Here's another chapter for all of you. If you go to the yahoo site you'll find all the chapters of the son already posted as well as links to my first published books, The Centurion and The Academy. There is also a new series being posted on the yahoo site, The Children of Mir, for those who love fantasy stories. Take care.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/
Trak watched wide eye as the egg began tohatch. He had no idea what kind ofChimera to expect... a worker, a planer, a warrior, or even a thinker. In truth he would be happy regardless of whathis mother's last child turned out to be, so long as he was able to raise himor her.
When the eight large red eyes of its headcame out of the egg, Trak had his answer... the child... his child was a Chimerawarrior. Lifting the infant out of theegg, the Chimera let out a loud hiss of glee as it took its clawed hands andwrapped them around Trak's body.
Knowing the new born infant would be hungry,Trak began breaking off the gooey shell into small pieces, hand feeding them tothe warrior Chimera. "Now what shall Iname you?" Trak asked. He knew that the Mother had only given namesto her first twelve children... the only ones who were born unique. Trak believedthis infant was unique as well, however, being the last of his mother'schildren. Therefore he should be given aname.
Looking down at the Chimera's crimson glowTrak could only think of one name... Red Eyes. Trak brushed his mandibles against Red Eyes cheek. The infant respondedby extending its black hair tendrils to touch his father's face.
"Brother..." Stavla, one of Trak's egg laying sisters came halfway into the tunnel,her enlarged abdomen not able to fit through the entrance.
"Sister," Trak bowed.
"Why are you wasting your time caring for amere hatchling? We have workers andplaners for such tasks."
"I don't mind," Trak replied, holding the childclose.
"I, and your other sisters are worried thatthe child is diverting you from the purpose the Mother planned for you."
"Which is?"
"Leading the invasion of the Assembly ofWorlds, and joining mankind with our race."
"We are not ready yet...our numbers are toofew."
"True... but it will take six months travelthrough the Void to reach human controlled space. During that time we will continue to givebirth to more Chimera... thousands each day... over a million by the time we reachthe borders of the Assembly... more than enough warriors, workers, planners, andthinkers to set up our own colonies from where we can strike quickly athumanity."
"Should we not see if we can convince mankindto join us willingly?" Trak asked.
"Mother did not believe it would bepossible. Men is weak... filled with fear,hatred, and jealousy. They are notcapable of seeing the wonders of the gifts we bring them... peace, unity,strength, and purpose. They must bepurged of their destructive individuality. The only way that can be achieved is by force. Is that not so brother?"
"Yes... Mother was clear; men would see us asmonsters," Trak agreed.
"Then we understand one another... you willleave this infant to the care of the workers while you prepare the fleet fordeparture."
"I will join the fleet but Red Eyes stayswith me."
"You have given the warrior a name?" Stavla chuckled with a loud clickingsound. "You should have taken a mate."
Trak touched the hard exoskeleton plate thatcovered his groin. "The Mother did not wantme to mate."
"Is that the tone of jealousy I hear in yourvoice? Are you actually showingdiscontent with your place in Chimera society?"
"No... of course not."
Stavla extended her white hair tendrils andwrapped them around her brother. "If yousee the need for a pet... you may keep this infant with you, so long as it doesnot divert you from your purpose."
"Thank you sister," Trak bowed.
"Even though the Mother made you more humanthan she should have, you are still Chimera... your happiness is thereforeimportant to us."
"I will join the fleet tonight," Trakpromised.
"See that you do. I and your sisters will be waiting for youthere." Stavla said as she withdrew hertendrils.
When his sister was gone, Red Eyes began tohiss loudly. Looking down at the infant,Trak saw that, in just a short time, Red Eyes had outgrown his skin and wasmolting, his black exoskeleton starting to fall off. Placing the infant warrior on the ground,Trak watched as Red Eyes grew at an accelerated rate, first doubling thendoubling again in size again in a matter of hours. When done, Red Eyes was over four feet inlength.
Helping Red Eyes back onto his feet, Trakfelt the warrior's soft flesh, its new skin quickly hardening. Trak extended his mandibles in a sign ofaffection as Red Eyes wrapped his hair tendrils around Trak's body.
"Two more times..." Trak thought to himself. Red Eyes would shed his skin two more timesbefore reaching his adult size...a towering nine feet to Trak's mere seven.
Trak was then shaken when Red Eyes began tospeak in stuttered clicks. "How... howmay I serve you first born?"
"You speak?"
"I... I am learning... I hear the words of ourpeople in my mind. How may I serve youfirst born?"
"You may serve me by staying by my side,young one. How may I serve you?"
"The First does not serve... he leads."
"The older are to take care of theyounger." Trak countered.
"Then feed me." Red Eyes demanded.
Trak went to a table and picked up a bowlfilled with grain only to have it knocked out of his hands by Red Eyes."
"I am a warrior... I do not eat the fruit ofthe earth but the flesh of the living."
"I do not want you to become a killer."
"I am a warrior... it is my purpose. Will you deny me my rights as one of theChimera?
"Red Eyes..." Trak hissed.
"I am still too young to hunt on my own. You must help me make my first kill."
"I will not kill for you Red Eyes."
"Then I will starve and die."
"No... you will eat the food I give you."
"No I will not... that is not my purpose. If you will not kill so that I may eat, thenI must do it myself." Red Eyes said ashe walked out of the chamber.
Trak, knowing what Red Eyes was about toattempt, ran after the juvenile to find him already trying to attack one of theolder, eight legged Chimeras. The elderChimera, the old one, was not willing to give up without a fight however andhad already pinned Red Eyes under its gigantic body.
"Let him go." Trak demanded.
"This hatching tried to take that which isnot his. It is not yet my time todie." The old Chimera hissedmenacingly.
"He is young... he does not know ourways. Please forgive him."
"No... I will feed off him as he would havetried to feed off me."
"I can not allow that." Trak said as he went into a crouching stance.
"He is but a young warrior... why should theFirst care."
"He is special to me. I will not have him killed."
"What the Mothers say is true then... you aretoo human."
"Let the warrior go."
"No... his life is mine... such is my right."
Trak, knowing that further argument wasuseless, jumped before the larger Chimera could respond. Bending his elbows so that the razor sharpbone plates on his arms were jutting out, Trak buried them to the creature'sbody, blue blood spurting forth. Thecreature hissed in pain and rage, shaking wildly in a mad attempt to remove theblades stuck in its body, but to no effect.
During the commotion Red Eyes freed himselfand joined Trak on the creature's back, extending his mandibles to bury hispoison filled fangs into the old Chimera. It was not long before the creature became paralyzed, its legs givingout as it slumped to the ground.
Trak, after pulling his blades out of thedying Chimera, watched as Red Eyes gorged himself off the creature'sblood. When he could not stand watchingany longer, Trak took a clawed hand and swiped Red Eyes across the face,knocking him off the creature's body. Trak then readied himself for Red Eye's attack, but watched withsurprise as Red Eyes curled into a ball, his antennae dropping in submission.
"What right do you have to this kill?" Trak demanded, still very angry. "You would have been the one to die if itwere not for me."
"Forgive me First... you are right. This kill does not belong to me." Red eye said with the high pitched sound of afrightened Chimera.
"Look at me," Trak demanded, as he jumped offthe now dead creature.
"Red Eyes slowly lifted up his head, wettears running down each of his eight eyes. "I... I am sorry."
Trak looked down at Red Eyes and saw that,where he had struck the young Chimera, his exoskeleton armor had been torn off,showing the soft flesh inside. Traktouched the exposed flesh, Red Eyes flinching away in pain. "I am sorry I hurt you Red Eyes, but you mustnever do something like this again."
"I am sorry..." Red Eyes clicked before he did something Trak did not know anotherChimera could do. He spoke in thelanguage of the humans. "...father."
"What did you say?" Trak demanded.
Red Eyes made a few indistinguishable hissesand clicks before he repeated the act. "Father."
"Why did you call me that?" Trak asked, switching to the human tongue aswell.
"I do not know... I needed a word to describeyou. The only word that came to me wasthe word... father. May I call youfather?"
Trak let his white hair tendrils touch thewound on Red Eyes face. "Yes... if I maycall you son."
Red Eyes stretched out his mandibles injoy.
Vard sat in the war room, the simulations ofthe battle plan repeating over and over. Its simplicity was only surpassed in its brutality. It was so simple, Vard was surprised no onehad tried it before. Aboard the dozensof Guild war-liners in his armada were thousands of multi-warhead nuclearmissiles. The plan was to launch nearlyall of them at targets on the over half dozen Core Worlds still under Guildcontrol. The level of devastation thoseworlds would face would not only end their ability to supply Earth for thecoming siege but wipe out most life on those worlds as well.
The thing that made the planned attack evenmore devious and unstoppable was how the missiles were to be delivered. Using the Guild Mistresses who had joined hisside, the plan called for hundreds of doorways to be opened into the Void. The Guild Mistresses were to follow themissiles inside and release them only a few hundred yards from their targets,making interception impossible.
A part of Vard could not help but feel somerelief that Joshua was not around. Hishusband would have found some way of stopping him from following such a coldand bloody plan. He had no choice,however, if he was going to rescue Joshua in the shortest time possible.
Vard was watching the simulation for thetenth time when Felix entered the room. "My lord... it's time."
Vard hesitated before responding. This was the fatal moment... the time he wouldchange from being a pretender Prelate to the real thing... a man both feared andhated. Vard knew that one day he wouldpay a price for what he was about to do, but, to rid mankind of Gerick forever,he was willing to pay. "Launch the missiles."
"Yes my lord," Felix bowed, touching a buttonon the conference table. "The missilesare launched."
Vard watched the display change from showinga simulation to the view of cameras that were inside select missiles. The missiles blasted away from the Guildwar-liners, following the paths of the ships carrying the GuildMistresses. Moments after the missileswere launched the Guild Mistresses opened hundreds of doors into the Void,taking the missiles with them. Thenthere was blackness as the warheads traveled through hyper space. One by one the missiles released their manywarheads just before the Guild Mistresses opened the way to their targets,releasing nuclear fires in a matter of seconds.
Nearly all of the warheads hit theirtargets. The warheads heading for thelast world, Aegis, did not hit their targets. They did hit something, however.
The Void was supposed to be empty... Vard andthe rest of humanity believed they were the only ones who could travel throughit. When the cameras showed threegigantic bulbous shaped objects in the warheads path, however, Vard jumped upfrom his seat. It was already too late,the warheads slammed into the sides of the unknown crafts.
"By the light!" Vard shouted. "What did we just do?"
Felix's mouth was left wide open. "I do not know my lord...Those were no shipsever built by the Guild."
Vard said, as he watched the warhead afterwarhead explode against the gigantic ships. "I do not think those ships are even human."
"If that is the case we just declared war onan unknown power."
"It was an accident," Vard insisted, his eyesnever leaving the image of the three ships burning.
"We do not know if this unknown race will seeit that way." Felix warned. "We should change our plans... hold off fromattacking Earth until we find out what has happened."
"No... the attack goes forward."
"But..." Felix protested.
"Lets say we have just made a new enemy... isthere any way they could trace the attack back here to Casova?"
"Through the Void... impossible."
"Then it is likely that these aliens don'tknow who attacked them."
"Possibly... but I would not count on itremaining that way." Felix replied.
"But it gives us time... time to defeat Gerick...time to reunify mankind... time to build a force to make anyone or anything thinktwice before attacking."
"This is a dangerous gamble you are taking."
"I know what I'm doing Felix... yes I am takinga risk but there is a chance there will be no retaliation," Vard said as theremainder of the unknown ships exploded into tiny fragments. "Launch the armada... this war will continue asplanned."