Daskada the legend four.., p.1
Daskada, The Legend (Four Horsemen Sagas Book 3), page 1
Daskada, the Legend
Book Three of the Four Horsemen Sagas
By
Christopher Woods
PUBLISHED BY: Seventh Seal Press
Copyright © 2020 Christopher Woods
All Rights Reserved
* * * * *
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http://www.theprofessionalliar.com
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License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only and may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
* * * * *
Cover Design by Brenda Mihalko
Original Art by Ricky Ryan
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Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
About Christopher Woods
Excerpt from Book One of the Revelations Cycle
Excerpt from Book One of the Salvage Title Trilogy
Excerpt from Book One of The Progenitors’ War
Excerpt from Book One of the Earth Song Cycle
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Chapter 1
I sipped the Looda and watched as several Torvasi in the tavern began to laugh at someone’s joke. Over the years, I had built a great love of them as a people. They were warriors of unparalleled strength. They had a code of honor I could easily get behind, and the majority of them had a great sense of humor.
In our line of business, it was necessary to be able to laugh at the world around us. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die. This was the life of a merc in the Galactic Union. I smiled as the group of Torvasi made their way to the door and exited.
Taking another sip of Looda, I leaned my head back against the wall behind my seat. I sat in the furthest booth from the door with my back against the wall. It was a force of habit. Te’Warri was, for the most part, a peaceful place. I closed my eyes as I thought of the new training cadre Kal Turner was gathering while we were here.
My eyes opened, and I was staring straight into the eyes of a Blevin. She was gorgeous, with liquid gold eyes that could have swallowed a man’s soul. Her face was a bit wider than that of a Human, and the small scales that outlined her face did nothing to detract from her beauty. My eyes darted to the left and right, then back to settle on the golden skinned Blevin.
Perhaps a man could lose his soul in this girl’s eyes, but mine was already spoken for, and the presence of nearly twenty other Blevin arrayed around the tavern sent me to my feet. My hand blurred, and my fifty was pointed right between those beautiful golden eyes.
“Now would be a good time to give me a reason not to shoot you in the face,” I growled.
“I told them it would make no difference to you.”
Her voice was as low pitched as most of the Blevin I had encountered. She spoke in passable English.
“What would make no difference?”
“I was to be the one to greet you because I am known to be aesthetically pleasing to the Humans we have had contact with in the past. They thought it would prevent you from, as you put it, shooting me in the face.”
“Haven’t done it yet,” I said. “Still thinkin’ about it.”
She raised both hands before her with the palms toward me.
“We mean you no harm, Martin Quincy.”
“Then why did you bring twenty others with you?”
I put my pistol in my holster, and she jumped at the speed of the movement.
She saw that I noticed the jerk and said, “Fear.”
“Fear?”
“You are Martin Quincy,” she said. “My people call you Queideai.”
My implant translated the word as ‘destroyer.’
“I don’t know about all that,” I said.
“Some of them call you Fa’Roon, the Butcher.”
I scowled. “I’m not a monster.”
“To my people,” she said, “you are the monster. You are the thing that lives under the bed and will grab children if they do not sleep when they should. You are the one who makes my people fear the darkness. When you step from your ship at the port, my people pray to the gods that you will not come for them.”
“Jesus,” I muttered. “What the hell?”
“We have all seen what the monster can do,” she said. “Six years ago, everyone saw.”
“I wasn’t alone,” I said.
“I have studied your people, Martin Quincy,” she said. “I have learned much about Humans. Facial expressions are complex, but many of them are the same as those of my people. When I overcame the terror of what I saw in you, I watched the others who were with you. They were as shocked as the followers of the Tahree.”
I motioned toward the booth I had vacated. “As long as we’re gonna be talking, we may as well have something to drink. Remain peaceful, and I will too.”
“You promise I will come to no harm?” she asked. “I am told you honor your word if it is given.”
“You won’t come to any harm at my hand as long as you stay peaceful.”
She motioned toward the others. “Leave us. He has given his word I will be safe.”
I could see several hesitate as the others exited the tavern. I motioned toward a booth a few spaces from the one I would be seated at.
“Leave us,” she said with a shake of her head. “I will return home.”
“Brothers?” I asked.
“Husbands,” she answered.
Slowly, the three Blevin males left the tavern.
“They are very upset,” she said. “They have other wives, but they know I am Chosen. They need to accept it.”
“Alright,” I said as I sat down in the same seat I was in when the Blevin showed up. “Now, my curiosity is almost outweighing my desire to shoot. I have some questions.”
She slid into the booth across from me, “I will answer them as best I can.”
“What are the Tahree?”
“The Tahree were the most holy of the holy men. They led our people for centuries. The members of the Tahree were killed on the night of the Queideai. For generations, the Tahree told us what to believe. They told us what the gods wanted from the people. They lied. My people were consumed by fear and hate after that night, but we were to find it was the greatest thing ever to happen to our race. Without the Tahree, we were forced to look inside the holy books ourselves. We found that all the Tahree had done for ages was make up scripture for what they wanted. The second year after the Night of Queideai, every Blevin was required to read the Hasmued.”
“Hasmued?”
“Our holiest of books,” she said. “It was the writing of Hasteppu, the first of our holy men. He wrote the words of the gods into the Hasmued. None of the rhetoric taught by the Tahree was from the holy book. We have been lied to for thousands of years, Martin Quincy.
“The third year, some of the previous believers tried to recreate the Tahree, but they found we refused to follow. They tried to force us with the use of their followers. We removed them and will never serve the Tahree again.”
“And that brings you here?”
“In part,” she said. “My people must come back from what we have become while following the Tahree. I am a part of that.”
“What part?”
“My role is to serve you,” she said. “I have studied you and your people for two years, Martin Quincy. I have studied you so I may help mend the rift between my people and yours. There are four of the Chosen. One for each race we have harmed as we followed the Tahree. Goselle is the Chosen who will go to the Zeewie, Zeeardeliah will go to the Torvasi, Delicorie is to go to the Sirra’Kan, and I am Rasiloria. I am to be yours, Martin Quincy.”
“W-What?” I stuttered. “Now, wait a damn minute.”
* * * * *
Chapter 2
“What are you doing, Boss? Starting a collection?” Kal asked as we watched Kor’Tanna exit the Palace with Rasiloria and another Blevin female following close behind her.
“What?”
“Do you even bother to check into anything?” he asked. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have blown yourself up years ago trying to play with the fancy Playdough they gave us in training. I swear, you’re worse than a cadet.”
“What? What’d I do?”
“The Blevin,” he said. “If you had bothered to check, you’d know she is the first daughter to the highest ranking Blevin in the Tarvista Clan. There are four major Clans.”
“Shit,” I muttered.
“That’s right, another princess.”
“How does shit like this even happen?”
“Play legendary games, win legendary prizes,” he said.
“Bite me.”
“You know what else?”
“I don’t even want to know.”
“That other one, there, is the daughter of the highest ranking member of the Fallineri Clan.”
I groaned.
“And Kor’Findralis placed her with his oldest daughter.”
“Jesus, just shut up.”
“I’m just sayin’,” he said. “And you don’t have to call me Jesus when we’re alone.”
“Seriously, I should have strangled you in your sleep,” I muttered.
“What was that, Herpes?”
I just shook my head and walked toward the ship.
“Did you see the new recruits?”
“I did,” I answered. “Not sure I’m happy with it, yet.”
“Can’t say I’m completely satisfied either,” he said. “You knew what was going to happen when you turned the whole thing over to Tanna.”
“She’s got just as big of an axe to grind with them as I do.”
“Not really,” he said. “She didn’t lose anyone in that mess. We did.”
“It’s true,” I returned. “But that made her much better suited to make the decision.”
“I can see the logic, Boss, but I have a hard time thinking of them guarding my back.”
“As do I,” I said, watching the two Blevin princesses following Tanna. With the acceptance of the olive branch from the Blevin, we had done more than we had planned.
After we turned the whole thing over to Tanna, she had accepted the applications of a number of Blevin to join Quin’Tanna. I couldn’t help but hate them after what they had done to my friends, and I don’t think I could have made that decision. I could still see that bastard killing my friend, Cinder Riley.
“That bit about their holy men leading them astray?” he asked. “What do you think about that?”
“Seen religion do some pretty horrible shit back home,” I said. “Look at our history and tell me it couldn’t have happened the way she said it did.”
“I know.” He grimaced. “That’s the hard part. I have trouble seeing them as the victim after what happened. All I see is that bastard you split from chest to groin in the prison. I saw him laugh as they killed Fonsy. He was laughing.”
“Me too, brother. I see that bastard in my sleep.”
“Gonna take some time to get past that,” he said.
“At least most of the legion won’t have that same feeling,” I said. “Not many of us were there who are still here. Me, you, Southard, and Bolder. The others have moved on.”
“I think you forget a whole world that witnessed it on Tri-V.”
“They saw it, but it wasn’t their friends. Easier to forgive when it wasn’t your own.”
“Maybe.”
We were both silent for the rest of the walk to the ship.
Starting up the ramp he said, “I guess we don’t have a choice, now, though. We’ll learn if we can trust them or not.”
“True,” I said. “I guess we could put them all under Braelok. At least we’d have all of the ones who want to kill me in the same place.”
“That’s another thing,” he said. “You offered the Zuul who’s sworn to kill you another contract? He was telling stories, yesterday, of how he was going to do it. Pretty graphically detailed stories.”
“I think I’m growing on him.”
“Like a tumor.”
“A loveable tumor.” I grinned.
“One of these days, Chlamydia, you’re gonna run out of luck.”
“I’ve been on borrowed time since that first drop.” I shrugged. “There is a plus to it if he kills me.”
“And what would that be?”
“I won’t have to hear any more of that Legend crap.”
“But until then, let’s get on this ship and go to your…planet…where we can add these new recruits to the thousands who are already there.”
“It’s a small planet.”
“While we’re at it, we can escort these two cruisers you just bought so we can put up a picket defense of the system you control….”
“It’s a small system,” I said.
“Yeah, right.”
* * * * *
Chapter 3
“We need a better cooling system for the gun.”
“Kreela design gun to be fired once per thirty seconds, Martin Quincy.” The Jeha engineer’s arms were waving for emphasis.
“Well, we gave the damn thing to an Andori. He’s already put himself in the med bay with that system.”
“He must not fire it so many times, Martin Quincy.”
“He’s Andori,” I said. “He’ll die before he lets that restriction cause another’s death.”
Kreela shook his head and muttered as he flowed across the floor in his lab. “Kreela will try to make it better. Kreela puts controller on weapon to keep it from firing too quickly and crazy Andori tear it off. Safety controller.”
I grinned at the Jeha as he returned to his work. The big gun Sattara, our resident Andori sniper, used was magnificent, but it had almost killed the small Andori.
“That seems like two words that should never be used together,” I muttered as I left the lab.
“What words?” a voice said from close behind me, and I jumped.
“Damnit, woman!” I said.
“What is the problem, my Koreverone?” Tanna asked in heavily accented English.
“You’re going to give me a heart attack,” I said. “Where’s that belt Kal gave you?”
“I wear it all the time, my Koreverone,” she said and twitched her hips to the tinkle of the bells.
“Kal’s going to love that.”
“Perhaps Kal Turner should learn to be a bit more aware of his surroundings.” She grinned and touched the side of my face. “Much like someone else.”
“I’m surrounded by thousands of Andori; no danger for me here.”
“I am not as certain of this as you, my Quincy,” she said. “If the Selkich manage to get their hands on you again, I fear there would be much less making of this Teriyaki your Zuul seem to enjoy so much.”
“You’re probably right, there.” I nodded. “They would probably put a bullet in my noggin.”
