The Seedbearing Prince by DaVaun Sanders

Author:DaVaun Sanders
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: epic fantasy, space adventure, epic science fiction, phoenix arizona, interplanetary science fiction, seedbearing prince, blerd, world breach
Publisher: DaVaun Sanders

CHAPTER TEN

An Unknown Room

A good navigator thinks that a run through the torrent is like dipping himself in oil and going for a swim, knowing full well he'll get soaked. A great navigator knows that he's swimming through fire.

-from Arlen Treeb’s ‘49 Tenets of Navigation’

A pocket of calm stretched before the transport, several leagues of torrent devoid of any threatening sweeps of rock. A wayfinder drifted in the middle of it, maintained better than any Lurec had seen. Warning strobe lights flashed along every major axis of the pocked surface, and crystal viewports illuminated the walls of a small base constructed within one of the deeper craters. The wayfinder made a welcome refuge, except for the line of transports arrayed before it, painted black to better hide in the torrent.

“That’s where the Defender’s gone?” Farel squeaked. “We have a better chance of pulling him from the Tower of Chastening on Montollos!”

The two navigators flashed accusing looks at Lurec before turning back to stare out of the forward crystal.

“A bit more warning, Preceptor,” Jetar said dryly. “Might have been prudent to mention the raiders, don’t you think?”

“Peace, enough!” Lurec snapped. “I’m no Dreamlacer! The Sending only showed me that he still lived. What’s done is done.”

The Eadrinn Gohr transports surrounded them on every side, packed close enough to prevent escape. The forward crystal of the transports directly before them were opaque, so the raiders within remained hidden.

“At least now we know what they’re doing with the transports they steal,” Farel said with a resigned sigh. Heavy bandages covered the man’s head, and he winced painfully whenever light reflected too brightly. “See those additions on the hull?”

“Reinforced for ramming,” Jetar said thoughtfully, sharing a worried look with Lurec. The different worlds all modified transports to best suit their own needs, but never so blatantly for warfare. The twin bulkheads beneath the hangdeck bristled with wild grown crystal, so the bottom of the craft bulged like a puffthroat fish. “Probably maneuvers worse than an erratic, but those could run down another transport and never lose a drop of vapor. Might even be able to punch a hole in the Ring, Preceptor. If they aimed for the right spot.”

“This is a complication we do not need,” Lurec murmured. “Can you angle our way free?”

“Not from a standstill like this.”

“What are they waiting for?” Farel asked nervously. “It’s not like that Defender left his sword here, and—”

The navigator cut off with a yelp as a Sending washed over them from one of the other transports. In his mind’s eye, Lurec gained the impression of Nassir held on his knees, wrists bound behind him with a fair amount of blood on his face. A bearded man held an ugly axe under the Defender’s chin. That followed with another image of the outside of their own hold, the door opening.

“I saw the Defender!” Farel clutched his head. “Their Sender...”

“We all saw it.” Lurec felt a twinge of sympathy for the man’s first received Sending. “Don’t fear, you were trained to resist it back on the Ring.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.