Chapter 17

For nearly three days, Abel and Rex meticulously picked through Mabahse’s massive archives. No data entry regarding Owlen was left unread in a process that was tedious and exhausting. Most of the stored data contained Mabahse’s personal entries on his frustration from Owlen’s attacks; other files included more tactical things like smuggling routes, enforcer movements, storehouses, and bounty contracts. All useless information.

Abel vowed to press on through mountains of purchase receipts, Owlen’s daily reports, even employee complaints. Father would have chastised Abel if he gave up now, think of him as incompetent for taking so long, or maybe he’d simply reassure how useless he thought his son was. Abel wondered if he was still alive only because of some twisted form of compassion on the Emperor’s part, but the most likely reason was that Abel was the one and only heir to the Tuyet Voi throne. Taking up that seat of power was comically challenging to imagine, for every Tuyet Voi citizen would always think of Abel Reyleonard as the one who slew the empress. The mission to find Owlen Bek was a tiny glimmer of hope to one day overcome that shame. Five days, twenty, a month, or a year, it didn’t matter how long it would take, Owlen would be brought to justice.

Vivid nightmarish visions had become a nightly struggle. It was always the same, dark forests and the man dressed in black robes. Acclimating to them seemed impossible; every vision brought upon a renewed sense of terror, and they would occur sporadically, pouncing like a terror-panther. Anything more than a wink of sleep became a treat. Something on Kanchi was wrong, unfriendly to Progenitors. Abel attempted to put it out of his mind; he wanted nothing more than to capture Owlen and leave this planet as soon as possible.

Numar, at least, had been a constant and interesting presence at the palace as a direct contact to Mabahse, a guide, and an insatiable storyteller. He stood almost double Abel’s height, covered in matted brown hair head to toe, beady black eyes, and hands the size of drums. He was an amiable individual in contrast to the typically mean-spirited of his species, trodarians.

“Yah know Abel, this Purer coffee will wake you up,” Numar said as he handed a steamy mug to Abel, who was hunched over a monitor reading supply logs.

“Thanks, Numar,” Abel yawned and took a sip of the sweet hot drink. “It’s quite good.”

“I added some destrous to add a little kick to get you going, but staying up all night going through these files will kill ya if ya keep this up.”

“It’s not the work,” Abel admitted. He was already feeling warmth tingle his blood, making him more alert. “I haven’t been sleeping well…” He trailed off, not wanting to elaborate further.

“Oh-well, we’ve got plenny oh things to help yah get to sleep too,” Numar said, almost rushing off at once to get whatever sleep drugs he might have.

“It’s all right Numar, I’m not so sure that would help.” Getting to sleep wasn’t the hard part. Abel pushed the monitor away; he couldn’t bear to stare at supply logs for toiletries and sand sweeps a moment longer. “Seven years’ worth of information, I fear I’ll be here far longer than anticipated. At this rate, Owlen might die of old age before I get to him.”

Numar scratched his fat hairy neck and looked somewhat worried. “Yah know I got something-” he hushed to a whisper, “I snagged this from Mabahse’s quarters awhile back, but I can’t make no sense of it.” He handed Abel a small leather-bound journal. “If Mabahse knew I stole this from him, he’d have my head off. So, keep it quiet, would yah.”

Turning the journal over on all sides, Abel examined it quizzically. It appeared to be nothing more than a tattered old book. “And you think this is important?” He opened it and began skimming its contents which appeared to be exchanged notes between Owlen and Mabahse, but they were encrypted under a layer of Tuyet Voi language, most of which Abel recognized. “It’s no wonder you can’t read most of this, I studied for years at the Tuyet Voi Academy, and this still looks like a lot of gibberish. What I don’t get though, why use paper to record their meetings?” He flipped through the pages, careful not to tear anything.

“Well, I don’t know for shore, but I’m thinkin they were scared of someone. Too scared to talk electronically, like someone was watchin em from afar.”

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Abel tried to imagine the ten-foot-tall Mabahse screaming and running away from some unknown creature more giant and more terrifying. “I see, thank you, Numar. I’ll take it from here. Decrypting these notes won’t be easy,“ he stretched his arms and neck, “looks like I’ll be pulling another all-nighter.”

Numar nodded and left.

Clanking footsteps came at the door just a minute later. “Found anything, commander?”

“Yeah, I got this,” Abel waved the journal flopping it back and forth. “Apparently, it could hold the answers we seek, but it’s coded. Hey, you’re a Tuyet Voi drone, right? Maybe you can help me make sense of all this. It’s all written in Tuyet Voi language instead of Galactic Standard.”

Rex pulled up a seat and peered down at the pages. “I am an assassination platform, commander. Not a librarian drone. Ah- but I shall see what I can do.”

Page one

In accordance with the Harbinger

4 quarts of oil

3 holo-skeletons

10 crates of sparkers

7 Star Dragons

8 Rey Phoenixes

1 Living Cadami

I’ll be sure to add my bistot soup recipe tomorrow.

Don’t say I never did anything for you.

Abel and Rex both just stared at the page for a long moment, then looked at one another. “Uhm…” they both muttered in unison.

“Commander.”

“Yes, Rex?”

“I think I’ve figured it out!”

“Really!”

“No.”

Abel gave Rex an exasperated sigh. He turned to the next page, and sure enough, there was a soup recipe, which called for twelve pounds of bistot beef, various chopped vegetables, Star Dragons, Rey Phoenixes, and Living Cadami. “Well, we know the dragons and phoenixes are prominent Tuyet Voi symbols, but what’s Living Cadami? Cadami isn’t alive; it’s the crystalline structure that powers my sword.”

Almost every single page was the same as the first, a list of random items and quantities, supply logs, dinner recipes, or just complete nonsense. Decoding was something Abel had learned during his studies at the Academy, so he wasn’t exactly stumbling in the dark, but without a cipher, there would be hours if not days of work ahead.

“Commander, I must admit that my functions will be limited here,” Rex said dramatically. “I’d just slow you down.” She stood up and stretched. “How about you send me out to assassinate someone, anyone. How about Eysoi? I think he could be plotting against you.”

“Sit. No one’s plotting against me, and you’re not killing anyone. Look,“ Abel tapped one of the pages titled: Bread Recipe, “this shouldn’t be all that difficult. Rey Phoenixes and Star Dragons come up a lot. You don’t need those to make bread. These mythical beings are significant to Tuyet Voi culture, Owlen was an Academy instructor, so I’d say he assigned those to have important meanings in this journal.”

“What are Star Dragons and Rey Phoenixes, commander?”

Abel lit up, he finally knew something the so-called master craft drone did not. “The aptly named Rey Phoenixes were discovered by one of my ancient relatives, Roz Reyleonard; he wasn’t especially creative with names. He built his legacy on that discovery, supposedly anyways. Technically it’s all legends, but the Tuyet Voi, especially my family, regard it all as true and sacred.” Abel leaned back in his chair, thinking hard to remember his third-year history lessons. “I’m a little fuzzy on Star Dragons, but they’re supposed to be creatures of incredible power called Astrobeings; most galactic cultures would consider them as gods. Legend says one of these dragons visited Roz Reyleonard to help found what would become the Tuyet Voi Empire, hence why our symbol is the phoenix and dragon intertwined.”

“Ah- and why most cadami swords have feather and scale patterns on the hilts.” Rex took her seat once again. “Very well, I shall assist you, commander. Decrypting paper notes could prove to be a useful skill when tracking down my prey.”

Hours passed as the two delved deeper into the journal’s secrets. Little by little, Abel figured out that letters corresponded with each list item depending on the significance to Tuyet Voi culture and the assigned numerical values.

Fueled by the desire to prove his father wrong, the impending certainty that he would succeed in finding Owlen’s whereabouts in the journal’s pages, and the occasional coffee boost from Numar, Abel refused to give up. Eventually, two whole days passed, and Able hadn’t slept a wink. Exhaustion had set in long ago; his eyes were heavy and burning, muscles ached. Paranoia had even started to set in; random noises from the hallway sounded like the footsteps of assassins and bounty hunters. But it all paid off.

“I know where Owlen’s base is,” Abel said in barely more than a whisper. He had never felt so triumphant in his life, so it was odd that he did not feel anything at all.

“Perhaps you should try to rest now, Commander.”

“Omega, Omega, Omega, Omega…” Abel muttered with his face against his work desk.

“What?”

“They keep talking about someone named Omega. Owlen and Mabahse are terrified of him. That’s why they communicated through this journal…did you say something? Noo…then lets gooooo…” Abel slurred his speech and was dumbfounded by weird gaps in time and the drool around his mouth.

Rex picked up the barely conscious Abel and slung him over her shoulder. Getting to bed, Abel crashed like a rock, and the next day he awoke pleasantly surprised to be spared from a night of terrible visions.