The Final Battle

By N A Le Brun

Lunegosse must face this final battle with her family if she is to free Laterrétoile from the grips of her family's enemy once and for all. Along the way, there's a family wedding, a group of loyal subjects to free, and a surprise or three that she's really not expecting. Join her and her family for this final journey into space.

• Language: English
• Publisher: N A Le Brun
• Release date: Mar 25, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463406687

N A Le Brun

N.A. Le Brun lives in London and has a passion for charity fundraising and LGBTQ rights.They have had a passion for writing since as long as they can remember and it is now that they are starting to seriously think about publishing some of the many files stored away on their computer.N.A. Le Brun focuses on stories with an element of Fantasy and/or Science Fiction and loves nothing more than to delve into worlds with characters that come to mind.

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THE FINAL BATTLE

THE LUNEGOSSE TALES BOOK 3

N. A. LE BRUN

Copyright N. A. Le Brun 2019

This book is dedicated to Nicki - you've been through so much lately, but I want you to know that no matter what has happened, and no matter what may come, you have your angel at your side, always.

Prologue – The Final Letter

Salut ma chère,

C’est moi, Lunegosse. I’m writing this to you after quite some time, and I’m sorry for the delay, but so much has happened that I haven’t had time to sit and get everything out. I’m hoping that over the next few weeks I’ll be able to get this letter finished and place it in my journal along with the others. Then when the time comes, you will have a complete and utter history of how you came to be where you are now.

The last time I wrote to you, the family and I were on our way to Laterrétoile, but as happens when you’re in the middle of a war, things weren’t going to plan. We had travelled most of the distance to our home planet. Hopefully, if we’ve succeeded by the time, I finish writing, you’ll be sitting there right now. We had also picked up a few people on the way, including Maman’s cousin, Amelie, her daughters, Laulani, Leilani, and Leiwani (triplets), Filinte whose parents had been part of the Royal Court, and Tauné. Tauné, if you remember from my last letter, is my fiancée, my betrothed, and the love of my life. She’s quickly become someone whom I rely on and I can’t imagine life without her. Let’s not forget that I accidentally wished Catharine on board, or that Tim managed to get Laulani pregnant without any of us knowing that they were dating.

Our family on board Le Victoire has become increasingly larger, and it’s not without its complications. I’ve seen and felt the way that the different members of it interact on board. I can’t say that I’m not more than a little worried that perhaps, if I’m not careful, we might end up with another pregnancy before long. Filinte and Catharine aren’t exactly hiding their feelings for each other from anyone. But I think they know better than to put any more stress on anyone right now. No one said family life was going to be easy. I hate to say it my love, but I suspect that you’ll have similar things to deal with when you’re in charge. I just hope that they are the most you have to deal with.

Being Reine is not going to be easy, no matter what problems come your way. But you my darling come from a long and powerful line of Magiques, and I know that like the women who came before you, you will be able to do this with strength, grace, and dignity. And hopefully a little more poise than me.

Chapter One – Le Selleur

By the time we had completed the spell on the Le Victoire to make it look like it was on its last legs, it really could have fooled anyone. Bulkheads appeared to be hanging on by a thread, chairs and the fireplace looked as if they were destroyed. The family that we didn’t want Le Selleur to find had been hidden away in the older parts of the ship, the magic there would hopefully guard them from detection. There was no need to let our adversary find them, particularly not the triplets. With Laulani pregnant, I didn’t want to risk her young child, and I certainly didn’t want my half-sister, Catharine, to be found. Her lack of magic would make her easy pickings for someone who relied so heavily on anger to fuel his powers.

In this part of the universe, magic was a must. Races without it were rare and the ones who didn’t have it were often easily destroyed by the more ruthless races. I had read enough about that in the journals of my ancestors. Humans had been well hidden, to a point, by being so far away on the other side of the galaxy. It’s why our family had fled to Earth. Not only were we part of the same genealogical line but hiding amongst a non-magical race had seen like the perfect escape plan. After all, no one could possibly understand why we would want to do that. Especially not Le Sergeant and his goon army. A life without magic was incomprehensible to any of them. Not that our family had gone without magic. They had just learnt how to hide it and when.

Our ship pulled landed on the docking bay deck with a loud thud, a non-essential part of the hull breaking off as planned. We’d had to make it look convincing after all. I could feel Le Selleur’s glee from where I stood. It was clear that he thought he had the upper hand and I had to make him continue to feel that way. Even if it meant risking myself at this moment in time if the plan was to work. None of us knew exactly what would happen if I died before the prophecy was fulfilled. But I had a sneaking suspicion of who would inherit the matriarchal powers, and it would be a shock to everyone on board Le Victoire, especially the woman who received them. In fact, I think she’s next in line if I die before having children. But then, matriarchal powers are tricky things, and they don’t always jump in straight lines, after all take a look at the way they skipped a generation entirely between Mémé and I.

I unlocked the cargo bay doors to Le Victoire, making it look like they had burst open on landing. I needed to make them think that they had won this battle easily if we were to make this work. One final thing before they managed to make their way to the bridge. I nodded at Kara and she waved her wand. All of us were instantly on the floor, stunned and unable to move, although I was completely conscious the whole time. It appeared as though we had been knocked out in the blast. And it looked like Tim had a rather nasty concussion, and possibly a broken leg. Of course, Kara’s magic is able to make any injury seem real, even to scans. Not one of us was really harmed, just unable to move temporarily. We’d stay like that long enough to be captured and thrown into cells. If we wanted to rescue Tauné’s family, then we would need to be taken prisoner. The battle after that would hopefully go a lot smoother if we managed to do things quietly and without getting caught escaping. Things just had to go our way if we wanted to succeed.

Le Selleur’s men were the ones that boarded the ship. Of course, he wouldn’t do the dirty work himself. He was like his boss in that manner. Why lift a finger when he didn’t have to? If you have enough minions to do your work then you don’t have to take the blame when things go wrong, and you can convince yourself that you’re not evil. Of course, I don’t think that either of them actually saw themselves as being evil. It was more that they were doing things the way they should be done in order to take revenge for not having the throne granted to them, however long ago. But that’s the thing with people who aren’t actually entitled to what they want. They will go for it in ways that they shouldn’t and inevitably cause pain and suffering, mon chou. They don’t know what it is to feel love and freely experience the full gamut of human emotions. Don’t let yourself become that way. For it’s in love that we find our true selves. Love guides us to protect rather than to attack.

The men were wearing the usual black uniform, cropped hair, no sign of emotion on their faces. All of them numb to the scene in front of them. Several of them carried stretchers to cart us out on. Not one of them felt me scanning their minds for signs of the person that they had once been. It saddened me. They truly were mindless drones. Captured, tortured, turned into worker bees for an army that they hadn’t wanted to fight for in the first place. They could have been retrieving their own relatives and they wouldn’t have known any different. Not one of them even bothered to question why my eyes were still open. All they did was check that we were all still breathing, assess the severity of our injuries and dump us on the stretchers. There wasn’t any sign of compassion or gentleness when carrying us out of the ship. Tim made sure to whine and whimper a little in his faked unconsciousness as anyone would had they broken their leg and received a concussion caused by a head injury. And I lay there, my eyes wide open, unable to blink, unable to form a tear, watching as the new ship came into view. Its cold metal environment was reflective of the man who was its captain and the creature he reported to.

***

I don’t know how long it took exactly for the stunning spell to wear off. But by the time it did, we had been subjected to a long and dreary monologue by Le Selleur about how his master would heap his praises on him for capturing us. He was of course devastated to find so few of us. He had hoped to find Mémé alive on the ship. She had been the one who had once cut off his arm after all. Le Selleur, the snivelling little rat that he was, had wanted to show her just how well his replacement worked by using it to choke the life out of her. It was something that Le Sergeant had apparently promised him he could do. He felt like he had been cheated. I couldn’t help but smile inwardly, in the shielded part of my mind. It felt like we already had one up on him and his reaction showed that he wasn’t as in control of his emotions as he would have liked us to believe. This could easily turn to our advantage in the coming hours. An emotionally unstable second-in-command is the last thing that Le Sergeant needed if he was going to be able to defeat us. Le Selleur wasn’t capable of the positive emotions anymore and negative ones on their own make a person completely volatile. It was going to be interesting, watching how he dealt with what we had planned.

By the time we were able to move again, we had been locked in cells in the brig of the ship. None of us had received any form of medical attention, and Le Selleur had promised us that we would be with Le Sergeant shortly. He was off to report our capture and await orders. I suspected that he hadn’t actually been given the go ahead at that point to interrogate us. His demeanour was definitely sour when he had told the guards to lock us up. Nothing would have given him greater pleasure than to start interrogating us then and there, torturing us for his master. But Le Sergeant was not to be trifled with, and I could tell by the way in which images flashed up in Le Selleur’s mind, he still had memories of the last time he had done something without permission. They flashed up so vividly, it wasn’t as if I had to try and look inside. He broadcast them to anyone who care to look. And several who didn’t by all accounts, as one or two of the guards flinched slightly.

The flinching only caused him to bark louder and order them to follow him up to his Ready Room, ready to deliver the good news. Although the chances of them coming back down again were probably very slim. Le Selleur may not have permission to start brutally attacking us any time soon but he could start in on his own men without issue, and soldiers could be replaced. It wasn’t as if Le Sergeant would miss a few. He probably didn’t even have a record of how many men and women were under his command. That was better left to his underlings to work out, not him. All he cared about was that one day, he would have full control of Laterrétoile and the surrounding galaxy. Something he was never going to have if I had my way.

I got the feeling back in my toes first and wiggled the gently, feeling a small amount of relief as the big toe on my right foot clicked on straightening. It had begun to ache in its prone position for so long. Then my feet and ankles. Slowly my body began to lose the paralysis in an upwards direction and as each joint found its mobility again. I carefully moved it, allowing the stiffness to ease from my body, until I was sat in an upright position. They had locked me in a cell by myself. But I could see the rest of my family from where I was sat. Kara and Maman had been locked in one cell together, and Tim was on his own. Apparently, they thought that he and I were the greater threats, even though he had an apparently broken leg and head injury, which my clever uncle was still playing at having.

Looking around the rest of the cells in the brig, I saw several other prisoners who had clearly been there for a long time and had been interrogated fiercely. One woman had had the entire left side of her head shaved, a man was missing his right hand and his left foot. They all looked a lot worse for wear. My eyes darted from cell to cell, desperately searching for Ciel and Feuille. They had to be here. They just had to be. If they weren’t then this part of the plan would be for nothing. Although the plan was already changing. I wouldn’t be leaving a single one of these souls in the brig if I could help it. Of course, that would mean getting Kara to work out if any of them had been fitted with any type of tracker first, but there had to be a way.

I heard rustling coming from the far corner of the Brig and I looked over there, my heart pounding against my rib cage as I saw them. Tauné’s parents. Ciel was moving to the front of their cell, looking at me with a curiosity that showed recognition and shock. I nodded in response, not wanting to raise an outcry in the Brig and knew instantly that Ciel had understood my meaning. The message was quickly conveyed back to Feuille whose head just raised slightly to look across at me in disbelief. I had to get them out of here and I had to do it now. The question was how we were going to do get the cell doors released. I hoped that my uncle would be able to work his tech magic, even with the fake