Authors: Philip Mcclennan
“Hey!”
“Pay attention!” said Kara.
“Wait a second, if this is a dream, that shouldn’t have hurt…” replied James.
“Look!” said Kara, directing his attention to the soldier and the two small children.
The pair began to listen to the exchange between the soldier and the children.
“Master Valentine, it is time,” said the soldier.
“No, Please! I don’t want to go!” pleaded the small boy. Tears flowed from the boy’s eyes. It was clear he was deeply afraid of the prospect of going wherever it was he was about to be taken.
“There is no other way my boy, your father has given the order. I’m Sorry.” The soldier took the boy by the hand.
“Please Auron, I don’t want to go!” shouted the boy. The young girl stood nearby, frozen in silence. She too was terribly upset and crying.
Kara had noticed the small boy call the solider by the name Auron.
So it is Auron
, she thought. These events unfolding seemed somehow familiar to Kara.
James, on the other hand, had no idea what was happening. “I don’t understand.”
“They’re taking him away,” said Kara, in an oppressively downbeat tone. She was beginning to realise why this seemed so familiar.
“Taking him where?” asked James.
“They’re taking him away, and I’ll never see him again,” Kara replied. The princess had witnessed this before. She remembered once again that the young girl in front of them was actually herself, aged five. “I remember this,” she said almost in a daze.
“Look, someone else is coming,” said James.
Another man emerged from the castle door. It was Zeris, although he was somewhat younger than what Kara remembered. Zeris was still dressed in the royal robes and emblems, confirming that he was still the king of the realm during this period. James picked up on the pendant around the young king’s neck. It was the same that Kara had around hers, and also identical to the pendant that he possessed.
James began to put a few pieces of the jigsaw together. “So you know these people?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Kara, who had become saddened by what she was witnessing. The pair looked on, as events continued to unfold.
“Valentine, my son, the time has come. You must be brave, for the good of Alexandria,” said Zeris. The young boy fought back his tears, trying to look strong in front of his father. “Yes…father,” he said timidly. The young boy hugged the king, who held the boy in his arms.
A hint of a tear began to fall from the king’s eyes. He noticed his daughter, the young girl nearby, also in tears. He gestured for her to join them, and the three embraced in a hug. The king held back his tears with all his might. He did not want the children becoming further upset due to him. Zeris gave Auron a quick glance, the latter looked deeply saddened.
Kara and James continued to look on from the distance. “Why don’t we go over there and stop this,” said James.
“We can’t”, replied Kara, who was at this point close to tears herself.
“Why?”
“It’s a memory, we cannot change what has already come to pass,” answered the princess.
“Memory? You mean…”
“Yes…the little girl is me. I had long forgotten about this day. I don’t know how.”
James looked at the pendant the king wore and then at Kara’s. “I’ve seen that pendant before,” he said. Kara turned to James. “It is the pendant of the royal bloodline of Alexandria,” said Kara, who began to look closely at James’ face. Kara looked over to the young boy, who was now being led back into the castle by the king and Auron. “For you to be here and see these events you must be connected to them somehow. And that must mean if the young girl is me, then the young boy must be…” Kara looked back at James, knowing what her next words would be.
Kara awoke in her bed suddenly. Her father, Zeris was still at her bedside, alongside Rokk, who had just completed another healing spell. “Ah, the princess awakens,” said the Warlock, who gave a smile.
“Thank you, my friend, your power is beyond question. I am in your debt,” said the king.
“It is my honour to have been of help my king,” replied Rokk, who took a few steps back to allow the king to speak with his daughter.
“Kara, my love, are you ok?” asked the king.
The princess remained laying down on the bed. She was weak but managed to turn to her father. “I’m ok father. I saw something. Something from the past that I had long forgotten.”
Auron, still stood at the doorway, listening on with interest.
“What is it that troubles you my child?” asked Zeris. He put a caring hand on her cheek, touching it softly.
“I saw a boy being taken away, a small boy,” Kara said.
“What boy? What did you see?” asked the king.
“His name was Valentine.”
The king’s expression changed instantly when hearing that name.
Kara could tell he knew whom she was speaking about. “I also saw this boy as a man, the same age as I. Who is he father?”
“You’re tired child, rest for the moment.” The king stood up and looked to the maid who was in the room. “Look after her,” Zeris said as he began to leave.
“Father? Who is he?” Kara demanded.
The princess tried to get up from her bed but was too weak to manage it. The maid rushed to her and attempted to make the girl more comfortable. Kara called out again to her father.
The king, who had reached the door of the chambers, glanced back to her briefly. “Rest my precious, I will speak to you later.”
A look of surprise was edged on the face of Rokk at the king’s willingness to leave his daughter’s side. As the king took his leave, he shared an awkward lock of eyes with Auron, who still stood outside the room. The king then left, making his way hastily down the hallway. Auron watched the king take his leave. It was clear that something was on the mind of both men, but neither wished to share their feelings.
Since the battle with Lucius in Sydney, every agent had been withdrawn from duty and summoned to the World Order’s headquarters, which was located in the city of London, England. It was hidden inside the confines of one of the largest skyscrapers in the entire city. To the inhabitants of London, the building was home to a large and popular electronics company. The World Order even set out the first five floors of the building to promote this, having electronic goods sold from the shop on the lower floors. However the structures true purpose was to act as a point of call for the agents stationed all over the world. The organisation had hundred’s of agents stationed out in almost every country, and every one of them had been called in.
It was very rare for the organisation to pull all of their agent’s from active duty for a briefing at headquarters but since the failure of the Sydney mission, the powerful leaders of the faceless organisation, The Patriots, had not been happy. They saw this white haired character as a threat to the world’s security. More worryingly for the World Order was the fact that their intended target, Lucius, had seemingly vanished. There was not a trace of his whereabouts anywhere.
On this particular day, Sergeant Cooper and Professor Milton were addressing a group of around ten agents, including those that were involved in the failed mission to capture the white haired man. A notable absentee was James, who since crashing down off the top of a fifty-story building, was in the medical centre inside headquarters. He had slipped into a coma as a result of the fall, of which many had thought it a miracle he was actually still alive.
However Chad, and even to a certain extent Professor Milton, knew of James’ unique strength. His body had been able to absorb the impact of the huge fall, that would have shattered every bone in a normal man’s body. Rumours were going around the camp, with agents speculating amongst themselves as to how James had survived such a fall, even if he was in a coma.
Ten agents stood in a large assembly room, gathered around a glass table. The assembly room was vast, over one hundred feet in size, and was on the upper level of a wide-open space in the main control room. Down below, other members of the organisation were working on highly advanced computers. An electronic global map of the world was set up on the wall of the assembly room. The technology was much like the agent’s touch screen computer tech that they all had in their safe houses, only much larger and far more advanced. Those in attendance included Chad, Sophie and Cody. The latter was covered with cuts and bruises following the crash of the helicopter. It was the same craft that Lucius had shot down with a bolt of fire. Boris, the older Russian agent had died in the crash and Cody was thankful to still be alive. Also amongst the group, was Chad’s old friends Rob, and twins Jade and Rachel. They were all happy to be reunited, however now was not the time for catching up.
Chad caught the sight of Stacey, who watched the briefing from the far corner of the room. Although not officially an agent, as the sergeant’s daughter, Stacey was not prohibited from sitting in on such meetings. Since she and her father lived full time in the headquarters, she arguably had as much right to be there as anybody else. The two forbidden lovers discreetly acknowledged each other’s presence with a small smile. Chad wanted nothing more than to go and kiss her, however, that would not have gone down well with her father.
Sergeant Cooper now began the briefing and from the tone in his voice it was clear he wasn’t happy. “What the hell happened out there?” barked the sergeant. “I have my superiors on my arse because of the failure of this mission! How did one man evade capture from five of the most highly trained professional’s in the world?”
Chad was tempted to start off on a rant in reply. He was angry at the fact he was not assigned to the mission in the first place. He bit his tongue, however. He thought it best that someone who wasn’t even supposed to be there should not be the one to talk about how events unfolded.
All the agents looked around at each other, waiting for someone to speak up. After a few moments of awkward silence, it was left to Cody to be the one who would eventually speak. “Sir we underestimated the target it would appear…”
“You don’t fucking say!” answered the sergeant. His anger was evident for all to see. His face was bright red and the vein in his neck pushed out as he spoke. “This was one man, on foot, and you couldn’t get the job done?”
“It wasn’t as simple as that sir,” said Sophie, who bravely interrupted the sergeant midway through his rant. “We were overmatched. I engaged the target myself. His skills and fighting style were like nothing I’d ever seen.”
Professor Milton listened on to the Irish girl’s words with interest.
“He was far too skilled, in terms of speed, strength and technique. Even despite our training, we weren’t prepared for such a fight,” continued Sophie.
The Irish woman’s explanation seemed to do nothing more than infuriate Sergeant Cooper further. He was not used to failure, and truth be told, he had a huge problem handling such an outcome. “Overmatched?”
The Irish girl stood her ground. She knew she was in the right. “Sir, even James couldn’t take the target on. I’ve never seen him fight anybody he couldn’t handle before. This man beat him down with ease. It didn’t even seem like he was trying.”
Chad had heard enough and decided to interject. “It sounds to me as if the World Order didn’t do their homework before dispatching its agents.”
I should have been assigned to Sydney.
Sergeant Cooper directed his full attention towards Chad. The tension between the other agents in the room began to get uneasy. They all knew that there was only one way this was going to end. No one took the sergeant on in a verbal confrontation and won, although, at this point, Chad didn’t seem to care.
“The only thing you cared about was a quick capture. You didn’t research this man properly, you just recklessly sent a team in who were totally unprepared.”
Sergeant Cooper looked far from amused. He didn’t like his authority being questioned, especially at his own base. “Excuse me?” The tone in his voice was not pleasant.
Chad chose not to reply, not wishing to say something that would get him into further trouble.
“You’ve got nothing more to add? This is charming coming from you! I suppose patience is a virtue of yours? The need for tactical analysis…since when did you employ such things?” Sergeant Copper said angrily.
Stacey was becoming increasingly uncomfortable at the escalation of the conversation between her father and her boyfriend. She knew that Chad was never one for patience. He would be the first to run into battle holding nothing back. At times, he was short tempered and reckless. The World Order knew this, and Sergeant Cooper knew it most of all. This was one of the main reasons he didn’t trust Chad. The sergeant thought both Chad and James were dangerous. He agreed to them joining the organisation to utilize their skills for his own benefit whilst also keeping track of them. He saw the pair as a potential threat and wished to keep a close eye on both of their movements to ensure the world was secure. It was his sworn duty as leader of the World Order after all.
Chad had figured out the Sergeant’s motives some time ago and began to angrily speak up. “Why wasn’t I assigned to this mission? With a threat of this magnitude, they could have used my help!”
Cody recognised that Chad was doing himself no favours by continuing to answer back and tried to calm the situation. “Chad, maybe you should back off a little man.”
Chad turned and looked at the young Texan with a look of disdain. Cody cut a weakened figure. He was covered in cuts and bruises and several stitches and plasters covered some of the nastier cuts on his face. These were the only injuries visible, although he had much more beneath his clothing. He realised instantly he should not have spoken.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Chad said, his voice ever rising by the second. “Don’t forget who dragged you out of that burning helicopter and carried you to safety you little chicken!”
This much had been true. After the battle in Sydney, Chad had pulled Cody’s broken body from the wreckage of the helicopter after it had been shot down. Only moments later, the helicopter had exploded into flames. If it had not been for Chad, Cody would not be alive. This was a fact Cody knew only too well, and despite the pair not really being the best of friends, he was thankful to Chad for it.