River's Run(25)

Torak glanced at Jazin and Manota with a frustrated look on his face. Both the other men just shrugged their shoulders. They didn’t have any idea of what to say and were just as frustrated as Torak.



“Lord Torak, may I present the council members.” One of the council guards said stepping back to let the council men approach.



Torak stepped forward bowing to the council men before standing straight. “Gentlemen.”



Grif Tai Tek stepped forward. Torak scowled as the tall council man approached him. He bit back a curse. Tai Tek was a pain in the ass on a good day and today was not a good day. He had been opposed to ending the war and had always been jealous of the Ja Kel Coradon name and the House of Kassis.



“Torak, where are the female warriors we have heard so much about.” Tai Tek asked looking around skeptically. “I do not see them.”



Torak cleared his throat. “They are currently not available. It was our understanding we were to present them in the assembly room.”



Tai Tek grinned wickedly, “Yes, well the council members were intrigued by the idea of women actually being warriors and did not want to wait. Surely they truly exist or was it just another way to try to make the House of Kassis appear something it is not?”



Torak’s eyes narrowed and he held his hand up to stop his brothers advance at the insult to their House. “They exist. We will present them at a later time.”



Tai Tek looked directly at Torak before demanding softly, “I think not. Present them now or admit they are a make-believe stunt created by the House of Kassis.”



Torak bit back a sharp retort. What he really wanted to do was challenge Tai Tek for attempting to smear the name of the House of Kassis but he couldn’t do so without proof and without the females, he had no proof. Standing silently before the council he glared at Tai Tek.





River, Jo, and Star had been watching what was going on from the beams above the shuttle bay area. They had secured ropes to the higher beams and had planned to make a dramatic entrance. Listening to the puffed up pinhead below made River so mad she was ready to knock his socks off. Who did he think he was ridiculing Torak in front of the other council men and his own men? Standing up on the narrow beam, River nodded to Star and Jo before letting out a battle cry Mel Gibson would have been proud of.



Startled, Torak swung around and looked up toward the beams above the shuttle bay. His breath caught in his throat as he saw River standing there looking down at him. She looked into Tai Tek’s eyes before diving head first off the beam. Torak let out a strangled cry as he saw her dive off the beam. Within seconds, Jazin and Manota both called out as they watched Jo and Star do the same thing. With utter grace and ease River seemed to fly through the air before releasing the rope she had been holding to do a flip in the air and land on the floor of the shuttle bay. Crouched down with one knee and one hand down on the floor and her head bent she didn’t lift it until the other to females had landed right behind her. Only then did she slowly stand, drawing out her two short battle swords in slow motion from the sheath on her back. Looking up with her vivid blue eyes outlined in black she stared with deadly intent into Tai Tek’s eyes. Taking a step forward, the other two females stood up behind River. Star held a small crossbow in her hands while Jo held a double-bladed staff.



Tai Tek stood stunned. He thought he finally had Torak where he wanted him. None of the council men had believed the reports coming back from the Galaxy Quest about warrior females who had not only killed some of the fiercest Tearnats in the known galaxy but also single-handedly cripple one of their huge warships! Tai Tek had been instrumental in getting the council members to come aboard. He did not want to give Torak a chance to find some females he could dress up and pass off as warriors or give some stupid excuse as to why he could not produce them. He wanted the council to see what a mockery Torak and the House of Kassis really were. When he had seen Torak and his brothers standing alone except for his men he had felt a wave of bitter triumph flash through him. Finally, he would humiliate Torak and his brothers.



He had been waiting for Torak to admit he had made up the females when the war cry had sounded echoing through the shuttle bay with a resounding cry. Never in his life had he expected to see what he did when he had looked up. Almost fifty feet above the floor of the shuttle bay a small female stood upon a narrow beam glaring down at him. Her willowy body clad in a form-fitting black sheath. He watched in disbelief as she plunged head-first off the beam seeming to fly through the air before swinging up into a graceful arch and completing a flip to land facing the council. Just as quickly two other females had appeared as if by magic landing behind her. A shiver went down his spine as she slowly stood to face the council pulling two short swords from behind her back. She moved with a grace that captured his attention. When he stared into her dark blue eyes he felt like he could drown in their liquid depths. She was the most mesmerizing creature he had ever seen moving with confidence as she swung her swords in front of her challenging anyone willing to stand before her. Tai Tek took a step back as she strode toward him with a deadly gleam in her eyes.