Birth of the Alliance

271 Pages·2013·1.53 MB·English

by  Albrinck Alex

Contents
Title Page
Prologue
Visitors
Cavern
First
Learning
Scutarium
Shadows
Discovery
Revolution
Intelligence
Dream
Power
War
Control
Harbor
Mourning
Search
Secret
Blood
Partners
Home
Memories
Copy
Insertion
Deception
Bait
Darkness
Traitor
Remorse
Birth
Author's Note
BIRTH OF THE ALLIANCE

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THE ALIOMENTI SAGA - BOOK 4
by Alex Albrinck

Copyright (C) 2013 by Alex Albrinck. All Rights Reserved.
Cover design: Karri Klawiter (http://artbykarri.com)
BOOKS BY ALEX ALBRINCK
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THE ALIOMENTI SAGA
A Question of Will (2012)
Preserving Hope (2012)
Ascent of the Aliomenti (2013)
Birth of the Alliance (2013)
“Book 5” (2013/2014)
“Book 6” (2013/2014)
“Book 7” (2014)
Prologue
Sunlight crept over the horizon, the rays twinkling against the vast expanse
of the Pacific Ocean. Quiet reigned for a brief time as Sunday began, a few
people rising early with yawns and brief spots of exercise. There was a faint hint
of salt in the area, of machines and oil and grease, consistent with the massive
ships housed in the harbor.
The quiet was shattered with the sound of engines from the north, planes
descending upon them to unleash unimaginable horrors. Heads craned up,
looking around, wondering what was happening.
Bombs fell from the sky, and the quiet morning was shattered.
Ships exploded, raining debris around the land surrounding the harbor. The
hint of salty air was gone, replaced with jet fuel and explosives and death.
Screams rent the air, as men barely awake found themselves without limbs,
bleeding to death before they knew they were under attack. Frenzied activity
erupted on the shore; sailors stumbled to get to their stations, airmen raced to the
fields where planes waited, only to find bombs leaving a path of destruction.
Men panicked, and the perspiration came not from an intense morning physical
training session, but from their desperation to survive the surprise attack.
Will Stark stood watching it all, knowing he could not interfere. Hope was
out there, ensuring the safety of just one man, Will’s great-grandfather. It was
her mission, one he dared not interfere in. Yet he felt some obligation to be
there, to offer his own unique protective abilities to her as she ensured his
ancestral line survived the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Frustration boiled through him. He could end the attack in an instant. He
could manipulate the thoughts of every pilot, forcing them to stop the raid and
head back home. He could intercept the next wave of planes, changing their
minds or crashing every plane to the steely surface of the Pacific. Yet he must
not interfere. Around him, men and women were hit by shrapnel, had limbs torn
from their bodies, died in fires aboard ships that sank beneath the waves. It was a
cruel fate.
He sensed a new presence, and his pulse quickened. The Hunters were here.
Whether they’d tracked him, or sensed an unknown but powerful Energy user,
he did not know. Their presence added an unnecessary complication to a mission
already exacerbated by a surprise military attack. Will’s great grandfather was
aboard a ship that had been hit, the flames shooting out the top. He wasn’t
worried about Hope; she could protect herself and his great-grandfather. The
largest challenge was ensuring it wasn’t too obvious to his great-grandfather or
those around him.
The Hunters’ presence made that subterfuge an even greater challenge.
Where were they? He could detect them through the use of his own Energy, but
that would alert them to his presence. He could use himself as bait to draw them
away from her, assuming they’d figured out where she was.
In that moment, four people emerged from the burning ship, appearing
suddenly at the nearest dock. So great was the turmoil and panic that none of the
human men seemed to notice; they’d just assumed the four had emerged from
the cloud of smoke. Will could make out Aramis’ top hat and Porthos’ cloak,
and knew that a third member of the group must be Athos, the leader of the
Hunters. It was the fourth person in the group that concerned him.
Hope.
She looked different now than she normally did, opting to appear as a
brunette with pale gray eyes. Her Energy was well Shielded; the Hunters had
detected Energy work aboard the boat and found a woman not dressed in sailor
garb. If she wasn’t the rogue associated with the Alliance, her obvious
displacement made her suspicious enough to capture.
Will let his Shield drop. There was no point in hiding now. They probably
suspected his presence at that point. Porthos’ head immediately snapped in his
direction, a sneer upon his face. He waved in jovial fashion, and then pulled the
sword from his belt. Athos and Aramis followed suit.
Will ordered the tiny nanobots surrounding him in an invisible swarm to
move to Hope, covering her in an invisible fashion, armor that would prevent
any completed blows from the swords the men held. She was safe from harm,
and now that Will had been spotted, the Hunters would blame him for her
survival. But it wasn’t enough for him. He sprinted toward the dock, dodging
sailors racing away from the carnage, fury in his eyes. He sent a warning jolt of
Energy at the Hunters, a promise of future payback if they dared hurt the woman
they held hostage.
In a more isolated space, he’d teleport there to her side, or simply whisk
both of them away. Hope could do it, and if Will hadn’t been there her survival
would have ended the efficacy of the Hope-as-human ruse. With him there,
though, she maintained the ruse of being incapable of defending herself, an
illusion Will found laughable.
There was nothing funny about her current predicament though, especially
when the Hunters threw Hope to the ground and advanced on her with swords
drawn.
Will glanced around, smelling the fear, hearing the explosions, feeling the
heat from the burning ships in the harbor. The planes continued to fly overhead,
releasing more bombs upon the reeling Harbor. No one was paying attention to
him, or to them. He dipped into a cloud of smoke generated by a burning ship
and teleported to them, shielding her with his body, the nanos reforming to
insure that all exposed skin for the two of them was protected from sword
strikes. He heard the inhalation of breath as the Hunters went for the kill shot,
waited for the thud as the blades struck the invisible armor. Wondered, in that
instant, why they’d seemed unfamiliar with the idea nearly a century later, when
they’d attacked Will in a similar manner.
He felt no impact of a sword upon armor, but rather the sensation of warm
liquid dripping upon his body. He saw more liquid hit the wood beside him. The
metallic scent seemed to fill his nostrils, and he could almost taste it.
Blood.
“Traitor!” Aramis screamed. “How could you protect a human woman?
How could you protect him?”
Will spun around, rose up off Hope, and took in the scene.
Adam’s body had been pierced by all three swords, and blood dripped from
the gaping wounds to his torso. He’d teleported in front the swords meant to
execute Hope.
And him.
“You’d… never understand.” Adam’s speech was a grimace. Hope
scrambled to her feet, her eyes, like Will’s, wide with horror.
Athos put his hand on Adam’s chest and pushed the man roughly to the
ground, and the Hunters used the movement to withdraw their swords from his
body. The blood flowed freely, and the sight and scent of it overpowered even
the smell of fuel and carnage erupting around them. “The Leader will hear of
this, Adam! He’ll—”
“I hope… so,” Adam choked.
Will was enraged, and surged a mass of Energy at the Hunters, enveloping
them. He saw their faces turn fearful, sensed their fear in the odor of their
perspiration. He teleported them far away, to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a
hundred miles from land. They’d survive, if the sharks didn’t smell Adam’s
blood and get to them.
“Hope.” Adam’s voice was weak, but his eyes were bright. “You… have a
human man… whose well-being… is uncertain. Go to him. I must… speak to
Will… privately.”
“But I can help—”
“Go.” Adam’s voice was a plea, gentle but firm. With a worried glance at
Will, Hope nodded and disappeared.
“Get me out of this, Will. Someplace… quiet. I don’t have much time left…
and… there are things… I must tell you… before I’m… gone.”
“But I can—”
“Keep those little machines. There’s too much… damage… already. Too
little blood left… to matter.” He closed his eyes. “Please, Will.”
Will teleported them back to a bunker that he knew was unoccupied, one
that normally housed off-duty sailors for one of the ships sinking in the Harbor.
The survivors onshore had all run past to find some way to help their doomed
fellows. Their absence gave Adam the solitude he’d requested.
“I have… little time… left, Will.” Adam’s words came out in a series of
gasps of air. “First… you must… take this.” His arm moved as if asleep, numbly
seeking the front of his shirt, and fingering a chain hidden beneath that Will had
never before noticed. Will started to unclasp the chain, then simply teleported it
free. Three small vials, formed of an unfamiliar metallic substance strangely
warm to his touch, were connected via the chain. He glanced at Adam. “Those
vials… they are… so… very important, Will. You… must guard them… with
even your… own life. Never… take the chain… off… until it’s… time.” His
eyes opened once, then closed again.
“Time for what? What’s in the vials?”
Adam continued as if he’d not heard Will. It was possible he hadn’t, given
his condition. Will sent Energy into the man, hoping to alleviate his discomfort,
help him to heal the grievous wounds. “Second… you must… find… Eva. She…
will know… what to do.”
“Eva?” Will frowned. “But… I haven’t seen her in centuries. I don’t know
if she’s even… alive.”
“She lives… is hiding… must make it… your top priority… to find her…
even… more… important than… your research.” Will frowned again. They were
running out of time to find the ambrosia cure. How could Adam ask him to stop
that effort?
But it was the man’s dying wish. “I will find her, then,” Will replied.
“One… final… thing. You must promise…” Adam’s voice trailed off, and
his breathing become ever more shallow and ragged. Will upped the Energy,
willing it to heal Adam, to eliminate the terrible pain. The man’s eyes shot open.
“Promise me that you’ll… find him and… protect him.”
“What are you—”
“Promise!” Adam’s voice, so weak to that point, came out as a shout.
“I promise,” Will said. “But who? Who am I supposed to find? Who am I
supposed to protect?”
Adam’s breathing had gone heavier, and his Energy had seeped down to
almost nothing. Tell me, Will projected. Tell me this way if it’s easier.
Adam did, projecting just two words Will’s way.
Will bolted up and away from Adam
It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t be.
Will stared at the man he’d known as long as any other, and better than
most. Watched as the irregular rise and fall of his chest slowed. Then stopped.
Watched as his face, contorted in pain, smoothed over. Watched as Adam, a man
he’d known for almost a thousand years, moved on to a new reality. Based on
those final two words Adam had projected to him, Will wondered if he’d ever
truly known the man at all.
It was forever too late to change that.
I
Visitors

1701 A.D.
Recent rains had left the dirt roads of the young city muddy. Small puddles
of standing water formed in the light drizzle that was falling from the sky,
dabbing the hair, hats, and clothing of residents out walking in the weather. The
early morning summer warmth was sufficient to illuminate the shops and store
buildings lining the sides of the roads. Hand-painted signs identified a coffee
shop, a tailor, a few printers, a pub, and other businesses. Many of the buildings
were two stories, and the shop proprietors lived above the businesses they
maintained. The growing heat of the early morning exacerbated the aromas
driven by refuse in and along the streets, dominated by human and equine
wastes. Most pedestrians opted to walk close to the buildings, limiting their
chances of stepping in some of the unpleasantness, and limited the stench to
distasteful rather than overpowering.
A horse-drawn carriage raced down the road, the driver careening side to
side. Passersby pointed and laughed, for the driver was clearly intoxicated and
had lost control of his steed. The driver strained with the reins, pulling the horse
back toward the center of the road. As the cart swerved close to the buildings
before moving back to the center of the road, the rear wheel plunged into a
puddle, spraying dirty water upon unlucky pedestrians.
Two of the bystanders drenched by the putrid liquid looked at each other
and began laughing, in contrast to others who shouted curses at the driver.
The man was relatively tall, with jade green eyes and jet black hair now
slicked down after his anti-bath. The woman was somewhat shorter, and her
platinum blonde hair glistened white as snow in the sunlight. Her laughter
reached her blue eyes. Their eyes, for those who looked closely enough, seemed
to sparkle with an unnatural inner glow, giving their eyes an unnatural air.
The couple scurried through a gap between a pub and a tailor’s shop,
emerging in an uninhabited back alley. After confirming their isolation, each
concentrated, and the glow evident in their eyes emanated from their very core.
The warmth generated from that special Energy was sufficient to dry their
clothes and hair, expelling the mud and other debris from their bodies, leaving
them clean and fresh. One would never suspect they’d endured a fully-clothed
mud bath only moments before.