Intro | Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Shadow disintegrated the night before they left. The Old Man didn't make it out of the cave-in and when they finally were out of the tunnels they all looked to Dancr for leadership. She was younger and less experienced than many of them but the Old Man had chosen her and her crew accepted it. She'd proven herself in battle, proven her leadership and combat skills, most figured they could do worse. They already had a plan if they escaped the caves and they followed it to their next camp. She'd been busy with her responsibilities but she noticed Shadow's absence at chow and her worries returned. The caves had done their work on him, when they got out she saw in his eyes that his hold on himself was slipping, she feared that it wouldn't take much more for Shadow to be lost. She finished her food quickly and was about to look for him when a message came in on her personal, "We need to talk. South glade." She knew the spot, the message was from Shadow.
The glade was empty when Dancr got there and after waiting for a time began to worry. She was about to go look for Shadow when Isu stepped into the clearing, Dancr grew suspiscious and asked Isu what she was doing there, "M'Kael sent me." she answered. "Who?", Dancr didn't recognize the name but she should have realized who it s by the tone of Isu's voice, she crooned, "Shadow", the same love-sick way. Their was danger beneath her sultry answer and before she could get too close Dancr asked, "What is it?" Isu held up a mem-strip, "A message." Dancr would have to let her get close, she relaxed, ready for anything. Isu handed the message to Dancr and when she was inserting it into her personal she saw the flash that signaled Isu's move. Dancr dodged and the first knife barely knicked her cheek, she was amazed by Isu's speed but was ready for the knife in her right hand. Dancr knocked the blow away and pulled her sword, Isu jumped back, screamed, "You won't have him!" and threw. Her knife came in too fast for Dancr to avoid and it sunk into her shoulder, Dancr pulled her blaster and fired. Isu looked down in surprise at the hole burned into her chest and died with, "M'Kael", her last breath.
The Old Man told Mae not to trust the written word, a warning from a dream Dancr hadn't heeded. She should have shot Isu the moment she stepped into the clearing or when she called Shadow M'Kael but she wanted to hear from him and let her guard down. She'd told herself she was ready for Isu's treachery but she wanted the message, hoped enough for it to be real that she looked away. Mae was ready, though, and it was she who avoided that first blow. While Dancr eagerly sought word from Shadow, Mae took control and saved them both. The rest of the fight was Dancr's, Mae wasn't strong enough to stay in control but she knew it was just a matter of time. She sensed Dancr's fear and knew it was going to be her opening, she grieved the Old Man's death but it was going to be Mae's door to life.
She went back to camp to look for Shadow but Stalking Cougar found her first. "There was a message at my ship." he told her, she knew it could only be from Sefi and expected the worst. She was right, "It's time." he said. Dancr almost lost control, almost willingly gave herself to Mae, the responsibility was overwhelming. She wasn't ready to lead her crew and it was time to take them into the worst battle of their lives, somehow in three months she had to be ready. Mae was ready and Dancr was about to give in, run from the crushing weight that had fallen on her, then she thought of Shadow. She had to admit to herself that she fought Isu from more than self-defense, she was fighting for the man she loved. Because she loved Shadow she would fight Mae to the end, Mae's emergence would be M'Kael's end.
When the sector guards were put down we ran to a rock fall in the back. We sorted the weapons, the three blasters guarded the entrance. The rest of the weapons went up an old air shaft with twenty-seven of us. With the blasters we kept the guards who showed up at the entrance pinned down. When all were up, we let out a volley and ran for the shaft. We climbed far enough to maintain watch. When the first guards showed up in the shaft we dropped them. We were on our way up before they started shooting up at us. When the shaft leveled out, we came to a set of bars. We set everything we had against them. We threw the debris down onto the guards. We set the bars and rest of the rocks as a tangle and ran down the tunnel. When we came to the next set of bars, we could see the sun. Our hands were too bloody to work the bars, our bodies too tired to fight. We laid down our weapons and our hope of freedom.
The scene played over and over in M'Kael's mind, he didn't know what of it happened to him and what was Paintr's memories. As they marched through woods he didn't know who he was, whether he were free of the caves or a prisoner on the way to another mine or death. When they got to camp he came to himself long enough to set up his tent, he went inside to visions.
Dark memories, dark dreams and a deep burning within. I climb down the shaft. I run through burning, blood-slick caverns. Vardoc's whip is still clenched in his hand. I cut it off and tie it to my waist. My hands bleed the climb up. Dark dreams beyond counting. Light came with two guards carrying blasters. They motioned me ahead of them. Doors opened before me. Eventually I stood before someone. He watched me. "We train warriors here." I was led back to the darkness. The next light brought a room full of people, some with deadly eyes, some I recognized. One with eyes like a Galach stood before us. "I will teach you to fight." Someone laughed. "You. Up front." A huge man stepped up to the leader. "Why do you laugh?" The leader's eyes were cold, his body relaxed, his hands empty. The huge one sneered, "I have been fighting since I was a child." The leader's movements were too quick to follow, the huge one lay dead at his feet. He stared at us, "Live or die." I was returned to the darkness. At the next session two were picked from the crowd. The leader handed them blades. "Live or die." They hesitated a moment then fought to the death. The victor looked at the leader. In an eye-blink the victor was dead. "Hesitation is death." "Live or die." Those words were uttered again and again. Some lived, some died. Each fight brought new lessons and then the darkness. Throughout the darkness I replayed each fight I had seen. Remembering the faces of my kills kept the memories away.
A voice came to him out of the darkness, a voice he knew, that didn't belong to those memories, a voice from another world, "Shadow?" First he answered the voice, "Mae?" then he answered the name she called, "Dancr?", he really wasn't certain who called. "It's Dancr, Shadow. May I come in?" She told him who he was, an anchor to keep from being swept away, "Come in."
His eyes were almost unrecognizable, wild, desperate, "What's wrong, Shadow?", he shook his head. Dancr couldn't stop the next question, "Paintr?", Shadow's head jerked up and then he shook it again, angrily. She had to ask, "Do you know?", "I'm not sure." he whispered. She didn't think he even knew where he was but she wasn't going to make things worse with more questions, she sat next to him and slipped her arm around him. He lay his head on her shoulders, she wouldn't tell him what was coming up, she'd carry the weight without him until he got well or Paintr won.
A voice came to him out of the darkness, a voice he knew. She called him Shadow, but he heard "Paintr" deep within.
We were on Lautu fighting a beast that fed on anything living. When they stripped a planet bare they flew to another. They were cunning and learned from our tactics quickly. I was resting behind an outcrop of rock with some others. I felt eyes on me and looked around. She had stormy grey eyes and a warming smile. I nodded. "You have beautiful eyes," she called out to me, "you fight well. Who recruited you?" "An old man." "Perhaps the one that recruited me." "Perhaps." "You don't say much." I shrugged slightly then she said, "Your eyes are very unique. I've never seen a shade of blue so deep... like the ocean. A person could drown in them." I gazed deeply into her eyes and murmured to myself, "I could drown in yours..." I met her again on Olandi Otetis. We were in the mess tent, I felt her gaze on me across the room. I crossed over and sat across from her. "I'm Paintr." "Mae." Her golden hair was beautiful... her voice even more so. "The old man again?" "Yes," she smiled. "How do you come to know the old man?" "He's a special friend of mine." Her answer was puzzling and I said half to myself, "I can't imagine the old man with friends." She laughed. My heart leaped then she said, "I'm due back. It was nice seeing you again. If you're a friend of the old man, perhaps we'll meet again." I didn't want her to leave but that was the way of things, "Perhaps." I watched her go and continued to watch the entrance for a while after she was gone. When the fighting ended I went back to The Raptor and straight into my studio. I painted her picture, lingering over every stroke. I felt as if I were touching her.. caressing her. When I was finished painting, I gazed at her until I couldn't keep my eyes open. She filled my dreams.
She went to his tent to see how he was, Dancr didn't expect Shadow to be ready for a leadership meeting but he was much worse than she dared think. She wanted to watch over him but knew her presence was the worst thing for him and she was needed elsewhere. In the command meeting she made Cougar her second and kept everything else the same, they would leave for the spaceport the next night. "We've got a lot of wounded," she told them, "a lot of hostile territory to get through and not a whole lot of time. We go to everyone tonight and see who wants to go on, I'm not the Old Man and their contracts with him are over. Anyone who does stay on gets double what they were getting until we finish with Leviathan, after that, all deals are off." After that, she was done with it, done with war, she would return to what she should have been doing all along, dancing. She knew thre was little chance of that happening, little chance that she would return from Leviathan, but she needed something to hold onto, an anchor to keep from being swept away.
They made it to the spaceport with a Crew of 63, nearly a third of them went to the med ward they had to set up in a cargo bay to handle them all. Shadow was in terrible shape, phsically and mentally, he had to be put in a med unit for extensive work. Dancr didn't know how he did it, or who was doing it, but Shadow, or Paintr, fought like a hero in those caves. His blaster was as deadly as ever and now he was using a sword. It was exquisite, he worked them together as if he were two people and she thought, then, perhaps he was, she still thought that.
Shadow disintegrated the night before they left. The Old Man didn't make it out of the cave-in and when they finally were out of the tunnels they all looked to Dancr for leadership. She was younger and less experienced than many of them but the Old Man had chosen her and her crew accepted it. She'd proven herself in battle, proven her leadership and combat skills, most figured they could do worse. They already had a plan if they escaped the caves and they followed it to their next camp. She'd been busy with her responsibilities but she noticed Shadow's absence at chow and her worries returned. The caves had done their work on him, when they got out she saw in his eyes that his hold on himself was slipping, she feared that it wouldn't take much more for Shadow to be lost. She finished her food quickly and was about to look for him when a message came in on her personal, "We need to talk. South glade." She knew the spot, the message was from Shadow.
The glade was empty when Dancr got there and after waiting for a time began to worry. She was about to go look for Shadow when Isu stepped into the clearing, Dancr grew suspiscious and asked Isu what she was doing there, "M'Kael sent me." she answered. "Who?", Dancr didn't recognize the name but she should have realized who it s by the tone of Isu's voice, she crooned, "Shadow", the same love-sick way. Their was danger beneath her sultry answer and before she could get too close Dancr asked, "What is it?" Isu held up a mem-strip, "A message." Dancr would have to let her get close, she relaxed, ready for anything. Isu handed the message to Dancr and when she was inserting it into her personal she saw the flash that signaled Isu's move. Dancr dodged and the first knife barely knicked her cheek, she was amazed by Isu's speed but was ready for the knife in her right hand. Dancr knocked the blow away and pulled her sword, Isu jumped back, screamed, "You won't have him!" and threw. Her knife came in too fast for Dancr to avoid and it sunk into her shoulder, Dancr pulled her blaster and fired. Isu looked down in surprise at the hole burned into her chest and died with, "M'Kael", her last breath.
The Old Man told Mae not to trust the written word, a warning from a dream Dancr hadn't heeded. She should have shot Isu the moment she stepped into the clearing or when she called Shadow M'Kael but she wanted to hear from him and let her guard down. She'd told herself she was ready for Isu's treachery but she wanted the message, hoped enough for it to be real that she looked away. Mae was ready, though, and it was she who avoided that first blow. While Dancr eagerly sought word from Shadow, Mae took control and saved them both. The rest of the fight was Dancr's, Mae wasn't strong enough to stay in control but she knew it was just a matter of time. She sensed Dancr's fear and knew it was going to be her opening, she grieved the Old Man's death but it was going to be Mae's door to life.
She went back to camp to look for Shadow but Stalking Cougar found her first. "There was a message at my ship." he told her, she knew it could only be from Sefi and expected the worst. She was right, "It's time." he said. Dancr almost lost control, almost willingly gave herself to Mae, the responsibility was overwhelming. She wasn't ready to lead her crew and it was time to take them into the worst battle of their lives, somehow in three months she had to be ready. Mae was ready and Dancr was about to give in, run from the crushing weight that had fallen on her, then she thought of Shadow. She had to admit to herself that she fought Isu from more than self-defense, she was fighting for the man she loved. Because she loved Shadow she would fight Mae to the end, Mae's emergence would be M'Kael's end.
When the sector guards were put down we ran to a rock fall in the back. We sorted the weapons, the three blasters guarded the entrance. The rest of the weapons went up an old air shaft with twenty-seven of us. With the blasters we kept the guards who showed up at the entrance pinned down. When all were up, we let out a volley and ran for the shaft. We climbed far enough to maintain watch. When the first guards showed up in the shaft we dropped them. We were on our way up before they started shooting up at us. When the shaft leveled out, we came to a set of bars. We set everything we had against them. We threw the debris down onto the guards. We set the bars and rest of the rocks as a tangle and ran down the tunnel. When we came to the next set of bars, we could see the sun. Our hands were too bloody to work the bars, our bodies too tired to fight. We laid down our weapons and our hope of freedom.
The scene played over and over in M'Kael's mind, he didn't know what of it happened to him and what was Paintr's memories. As they marched through woods he didn't know who he was, whether he were free of the caves or a prisoner on the way to another mine or death. When they got to camp he came to himself long enough to set up his tent, he went inside to visions.
Dark memories, dark dreams and a deep burning within. I climb down the shaft. I run through burning, blood-slick caverns. Vardoc's whip is still clenched in his hand. I cut it off and tie it to my waist. My hands bleed the climb up. Dark dreams beyond counting. Light came with two guards carrying blasters. They motioned me ahead of them. Doors opened before me. Eventually I stood before someone. He watched me. "We train warriors here." I was led back to the darkness. The next light brought a room full of people, some with deadly eyes, some I recognized. One with eyes like a Galach stood before us. "I will teach you to fight." Someone laughed. "You. Up front." A huge man stepped up to the leader. "Why do you laugh?" The leader's eyes were cold, his body relaxed, his hands empty. The huge one sneered, "I have been fighting since I was a child." The leader's movements were too quick to follow, the huge one lay dead at his feet. He stared at us, "Live or die." I was returned to the darkness. At the next session two were picked from the crowd. The leader handed them blades. "Live or die." They hesitated a moment then fought to the death. The victor looked at the leader. In an eye-blink the victor was dead. "Hesitation is death." "Live or die." Those words were uttered again and again. Some lived, some died. Each fight brought new lessons and then the darkness. Throughout the darkness I replayed each fight I had seen. Remembering the faces of my kills kept the memories away.
A voice came to him out of the darkness, a voice he knew, that didn't belong to those memories, a voice from another world, "Shadow?" First he answered the voice, "Mae?" then he answered the name she called, "Dancr?", he really wasn't certain who called. "It's Dancr, Shadow. May I come in?" She told him who he was, an anchor to keep from being swept away, "Come in."
His eyes were almost unrecognizable, wild, desperate, "What's wrong, Shadow?", he shook his head. Dancr couldn't stop the next question, "Paintr?", Shadow's head jerked up and then he shook it again, angrily. She had to ask, "Do you know?", "I'm not sure." he whispered. She didn't think he even knew where he was but she wasn't going to make things worse with more questions, she sat next to him and slipped her arm around him. He lay his head on her shoulders, she wouldn't tell him what was coming up, she'd carry the weight without him until he got well or Paintr won.
A voice came to him out of the darkness, a voice he knew. She called him Shadow, but he heard "Paintr" deep within.
We were on Lautu fighting a beast that fed on anything living. When they stripped a planet bare they flew to another. They were cunning and learned from our tactics quickly. I was resting behind an outcrop of rock with some others. I felt eyes on me and looked around. She had stormy grey eyes and a warming smile. I nodded. "You have beautiful eyes," she called out to me, "you fight well. Who recruited you?" "An old man." "Perhaps the one that recruited me." "Perhaps." "You don't say much." I shrugged slightly then she said, "Your eyes are very unique. I've never seen a shade of blue so deep... like the ocean. A person could drown in them." I gazed deeply into her eyes and murmured to myself, "I could drown in yours..." I met her again on Olandi Otetis. We were in the mess tent, I felt her gaze on me across the room. I crossed over and sat across from her. "I'm Paintr." "Mae." Her golden hair was beautiful... her voice even more so. "The old man again?" "Yes," she smiled. "How do you come to know the old man?" "He's a special friend of mine." Her answer was puzzling and I said half to myself, "I can't imagine the old man with friends." She laughed. My heart leaped then she said, "I'm due back. It was nice seeing you again. If you're a friend of the old man, perhaps we'll meet again." I didn't want her to leave but that was the way of things, "Perhaps." I watched her go and continued to watch the entrance for a while after she was gone. When the fighting ended I went back to The Raptor and straight into my studio. I painted her picture, lingering over every stroke. I felt as if I were touching her.. caressing her. When I was finished painting, I gazed at her until I couldn't keep my eyes open. She filled my dreams.
She went to his tent to see how he was, Dancr didn't expect Shadow to be ready for a leadership meeting but he was much worse than she dared think. She wanted to watch over him but knew her presence was the worst thing for him and she was needed elsewhere. In the command meeting she made Cougar her second and kept everything else the same, they would leave for the spaceport the next night. "We've got a lot of wounded," she told them, "a lot of hostile territory to get through and not a whole lot of time. We go to everyone tonight and see who wants to go on, I'm not the Old Man and their contracts with him are over. Anyone who does stay on gets double what they were getting until we finish with Leviathan, after that, all deals are off." After that, she was done with it, done with war, she would return to what she should have been doing all along, dancing. She knew there was little chance of that happening, little chance that she would return from Leviathan, but she needed something to hold onto, an anchor to keep from being swept away.
They made it to the spaceport with a Crew of 63, nearly a third of them went to the med ward they had to set up in a cargo bay to handle them all. Shadow was in terrible shape, phsically and mentally, he had to be put in a med unit for extensive work. Dancr didn't know how he did it, or who was doing it, but Shadow, or Paintr, fought like a hero in those caves. His blaster was as deadly as ever and now he was using a sword. It was exquisite, he worked them together as if he were two people and she thought, then, perhaps he was, she still thought that.
A med unit... the fight in the inn. No... Zarral. He knew he'd died and when he knew where he was his thoughts went to Mae.
Excerpt from Shadow Stalkers by S.E.Estes
Not sure I have the energy to give chase... 
