A SPARTAN'S WAR

Ceale moved beside Kalis as they made their way to the PRIDE OF PUMAS landing bay. His grip on her arm was tight but not painful and he was walking quickly, Ceale barely able to keep up. Ceale was frightened by this odd occurrence. She knew who Kalis was… her tormentor's son… but in nearly six weeks he had done nothing but come to their cell and watch them from the monitors in the long corridor. Ceale had not had to endure Pusintin's touch for almost three full days now and with the clothes and food that had begun magically appearing in their cell these last weeks she was nearly fully recovered. She turned her head to the side of Kalis's face as they walked.

"Where… where are you taking me?" She asked with a tremble of fear in her voice.

"My father has given your services to some loyal officers on another ship." Kalis told her with a stern voice. Mainly for the entertainment of the two soldiers who walked behind them. "You will heal their men and entertain the Captain's son for three days every week until their crew is completely one hundred percent healthy."

"What?" Ceale gasped as they stopped by the lift. "I will not leave my…"

Kalis jerked her arm as the door opened. "You will do as my father says bitch!" He growled at her. "Now shut up!" He turned to the two Kavalian troops. "I will take her up on this Lift. Take the port one and inform Captain Koguth we are on our way. I will stop on deck four to arrange for fitting clothes for her to wear."

"Yes Colonel!" One of the men smiled at Kalis's implied comment.

Kalis nodded and shoved Ceale into the lift. He touched the console and the door slid shut and they began to rise. Ceale watched as he tapped quickly on the panel and then turned to face her. Her eyes grew wider when she saw his facial expression had changed completely. It was no longer angry and violent, but concerned and very handsome. "You must listen to me very carefully." He told her. "I am going to help you."

Ceale's dark green eyes grew even wider. "Do you take me for a fool?" She hissed. "You are his son! You…"

Kalis grabbed her arms tightly with both hands and she expected a vicious slap to come next and closed her eyes in anticipation of the blow. All he did is squeeze her arms gently and his next words made her open her eyes. "I am not my father!" He snarled softly. "I am… I am nothing like him! I… I don't know who or what I truly am anymore… but I am not him!" He squeezed her arms tighter but not painfully. "Who do you think has been giving you the extra food? Not the slop you were eating! The clothes and the means to at least wash yourselves and keep what dignity my father has not taken from you by his actions!"

"You?" Ceale gasped. "Why?"

Kalis shook his head and turned to the lifter wall. He began to quickly unclip the pins on a panel housing. He withdrew a small, plain backpack and then replaced the panel. He stood back up and held it out to her. "I can not undo what my father has done." He told her. "His treatment of you is… it is vile and it makes me sick. I can't stop him from doing these things Ceale… as much as I want too. He would kill me without a second thought. You are a strong woman… as strong as my mother has shown she can be. And I did not ever take notice of her strength until it was too late." He lifted his blue eyes to her. "You must remain strong Ceale. I am… I am working on getting you off this ship forever but I need…"

"You… you are his son!" Ceale exclaimed in shock.

Kalis shook his head. "I may be his son by blood… but that… that is where it ends. I have… I have discovered some things about myself these last weeks, chief among them is that I do not want this life. Or what it makes me feel inside."

Ceale's mind was racing. Could it really be true? His words she could have dismissed had they not been spoken with such passion and sorrow. No one was that good of an actor. They actually caused her spirits to lift and take notice that perhaps hope had not abandoned them as she thought.

"These Kavalians that he has given you too… there is something about them. My father has dismissed so much of his Lycavorian blood that he did not take notice of it. I on the other hand have embraced my Lycavorian blood these past weeks and I did notice it. I can not explain it to you Lady Ceale… I can't explain it to myself. I do not think you will be in danger on their ship but…" Kalis dug into the bag and pulled out the small COM unit. He held it up for her to see. "This is a secure COM unit. It links directly with a special data pad that I have. It will also link to one I will give to Serale."

"Serale!" Ceale gasped. "She will…"

Kalis touched the lifter controls stopping them on deck four but keeping the doors closed. "I am moving Serale and your son to a more secure area on this ship. I will keep them safe I give you my word."

Ceale's eyes narrowed. "Why… why should I believe you?" She asked softly wanting to believe all he was saying.

Kalis looked at her. "Because I swear to you this day that I will find a way to get us off this ship and away from my father. I have… I have begun working on a plan that will take us to my uncle but I need time and it will not be easy."

"Your Uncle?" Ceale asked.

Kalis looked at her. "You know who my father is Lady Ceale?"

"Of course!" She hissed. "He is the brother…" Her eyes went wide when she realized what she was about to say.

Kalis nodded his head with just a hint of a smile. "Yes. And every day that passes I only wish to be with him more and more. I can not be forgiven for my past sins but I hope what I do now will at least atone for some of them. Serale and your son will be safe… I will protect them with my life if need be… I promise you. This COM unit will allow you to speak with her and not be detected. I finished the modifications a few days ago. The clothes are plain, but they will at least not leave you exposed.

"Why… why should I trust anything you say?" Ceale asked him.

Kalis lifted his hand and Ceale began to step back for fear of being struck, but once more his hand took her arm and squeezed not with painful intent, but reassuring warmth. "Because I have kept the secret of Serale… of your daughter having already Ascended." Kalis told her seeing her eyes go wide. "I have told no one since that day. You may not believe me… but I have tried to help in ways that will not be noticed. The food… the clothes. My father does not trust me so I must be careful. He thinks these things come from someone among the crew and he does not care. If he knew it was me he would be…" Kalis looked at her. "Let's just say it would not be pleasant."

"Why are you doing this?" Ceale asked him. "If he would kill you, his own son… why do you risk yourself like this to help me? To help us?"

"You… you would not believe me if I told you." He answered her softly and Ceale thought for sure she saw incredible sadness in his eyes. "Let's just say that my future… if I am to have a future… my future is not here. I do not want it to be here. I want more than the life that has been forced upon me. I can only have that with my Uncle. If he will even accept me." He reached up and touched the panel again and they began moving. "I will have Serale contact you tonight at 2200 hours. Tell no one what we have spoken of for it will end up getting all of us killed." He pushed the COM unit back into the bag and then tucked it into her arms. "You have no reason to trust me Lady Ceale… I know this. I am asking you to take a leap of faith."

"Kavalians do not believe in faith." Ceale spoke.

Kalis nodded his head. "But remember I am only half Kavalian." He said. "The other half of my blood is Lycavorian. The other half of my blood is a Leonidas."

The doors opened and Kalis turned quickly taking her arm and leading her out of the Lifter. Ceale's eyes were wide at his words and she stared at him for a moment as they moved but then she turned to look at the men standing by the ship. Kalis saw Koguth and Mataen waiting by the ramp of their shuttle and he directed her over to them.

Koguth stepped forward. "Ah… this is her?" He asked sternly.

"As my father told you." Kalis answered.

"She does not look like much." Mataen spoke as he moved around Ceale. "Are all Hadarians so… fragile?"

"I wouldn't know." Kalis replied. "Captain Koguth… a word if I could sir. A message from my father."

Koguth nodded. "Mataen… take her onboard. I wish her to begin right away." He said as he moved over to where Kalis had stepped to the side. "What can I do for the Marshall's esteemed son? A Colonel of the Puma Bane I understand?"

Kalis was only a inch shorter than Koguth's six foot four frame, the only one of his brothers to inherit their father's full height. He looked into Koguth's dark eyes. "My father may have missed it sir… but I did not." He spoke in a low, menacing voice. "You and your son are more than you lead others to believe. Do not harm her in any way. Do not abuse her. Do not take her against her will. If you do… if you do sir… then I will come for you and all of your Pride and I will extinguish them from existence."

Koguth stood there silently staring at Kalis. He saw the change come over Kalis, the dark ring that encircled his eyes, and the tips of his dual fangs protruding from beneath his upper lip. Something passed between the much older Kavalian and the young man before him, something buried deep within the currents of emotion. Koguth'Juturi was many things, but he was not a fool. The Marshall's son was not walking the same path as his idiot father. His path was very different and the words he had just spoken sent a shiver down his spine.

"I will take it under advisement Colonel Kalis." He said evenly.

Kalis watched Koguth turn and move for the back of his ship. He didn't wait to watch the ship depart and moved for the Lifter so that he could get Serale and her brother moved before others discovered what was going on.

KOGUTH'S LEUGERS TRANSPORT

0839 HRS EST

Mataen looked at his father as they cleared the landing bay of PRIDE OF PUMAS and headed for their own ship. He was staring at the closed ramp deep in thought, a pose Mataen had seen many times before. He stepped up next to him.

"Father?" He asked softly. "What is it?"

Koguth turned and looked at his oldest son. Mataen was six hundred and nine years old, the oldest of his nine children with his mate of eight hundred and twenty-four years. "The… the Marshall's son." He said softly.

Mataen moved closer. "What?"

"He is… he is not like his father Mataen." He spoke. "He said… he said his father did not detect it but that he did."

"Detect what?" Mataen asked.

"The lie." The female voice spoke now causing both men to turn around.

"Mani!" Koguth exclaimed. "We have only just left their ship!"

Mani'Juturi stepped forward and removed the full face helmet she wore. "We are off their ship and even they do not have sensors that can look upon us in here my husband." The dark brown and very well groomed fur of the female Kavalian was very evident, as was the shape of her body under the uniform.

Ceale sat wide eyed as she watched the female move closer to the Kavalian called Koguth. Kalis's words echoed in her head. "These Kavalians that he has given you too… there is something about them. My father has dismissed so much of his Lycavorian blood that he did not take notice of it. I on the other hand have embraced my Lycavorian blood these past weeks and I did notice it. I can not explain it to you Lady Ceale… I can't explain it to myself. I do not think you will be in danger on their ship but…"

"We need to act safely mother." Mataen told her as she stepped up beside Koguth and pressed close to her husband of over eight hundred years. The fur on her face and body was shiny and pulsating with health and radiant color and her tail snaked around Koguth's right leg as she stood beside him, his longer tail encircling her waist.

"We are acting safely." Mani told him. "We are off that ship of horrors."

Koguth nodded. "I did not expect to feel so disgusted as I was." He said. "That ship is… it is like a dark abyss."

"The hate that infects them is powerful husband." She said.

"What did you mean Mani?" Koguth asked. "He could detect the lie?"

Mani nodded her head. "What did he tell you husband. I saw him pull you to the side."

Koguth glanced at Mataen and then back to her. "He told me if we hurt her in any way that he would extinguish our Pride from existence. He said he detected what his father did not."

Mani nodded her head. "He detected that you and Mataen were lying." She said with confidence.

"Mother… how could he?" Mataen protested. "Father, myself… all of us have trained rigorously to hide our true emotions and be able to lie as if it is second nature."

Mani nodded her head. "Something has happened that caused the Marshall's son to begin to embrace the Lycavorian blood within him." She answered. "I have studied the Lycavorians for decades Mataen… and their sense of smell far exceeds anything we can imagine. Pusintin, the foul beast, he may have forsaken that part of himself, but it appears his son has not. My only question is where has he gotten the training to use this skill. Lycavorians must be taught from birth to use their sense of smell in order to be able to catalogue different scents and such. His father would not teach him this… so where did he learn it?"

"He detected we were lying." Koguth spoke. "Yet he did not inform his father. That is very interesting."

Mani turned and saw Ceale staring at them from the bench in the LEUGERS and she pushed away from her husband. "And this is she?" She spoke as she knelt in front of Ceale. She lifted a fur covered hand and stroked Ceale's cheek. "You look very frightened child. And very tired."

Ceale looked at where Koguth and Mataen stood and then back to her. Ceale couldn't help but notice the well groomed fur and bright blue eyes. "You… you are… you are female." She stammered finally.

Mataen chuckled softly and moved to the bench to settle next to her. Ceale shied away quickly from his enormous bulk and he held up his own fur covered hands. His darker blue eyes fell on her, but Ceale could detect the distinct similarities between him and the female Kavalian.

"You may rest easy Milady." Mataen spoke. "You are in no danger among us."

"He speaks the truth child." Mani said dropping her hands to take one of Ceale's in hers. "We are not going to hurt you."

"I don't… I don't understand." Ceale said. "What… what is going on?"

"Father." Mataen spoke holding out the small COM unit he had removed from the bag.

Ceale's eyes went wide and she reached for it. "No!" She snapped. "No!"

Mataen held it away from her as his eyes inspected it. "A normal COM unit with some interesting modifications." He said.

"He gave it to me!" Ceale hissed. "He said I could use it to talk with Serale."

Koguth looked at Mani. "Her daughter." He told his wife.

"The Marshall's son gave this to you?" Mataen asked Ceale.

Ceale nodded. "Yes. Please… please give it back."

Mataen held up his hand indicating she should wait. He reached above his head and touched the COM panel. "Nedoni… are you detecting any unknown signal coming from our ship?"

"Negative. We are clean." The male voice replied.

"Have Corsa move back here for a moment brother." Mataen said.

"On her way." The male voice replied.

"Mataen?" Koguth asked him. "What is wrong?"

Mataen looked at him. "This COM unit has been modified in a unique way father." He said. "You say that Kalis gave this to you?" He asked Ceale.

Ceale nodded. "He said I could use it to communicate with Serale while I was with you. That no one else would detect it."

Ceale turned and saw the second Kavalian female move back among them from the cockpit area and stop. She removed the helmet as well and her shiny copper colored red hair fell well past her shoulders, her face calm and without fear. Unlike the others, she was completely without fur on her body and Ceale knew instantly she was one of the biogenic female Kavalians that had undergone treatment. Corsa stepped up close to Mataen without pause and then Ceale saw her tail unwind from around her waist and encircle his leg just as Mani had done. Ceale looked at her with wide eyes as she realized this female would have been considered a failure to the Kavalian scientists and either discarded or sent to be a whore in whatever brothels they had. Apparently this was not the case with her and Ceale saw Mataen's tail slowly snake around her waist just as his father's had around Mani's.

"Mataen my husband?" She asked.

Mataen held the COM unit out to her. "Corsa… what do you make of this?"

The Kavalian female took the unit and turned it over in her hands several times while studying it carefully. "Standard Kavalian COM unit with several advanced modifications. Site to site beam capability and a high level encryption protocol unit." She looked up at Mataen. "Whoever made this intends for it to be used outside of normal COM channels and remain undetected. If I'm correct… it is designed to piggy back on spacial harmonic frequencies."

"Spacial Harmonic Frequencies?" Koguth asked. "We don't have equipment that can do that Corsa. Only the Lycavorian Union has the ability to manipulate SHFs within their COM channels."

"You are correct my husband's father." Corsa answered him. "Yet this was made with Kavalian material… not Union. Whoever built this has Union knowledge. Who did this?" She looked at him. "This level of knowledge of communications could help us to secure our Pride's COM traffic from any prying ears and eyes. It would also means this person has an in-depth knowledge of Union COM techniques. No one would be able to decipher it without the proper encryption key."

Mataen reached up and took it from her hand and then held it out to Ceale. She took it from him and clutched it to her chest, her eyes filled with more questions than she could process.

"He gave this to you for a reason and we will not keep that reason from you." Mataen told her. "I doubt very much his father or anyone else knows he has these skills." He continued. He turned to look at Koguth. "It appears the Marshall's son is far more than anyone knows."

Mani smiled and patted Ceale's hands. "It seems we are not the only ones out here who are working against the good Marshall." She said. She turned to Koguth. "If his own son is somehow in contact with the Union… or even the King… it could be our opportunity to find Iama and bring her home my husband."

Koguth nodded his head looking at Ceale. "We should probably fill our guest in on what is happening however. The poor thing looks lost. I do not think we have to worry that she will expose us to Pusintin."

Mani smiled and nodded. "Corsa and I will take care of that." She said turning back to Ceale. "Right now… let's get you some decent clothes to wear and something to warm your insides. You must be cold." She took her arms and gently urged her to her feet. "Come… we have some clothes in the back that we have made for you. You appear to be Corsa's size and she made them."

Ceale looked at her unsure of what was happening, but if it allowed her a respite from the pain she had been enduring she welcomed it and allowed them to lead her toward the rear of the ship. Looking within herself, Ceale found she suddenly had no fear for her daughter. The look in Kalis's eyes when he said he would protect her and her brother was something Ceale would never forget. It was a look of determination she had never seen before.

Perhaps it was hope.

Perhaps hope had not abandoned them at all. It was just coming in a different form.

Mataen looked at his father. "Kalis could be a powerful ally father." He spoke. "Pusintin has never treated him with the respect a father should of his first born. Especially one who is as skilled as he. That has been common knowledge for many years."

Koguth nodded. "Indeed." He said. "His skills are without question. The look… when he spoke to me he was looking upon me with wolf eyes Mataen. Feral wolf eyes that held no fear in them. No fear and a determination that I have never seen. Something is driving this boy to do what he is doing. And he is keeping it hidden from his father."

"Do you think he knows where the King is?" Mataen asked.

Koguth shook his head. "I don't know but while this Hadarian Ceale is among us I intend to discover a way to find out. You and Corsa are still willing to watch over her? Have her stay with you?"

Mataen nodded. "Yes. She looks malnourished and exceptionally tired and what she needs is rest. We will feed her and get her to rest for the first day. After that, if she is willing, she can begin her exams. Corsa has experienced the same things as her father… she should be able to help her."

Koguth nodded. "She is a fine young Kavalian female my son. I did not think it wise to join with her at first… but she has come out of her shell since that day. You made me proud by rescuing her and now she makes me proud to have her as a daughter. Tell her that for me. I do not wish to embarrass her in front of our Pride."

Mataen nodded his head with a smile. "I will." He said. His face became serious. "Father, do you think Pusintin and Keleru have any idea how many of us there are?"

Koguth met his eyes. "Keleru does… just not who." He answered. "He clings to power by threads my son. Pusintin is only a lap dog of his. A powerful tool… but still just a tool." He said. "That is our advantage."

"How long before Pian and the Nruarani Pride begin?" Mataen asked.

"I spoke with Pian's brother just before we departed Nefoa." Koguth answered. "If things go as they planned… then Pian will launch his campaign in a guerilla fashion. He is receiving Union support of materials but no men. At least not right now. The Union must be prepared to meet Keleru's thrusts when he decides it is time. For the moment Pian and the Nruarani Pride can hold their own."

"Can the Union hold against him father?" Mataen asked softly.

Koguth gazed into his son's eyes. "Keleru has no understanding of what he has done Mataen. The other Pride Leaders and myself saw this after our second attempted invasion of the High Coven and that is why we formed our groups. Power is the only thing Keleru craves and his actions against the Union have sealed his fate. When Martin Leonidas truly unleashes his son upon Keleru'Puat, he will know the grip of fear. The same fear so many of our people have lived under for too long."

"I thought… I thought he had already done so." Mataen said.

Koguth looked at him and smiled. "No Mataen. What we have seen so far is nothing." He said. "When Martin Leonidas unleashes the storm that is his son you will know. And then it will be time to throw all we are behind Androcles and free our people." Koguth gripped his arm. "But first I will do what I should have done years ago. I will find your sister and I will bring her home to your mother. To us."

"That was not your fault father and you know it." Mataen spoke quickly.

Koguth shook his head. "He was my father… his actions were mine." He said softly. "I should have killed him long before I did. Your sister would not have had to endure the horrors she has if I had acted as a father should have."

Mataen gripped his arm. "We are acting now father. Iama will see that and she will forgive."

Koguth nodded his head. "I hope you are correct my son. I hope you are correct." He took a deep breath. "Now… now we must adhere to our plan."