Dissident

by Lisa Beeson

  She could also see that even though he believed that she was a boy, he knew that she was not the Gaian child they were pretending her to be. Yet he was still helping them.

  “Why are you putting yourself in danger by guiding us through the canyons,” she asked in return, raising her goggles back up, so she could read his eyes better.

  “Silence, child…” Vrahnon said in warning.

  “He knows that I’m not Gaian,” she whispered.

  “Not another word,” he said to her, his tone brooking no argument. He turned to Musqar Fenn. “Is it true? You believe the child is not Gaian?”

  “The Xjaamin told me that the child was unique. I did not know how unique until I saw you walk away from the sand squall. Exposed as you were, even with your Magirian sorcery, that storm should have blasted the flesh from your bones if the lightning had not scorched it off first. No one could have survived that squall unscathed.” He eyed them with that shrewd scrutiny of his. “And the child’s eyes are…strange.”

  Sennah slid her goggles back down.

  “You were following us,” Vrahnon asked, ignoring the comment about her eyes, his anger evident though he tried to remain calm. “Why did you not help us find shelter before the squall was upon us?”

  “I was hired to guide you through the canyons, nothing more,” Musqar Fenn said, before turning his gaze back to Sennah. “Answer my question first, boy. Then I will answer yours.”

  Sennah looked to Vrahnon for permission. He was still angry, but suspicious of their guide, and curious to see what she made of him. He murmured his grudging consent, with a warning in his eyes not to reveal too much. She stood up and walked towards the Musqar. Reaching out her little hand towards his scarred face, she asked for his permission before she touched his temple.

  He was confused and wary, but tilted his head in assent.

  She touched her fingers to his temple and joined their xjaasai while looking deeply into his eyes. After only a brief moment, she learned all that she needed and broke the connection. Letting her hand fall back to her side, she stepped back to a respectful distance.

  “You need not answer my question now,” she told him. “For when I look at you, I see that you are cautious, because life has taught you to be so through many painful lessons. That is why you did not help us before we reached the canyons. You wanted to see if we were worth the risk of putting your family in danger. If nature eliminated us before the journey even began then the choice would be made for you. Your lifemate and young daughters are your greatest treasures, and you wish to save them from the cruel misogyny of your people. And you see danger in the path your people are taking against the Magirians.” She felt Vrahnon’s spike of anger and curiosity at that, but she ignored him. “The Xjaamin, whom you share the blood bond, came to you claiming a distant kinship, and offered you a way out of the Musqar territories if you helped us through the canyons and saw me off safely.

  “When I look at you, Musqar Fenn, I see a decent man trying to do what is best for his family.”

  Both men were speechless until Musqar Fenn managed to say, “You could know all that by a touch… How…?”

  “It is just something I’ve always been able to do. My father has the gift to read a person’s intent. I am able to do that and more, but only if I am given permission.”

  “Enough,” Vrahnon chided.

  “But you are still only a child,” Musqar Fenn said in confusion and awe at her manifested abilities. “And you speak as an adult… What are you?” There was no malice or rejection in his demeanor, he was genuinely curious.

  Sennah could feel that Musqar Fenn was a good man. He was putting his and his family’s lives at risk by helping her. He deserved to know the truth.

  As she opened her mouth to speak, Vrahnon shouted, “ENOUGH,” as he aggressively stood up to tower over her, his voice echoing throughout the cavern.

  Sennah cowered at the harsh loudness, immediately falling to the ground and curling up into a ball. She was unused to such ferocity aimed at her, and did not know how to deal with it without incurring more of her uncle’s wrath. She buried her face into her knees and covered her head with her arms, trying to make herself as small as possible.

  She heard Musqar Fenn swiftly stand up as if in challenge to her uncle’s brash show of authority, but neither man said a thing.

  After a moment of tense, palpable silence, she heard Musqar Fenn say in a tight voice, “It is time to sleep. We must wake before dawn and travel as far as we can before the sun rises.”

  Vrahnon’s big hands lifted her up off the ground, and he carried her back over to the empty hover carrier, gently placing her inside. “I will wake you when it is time to leave.”

  Sennah could see that he was sorry for scaring her, but not enough to apologize for it – she hadn’t been heeding him after all.

  “Sleep well, savan,” she whispered, still cautious of his temper, as she laid down, trying to get comfortable. She was beginning to hate the inside of the hover carrier.

  He looked as though there was something he wanted to say, but then thought better of it. Instead, he took a deep breath then placed a gentle hand on the side of her face. “If you are to play the Gaian slave, you must learn to keep your eyes down and hold your words,” he said in a hushed tone. “You must obey me on my first command. Do you understand?”

  She did. She must practice the slaves’ subservient demeanor if the ruse is to be believed once they made it past the canyons. “Yes, savan. I will do better from now on.”

  “You must stop calling me ‘savan’,” he said gruffly. “Get used to calling me ‘domen’.” The Common word for “master” did not roll easily off his tongue. He felt uneasy forcing his sister’s child to call him such.

  “Yes …domen,” Sennah whispered. It was not easy for her to say it either.

  “Sleep well, child,” he said with a brusque pat of her head, before turning away to make his own bed on the ground beside the carrier.

  Sennah tried to sleep, but her active mind would not let her. She missed Rya, and she couldn’t help thinking about what Malu must be going through at that moment. She was the Magiri of Greater Emuria; her father was the Daizan Consul. Her only crime was falling in love with an Ayan and creating a child. How could the Anu’Kainat treat her like a common criminal?

  She thought about what Malu had said to Vrahnon before they had left the temple: “She will be the last of the Magira line…” Malu had said it so confidently. What did she know that Sennah did not?

  Sennah had to think of something else before her fear and sadness overwhelmed her.

  She wondered what Musqar Fenn would do if he knew that she was the granddaughter of the Magira? Would he still help them? His people held an innate hatred of the Magirian sect since they had banished them to the wastelands after the Peace Accords were established. However, he was trying to get away from his people. So maybe he would not hate them if he knew who they were. It was too complicated to know for sure. Vrahnon was right for wanting to keep her silent. Even though Musqar Fenn seemed different from the other Musqars, what if she had said too much and ruined everything? It was going to be harder than she thought to balance obeying Vrahnon and trusting her own instincts.

  Amidst her worries, a memory of the Inbetween leaked into her mind. She and Malu were sitting amidst the swaying wildflowers, while Oan lounged nearby watching Malu plait Sennah’s long pearlescent hair and hummed the tune of her favorite lullaby. Each intricate knot, crystal, and metal ring Malu weaved into Sennah’s hair was a story of her family’s history – a history that she must keep hidden from reality, but wore with pride in the Inbetween. The soothing memory lulled Sennah’s mind and allowed her to gradually fall asleep.

  A short time later, something caused Sennah to wake. Cautiously, she sat up to search for the disturbance and saw that both men were asleep and all was quiet. Hearing and seeing nothing amiss, she pushed out her field of awareness. She felt something close by, but it was un
like any presence she had ever felt before. It was there, but just barely.

  She turned to where the she felt the presence, concentrating hard. There was only the barest hint of an xjaasa on top of the large boulder that she had stood on earlier.

  As she stared, she realized that it was someone using Nys’Ktaan. But how could that be? Rysura had only used Nys’Ktaan with the living frequencies of flora. A rock’s inanimate frequency would be so incredibly slow. It would certainly mean death to anyone who tried it.

  Nevertheless, someone was doing it now. They had somehow passed the security field without setting off the alarms, and was now watching them in the semi-darkness. A shiver went up her spine at the thought of it. How long had the being been there? Her mind once again went to the Xanarhii that had stayed behind to live undetected in the canyons. Was this how they were able to do it – living so slowly that everyone else sped by around them without a clue that they were there…

  Though she was scared, she had to find out what the unknown Xanarhii wanted from them. Whoever it was had had every chance to hurt them and did not do so. Maybe they were peaceful.

  Mustering her courage, Sennah climbed down from the carrier as quietly as she was able. Once her feet were on the ground, she swiftly made her way over to the boulder and climbed up onto it. Both men were so exhausted from the day’s journey, that her movements did not wake them. She gave the Xanarhii a wide berth before sitting down to face the stranger.

  Sennah cleared her mind and concentrated on slowing her xjaasa’s frequency down as much as she possibly could. It hurt more than she had anticipated. It felt as though her organs were being crushed as she attuned her xjaasa with that of the boulder. She could not hear or see anymore, her world was only an intense tensile stretching of her xjaasa. When it got to the point where she thought she could endure no more or she would tear apart, her senses slowly returned and her lungs filled once more. Her xjaasa had finally regulated, and she saw the old Xanarhii man sitting in front of her, face agog.

  Sennah stayed silent, for in Xanarhii culture the elder always speaks first. She studied the old man as he studied her, his nostrils flaring as he took in her scent. He had the same body type and reflective eyes as Rysura and the other Xanarhii she had known at the temple. But his hair was coated with a slate blue clay, hiding the deep purple the Nann Xanarhii’s hair changed to in the darkness. Due to his skin being a lighter shade and the fact that he was only wearing what seemed to be a girdle and loincloth, the red tribal markings that covered his body were highly visible.

  Rysura had told her that the canyons used to be as lush and fertile as Naan and Malu’s southern islands. But the fallout from the Galactic War poisoned the ground and cracked the watershed flowing underneath, leaching the land of resources, and destroying the Xanarhii’s way of life. That was why they had chosen to leave their dying homeland for the verdant forests of Naan. The only way they could carry on their race’s culture and traditions in peace was away from the politics of Emuria – away from the treacherous affairs of the Higher Races.

  The old Xanarhii man finally broke the silence when he said something to the effect of, “Your scent is…strange.”

  Sennah knew not to be offended by the remark. Rysura always said that Sennah had her own unique scent apart from any other race. Using her heightened sense of smell was how she was always able to find Sennah anywhere in the temple.

  “What kind of being are you,” the Xanarhii man continued, “to be using Nys’Ktaan as a child? Only the select are able to endure the rhythm of the rocks, and only after many cycles of study and preparation.” He spoke in a dialect similar enough to Rysura’s that Sennah was able to understand the heart of what he said.

  Sennah squared her shoulders and sat up tall. Rysura had said that Xanarhii only respected strength, so she tried to appear confident and sure. “I can only say that I am unique, hiuwe,” she said in Rysura’s dialect, using the word for “revered elder”.

  The old Xanarhii’s mouth quirked in amusement, as though what she had said was a complete understatement, but he appreciated the respect in her manner.

  “You speak the Naraaka dialect,” he said, switching over to the more familiar speech. “There are still a few Naraaka remaining amongst the Leftbehind.” He placed his fingertips to his forehead then turned his hand palm out to face her, a gesture of respect and trust for the Xanarhii. “I am Vysan, the High Scout for the Daasanahk clan.”

  Sennah bowed her head in deference, then placed her fingers to her forehead and turned her hand out towards him. “I am Sennah, formerly of the Aethocyte temple on Nann. My caretaker was Rysura, a warrior of the Naraaka clan, baptized by blood in the light of the dead moon.”

  She could see that he was surprised that a proven warrior would demean herself to be a non-Xanarhii child’s caretaker, but did not comment on it. He only asked, “Was? You are still so young. Where is your caretaker now?”

  Before her sadness managed to choke her up, Sennah lowered her gaze to hide her emotions. She took a deep breath to regain her composure, then looked back up to meet Vysan’s eyes. “She sacrificed herself to save me from the Karno renegades that attacked the temple.”

  “Karno,” he said as though it were a curse. “Are they still searching for you?”

  “Yes.” Sennah did not see the need to lie about it. Everyone hated the Karno, for they were lawless plunderers with no respect for life. She also knew that the higher number of Sentinel Scanners in the canyons would make it near impossible to travel undetected. The Leftbehind Xanarhii had been able to escape detection for ages living underground; they had to of know secret ways to travel. Perhaps Vysan would be sympathetic to their plight and help them.

  “Are they searching for you because you are… unique?” His old eyes were keen and missed nothing. Her skin was disguised to look Gaian, but her eyes were undoubtedly Ayan in color. He did not recognize her scent and her powerful abilities made her more than just a Gaian/ Ayan crossbreed. If he did not know outright what she was, he definitely had theories.

  Sennah heard quick, high-pitched sounds come from below. She looked down to see Vrahnon and Musqar Fenn awake and moving around so rapidly that it looked as though they were sifting.

  It must already be close to dawn. Hours had passed by in mere minutes.

  “They are searching for you,” Vysan said.

  They were moving so fast, it would not take them long to abandon the cavern to look for her. She had to break from the rhythm of the rock or they’d leave her behind. She turned back to Vysan. “Will you please help us get safely through the canyons? If the Karno find us, they will kill us. We will pay back the favor somehow. I vow it, hiuwe.”

  Vysan assessed her, quickly weighing the pros and cons of helping the strange child. He must have seen something favorable, for he tilted his head in assent. They both broke the synchronization together.

  Time surged back to its normal speed in an unpleasant flux. She inhaled sharply as her xjaasa snapped back to its original shape and frequency with a breath-stealing rush. Vysan grabbed her arm and held her up so she would not fall from the boulder after losing her footing.

  Both men were mid-shout when Sennah and Vysan appeared on top of the boulder. They both turned towards the sound of Sennah’s violent gasp – Vysan holding her aloft with a fierce grasp on her arm. Vrahnon immediately began his swift movements to invoke Tahrunai and Musqar Fenn aimed his high-powered weapon straight at Vysan’s chest. They both shot at him at the same time. By some inherent reflex, Sennah was able to sift fast enough to put up a protective shield around her and Vysan in time. The plasma flash and Vrahnon’s deadly luminescent energy dissipated against it harmlessly.

  With the threat passed, Sennah stopped sifting and brought down the shield as her energy failed. The effort of using both abilities simultaneously had drained her down to nothing. She barely had enough time to say, “He’s a friend…” before everything went black.

  Chapter 11

&nbs
p; Sporadic bursts of light and a meaningless jumble of voices passed just above Val’s consciousness.

  “Stay strong, cher. There is more for you to do…,” her giant’s words came through to her, bolstering her resolve and then fading into the ether of half-forgotten dreams.

  When Val finally arose from the pit of unconsciousness, she realized there was no pain. The thing that had become the benchmark of her existence was gone.

  Keeping her eyes closed, she filled her lungs with an experimental breath, effortlessly expanding her ribcage to its full capacity. Holding it at its apex, she felt the steady, beautiful cadence of her heart. She released the breath with a relief she felt deep in her soul.

  I’m alive.

  Opening her eyes, the fluorescent glare was gone, but something was wrong. All the pain was gone, but she could still only see out of her right eye. She raised her hand to her face and felt the gauze taped over her left one.

  From her blind side, she heard the click of a door closing and a hydraulic lock engage, causing her to curl up defensively as her heart contracted in terror. No more pain! Scooting back against the wall, she turned her head to the left to use her good eye. There was an empty chair by the door. She was alone.