Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 14:27:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: JMH <trandar2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Guild/The Son Chapter 18

Here's another chapter for all of you.  If you go to the yahoo site you'll
find all the chapters of the son already posted as well as links to my
first published books, The Centurion and The Academy.  There is also a new
series being posted on the yahoo site, The Children of Mir, for those who
love fantasy stories.  Take care.


				    JMH
			   trandar2002@yahoo.com
	    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/

*******************************************************************

Trak watched wide eye as the egg began tohatch.  He had no idea what kind
ofChimera to expect... a worker, a planer, a warrior, or even a thinker.
In truth he would be happy regardless of whathis mother's last child turned
out to be, so long as he was able to raise himor her.

When the eight large red eyes of its headcame out of the egg, Trak had his
answer... the child... his child was a Chimerawarrior.  Lifting the infant
out of theegg, the Chimera let out a loud hiss of glee as it took its
clawed hands andwrapped them around Trak's body.

Knowing the new born infant would be hungry,Trak began breaking off the
gooey shell into small pieces, hand feeding them tothe warrior Chimera.
"Now what shall Iname you?"  Trak asked.  He knew that the Mother had only
given namesto her first twelve children... the only ones who were born
unique.  Trak believedthis infant was unique as well, however, being the
last of his mother'schildren.  Therefore he should be given aname.

Looking down at the Chimera's crimson glowTrak could only think of one
name... Red Eyes.  Trak brushed his mandibles against Red Eyes cheek. The
infant respondedby extending its black hair tendrils to touch his father's
face.

"Brother..."  Stavla, one of Trak's egg laying sisters came halfway into
the tunnel,her enlarged abdomen not able to fit through the entrance.

"Sister," Trak bowed.

"Why are you wasting your time caring for amere hatchling?  We have workers
andplaners for such tasks."

"I don't mind," Trak replied, holding the childclose.

"I, and your other sisters are worried thatthe child is diverting you from
the purpose the Mother planned for you."

"Which is?"

"Leading the invasion of the Assembly ofWorlds, and joining mankind with
our race."

"We are not ready yet...our numbers are toofew."

"True... but it will take six months travelthrough the Void to reach human
controlled space.  During that time we will continue to givebirth to more
Chimera... thousands each day... over a million by the time we reachthe
borders of the Assembly... more than enough warriors, workers, planners,
andthinkers to set up our own colonies from where we can strike quickly
athumanity."

"Should we not see if we can convince mankindto join us willingly?"  Trak
asked.

"Mother did not believe it would bepossible.  Men is weak... filled with
fear,hatred, and jealousy.  They are notcapable of seeing the wonders of
the gifts we bring them... peace, unity,strength, and purpose.  They must
bepurged of their destructive individuality.  The only way that can be
achieved is by force.  Is that not so brother?"

"Yes... Mother was clear; men would see us asmonsters," Trak agreed.

"Then we understand one another... you willleave this infant to the care of
the workers while you prepare the fleet fordeparture."

"I will join the fleet but Red Eyes stayswith me."

"You have given the warrior a name?"  Stavla chuckled with a loud
clickingsound.  "You should have taken a mate."

Trak touched the hard exoskeleton plate thatcovered his groin.  "The Mother
did not wantme to mate."

"Is that the tone of jealousy I hear in yourvoice?  Are you actually
showingdiscontent with your place in Chimera society?"

"No... of course not."

Stavla extended her white hair tendrils andwrapped them around her brother.
"If yousee the need for a pet... you may keep this infant with you, so long
as it doesnot divert you from your purpose."

"Thank you sister," Trak bowed.

"Even though the Mother made you more humanthan she should have, you are
still Chimera... your happiness is thereforeimportant to us."

"I will join the fleet tonight," Trakpromised.

"See that you do.  I and your sisters will be waiting for youthere."
Stavla said as she withdrew hertendrils.

     When his sister was gone, Red Eyes began tohiss loudly.  Looking down
at the infant,Trak saw that, in just a short time, Red Eyes had outgrown
his skin and wasmolting, his black exoskeleton starting to fall off.
Placing the infant warrior on the ground,Trak watched as Red Eyes grew at
an accelerated rate, first doubling thendoubling again in size again in a
matter of hours.  When done, Red Eyes was over four feet inlength.

     Helping Red Eyes back onto his feet, Trakfelt the warrior's soft
flesh, its new skin quickly hardening.  Trak extended his mandibles in a
sign ofaffection as Red Eyes wrapped his hair tendrils around Trak's body.

     "Two more times..."  Trak thought to himself.  Red Eyes would shed his
skin two more timesbefore reaching his adult size...a towering nine feet to
Trak's mere seven.

     Trak was then shaken when Red Eyes began tospeak in stuttered clicks.
"How... howmay I serve you first born?"

     "You speak?"

     "I... I am learning... I hear the words of ourpeople in my mind.  How
may I serve youfirst born?"

     "You may serve me by staying by my side,young one.  How may I serve
you?"

     "The First does not serve... he leads."

     "The older are to take care of theyounger."  Trak countered.

     "Then feed me."  Red Eyes demanded.

     Trak went to a table and picked up a bowlfilled with grain only to
have it knocked out of his hands by Red Eyes."

     "I am a warrior... I do not eat the fruit ofthe earth but the flesh of
the living."

     "I do not want you to become a killer."

     "I am a warrior... it is my purpose.  Will you deny me my rights as
one of theChimera?

     "Red Eyes..."  Trak hissed.

     "I am still too young to hunt on my own.  You must help me make my
first kill."

     "I will not kill for you Red Eyes."

     "Then I will starve and die."

     "No... you will eat the food I give you."

     "No I will not... that is not my purpose.  If you will not kill so
that I may eat, thenI must do it myself."  Red Eyes said ashe walked out of
the chamber.

     Trak, knowing what Red Eyes was about toattempt, ran after the
juvenile to find him already trying to attack one of theolder, eight legged
Chimeras.  The elderChimera, the old one, was not willing to give up
without a fight however andhad already pinned Red Eyes under its gigantic
body.

     "Let him go."  Trak demanded.

     "This hatching tried to take that which isnot his.  It is not yet my
time todie."  The old Chimera hissedmenacingly.

     "He is young... he does not know ourways.  Please forgive him."

     "No... I will feed off him as he would havetried to feed off me."

     "I can not allow that."  Trak said as he went into a crouching stance.

     "He is but a young warrior... why should theFirst care."

     "He is special to me.  I will not have him killed."

     "What the Mothers say is true then... you aretoo human."

"Let the warrior go."

"No... his life is mine... such is my right."

Trak, knowing that further argument wasuseless, jumped before the larger
Chimera could respond.  Bending his elbows so that the razor sharpbone
plates on his arms were jutting out, Trak buried them to the
creature'sbody, blue blood spurting forth.  Thecreature hissed in pain and
rage, shaking wildly in a mad attempt to remove theblades stuck in its
body, but to no effect.

During the commotion Red Eyes freed himselfand joined Trak on the
creature's back, extending his mandibles to bury hispoison filled fangs
into the old Chimera.  It was not long before the creature became
paralyzed, its legs givingout as it slumped to the ground.

Trak, after pulling his blades out of thedying Chimera, watched as Red Eyes
gorged himself off the creature'sblood.  When he could not stand
watchingany longer, Trak took a clawed hand and swiped Red Eyes across the
face,knocking him off the creature's body.  Trak then readied himself for
Red Eye's attack, but watched withsurprise as Red Eyes curled into a ball,
his antennae dropping in submission.

"What right do you have to this kill?"  Trak demanded, still very angry.
"You would have been the one to die if itwere not for me."

"Forgive me First... you are right.  This kill does not belong to me."  Red
eye said with the high pitched sound of afrightened Chimera.

"Look at me," Trak demanded, as he jumped offthe now dead creature.

"Red Eyes slowly lifted up his head, wettears running down each of his
eight eyes.  "I... I am sorry."

Trak looked down at Red Eyes and saw that,where he had struck the young
Chimera, his exoskeleton armor had been torn off,showing the soft flesh
inside.  Traktouched the exposed flesh, Red Eyes flinching away in pain.
"I am sorry I hurt you Red Eyes, but you mustnever do something like this
again."

"I am sorry..."  Red Eyes clicked before he did something Trak did not know
anotherChimera could do.  He spoke in thelanguage of the humans.
"...father."

"What did you say?"  Trak demanded.

Red Eyes made a few indistinguishable hissesand clicks before he repeated
the act.  "Father."

"Why did you call me that?"  Trak asked, switching to the human tongue
aswell.

"I do not know... I needed a word to describeyou.  The only word that came
to me wasthe word... father.  May I call youfather?"

     Trak let his white hair tendrils touch thewound on Red Eyes face.
"Yes... if I maycall you son."

     Red Eyes stretched out his mandibles injoy.

***********************************************************

Vard sat in the war room, the simulations ofthe battle plan repeating over
and over.  Its simplicity was only surpassed in its brutality.  It was so
simple, Vard was surprised no onehad tried it before.  Aboard the dozensof
Guild war-liners in his armada were thousands of multi-warhead
nuclearmissiles.  The plan was to launch nearlyall of them at targets on
the over half dozen Core Worlds still under Guildcontrol.  The level of
devastation thoseworlds would face would not only end their ability to
supply Earth for thecoming siege but wipe out most life on those worlds as
well.

The thing that made the planned attack evenmore devious and unstoppable was
how the missiles were to be delivered.  Using the Guild Mistresses who had
joined hisside, the plan called for hundreds of doorways to be opened into
the Void.  The Guild Mistresses were to follow themissiles inside and
release them only a few hundred yards from their targets,making
interception impossible.

A part of Vard could not help but feel somerelief that Joshua was not
around.  Hishusband would have found some way of stopping him from
following such a coldand bloody plan.  He had no choice,however, if he was
going to rescue Joshua in the shortest time possible.

Vard was watching the simulation for thetenth time when Felix entered the
room.  "My lord... it's time."

Vard hesitated before responding.  This was the fatal moment... the time he
wouldchange from being a pretender Prelate to the real thing... a man both
feared andhated.  Vard knew that one day he wouldpay a price for what he
was about to do, but, to rid mankind of Gerick forever,he was willing to
pay. "Launch the missiles."

"Yes my lord," Felix bowed, touching a buttonon the conference table.  "The
missilesare launched."

Vard watched the display change from showinga simulation to the view of
cameras that were inside select missiles.  The missiles blasted away from
the Guildwar-liners, following the paths of the ships carrying the
GuildMistresses.  Moments after the missileswere launched the Guild
Mistresses opened hundreds of doors into the Void,taking the missiles with
them.  Thenthere was blackness as the warheads traveled through hyper
space.  One by one the missiles released their manywarheads just before the
Guild Mistresses opened the way to their targets,releasing nuclear fires in
a matter of seconds.


Nearly all of the warheads hit theirtargets.  The warheads heading for
thelast world, Aegis, did not hit their targets.  They did hit something,
however.

The Void was supposed to be empty... Vard andthe rest of humanity believed
they were the only ones who could travel throughit.  When the cameras
showed threegigantic bulbous shaped objects in the warheads path, however,
Vard jumped upfrom his seat.  It was already too late,the warheads slammed
into the sides of the unknown crafts.

"By the light!"  Vard shouted.  "What did we just do?"

Felix's mouth was left wide open.  "I do not know my lord...Those were no
shipsever built by the Guild."

Vard said, as he watched the warhead afterwarhead explode against the
gigantic ships.  "I do not think those ships are even human."

"If that is the case we just declared war onan unknown power."

"It was an accident," Vard insisted, his eyesnever leaving the image of the
three ships burning.

"We do not know if this unknown race will seeit that way."  Felix warned.
"We should change our plans... hold off fromattacking Earth until we find
out what has happened."

"No... the attack goes forward."

"But..."  Felix protested.

"Lets say we have just made a new enemy... isthere any way they could trace
the attack back here to Casova?"

"Through the Void... impossible."

"Then it is likely that these aliens don'tknow who attacked them."

"Possibly... but I would not count on itremaining that way."  Felix
replied.

"But it gives us time... time to defeat Gerick...time to reunify
mankind... time to build a force to make anyone or anything thinktwice
before attacking."

"This is a dangerous gamble you are taking."

"I know what I'm doing Felix... yes I am takinga risk but there is a chance
there will be no retaliation," Vard said as theremainder of the unknown
ships exploded into tiny fragments.  "Launch the armada... this war will
continue asplanned."