by Chris Sapp
“Considering the manner in which you are dressed, is it safe to assume that Magnus has accepted your offer?” he asked.
“He has. I am to accompany him to the Czar and we will…present the child as his heir and you will run the Crucible.” She thought the thousand tears she had cried in the last few hours had been all she had to give. She was wrong. Her eyes blurred with hot tears.
“Don’t cry my love,” he soothed.
“Oh, Blair I’m so sorry this happened. It’s all my fault.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for and none of this is your fault. I acted on my own free will and I don’t regret a single decision I’ve made.”
“Even if means your death?” she asked.
“One can’t court the devil’s bride, attempt to slay said devil and then cry foul when one gets burned,” he said.
“I think the grace in your tongue hides the fear in your heart.”
“What do I have to fear? We are no different from the plants we grow. They die and so do we.”
“I wish I had your courage,” she said, pawing at the polished floor.
“You are the most courageous mare I have ever met and you will make a wonderful mother,” he said.
She looked up at him and saw that he was once again smiling.
“And you would’ve been a terrific father.”
“Promise me something, when our child is old enough. Tell him or her the truth about me. About us. Will you do that love?”
“I promise,” she said through the tears and sobs that threatened to take her to the floor. “I have to go. Magnus will be waiting. Goodbye Blair,” Kariah forced her self to trot away.
“Goodbye my love,” she heard him say over the clacking of her hooves. Forcing herself to keep putting one hoof in front of the other was the hardest thing she had ever done.
BY THE TIME Magnus returned, Kariah had dried her tears and had her faeries refresh her makeup. She met him at his office at the top of Slade Tower. “You look radiant Kariah,” Magnus said when he saw her.
“Thank you. You look stunning as well,” she lied. It wasn’t that Magnus looked bad. He was wearing an expensive black leather vest with a red silk lining. She knew it was expensive because she had bought it for him for Christmas three years ago. He had combed his hair and trimmed his beard, just the way she preferred. But looking at him did absolutely nothing for her emotionally or sexually. The only thing it did was confirm that he was also attempting to play mind games. Magnus was standing on the balcony looking out at the night sky. Kariah forced herself to join him.
“We’re waiting for the Czar’s shuttle, I presume?” She asked.
“Yes, it should be here any moment,” he said.
The Czar was a very private individual. No one, not even the Morphagen Order knew where he resided. If you wanted to see the Czar, you sent him a datapac requesting an audience. If he accepted then he sent a shuttle to pick you up. Kariah had never met the Czar and as far as she knew Magnus had only met him once, the day he became Interim-Druglord. They heard the rumble of the Czar’s shuttle before it descended through the clouds. It was a sleek vessel. Jet black. Every square inch polished to a glossy shine. It had two wings that extended down below the belly of the ship, while it was in flight. When the shuttle landed on the platform the wings folded vertically towards one another, with the main body sandwiched in between. Two cloaked figures descended the ramp; a man and a female. Both Fenixborn and both members of the Czar’s Flock. The male had a red feathers hiding under his hood, which meant that he was still in his first life cycle. The woman had the green feathers of a fenixborn living her second life cycle. Kariah couldn’t remember what color of a Fenixborn’s third life cycle was. The guards ushered them up the ramp. Magnus went first and she followed, like the obedient wife that she was only pretending to be. They were directed left towards the lounge and the two guards went up to the cockpit. The lounge had two plush sofas against each hull and a rug occupying the floor between them. Magnus folded his legs under him and lied down on the rug. He patted the empty space next to him, suggesting that she join him. She preferred to stand but she didn’t want to argue. She felt the shuttle’s engines vibrating through the rug as the vessel shot into the atmosphere. She didn’t know what was in the metal briefcase Magnus was carrying. But she figured it must be important because he hadn’t released his grip on it. Which suited her just fine because if he was griping the suitcase then he wasn’t attempting to hold her hand. The lighting was low, only a single panel above their heads, but she didn’t know if it was dark enough to hide the disgust she would feel if he tried to touch her. She clasped her hands in front of her and stared down at them. She would’ve looked out the window but there weren’t any. She had no doubt that it had been by design, so that the passenger’s couldn’t see what direction they were heading. Daedalus Shaw had been the Czar as far back as she could remember. So, she didn’t know if all the secrecy was a Czar practice or a Daedalus one. Magnus seemed to be preoccupied by his thoughts, which also suited her just fine. Having to converse with him wouldn’t be as bad as having his hands on her, it was still a hair's breadth above tolerable. They rode in silence for several minutes. The only sounds were the steady hum of the engine, the air conditioner cycling, and their breathing. She was content to keep it that way until she realized that her fate, the fate of her child, and Blair’s fate relied on her ability to convince Daedalus that she was still madly in love with her husband and there was nothing she wanted more than to bring a life into the ‘verse with him. Even though she had never met him, she knew that lying to the Czar was going to be a difficult task and if this plan had any chance of success, she had to convince Magnus first. She opened her mouth to speak and found that her tongue was stubborn and resistant.
“Thank you…Magnus,” she finally managed to get out.
“For not sentencing my adulterous wife to detox? Or for allowing her lover to run the Crucible?”
“Both. You spared me and you allowed Blair to die with dignity. I will forever be in your debt,”
“You’re damn right you will. You may be carrying that child and that bastard Blair may have fathered it. But it belongs to me. I will give it a name of my choosing. I will raise it exactly how I see fit and if I ever hear you raise your voice in anything but approval, by the Gods I will detox you myself.”
“As you wish my lord,” she said while silently cursing herself for mentioning Blair and fueling Magnus’s rage. She had no idea where they were going or how long it would take to get there. But when they descended the ramp they needed to look like a couple madly in love. Which meant that she needed to double her efforts.
“Magnus,” she said, taking his left hand in hers. He looked at her. His eyes were cold. Dead. The eyes of a man looking at his enemy not the love of his life. “I know it doesn’t mean much but I’m sorry.” He ripped his hand out of her grasp and tried to look away from her. But she caught his chin and gently turned it back to face her.
“I made a mistake, one that will haunt me the rest of my life. But I’m here and I’m willing to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. I’m the best chemist and bio-engineer in the galaxy. Give me a half-dead specimen and in a week’s time I will show you the healthiest specimen you’ve ever seen. But when it comes to birthing a child, I couldn’t figure out how to produce a healthy heir. But I have no doubt that there is one growing inside me as we speak. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that was my intention from the start. But my intention and how we got here doesn’t matter. All that matters now is that you, Magnus Slade, have an heir to present to the Czar. You are one step away from completing your life’s ambition and I will do whatever you ask of me to make that dream a reality,” she released her grip on his face and waited for him to answer. His face was devoid of emotion as if it had been carved in stone. The stallion she had known since she was sixteen was completely unreadable. She waited in the silence of the shuttle. He just stared at her and she for
ced herself to match his gaze. Suddenly the corner of his mouth curled upward in a thin smirk.
“Anything I ask of you?” he said as his eyes left her face and roamed freely across the rest of her. She could almost feel them. First they dropped to her cleavage billowing out of the low cut neckline of her blouse. Then they dropped further to her waist where bare flesh gave way to brown hide.
“Yes, my lord,” she said, trying to keep the tremble she felt in her knees out of her voice.
“Seduce me,” he said, standing to his full height. His voice was so quiet that she almost didn’t hear him. His eyes had returned to her face. He was studying her reaction. Judging it. “Seduce you?” she asked, forcing a smile on her own face.
“Yes, if it is as you say it is and our past doesn’t matter. Then seduce me as if we had never met and you were a mare in heat.” He smiled and there was no doubt that he was issuing her a challenge. This was a test she could not fail.
“As you wish,” she said, smiling. She stood up and straightened her back so that her breasts pushed forward. She began a slow prance around Magnus. He followed her with his eyes until she was behind him.
“Hi, what’s your name?” she asked.
“Magnus,”he said, keeping his eyes forward. “Let me guess, your name’s whatever I want it to be right?” He sounded bored. She needed to surprise him.
“Sure, if I was whore,” she whispered into his ear, close enough for her breath to tickle. “But my name’s Kariah and I’m no whore.” She slapped the back of his head. His head rocked forward and his shoulders bunched. She renewed her prance around him. The spacing was tight for two centaurs and she made sure her hindquarters brushed against him. He glared at her as she came into view.
“What do you do for a living Magnus?” she asked.
“I’m the Druglord of Slade Enterprises. Perhaps you’ve heard of it?”
“I have and if you’re the real Magnus Slade and not some Kameleon impostor, you’re more handsome in person than your Net photos,” she said and winked at him. She continued her stroll, her hooves clacking leisurely on the deck.
“Druglord huh? Sounds stressful,” she said and then she began to caress his neck and shoulders. He wasn’t near as fit as when they first met, but there was still plenty of dense muscles in his shoulders.
“It can be. But that’s why the Gods invented slaves,” he said.
“Slaves are good for tending to your needs.” She kneaded his shoulders with both hands. “But can they tend to your every desire?” She nibbled his ear while simultaneously sliding her hands over his powerful shoulders down to his broad chest.
“What sort of desires did you have mind?”he asked, craning his neck to look back at her. What did she have in mind? Seducing him was one thing? But was she really prepared to carry this all the way if they didn’t arrive at their destination soon? Where the hell were they going anyway? She stroked each of his pectorals once more and then slowly walked her fingers backwards up the center of his chest until they reached his chin. She turned her head to face him.
“Something fun. Something bad. Maybe a bit of both.”
He smiled and she kissed him. Soft at first and then harder. It was a lifetime since their lips had last touched. She slipped her tongue between his teeth and he responded in kind. Magnus had always been a good kisser. An image of Blair’s smiling face flashed in her mind and she pulled away. She quickly moved past him so that her face was hidden from his view. Bile rose in her throat. She could feel his eyes on her. She had to think of something quick. She distracted him from noticing her sudden distress by offering her hindquarters to him. It worked. He was completely absorbed. She collected herself and silently cursed the Czar’s slow pilots. Magus seized her flanks from behind with both hands. She whipped her body away from him.
“No touching,” she said, waving a disapproving finger at him. He folded his arms across his chest like a scolded child. She resumed her seductive prance around the stallion she had tried to kill less than twenty-four hours ago. She reached out and traced a single finger down the length of his left side from hip to hindquarters. She paused long enough to caress his backside and then continued along his right side. She stopped when she’d made a complete circle. She stood directly across from him.
“Is it hot in here Lord Slade? Or is just me?” she asked. She forced herself to look into his eyes as she slowly unbuttoned the back of her blouse. It had four buttons. She made it last as long as she possibly could. She paused between each button in hopes that the hatch would open, announcing their arrival. But that never happened and when she reached the last button she had no choice but to follow through. She let her blouse fall into her hands. She’d worked up a sweat during her performance and the air felt refreshingly cool on her bare breasts. The sight of Magnus gawking at her sent a shiver up her spine. With a lustful smile, he stepped forward. His hands opened greedily. By the Gods where the hell were they going? If he touched her, she was certain she was going to vomit.
That never happened. The hatch opened when his hands were inches from her skin.
“Play time’s over,” she said and then she turned way and slipped back into her blouse. She was dressed by the time the ramp was lowered.
“Let’s go secure your future,” she said, taking his hand in hers. They descended the ramp together and froze at the bottom. They had landed on a mountain cliff one thousand feet above sea level. She could see for miles. In the distance tornadoes were funneling down out of the sky and striking the earth like engine pistons. The debris clouds rising from the destroyed ground had to be at least one hundred feet high.
“Where are we?” Kariah asked.
“ I don’t know,” Magnus said. “The last time I met with the Czar it was not here.”
Black clouds had swallowed the sky. Had night fallen or did the mysterious planet lack a sun? Kariah could not say. The ground was crushed ore and it crunched loudly under their hooves. The mountain was ebony slate.
The female guard marched forward and ushered them towards the mouth of a cave. Kariah followed, gripping Magnus’s hand out of fear more than love. The male guard brought up the rear. The crushed ore turned into slate stairs. The suspense of not knowing what to expect was killing her, so she started counting the stairs. But she stopped after she reached two-hundred because the idea of going that deep into the mountain scared her even more. Descending that many stairs was strenuous work and it seemed to be growing increasingly warmer. Sweat beaded her brow and marred her makeup. The armpits of her blouse were soaked. The nape of her neck was slick with sweat and she was thankful she had cut her hair, otherwise it would’ve been a hundred times worse.
When the stairs ended she understood why the temperature had risen so dramatically. There was a river of hot lava running through the center of the mountain. Two more cloaked guards stood waiting in a gondola. Fenixborn beaks peaked out of their hoods as well. Magnus climbed in first and then he turned and offered his hands to Kariah, who was staring at the gondola. It was the large skeleton of some long dead beast. She took Magnus’s hand and slowly stepped in. The floors were a patchwork of smaller bones. She thought it might burn her hooves. But it didn’t. The first pair of guards did not climb in after them. Instead they turned and began the long climb up the stairs. Their new escorts were just as talkative as the first. Using long poles of bone, probably the thigh bones of the dead beast, they pushed the gondola through the river of flowing lava. Kariah had been warm on the stairs but sitting in the gondola was stifling. Contributing to this factor, was that the heat rising from the lava only had one direction to go after hitting the roof of the cave, which was back down. She felt like a faery that had mistakenly wandered into an oven.
Just when she was on the verge of passing out, the gondola banked against a slate shore. They exited the gondola eagerly. Like the pair of guards before them, the gondoliers pushed away from the shore and turned the raft back the way they came. Five feet from the river of fire the shore beca
me a platform that was lined on each side with guards. Kariah counted a total of twelve. All cloaked. All Fenixborn. She now understood why they were called the Czar’s Flock. She made a mental note to ask Magnus about the story behind it, once this was all over. At the far end of the platform was another set of stairs. It was clear which direction they were supposed to go. This time it was Magnus who gripped her hand. Together, they proceeded forward between the two rows of guards. Iridescent eyes peered out from under dark hoods as they passed. Kariah kept her eyes forward on the stairs ahead of her. But she did notice a few black feathers peeking out from under the hoods. So, black was the last color in a Fenixborn’s life cycle.
Waiting at the top of the stairs was Daedalus Shaw, the Czar, the supreme ruler of the galaxy. Their host. Kariah gasped. The Czar was a Draconis, the only one in existence. Some believed that he manufactured his own morphagen. Others believed that he had evolved into a higher state of being and no longer required a daily morphagen hit. But no one really knew. He stood nearly twelve feet tall. He had dark brown scales plating his entire body. He had two legs and four arms. Talons and claws on the end of each, respectively. Two scaled horns on top of his head, extended his height another foot. His eyes were milky white. But make no mistake they were neither cloudy or diseased. The snout and jaw protruding off his face rivaled that of any werewolf Kariah had ever seen. A raised ridge that began on his brow, traveled upward over the top of his skull, down his back, and across his eight foot long tail. Tucked behind his back were his wings. Even folded as they were, Kariah could sense their massive size and power. Magnus folded his front legs under him and lowered his head. Kariah followed suit.
“My liege,” Magnus said.
“Magnus Slade,” the Czar said, “when I appointed you Interim Druglord of Slade Enterprises I tasked with two priorities. One, keep Slade Enterprises in the black and two, produce a healthy heir, in order to remove the interim from your title. Now I know from your monthly reports that your company’s performance is satisfactory. So, I can only presume that your presence here concerns the second priority? Is my presumption correct?”