Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 08:26:04 -0800 (PST)
From: JMH <trandar2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Guild/chp 6
Hello folks... hope all is well with all of you. Just posted chp 12 to
my yahoo group. The story will be soon taking on a darker edge but I
hope you still enjoy it. So far don't know what ya'll think so far.
Would like to have some idea before I start on the second 'book' in the
series. Because I am sending such small chps the story will be around 40
chps long instead of the 29 I first stated. After that, if I think
people want more, I will write the follow up story which will take me
about a month or so to finish.
JMH
trandar2002@yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/
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Chapter 6
*******************************************************************************
It was the 7th day of the first season on Santor... Vard's 21st
birthday. Early on as a youth Vard had noticed a strange fact... that all
the lovers he ever taken, which had been many, they had all been born
around the day he had been found by the Wolf Clan... a day that had been
as close to a birthday as Vard had ever had. These men and women Vard
had declared his birth kin... for he felt closer to them then to his own
adopted family. The feeling was mutual.
So today, on his birthday, Vard had summoned all his birth kin to him and
bestowed on them many gifts of furs, gold, wine, and the chiefdoms of
their own tribes, for he would trust none other.
Three were especially close to him. The twins, White Cloud and Sparrow,
of the Eagle clan, and Broken Claw of the Bear. It was those three... two
men and a woman, who most often shared Vard's tent and with whom he kept
close counsel.
"So beloved..." White Cloud a beautiful woman with bright blond hair
began as she covered herself with the new furs Vard had given her. "Now
that you are chief of the Wolf Clan, my father has no reason to oppose us
marrying."
"Now sister." Sparrow, her brother with the same colored hair,
chuckled from the bed as he wrapping an arm around Vard's waist. "I
though we agreed to share."
"I have no problem with sharing but brother you must admit you would
make a ridicules bride."
"I am sorry White Cloud but I must tell you I have no intention of
marrying... anyone." Vard said sternly.
"And why is that beloved..." Broken Claw, a bright red head with green
emerald eyes, asked as he stepped into the tent.
"Claw!" Vard jumped , revealing his bare muscular body as he walked
over to Broken Claw and leaned down to kiss him. "Now all three of the
people I care about most are here."
"Good then we can start then." White Cloud declared as she sat down
next to her brother."
"A clan meeting?" Broken Claw asked with curiosity as he and Vard
joined them in a circle. Because of Vard the long war between the Bear
and Eagle Clans had come to an end. A peace Claw hoped to make permanent
by marrying White Cloud.
"A war council." Vard replied. "Now that all twelve clan chiefs are
birth kin... it is time we left the wastes for the greener lands to the
south."
"But this is our land... the land of our ancestors." Sparrow protested.
"It is a land of dead traditions." Vard replied sternly. "Because of
the peace I have created our numbers have grown while the herds become
less. If we remain here we will starve.
To this all three birth kin nodded in agreement.
Vard continued..."The lands to the south have always feared us... never
daring to venture into our lands. But they, not us are changing...
becoming stronger. If we do not act the people to the south might lose
their fear of us and invade the land of our ancestors."
The other nodded in agreement again.
"Finally... there is Joshua... my true birth kin... he is out there
somewhere... either here on Santor or out there in the Void. Above all
else I live to find this person and see if he or she can answer my
questions."
"Joshua..." the three sighed. They had all been called one time or
another Joshua by Vard, either in passing or during the passion of love
making. All three knew how much the search for the "lost" birth kin
dominated Vard's life.
"For that reason alone Vard I will lead the Bear Clan south." Broken
Claw swore.
"As will the Eagle." Sparrow promised as well.
"Thank you my beloveds... I knew I could count on all of
you." Vard said as he took turns kissing all three of them.
The kissing quickly progressed into more as the four birth
kin became lost in their passions for each other.
**************************************************
"My lord Labatt, who is that with your son?" The Countess of Vis asked
as she peered across the ballroom with her spectacles.
"Ah... my son's recent act of charity. Only a few weeks ago he picked
the poor young man from the coal mines."
"I must say he is a handsome fellow, but is it wise for the prince to
keep such a pet?"
"I see no harm to it. The young man... I believe his name is Joshua... is
polite enough, speaks only when spoken to. Of course everything will
change when Thomas goes to the Royal Navy Academy."
"So you see a future Admiral in your son?"
"With war surrounding us on all sides I can not think a less noble and
necessary career."
"Then I hope he does well."
"Thank you countess... and how is your son?"
"That insufferable retch. I wished he showed a fraction of the talent
your son does."
"He is the same age as my son... is that not so?"
"Yes... in fact today is his birthday as well."
"Then should you not be home celebrating it?
"No... we no longer celebrate his birthday... as I said he has been a
total disappointment to us. The best he now gets is to celebrate the
birthdays of others."
"Of which there are plenty celebrating today..."
"Oh?" The countess asked curiously.
"Oh my yes... in my barony alone over 50 children are celebrating their
21st birthdays today... five times more then on any other day according to
the census. At my son's insistence I invited all of them here."
"Commoners... your home is filled with commoners." The countess said
with distaste as her eyes darted around the room suspiciously.
"Remember countess... we only rule so long as the people are placated.
Yes my son has a gentle heart which will need to harden one day when he
takes on his duties but these acts of kindness that he does today that
will endear him to the people later on."
"True... now if only my son showed such cunning..." The countess said as
she continued to ramble on about her son's failings. Baron Labatt
failed to hear her however for something had just caught his eyes...
something that disturbed him. "If you will excuse me my dear... there is
something I must see to."
What Baron had too see to was his son for he had just seen him kissing...
kissing his slave no less... and in public. Labatt had not illusions to
his son's sexual preferences... in fact it would serve him well at the
Naval Academy from the rumors Labatt heard of the place. The Baron had
not even minded when his son had brought home the legendary Gerick even
when he heard the whispers that their relationship was not limited to the
platonic. No... what had angered the Baron was his son's clear
infatuation with the lowest of low born.
Walking straight to his son, Labatt took a firm hold of his shoulders
and guided him to a side room where he proceeded to give him a harsh
verbal thrashing. "I will not have the future Baron of Dralor slumming
with a slave.
"But father!" Thomas protested only to be met by a stinging slap.
"You are nothing but a spoiled brat... but I expect the Academy will
change that. Now straighten yourself up and enjoy your party... you will
not have one like this ever again."
"Yes father." Thomas replied meekly as he walked back into the
ballroom.
It seems I will have to send my son's new toy back to the mines after
all, Labatt thought to himself as he too returned to the party, never
noticing that Gerick had witnessed it all.
As the party progressed the circle around Joshua grew... and so did his
happiness. With each contact with others who were celebrating their
birthday today he felt one of the missing pieces of his life fall back
into place. It gave him hope... hope that Vard, whoever he or she was
would appear out of nowhere and make him complete. But as time passed
and the guests began to leave Vard never showed up. Near midnight... the
only people left where his birth kin, the only name Joshua could think of
to give the connection he felt for the men and woman whose birthday he
shared. None of them wanted to leave that night nor did Joshua want them
to go.
Thomas, also wishing his new found friends could stay tried pleading with
his father to let them at least spend the night but except for the count
prince of Vis... the only noble in the group, the Baron insisted that all
the commoners return to their homes.
It was only the four therefore, Joshua, Gerick, Thomas, and
the count prince, Hector, who made their way back to Thomas's quarters.
From there Joshua went directly to bed. Thomas and Hector would have as
well but Gerick insisted they meet with him.
"What's wrong captain." Thomas asked.
"You Thomas... what's wrong is you." Gerick said sternly.
"I don't understand."
"Simple... because of that kiss you have put everything in
danger."
"You don't mean you agree with my father!"
"No... in truth I disagree with him whole heartily... but that
does not matter. What matters is what your father going to do to Joshua
once you are gone to the Academy. You hurt his honor by kissing someone
he only sees as a slave. For a nobleman such as the Baron his honor is
everything."
"What would you have me do, cut off my lips? You might as
well for I can not help but to kiss Joshua and I think you know why."
"I do know why..." Gerick said, debating if to tell Thomas
the truth. With a nod of his head, he reached a decision. "It has
everything to do with your birthday."
"I do not understand."
"You would not... the day you were born the teachings of the
Guild were outlawed... the priests and their temples burned. Good
riddance I say except that some things that should nor forgotten were
lost in the process."
"Such as?" Hector asked.
Gerick answered with a question of his own. "Do know who
the Prelate is?"
"According to what we were told in school this is the 328th
year of the rein of Lorien the XXIII." Thomas replied.
"Yes but do you know what a Prelate is?"
"The head of the Guild and Assembly." Hector answered...
finding these questions annoyingly simple.
"Those are his titles but not what he is." Gerick frowned
at two of them. "Do you know what gives the Prelate his power?"
"His control of both space and void."
"Does he personally control it?"
"No... the Guild's men at his command do," Thomas said.
"And where did the first Guild's men come from?"
"I don't know." Thomas replied while Hector shrugged.
"Then I will tell you... Once, long ago, man only existed on
one planet, Earth. The Void was then an impassible barrier. Distances
were too vast to be traveled in a timely fashion so man turned away from
looking at the stars to looking at themselves. It was during this time
that through genetic manipulation the power of telepathy was discovered
and from telepathy... space travel."
"How can that be... I don't see how the two are connected."
"The metal waves a telepath sends out does not travel
through normal three dimensional space but the warped dimension of the
Void so that any two telepaths can communicate instantaneously regardless
of the distances. It was soon discovered that if two people were strong
enough they could open a doorway into the Void large enough for a ship to
travel through. There was a catch however."
"What was that?"
"For two telepaths to communicate through warped space they
had to have been conceived at the exact same day... at the exact same
hour... at the exact same moment. We do not fully understand why this has
proven to be the case but it has always been so."
"Were Joshua I born..."
"Conceived... you have to be conceived at the same time. And
yes I believe so."
"But what about what we saw at the party... there were over
fifty of us there. What are the odds of that?" Hector asks.
"Simple... the Guild found a way of cheating the system.
Prelates you see are not made... they are born... their births marked by
the birth of their "birth kin", men and women such as yourself who will
become the next leaders of the Guild.
"You mean to say that I will become a Guild's man?"
Thomas said shocked.
"You are a Guild's man." Gerick said flatly.
"But I have seen pictures of Guild's man and we look
nothing like them... I mean we look normal."
"And you will always look normal... except for your eyes,
they will change color. Most of the unusually features associated with
being a Guild's man are self inflicted... done by the Guild to separate
themselves from the common masses."
"Just like we nobles do." Thomas said sullenly.
"Exactly."
"So that makes Joshua the new Prelate? Does the old prelate
retire or something?"
"Joshua is not a Prelate and no he does not." Gerick said
heavily.
"What happens then?"
"War... a civil war on a cosmic scale for as the younger
generation grows up the telepathic power of the older Guild members
begins to fade. Never in the history of man has there been a peaceful
transition of power between old and new."
"So Joshua..." Thomas asked fearfully.
"So Joshua... and you and Hector... all of the children who
are celebrating their 21st birthday today are in danger."
***********************************************
Prelate Lorien XXIII read the report several times over... not believing
what it told him. One percent... one... it seemed like a small,
insignificant number of failures only that it represented a seven fold
increase in the number of Guild Mistress's failing on their attempts to
open the door to the Void. Even though such small number of failures
would not affect the power of the Guild in the short run... it represented
a decline where any decline pointed to only one thing... the existence of
a new Prelate.
For three hundred years Lorien had ruled most of known space but still it
seemed like such a short time. His predecessor had sat on the Guild
Throne for over two thousand years. Of course Prelate Janus had been
infamous for killing huge swaths of humanity just to kill off any rival.
It had been that cruelty that had led dozens of worlds into the
darkness. Lorien XXXIII had been lucky that the Guild itself had been
consumed by its own internal conflicts during his birth, letting him grow
strong while Janus's power faded away.
As a result Lorien had viewed himself as a hero and prided himself that
so few ever end up dying when during the three previous occasions a
potential Prelate had been born. Now however... with the power of his
Guild Mistresses failing... even so slightly... it was clear that a
potential Prelate had escaped notice.
Letting the report fall to the floor, Lorien walked across a gigantic map
of the cosmos... the worlds of the Assembly in white while the rebellious
dark worlds were in red.
For almost as long there had been a Guild... there had been the
Inquisitors. Men and woman trained to find potential Prelates and
exterminate them. On taking power Lorien has spent huge amounts of
resources expanding the network of agents in the Assembly of Worlds.
Lorien therefore felt confident that if a potential Prelate had been born
on a world of light... he would have been found by now. That left the
rebellious dark worlds... places where the Guild had few resources. Not
just once in the Guild's history had a new Prelate remained hidden and
protected on a dark world until the old Prelate found himself too weak
and helpless to stop his own downfall.
Knowing what had to be done, Lorien called forth one of his prized
generals. "Star General Felix!"
"Yes Prelate..." A steel masked man said as he stepped out from the
darkness.
"It is time to bring the dark worlds back into the light. Send out the
Armada."
"As you wish Prelate. Which world should I start with?"
"Begin on Dullon. Their revolt is only three years old so their
technology will present the largest challenge. Once they are crushed you
may move on to..."
"Yes Prelate?"
Lorien squinted his eyes as he looked down on a small star system on the
edge of dark space. "Wor," He finally answered.
"At once." The general said before bowing out.