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  Bright Star

  The Apprentice, Volume 2

  A Twelve Systems Chronicle

  EG Manetti

  The Twelve Systems Chronicles

  The Cartel: The Apprentice, Volume 1

  Bright Star: The Apprentice, Volume 2

  Transgressions: The Apprentice, Volume 3

  *** Coming in 2017 ***

  Fortuna: The Apprentice, Volume 4

  Copyright

  ©2014 by Buniac Entertainment, LLC.

  Cover photography by Jim O’Connor Photography.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or used in whole or in part by any means without the written permission of Buniac Entertainment.

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 978-0-9886900-1-1

  Dedication

  For my parents, who gave me roots and wings.

  Contents

  List of Characters

  Prologue – The Twelve Systems

  1. Shrine Beggar

  2. Bright Star

  3. Odds Management

  4. Shades’ Grace

  5. Governance and Intrigue

  6. Warrior Pride

  7. Canon Recitation

  8. Recovery

  9. The Luck of the First

  10. Formation Plans

  11. Milord’s Will

  12. The Consortium

  13. Correction

  14. Traps and Triumphs

  15. Changing Seasons

  16. A Thorn in Sebastian’s Side

  17. Revelations

  18. Respite

  19. Governance

  20. Preeminence

  21. The Five Warriors’ Festival

  22. Festival Brawl

  23. Warrior Signet

  24. Ravens and Warriors

  25. Wagers and Traitors

  26. Warbelt

  Transgressions: The Apprentice, Volume 3

  The Apprentice Protocol

  Devotional Litanies

  Glossary of the Twelve Systems

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  List of Characters

  ~The Glossary of the Twelve Systems can be found at the end of the book.~

  The Serengeti Group

  Blooded Dagger Cartouche – Vistrite

  Monsignor Lucius Mercio – Preeminence of Serengeti and Blooded Dagger

  · Protégé, Nickolas Cyncad

  · Apprentice, Lilian

  · Executive Servitor, Marieth

  · Driver, Mr. George

  Seigneur Marco – Bright Star

  Seigneur Solomon – Vistrite Conservator

  Seigneur Jurian – Vistrite, Metricelli Deuce

  Seigneur Rachelle – Serengeti and Blooded Dagger Research and Development

  · Protégé, Irina

  · Apprentice, Chrys

  · Senior Associate, Simon

  · Associate, Magnus – Synthetics

  Master Trevelyan – Security and Privilege for Blooded Dagger

  Seigneur Hadrian – Cartouche Financials

  · Senior Associate, Daphne

  Grey Spear Cartouche – Logistics and Distribution

  Monsignor Sebastian Mehta – Preeminence of Grey Spear

  · Protégé, Martin Argon

  Seigneur Aristides – Serengeti and Grey Spear Media Management

  · Apprentice, Douglas

  Seigneur Damocles – Serengeti and Grey Spear Security-Privilege

  Seigneur Garwynn – Serengeti and Grey Spear Financials (kinsman to Sebastian Mehta)

  Seigneur Thorvald – Serengeti Training and Militia

  Associate Roger Macomber (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Associate Ann Hunter (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Associate Shoshanna Revetali (sycophant to Martin Argon)

  Iron Hammer Cartouche – Controller Fabrication

  Monsignor Elenora Odestil – Preeminence of Iron Hammer

  Seigneur Kemeha – Iron Hammer Engineering Seigneur

  · Protégé, Fletcher Detrenti

  Seigneur Herman – Legalistics Lead, Cartel and Cartouche

  Cartel

  Associate Master Straus

  · Apprentice, Rebecca

  · Apprentice, Clarice

  Archive Master Liger

  The Matahorn Alliance

  Broken Blade Cartouche

  Monsignor Horatio Margovian – Preeminence of Cartel and Cartouche

  · Former Protégé, Damien St. Gervais

  Seigneur William – Bright Star (Horatio’s son and heir)

  The Leonardo Society

  Monsignor Angus Blackthorn – Preeminence of Cohort and Cartouche

  · Senior Technologistics Associate, Aidan

  Crevasse City

  Helena Faesetili, Lilian’s mother and Sinead’s Seer

  Katleen Faesetili, Lilian’s sister

  Lady Estella, Lucius’ wife

  Raphael, Lucius and Estella’s son

  Cesare, Lucius and Estella’s son

  Elysia, Lucius and Estella’s daughter

  Sabri, Lucius’ personal servitor

  Marigold, Estella’s personal servitor

  Lord Gilead, Jonathan’s Prelate

  Virgil, Socraide’s Keeper

  Tiger Sylvester, black commerce raider

  Hilda, legitimate odds manager

  Hidaka, café owner and friend to the Faesetilis

  Gregor Matawan, Matahorn Senior Associate

  Jamal, Nickolas’ cousin

  Brianne, Fletcher’s twin sister

  Velia, Katleen’s former friend

  Mulan’s Temple

  Dean Joseph, Preeminence of Mulan’s Temple and Lilian’s foster father

  Prologue – The Twelve Systems

  The society of the Twelve Systems is dominated by the warrior elite, the genetic descendants of the Five Warriors of Antiquity. These five warlords ended three centuries of interstellar warfare known as the Anarchy and established the modern Order and its governing protocols. In the millennium since the end of the Anarchy, the warrior elite has consolidated societal control into a handful of vast commercial interests. The most powerful and wealthy are the cartels.

  Owned by the great warrior families identified by their emblems or ‘cartouches,’ these commerce enterprises are locked in fierce competitive struggles. To command any cartel is to control immense wealth and influence. To command one of the five largest cartels is to number among the two score most powerful people in the Twelve Systems.

  Fourth among the cartels is the Serengeti Group, which controls Vistrite, the semi-liquid crystal essential to all advanced technology. Under the command of the devious, ruthless, and unconventional Lucius Mercio, the Serengeti Group has begun to contend for third among the cartels.

  For the first time, Lucius Mercio has taken an apprentice, Lilian. In the aftermath of her father’s execution for terrible crimes, Lilian was convicted of Guilt by Blood. In return for her life, Lilian vowed to serve three years as Lucius’ indentured servant, yielding him total control of her body, intellect, and will. Within the first four months of her bond, Lilian proved her worth, loyalty, and courage. She has yet to begin the task for which Lucius acquired her. To achieve his ambitions, Lucius requires Lilian’s brilliance. To make use of it, he must keep her alive. It is proving more difficult than he anticipated.

  1. Shrine Beggar

  The Five Warriors of Antiquity – Era of the Three Systems

  1. Socraide Omsted – controlled three
of the four planets in the First System

  2. Rimon Ben Claude – controlled both planets in the Second System

  3. Mulan Tsao – controlled Artesia in the First System

  4. Jonathan Metricelli – controlled the two Vistrite planets in the Third System and the Vistrite trade

  5. Sinead Standingbear – controlled Sinead’s World in the Third System

  Sevenday 23, Day 7

  I am the sum of my ancestors. I am the foundation of my family. With her eyes closed, Lilian resolutely forces her breathing to even, forces her panic into a small, cold knot she can surround and contain with her discipline. Honor is my blade and shield.

  The hard cot on which she sits is bolted to the stone walls of the Incarceration Halls, an intimidating stone edifice that predates the Fourth Warrior, Jonathan Metricelli. Honor knows not fear. As she has countless times in the past bells, Lilian reaches for the reassurance of her thorn and conservator’s seal, only to find them gone, taken with her belt and racing shoes.

  A day that began so pleasantly has deteriorated into disaster. Racing in the Garden Center with the rising of the Seventh Day sun is one of Lilian’s few pleasures. The great parkland of Crevasse City offers miles of trails and, at her preferred bell, quietude that is so often lacking the other six days of the sevenday.

  Honor endures. Even Lilian’s extraordinary discipline is unable to ignore the scent that is unmistakably an incarceration cell. A miasma formed from harsh cleansers overlays the scents of anger, pain, and desperation that have seeped into the very stones.

  Adelaide’s aid, I erred. Lilian pulls her knees to her chest and then drops them quickly as the stench of drying blood overwhelms her senses. I am the sum of my ancestors.

  Honor acts as duty commands. She should have been more attentive. This morning, enjoying the exercise, caught up in her expectations for the coming sevenday, Lilian paid little heed to her surroundings . . .

  The shrine beggar comes out of nowhere. Normally, those desperate denizens of the Garden Center cling to the shielding walls of the Five Warriors’ Shrines, subsisting on the twice-daily shrine gifts of soup and the pittance the tenderhearted yield. Lurking in the shadow of dense foliage, the beggar is invisible as Lilian rounds the turn . . .

  The unmistakable sound of the cell door recessing has Lilian straightening her shoulders and raising her chin. She will not rise for the guard, but she will not cower, either.

  It is not the guard. Sergeant D’Angelo enters, followed by the unmistakable figure of Master Trevelyan.

  Milord! Lucius Mercio has not abandoned his apprentice and conservator. Although unknown outside of the Blooded Dagger Cartouche and Serengeti, Master Trevelyan is milord’s spymaster and enforcer. He is here to execute the will of Monsignor Lucius Mercio, Lilian’s bondholder.

  “Mistress Lilian, what say you?” Master Associate Trevelyan is a tall, robust man of fifty-plus years. His erect posture, precisely creased suit, close-cropped brown hair, and sharp, no-nonsense manner bring to mind the militia.

  Rising with Trevelyan’s entrance, Lilian summons control with the Warriors’ Litany. I am the sum of my ancestors. Deep breath, respond. “If you please, Master Trevelyan, the beggar had a garrote . . .”

  A blur of movement caught in the corner of her eye has Lilian reaching for her thorn as decades of training and recent experience warn her of peril. Her assailant crashes into her from behind, tumbling them both hard onto the pathway. A knee attempts to pin her to the path as a sharp bite scrapes along her face and neck. Garrote! Awkwardly striking up and out, Lilian slips her three-sided blade between her throat and death. The cord that would strangle yields, and Lilian tumbles free of her attacker. Rolling to her feet, Lilian spins defensively, thorn at the ready.

  The ragged figure of her attacker is on his knees, gazing at something in his hands.

  Stunned by the suddenness of the attack, poised for continued battle, it is several long breaths before Lilian comprehends the sight before her. The man is frantically attempting to press his partially severed hand back onto his bleeding wrist. In slicing free of the cord, Lilian half-severed one of the hands holding the garrote.

  Blood, so much blood. Lilian’s blow opened the major arteries. The man on his knees will be dead in moments. Seizing a section of the garrote from the pathway where it fell, Lilian frantically attempts to tie off the wound.

  The now keening man hampers her efforts as he continues his futile efforts to reattach the damaged limb by will alone.

  The wire that was once a garrote does not serve. It cuts rather than constricting the flesh. Tossing it aside, Lilian rips her nape ties free of her queued hair and slices the leather lacings to gain one of sufficient length.

  The beggar has collapsed, curled inward around his wounded limb. Ruthlessly, Lilian shoves the moaning figure onto his back and reaches for the gory stub. Swallowing her rising gorge, Lilian resolutely ignores the gruesome, partially severed hand that flops against her fingers. The leather slips off the blood-slick wrist. Lilian grabs again for the wrist as the beggar pulls away.

  “Rimon condemn you! Be still or you die,” Lilian profanes as she once again wrestles the man into position. So much blood. It is everywhere. Her slick hands slip as she again attempts to lash the leather around the stump.

  “Crevasse swallow it!” Lilian scrubs her hands on her tunic and once again reaches for the gory wrist. This time, she succeeds in lashing the leather around the stump. The flow of blood is slowing.

  Raising his head, the beggar captures Lilian’s gaze. “May the Five Warriors . . .”

  Whatever the shrine beggar might have asked of the Five Warriors, or offered, is forever lost. Lilian will not soon forget the staring eyes in a face so emaciated as to be fleshless.

  “Self-slaughter by proxy,” Trevelyan says soberly.

  Bereft of family and employment, a shrine beggar’s existence is one of cruelty and humiliation. More than one has chosen to end it quickly by embracing a speeding transport—self-slaughter by proxy.

  With patent incredulity, Sergeant D’Angelo challenges the suggestion. “By attacking a racing woman in the Garden Center?”

  His gaze hard, Trevelyan speaks with deliberation. “Mistress Lilian’s conservator’s seal and thorn were visible, and she is well known in the district.”

  “She slayed another,” Sergeant D’Angelo insists weakly. Despite his personal inclination, he must observe the protocols and strictures.

  “Mistress Lilian, Conservator of Desperation and the Western Fisheries,” Trevelyan bites out Lilian’s full title in rebuke to D’Angelo’s casual third-person reference, “defended Monsignor Lucius’ property as is her duty.”

  “Master Trevelyan, I do not challenge it,” D’Angelo readily acknowledges. Truly he dislikes his duty in this, but it cannot be helped. The apprentice has shed blood, and not for the first time. It cannot be overlooked. “Nonetheless, it is not the first time Mistress Lilian has shed blood in the Garden Center.”

  I am the foundation of my family. It is true; not even two months gone, Lilian pulled her thorn when three drunken scions of the warrior elite assaulted her as she returned home late from the Serengeti. In that instance, Lilian was able to break free with only minimal damage to her would-be rapists, avoiding a charge of Excessive Defense. Sergeant D’Angelo attended to that fracas as well as this.

  Apprentices may not slay except in defense of their bondholders. The mere drawing of blood, if it is warrior blood, is equally forbidden except as necessary to defend the bondholder or the bondholder’s property. Already serving a sentence of Trial by Ordeal for Guilt by Blood, a finding of Excessive Defense could send Lilian to the Final Draught, execution by poison.

  “Then as now, Mistress Lilian used no more than necessary force to preserve Monsignor Lucius’ property,” Trevelyan affirms as he gestures at Lilian, who as an apprentice is Lucius Mercio’s property. Trevelyan is also quick to draw a parallel with the prior assault, in which Lilian was not
indicted for Excessive Defense—violence beyond what was necessary. “As conservator, she is permitted annihilation if there is no other recourse.”

  Nodding, pleased to have the important Serengeti master associate provide him with a rationale to justify releasing Lilian, D’Angelo agrees, “As you voice Master Trevelyan. I yield Mistress Lilian into your custody.”

  »◊«

  The brief transit from the Incarceration Halls to the massive city-block edifice of Serengeti Headquarters passes in silence. Trevelyan will not speak in front of the unknown driver, and even if it were permitted for Lilian to speak without being addressed, she would not. Honor endures. Honor acts as duty commands. Her incessant repetition of the Warriors’ Litany is all that enables Lilian to contain the rioting in her belly and ignore the dull ache in her head.

  Milord will not be pleased. Do not. Do not. Should Lilian dwell on milord’s likely response to this latest debacle, the riot in her innards will not be contained. I am the sum of my ancestors . . .

  As silently as they transited, Lilian and Trevelyan enter the nearly deserted Cartel. The normally bustling boutiques and restaurants at the lobby level are shuttered and dark. Seventh Day is reserved for reverence to the Shades of the Five Warriors and is a day of liberty within the cartels and most other commerce enterprises. Only a few are present, and most are Serengeti militia.

  As they enter the riser, Trevelyan says, “Lilian, yield your thorn.”

  With only the barest hesitation, Lilian lifts the sheathed blade from her belt, leaving her scarlet enamel conservator’s seal dangling prominently at the front. The six-inch, three-sided blade unique to Adelaide’s Discipline is sufficiently small that even a commoner is permitted to carry it. Without it Lilian might have fallen to Patrick Volsted’s assault at the beginning of the rainy season or the shrine beggar this morning. By milord’s will, Lilian is free to carry her weapon within the Cartel restricted only by the stricture that forbids apprentices to bear arms in the presence of their bondholders. If Trevelyan has claimed her thorn, then milord may be waiting within.