“Psst, little girl,” Nos Kil said from on his bed. Magnus felt his skin crawl as the shirtless man spoke. His bloodstained skin was in stark contrast to Piper’s sweet face and blonde ringlets.
“You’re a bad guy.”
“Why would you say that?” Nos Kil replied.
“Because you tried to kill my friends.”
“Tried to kill—? Listen, I was defending my men. Your friends attacked us.”
“But Magnus said you were—”
“The bad guys?” Nos Kil shook his head in disgust. “First I’m the bad guy, and then I’m an unarmed prisoner and Magnus does this to me.”
“Magnus hurt you?” Piper asked. Magnus hated where this conversation was going. “Maybe there’s something I can do to help you.”
“Piper no,” Magnus said, instinctively willing her to stay away. But he knew the effort was pointless.
“Like what?” Nos Kil asked as he sat up.
“When I’m sad or hurt, sometimes I just need someone to talk to,” Piper said.
“Well, I could use a friend right now.”
“Then I can do that, I suppose.”
Magnus felt his stomach turn as Piper walked into the cellblock.
“Do you know what it’s like to feel different from everybody else?” Nos Kil asked.
Piper didn’t respond at first, but eventually gave Nos Kil a slight nod.
“Yeah. That’s how I feel… how I’ve always felt. Like I don’t fit in with everyone else. And that’s not a lot of fun, you know what I mean?”
Again, Piper nodded and took another step forward.
“Sometimes, I feel like I have all this stuff rolling around inside of me, and that if I let it out, people will just push me away. Because they don’t understand me. But then I think it’s more than that. That maybe they’ll push me away because they’re…”
Piper took yet another step forward. Her face seemed so curious. The entire conversation felt wrong, and Magnus couldn’t believe he’d allowed it to happen on his watch.
“Because they’re afraid,” Piper said.
Nos Kil snapped his fingers and Piper jerked upright—eyes wide. “Because they’re afraid.” He waved a finger at Piper. “That’s exactly right.”
“People are afraid of what they don’t understand.”
Nos Kil sat up straight. “You know, you’re absolutely right. What’s your name?”
“My name? I’m… I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.”
Again, Nos Kil waved a finger at her. “You’re a very smart young lady.”
“What’s your name?”
“Ah, ah, ah—I’m not allowed to talk to strangers either.”
Piper lowered her forehead and gave him a bashful smile. “You’re covered in blood. Why?”
“Because they’re afraid of me.”
“Why are they afraid of you? You’re locked in there, and we’re all out here.”
“That’s a very good point. Personally? I think it’s because I know something that Magnus doesn’t want anyone else to know.”
Magnus felt his chest tighten. Mystics, is this it then? Is he going to tell this child about the night on Caledonia? He wanted nothing more than to leap down into the brig and strangle Nos Kil.
“You said you had a secret. When we took you prisoner in the city. You said you had something that Magnus didn’t want the others to know.”
“I did, yes. That’s true.”
“So that’s what they’re afraid of? Your secret?”
“Oh, it’s not my secret.” Nos Kil placed a hand on his chest, sitting up a little straighter. “But it does belong to…”
The long silence pulled Piper along to fill it. “To who?”
Again, Nos Kil shrugged.
“To Magnus? It’s Magnus’s secret, isn’t it. He’s afraid that you’ll tattle on him.”
Magnus couldn’t see Nos Kil’s entire face, but he imagined the man was giving Piper some sort of forlorn look. “Azelon, do you have a view of Nos Kil’s face?”
“Affirmative.” The camera view suddenly showed Nos Kil’s face over Piper’s shoulder. The blood had yet to dry under his eye. He looked like a monster. Magnus couldn’t believe that Piper even had the stomach to approach him.
“Is that why he beat you up?”
Nos Kil pointed to his eye. “You mean this?”
Piper nodded.
“Yeah, he’s pretty afraid of me. But, we’d probably better not talk about it anymore. I wouldn’t want him getting upset with you too.”
“No,” Piper said, stepping to within a meter of the shield.
“Dammit Piper,” Magnus said, slamming his palm with his opposite fist.
“He doesn’t have to know. Plus, if you don’t tell me, I can just find out for myself.”
“Can you?” The prisoner raised his eyebrows and pushed his broken lips up in appreciation. “So you’re one of those Luma then, aren’t you.”
“Not a Luma. A gladia. With the Gladio Umbra.”
Again, Nos Kil nodded in appreciation. “Well then, I guess there’s no point in keeping secrets from someone like you. And I can see why they’d be afraid of you too.”
“You can?”
“Sure. You can probably read people’s minds if you want? Probably do other really amazing things too, I’m guessing. Like, I don’t know… what’s the most amazing thing you think you can do?”
Piper let out a small laugh. “I just learned to do something new.”
“Really?”
“I can move things through the Unity.”
“Mystics, Piper!” Magnus could feel the new skin on the backs of his hands straining. “What are you doing?”
“Move things?” Nos Kil said. “That sounds like a neat trick.”
“It is. I can take things from anywhere around me and move them through the Unity to anyplace else far away. But…”
In the pause, Nos Kil studied Piper’s face in a way that made Magnus want to reach out and push out his other eye. “But you’d get in trouble if they found out?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I guess that makes us friends then.” The prisoner took a breath, looked around his cell, and then placed a hand on his chest. “My name is Volf. Volf Nos Kil, from Haradia.”
“I’m Piper. Piper Stone, from Capriana.”
Magnus shook his head in irritation. If he could have closed his eyes to make the image go away for a moment, he would have. But he couldn’t. This was happening—no, this had happened. And there was nothing he could do to change it.
Nos Kil repeated her name in a smile. “That’s a pretty name, little one. But, now that I think of it, you’re not so little, are you. And maybe that’s what makes them afraid of you, just like they’re afraid of me. On the outside, we look like people that they can take advantage of. But on the inside, where they can’t see, we’re really big. We’re…”
“Invincible.”
Nos Kil turned his head and gave her a look that betrayed nothing short of marvel. He repeated the word and smiled. “I like that. Yes.”
“Well, you’ve told me your secret. Would you like if I told you mine?” He hesitated, then turned away from her. “No, I can’t.”
“No,” Piper said, stepping right up to the forcefield.
“Piper!” Magnus gnashed his teeth. “For the love of all the mystics, what are you doing?”
“Please, you can tell me,” Piper said, her voice pleading with him. “It’s okay. I won’t tell.”
“But I don’t want you to get in trouble with them.”
“I won’t.”
“But how can you be sure?” Nos Kil turned off his bed and sank to his knees. His knees, dammit. He bunched his bloodied knuckles into fists and held them against his tattooed chest.
“Because I won’t tell.”
The prisoner slowly let his hand fall and then lowered his head. “Okay then. But only if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure,” she said. Piper sat do
wn and crossed her legs.
To Magnus’s horror, Nos Kil began to tell Piper the events that unfolded in the hotel basement on T’io Mi’on, but with one difference…
Magnus was the one who’d raped the island women, and Argus, Caldwell, and Nos Kil were the ones who’d broken in to stop him.
All the blood rushed to Magnus’s head as he made Azelon switch views so he could see Piper’s face. Tears streamed from her eyes—her face tormented and terrified. She pleaded with Nos Kil, telling him that his account wasn’t true—couldn’t be true. But Nos Kil assured her, as only the most skilled abusers can, that it was true, that he’d rather die than lie, that she could even check with Magnus… if she was willing to get in really big trouble.
Nos Kil went on to tell how Magnus shot the young Marine named Caldwell, and then—faced with the consequences of his actions—he gunned down his own brother in cold blood. Magnus had always been jealous of Argus’s success, threatened by his reputation in the Marines, and decided this was his moment to get rid of Argus once and for all.
Piper sobbed, her small shoulders heaving up and down. Magnus wasn’t sure what was worse, that Nos Kil would dare to tell such lies to a child or that Piper seemed to accept it. Then again, Nos Kil had manipulated her masterfully, which made Magnus sick to his stomach.
“The only reason I lived was because reinforcements barged in the room. But because he outranked me, they believed his side of the story, not mine.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No, this can’t be right.”
“And it’s not right, Piper. They took me and locked me away while Magnus went free. And here I am, still locked up, unable to defend myself, unable to argue my case.”
“No, no, no.” Piper’s hands were on her head now as she fought sobs of anguish. As she sank to her knees and lowered her head to the ground, Magnus saw Nos Kil’s broken lips curl into a smile.
“Surely you’ve seen how he looks at women, how he barks orders at his men. How aggressive he is in battle. You’ve seen that, haven’t you?”
Piper nodded, hands still clutching her head.
Nos Kil sighed. “I suppose it’s only a matter of time before he acts again against someone you love. Maybe even against you.”
Piper let out a shriek. It startled Magnus, just like it startled him the first time he heard the sound ricocheting through the brig and into Ricio’s cell block.
“Beware of Magnus, Piper.” Nos Kil’s voice was barely audible above Piper’s weeping. “Beware of the evil inside him.”
“Kill the feed, Azelon,” Magnus demanded. The recording blipped out of existence, and Magnus turned toward the exit.
37
Magnus tore down the hallway toward the brig, anger surging through every blood vessel in his body like liquid fire. But it was more than anger—there was grief, too. A righteous indignation that carved trenches in his soul for the liquid fire to course down.
He stopped at the security door. “Open it.”
“Sir, may I inquire the nature of your—”
“Open the damn door, Azie.”
“Access granted.”
The door slid open and Magnus marched into the control room. As he crossed in front of the monitors, he saw Nos Kil out of the corner of his eye. The man was apparently asleep on his bed, arms folded behind his head.
Magnus stopped at the next door. “Azie?”
“Again, sir, I feel it is my duty to—”
“It’s your duty to open the door.”
“Given your elevated—”
“Open the door.”
There was a momentary pause, and then the security door into the cell block corridors opened. Magnus didn’t hear his grinding teeth. He only heard the sound of his bare footfalls against the glossy black floor. He spun left into the first cellblock and saw Nos Kil lying on his bed.
“Force field down,” Magnus said. This time, Azelon did not contest the order. Instead, the shimmering blue field vanished and the only thing between Magnus and the sleeping prisoner was open air. The room stank of body odor from a man who refused to bathe.
Magnus stood over Nos Kil when the prisoner opened his one eye. He’d barely gotten a word out of his mouth when Magnus grabbed his leg and yanked him off his bed. Nos Kil’s body landed on the floor with a thud and the man let out a grunt. The prisoner momentarily halted Magnus’s momentum as he latched a hand onto the corner of the bed, but Magnus jerked hard and Nos Kil lost his hold. The prisoner’s shirtless body squeaked along the floor, his palms trying to gain traction.
In one motion, Magnus threw Nos Kil’s leg aside and then thrust himself backward. His left elbow dropped on Nos Kil’s face, breaking the cartilage in his nose with a sickening crack. The prisoner grabbed his face and roared, twisting out from under Magnus’s weight.
With the man on his left side, Magnus sat up and drove three consecutive punches into Nos Kil’s right kidney. Nos Kil’s convulsed, recoiling from the blows like a thrashing snake. He rolled once more to stare up at Magnus with a wild look in his eye.
“She leave you, Magnus?”
But Magnus wasn’t interested in talking. He drove his fist across Nos Kil’s face, snapping something in the man’s jaw. He pulled back for a second blow when the prisoner punched Magnus in his belly. The blow was hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Magnus gasped, but returned the strike, pummeling the man’s gut with a left hook, then a right. He knew he’d broken ribs as his knuckles went deeper into Nos Kil’s sides than they should have.
The prisoner pulled himself into a fetal position, trying to ward off the attack to his rib cage. Seizing the opportunity, Magnus went to deliver a third devastating blow when a fist came up from the fetal form and struck his mouth. The blow sent a shock through Magnus’s skull and rattled his head. His eyes blinked out for half a second before returning to normal. Something had broken free in his mouth, and he tasted iron.
Nos Kil took advantage of his opponent’s hesitation, rolled to the left, and swung his fist for the other side of Magnus’s jaw. Magnus deflected the blow with his forearm but used the momentum to flip Nos Kil over and onto his belly. In a flash, Magnus was on the man’s back, one hand grabbing what little hair there was and yanking his head back. With his other hand, he delivered blow after blow after blow to the Nos Kil’s right flank, each hit forcing the air from the prisoner’s lungs.
Magnus was midway through another punch to the man’s side when Nos Kil spread his legs—giving him optimal leverage against the floor—and spun his hips and torso so violently that it flipped Magnus onto the floor. He landed on his shoulder with a grunt and watched as Nos Kil pushed himself off the ground and stood up.
Nos Kil wiped blood from his chin with his thumb. “Or maybe she’s dead. Shame.”
Magnus rolled to his feet and brought his hands up. He circled Nos Kil in the cell block, his bioteknia eyes scanning the prisoner’s body. The display suggested Nos Kil suffered from internal bleeding and that a vital organ had been ruptured. Based on the way Nos Kil was hunched and limping, Magnus guessed the scans were right.
“It won’t be long now,” Magnus said as he panted for breath, then nodded at Nos Kil’s side.
His opponent stole a quick glance at his torso and looked back into Magnus’s bioteknia eyes. “Better get this over with then.” Nos Kil clicked his tongue and threw a left hook at Magnus’s side. Magnus blocked it and countered with a left hook to Nos Kil’s head. The prisoner leaned away and followed through with a right uppercut to Magnus’s rib cage. He felt the jolt go straight to the top of his head—this bastard is still strong. Then Magnus blocked with both arms close to his head as another left hook came barreling toward his face.
No sooner had the blow been absorbed then Magnus brought his knee up and into Nos Kil’s wounded side. The blow would have been enough to drop any other opponent cold, but not Nos Kil. Instead, the man let out a grunt, grabbed Magnus’s leg, and thrust upward. Magnus fell backward and slammed into
the floor. But Nos Kil still held his leg. The assailant stepped around it and placed a knee on Magnus’s gut, raising his right fist to drive a blow down on his face.
Magnus wrenched his leg to the side and threw Nos Kil off balance. His opponent fell but caught himself, giving Magnus just enough time to roll and regain his feet. This time, he threw his right leg in a roundhouse kick toward Nos Kil’s kneeling position. The kick was deflected. Magnus threw a left hook and it too was batted aside. He threw a right jab. Nos Kil must have known it was coming and blocked it. But Magnus had only feinted the punch—instead, his left hook went under Nos Kil’s arms and sent a blast of anger-filled energy ripping through the man’s side.
Nos Kil doubled over. Magnus wondered if this was it—if that had done the man in. But he knew better than to underestimate an opponent. He reached down, grabbed the man’s hair again, and yanked his face up. A spray of blood arced across the cellblock. Before the liquid even landed, Nos Kil grabbed Magnus’s arm and pulled. But as Magnus jerked away, he inadvertently helped Nos Kil stand.
Magnus blocked a right jab, a left hook, and a right uppercut, all fueled by a fresh wave of energy in his opponent. He backpedaled along the cellblock floor, defending against two more forceful punches to his head and stomach. As Nos Kil sent another full-force jab, Magnus moved out of the way, grabbed the man’s arm, and thrust him across the room in line with his punch.
Nos Kil stumbled forward and turned around. The man was winded and weakening. Finally, Magnus thought. But it didn’t matter. He would fight Nos Kil as long as it took. Because this wasn’t for him. It wasn’t for the Repub, or even for the galaxy. It was for Piper.
Nos Kil roared and Magnus charged. The two met in the middle as Magnus threw his right fist at Nos Kil’s bloodied face. The prisoner made to deflect it, but Magnus’s punch had been thrown with so much speed, the failed attempt did little to divert the blow. Instead, Nos Kil’s head snapped back. Magnus followed the punch with a second one, landing only slightly less hard. Again, Nos Kil’s head went back.
The third punch, however, was blocked, and Nos Kil retaliated with a left hook into Magnus’s side. Magnus tried to step away but only managed to lessen the impact marginally. He felt something give and suspected a rib cracked. In any other situation, the pain would have been overwhelming. But here, something drove him that was beyond anything he’d ever felt. He’d never had a daughter, of course. But if he’d had one, he’d want her to be just like Piper. Now the little girl was fatherless and motherless. And both had died on Magnus’s watch. That someone like Nos Kil would try to take advantage of a small innocent child—and for what? Their own vendetta against the Republic? All those thoughts fueled Magnus as he glared into Nos Kil’s eyes.
Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 131