Xen Episode One Read Online Free

of you. You
know that right?”
    The rain drenched me through. I was
freezing. And yet I made no effort to wipe the rivulets of water
from my face.
    That’s when I saw her. The old woman in the
distance. She was staring at me.
    Figuring she’d been a mourner who’d come to
pay her respects, I moved to walk towards her.
    Adam snaked a hand out and locked it on my
arm. He was well over 70 now, but his fingers locked on my elbow
with all the strength of a body builder. “Leave her.”
    “What? Who is she?”
    “Never mind. Just someone your father
knew.”
    “Shouldn’t I go talk to her? Thank her for
paying her respects?”
    Adam’s expression stiffened. I’d never seen
him look so steely. Which was saying something. He was a full Major
in the army. He’d even helped train me. I knew from experience how
tough he could be. And yet the expression he shot me now... Christ,
I’d never seen him look so hard. “Leave her,” he commanded.
    “Who is she?” I asked, surprised at his
reaction.
    “It doesn’t matter.” Adam turned back to
look at the woman briefly. He didn’t look happy.
    Then he got a phone call. The sharp sound of
the call tone split the air, and made me jump.
    Answering it quickly, he shifted away from
me, leaving me alone to consider the woman.
    I stared at her as she walked away.
    I’d just buried my father, and the grief was
crippling me, yet my eyes tracked to follow her as she disappeared
behind the side of that building.
    She was an old lady, or at least she looked
like one. Her skin was wrinkled, her cropped hair gray.
    But she moved like... ah,
I don’t
know. There was definitely something about her though.
    So I followed her.
    I don’t know why, maybe as a distraction. I
didn’t want to turn around and face the rest of my family. There
was too much to deal with.
    My father had left a mess.
    Sodden shoes picking through the water
clogged grass, I followed that old woman as she walked swiftly
through the grounds. Though she was sopping wet, she didn’t look
cold. She held her head high, the wind whipping her wet hair over
her shoulder.
    When she reached the road, she did something
strange. She took off her jacket, in an unmistakably defiant move.
She dumped it on the ground, then she shifted her head around to
stare back at the graveyard.
    I couldn’t see her expression – she was too
far away – but that didn’t matter. Her stance said everything.
There was an electric determination to it, as if she’d just come to
some critical decision.
    I ducked back behind a tree, but before she
even glanced my way, she turned and walked away.
    Which left me alone. With no more
distractions.
    With a truly heavy heart, I turned.
    There was a flash of lightning off to my
left, as the sky opened up for another downpour.
    Then a hand reached out from behind and
locked on my shoulder. Before I could jolt, I saw Adam’s
characteristic broad shadow.
    I turned to see him shoot me a grim
expression. “We still have to sort out your father’s affairs.”
    I nodded and shifted to walk away, but my
head turned in the direction the woman had left in.
    My gaze locked on the jacket she’d dropped.
I wanted to pull free from Adam’s grip and inspect it, but I knew
he wouldn’t let me.
    There was work to do. As the last Chandler,
it was up to me to do it.

Chapter 3
    Xen
    I made it home in the soaking rain. Then I
stood for a full minute staring at my front door before I opened
it. Cold white knuckles curled around the handle. I pushed it
open.
    I walke d into the center of the lounge room
and stood there, dripping onto the carpet.
    I was not going to let this go.
     
    Captain X'hanthol could not have just died
in a car crash. I kept repeating that to myself, and I would keep
repeating that to myself until I found out the truth.
    He was my commander, and I owed it to him.
For without him... I was alone.
    I shook as I considered that fact.
    A Peacekeeper without somebody to order her
was nothing more than a