A Warrior's Sacrifice Read Free Page B

massive, an underground bunker with thirty rows of racks, each row twenty racks deep, the weapons arranged on the left, the armor on the right. The weapons racks were split again into two separate categories. One held ranged weapons, the other contained swords.
    The swords were created from an amalgamation of Human-made materials and alien-made Droth metals, and they were able to pierce the near impenetrable exoskeletons of the Siloths' genetically engineered foot soldiers, the Grunts, which turned aside bullets, lasers, and rockets. The weapons, sword and gun alike, were masterpieces, crafted by the most dreng of the Republic's Engineer and Technician subcastes.
    "I stand here in the middle of the symbol of your order. The four colors around me represent the four Kazoku. The color red, representing Ka. Across from it is the color blue, for Sui. The color brown, representing Chi, and opposite is the color green, representing Fu. Together these embody the fifth and greatest of the Godai Kazoku: Ku.
    "It is within Ku — the Void — that Humanity finds its greatest strength; within unity that we survive and flourish. The Void is impossible to accomplish with a single individual. There must be others to provide the necessary balance.
    "We — myself with the aid of your instructors — have chosen who your opposites and balances are." She paused, and her silence hung heavy in the air. "Corwin Shura, of Family Shura, step forward."
    He let out a silent groan. If the room was silent before, it was a vacuum now. All eyes shot to Corwin as he walked forward and stood beside the Oniban. He knew this would happen, had even prepared himself for it, but the reality was so much worse. Their gazes were hot, their hatred palpable. Corwin wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and wait for them to go away.
    But they didn't, and the Oniban seemed to wait as the tense silence gathered and grew so strong that it pulsed. Right when it seemed like the room would explode in an uproar, she spoke again, her voice a hammer on the graduates' glass egos. "Kai, step forward."
    There it was, straight from the Oniban's mouth. Corwin, the traitor, the enemy of Humanity, was the best of them, the most dreng; then Kai, a non-Human, the alien, was second only to Corwin. The class rankings had said the same thing, but that was based on point;, this was blasphemy from on high.
    In Corwin's peripheral vision, he thought he could make out an upward twitch of the Oniban's lips. The Oniban, it seemed, was making a joke.
    It's not a very good one , Corwin thought as he watched eyes and faces around the room cloud with confusion and anger.
    "Chahal Bette, of Family Bette, step forward."
    Hushed gasps and quiet sobs from the crowd. It was almost more than they could bear. A few stirred, turning to their neighbors to voice their dissent with heated looks and sneers.
    Kai was right so far, Corwin thought, a Quisling, a Variant, and now Chahal the Exilist. The oldest families will be in an uproar.
    The girl, short and young-looking, walked forward, eyes downcast. Her skin was a lighter shade of brown, her hair a mass of tight curls that matched her skin tone, tied in a complex knot with a pure white strip of cloth — the symbol of her order.
    Her look was hard to read, her brow creased, lips pursed. She seemed not surprised, but thoughtful, as though in search of the hidden meanings in the course of events that seemed to have swept her along.
    "Phae Lieng, of Family Lieng, step forward."
    Ah, yes. Who better to add to this unlikely and un-liked Void but the one nicknamed 'The Accident,' Corwin thought.
    Phae, like the other three of her Void, didn't belong. In the convoluted familial lines of the Republic, Phae was supposed to be a mere stepping stone, an intermediate repository for genetic material to be used in her family's climb through the caste system. They'd expected her to test into the Tercio caste, or if not, at least introduce the genetic traits that