how to fight?” She gazed up at him. Her eyes were big and brown and trusting.
He didn’t want to talk about his source, but she had shared her past, and she expected him to share his also.
“My source taught me nothing.” The only lesson inadvertently conveyed to him was that beings weren’t reliable. He couldn’t count on them. “The male abdicated his responsibility for me before I emerged from the manufacturing vat. He and his gerel had produced a natural son. They had their precious heir, had no more use for me, the clone they designed to fill that role.”
“He was a fool.” She squeezed his hand.
“He was a Warlord.” The male wasn’t a fool. “He ruled the entire Chamele system.”
Her forehead furrowed with thought lines. “I heard the system was ruled by three Warlords.”
“Those are his natural sons—Berke, Khan, and Murad.” Tolui curled his top lip. They had taken the roles he had been created to hold. “When I arrived in the sector, I tried to negotiate with the Chamele Warlords. They weren’t interested, relayed that message by killing some of my brothers.”
Grief and anger and regret swirled within him. His eagerness to connect with the sons of his source had put his clone brothers, his loyal warriors, at risk, ending some of their lifespans.
“I’m sorry…for all of you.” His gerel gazed up at him, her expression sympathetic.
He didn’t want her pity. “Feel sorry for the Chamele Warlords. They’ll die, and the sector will be ruled by one being—me.”
That was his birthright. It had been given to Berke, Khan, and Murad. But he would take it back from them.
He would provide a worthy home for his clone brothers. They would know their place in the universe.
“The entire sector will be ruled by you.” A smile slowly spread across his gerel’s face, her beauty stunning him. “That means you’ll also be Chamele 4’s Warlord.”
Chamele 4 was a stark wasteland no one wanted. “I’ll be the Warlord for all the planets.” His clone brothers deserved the best. They could choose to live wherever they wanted.
And he doubted they’d choose to live on Chamele 4.
“All the planets includes this planet, Warlord.” His little human laughed.
That joyous sound echoed all around him, surrounding him with happiness.
“Why did your source create so many clones?” She swung his arm back and forth, switching topics with a mind-spinning quickness. “Did that undeserving Warlord want a large family?”
His source didn’t want him.
“The Warlord didn’t ask for his source material back, and Chameles are some of the best warriors in the universe. The scientists cloned me.” He had already been enhanced. “And they created hundreds of warriors like me, creating an army for hire.”
They viewed him and his brothers as disposable beings. When they died, the scientists merely created more clones. Some of his warriors were clones of clones of clones.
“You have hundreds of brothers.” Wistfulness wrapped around his gerel’s words. “I was an only child, and I’ve been alone…for so very long.” Her shoulders slumped for a heartbeat and then squared. “But I’m not alone now, am I?” She grinned at him.
“You’re not alone now.” Guilt skittered down his spine.
She would be alone soon. He had to leave her, had to fulfill his destiny. His brothers depended on him.
They approached the exit. A sliver of light shone through the crack in the rock.
Tolui listened intently. He didn’t hear anyone outside the tunnel.
But he wasn’t taking any chances with his little human.
He pushed her behind him and took the lead, drawing one of the guns, poking his head out of the space. The sun blazed. He blinked, waited for his eyes to adjust. There was nothing around him except sand and rock and blue sky.
The terrain appeared to be safe. He beckoned Lea and stood guard over her as she exited.
“Not many beings venture this way.” She clasped daggers in her small hands…as though those weapons would safeguard her from danger. “But I’m always cautious.”
She spoke in the whispers she assumed no one else could hear.
He heard everything and would be cautious for both of them. No one would ever harm her…including himself.
She wove between the stone spires, and he trailed her, watching, listening for any threats. The wind howled, blowing the sand against his boots, the granules pitting the skin on his legs.
His gerel chattered about rock formations and how the dunes changed color with the angle of the sun’s rays. He grunted in reply whenever she fell silent, which prompted her to resume talking.
The one-sided conversation