Warlord Conquering (The Great Insurrection Book 3) by David Beers (best historical fiction books of all time txt) 📗

bay. He didn't look behind, didn't care if they could catch up with him. His only thought was of Thoreaux, his second-in-command, the man he needed above all others.

The others fell behind, unable to keep up.

Alistair rounded the last corner.

The pod bay door was open.

He unleashed his Whip as he rushed to the opening.

The pod was gone and with it Thoreaux.

The AllMother, Alex, looked at her protégé. He was the first she'd ever considered calling a protégé. All the others who had served her, some dying of old age, most from unnatural causes, were only the means to an end, the end being him.

As she watched him pacing in front of her, she felt pride. She couldn't tell him, of course. Not now. Maybe not ever. He would think her insane with everything collapsing around him.

He'd even adopted Thoreaux's mannerism, pacing across the room instead of sitting as usual.

Pro didn't stop as he spoke. "What do we do? Don't tell me you don't know. Right now, I need your guidance because our only bargaining chips with the Commonwealth just left us, and they took one of this movement's most important people with them."

The AllMother was quiet, not letting his frustration and anger disturb her. She didn't glance at Servia. She didn't need to. Her modifications were coming back now, her health returning. She didn't know if it'd been the contact with her brother or simply the time she’d been awake.

Either way, Servia was distraught. Relm was fearful. Faitrin, the new pilot, was putting all her faith in Prometheus.

"I'm not being flippant," the AllMother said, "but I don't know what to do. I'm not omnipotent. If I'm not actively using my abilities, I don't see things, just like I missed what was happening with Thoreaux. The decision is yours to make. I honestly don't even know where to start."

Pro stopped walking at that statement and turned to her with his hands on his waist. He stared at the old woman with an expression near disdain. The AllMother shrugged.

She knew the truth. This was a difficult choice, but there would be many more to come, some harder than this. If they were to do what she'd set out to do, this was only the beginning of his choices.

Thoreaux might have to die. The AllMother never guaranteed anyone life, only the chance to change the universe.

Pro turned from the AllMother and looked at the other three in the room. "Faitrin, do we have any idea where they're going?"

The pilot shook her head.

Pro walked over to the nearest seat and collapsed into it, then leaned back and put his hand to his brow. "If that psycho is in charge, which I bet she is, I need to figure out what she would do. I don't have any damn time to think."

Alex could feel his frustration almost baking off him.

He would have to make a quick decision, something he wasn't good at and preferred not to do. Yet, in the coming war, it would be necessary, and she knew that. All of this might seem like life and death to Pro, and it was, but she knew it was his true training, building him into the one man who could bring down an empire.

"She doesn't care about making it back to Earth, at least not without me in tow. She only took Thoreaux because he was an easy target." Pro was quiet for a moment. "Right now, she wants to survive, and she knows more about the universe than most Commonwealth citizens." His head whipped toward Faitrin. "Where is the nearest portal outside of Phoenix?"

Alex watched the pilot's eyes gray over as she checked with her AI.

"It's a long way off, Pro. Their pod will never make it. Those things are purposely built huge distances apart."

"Fine," Prometheus said. "What's the farthest populated planet they can make it to in that pod that's in the direction of a portal?"

"One minute," the pilot responded.

Alex closed her eyes as they waited and searched for Thoreaux, but he was too far away. He'd been too far for a while now. Perhaps in her younger years she could have found him, but that was no longer true. Thoreaux was lost to her, and she didn't want to focus on that. She had to focus on Pro and his ability to retrieve the young man.

"It's a fairly populated planet, Pro. The name is CP36, best I can tell, but that's the Commonwealth's name for it. The locals call it something different."

Prometheus stood up. It was clear his decision was made. "Get the ship you and Servia brought ready. We're leaving in a half-hour."

Relm clapped his hands. "Well, that's damn good news. All this waiting around and talking was starting to bore me, broth, if you don't mind a bit of honesty."

Faitrin raised an eyebrow. "Has anyone ever checked you to see if you're missing a chromosome or something?"

Relm wiggled his eyebrows. "I will neither listen nor respond to your hatred." He pushed the crook of his arm out and moved closer to Servia. "Come, good lady. Let us go save Thoreaux and leave these who would hate on us alone."

Servia finally cracked a smile. That was good. The closest person in the world to Servia was Thoreaux, and Alex knew they would need her more now than ever if they were to get him back.

"Jeeves says it's ready," Faitrin told them. "It's been ready the entire time."

"Go get weapons,” Pro instructed. “Ten minutes, then we're leaving."

"What about the ship?" Servia asked.

Pro was looking through the doorway, obviously ready to start chasing his second-in-command. "Leave a message that it's my gift to the Ascendant."

He stepped out of the room, and the drathe padded after him.

No one else looked at the AllMother, but everyone did as their commander ordered. They went to find weapons, leaving the old woman alone.

She didn't move for a bit but thought of the miles still to go. Her powers were returning, but her desire? She was tired, but Prometheus