Wildfire and Steel

by J. J. Green

  ***

  Castiel spent the next half hour watching servants prepare for a formal lunch. They brought in straight-backed chairs and a table, and spread the table with a cloth before setting out the dining wear. Castiel wasn’t impressed by the finery, if that was Sable’s intention. His upbringing had made him used to such things. He grew bored. He was tempted to Transport something out of a servant’s hands just to make them jump. But he decided against the idea. He didn’t want to waste elixir until he had a stable supply.

  Finally, when the servants had brought in the food and drinks, Sable and Commander Kee returned. Sable invited Castiel to join them.

  A servant filled Castiel’s glass with wine, to his great pleasure. The Dirksen leader was treating him like an adult. He lifted the glass and took a large gulp of the alcohol. It didn’t taste as good as he’d thought it would, but he enjoyed the pleasant, hot feeling as the liquid slid down his throat into his stomach.

  When the servants had uncovered all the dishes, they withdrew.

  Castiel took another large swallow of wine. An unfamiliar wooziness began to invade his mind. Over the brim of his glass, he noticed Kee watching him. Was he drinking too much? Castiel set down his glass.

  “Please help yourself,” she said to Castiel. “I hope you don’t mind no servants waiting on us. I hate having people hovering around me as I eat.”

  “I don’t mind,” Castiel said. “Though I’m used to servants.”

  “I guess you must be,” said Kee, “as one of the most important members of the Sherrerrs.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t….” Castiel paused, uncertain as to what would be most beneficial for him to tell them regarding his position in the Sherrerr hierarchy. From things his father had said, he’d guessed that his family hadn’t been as important as Father would have liked. But that had changed on the Nightfall, when Carina and the others had blown up the Dirksen shipyard. “I mean, yes, that’s right.”

  “Your clan must be feeling your loss acutely, I imagine,” Sable said.

  “Yes, they must be,” said Castiel. “Acutely. They don’t have any mages on their side anymore, you see.”

  Was that a flicker of a glance between Sable and Kee? Castiel wasn’t sure, but it didn’t matter. They might think they’d won a tidbit of information, but he was feeling suddenly generous.

  He took a spoonful of food from a dish and piled it on his plate. The wine and the cold of the castle were making him hungry. Sable and Kee also ate and drank a little wine.

  “We guessed the Sherrerrs had some kind of special advantage over us,” Sable said. “We’ve known it for years. The problem was figuring out what it was. I’m glad you’re here to enlighten us.”

  “I’m not only here to enlighten you, I’m here to help you. The Nightfall is only one example of what I can do. There’s plenty more I have to offer…for the right price,” Castiel said, his confidence swelling. Now they were finally having the conversation that he’d wanted all along.

  “Why don’t you begin by telling us all about mages?” said Kee. “I don’t know anything about them.”

  “Mages?” Castiel said. “Where do I start? Let me think for a moment.” He drank some more wine. He felt dizzy and relaxed. “Well, it’s an ability that runs in families. My mother was a mage—”

  “Was?” Kee interjected.

  “Yes. Both of my parents are dead. Anyway, I inherited my ability from her.”

  “Fascinating,” said Kee, resting his chin on steepled fingertips. “Tell me more.”

  Castiel, gratified to have Sable and Kee’s full attention, told them everything he remembered from eavesdropping on his mother’s lessons. He told them about all the Casts he knew, and elixir, and the Characters, and even the snippets about Seasons and other stuff that he’d gleaned, though those parts hadn’t made much sense to him.

  Sable and Kee listened quietly as he spoke, only interrupting to ask for clarification or more details. Castiel’s sense of self-importance grew and he began to embellish his descriptions with stories of services that he’d performed for the Sherrerrs. In truth, it had been Parthenia who had performed most of the feats he described, but if his abilities had developed earlier he would have done them so that didn’t matter.

  Feeling hungry, Castiel wound down and began to eat his food, which had grown cold on his plate.

  “Thank you,” said Kee. “That was very enlightening. Just one more thing. You have sisters and brothers who are mages too, if I’m not mistaken?”

  Castiel’s mouth was full so he only nodded. He’d deliberately left out any mention of Carina and the others. He hadn’t wanted Sable or Kee to get the idea that any of his siblings were more valuable to them than himself.

  “Langley told me that you have at least three sisters,” said Sable. “and we’re aware of a much younger boy who I presume is your brother.”

  Castiel swallowed. “I have another brother too. But you don’t need them. They can’t do as much as I can.”

  “I believe I’ve met one of your sisters myself,” said Kee. “But even if your siblings’ abilities aren’t as great as yours they’re a danger to us nevertheless. Do you know what’s happened to them? Are they still on Ostillon?”

  “I’ve been searching for signs of them, but I haven’t turned up anything yet.”

  “What sort of signs?” asked Kee.

  “It would be reports of extraordinary events, like fires starting for no reason, or people appearing out of thin air. But the war eclipsed all the news reports. I haven’t noticed anything I thought worth pursuing. Though I doubt they’ve left the planet. No domestic ships have departed Ostillon since the Sherrerr attack began, right? I was waiting for the war to end so I could comb the planet for them. They can’t hide forever.”

  Kee frowned. “I heard a strange report only yesterday, not long after the Nightfall was destroyed. A company sergeant said the shuttle transport his soldiers were to board disappeared while it was on the ground at the spaceport. They were going to be court martialed, but when the officials checked the camera footage, the vessel did seem to disappear. Could your siblings have had something to do with that?”

  “An entire shuttle?” Castiel thought about it. He guessed it was possible that Carina might have been able to Transport an entire space vessel. But then the soldiers would have seen the shuttle move, not disappear. Then he remembered their flight from the Nightfall, after Mother had killed Father. Darius had babbled something about how he’d ‘done it.’ Damn. Had Darius made his special Cast again? “It might be possible.”

  Kee cursed. “I bet they’ve returned to the Sherrerrs.”

  “No,” Castiel said. “They would never do that. If they have left Ostillon, they’ve only run away. We won’t be seeing them again.” He was annoyed. He’d hoped to use his siblings for his own ends, but in some ways he was better off without them. Now the Dirksens only had one mage at their disposal, he had more control.

  “I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” said Sable. “If these people aren’t here and working with us, they’re a liability. I’m not going to be happy as long as I know these mages are roaming the galaxy. Kee, I want you to find them. Find out which vessel went missing. Scan the outer system and the heliopause. None of the Sherrerr ships will leave a trace like a shuttle’s. Hopefully, whatever Castiel’s brother did it won’t last forever and you’ll be able to detect something. Follow the trace. They’ll be at the end of it.”

  “If you send a ship after them I should be on it,” said Castiel. “They’re mages. You’ll need my help to capture them.”

  “You think they could defeat a destroyer with these Casts you told us about?” Kee asked.

  “No, but…” It was unlikely that even Carina could repel a large military craft, and Castiel was reluctant to give the impression that any one of his siblings’ powers were stronger than his own.

  “I think we can manage,” said Sable with a condescending smile. “Please get on it now, Kee.”


  “Yes, ma’am.” The commander stood and left the hall.

  If the Dirksens did find Castiel’s siblings, he knew he would have to be very careful. He would have to ensure his brothers and sisters remained under his control and not the Dirksens’. He also had to watch out that they didn’t try to usurp his new position in the clan.

  Castiel was about to take another sip of wine, but his stomach felt bad. His wooziness had increased, and a horrible feeling was creeping over him. He put down his fork. He didn’t feel at all well, and he couldn’t remember exactly what he’d told Sable and Kee. The details were hazy, but he suspected he might have told them more than was wise.

  All of a sudden, saliva flooded into Castiel’s mouth. He only just had time to turn his head and lean over before he vomited. A sour mix of wine and half-digested food poured out of him in great gushes, splattering on the stone floor and splashing onto his legs.

  Hot shame and tears welled up, but there was nothing Castiel could do to stop the humiliating event. His experiences at Sable Dirksen’s headquarters were definitely not turning out so well after all.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The news that the shuttle was out of fuel and they were adrift went down about as well as Carina expected.

  Oriana wailed, “Noooo!”

  Parthenia gave Carina a sour look that said, So you thought you were saving me?

  Ferne was silent and stoic. Nahla didn’t seem to know how was best to react.

  Darius said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Carina.”

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” she replied.

  “Sorry you didn’t tell her what?” Oriana asked. “Does that mean we could have avoided this?”

  “It’s nothing,” said Carina. “Just a dream Darius was having. He thinks we should have gone to Pirine.”

  “Well, should we?” asked Oriana. “What kind of dream?”

  “Look, we’re here now,” Carina said. “There’s no point in talking about what ifs. Our distress signal will be picked up eventually and someone will come along and save us. We have plenty of rations and water. We only have to be patient and wait.”

  Carina was trying to be more upbeat than she felt. She’d deliberately left out the fact that they were in the middle of nowhere, in sparsely trafficked space where cargo transporters and other inter-system craft rarely traveled. Telling her family more than they needed to know served no purpose and would only make them more afraid.

  “So we can look forward to even more weeks of this?” asked Oriana. “I’m not sure I can stand it.”

  “You’re going to have to stand it,” Carina snapped.

  “Yes,” said Ferne. “Stop whining, Oriana. I’m sick of your constant complaints.”

  Oriana’s face fell at this rare rebuke from her twin. She stood up and stalked away. As there were very few places for her to stalk to, realistically, she faced the bulkhead with her arms folded.

  Ferne rolled his eyes but didn’t otherwise react. In the end it was little Nahla who went to attend to Oriana’s sulk. She put a hand on her sister’s back and also faced the wall, perhaps to offer some companionship. Oriana didn’t react but tolerated the little girl’s presence.

  “Okay,” Carina said. “Let’s make a start by figuring out how few ration bars we can eat a day and still survive. We haven’t been keeping count because we thought we had plenty to last us. But we should think about how many we need to not feel too hungry.”

  “We should make a cleaning schedule too,” said Bryce. “We haven’t been cleaning up after ourselves and it shows. This place is disgusting.”

  “You’re right,” Carina said. “Great idea.” Bryce’s suggestion made her feel a bit less alone in her responsibility to save all their lives.

  “Aww, I hate cleaning,” said Darius.

  “How would you know?” Parthenia asked. “You’ve never cleaned anything in your life. None of us have, really. We always had servants to do that kind of thing.”

  Carina tensed. Was Parthenia going to start complaining now too?

  But her sister continued, “So now’s a good time to start. I’ll put together a rota.”

  Carina thanked her, but Parthenia pretended she hadn’t heard.

  The meeting broke up. Carina was wondering if she should talk to Oriana when an alarm sounded in the pilot’s cabin. She groaned. What had gone wrong now? Giving Bryce a worried look, she went to find out.

  The scanners indicated a ship was approaching them. For a moment, Carina couldn’t believe it. How was it possible that another vessel had heard their distress signal so quickly? She was about to shout out the joyful news when a realization hit her. The ship had not hailed them, and it was almost impossible that their signal had been picked up so quickly.

  What was far more likely was that the ship had been on their tail, and now the shuttle had stopped the pursuers had caught up.

  Just when she was thinking they were in a bad way, things had gotten even worse.

  “What is it?” Bryce asked as he entered the cabin.

  “Enemy ship,” said Carina. “I’m guessing it’s the Dirksens’.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe it’s come to rescue us.”

  “Not likely. Not so soon. And I can’t think of a better explanation for a ship suddenly appearing the minute we stop. Can you?”

  “No. So, what do we do?”

  Carina was already running through the possible courses of action in her mind. They had enough elixir for a few Casts. They would have no choice about being boarded. The little shuttle carried no weaponry. The question was, what could they do after that to avoid being taken back to Ostillon?

  Could they take over an entire ship? It would be hard, probably impossible, but they had to try.

  Carina checked the scan readings on the approaching ship. The fact that the vessel wasn’t hailing them confirmed her conclusion this was no rescue. She only hoped that Castiel hadn’t ordered the Dirksens to blow his siblings to pieces.

  But the vessel was a destroyer and already within range to fire. If Castiel had wanted them dead they would be atomized by now. No. He wanted the mages alive and under his control.

  “I hope Castiel isn’t aboard,” said Carina, “or we’re screwed. If he isn’t, we stand a chance. We can use the remaining elixir to Cast the best we can and take command of the ship.”

  “You want to try to take command of an entire destroyer?” asked Bryce, who was watching the display.

  “Do you have any better ideas? We can’t get away from it, and the only alternative to taking it over is to trigger its self-destruct. If we did that we would be right back where we started: adrift with scant hope of rescue”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “Okay, take over the ship is what we do. It’ll reach us in a couple of minutes. I have to tell the others what’s happening and make a plan.”

  But as she stepped past Bryce to leave the cabin, he said, “Carina, wait. Look.”

  She swung around to look again at the display, and her eyes popped. Another ship was approaching. Two ships? Carina checked and double-checked the readings, wondering if the faulty fuel gauge wasn’t the only problem with the shuttle’s instruments. But as far as she could tell the information was accurate.

  “What’s happening?” Ferne asked, poking his head around the cabin door.

  “Uh, I have no idea,” Carina replied.

  Then the first ship fired on the newcomer.

  “What the hell?” Bryce exclaimed.

  A beat later the pulse hit. The second ship appeared to survive the blast.

  “Are they fighting over us?” asked Bryce. “Is the other one a Sherrerr ship?”

  It was the only explanation, but the answer only brought more questions. It was conceivable that the Dirksens had tracked them to their current position by following their trace. Darius’ Cloak Cast would have dissipated eventually. But how had the Sherrerrs found them? Or had they been following the Dirksens’ destroy
er?

  The Dirksen ship fired again, and again the pulse impacted the Sherrerr vessel at close quarters. Somehow, the ship withstood the second blow, and once more it didn’t return fire. Carina watched the battle curiously. She was more worried about what would happen afterward than which side won. The mages’ fate was equally dicey whatever the outcome.

  Carina couldn’t understand why the Sherrerr ship wasn’t returning fire. Its captain didn’t seem to be trying to engage in a parley.

  Then the readings went crazy. A split second later, something hit the shuttle. The force of the impact threw Carina against the bulkhead. Her back collided with a strut, and the next few minutes were confused chaos as the vessel tumbled over and over. Carina was flung around the pilot’s cabin, colliding with Bryce. She put her head down and tucked herself into a ball to minimize the damage to her body.

  Finally, the tumbling slowed enough for Carina to grab the back of the pilot’s seat and steady herself. Bryce was out cold, bobbing next to the ceiling. Blood welled from a cut on his head, forming a thick pool of red that dispersed in globules. The a-grav was out.

  “Bryce.” Carina pushed against the shuttle console with her feet to reach him. He moaned and his eyes opened. He was coming around. “Bryce, can you hear me? Are you okay?”

  His gaze focused on her. “I’m all right, I think. Head hurts.”

  Letting go of his shirt, Carina propelled herself into the main cabin of the slowly spinning vessel. The children were scared and crying. There were several bumps and grazes, but no one seemed to have suffered a serious injury. The piles of makeshift bedding had served as buffers between them and the hard shell of the cabin interior.

  “What’s going on?” Ferne asked. “Is someone attacking us?”

  “I don’t know,” Carina replied. “I don’t think so.” If either of the battling ships had wanted to destroy the shuttle they could have done so easily and no one would have had time to register what had happened.