Garvald’s little show makes now perfect sense as well. The Scourge couldn’t have activated their trap on Tao Bellona, not if they wanted to survive it. There was simply no time to escape. A charged beam sent from Harvin would take a while to reach our sun, and twice as much until the actual explosion. Almost half a day to leave the system, time enough to even find a pretext and do it in an innocuous way. The entire plot was virtually undetectable unless we knew exactly where to look.
Fortunately, I know exactly where to look.
I close my eyes and let my conscious soar, faster and faster, jumping from one stage to the next. I’m a blast of eka racing against the proton beam. But the race isn’t fair because the odds are skewed in my favour. I glide the hyperspace, coming in front of the stream of particles and summon a Chaos shield perpendicular to their trajectory.
The first particles impact my eka field, each resulting in a mini-nuclear blast, a cascade of energy released into the void. The individual explosions are not overly powerful, but they are coming one after the other against a small portion of my shield. My construct unravels, and I must continuously rebuild new layers to replace the ones eaten by the voracious beam. A spectacular show of colour and light erupts in this otherwise unremarkable location in space, the only sign of a battle no one is around to observe. A battle that could cost us millions of lives and possibly be the fall of the Dominion.
I continue to hold for countless heartbeats, or at least what feels like an eternity, though I know it cannot be that much in real-time. The fight between the traitorous Scourge and my friends couldn’t have lasted more than a few moments, so the disruptor wasn’t active for much longer. But each heartbeat stretches forever, while I dig in my Chaos reserves to raise shield after shield.
Finally, the last particles collapse and dissipate against my barrier. I’ve swallowed the entire train of protons and converted it into energy in a random point in space where it can do no harm. At least this part of the Scourges’ plan is now foiled, yet the question is to what extent we can get anything out of this entire debacle.
✽✽✽
I’m back in the warehouse, face to face with Christine who looks at me with big, round eyes.
“I’d never believed it, not in a thousand years,” she says. “I mean this is so magnifique, so, so … ”
Christine doesn’t make much sense right now, but she’s probably marked by the ordeal they’ve all been through. I’m bone-tired, even exhausted and my mind is a bit sluggish but sane. The shield did not require powerful eka, it didn’t unbalance me much. It was just a matter of endurance, the capacity to take the pommelling of billions low yield nuclear explosions, and still have enough focus left to weave layer after layer of Chaos. Nothing dangerous, nevertheless gruelling work that took its toll on my resources.
“Peter,” I croak.
“Peter is fine for the moment,” responds Charles. “Luckily, whatever happened to his arm sealed the vessels, so he didn’t suffer any blood loss. He’s unconscious though, probably for the best considering the shock and pain.”
I stand on shaky legs and move close to them. Peter’s left arm ends with a stump at the elbow, the clean-cut of a confinement eka field. That explains it. He used my token but wielded it as a close-range weapon, which was precisely what I warned him not to do. He was probably lucky to survive. Chaos is not a merciful attribute, not even in small amounts controlled by an energy field.
I kneel and caress his brow, wondering what possessed him to use my gift this way, what life and death situation warranted such a close call.
“Take care of him, my friends. It’s time to end this charade once and for all.”
Back on my feet, I open a rift to the case I left in the archivist’s chamber. Christine looks as if she wants to join me, then realises what a terrible idea this is, as she remains utterly vulnerable to the Scourge lords’ attacks.
“Take care!” she says, confusing me for a moment. I’m always careful, so her wish is redundant. “Hagan Far-Sight is the dangerous one, he’s the mastermind behind all of this.”
Now, that makes sense. I never liked the effeminate shipmaster, for he’s much too slick, entirely out of character with his race. I almost prefer Garvald’s constant insults. At least the arrogant bastard is genuine.
✽✽✽
I’m back to the archive, my bridgehead in the Spirit Palace.
“Took you long enough, human girl! What happened, did you lose the portal token and had to wait for one of Randig’s crew to show up?”
Almerean enters the small storage room and stops in his tracks. I probably look as bad as I feel, or at least tired enough that my state registers even with the absent-minded adept.
“It was a time-bomb device, a proton disruptor”, I say. “This was the Scourge’s plan all along. It’s stopped now, but Lazurien is dead.”
The archivist is stunned into silence. He knew Randig well, so he was probably close to his daughter as well.
I move around Almerean and continue to his door.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Join the peace talks. It’s time for the Scourge to account for their treachery!”
“Are you weak in your head, girl? Faun’s conference room is no place for a human spy. You’ll be kicked out in no time unless the Scourge decide to take offence and deal with you first.”
“Since when do you care about Scourge taking offence?”
“I don’t, I care about you!”
Oh, that’s sweet!
“And I care about me, as well! There will be questions, for the Palace is sealed. Faun’s guards will search around and probably come across the shadow portal. Faun will kick me out of the Palace together with you. And Verdid will have my hide.”
“Don’t worry, Almerean. Nobody will throw us out of the Spirit House. Your hide is safe with me, and neither of my sisters will say otherwise.”
My words don’t register with the odd adept who continues his rumblings about inconsiderate alien bumpkins bringing a shameful end to his days as Spirit archivist and Sen’Aesir spy.
Before I go to confront the Scourge I need to inform the others, so I open my case and choose the com crystal attuned to Oriel, my partner in Shadows.
“It’s over. The Scourge had made their move, and luckily, we foiled their plan. Faun isn’t even aware of any of this.”
“What was it? What did they try?” asks the Queen of Matter.
“A proton disruptor. They wanted to collapse Bellona and trap us all in the resulting black hole. Or blow us in the initial blast, whatever worked best.”
Oriel lets go a string of invectives I wasn’t even aware I still remember. I hadn’t heard anything like this since my days as a fleet ensign when I was managing a maintenance crew in the bowel of the frigate ‘Oedir’, my first ship. About that time Oriel had spent a couple of cycles in Ship Operations, so I concede her baggage of unsavoury expressions would have been by far superior to mine to start with, and in time it only got richer.
“We should confront the bastards immediately before they have the time to escape.”
“My thoughts exactly, do you care to join?”
The Spirit Palace is sealed, so all the regular portals are closed, including the ones leading to the Matter Side of Merdun. I trust Oriel still has a private portal open with her sister, as I can’t believe Faun will completely cut off her co-ruler, but such portal would be in the Spirit Queen’s quarters.
We should act together, Oriel and I, and the Mistress of Matter apparently agrees, for she wastes no time to attune to the comm crystal and open a portal to my location.
The rip in space occurring out of nowhere achieve what my words were unable to do, stopping Almerean’s tirade mid-sentence. The sight of Oriel stepping across, her gait decisive, her face a thunderstorm, drops the archivist’s jaw all the way to the floor.
“My Lady, but how…?”
“Let’s go”, says the Warrior Queen, “and put an end to Faun’s
game. Her twisted plots yielded nothing, while her carelessness could have doomed us all.”
I grab the archivist’s shoulder, strengthening his unsteady stance.
“Both Sen’Dorien and Sen’Diessa are grateful to you today, Almerean. You have nothing to worry about your actions and rest assured your secret is safe with us. There will be no questions asked, no quarters searched, for your House’s queen is in her right to come and go when she chooses, and she’s here now to render us her help.”
Both Oriel and I walk the corridor side by side. Despite our sombre demeanour, had I tried to march in step next to any other queen, the difference in size would have made for an amusing sight. Not while striding next to the Queen of Matter, the tallest and sturdiest of us all, almost the size of a small human. Though not quite shoulder to shoulder, we make for an imposing and menacing sight, two giant queens rushing towards the talk rooms.
The entrance is guarded by a squad of household troops, no doubt there to prevent any intrusion. Had I been by myself, they would probably have tried to stop me, queen or no queen. Yet, Oriel is their mistress as much as Faun is, so none of them makes any attempt to block our path.
My sister of Matter takes a step forward and places her hands on both halves of the door, opening them with a mighty push.
“This farce had lasted long enough, you treacherous scum!”
CHAPTER 27 (ELIZABETH)
“What’s the meaning of this?” shouts Cannora Sen’ Diessa rising from her seat at the middle of the negotiation table.
“Only your mongrel queen doing her best to stop these talks yet again”, responds Garvald in a gleeful tone.
Faun Sen’Diessa is seated far to the left, next to Maurien. She gives us a questioning look without saying a word. The Spirit Queen knows us too well and, no matter the Scourge accusations she knows we would never disturb the talks in such a blatant way without good reason.
Two ceremonial guards are standing on the other side of the room, one of Faun’s household adepts and the surviving verlan.
“Your game is over”, I say looking to Hagan rather than his nominal lord. “Your verlan failed, and the disruptor remains inactive. There will be no nova, no day of glory for you, shipmaster.”
Hagan stands in slow motion, then measures me with a lazy glance.
“The game is never over, Mistress of Chaos, for as long as the people of Jael endure.”
With movements too quick to follow, the Scourge materialises a trident-like device out of nowhere and flips it twice, them makes it disappear as fast as he produced it. Next to him, Cannora stares in horror at the front of her dress, now dripping with blood, then collapses like a puppet with her strings cut.
Faun jumps with a nimbleness unexpected for her age, only to collapse a moment later, a dart tail protruding from her neck. I’m so surprised of Hagan’s show of murderous dexterity that I haven’t even noticed where the dart came from.
Oriel bellows a battle cry and instantly condenses her eka into a crystal sword. Garvald jumps in front of her, a gleaming black blade in his hands. Their weapons clash, close and personal. My sister’s pride in her battle prowess prevents her to end this fight by any means she considers dishonourable, such as melting the floor under the Scourge lord for example. I’m mildly annoyed, as this is not the time for fair play, not against the Scourge, not after just fending off the disruptor threat. I’ve no qualms ending this fight in the most expedient way possible, chivalry be damned.
I move forward to join the fray, gathering my eka.
“Not so fast, dear friend!”
The words don’t register for the moment, as I’m struggling to grasp my Chaos. The eka is there for I can feel it, yet despite the wish to reach my power, I’m not able to even attempt this action. I’m so confused that I almost don’t notice Hagan’s dart, avoiding it at the very last moment. Not entirely, it seems, as I feel blood trickling down the neck, and an icy claw grasps my throat. My jaw is numb, and numbness crawls slowly down towards my heart. My limbs are heavy.
I raise the eyes to see Maurien smiling. It’s not the Scourges’ malicious smile, but a friendly smile I know so well, as I’ve seen it hundreds of times. The smile of a friend.
“Don’t worry, Ashar my dear, the poison is not lethal. After all, we wouldn’t want you to die and return on Dorien, only to rise again as a new avatar. The current one works so well.”
“What? Why?” I manage to croak.
“Why? Survival instinct, my dear. But allow me to introduce myself, as for much too long I’ve worn the face of this spineless young man. Tairen Sen’Diessa, at your service.”
I know of Tairen Sen’Diessa, even if I didn’t know him personally. Tairen the Body Snatcher, a mad scholar, was tried and executed more than a hundred cycles ago. He was found guilty of murdering at least a dozen people while studying transmigration, the forbidden technique of transferring a person’s spirit in a different body and killing the host’s mind in the process. Not so different than the Scourge mind control, and equally repulsive. So Tairen survived, and at some point in the distant past appropriated Maurien’s body
Through the poison fog, I manage to take stock of my surroundings. Oriel’s fight with Garvald has no end in sight, but the verlan had made short work of Faun’s adept and is about to join the fray. Closer yet, Hagan Far-Sight is watching me with a bored expression, not bothering to intervene. I try to get hold of my eka, to no avail.
“Don’t strain yourself Ashar, you won’t be able to find your Core, not until I give you leave. And that won’t happen anytime soon.”
“But how?”
“A mind-tap specifically designed for your neural patterns, a Spirit construct that gives me control over your actions, my dear. The unfortunate side effect of your recent mind screen, I’m afraid. Incene could barely believe her luck when you gave her full access to your thoughts. You know, there is a reason most adepts avoid this procedure.”
Incene! Tairen had gone to his death without betraying any of his accomplices, and apparently, the Seer had been one of them. More than an accomplice, considering his next words.
“So, as I said, it’s simply a matter of survival. For My Lady and I to survive, Faun has to die, never to return again. And since none of the other queens will allow this to happen, I’m afraid you’ll have to die too. Nothing personal, dear Ashar. A pity indeed, as I used to like you as a person …”
I phase out for a moment and struggle to gather my eka. Nothing happens. I try to move forward, to tackle Tairen and make him release me. I can’t move a muscle, be it due to poison or the rogue keeping me frozen.
I lash madly at the invisible barriers that prevent me from acting, to no avail. I have to find something, there must be something I can do or risk ending up dead. Or worse yet, Tairen’s next vessel, possibly an immortal one.
In the darkness of my mind, I see a flickering ray of pure light, and I cling to its existence as a drowning person clings to her raft. Liz’s ghost soul. I always tried to stay away for it, to preserve my own self, the pure Haillar essence that makes me Ashar. I tried to keep this strange human echo away, an alien wraith wandering through my mind and manifesting at the most inconvenient of times.
‘A mind-tap specifically designed for your neural patterns’ said the rogue. Your neural patterns, Ashar’s patterns. What if …? I take hold of the ray of pure light and lose myself in it.
Reality shifts.
I’m crossing the Third Court, heading towards Darwin’s Garden, my usual meeting place with Peter.
Christ's College is quiet so early in the morning, the day after the term-end exams. I’m slightly late, and I know how much Peter hates when I keep him waiting, so I speed up diagonally across the quad. It’s early spring, and despite the sunny day the grass is still covered with a thin layer of ice.
Peter is standing next to Darwin’s statue, the statue of a young man about to leave for the voyage of his life, not the bearded father of the Theory of Evolution he will la
ter become. A young man contemplating his dreams, his ideals, pretty much like the two of us now, in the final year at Christ's.
“Hi, Liz! I’m glad you made it, as I was half expecting you won’t show up after the party last night.”
Last night we had a monster party downtown and, as usually the case, I was the last girl standing. Hey, I have a reputation to defend! Peter didn’t have such high standards, so he disappeared sometimes in the early hours of the morning. I’m okay with it, he doesn’t need to match each and every folly of mine.
Today is the day! I have great news, and I’ll use the opportunity, the excitement to let him know everything. My plans for the future, my feelings for him, my love.
“Peter, take a seat!”.
As it happens, he seats next to Darwin, though the venerable statue has the decency to remain half turned, looking in the other direction.
“Now, the bombshell. I was admitted at the Space Medical Institute on Gloria. This is our dream, Peter, going to Space. This is all we talked about for the past four years.”
Gloria Station is humanity’s most significant achievement, a veritable city in orbit around Earth. Their Universities are at the very top when it comes to anything Space-related. Medicine, Physics, Engineering. Name it, and you’ll get it. With his results, I had no doubts Peter can join any of several fields.
“Liz, this is great! I’m so glad for you, it’s the chance of a lifetime!”. For just a moment, a shadow seems to pass across his eyes, then he continues in a faintly subdued tone. “As it happens, I have news as well. I was accepted as a fellow researcher at the Fermi Institute in Geneva.”
I’m speechless. He had mentioned Fermi once or twice, but I had no idea he already applied. We should have discussed alternatives, plan for the best course of action. Hell, if he was set to be astrophysicist at Fermi, I could have applied for a slot in Geneva. They have top medical schools too.
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