Ascent of the Aliomenti (42 page)

“Yet they are Oaths we’ve all agreed to now, Will, and those Oaths are now an integral part of our group.” Adam stepped forward. “They are Oaths that have been agreed to by many other Aliomenti communities already, and the recent tragedy here reinforces the need. You cannot be part of a community if you do not abide by the
rules
of that community.”

“We cannot let tragedy be an excuse to strike down our freedom and ability to live life as we choose,” Will replied. “How do you propose finding violators of those rules? How do you know that an advancement by humans is not a natural development, rather than an Aliomenti influencing them? What if a relationship commitment is made privately? And how, if I may ask, do you expect to keep people who can teleport in prison for a decade or more?”

“We will train people specifically to root out those who violate their sworn Oaths, to track them down, to get their confessions, and to limit their ability to escape their rightful punishment,” Arthur replied. “You claim we have one so gifted here already. Surely we can find or train others? And you forget that we live in communities of telepaths and empaths. Guilt at breaking an Oath will be detected and reported, Will. Assuming guilt is
felt
by the perpetrator, that is.”

“Guilt?” Will roared. “You have, since our founding, insisted upon recruiting each new member, and talking to them before each major advancement. Now I know why, Arthur. And I know that no one else here will remember what I say, because you’ll ensure they don’t. But you know, and now I know, the truth. The truth, Arthur, is that you used push-Empathy skills to embed in their minds the idea that you are their leader, that they are to agree with your suggestions and follow your orders, without argument and without exception. I wondered why nobody ever disagreed with you, Arthur, why I was the only one who ever did. Now I know.
Now
I know why everyone agreed to your stupid Oaths today. They weren’t capable of doing otherwise.”

Arthur’s eyes flicked in triumph briefly, then resumed their usual narrowed gaze. “You’re wrong, Will. I chose men and women of high character to join our organization, and they did and do act of their own free will. That high character enables them to recognize and follow the wisdom of the Oaths and penalties that you have suggested. I’m surprised that you now want to absolve yourself of what you proposed.”

Will stared at him. The murmurs and angry glares confirmed his accusation; the crowds that had listened to Arthur spell out the oaths and penalties now wondered why
Will
didn’t think he had to live by rules that he himself had proposed.

He turned to Adam. If he was going down, he’d make sure everyone got his best. “And you, Adam. I’ve no idea how Arthur ensnared you. But I do know this. Your actions in the original Aliomenti village that night? When you suppressed our very first members in slumber while you lit their homes on fire and let them burn to death?” He pointed at Arthur. “
That
man provided the idea of your actions to
that
man.” He pointed to William. “And now the forest where the ambrosia fruit first grew is ash, and the only man who knew how to reverse the effects is
dead
. All because of
you
!”

Adam stared at Will, then shrugged. “So what? Why would anyone want to
reverse
the effects?”

“Why?” Will stared at him. “James and Elise clearly wanted a child at some point, and yet the fruit denied them that chance. If we’d known how to reverse the effects, they would have had the chance to change their minds, and we’d all be strong enough to deal with the ramifications. Instead? That man is dead, and now...”

“Now it doesn’t matter, Will, because everyone has sworn an oath to never have a child.” Adam folded his arms, his face stern.

“No,” Will said, his voice trembling. “Not everyone.”
I didn’t. Hope didn’t. My dream, and hers, died with that man.

Adam looked as if he’d had the wind knocked out of him, a look of pain so intense and so great that it seemed it might split him in two. Yet he recovered himself with one sharp intake of breath. “Those who have not made the oath may not be part of this community any more, Will. That includes you. Make the oath. Please.”

“Listen to him, Will,” Arthur said, his eyes glinting. “It’s for your own good.”

“No. I won’t be part of this, Arthur,” Will replied, shaking his head. “I cannot be part of this. It goes against everything I believe in.”

“Then you are in violation of your Oaths already, Will
Stark
, and you will thus be the first to test our new jail.” The crowd tensed. The Aliomenti did not, as a rule, use anyone’s surname, and few even knew the surnames of others. Arthur’s use of Will’s surname was a way of further alienating Will to the crowd.

Will could sense the circle being formed, as Victor, Sebastian, and Tacitus closed in on him. His Energy stores would not permit teleportation yet; he needed a few more minutes.

“I dare say that Will
Stark
might prove a challenge to contain, my friends,” Arthur said. “Perhaps he needs to spend his Energy on recovery, rather than teleportation?”

Will heard the swords being drawn. “Swords, Arthur? So you’ll resort to killing me? Even if your contention of my assent to your Oaths were true, and it is most assuredly
not
, I have not fathered any children in the past ten minutes. What gives you the authority to order my death?”

“Who said anything about
death
, Will? It is difficult to serve out your punishment if you are no longer alive to do so. You will live.”

The dark shape dropped down from the nearest building. Hope had covered her face with the hood of the cloak, but there was no hiding her feminine form... or the two swords she’d drawn. She kicked Tacitus in the ribs, knocking the unarmed boy a dozen feet away, where he crumpled to the ground. She then turned toward Victor and Sebastian, weapons at the ready.

“A
woman
, Stark?” Sebastian cackled. “You bring one
woman
to protect you?” He inhaled a deep breath. “And a
human
woman, no less? Are you truly that desperate in your search for anyone to agree with you and help you? I can’t believe you would stoop so low.” He glanced at Victor and motioned with his sword. “Shall we, you old sluggard?”

Victor scowled at Sebastian, but advanced upon Hope with his sword drawn, his condescension obvious.

Hope’s twin blades flashed, impossibly fast, and before they could raise their swords in defense, Victor and Sebastian were unarmed. Both men looked shocked, spying their weapons lying on the ground a dozen yards away, and they moved to retrieve them.

“You must be desperate for help, Arthur, if you hire as your goons two men who cannot defeat a single human woman in a sword fight.” Will couldn’t resist needling the man. “And your ability to recruit people with... how did you put it? High character? Perhaps that is true, but if you’ve brought these two aboard to enforce your stupid rules, you’d think you’d find two who could win a battle with a two-to-one advantage... against a mere
human
.” He snorted, and glanced at the man with the dark hair. “You strike me as one who served in the military, Victor.” Will shook his head in mock sadness. “I suspect your armies weren’t very successful.”

Victor, racing to retrieve his sword, winced. Sebastian, running with him, glanced over his shoulder at the the woman who’d disarmed them. “I have
got
to get a cloak like that!”

“Taking fashion advice from a human woman, Sebastian?” Victor snapped.

“No,” Sebastian replied. “I’m taking fashion advice from the person who disarmed you in two seconds, army boy.”

Will walked toward Hope, who stood with her swords ready, her stance defying anyone to try to attack. No one dared.

Will turned to face the crowd. “I am no longer one of you, but
you
are not my enemies. If you come to me in peace, you will be accepted as a friend, without question. We will consider the reasoned violation of every one of those Oaths you were forced to assent to today as our goal and our purpose.”

He turned to face Adam, who stood staring at Will from twenty feet away. “Will you join me, Adam?” Adam was, after all, the man who’d joined Will’s own children on a dangerous mission, a man who had once exterminated an entire village before the residents had a chance to carry out plans to kill Will.

Adam stared at him, a deep sadness in his eyes, and after a glance at the shrouded warrior defending Will, he shook his head. “No, Will. My place is here. You need to reconsider this move. You’ll spend your entire life running from your past, Will. Don’t do this.”

Will stared back. Even Adam had rejected him, had rejected his idea and his principles. He glanced at the shrouded figure next to him, and realized that hers was the only opinion that mattered to him. “When you change your mind, Adam – and you
will
change your mind – I will find you, and my door will be open.”

Adam said nothing.

Will took one last glance around him, feeling his Energy stores sufficiently recharged to move the distance he needed to cover. As Tacitus approached, he made his final farewell. “Goodbye, everyone. I look forward to our future reconciliation. Until we meet again… I wish you well.” He took Hope’s hand and teleported them to the shore.

“Why not directly into the ship, Will?” she asked. There would be other questions, but she focused on the most critical for the moment.

“They’d be able to follow my Energy to the submarine, and we don’t want that. We’ll travel into and through the water, and only teleport the last couple of feet to get inside. That should buy us time, and...”

“But—”

“Take a deep breath,” he said, forming an invisible, nano-based exoskeleton around both of them.

She looked surprised, but did as he requested. He took a deep breath himself, and the exoskeleton pulled them through the air, into and below the waves, traveling at a high rate of speed until they reached the outside of the ship, leaving no trail the Aliomenti could follow. He teleported them inside, and they both took deep breaths.

“So, Hope... where would you like to travel? I don’t seem to have a home any more.”

She smiled. “
This
is our home, Will.”

He smiled at the sound of that.

“Years ago, you showed me where we’d live one day, where we’d... meet. I think it would be a good time to travel there now. I doubt that they’ll think to look for us there.” She smiled. “Besides, I have my mission to complete, and my charges live on the new continent.”

Will nodded, and set a path for North America. He’d long been fascinated by the founding of the United States. They were traveling there now, before the most critical events in the country’s history would occur. He’d be able to do more than merely study that history now.

Now he’d live through it, with Hope at his side.

Author’s Note

Thanks for reading! I hope you’ve enjoyed the ongoing saga of Will Stark and the Aliomenti. If you want to find other books in the series, you can check
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Alex

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Other Books by Alex Albrinck

The Aliomenti Saga

Book 1:
A Question of Will

Book 2:
Preserving Hope

Book 3:
Ascent of the Aliomenti

Book 4: Coming in 2013!

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Copyright (c) 2012 by Alex Albrinck. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used, reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law, or in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, contact [email protected].

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.