The first four women came at her and Aja dispatched them quickly. Kyr saw that she merely incapacitated them. She didn’t kill them.
Four more came and four more and four more.
As each woman fell, she was helped out of the way and another woman took her place. Kyr watched in silence and he wondered how much longer Aja could remain upright. Her legs shook and she bled from numerous wounds.
While she made very attempt to spare her opponents, their clear intent was to kill.
A woman stalked out of the crowd, tall and strong as a man. She tossed her veil aside and grabbed a set of bloody knives from the ground.
Kyr recognized death when he saw it and his heart shattered.
Aja had to be nearing the end of her strength, yet he watched her weave away from a vicious slash and open a deep cut on the woman’s arm.
There was a slight movement in the crowd and a distracting murmur went up. A child, perhaps three or four suns, raced into the open space, stumbling between Aja and her opponent just as the woman struck with both hands. Someone cried out and a veiled figure ran forward when the girl fell, blood spurting from a torn jugular.
Kyr began to move toward the arena, but the Empress laid a gentle hand on his arm, stopping him. He saw Aja drop to her knees beside the child. She turned her back on her opponent. Discarding one of her knives, she used the other to slice deep into her own palm and she pressed her hand against the child’s neck.
Aja’s opponent closed.
The woman tested her, stabbing at her side.
Kyr saw Aja flinch, but otherwise she made no response. Blood began to flow from the deep wound. He braced himself for the killing blow he knew was coming. She would go for the neck. He could already see it. It’s what he would do in the same situation.
A quick, hard, jab to the back of the neck and it would all be over. Aja would be gone and his life would mean nothing.
Intent upon saving the child, Aja ignored the woman as she moved in for the easy kill.
To Kyr’s shock and relief, at the very last second the woman lowered her knife and prostrated herself in the sand. He watched, dumbstruck, as every single woman in the crowd did the same.
Aja didn’t appear to notice. Eyes closed, she concentrated on healing the child. Silence fell over the square like a hot, heavy, oppressive blanket. It seemed as if even the insects dared not move. Kyr held his breath.
At last Aja sat back on her heels, her chest rising and falling in shallow pants. She removed her hand from the child’s neck. The little girl stood and toddled into her mother’s open arms. There was not a mark on her.
The women rose to their feet and a great cry went up. Kyr had never before heard such a cacophonous ululation.
The women fell upon Aja, touching her, slicing their own hands and pressing them to her open wounds. Kyr lost track of her in the crowd and he was anxious to leave the dais, overjoyed and eager to see for himself that she would live.
The Empress stopped him. “Let them have their moment with her. She is their Empress. They will heal her. They will follow her now. They will die for her. She is the one they have waited for.”
Kyr glanced at the woman. “You sent that child out into the arena.”
The Empress nodded.
“And you would have let her die. You would have let them both die.”
The Empress inclined her head in Kyr’s direction. “But they did not die, young man. Aja Bokinan proved herself worthy. She proved herself worthy of the child she carries. Thy daughter. Ye have seen the child, no? With golden hair and violet eyes?”
Kyr felt himself blanch. “You are a monster.”
The woman sighed. “We do what must be done. Aja is Our chosen descendant. The test was necessary.”
“I wish to go to her.”
“Go then. They will move aside for ye.”
Kyr inclined his head.
“Ye would have killed Us, eh, young man, for her sake?”
“If I could have succeeded, yes, I would have killed you.”
“Well.” The old woman smiled at him. “Ye are an honest man. Go to thy lover.”
Hands and blood… Hands and blood all over her body. Aja could hear them, the deafening sound of their thoughts, their hopes, their fear, their excitement. She held still, allowing them to heal her, to take her blood, knowing she had no choice but to accept this for now.
This was the path she would walk, but not in the way they wished. Not in the way the Empress Ya anticipated. She would not become their new goddess.
Aja smelled Kyr before she felt his arms lift her from the ground. Exhausted, she rested her head on his shoulder and tuned out all of it, the heat, the sweat, the blood, the sand, everything but Kyr’s warm, familiar, comforting scent.
She didn’t know where he was taking her and she didn’t care. Kyr would live and she might live long enough to bear his child. Nothing else mattered.
“Forgive me.” The Empress Ya bowed to Aja. “Foul times require foul tests. Ye have succeeded. These women are thy troops, thy pilots; thy first wave. They will never abandon ye, even if ye abandon them.”
Aja helped the older woman to sit on a cushion. She sat beside her. “Will the women I injured live?” she asked.
“Yes. All have been healed,” replied the Empress.
“Will you return to your time, then?”
“Yes. We shall return as soon as We have finished with thee. There is much to tell.”
“You have ships for me?”
“Transport ships. Rangers. Fighters. Supply vessels. All equipped with lase cannon and artillery. Well-stocked with food stuffs, weapons and body armor. Ye can outlast them if it comes to that.”
“It will not come to that.”
The Empress bowed again. “As ye say.” She turned to Kyr. “Ye will report all this to thy brother and his forces.”
Aja watched Kyr nod his agreement. His presence brought her peace. His absence would leave a hole in her heart, but she knew they would not be apart for long.
“Where did you get the ships?” Kyr asked the Empress.
The Empress glanced at Aja.
“My mother left them,” Aja replied. “Thirty-one years ago.”
Kyr raised his eyebrows. “I’m not sure I want to, but I’m beginning to understand more and more about this Seeing business. Your mother foresaw the need and she planted them here in advance?”
Aja nodded.
“And the women warriors? Did she plant them here too?”
Aja reached for his hand. “They have lived here for generations. They are descended from my half-brothers.”
“Your half-brothers? Aja, I’m starting to get a headache.”
Aja grinned. “The Empress Ya—”
“We borrowed them, young man,” the older woman interrupted. “They dwell in the past with Us now, on Persephone. We needed men of the Blood, of the same Blood as Aja so these women, her troops, would recognize her and follow her.”
“It’s not a wonder any of you go crazy, it’s a bloody wonder any of you stay sane,” Kyr muttered.
Aja and the Empress smiled at his frank observation.
Aja squeezed Kyr’s hand. “Come. Let’s look at the ships and you can tell Karna and Ennat what you’ve witnessed. I’m sending a pilot back with you. She can return you to the depot faster. I don’t want to… I can’t risk…” She looked into his eyes. “I can’t risk losing you. Not now.”
His hand gripping hers was warm and reassuring. Just as his body moving within hers had been barely an hour ago when he’d carried her into this fortress and they’d been provided a room, a bath and some privacy. Kyr had helped her return to life.
“I can handle myself,” he replied.
Aja smiled at her lover. “Of that, I have no doubt. I simply wish to send an emissary with you and she can get you there quickly. She can link with Ennat and that will be of great help to me as we coordinate our plans. We can’t risk any direct communication.”
S
he looked into Kyr’s eyes and she knew he understood the wisdom of her decision even if he bristled at the implication. The corner of her mouth turned up. Although the two of them hadn’t spoken of it, she’d experienced the vision too, the little girl with Kyr’s golden hair and violet eyes. The Empress Ya had confirmed it.
A new beginning for her line. And an end.
She drew Kyr’s hand to her mouth and kissed it. “Thank you,” she said.
“For what?”
“Kyr, the answer is, you’re welcome.”
He laughed and Aja watched as a world lifted from his shoulders. “We’ll live, will we?”
“Well, one can only hope.” She jumped to her feet. “Shall we inspect my troops? And then you can get the hells out of here.”
“Ah, you mean before the new Empress has her way with me again?”
Aja laughed. She saw the twinkle in the old Empress’ eyes. “Yes, love, that’s exactly what I mean.”
Book II: Return
Aja and the Empress Ya stood side by side in the setting sun, watching as the Ranger, carrying Kyr and a very capable woman named Vane, flashed.
“Ye are exactly what We expected, and yet, not at all,” the Empress said.
“Yes,” replied Aja.
“Ye have no desire for power, for the throne.”
“No. I will do my best for the people and then I will let them alone. Since life first arose from the primordial swamps on ancient Earth creatures have lived and they have died. I have no wish to control the circumstances.”
“Ye have already changed the circumstances with the child ye carry.”
Aja caressed her flat belly.
“And thy sister, Ennat?”
“She will follow my lead.”
The Empress stared off into the distance. “This We had not foreseen, the end of Our line.”
“Ah.” Aja placed a gentle hand on the older woman’s arm. “It is not the end. In time all things are repeated. On your deathbed you will utter the same words recorded in ancient days on Earth by another queen—In my end is my beginning. And there is my other sister, Tem. Her presence through time will ensure we never die. The Blood will not vanish altogether. Your line will continue, although perhaps not as you’d hoped.”
“Is it for the good, We wonder?”
“I have no idea,” replied Aja. “And I don’t intend to seek the answer.”
“Well.” The Empress’ voice was dry as dust. “Now We know what Our final words shall be.”
Ennat waited in the shadows near the landing pad. Karna had insisted Kyr would not return for several days, but she’d awakened with the notion that he would return by nightfall, or what passed for nightfall on this asteroid. She prayed that meant Aja still lived and there would be news, news of her mother and her step-father and her brothers.
She’d harbored a secret hope that it was their mother who would meet with Aja on Eir-Edan. The signature she’d detected was definitely of the Blood, but Ennat hadn’t been able to discern anything beyond that.
Men, supplies and weapons had begun to arrive this morning. Karna had overseen their distribution. While the Coalition hesitated, the Resistance was moving their own transports into strategic positions. Karna and the other military commanders thought to strike preemptively at the Coalition’s military outposts. Ennat had asked them to wait for Kyr’s return, but the men were impatient. They wanted to strike while the iron was hot.
She didn’t blame them. With General Bom still abed and his advisors either afraid or indecisive, it seemed a good plan. However, Ennat had the nagging feeling there was something else, some piece of information they were missing. She’d discussed her thoughts with Karna first thing. He’d come to trust in her intuition so completely that he convinced the other commanders to grant her some time.
It wasn’t easy for men who had grown to adulthood without a flesh and blood Empress to trust in a woman’s judgment. Their grandmothers, their mothers, their sisters and their daughters lived very circumscribed lives.
Women had been banned from receiving anything more than a rudimentary education. They couldn’t travel outside of their home compounds unless a male relative, a husband or father or brother or son, sought and received special permission from the provincial governors.
They were allowed to train as midwives, but only because male physicians were not allowed to attend births, even to save the life of the mother or the child, but the midwives weren’t allowed to accept any coin for their services, merely trade goods.
The only other occupation open to women was that of whore, either chitta whore or ishat. A chitta whore was the lowest of the low. The women were recruited from the ranks of the poor and the widowed, women who had no man to support them. If they had children, they were either abandoned, or perhaps worse, taken with their mother to the house of the madam. Their daughters were often given to men who preferred children.
The thought made Ennat shudder.
An ishat, on the other hand, might have an easier life, at least until she lost her beauty and therefore her source of support. If she was lucky, she’d be matched with a male patron who would treat her with kindness and provide for her in old age, perhaps acknowledge any children she bore him. Poor families with promising daughters brought them to auction in the larger settlements. Buyers could take their pick from all corners of the galaxy. The money an average family earned from selling one child could provide them with enough coin to buy foodstuffs for five suns.
Because the men of the Coalition feared a backlash, her own family had been spared such a fate. In comparison, exile had been kind to the three sisters.
Ennat wondered how men would react when women resumed their rightful place in the Empire. Even the men of the Resistance might take issue with Aja’s plans. Many of them had no memories of their own to draw upon, only the stories they’d heard from their parents and grandparents, the stories told at night when all was quiet and families were certain there were no listening ears or prying eyes.
Ennat tilted her head back and looked up toward the stars. The space above her shifted. She moved out of the way as a Ranger dropped out of flash drive right above her and landed on the shaved rock surface.
Ennat wondered who was flying. It wasn’t Aja, but neither was Kyr at the controls. Ennat could sense the woman was of the Blood.
“Please call Commander Aram,” Ennat instructed one of her guards. “Tell him his brother has returned.”
The engines powered down and the gangway was lowered. Kyr exited the craft followed by a tall woman with the tell-tale mahogany hair and gray eyes.
Ennat stared at her, trying to get a read, but her efforts proved unsuccessful. Kyr and the woman headed straight for her.
“Lady Ennat.” Kyr inclined his head in a formal fashion. “This is Vane. Your sister has sent her as emissary. Vane.” He turned toward his pilot. “The Lady Ennat, sister to the Empress.”
The woman’s bow was correct. Ennat nodded in return, curious to know more, but concerned about the number of people in earshot.
“Then my sister is…” She didn’t need to finish the sentence. Kyr’s face told her everything she needed to know.
“Your sister is safe, for now.” The warmth in his voice stood out in contrast to the anxiety in his eyes. “I need to meet with Karna and the other commanders as soon as possible, along with you and Vane.”
“Yes, I’ve sent a guard to inform your brother that you’ve returned.”
Kyr strode past her, hurrying into the station. The woman, Vane, waited beside her. “Then you are to be the link?” Ennat asked.
“Yes, my Lady.”
“Come with me, please. We’ll stop in my cabin before we meet with the men.”
“Yes, my Lady.”
Ennat took her hand and led her inside.
Ennat and the woman called Vane joined Karna and Kyr for the strategy session. Ennat kept her hand firmly in Vane’s. She acted as a conduit to Aja light-years away.
; Both women listened without interruption as Kyr described the situation on Eir-Edan, the pilots, the women warriors, the supplies and armaments.
Ennat agreed with his decision to twist the truth about the startling appearance of the Empress Ya and the origin of the colony of women. Let the men of the Resistance believe the women had sought refuge on that planet after the coup. Vane understood the reasons and she held her peace.
Karna held up a hand to stop the discussion and he turned to Ennat. “When will Aja arrive with the ships and her troops?”
“Within two days,” Ennat replied. “She’d like to load our troops directly onto the transports and…” Ennat stopped and cocked her head. “Commander Aram, may I speak with you privately for a moment?” When Karna nodded his agreement, she said, “Please excuse us, gentlemen, we will return shortly.
“Listen carefully to what they say,” she whispered to Vane, dropping her hand to follow Karna from the room.
Karna stopped just beyond the meeting hall, but Ennat pointed to her cabin at the end of the corridor. They entered her room, closing the door behind them.
Karna said nothing. His eyes asked the questions.
“Aja doesn’t want our plans known until she is ready to act. Word could get out. I heard a sound, but I couldn’t locate it.”
“What sound?” asked Karna.
“The very small sound of fear. We can’t risk betrayal. Victory is too close. Aja and her pilots and the women warriors will arrive with the ships in three days. We will fill her transports with the best of our men and arms.
“She plans to lead the armada directly through the Tionay Nebula to Matsu. She will blockade the planet and capture the Imperial capital. But we must force the Coalition to scatter their troops throughout the Empire right now. We must force them to commit before Bom is recovered and able to command. Do we have enough men and ships to do that?”
Karna grinned at her, his exultation evident now that the battle was about to begin. “Yes,” he replied. “More than enough. Three days gives us time to decoy them away from Matsu. Yes. Perfect.”
The Daughters of Persephone, A Space Opera Special Edition Page 13