Zorren lashed out at his brother in another attempt to cut him, but once again, Adar found a way to dance right out of the line of attack. He was good at that, seeing the moves as they came and getting out of the way. But he wasn’t just evading, Adar was attacking too, and managed to land several blows of his own. Zorren grudgingly found himself respecting his brother’s sparring abilities. The fight had lasted far longer than Zorren thought it would.

  But his brother was starting to get tired. As their battle progressed, Zorren could see it in the slightly slower movements and hear the wheezing of his breath. Thanks to his Endurance Dome-ni, Zorren didn’t even feel winded. In fact, he could probably keep this up for another hour if he needed to. Adar would never last that long. So Zorren was patient, because he knew sooner or later, his brother would make a mistake in his tiredness, and when that happened, Zorren would finally have an opening to cut his brother down.

  Out of nowhere, a low rumble filled the chamber. The ground beneath them shook, causing small rocks to scatter across the floor. Zorren halted his movements, momentarily taken aback by this unexpected occurrence. Adar looked just as surprised as he did. They stood there in what seemed like an eternity before the shaking stopped and the echoing rumble ceased.

  “What was that?” Adar asked still in a state of shock.

  Zorren shrugged off his own surprise and decided to take advantage of this unexpected opportunity. He sprung forward. Adar saw the movement, but he wasn’t fast enough, not this time. And Zorren’s blade sunk into his brother’s left side all the way up to the hilt.

  A thrill rushed through Zorren as he felt his brother’s flesh give way to his knife. He attempted to twist and yank it out to cause the most damage, but Adar hit his wrist with a hard jab and stepped back, causing Zorren to loose his grip on the blade. But the damage was done, Zorren could see the panic in his brother’s eyes.

  Adar took several large steps back before he allowed himself to look down at the wound. It was already dripping blood onto the rock floor beneath him. His brother’s face paled, but he let the knife be, knowing that any attempt to take it out would hasten his end.

  As his brother stumbled backward another step, clutching his side, the chamber shuddered once more. This time, the tremor was more intense, causing rocks to pelt down from the ceiling. A deafening crack echoed through the cavern, and a fissure began to form in the far wall.

  But that wasn’t what made Zorren's triumphant grin faded. Behind Adar stood a man in a MX4 suit. He had stepped out from a large outcropping to the right of the narrow tunnel leading to the bonding chambers and the man was currently aiming a rifle towards Zorren and Adar.

  “No! He’s mine!” Zorren yelled to whoever was in the suit. Though he suspected it might be Hame. Had the ex-Protector stayed behind to get his revenge on Adar instead of leaving with the other man? Zorren fumed. This was not part of the plan. Zorren had been very clear that Adar was to be his kill and his alone. It was the whole reason he’d risked coming to this yavit planet!

  A moment later, a blaster shot zipped through the distance. Zorren expected it to hit Adar, but instead, he felt the piercing scorch of the bolt as it burned through his right arm, sending Zorren staggering back a few steps. His mind fumbled to try to understand the turn of events, but more blaster bolts were coming for him, and Zorren moved.

  He’d left his riffle at the far end of the cavern, deciding he could easily take his brother down with just a knife. But now he needed that gun. So as he dashed away from the coming attacker, racing in the direction he’d left his weapon. More shots sounded, but none of them had yet to hit Zorren.

  There.

  In the shadow of the cave sat his gun. He’d left it leaning against the rock wall, but the shaking of the underground had caused it to fall to the cavern floor. Zorren dove for the weapon, felt the familiar shape of it beneath his hands, and rolled until he was partially hidden behind a large boulder jutting from the floor. He’d been too slow. Another blot had seared through his left thigh. But it didn’t slow him down as he brought up his riffle and aimed for his attacker.

  His gun retorted as a shot zipped across the expanse and hit the man square in the chest, but it glanced off the MX4 suit, leaving the man inside unharmed. Zorren cursed the durability of the suit, but he didn’t let it stop him as he sent shot after shot. He knew if he could hit it enough, the suit’s power shield would fail and give Zorren an opening to do some serious damage.

  And so Zorren and the attacker sent a hail of shots toward one another, causing a deafening roar all around them and spraying debris as blaster bolts hit wall, ceiling, and floor of the cavern. Some of Zorren’s shots did hit the target, but the man had gotten smart and found a boulder of his own to crouch behind. And Zorren realized that this fight would come down to whose fuel cell lasted the longest. Thankfully, he’d put a fresh one in his gun before coming down here. Would his opponent have been as smart?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  At some point during the fire fight, Zorren realized that his brother was no where in sight. And his attacker made it impossible for Zorren to get a good look around. Anger roared through the Prince as he dodged another blaster bolt that whizzed over his head just missing him. Two questions dominate in his mind as he shot back. Who was this bastard firing at him, and where had his brother gone?

  The underground grotto echoed with the relentless exchange of blaster fire, each shot illuminating the dark recesses with brief flashes of searing light. Zorren's fingers moved with practiced efficiency, squeezing the trigger in rapid succession. He could feel the weapon's heat through his gloves, the barrel glowing faintly in the dim light.

  As the firefight dragged on, Zorren's mind raced. He needed to conserve ammunition, but he couldn't let up on his assault. The attacker in the MX4 suit showed no signs of slowing down, and Zorren knew he couldn't afford to give him an opening.

  The air grew thick with the acrid smell of ozone and burnt stone. Dust and small debris rained down from the ceiling with each impact, creating a hazy veil that made it even harder to spot his opponent. Zorren's eyes stung from the fog of debris in the air.

  And then he heard the empty click of his gun. The fuel cell was out. Yavit! Zorren ducked behind the rock as the other man kept firing. Long moments passed as he shielded himself from the onslaught, and then the hail of blaster blots stopped. Zorren heard the empty click of the other man’s gun.

  A thrill raced through the Prince. His attacker was out too! Zorren steeled himself as he decided to take advantage of the moment. He grabbed the barrel of his empty rifle and dashed out into the cavern. The floor was a mess of rocks, but he expertly weaved through them and to the man in the MX4 suit. As he came in close, he used the butt of his gun as a battering ram and aimed it with all the strength he could call from his Dome-ni, slamming it into the glassy face of the helmet.

  The vicious attack caused the man in the suit to fall backward as the face shield of the helmet shattered. Zorren didn’t waste time as he kicked out at the body in front of him. The kick sent the man sailing into the wall behind him. Zorren marched toward the downed man. As he came in closer, Zorren could see the bloodied face. It had been Hame after all. Anger surged through him.

  “What are you doing?!” Zorren fumed. He stood above the man sprawled out at his feet.

  Hame glowered at Zorren. “What I should have done from the beginning. I should have known you were the real threat against the Emperor. I’d seen how you could be and heard the rumors, but I never thought you’d act against him. I was a fool.”

  Zorren’s chest heaved in fury as he glared down at the man. They were supposed to be on the same side! But he realized the ex-Protector must have stuck around to overhear his and Adar’s conversation. It was the only explanation for this change.

  Rage whirled in the Zorren and it took a long moment before he was able to speak from his trembling lips. “You always were a fool, Hame. Too bad it took you so long to figure it out. I suppose I should thank you for helping me at least get this far, but you’ve outlived your usefulness.”

  Zorren picked up his leg and slammed the bottom of his boot as hard as he could into the downed mans’ face. Hame attempted to evade and move, but Zorren was fast and struck with the full force of his Dome-ni. The Prince kept stomping the ex-Protector over and over until Hame’s face was a bloody pulp, and even then he kept going. After much of his rage had been expelled through glorious violence, Zorren stepped back breathing heavily and admired his handy work.

  A mass of blood, bone, and brain lay where the head used to be. There was no question of whether the man would be getting back up, and it was enough to quiet much of his anger. Zorren looked around the suddenly silent cavern. Only his thundering heart breaking the eerie calm that had settled around him. He took a moment to assess his new circumstances.

  Adar was nowhere to be found. He couldn’t have gone back through the tunnel to the bonding chambers, so at least he was still down here somewhere. Though he wasn’t entirely sure how much bigger this place was. Even the maps he’d found in the Protectorate data files had been sketchy about this part of the underground. But it had been clear that an entire network of caves could be found down here.

  Zorren’s gaze wandered the grotto as he debated which direction to look first. If he remembered correctly, there was at least two different tunnels from this main chamber that went deeper underground. He knew there was one in the back of the chamber where he’d been waiting for his brother to appear. There was also one to the right behind a rather large outcropping of thick rock that ran from floor to ceiling. It must have been where Hame had hidden to await his ambush on Zorren. Adar could have disappeared down either of them.

  There was a glint near where he and his brother had been fighting. Zorren walked over and found a knife there. It must have been the one his brother had been using and he’d dropped in in the confusion of the shootout. Zorren stooped down and picked it up. He also noticed the splatter of blood from Adar’s wound. In fact, Zorren saw a trail of it leading to the tunnel at the very back of the cavern.

  Zorren smiled as a thrill rushed through him. Glad that the unwelcomed intruder hadn’t messed up his hunt after all. He marched forward barely registering his wounded shoulder and thigh, as he tapped into his Dome-ni, encouraging the pain to lessen and his stamina to increase. Nothing, especially not his body, was going to keep him from ending this once and for all.