Warrior's Valor Read Free

bodyguards?”
    â€œAs in a team of Cormanian law enforcers. They will accompany you every step of the way. Don’t argue.” Beqq squeezed Dwyn’s hand again. “It took me several days, and I had to use all my accumulated goodwill with the Cormanian Minister of Domestic Affairs to pull this off. The Cormanians wanted to delay any investigation, which in itself is bothersome. But they had to relent when I told them that the SC Council leader was paying this matter special attention.”
    â€œYou did? I mean, he is?” Dwyn had actually met Marco Thorosac once. He had visited her university, which was apparently his alma mater, when he had been re-elected councilman for a new decade.
    â€œHe is now. I also did my own bit of research, and you’re correct about the long-term consequences of the loss of this ancient forest. I’ve deployed the court ship Dalathea , and it will arrive in orbit shortly. I don’t have to tell you that, with the war effort, everything else is secondary.”
    â€œI know. It used to be much easier to motivate the SC public. Now it’s nearly impossible to raise funds for any cause not directly related to the conflict with the Onotharians.”
    â€œA lot is at stake for certain Cormanians if you prove the intel true.” Beqq frowned. “If you fall into the hands of the ones who will gain from silencing you—”
    â€œAll right, Judge.” Dwyn nodded slowly. “I see your point.”
    â€œGood. Here’s the address where you will meet your team at noon tomorrow. A Commander D’Artansis will head up your escort.”
    â€œVery well. I hope they’re all used to hiking. The undergrowth makes it nearly impossible to cross this kind of terrain. And when it comes to the Disi-Disi forest, with all its prohibitions and laws to abide by, you can’t cut your way forward with a plasma-pulse weapon. And you can’t travel with anything but small hovercraft. It’s all part of the Thousand Year Pact.”
    â€œI studied some of that last night,” Beqq said. “The rights bestowed upon the Disians were extensive. No loopholes that I could find.”
    â€œAnd yet the Cormanians are going back on their ancestors’ word and their honor. I’m eager to get out there.”
    â€œUse your head and your gut feeling, Dwyn. I don’t want this to be our last meeting.”
    â€œFair enough. I’ll be careful, Judge.”
    â€œExcellent.”
    They ate in silence and Dwyn began to relax, if only marginally. In her mind and heart she was already on her way to the Disi-Disi forest.

Chapter Two

    Dwyn pressed the sensor that released the tension in the shoulder straps of her back-strap security carrier and slid it off. The black wire-mesh canvas held everything she needed to document the Cormanian government’s potential crimes in the protected forest. Placing the security carrier on the floor next to her chair, she gazed around the mission room. Three women and four men sat in the chairs right next to the podium and had obviously chosen to ignore her.
    A tall woman stood by the podium, next to an older man, browsing a handheld computer. Jet black hair framed her strong features, and intense black eyes, very typical of some Cormanians, seemed to analyze and dismiss her in less than a second. Dwyn was used to others perceiving her as an annoyance, at best, or even regarding her with disgust, but something in the woman’s eyes made Dwyn clench her jaws. The man looked up and nodded solemnly.
    â€œCaptain Zeger, I believe,” Dwyn said pointedly with her sweetest voice. The faint coloring of the Cormanian officer’s neck proved that her gentle needling found its mark.
    â€œMs. Izontro, this is the officer in charge of your safety while in the Disi-Disi forest, Commander Emeron D’Artansis.” Captain Zeger indicated the woman next to him.
    Dwyn had to admit D’Artansis was