LW Browning - Krystile Warriors 01 - Warlord's Honor (2 page)

***

R
eaf met them as they returned to camp. He was the oldest and the only mated warlord. Married to Osiria, he had helped to raise Koda along with Lodi, their own son, after Koda's parents were killed.

"The guards are posted," Reaf said. "We found no sign of any other raiding groups. We have an outside and an inner ring of warriors surrounding the Meeting Tent. They will stay in place all night."

Koda nodded, "Good work, Reaf. Send some warriors to take care of the bodies of the raiders." Koda turned to Var. “Someone is sending them against us. They have inside information.”

Var nodded. “I think the ones who come here, like Couthar today, do not know who is organizing these raids. If they did, someone would have told us by now. But, I agree, we might have a traitor.”

Koda and his warlords mounted their paccar and moved in closer to the meeting tent where they waited for the contract signing with the handlers in the morning. The tent was large enough to hold 40 people. It was dome shaped with a tall ceiling. Sitting outside their shields, it was a convenient place to meet foreigners.

"Get some rest," Koda told the warlords. "When we ride down in the morning, leave the armor here, I do not expect a fight from the MX Facility's team."

Behind him, Revi laughed.

***

J
ust before sunrise, the shuttle carrying the MX team arrived. Koda and the warlords watched as the foreigners filed into the tent. It was easy to spot the girl. She was smaller than the men in her group and dressed in light brown. The men wore the red and gold that designated them as handlers at the MX Facility.

Dare pulled his com device from his pocket. Moments later, he nodded to Koda. "They are alone. They left only two on the shuttle, probably pilots. There are no other shuttles."

Koda waited until the sun began to creep over the horizon before he saddled and mounted his paccar. Then he and some of his warlords rode down to the meeting.

As they approached, Var looked at Koda, "I hope you know what you are doing, my liege."

"I am following the prophecy."

"I hope the prophecy is correct," Var said.

Calks stood in the entrance to greet them. They dismounted and followed the MX Handler inside the tent.

Koda was curious to see the empath he had purchased.

C
laire fidgeted in her chair, the only woman in the large meeting tent. It had been cool and foggy in the pre-dawn light when they arrived. She sensed the weather was turning warmer now. The fog might burn off as the sun climbed higher in the sky.

She smoothed her hair to be sure it was still bound in a tight bun according to guidelines. The Facility said it presented a more professional appearance. She doubted the barbarians cared, though she liked the bun. It made her feel less conspicuous. Her survival often depended on not drawing attention to herself.

She had a delicate frame and small stature that gave her an overall appearance of fragility. Her most striking feature was her eyes, a very unusual shade of light green with a darker green ring around the iris. If she had not been MX, she might have been the woman of a high ranking official. As an MX, her beauty counted for nothing. She was not destined to be anyone's woman.

The MX uniform, a plain khaki skirt and long-sleeved shirt that she hoped covered her curves were standard issue. Gloves made of a synthetic material that cleaned as easily as washing her hands fit like a second skin and extended up her wrists to mid forearm. The fabric of the gloves was porous, but still protected her skin from any accidental touch with another person. In accordance with the law, she rarely took them off. She could “read” emotions and sometimes thoughts, but when she touched a person, she read much more information from them. It was a violation of their privacy for her to touch someone skin to skin. 

Claire checked the emotions of the Handlers on the MX Team. They were chosen because they were difficult to read, except Robare. He was the nephew of a powerful Conglomerate official and should not have been on the team. It was unusual to have so many on an away team. Of the four men, two were new. Calks, the leader, made five. She felt the excitement of the two new men at being at the contract signing. They were going to see an MX turned over to a client. Unfortunately, they were also perturbed at having to wait.

She sighed, drawing the attention of one of the new team members. He sucked in an involuntary breath before looking away from her. Poor man was still new enough that being around an MX made him nervous.

Claire was accustomed to startling people when they first saw her. This new team member had a mild crush on her, very inappropriate of him. Robare, the other new handler, did not try to hide his hostility toward her. The two older members of the team were alert and slightly agitated. They were ready to sign and leave this place. This assignment did not "feel" right to them. It did not feel right to Claire either, but she did not know if that was because of her own feelings, or because of what she read from the team.

She hoped the meeting concluded before the air inside the large tent became stifling. Claire hated having to wait and she hated being hot while she waited.

Early this morning, Calks led them into this large enclosure to wait for their hosts who were now late for the meeting. Maybe the clients changed their mind and she would not have to go on this assignment. Although it was a nice thought, she allowed herself only a tiny hope that she might be spared this assignment. 

It had been unsettling to the team when they had arrived this morning and found no one waiting to greet them. Claire opened her mind and sensed the presence of their hosts, but detected no harmful intent. They waited in the forest, almost at the end of her range to receive. Cautious behavior, she thought.

Calks had looked at her before she entered the tent.

"They watch," she had whispered.

Calks had nodded and looked around before following her in, but that had been almost one Time Period ago. The tent held a huge rectangular table with chairs on either side. It was the only furniture in sight. A very large chair sat at one end of the table. There were no decorations or extras. Just a big table and some chairs.

So much for learning anything about these people from their interior tent design, Claire thought.

Calks, his lips pursed in deep thought, looked at the door. He was short, only a hand's width taller than her. Calks kept his gray hair cropped close to his head. He suffered from a facial tic and other nervous movements. Unable to be still any longer, he stood up and left the shelter. 

Robare was muttering something about this 'power play'. He resented the clients' attempt to establish dominance in the meeting. "We are being insulted, meeting in a tent and having to wait on barbarians."

Claire took a deep breath. The anxiety level of the team ratcheted up. Robare agitated the emotions of the others. She felt his loathing and strengthened her shields.

"This is the most rushed assignment we've ever had. Just the barest information is in my portfolio," one of the older team members said
.

Though she agreed, Claire did not make eye contact with any of the team. They had not been well prepared for this assignment. The documents she had were minimal at best. She usually had weeks of rigorous training and study before going on an assignment. She knew very little about these clients. They were barbarian warlords and she was going to go with them. Alone. The unprecedented action of sending her on an assignment without the team of handlers filled her with sick dread. The Conglomerate wanted this. Refusing to do the bidding of the Conglomerate or the MX Facility was not an option. 

Robare spoke up: "Is it always like this? We are an MX Team. How dare these people make us meet in a tent. There isn't even a road to this forsaken place. And now we have to wait on them. They should be glad we came to this backward scrubland at all. This Koda is just a barbarian with money."

"Danon, we deal with many cultures and we call it “danon” in the common language. And this barbarian has quite a lot of it," the older team member said.

Claire felt rather than saw Robare leer at her before he continued. "Danon earned as a mercenary, stealing and raping women and selling them into slavery on the black market. Now, he suddenly thinks he needs an eMpath with eXtra abilities. Obviously this barbarian warlord has delusions of grandeur. Calks is getting old. His judgment must be slipping."

Claire was hit with Robare's ambition and hate, but let it roll off her.

Something else did not feel right. She concentrated for a moment on the emotions of the MX Team. They felt it too. She hoped Calks prepared the clients better than he did the team.

"I heard this warlord leader is a slaver," one of the older team members whispered as he sneaked a glance toward the entrance.

"One thing is certain, he's a killer," another said in hushed tones.

Claire sensed them coming. She shielded against the Team and felt her stomach drop with dread. Calks entered the tent with the clients following.

***

C
laire gasped. The men who entered after Calks were all well over six feet tall. They were armed with swords, daggers and fierce expressions. Their energy was so forceful she had to strengthen her shields. One of them took the position at the head of the table as if he owned it.

The meeting enclosure became smaller, claustrophobic. Claire was reeling, struggling to control her breathing and calm herself. She made eye contact with the one who sat down. He took her breath away before she forced herself to look down.

His size alone made him intimidating. The hard look on his face struck a chord in Claire's heart. She wanted to run from the impressions assaulting her. Strong, bold, blond hair flowing freely, square jaw, tanned skin over a well-muscled chest covered by a leather vest and scars, the carriage of a leader. Piercing ice blue eyes, like a forlorn winter sky, were framed by eyebrows that peaked in the middle over each eye. The left eyebrow was interrupted by a scar. 

Calks introduced Warlord Leader Koda. The power that flowed off of him was almost visible. The deference paid to him by the warlords in his group spoke volumes to Claire. The Warlord Leader and his warlords exuded confidence, not arrogance. It was a difference that Claire noted and understood. 

The leather they wore made no sound as they moved. Two positioned themselves at the opposite end of the table from the MX Team. Two others stood on either side of their leader. One moved behind the MX Team and two others stood at the tent entrance. The warlords were in positions of dominance.

The emotions of the MX team beat at her like frantic butterflies trying to escape a trap. They were surrounded and fearful of the warlord hosts.

Exposure to so many people, in such close proximity, always set Claire on edge. She did not even try to read the barbarians. Dizzy from the intensity of their presence, she struggled with her shields and took deep breaths to regain her control. She looked up at Calks. His facial tic was more pronounced than usual. There were more emotions here than she could track.

After making a formal introduction of Koda, the Warlord Leader and the warlords who accompanied him, Calks began his glitzy sales pitch. He tailored his presentations to the clientele, but the basic presentation never varied. The details had already been discussed and the agreement struck. This meeting was a formality. Her presence satisfied the clients. People liked to see a living, breathing MX when they let go of so much danon. She had never interacted with clients before a contract signing and very little afterward, but this assignment was to be very different.

Claire concentrated on her shields and her breathing while she sat with her gloved hands in her lap. She did her job. After she recovered from the initial shock of the barbarians' strong emotions, she lifted her shields slightly and opened her mind to receive the bare minimum from them.

They were difficult to read, very different from others she had encountered. However, she was able to get basic emotions from them. There were strong negative feelings from the one with the scar down the side of his face by the entrance. Not quite violence, disgust, not directed at her specifically, but toward the whole team. The barbarians did not like them, nothing new there. The strongest emotion directed toward her from the warlords was curiosity. They thought themselves superior to the humans. She read some mild hostility and disgust toward the team from all of them. Again, not unexpected emotions.

This race of warrior soldiers had much power here, in their society. They were skilled at bargaining with the merchants of other planets. For many years, the Conglomerate looked at the society of Koda's people as a lower life form, one that did not meet their lofty standards for trade partners. Although their DNA was similar to humans, they were not a perfect match. Many in the Conglomerate considered the barbarians to be animals. Of course the Conglomerate considered everyone else to be inferior to them for one reason or another.

Many societies were now running out of basic energy resources. The barbarian warlords were in control of vast supplies of it, so Koda's people were now being courted by the Conglomerate to become premium trading partners. They wanted Koda to sign agreements to trade through the Trade Center exclusively, thereby assuring the Conglomerate retained control of who prospered and who was doomed to poverty and suffering. They were prepared to do anything to win Koda's good will. So far, he had been resistant to their plans for his people.

Claire knew that if Koda made agreements with the Conglomerate, they had plans to take over his energy resources and leave his society impoverished while they added to their own wealth. They wanted total and complete control of the energy. That was how they did business.

At this point in the presentation, Calks always looked to her for an indication of the feelings of the clients. She either gave a small nod for positive or a slight turn of her head for negative emotions received from the hosts. Calks did not even glance her way. He had never deviated from the presentation before today.

Claire tamped down her anxiety. She was high-strung and had to make an effort to maintain an inscrutable demeanor at this meeting because of all the strong energy coming off the barbarians. They did not have the most sterling reputation. She had heard many stories about them, none had been flattering. They were well known as mercenaries who operated by no code but their own. They had accumulated quite a bit of wealth. She wondered what their reaction would be if the Conglomerate had their way in this. She clasped her gloved hands together in her lap while she kept her face impassive.

Everyone was quiet. She looked up to find all eyes on her. Claire blinked, panic threatened to overwhelm her. Her heart was beating so hard she had not heard him. Koda had spoken and she had no idea what he said. 

Robare cut in to answer for her. "Koda, the MX is merely a tool...”

"I will hear from the girl," Koda cut off Robare's explanation. 

The one by the entrance bristled when Robare spoke to his leader.

Claire winced. Koda's voice was deep. She let the unpleasant emotion that flashed from Koda wash over her. The one with the scar on his face was angry. The emotions of these warlords were strong. She took a deep breath.

She looked to Calks for help. He ignored her. She took in Koda's cool, blue stare. His eyes made her think of power that rolled off him like a freezing wind over a glacier. The Warlord Leader expected a response.

She heard her own heart beating while she struggled to recall the question put to her. Oh, he asked if she was able to endure the hardship of travel required for this job.

"I can do the job," she said as she dropped her eyes. She felt disapproval from Robare. Why did Calks leave her to flounder? Claire clamped her teeth together.

"This trip will be difficult. We travel on paccar. They are similar to your horses." Koda addressed her. "I need your services for several meetings." 

Claire was melting under the warlord’s intense scrutiny. Her face felt hot. Horseback. Did people still really ride on horses? Why?

She dared not look at him when she answered, "I am capable of doing this job. Although I have never ridden on a horse, I can learn."

She felt disbelief coming from more than one of the warlords. One with loose flowing hair and a scar that ran the length of his arm held back a laugh.

Robare started to speak, but one look from Koda cut him short.

Calks recovered control of the meeting and moved the cuboid, with the contracts displayed, closer to the Warlord Leader. Koda pressed his hand onto the image directly above the viewer and the deal was done. Calks smiled. There was something between Koda and Calks. Something... 

Koda stood to leave. By the fates, he was big. The warlords dwarfed Calks and the MX Team as everyone stood to file outside. Claire felt a strong emotion of disgust from Robare. She avoided looking at him. Her shields were in place and holding.