CHAMPIONS (The Lost Chronicles of Eden, #1) [Published]

17: MORE QUESTIONABLE CREDENTIALS AND DANCING WEAPON WIELDERS

Lukas breathed a sigh of relief when the two women finally took their weapons away from him. Solenn called out for everyone to march, but not before she snarled a warning at Lukas. “Next time you pull this crap on us, you won’t go off so easy. You’re lucky we’re traveling by puésto. You lost us precious time.”

“So angry, Solenn. You’re so angry.” Lukas shook his head dramatically. “Don’t you know that too much anger is bad for your health?”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t be joking anymore, Lukas,” Solomon said. “Because we only have seven days left before the alignment of the planets. We have to retrieve the sword by then, or we’ll have a bigger problem. We have to infiltrate to the enemy’s base before the riders arrive.”

“Then why spend two weeks training in the Citadel if we have so little time left?” In spite of the mocking tone laced in his voice, it was an honest question. Lukas didn’t really understand.

“Because we’d rather fly hard in the air mobiles and walk harder jumping from one puésto to another, than to send off people, especially non-Guardians,” Solomon pointed at Lukas and Gabriel, “to battle unprepared. You boast of excelling in martial arts, and you’ve pulled your weight during trainings, but I doubt you’ve ever practiced those skills in an actual battlefield. There are no more chances in real life, Lukas. Once a demon manages to strike you down, you’re dead. Now if you don’t have more questions, you heard the captain. Move out.”

Lukas wasn’t a man of confrontation, so he just nodded to Solomon, hoping that the man would drop it. Besides, he would rather talk to the ladies, even though they said nothing to him but threats and nasty remarks.

Oh, well. In spite of his unclear motivations for saying yes to the unsightly old man — sorry, High Priest, Lukas was positive that if anything, this would be quite an adventure.

***

The moon was hiding behind the thick canopy of leaves and branches that stretched out from the ancient trees. Gabriel missed the moon already, but the Guardians traveling by foot had preferred to travel with stealth.

“Using the puéstos would buy us more time,” Solomon said during the briefing earlier. “Cielterra is a huge continent, and even with our airmobiles it would take us a few days to get to the far west. We need to get there before the riders.”

The seven Candidates, along with one hundred heavily armed Guardians were to traverse the heavy forests west of Cielos. They were part of the infiltration team that would enter General Xandros’ base in the dark of the night. They would knock down Astanason soldiers and impersonate them using the holocopiers that Mateo had invented. Small as pins, the device would scan its target from head to foot. The Guardian wearing the pin would be wrapped within the holographic image of one they were impersonating.

Gabriel had scanned Solomon the first time he used the pin. He got quite a nasty bump on his head when Solenn knocked him out from behind. Apparently the two had been quarreling over something petty at the time. He never used it again.

Gabriel shook his head to clear his mind of the memory and reviewed the strategy in his head again. With the infiltration team finally in position, they would wait for the riders, led by Samson and Deborah, who would attack with their guns blazing and their weapons drawn.

Their strategy is to overwhelm the enemy forces with attacks both from inside and out. A team was also assigned to engage with Xandros to retrieve the sword from him. Solenn had wanted to be a part of that team, but Samson forbade her to confront the betrayer. Everyone was surprised when she relented to Samson’s order without a fight.