Chapter 4

Kell Hound Headquarters, Arc-Royal

Arc-Royal Defense Cordon, Lyran Alliance

16 September 3135

Out of life's school of war: what does not destroy me makes me stronger. – Friedrich Nietzsche

Betrayal tastes like acid and burns it's way through your veins in the same manner. It's like a knife buried within your gut and someone just keeps twisting it over and over, digging its edge into you again and again.

I was betrayed.

My father was betrayed.

My cousin was betrayed.

The Kell Hounds were betrayed.

My mother – my thrice-damned savashri mother – betrayed us! The very flesh and blood I came from betrayed our family!

Now she lies dead near my feet, the bodies of my siblings lying near her. The assassin that killed them hovers over me, his (I assumed from the build they were male) face hidden from my eyes by a mask. But it wasn't as though I was doing much seeing right then.

My life was trickling out into the carpet, mingling with that of my family. The blade buried within my stomach allowed this and I groaned as the assassin bent to twist the blade sadistically. His weight pressed down on my legs and he held my arms, allowing me no movement.

So despite the discomfort it caused, I did the only thing I could.

I spat in his face.

"Kill me and be done with this, surat."

"You are not to be killed," intoned the assassin before he pulled the knife from my belly. I bet my lip to keep from screaming at the pain but he saw the motion and chuckled. "Injury, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter."

As he buried the blade within my body four more times, I began to slip into blissful unconsciousness. And what I could only hope would be death – a sweet release from the pain.

My siblings – the last thing I really wanted to live for – were dead. What more was there for me to fight for?

A throaty battle roar brought me briefly back to full consciousness and I bore witness to the sight of Guy hauling the assassin away from me by the back of his neck. They grappled, the black clothed man attempting to stab the Clansman with his already bloodied blade. I dimly saw Guy's eyes flick from the blade to me and back again.

He then slammed his hand into the assassin's solar plexus, knocking him backwards onto his back with the force of the blow. The assassin rolled to his feet, shaking his head at the blow, and threw his knife in the same instant. Guy slapped it aside, earning little more than a scratch on his already scarred hand, then lashed out with a spin kick that caught the assassin in the jaw. The man stumbled and retaliated with a fumbling roundhouse kick that Guy easily ducked. He grabbed the man's leg as it went over his head and twisted it sharply.

The sound of breaking bone was like the music of angels to my dying ears.

He then grabbed the assassin about the throat and shoved his own knife through his heart before the man could react. The corpse fell to the ground before it's last breath could escape it and then I was swept up in Guy's arms.

"Do not die," I heard him hiss dimly. "There are battles still to wage."

I tried to give him some kind of reassurance but my mouth refused to allow that. Instead I slipped into unconsciousness, which made Guy's already hurried steps sped up even more.

"I want her found! NOW!"

"Yes, sir!"

The lieutenant snapped a salute then left the office, leaving Major James Hilton alone to glare at the wall and brood.

He had gotten rid of the woman who'd betrayed her husband for him thinking he'd really keep his word – like he'd keep his word to her – and Thomas Kell's youngest children. But the one he'd wanted for himself had escaped.

And her damned Clansman had surely been the one to get her away from him and kill his assassin.

Cursing vehemently, he slammed his fist down on Thomas Kell's desk. A knock at the door made him turn his ire onto it and he shouted, "ENTER!"

A young man with a corporal's pin on his collar opened the door gingerly and poked his head in.

"Sir…"

"What is it, Corporal?" snarled Hilton, annoyed at the new intrusion upon his brooding.

"We've completed the assessment of the men and 'Mech's, sir."

"And?"

The corporal swallowed then nervously replied, "Captain Saul and the Walsh boy have gone missing, sir. The Captain's Shadow Cat is also missing."

Hilton scowled and tapped his fingernails impatiently on the surface of the desk. He eyed the corporal angrily and hissed, "Is that all?"

"A small transport is also missing, sir. Lieutenant Grier suspects that Gu-the Clansman used it to leave. He also believes that he somehow convinced the Captain and Walsh to flee as well."

"I see. Corporal?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Put the base on lockdown and order the Techs to make sure no 'Mech, fighter, or vehicle will get out of here without us knowing." He pounded his fist down on the desk as he continued in a snarl, "And get me the men of the First Brigadiers!"

The young man frowned and said, "Your men, sir?"

"The Clansman had no way to get off planet so he only had one place to take the girl. We're going to scour the ranks and clean out anyone who so much as says a kind word about that little bitch. Then we're going to go and demand her and her damned Clansman back."

"Demand them back from who, sir?"

Hilton bared his teeth in a parody of a grin and replied, "Where else would they run but to the Wolves?"