Mindscanner #69 - Mindscanner FanFic

Issue #69
Summer 2005

Mindscanner FanFic

Kahless

A Life Considered part 4
by Qob

Horaq laughed, he threw back his head and screamed in joy for perhaps the first time in a generation. Here was his destiny! The answer to his secret shame. The culmination to a quest cut short. Kahless looked at Horaq and saw himself, or what he might be and began, "Molor..." He stopped and suddenly divined the truth, why Molor had been spared those years ago. He stood back and looked at Horaq as if he had never seen him before.

     "Molor..." he began again. Horaq's mood changed suddenly as he neared tears. Kahless grabbed Horaq shoulders and looked deeply into his eyes. "I understand your dishonor now. You were not dishonored in staying your hand, you were dishonored in failing to raise an honorable son."

     Horaq smiled an enigmatic smile, "Ah, Kahless. You are finally Wrong. I may have failed with Molor, but I have raised honorable sons! Molor has foresworn House Horaq in search of his own dishonorable glory, but as far as my sons, they are all about you. All House Horaq whether borne or claimed! And I can promise you they will not spill their blood for you. They will spill the dishonorable blood of our foes. For no one won a war by dying for his cause, they win it by making their foe die for theirs!"

     A light dawned in Kahless' eyes, "This was your intent all along. I could have died at their hands and you would have been true to your legend, killing me with a living Horaq staff!"

     Horaq motioned with his hand and small stools appeared for them to sit upon. "I am four score years your elder, Kahless. In my youth I could have dispatched you without a thought, now I am only your equal in personal combat. I chose my weakest option to confront you as I did. I could have had my sons overwhelm you and kill you easily, for even though None of them is your individual equal, they are trained to fight as one and would easily kill you.."

     Kahless now sat and reflected. Why was this done in this manner? He could think of a few possibilities but needed to know why this thoughtful man, who had strategies within strategies, had risked death at the hands of a comparative stranger. "Why?" he asked simply.

     "A man is not measured by his words, Kahless, neither by his deeds, as they can be a facade to conceal his intent. Only in battle does the heart stand forth and does the blood scream. I needed to know you in truth. I wanted to add you to my retinue, but knew that would be impossible, you would rather die on your feet than live on your knees. But I assure you, none of my sons are my servitors, all serve me from their love, not from their fear. Thus let it be with you!"

     Kahless shook his head sadly. There could be few greater glories than serving such a king, but his destiny was one of them. "A great honor would be to sit at your feet and receive your council. But I cannot, I have a greater destiny. I see a united Klingon homeworld. A great star spanning empire. Deeds of glory and empire greater than we can conceive!

     Horaq, I cannot join you, but I ask you to ally with me to finish the war Molor started against you. I ask you to be my 'aj Dup in this! To
guide our blades to find his throat!"

     Horaq chuckled silently and put his arm on Kahless' shoulder. "Let us go to my tent and speak!" They walked back up the hill, and Horaq said quietly, "I will not be able to spend much time with you from day to day, but I will send you my most skilled son, Kathes, whom you have met. Of all of my House, he most thoroughly understands the Way of the So'Dup."

     They reached the top of the hill and Kahless continued a step or Two. "We need to review how I have failed so far." Horaq seemed as if
he was going to sneeze, and looked off vaguely. His eyes dropped slightly as he opened his mouth to speak, and blood started to bubble out of his mouth. Kahless blanched and went to grab Horaq as the ancient swayed and started to pitch forward. His tunic bulged slightly and slowly turned red. As Kahless embraced Horaq he saw the short spear sticking out his back. Kahless' focus tightened and he barely saw the dun-clad warrior a spear throws away.

     "All hail Molor! True King of Klinzhai! Death to the usurper and his lackeys!" A score of arrows and spears sprouted from the spy's chest and a hoarse scream arose from the throats of the assembled warriors.

     Kahless barely heard any of this as he saw only the face of his true friend. He had known him scant hours, but did not know how he would continue without Horaq, his hope for glory. He knew doubt for the first time in his life.

     "MiLord, we are lost!" His eyes misting, Kahless continued, "I had..." Horaq stopped him, "I am dead at the hands of he who is my son, but not my son. The evil of Molor knows no bounds... Kathes," he beckoned "I am dying, the Horaq name falls on you."

     Kathes had been standing at Kahless' shoulder but had not been seen. He fell to his knees as if his back had been broken. "Father!" he cried, "You can not die, death has no dominion over you!"

     "No son, you are the head of house Horaq now. I would have you serve Kahless." Horaq breathed heavily and his eyes stared into the distance. "Go for glory Kathes, " then to an unseen presence he spoke, "Yes, I am coming now. I am finished here." A small smile curled his lips and he breathed no more.

     Kathes abandoned the shell and stood up. He stared deeply silently into the eyes of Kahless. Kahless stared back and a smile appeared on his lips. Kathes did not return the smile, "My liege has bidden me serve you and I shall, but know this: I will not be your servitor."

     "I would expect nothing more of you Kathes of House Horaq. I would accept no Klingon that would be my willing slave." Kahless looked around and saw that the sons of Horaq had quietly surrounded him. He turned to speak to them, "Your Lord is not dissipated, he is gone to new battlefields, to fight again all the noble foes he had fought before. Join me in the battle cry! To warn them that their greatest adversary is coming to rejoin the eternal battle!"

      Kahless threw his head back and a low rumble started in his chest and exploded as a guttural cry that echoed across the hills. Kathes joined him, then another, then another until all the sons of Horaq called to the warriors of death. The sound died unbidden and Kahless looked from face to face. He reached down and dipped his hand into the blood of his fallen foe. He whipped his bloodied hand across his own forehead and those of Kathes and all the warriors.

     "We are Klingon.," he whispered.

     "We are Klingon!" Kathes agreed.

     "We are Klingon!" so said them all.

     "We are Klingon." echoed the hills.

     "We are Klingon!" sang the birds of the air.

     "We are Klingon," said the children in the marketplace.

     "We are Klingon," taunted the demons that tortured Molor, Tyrant of Klinzhai. Molor awoke from a drunken stupor to soul-rending dread. He knew suddenly that his days where few, and his star was setting. He sprang from his throne, grabbed his staff and rushed to the window in hopes of seeing his foe riding over the hills that encircled his city. He saw nothing and cursed the spirits that mocked him with silent malicious laughter.

      Suddenly his hand burned and he was reminded of his staff. Looking at the staff he had made as a child, a long one woven from the tough prairie grasses of his childhood, he started in prescience.

     The staff dropped from his hand and clattered across the stone floor. "Vengeance is coming, my debt of blood is coming due and I shall not live out the year!" Molor knew as he knew when his foe was coming silently from behind. The balance of his life was being reconciled and the dead hand of his old foe was coming set the scales aright. It would be a cold and bitter time.

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Qob