CHAPTER FIFTEEN

                                        

                                                  


                              
Silas hit the inclined roof of the hotel's annex, cracking the glass. Bleeding, he barely had time to roll onto his back before Warlord landed on top of him, scimitar first. The blade melted right through the crystal. The Necroblade jumped and back kicked him, driving the Xartian back with a barrage of vicious blows and slashes, which he could barely defend. A spin heel kick sent him tumbling toward the edge. Silas psychokinetically broke the glass under Warlord's feet before falling over himself and sending her into the suite below. 
                              
The assassin blasted the room's window with her mind as she jumped after her target in midfall. Silas diverted the stream of glass and grappled with Warlord until they hit the second rooftop. The impact separated them as they kept sliding down. Silas blinded his foe by splashing a handful of his own blood on her face and wounded her leg with the knife he had taken from her during their brief entanglement. Warlord struck him with the butt of her scimitar and cut his abdomen as she unsheathed the other knife. They traded blows while they careened toward the edge of the building. The assassin cartwheeled into a kick that sent Silas plunging to the street.
                              
In a succession of three telekinetic bursts, the Xartian managed to slow his fall enough to land in a large fountain. His blue blood mucked the water, which parted as Warlord halted her descent a few feet over her downed prey. Before she could stab him, Silas threw his knife and impaled it under her sword arm, disarming her. The pain knocked the woman from the air.
                              
An irate Warlord blasted Silas with a psychokinetic blow that separated the water in its wake. He hit the stone monolith at the center, fracturing it. Then he gathered whatever psionics he had left and finished toppling the tall monument over her with a punch. The move caught Warlord by surprise, but she tumbled out of the way, losing her sword in the process.
                              
The assassin ran the length of the collapsed megalith toward her target, but Silas was gone. Warlord pulled the knife, dripping with her white blood, out of her arm. Knowing her target was hiding among them, she perused the throng of terrified pedestrians before her.
                              
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Sheer regained conscious as someone checked her eyes with a flashlight. She bit the hand as hard as she could. The man stifled a cry and slapped her. She found herself strapped to a machine with electrodes attached to her head. Clearly angry, the man checked the bleeding wound on his hand. The Noctam had a distinct military manner about him and a pronounced scar marring his cheek all the way to his jaw.
                              
"At least you still have your fighting spirit," he said.
                              
"Where am I?"
                              
"A secure location. You're safe."
                              
"I don't feel safe."
                              
"You don't remember anything, do you? You don't remember me."
                              
"Why don't you refresh my memory?"
                              
"Off the record, my name is Colonel Raznor Estrand from the Revan Space Force Kriptarii. Ring any bells?"
                              
"Should it?"
                              
"It better since you're an officer in the force—Major Zædeera Druksan. That's your real name. You've been missing in action for the past two months after a failed operation in Valkaria."
                              
"The only failure in Valkaria was my first paid gig."
                              
"After your performance in that Murder Run, do you really think you're simply a musician?"
                              
"No, I'm clearly some special operations commando." Sheer's comment dripped with sarcasm. 
                              
"That's exactly who you are. You were part of a project code-named Shadowspear."