Hunter Legacy 5 Hail the Hero by Timothy Ellis Page B

said.
“Crashed and burned.”
    “Technically,” he said, “you
burned and crashed.” The comment seemed to give him great amusement.
    The medical team had given up. I was lying
there with wide open eyes, the girls draped over me crying hysterically.
    “So that’s it? The darkness wins
because I couldn’t carry the burden properly?”
    “What is the darkness to you, Jonathon
Hunter,” said Kali.
    “You tell me. I could never get a
straight answer from the Keepers. All I know is the little they told me, and
the nightmares. But I’ve known since the first nightmare, I was here to do
something connected to the darkness. I accepted it very early in life.”
    “Ah yes,” said Ganesha, “you
worked that clue out quite nicely.”
    “Clue?”
    “When those we speak to do not
listen,” said Kali, “all we can do is send clues. Sometimes dreams
are the only way we can reach you.”
    “But what was the point if it ends
here?”
    “We needed to speak at last. You
needed to understand.”
    “Understand? What for? Do I have some
choice to make?”
    “You already made the choice,”
said Ganesha. “You’re here to understand why you made it.”
    “What choice are we talking
about?”
    “Carrying the Sceptre of course,”
said Kali. “The burden comes with responsibility as well.”
    “Responsibility for what?”
    “To wield it properly,” said Ganesha.
    “To wield it wisely,” said Kali.
    “And I haven’t been, have I? I killed
when I didn’t need to.”
    “You did as we bade,” she said.
“The question was not would you accept the task, but would you carry it
through regardless of the personal cost.”
    “And I failed?”
    “No Jon. You passed.”
    Kali looked extremely happy with me. Her
tongue extended to its full length. She gazed at me for a moment, and suddenly all
four hands thumped down on the table so hard, it bent under her blows.
    There was a heavy weight on top of me.
    “Fuck that hurts,” I said.
“For divine’s sake, get off me!”

Sixteen

    The three girls shot away from me as if
they’d been yanked off me. All three of them looked at me speechless. Their
tears stopped, but faces remained wet.
    A doctor shot in the door as if propelled
from an antique cannon. Before he reached me, I changed my suit back to a belt.
    He gaped at me without comprehension. But
medical instincts kicked in, and he started to work on me. I had a major pain
shot as fast as a nurse could bring one, and the agony in my body subsided to a
major ache.
    From my heart to below my left knee, was a
solid blue bruise.
    Miriam rushed in at that point, and had to
be restrained by Amanda. She was crying, and suddenly confused by the fact the
doctors were still there. Amanda told her I was alive, and she collapsed into a
chair. Alison sank down next to her, and the twins stayed standing. They were
all staring at me.
    I was scanned and checked for broken bones.
And given another shot.
    I woke to an empty room.
    “Jane?” I whispered. “Where
are you?”
    “Outside your door.”
    “How long was I out?”
    “Ten hours.”
    “Where is everyone?”
    “The celebration is still in progress.
The flag officers stepped in, and made sure everyone went.”
    “What did the doctors say?”
    “You have major bruising. They don’t
think you’ll be able to bend your left knee for at least a week, and they plan
to keep you under for the whole time.”
    I did some basic math.
    “Time for a midnight flit.”
    “Jon? You can’t possibly by thinking
of leaving here.”
    “Nope, not even thinking about it. Can
you get hold of a pain shot?”
    “Already have one.”
    “I need it.”
    She came straight in and gave it to me.
Major ache became minor ache.
    “What’s that you’re wearing?”
    “Security uniform.”
    “Good thinking. Go out and buy me the
best grav chair you can find quickly. One that allows a leg to remain
straight.”
    “You said you weren’t thinking about
leaving.”
    “It doesn’t require thinking.