1 The Dream Rider (24 page)

“You have proven to be quite the little trouble maker,
earthling,” his shrill voice echoed in the tiny chamber.

“Well, we’re a complicated race,” I shrugged.

“Indeed. But not so complicated that we don’t have a
solution.”
 
He stepped aside and
five of the guards marched in. Three had their guns trained on me while the
other two lifted me up by the armpits. I remembered what Sam had said as they
muscled me quickly through the doorway and to the right, towards the surgical
chair.

There were other guards waiting in the hallway that
followed us into the operating room. Obviously they were concerned about the
possibility of escape. I guess they considered it more plausible than I had.
The men spun me around and slung me into the long, vinyl apparatus and began
strapping me down by my wrists and ankles. Instinctively, I struggled briefly
against the leather straps until one of the other guards stuck the barrel of
his gun between my eyes.

After they were done tying me down, Jari entered the room
and walked slowly over to a small cart. I tilted my head as much as possible to
see what he was grabbing. Sure enough, it was a syringe with a painfully long
needle at the end.

“You see, Finn, you have insulted our emperor. Not only
that, you challenged him in front of the entire populace. We can’t have the
citizenry making a mockery of the emperor.”
 

“So, you’re going to drug me, lock me up down here
forever? Your walls can’t hold me forever.”
 
I could feel fear welling inside of me and with it the
strange power began to surge through my muscles. I controlled it, though,
keeping it in check. This was not the time.

“Lock you up forever?” he shook his head. “No. We can’t do
that. Everyone would wonder what happened to you. We would have a bloody
rebellion on our hands that would end in the deaths of too many people. The
people of Sideros are our most prized resource. We can’t kill off too many of
them. No, that simply wouldn’t do.”
 

“Your emperor won’t fight me. He’s seen what I can
do.”
 

He flicked his eyebrows and tossed his head sideways
dramatically. “Well, we have come up with a solution that will serve our needs
and keep the people blissfully ignorant. But we’ll let that be surprise for
you. Until then, you will be asleep.”
 

The needle neared my arm slowly. A clear liquid dripped
from the end of it. My breaths came harder as I anticipated the sharp metal
sticking my skin and what would happen after it did.

“Jari,” I stopped him for a second. “After I kill Mallock,
I’m going to kill you next.”
 

“I don’t think so,” he laughed. “I don’t think so.”
 

The needle sunk into my skin causing me to squirm for a
moment. Then, the cold liquid began to move through my veins, chilling my arm
as it inched its way up and spread through my body. The entire room began to
get blurry almost instantly. The faces of Jari and his guards blended into a
haze of faint light.

In my ear, I thought I heard a woman’s voice say, “It’s
going to be alright.”

The sound of a thunderous pounding repeated in my head,
like ten thousand hammers against their anvils. My eyes began to open slowly.
But they opened to a black void. My head swiveled around quickly to get a fix
on where I was. My vision revealed nothing, though. The heavy noise continued
and the sound of voices mingling with it. As I listened more intently, I could
definitely make out the distinct chanting of a large throng.

I must be underneath the arena, but I still couldn’t see
anything. I lowered down to one knee and felt the floor. It was metal. I
cautiously slid over to the right, shuffling slowly to make sure I didn’t bump
into anything. I found the wall, and it felt exactly like the floor.

Suddenly, an electric motor began whining at the other
side of the room and light began to seep in from a crack as a door began to
rise up. Silhouettes of several men stood in the doorway, one of which had
thick, flowing hair. It was Mallock.

He stepped into the now
faintly-lit
room, and I could see we were in some kind of a lift. Above us, a dark shaft
extended upward to what I figured was the arena floor.

“I tried to give you a chance, Finn,” he began as he
crossed the threshold. “I tried to allow you to help these poor, misguided
souls. But you wouldn’t have it.”
 
He shook his head, mockingly, making a clicking sound with his tongue.
“You could have ruled this world by my side. Under my guidance, you could have
been one of the greatest generals in the galaxy.”
 

“I would have been your slave, just like those people in
the arena,” I sneered at him. The pale light now exposed that he was wearing a
white cloak, shirt, and loose pants. Even his boots were white. I guess he
wanted to play the role of the good guy.

“Slave?” he raised his eyebrows and put his hands behind
his back as he circled me. “You speak as if we are not all slaves to something.
The poor will always cry for freedom. Since the dawn of time, those who are
oppressed have believed that freedom was the answer to all their problems. And
do you know what they find when they finally get their precious freedom?”

I waited for him to answer his own question, staring at
him suspiciously.

“They murder, steal, pillage, and bring chaos upon
themselves. It takes an emperor to bring order and peace to a people who so
easily lend themselves to the guiles of freedom.”
 

“Just because that’s how it happened on your planet
doesn’t mean that’s how it will be here, Mallock.”
 
My comment froze him in his place. His head snapped towards
me, his eyes were angry daggers.

“What do you know about my planet, boy? You know nothing
of what I have seen,” his voice rasped.

“I know that your planet is rubble. I know that people are
dying faster than they are being born. And I know that you think you can go
through the galaxy, enslaving others because you believe you can prevent them
from experiencing the same fate.”
 

The back of his hand struck me so hard that I stumbled
backwards and almost fell down. I never even saw his arm move. I grabbed my
still-stinging face.

“So, you found out my little secret, eh?” He whispered,
coming closer again. “I thought you might. It’s no matter. I have grown more
powerful than you could ever imagine. Your little magic tricks are no match for
my abilities. I will kill you in front of all of Sideros. And when I do they
will cheer. They will praise me for my mercy and the peace I have brought to
them. And they will forget your name within a week.”
 

I took deep, measured breaths. My jaw still stung. “Your
reign is at an end, Mallock. Good always triumphs over evil.”
 

“Evil? Free will of the masses is evil. People all over
the galaxy take free will, and turn entire worlds into chaos and destruction.
Control is necessary. And when all the people of the galaxy kneel before my
power, we shall at last have order.” His twisted words bounced off the metal
walls.

I shook my head as he came close. “You don’t care about
order or peace,” I spat. “Men like you care about one thing: power. You speak
of creating a better galaxy while in the same breath billions are on their
knees before you. I won’t let that happen.”

“I’m not worried about a boy from Earth wrecking
everything I’ve worked so hard to create. But,” his hand whipped around from
behind his back in a quick stabbing motion. I suddenly felt the cold tip of a
needle sink into my lower back. “A little insurance never hurt.”
 
He embraced me for a moment, making
sure all of the contents of the syringe had been emptied.

Nausea swept over me. I could feel a burning sensation
seeping through my extremities. I swayed, trying hard not to faint. The effects
of the hallucinogen began to hit and the sounds of the arena above were like
waves crashing into my ears.

Mallock stepped back and one of the men tossed my sword at
my feet. The floor began to rumble. We were moving up. Mallock stood on the
other side of the room, holding a similar weapon to my own. There was a smug
look on his face as the ceiling began to slide open, filling the lift chamber
with light from the arena. The crowd roared as we neared the top floor. I
looked back over at Mallock again and his eyes were glowing red orbs. I blinked
fast trying to get rid of the image, but it would not fade. His deep laughter
slowly assaulted my ears.

The lift stopped level with the dirt floor as Jari’s voice
boomed through the stadium. “Tonight, the scum from Earth will take on our
beloved emperor in a fight to the death. This alien has insulted all of us by
challenging our rightful ruler, the one who brought this planet peace and
prosperity. Now he must suffer the fate of a traitor.”
 

I looked around the audience for a friendly face, but I
found none. Everything was a blur. The drugs they’d given me had done what Sam
said they would do. Standing up straight was proving difficult; I wobbled back
and forth. I bent down slowly and grabbed the sword’s handle, gripping it
firmly as I stood back up.

Mallock raised his hands to the crowd, some of whom
cheered, others booed. I wondered what he would do to the people who weren’t
rooting for him. He turned to face me after playing to the audience for a
moment and pointed the tip of his sword at me. My weapon felt heavy in my hands
as I raised it to meet his. The entire arena was spinning around me.

Jari waited for a moment, letting the suspense build. Then
he yelled, “Begin!”

Mallock soared into the air, flying across the span that
separated us. He moved so fast, I only had a half-second to raise my weapon in
time to block the first strike. Sparks flashed as the metal blades collided.

Every movement was a blur in my drug-induced haze, but I
managed to sense him spinning and cutting through the air as he came towards
me. I ducked beneath the swing but only narrowly. I tried to run but Mallock
cut off my retreat, moving so fast I hadn’t even seen him. I clumsily blocked
his next strike. But I felt helpless, sluggish, and oddly unafraid.

Mallock flew at me again, landing his foot directly in the
center of my chest. The force sent me hurdling through the air and onto the
floor thirty feet from where I’d been standing. My chest hurt instantly, and a
resounding ache vibrated through my body. I grimaced and tried to pick myself
up off the ground, but Mallock had leapt across the arena floor and stood over
me. He lowered the top of his boot into my ribs and sent me through the air.
After crashing against the wall, my body lay in a heap on the floor.

I
swallowed hard, as my ears registered the dichotomy of the crowd’s response.
Both cheers and gasps that had erupted.
I wanted to fight through the fog, but the drugs were too
strong. I couldn’t clear them from my mind. A coughing fit hit me as I lay on
the dirt next to my sword. I noticed blood on the ground and wondered where it
had come from. It dawned on me that I was in pain. It also dawned on me that
Mallock was only toying with me, putting on a show for the crowd to make a
point. Through the stupor I could see him raising his hands to the audience,
awaiting their approval.

“Finn!” I heard a voice in my ear. It sounded strange and
familiar. “Finn, it’s Sam. Can you hear me?”
 

Sam?
Who was Sam?
I
tried to push myself up but slumped back down to the ground. The drugs had
weakened me so much, my body felt too heavy to even stand up again.

“Finn, look up in the box,” the voice ordered.

I blinked slowly and raised my head just enough to see
across the arena into the emperor’s box. My vision took a moment to focus, but
once it cleared I could see Jari standing there, a hideous look of delight on
his face. Just behind him, I saw something that disturbed me greatly. It was
Nela, strapped to a chair, watching. I couldn’t tell for sure, but it looked
like she was crying. I squinted and noticed Taurus standing just behind her on
one side. He nodded slowly, as if trying to communicate something to me. I saw
a flash of something metal close to his waist.

Suddenly, my body began to tremble. The fog began to clear
away, and I felt something different begin to course its way through my veins.
I wasn’t afraid for myself, though. My fear was for Nela. I couldn’t let
anything happen to her. The pain disappeared almost instantly as the power
surged through me. The effects of the drugs were gone.

Mallock had finished his showboating and leapt high into
the air again, his sword above his head, ready to strike the killing blow. He
drew nearer, flying fast. I lay perfectly still until the last second when he
brought the blade down hard towards me. Then I twisted and lifted my right leg
up, catching him completely off guard and in the mid-section. The impact
knocked him back to where he’d started, halfway across the arena, tumbling onto
the floor.

No longer inhibited by the drugs, I stood up, sword at the
ready. I lowered my head and stared at Mallock from underneath my eyebrows. He
rolled to a stop and stood quickly, filled with anger. The crowd erupted in a
roar. Mallock renewed his assault quickly and with greater fury. This time,
though, I charged too. We jumped simultaneously. Twenty feet above the floor,
we clashed in midair, steel on steel as our blades struck and our momentum
carried us beyond each other.

I landed with my back to Mallock and looked back over my
shoulder. He’d landed on his side and bounced up, ready to strike again. I
approached him slowly, sword drawn across my forearm. He peered at me, trying
to plan his next move. He took a few slow steps then jumped at me again,
swinging the blade at my neck. I easily dodged the initial strike, but he
twisted quickly and jabbed the tip of his sword backwards, narrowly missing my
side. I reacted fast, spinning and ripping the point of my weapon across his
chest. He stumbled a few paces back and looked down at the gash in his skin.
The wound stretched across his torso and was already dripping blood onto his
now dirty, white clothes. The stadium gasped, equally as shocked as Mallock.

“You bleed just like any of us, Emperor,” my cynicism was
not masked and his face boiled with rage.

“Very well, little dog. I’ve toyed with you long enough,”
he raised one hand and closed his eyes as he finished his sentence.

A strong wind swirled inside of the arena and a wall of
dust rose up from the floor. I squinted hard against the wind and debris,
trying to protect my eyes. I could no longer see Mallock. Suddenly, I felt a
cut on my arm and I spun to retaliate, but no one was there. I grabbed the
wound and felt the warm liquid that was seeping out. My eyes darted around,
trying to see from where the next attack would come. Another quick, burning
pain seared up from my leg as Mallock’s blade sliced open the skin just above
the back of my knee.

I dropped down and clutched the new wound. I couldn’t see
a thing in the mini dust storm. I had to get out of it. With all my strength, I
pushed hard off my good leg and launched high into the air. A moment later, I
was clear of the storm and soaring towards a catwalk, high above the arena
floor near the giant opening in the ceiling. The people “oooed” in wonder as I
landed safely, hundreds of feet up in the air on the metal landing. I could see
the swirling storm Mallock had somehow caused, and I could see him moving
around inside it, looking for where I’d gone.

Then I heard Jonas’s voice inside my head. I could do
anything, if I just believed. He’d said that in this place, I was only limited
by my imagination. Surely I could do anything Mallock was able to do.

“Okay, Jonas,” I whispered to myself. “Here goes.”

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift back home to
Tennessee. I was standing in a forest full of green trees and shrubs under a
dreary, overcast sky. I could hear the thunder in the distance and feel
raindrops begin to patter on my arms and face. The smell of spring rain filled
my nose and I smiled, letting the sensation flow over me.

When I opened my eyes, I thrust my hand out and felt the
full emotion of my thoughts. Suddenly, thunder boomed through the stadium and
black clouds formed almost instantly, covering the starry sky. Rain began to
pour into the center of the arena. The dirt became thick and muddy causing the
wind to have no effect other than to blow the falling rain around. I dropped
down from above and landed just behind Mallock with one hand in the mud.