Read Wrath of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) for Free Online Page B

been spying. Tell me who you work for. Are you with the resistance?”
    He was no more than a pipsqueak, slightly over five feet tall with his blonde hair long and styled in the latest fashion. Probably in a vain attempt to give him status, all it achieved was to make him look like a petulant child. His face was pale, with watery blue eyes, but his uniform was cut from the very finest materials, although it wasn’t enough to hide his growing paunch.
    “We’re not spies,” Blas replied, doing his best to control his anger. “Your sergeant knows that. We’re tourists and we were invited here for a holiday. We were just looking at the temple, nothing more. It is very famous.”
    “Who invited you to Hesperia?”
    “Your boss, Admiral Quentin Rusal.”
    “Rusal! That old fart, he wouldn’t know a traitor if one came banging on his door. He’s useless, I don’t even think…”
    “Tenshun! Admiral on deck!”
    The sergeant barked the order out loud to save his boss any more embarrassment. Rusal walked in through the door, followed by his adjutant, a captain. Rusal looked around the cell, and his gaze wasn’t friendly.
    “What’s going on here, Bose?”
    “Two suspected spies, Sir. The sergeant arrested them and I was about to ask some questions. But Admiral, this is Security Bureau business, nothing for you to concern yourself with.”
    “On Hesperia, Bose, I command everything military. Everything that happens is my business.” He whirled on the sergeant. “What were these people doing? What was it that made you suspect they were spies?”
    “Well, er, they, er…”
    “Speak up, man. What were these people doing that made you suspicious?”
    “They were looking at the temple.”
    “Yes, of course they were. It’s very famous. But what activity made you suspicious?”
    “That’s what they were doing, Admiral, looking at the temple.”
    He turned and stared at Pieter Bose. “What kind of fools do you employ in the Security Bureau, Bose?”
    Pieter snarled at the sergeant. “Release these people, you idiot. You’d better make sure it doesn’t happen again, unless you want to work on my burlash plantations.”
    “Right away, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”
    He unlocked the cell door. Evelyn came out and gave Rusal a kiss on the cheek. Blas shook hands.
    “We’re glad you were here to sort this mess out. Thank you, Admiral.”
    Rusal nodded and glared at Bose. “I think you should be attending to your troops, Pieter. They obviously need further training. I would suggest a five-mile run in full kit for the sergeant and his men. They look out of shape to me.”
    “Yes, that’s a good idea, Admiral.”
    “And when they get back, reduce that Sergeant to the ranks. He’s not fit to command other men.”
    “Yes, Admiral.”
    They smiled as they watched Pieter work to control his temper, and he quickly left the building. A few minutes later Blas and Evelyn walked outside into the sunshine with Rusal. He turned to them.
    “Perhaps you would join me for lunch before I return to Tulum. There is a decent restaurant quite close and I could use some good food and sensible conversation.”
    They agreed and found the restaurant where they were the only diners. After the drinks arrived and they’d ordered their food, they sat in silence. Everything in this once beautiful city was wrong, terribly wrong. Blas had rarely seen Evelyn look so fearful and anxious. Finally, he couldn’t stand it any more.
    “What’s up, my darling? Is something wrong?” He noticed that Rusal was watching intently.
    “You know that I have the power to look into men’s minds.”
    “Yes, of course I do, we all know that,” Blas replied. Rusal nodded. She was an Orphexian, so it was natural for them.
    “Sometimes I catch a fragment of thought that is difficult to interpret. Perhaps it is only a few words a person has heard from someone else and failed to understand, nothing more than that. When I put enough of these random thoughts