leave us." Gerick ordered, the room quickly emptying.
Alone with Falcon, Gerick walked behind the forty year old man only to begin messaging the Protector's shoulders with a firm grip, his thoughts touching the pleasures areas of Falcon's mind..
"What do you think you are doing?" Falcon asked his speech long and slurred.
"You mean to say you are not enjoying this?" Gerick asked as if he had been offended.
"It's not real... it is only in my head." Falcon replied.
"Is that not the organ which we use to determine our reality?"
"What is it you want? I'm not going to tell you where the counterpart is so you should not even bother."
"Who said I wanted that." Gerick laughed. "No... all I want from you Falcon Van'dar is your trust... just like Thomas gave to you."
"I did not kill him... you did."
On hearing those words Gerick felt his anger almost escape him. "No... you did... you knew how I would respond to finding another person's soul in Joshua body."
"Yes I did... and I did humanity and that poor boy a favor in doing so. But it was still your hands which strangled the life out of him." Falcon chuckled.
Nothing would make Gerick happier then to strangle the life out of Falcon but unfortunately he needed the man. "So... is it true that you are Joshua's father?"
"Joshua has no father." Falcon said stone faced.
"But I think I remember you telling others that Joshua was your son... you had seemed fairly proud of that fact.
"Joshua has not father." Falcon repeated. The last thing he wanted was Gerick to believe he could us him as leverage against Joshua.
"You know I've never heard of a father being his own son's Protector... given the sexual relationship between Protectors and their charges. How long did it take you to seduce the young man?"
"JOSHUA HAS NO FATHER!"
"But he does... and you are him!" Gerick laughed enjoying the pained look on Falcon's face. "I believe you are indeed Joshua's father and his lover... that he trusts you above all others...that you are the keeper of his very soul."
"Kill me and get it over with." Falcon said in defeat.
"No Falcon... as a said all I want is your trust... your total, absolute trust. How else am I to get Joshua back where he belongs?" Gerick said as he pushed a remote button that opened a section of the wall, revealing Joshua's preserved body.
Dressed in a suit and tie and wearing his navy blue baseball cap, Joshua made his way to the space port, making his way to the ticket counter.
`Good day sir... how may I help you?" A cheerful look woman smiles at Joshua.
"I need a ticket."
"To what destination?"
"Anywhere." Joshua replied.
"Well we do go almost everywhere on Aquarius so you will need to be more specific." The woman laughed.
Joshua thought about it for a moment... he had never seen the ocean before. "The beach."
"Hahahahaha... there are over thirty major cites on Aquarius with beaches... not including the resort islands. Let me guess... you are not from around here."
"No I'm not." Joshua chuckled nervously.
"Well if you want my advice I would go to the Quills Islands... plenty of young men and woman around your age go there this time of year."
"Ok..." Joshua nodded wishing that Falcon had told him where he should have gone.
"Quills Island it is then. And how would you like to pay for your ticket?"
"With these." Joshua said as he reached into the shopping bag and pulled out hundreds of thousand credit notes.
"Oh my... you're a rich boy I see. I think I will put you in first class then. That will be two thousand credits."
"Ok." Joshua nodded as he reached into the bag to pull out more cash, thinking the woman wanted two thousand of the scraps of paper.
"No, no, no!" The woman laughed as she picked up two of the hundred so bills that were already stack on the counter. "There is more then enough here."
"Sorry... I'm not good with money." Joshua apologized.
"It's a good thing that you have plenty of it then. Now here's your ticket... your flight leaves in about ten minutes so I would hurry if I were you."
"Thank you." Joshua said as he picked up his ticket and the remaining credits and raced down toward the landing port.
Once she was sure the man was out of earshot, the woman burst into uncontrollable laughter.
"So...you handed Joshua over to Gerick! You gave that monster the key to the Void and all the power of the birth kin and you come to us wanting our help!" Austin shouted at General Felix.
"Yes I did. It was the only way I could get Kentor away from Gerick." Felix said sullenly.
In most cases Vard would have sent his over dramatic oath brother away but in this case Austin's response to the general's actions was completely understandable. "This is very serious general... Joshua is the key to everything... and not just to my heart. I can sense Kentor's power and I can tell you it is but a candle held up to the sun when compared to Joshua."
"If he is so powerful then he should be able to take care of himself." Felix said defensively.
"You forget yourself general..." Vard warned. "Joshua is powerful... he is like the perfect sword... ever sharp, unbreakable but without a skilled hand to guide it... powerless. In the case of Joshua it takes a Prelate to wield him for the one who does will have total supremacy over the void."
"Until a new Prelate comes to usurp you."
"I would like to see one try." Vard said with wolfish snarl.
"Be as that may... You do not have Joshua... but nor does Gerick anymore."
"What do you mean... you just told us you handed Joshua over to him?" Austin demanded.
"I did... but it seems your Joshua is a very resourceful person, or at least his Protector might be."
"What happened?"
"I do not know for sure but it seems that just at the moment Gerick was to claim Joshua as his own Joshua switched bodies with Thomas."
"How did he do that?" Austin asked.
"All Guild's men can so long as the person who does the transfer is strong enough and has the total trust of the persons involved... it seem that Joshua's Protector was such a man."
"And who is this Protector?' Vard asked.
"He called himself Falcon Van'dar," Felix answered.
"But that is Joshua's last name," Austin said shocked.
"Well the man did claim to be the counterpart's father."
"But..." Austin was about to protest but was cut off by Vard.
"Who else would Joshua trust to transfer his spirit... no one that I can think of," Vard replied.
"So Joshua's father is alive?" Austin said, still not believing it.
"Seems that way," Felix nodded.
"So where is Joshua now?" Vard asked.
"It is believed he is in the Aquarius star system."
"Does Gerick know where Joshua is?" Vard next asked
Felix set out a deep sigh. "Yes, he does."
"Then we need to go to Aquarius and rescue him!" Austin shouted.
"It's too late... the planet is under interdiction... surrounded by the fleet still loyal to Gerick," Felix replied.
"But we don't need a ship," Austin replied.
"Young man... to travel through the Void you most certainly do need a ship." Felix said sternly.
"We never needed one," Vard said.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean Austin here can travel the void without a starship." Vard grinned proudly.
"But only the Prelate and a Guild Mistress should be able to do that!"
"I always knew I was special," Austin smiled smugly.
"Very well... so you can travel through the Void. Can you carry an army on your shoulders?" Felix asked.
"No..." Austin replied.
"Then I don't see much good you can do," Felix replied.
"Trust me we could do plenty," Vard insisted.