Alkalians (43 page)

The others have wary looks upon them
at Cain’s rant of an explanation before a knock upon the door
echoes through the room. Tony rises to answer it, and returns to
them with a letter in his hand. “It’s for you,” he tells Cain, and
he hands him the envelope.

His schizophrenic rage
preventing curiosity, Cain rips it open and pulls out the letter.
As his eyes skim over the writing, his anger shifts to fear before
he cries out, “No, no, he can’t come back
now
!!”

“
What is it? Who’s coming
back?” asks Irene while the other two exchange glances.

“
He, he’s coming back, for
the Royale Project. He was supposed to stay at his military school
for his senior year, but now he’s coming back, just to win the
Alkalian College Championship again. Just when I thought Matt
Calamos was my biggest problem here,
he
has come back to haunt
me!”

Disgusted that he won’t answer her
question, Irene snatches the paper out of Cain’s trembling fingers
to see what it said. Reading over it once, she chuckles and says,
“Oh wow, he’s even singled you out to be on your best behavior, or
he’ll beat the daylights out of you. Yeah, you are totally screwed
when he shows up.”

James thinks about it and guesses,
“You mean, Nicholas? Nicholas is coming back?”

“
Yes,
of course
that’s who I mean, who
else!?” Sheer delirium is in his eyes as Cain bellows with flailing
gestures, “Nicholas Narqailein, the Wrecking Wave, the Drowning
Dread, the savage brute from the bleak waters of Corrasin! The
four-time Alkalian College Battle Champion, that’s who! Forget
about Matt or someone else taking me down on campus, he’ll be the
first to do it himself if he ever catches me!!”

“
Ah, right, him. That
could be a problem,” James muses. For a moment, he and Tony have
looks of worry themselves, given the reputation and character
behind this Nicholas. Then, Cain’s eyes light up with a sudden
idea, he mutters things under his breath to himself, and what
starts out as a few giggles soon becomes hysterical laughter.
Looking at him as if he has truly gone mad this time, Irene asks,
“Now what’s the matter with you?”

Thumping his fists on the
table, Cain says, more to himself than his henchmen, “This
is
perfect
!! This
is the opportunity I have been hoping for! If anyone will be able
to stop Matthew Calamos and his little friends for me, it will
definitely be HIM!!” He continues laughing at whatever he thought
was ingenius, ignoring the looks from the others as he strolls past
them and out of the room.

Once Cain was gone, Tony lets out a
sigh between relief and exhaustion, groaning, “The sooner we
graduate, and I get as far away as possible from that guy, the
better. No offense, James, but I think you’d understand.” He
stands, throws out, “Have a good night, you two,” and walks away to
the door and leaves the room.

Left alone with a brooding James,
Irene has a quizzical look in her expression as she weighs the
significance of recent events. Nicholas Narqailein, the one
Alkalian student who could make even the boss students look weak,
is coming back to win the championship again. She is sure when he
gets mixed into this contest between Matt and Cain that both sides
were going to drown.

A little voice then reminds her of
what Dante had told her earlier, about always following others and
never making a move for herself. When she looks at James, who does
not appear thrilled about being bossed around by Cain again, she
wonders if this was a great opportunity to follow his advice. With
a sly smirk she comes over, takes a seat next to him, and says, “If
Cain is always like that, you must have a blast at family
reunions.”

“
Huh? Oh, him,” James
grunts. “He’s always been the spoiled brat of the family, but he’s
never been this bad before this all began, when he became a senior,
and therefore a boss student. I think all the power went to his
head, and now, he’s losing his head because of it.”

“
Hmm, perhaps you are
right.” She puts on an air of being curious, asking, “Is he older
than you?”

“
What? Uh, no, I’m a year
or so older than him.”

“
Uh huh. And, is his
family higher up than yours?”

“
Heh, they could have
been. Our halves of the clan share blood and wealth, but it was my
side of it that came to rule through the majority vote in Tirez,
and so my father is Prime Minister, not his.”

“
I see. So, how come he
feels obliged to push you around and insult you, like he’s superior
to you?”

James sighs, looking for an answer,
before telling her, “I guess it’s because he’s been raised to think
he’s better than everyone. My parents did a great job not spoiling
me, despite our wealth and status. They sent me off to work in a
logging company for a year, and I quickly got into shape involving
hierarchy and humility, when to be the boss or the servant, through
that rough experience. Cain’s parents, however, were not so
foresighted. They gave him whatever he wanted, clothes, money,
entertainment, women, and even used their friends in high places to
get the drugs that give him his powers of invulnerability.” He
sighs again, mumbling, “There’s no question he’s gone mad with
power, but I don’t know when it happened, or if anything can be
done to save him.”

“
Yes, I guess that is
tragic. As he aims to rise above the flames, they’re going to
consume and burn him when he falls.” Irene flashes him a knowing
look. “And I’m sure you don’t want to be dragged down with him,
yes?”

“
Yeah, I’m afraid that’s
so. He’s family, but, if he can’t listen to reason, to learn to
accept losing, then what can I, or anyone, do for him? I actually
wonder if the Cain I once knew is gone, and something vile and
terrible has taken his place.”

“
Hah, the superstitious
type, eh? You think the spirits have come and possessed him? As
much as I object to such a silly idea, I can also say one thing we
may both agree on. You should be nowhere near Cain Incarein, once
everything comes tumbling down on him.” She softly runs her left
hand through his long hair, saying in a sultry tone, “Am I
right?”

At first puzzled by her touching his
hair, he then shrugs and replies, “Yes, I suppose. And what would
you suggest I do, otherwise?”

“
Why, what you’re best at
around here, James. Lie low, and let them knock themselves out.
With Nicholas coming, I’m sure things will
really
get exciting around here, and
the two sides will be beating each other into the dust during the
Royale Project. While they focus on each other, then, we could make
our move and cause enough havoc to ruin them both.”

“
We? Why do you say
that?”

“
Why, because we’ll be
partners, of course. I’ve come to my senses, finally seeing the
madness in Cain’s methods, and I won’t stick around in a tree about
to fall before the storm. With you, however, we could lie low, bide
our time, watch and wait, and at the right moments, we take what we
want. Together, we would rule over the school. And besides…” She
leans in closer next to him, seduction clear in her whisper, her
breath hot against his neck. “I think you’re much friendlier
company than him.”

Finding himself smirking at her last
comment, his skin crawling with aroused pressure under her breath,
James shrugs again before saying, “Well, I do try to be friendly
with everyone. I’ve found that opens more doors than other ways.”
Despite something telling him he shouldn’t fall for it, he brushes
back some of her long hair, asking with a spark of intrigue in his
eye, “Perhaps, the door between you and I may open
again?”

“
Hehe, we’ll find out,
soon enough.” Their faces edge closer, each looking longingly into
the other’s eyes, before their lips meet in a deep kiss. After a
brief embrace, their clinging hands disapprove of the clothes still
on them, they part to remove such hindrances, and resume their
passion with their bare chests pressed against each other. A few
moments go by in their love-lock before Irene swings a leg over to
seat herself in James’ lap, her hands guiding his face to her
breasts, and she says between breaths, “Hey, after we graduate, you
and I could stay together, and be a royal couple. When our fathers
step down, we could unite our states, of Saratu and Tirez, and rule
them together.” She lets out a moan from the affection his mouth
gives her, fueling the fire rising between them.

Pausing in his indulging of her sweet,
firm fruit, with his hands caressing and scraping her trunk in his
hold of her, James manages to get out, his rationality blinded by
lust, “Yeah, sure, that sounds, ah, excellent.”

“
Good, and I wouldn’t even
mind if you brought some other lady friends around to play with. In
fact, you and I could share them.”

That last phrase puts a crack in his
desire for her, but it isn’t enough to quench the flames when James
suddenly stands, lifting her up in the movement, sets her lying
down on the table with her legs hanging off the side, and stays
between them while his hands unzip and pull down her leather pants
and underwear. Before he pulls down his own pants in haste, he
growls out as he stares at her sleek, hot, bare body, “Fire Spirit
burn you, Irene Goros.”

She chuckles with an amused grin,
bathing in the heat radiating off their bodies, before countering,
“Careful what you wish for, James Iroshen, or you may get burned,
as well.” Her eyes then snap shut as her body tenses and her
breathing quickens when he clamps down on her hips and enters her,
a shaft of iron thrust into the forge, and the two become engulfed
in an inferno of pleasure, their gasps, groans, and cries filling
the dark room like smoke.

Chapter 10

Love and War

***

The Alkalian College Liberators’ party
ends in the night with Matt and his allies clear on their plan. The
Royale Project is their best chance to finish Cain’s reign of
tyranny. About a week later, at the start of what would normally be
a week of class studies, all the college students meet in the
auditorium and are told the essentials of the combined
project-and-tournament. Students cannot fight those who share the
same color of badge during the project portion, they can’t
challenge the same individual more than once, and they have only
four days to get points before the tournament finals. As they leave
the auditorium, the students stop by the same machines they visited
at the beginning of the school year to receive their randomly
decided badges.

Leaving the main college building,
Matt, Rose, and Sean, dressed in their usual attire, compare badges
they got for the project/competition. Matt and Rose both have red
badges, while Sean has a blue badge. Sean tells his roommates as
they walk along, “Because I didn’t know my fighting powers last
year, I hardly got any points out of battles, and wasn’t able to
even reach a passing grade. But this year, things will be
different. I’ll be racking up my tally so fast, it will be like a
never-ending jackpot! That is, of course, if you two don’t
challenge me during this part.”

“
Now why would we do
that?” asks Rose with humor. “Last I remember, I thought we were on
the same side, and would be fighting Cain and his thugs whenever we
could.”

“
Ah, right, that is true,”
Sean concurs. “Despite the rules saying we can’t fight others of
the same badge colors, nor fight them more than once, here’s the
thing between the lines. You
can
still do such things, they just won’t count on
the badge’s record of earned points. So, whether they are legit or
not, I predict there will be quite a few battles between our allies
and Cain’s out in the fields.”

“
Oh, really?” Matt asks.
“I’ve gotten used to small scale fights, against one or a few
enemies, but a whole field of people that are either friends or
foes? I don’t know how well I would perform, there.”

“
Eh, I get where you’re
coming from,” Sean agrees. “What we’re talking about here is the
good old, classic war zone scenario. In the midst of a seemingly
ordered contest between two sides, all kinds of chaos goes on, and
if anybody in the middle of it all comes out unscathed, then he’s
the luckiest guy in the world!”

“
Hah, the luckiest guy.
You wouldn’t be referring to yourself, would you, Sean?” suggests
Rose with a smirk.

“
Uh, not until you
mentioned it, hehe.”

“
That’s what I figured. I
wouldn’t be surprised at all if, once a big battle gets going,
you’ll be the first one bolting out of there on your air
balance!”

“
Oh, come on, I wouldn’t
be like that! I could, you know, use my air balance to take on
everyone around me. Dashing in for a hit, spinning for another,
flipping over someone, slamming into another…”

“
Or, you could be dodging,
dipping, ducking, and diving out of harm’s way.”

“
Or that. Er, no, I mean,
I wouldn’t be doing that! Or would I? Gah, I mean…” When Rose and
Matt both laugh, he moans, “Dammit, you’ve got me all messed up!
Enough of berating me, who’s trying to tell you how this thing
works from experience, okay? Anyway, what usually happens with most
of the students is…”