Jeddon Series - Escape by Zack A Tack, Beverley Boorer - HTML preview

Chapter 13

Jed knew that the knife had struck him in the chest. He wondered briefly that there was so little pain. Perhaps it was the shock, or the tumble down the cliff that was even more painful. Vaguely he heard Dirnll's yell of rage, and the fizz of nucleon rays as soldiers strafed the air around him.  Everything was going hazy. His body was tingling. Was this what it was like to die?

Suddenly the haziness was replaced by flashing lights and the interior of a star ship; all upside down, since he was flat on his back. Jed looked around in astonishment and relief as Arni and Zarine materialized beside him. Andrass had beamed them into the Voyager! They seemed as incapable of speech as he was. Everyone was standing around him in a circle. Someone was screaming about a knife. That was Jyari’s voice! Darien had saved her, then. Jed smiled in relief. He tried to sit up, but Darien held him down.

“Don’t move, Jed. The doc will be here in a jiffy.”

“Am I – hurt?” He still felt dazed, hardly able to believe he was safe at last.

“You have a knife in your chest,” Darien told him.

Jed glanced down, remembering the knife.

He gripped the hilt and pulled, in spite of Darien’s protest. The knife slid out from the fabric of his jacket, its silver blade clean and shining. For a moment everyone seemed to be frozen, staring at him.

He fumbled inside his jacket and unearthed the box of discs. There was a deep score along it.

“This must have deflected the blade. You’d better check that the discs haven’t been harmed.” He passed the box to Darien and sat up.

Jyari descended on him with a joyful squeal and knocked him down again. There was relieved laughter and everyone began to talk at once. He hugged Jyari, then pushed her off and clambered to his feet.

“Admiral Andrass? Thank you for saving our lives. Will you give us safe passage off Jeddon?”

Almost before he had finished speaking, a dull boom thundered through the ship. The floor under their feet shuddered.

 “If we can get ourselves off,” muttered Andrass. “Check those discs, Captain.”

“They’re fine,” Reckton replied “Just what we need.”

Another boom rocked the ship.

“They have our position now, Admiral,” warned another voice. “It’s time to get out of here.”

“What are you waiting for? Prepare for lift-off!” Andrass nodded to Jed and took his seat.

 Jed smiled with relief as lights flashed and a familiar hum filled the starship. It was going to be all right. They were safe. His hand closed over the Badge of Ruling.

Jed watched the tiny orb of Jeddon shrink to a tiny dot on the viewing screen. What would happen to them now? He started violently as a hand touched his shoulder.

 “Don't sneak up behind me like that!”  he snapped.

“I didn’t sneak!”  Zarine exclaimed indignantly.  “Why are you so angry?  Because I was such a coward on the cliffs?  I’m sorry. What else can I say?”

“That doesn’t matter,” he muttered. “What matters is that you blame me for the death of Arni's parents.”

“I'm sorry I said that too,” Zarine admitted. “Of course it wasn’t your fault.”

Jed turned back to the screen with a sigh and stared at the dot that was Jeddon.  “And it matters that I'm not Prince of Jeddon any longer.”

“Of course you are!” Zarine exclaimed. “Vexson cannot rob you of your birthright. One day you’ll come back and reclaim it.”

 “You’re right. I will come back one day - and make Vexson pay for his crimes.” Jed straightened his shoulders.”And that day will be sooner than anyone thinks!”

Zarine took his hand and together they watched the tiny planet that was Jeddon fade from sight.

NOT the End

Even though Jed had no choice but to flee Jeddon, he is not content for long. Jeddon – or someone on his birth planet - calls him. Is his father really dead? Can he challenge Vexson for the right to rule? Jed must find a way to return to Jeddon even though his life will be at risk.

You can read the first page of RETURN below. Enjoy!

PS: Did you like reading about Jed’s adventures? It’s easy to leave a one sentence review to tell others how much you enjoyed the story. Dude, it would be really cool to go to the Amazon link below and leave a review for ESCAPE – that is, just tell everyone how much you enjoyed it.

You could say something like, “Hey this is a really cool story.” Or “Jed had some great adventures that kept me turning the page.” You could even copy and paste one of those sentences to make it really super easy to leave a review. No matter how old or young you are, your comment will go live on Amazon – hey, you’ll be published!

Here’s the link:

 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0090V01DQ

Thanks dudes, have a great day and remember, be like Jed and never give up!

Zack

RETURN

Flashes of red and purple light streaked low over the Jeddon night sky as Jed ran, twisting and turning to dodge them.  He'd been hit once before by the soldier’s laser fire and it had burned terribly, stinging his arm for weeks after it had seemed healed. It still stung, every time he heard the fizz of their firing; every night. It was only a matter of time before he was hit again. He cried out as a lethal ray blasted across the air in front of his face.

“Jed! Wake up!”

Jed jerked awake and sat up, his heart hammering. “What -what's up?”

“You having nightmares again?” Darien flicked on the glow sphere. “You yelled out.”

“I'm okay.”

Jed responded automatically, his mind still clouded with thoughts of his escape from his birth planet, Jeddon. With satisfaction, he fingered the Badge of Ruling hanging from the leather thong around his neck. Girren, his friend from birth, had helped him take it from his wicked Uncle Vexson. Then he and Zarine had fled. They and had escaped against all odds. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.

That he had also saved his sister, Princess Jyari and his friends Zarine and little Arni from certain death at the hands of Vexson was an added bonus. Vexson had killed his father, Ankzar, King of Jeddon, and accused Jed of treason and murder. No doubt he would have taken over the whole planet by now.

“I'm okay,” mimicked Darien, clambering back into his bunk. “You twist and turn and yell and keep me awake, but you're okay.”

“Sorry,” muttered Jed.

Darien threw a pillow at him. “What are friends for?”

Jed grinned and heaved the pillow back. Darien was certainly his friend. It had been his suggestion that they ask for a safe passage off Jeddon in his father's starship. And Darien had helped save Jyari, his little sister. Darien had talked him into going with Admiral Andrass on his mission to restore the ancient planet ZR-12, but after that - what? It had been his plan to ask the ruler of some neighboring planet for protection, but he could not decide which one. How did he know who to trust?

 Jed sighed and dropped back onto his pillow. “I should never have left Jeddon.”

“You had no choice!”  Darien sat up and peered at him. “You barely got away with your life as it was.”

“I know - but it calls me, Darien.”

“It? You mean Jeddon?”

“Jeddon. Or someone on it.”

“Is that what gives you bad dreams?”

“No.”

It was Vexson chasing him that gave him nightmares – and his own desire for revenge.

“How does it call you?” Darien asked curiously.

Jed thought about it. “It's like - colored vibrations - lots of them reaching

out, clawing into my mind - pulling me back. You think I'm crazy?”

Darien shook his head. Jeddonites had some strange powers as well as the mental telepathy that they often used to communicate with each other.

“Who would be calling you? No-one knows you’re alive except your enemies. They wouldn't call you. Would they?”

NOT the End

Get your copy of RETURN now and find out what happens next.

Remember, the JEDDON SERIES consists of 6 eBooks: ESCAPE, RETURN, QUEST,  TRIAL, CHALLENGE and RESCUE.

You can find them singly by typing the title into the Amazon search box, or get them all at once with the BOXED SET. It’s a bargain!