Greetings Fellow Readers
I hope the festive season hasn't left you all drained and wishing for the new year yet. We have a few more days before that occurs! I have been working diligently on my current project, which has now ground to a halt due to unforeseen technical issues. I hope my client understands, but we will see as the days pass.
Anyway, today is the day you all get to meet the character I'm quite partial to, and I'm not saying that because I created her. Saasha Blood Dancer is finally introduced in this chapter, as well as her biological father. She is the mother of Larden Royal Guard, and the Queen of the planet Saita is now on. I hope you all enjoy her character as much as I do.
Bolx sat nervously at the long rectangular table waiting for his sister. He had been summoned hours ago but she had been held up with the planning of the festivities and had sent guard after guard to tell him to just stay. He was hungry, tired, and just wanted to have a shower and then sleep. It was then that he realised that he technically had nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep. He was not the Bolx of this time and would not be entitled to anything that had been his. He was almost too scared to approach his siblings and parents to ask for help.
Finally, as the sky started to blaze red Saasha finally made her way into the meeting room, muttering at someone behind her. She slammed the door closed behind her, leaned against it, and breathed what appeared to be a sigh of relief. Then she looked up to see him and he saw the look of pain on her face. Her brother was dead, he was just someone from another time to remind her of this.
“Have you spoken to Mother and Father yet?” she asked quietly as she came to sit in her usual position of the head of the table.
“I do not have the courage for that interaction,” said Bolx sadly. “Your grief is hard enough to see. What will Mother and Father’s faces look like? I am not their son as I am not your brother.”
Saasha gathered her loose hair and hurriedly tied it up before adjusting the green bandana that hid her partial blindness. She then sat forward with her chin pursed upon her interlaced fingers viewing Bolx for a few minutes. He sat silently looking back at her. She was starting to show signs of her age now. Her temples were going white, and her face and hands were wrinkling. The war had clearly drained her. Bolx wondered how much more different his parents would look.
“You are older than the rest of your siblings. I see that now. You are about, what? Twenty-eight?”
“Yes.”
“So, seven years ahead of our time?”
“Yes.”
“Then we do not have much time, do we?”
“No.”
“I was too far in my grief the last time you were here to listen to what you had to say,” said Saasha softly as she leaned back in her chair. “I will listen now but before I do we have a…”
She seemed to struggle with finding the right word. “Hiccup?”
“Saita?”
“Yes, her.” Saasha raised a finger towards the ceiling. “When you asked me to sponsor a fighter of extraordinary ability, I did not expect that for one she was a human. Secondly, she was the daughter of Karesh! And lastly, she was banished!”
The last one was said at such a high volume Bolx wasn’t sure how Saasha had raised her voice to such a volume without outright yelling at him.
“I don’t see the problem here,” said Bolx. “Her banishment has nothing to do with us. There are no humans here…”
“You undermined me,” she said softly. “Now I know you are not of this time, but you will still respect the fact that I am your Queen, and you have to uphold our laws.”
“What laws have I broken?” demanded Bolx as he slammed a fist into the table.
“A human.”
“The war was two years ago, and it wasn’t her fault. You can’t blame her for what her father did.”
“No, but I can blame you for bringing an untethered weapon to my planet with no way to reign it in.”
Bolx blinked a few times. He had no idea how she had found out. No one at this time except for Edzeeker and him should have known the full force of the machine inside Saita. He couldn’t play dumb; Saasha was a powerful Truth Seeker and still practised in her court. She would get the answers that she needed.
“Why did you convince me to host her not only on my planet but with my oldest?”
“Because if I do not find a way to protect her from the weapon forced upon her, she will be used,” he said.
“Why us? Why not the Kai?”
“I know the Saith…” he hesitated then sighed. “Because I had nowhere else to turn.”
“And neither does she apparently.” sighed Saasha as she wiped at her face in irritation.
“She needs time, time no one has, and I still need to…”
“Why you?” asked Saasha sadly. “Why can’t you just come home?”
That shocked him deeply and all he could do was gape at her.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice how twenty individuals just randomly appear after so many of them were declared dead,” she said with a half chuckle. “Did you think Mother wouldn’t notice?”
He remained silent and she continued. “Why does Bolx the Timid have to save the world?”
“Because where I am from, I was called General Bolx the Mountain,” he said. “Don’t compare me to the child from this time. He didn’t get into the Guard, but he did try to protect the colony and died for his troubles. You calling him by that childish nickname is a dishonour to his memory.”
Saasha sat blinking for a few minutes before tears came to her eye which she covered with her left hand. “Aye Bolx, you are right. I miss my brother and I can’t help but feel the girl is to blame even though I know she is not. Do you speak for her?”
“I do. Her ability is beyond…”
“I don’t mean for you to speak for her abilities. I mean can you speak on her behalf about not being like her father.”
Bolx sighed and shook his head. “She is suffering trauma I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. She has a temper but as for whether she will lash out at anyone, I cannot say. As for her father, you are aware that she is…”
“Not his by blood. Do you think my spy network is lacking so much that I do not know the very basics of her?” Saasha laughed and removed her hand. “I know she is adopted or was at least. Did you think my judgement would change knowing this?”
“Or did you think it would ease my anger knowing what I went through?”
Bolx paled and turned in his seat to see his father, Baks, moving towards him from the other end of the room. He hadn’t heard or seen him and Bolx was left wondering how long he had been there.
“I…” the young Saith couldn’t look his father in the face. “That may have been in my calculations.”
Baks, one who had angered easily as a youth had calmed in his old age. The old anger had been awakened when his young son was killed in the war but now before him sat the very boy he had lost. He didn’t know what to feel or what to say to the young man who clearly was emotional about seeing his father.
“Where is Mother?” asked Saasha, her annoyance evident in her voice.
“Likely trying to find this boy herself. I assumed that you would hide him here once he got to the planet and so I waited. He may be a Truth Seeker, but he does not have you or your mother’s sensitivity or he would have sensed me.” Baks came to stand before Bolx and said, “Look at me.”
Whether this man was his father or not Bolx knew when to obey an order. He looked up into his father’s eyes. They were dimming with age now but the intensity he had known as a youngster was still there and he had to quell the childhood fear in his belly.
“I frighten you?” Baks chuckled.
“You are still the man who taught me so much,” whispered Bolx as he looked away.
Baks sighed and he looked at Saasha. “So?”
“He is truthful. I believe that he believes that he is telling the truth.” Saasha leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. “However, what he can’t lie about is that he is Bolx. He is your son and my baby brother just seven years older than he should be. He clearly has travelled through time though how I can’t even begin to guess. I will have to ask for Jethron to join us. Perhaps he can unravel more than my spy network can.”
“No!” exclaimed Bolx as he got to his feet. “You can’t have him or Malekai on this planet while Saita is here.”
Baks looked at his son in confusion and before he could ask him the reason Saasha lifted her feet to the table and started rocking her chair. “Is it because of the alert I got from the medical staff?”
“How much do you know about Saita?” asked Bolx suddenly.
“Only what we were able to uncover about her time with Karesh. There are several years missing that not even my spies can track her.” Saasha looked up at the ceiling. “The thing that makes her a weapon, it is of Dekai make, isn’t it?”
“Yes, but she doesn’t know or rather she doesn’t remember. If she sees either of the boys, she will explode.”
“Can she distinguish between Kai and Dekai?” asked Baks.
“Yes, she was well aware of the fact that the Kai never did this to her. Please Saasha, you have to keep them from her. I cannot guarantee how she…”
“Who did this to her?” Saasha stopped rocking in her chair. “Clearly you know.”
“I thought you wanted to know about my time.” countered Bolx.
“Oh, we’ll get to that. You assume I am going to let you leave this planet again. Point is. I can ask you whenever I need to, but Saita is only here for a short time, and I need to know as much about her as possible. Her father threatened us with her, and I would like to see what exactly makes her tick.”
“She is a person!” Bolx sat down heavily.
“She is a weapon. Her medical records prove that and as glad as I am that she is no longer in the hands of Karesh I cannot let this opportunity escape me while she is here. I will make use of this time to gather what I can.” the Queen kicked away from the table.
“She doesn’t trust easily. She will know if something is up.”
“And I am not a simple soldier, Brother. She is the only competitor that skipped quarantine because her tests sent by her Dreg Lord all came back clear. However, follow-ups will be required and I can have specialists look over her.”
“Can you please just talk to her before you do anything?” Bolx begged.
“Different times and he is still a softy,” said Baks with a smile.
Saasha leaned forward in her chair and muttered. “I wish Bahn were still alive. He would know what to do. This is the most difficult decision I have ever had to make.”
“Let your mother talk to her,” suggest Baks. “She knows Bolx is here so her heart may be somewhat softened.”
“Mother was prepared to rip Karesh’s throat out herself…” started Saasha.
“That was before we knew about Bolx.”
“I am not your son,” said Bolx as he got to his feet once more. “Yes, I carry his face and name, but this is not my time. I am not…”
Baks turned and grabbed Bolx to pull him into an embrace. “Don’t say that. Ever! You are my son. I waited outside the birthing room for you to enter the world. I cleaned diapers. I watched you brawl with your siblings as you grew. I refuse to believe that my son is gone forever when he stands before me. The headrest can say what it wants but while you are here in my time you ARE my son and don’t you forget it!”
“Pretty much how all of us feel.” echoed Saasha in the background.
Having lost his entire family so many years ago it made this moment something he had only dreamed of but now that it was here, he only felt the painful sting in his eyes. He didn’t know what to say but years of trying to be strong for those around him had caused him to build an emotional wall that was starting to crumble around him. He gripped the back of his father’s shirt and returned the embrace.
I will definitely have to do an Introduction Chapter of Saasha's extensive family tree so you guys don't get lost! Watch this space!
For those of you just joining us, please note that this the third book in the Fell Dragon series. Follow this link to read the two earlier books:
Fell Dragon Book 1
Fell Dragon Book 2
As the series continues, it will combine with another book series I wrote. To avoid confusion about what is happening, introductory chapters will be introduced separately so that you don't have to be lost. However, these chapters will contain spoilers. You can find these chapters here:
Races Explained
Banishment
Royal Guard
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Haven't read the other parts yet? Follow these handy links:
Part 14>>You are Here>>Part 16