Passion

When M'Kael got back to Trader's Hand he didn't go to the Dark Star right away. M'Kael had learned his own way of fighting and kept Paintr at bay, now he was going to get his art back. He knew the art he began with, the art he fought to keep as a child, was his own. He remembered the thought he put into his work, even at a young age he wanted to say something with his art, express the feelings hidden inside himself. He remembered his struggle to learn the techniques he needed to put his feelings on paper. M'Kael had reawakened his warrior heart, now he would wake his artist spirit.

He didn't need to do any sketches for his first painting, he knew the subject intimately. He took time mixing the paints, he wanted the colors to be perfect. He brushed her cheeks and stroked her hair, his brush traveled paths his fingers had explored. Beauty and death, partners in a terrible dance, the arc of the blade and flying blood it's movements. He lingered over every stroke, thinking of her, missing her, and when he was done he could not look away. It was her as he knew her best, the beautiful destroyer, Blade Dancr.

When M'Kael could no longer keep his eyes open he slept, when he woke he started his next piece. This time he would paint a battle scene that took place on 1232.579 that involved his entire crew. As he recalled the events he began sketching.

"Darg wants to see the tactical team." Loya Sone, their team leader, announced. When they entered the command tent Darg Pecunian, their crew leader, got right to the point, "Things aren't going too well for us, we're about to lose this thing. It's those new ships they're testing, they're beating hell out of us and we never see them coming. Tactical, it's up to you to find those ships and then we're going after them. Command thinks one crew might be able to do what the whole damn army can't."

"Shadow Dancrs!" Loya didn't look up from the maps she'd been studying, "You two have a way of finding things, I'm counting on that. I'm giving you a day on us, let me know when you stop and when you change direction so we're always a day away. When you find their air base you've got a day to have a plan for us when we get there." M'Kael and Dancr stood in silence with Loya as they studied the maps. Finally Dancr looked over at M'Kael, he nodded and she pointed to a spot on the map, "We're going there first."

There were several large craters on the planet but the one Dancr pointed out seemed to have no strategic value. When they neared the crater they ran into sentries, it was a good sign that they were on the right track. The closer they got the more patrols they ran into until they could approach no further, the crater was heavily guarded. From the little cover they could find they watched the guards, looking for weaknesses they could exploit, they found none. When they'd studied the crater from every direction they hiked a distance away and set up camp. When supper was ready they began to talk.

"We'll never get the crew in there." "No, but we might be able to get in." "That low rocky area on the southeast side would be perfect." "It's still too heavily guarded." "The crew can make a diversion." "It's got to be big enough to give us time, it's going to take twenty minutes just to get into the crater." "We don't know what's down there." "If the crew causes enough trouble whoever's in there might be distracted long enough." "Dicey, but it's all we have." "I'll call the crew in."

They spent the day it would take the crew to reach the coordinates watching the crater, plotting their course and looking for something that would help. As day was leaving the sky they went back to their camp to meet up with the crew. Darg Pecunian and Loya Sone wanted to debrief them immediately. "We haven't seen inside the crater but we saw some ships leave and there are so many sentries it's got to be the place." Dancr told them then launched into their plan, "We could only find one possible way in and it has to be just the two of us. We need you to keep the sentries there busy so we can get in. It's going to take an hour to get in, mine the ships and get out." M'Kael hoped that would be all it took, there was no telling what they were going to run into when they got in.

Darg and Loya studied the situation with the Shadow Dancrs, they agreed with the Shadow Dancr's assessment. Back at the camp Loya asked, "Think you could go under artillery fire?" Dancr looked at M'Kael then turned back to Loya, "Whatever it takes."

M'Kael was finished sketching and his paints were mixed. He began to lay his memory on canvas and he didn't stop until he was done. He felt triumphant, it wasn't like his earlier paintings, it was something he had done from himself... his memory, his effort. It clearly wasn't Paintr's work, the styles were very different. It wasn't as good as Paintr's work, either, but it was very good.

The mortars were set up behind a stand of rock, sweating warriors were dropping shells into them as the crew leader barked orders. In the distance fire filled the sky as the shells burst among the sentries. Fiery light showed their terror-filled faces, it was clear they were surprised. All eyes were focused in the direction of the artillery, no one saw two shadowy figures working their way among the rocks.

As M'Kael cleaned his brushes he finished thinking of that time. The artillery fire got them into the crater where eighteen of the ships were docked. There were very few people out, M'Kael figured they were hiding from the shells. The few people not in hiding looked to be maintenance people. One of them was working on a ship very close to M'Kael and Dancr's hiding spot. Dancr signalled for M'Kael to cover her and she crept behind rocks and through shadows until she reached the maintenance person. She dragged his dead body into the shadows and put on his uniform, it took thirty minutes to mine all the ships. The crew ran out of shells ten minutes before M'Kael and Dancr got back but it didn't matter, all attention was on the exploding ships.

Over the next four months M'Kael sketched and painted memories of school and war. They were good paintings but they were not great, they lacked something and M'Kael didn't know what. He looked at his painting of Dancr and then at the others, there was a big difference but M'Kael didn't know why. He had an idea who might know and wrapped up Dancr and one of his battle scenes and took them to the gallery. Kadiza was happy to see him and after they talked a bit M'Kael asked, "Would you do me a favor?" When Kadiza answered, "If I can." M'Kael showed her the painting of Blade Dancr. "It's wonderful!" she exclaimed, "Did you want to display it here? It would be a wonderful addition." M'Kael colored a little, "No thank you." then he took out his other painting and showed it to her. "Nice. An earlier piece?" Kadiza asked. M'Kael wasn't surprised by her answer and showed her Dancr again, "Actually I did it after this one." then he showed her the battle scene again. "What's missing?" he asked. She didn't have to think, "Passion."

Excerpt from Shadow Stalkers by S.E.Estes