by Cheree Alsop
Ludow unhooked the chain of her manacles from the bar. Liora took the first step from the dais and paused when her knees threatened to give out. Rist put a hand to her elbow but she shrugged it away. The touch felt too much like something Tariq would have done.
She followed Ludow from the room. The moment the door slid shut behind them, her legs gave way and she fell to her knees on the floor.
“What’s going on?” Ludow demanded. He crossed his arms and glared down at her, his orange eyes showing his distaste for the mind-push he had been forced to endure.
“I knew you were just being strong,” Rist said. He bent as though he intended to pick her up.
“I’m fine,” Liora snapped. She rose shakily, but couldn’t get herself to walk forward.
Rist ducked under her arm without waiting for her to protest.
“Ludow isn’t known for his patience,” he said quietly. They had walked forward for a few steps when he continued with, “And it wouldn’t be a bad idea for you to show a little less strength up there.”
At Liora’s questioning look, he said, “If you could garner a bit of compassion, it would help you in your hearing.”
Liora awkwardly moved her chained arm from his shoulder and shoved him away.
“Does it occur to you that I might not want compassion?” she demanded. “I don’t need you to care. I didn’t show them what I did so that they could feel empathy for me. I wanted them to understand the kind of threat the moss entity posed. If I am held in contempt to their so-called Council, I’m certain they will hold my army to the same, whatever is left of them. I’m not going to stand by and watch them tear my brother and warriors apart the way they appear so eager to do to me.”
Liora’s chest heaved after the rant. She wasn’t sure where the angry outburst had come from, but was aware that she had finished at a far louder decibel than she had intended.
Before she took another step that would potentially land her on her face, Rist ducked under her arm again. She would have thwarted his efforts to help her, but to do so would require much more energy than she had left. She was angry at herself for expending it in such a useless way.
They had passed through several halls behind the straight-shouldered form of Ludow when Rist spoke again.
His voice was quiet when he said, “You may have plenty of enemies up there, Liora, but don’t count me among them.”
Liora didn’t reply. She knew the number of people on her side was limited, especially given their views on her use of the planet’s energy. A Damaclan knew when to make enemies and when to garner favor in the light of having an ally against stronger foes. She knew Tariq would frown on her sliding back solely to her Damaclan heritage, but she was in survival mode. If she chose to live life as a human, she would have already died from the gaping hole in her heart left by Tariq’s death.
Food waited in the small room when Liora was led inside.
“Enjoy your last meal,” Ludow said with a smirk on his purple face as he unlocked her handcuffs.
“It’s not her last meal,” Rist snapped, his dark green eyes showing his fury. “For someone who acts in the name of justice, you sure are anxious to see an innocent die because she dared to save others.”
Ludow stormed out of the room.
Rist let out a breath. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have let my temper get the best of me.”
Liora glanced at him. “If my temper got the best of me, he’d be dead right now.”
Rist helped her sit on the pallet and took a step back. “I suppose I shouldn’t underestimate you; though you look like you’re going to fall over at any moment.”
Liora hated that her exhaustion showed. She leaned back against the wall, then sat up again when pain coursed through her stitched wounds. She eyed the food.
“It doesn’t look like much,” Rist said. He cracked a smile. “I wish I could tell you it tastes better than it looks, but the Council definitely needs a better cook.”
Liora pushed the tray away.
Rist gave her a searching look. “I didn’t mean you shouldn’t eat it. You need the nourishment.”
Liora met his gaze, her expression flat.
Rist held up his hands. “Sorry. I forgot. No empathy. My bad.” He walked to the door. “I’ll be back with Ludow as soon as the hearing is ready to start again.”
When the door shut, Liora fell to her side on the bed. Her muscles quivered and the strength she had tried so hard to maintain left her. She could feel the weakness of infection seeping through her body. There was no doubt all the time between receiving her injuries and getting them tended to had taken their toll.
Sweat broke out across her skin and it was all she could do to pick up the bottle of water and put it to her lips. The liquid tasted flat and chemical, but she gulped it down. She let the empty bottle fall from her hand to the floor. The clatter rang loudly in the tiny room.
It felt like she had just closed her eyes when the door slid open.
“Time for the hearing,” Ludow’s gruff voice broke through the haze of her nightmare.
Liora opened her eyes and stared at the bare wall for a moment.
“What is that?” there was a strange note to Ludow’s voice as if something had caught him off guard.
Liora sat up slowly and glanced over her shoulder to find him looking at her back. For a moment, she couldn’t remember why he was there. The pain of her wounds and the haze of the nightmare made it difficult to focus her thoughts.
“I told you she was wounded,” Rist said. “She’s bleeding through the bandages, but they won’t give me permission to work on her again.” He pushed past Ludow and crouched in front of Liora. “I brought you some more water,” he said, his voice quiet.
She took the bottle he held out and willed her eyes to focus on it.
“Can you stand?” Rist asked.
Liora nodded. She rose without a word and held out her hands for Ludow to cuff them again.
He did so with more care than before.
“Are they too heavy?” he asked.
Liora gave him a searching look. He dropped his gaze.
“I, uh, didn’t know about your back. I saw those creatures attack you in your memory.” Ludow stopped talking as though he felt uncomfortable. He lifted his shoulders and said, “I guess I didn’t put the two together.”
The change in his gaze when he looked at her said Rist’s theory of gaining compassion from the Council wasn’t a bad one. The problem was that Liora didn’t want empathy from anyone.
“I’m fine,” she said. She pushed past them both. “Let’s get this over with.”
She heard the talking in the Council hall before they entered. It fell to silence once more when she stepped onto the dais. Ludow locked her handcuffs to the bar and she held onto it for support with the hope that no one else noticed.
“Liora, are you alright?”
She looked over to see Brandis leaning forward to peer around Ludow. To her surprise, the purple-skinned man stepped back so she could see her brother better.
“I’m fine,” she replied.
He smiled, but she could tell by his expression that he didn’t believe her.
“This hearing will begin,” Ludow said. “Has the Council reached a decision?”
The silver-haired woman’s smile carried less peace than it had earlier. “Unfortunately, our Council is divided on the matter of Liora Day’s use of planet energy to destroy the entities.”
“Also, there is a question of the entities themselves,” the dark green, scaled man said from his podium. “We do not have enough proof to accept the existence of Ketulans.”
“She showed you her memory!” Brandis said, his tone incredulous. “She lost Tariq because of them and had to save your men and women. How can you deny that?”
“There is not conclusive evidence of—”
Liora cut the man off. “I am done playing your games.” The strength of her words echoed around the hall. “Are your own warriors playthings to
be thrown away without a care? If so, I want nothing to do with your Council. You can only turn a blind eye for so long until your ignorance results in your failure.” She looked at the rows upon rows of Council members above her. “If you want to deny the presence of the Ketulans, so be it. If you want to dismiss what I have shown you as random synapses of my imagination, then do so. But if you truly speak for the good of the Macrocosm, you will take heed when I tell you that I am not your biggest threat. Look to your neighbor, because he or she will be the cause of your demise.”
Liora turned her gaze to the silver-eyed woman. “A council of fools has the ability to cause far more damage than they ever will good.”
The woman bowed her head in acknowledgement. She was about to speak when grating, humming sounds bombarded the hall.
“What is that?” Ludow asked.
Liora knew exactly what was coming.
“Unlock me,” she said.
Ludow shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Your safety depends on it. Unlock me!”
The roof tore free. Ludow turned from her to stare in horror at the droning mass of Ketulans entering the great hall with their blades raised.
Chapter 16
The first Ketulans picked up members of the Council on the highest levels and dropped them to their deaths below. The first body hit the ground in a mass of blood and bones. Screaming erupted and chaos ensued.
Liora pulled on the bar, but the handcuffs wouldn’t give.
“Ludow, release me!” she demanded.
He fumbled in the pocket where he had put the key. The body of a huge man with ten tentacles hit the edge of the dais next to them and burst, spraying them with blood and bile. An arm fell through the air and landed next to Ludlow.
“I can’t,” he said with apology and panic in his gaze. He took off running.
“Liora!” Brandis called.
He vaulted over the podium and landed next to her. Pulling the knife from his sheath, he fought to break the handcuff lock.
The whirl of Ketulans droned louder. A glance up showed that the ceiling was masked by their metal bodies. Liora shook her head.
“Brandis, get everyone out that you can.”
He shook his head with a defiant expression. “I’m not going to leave you here to get picked apart at their leisure!”
“You know me better than that,” Liora said. “I’m going to destroy them, but I can’t have anyone nearby. Clear out the Council members and I’ll be their only target.”
“That’s what I’m trying to avoid!” her brother protested.
Liora grabbed his hand. Her chain rattled.
“Brandis, listen to me.” She held his gaze, pushing the order as much as requesting it aloud. “Anyone who stays here will die. Get the warriors and clear the Council members out.”
His attempt to deny her failed in the face of her command. Brandis nodded.
“Fine, but when they’re out, I’m coming back for you.”
“I’m counting on it,” she replied.
She followed his progress through the room. The warriors, which she hadn’t noticed before, had been seated in the far back corner nearest the floor. They rose as soon as Brandis reached them. Though they didn’t have weapons, their attack on the Ketulans was violent and thorough.
Liora watched Korgutan rip the arm off one of the machines and stab its power cell with its own claw. He tossed the claw to another of the warriors and removed a second from the fallen Ketulan. Soon, warriors and Council members alike wielded makeshift weapons as they worked their way to the doors. Those men and women above who had survived the Ketulan attacks barred the doors behind them so the Ketulans couldn’t escape.
“We were wrong.”
Liora felt the loss in the woman’s words. She saw the silver-haired woman crouched beneath her podium, her gaze on the bloodshed above.
“You were right,” she continued as if she knew Liora listened. “You weren’t our greatest threat.”
“Ignorance is always the biggest threat,” Liora replied. “Ignorance and the belief that we are the foremost predator in the Macrocosm.”
A Ketulan swept low. Liora ducked beneath the bar. The machine hit it in an effort to reach her. Liora grabbed its claw before it could draw back and jerked down, using the bar as leverage to break the claw from the arm.
In the same motion, Liora rose from the other side of the bar and slammed the Ketulan with her elbow, knocking it to the ground. She crouched and drove the claw into the power cell. The Ketulan vibrated, then stilled. She looked up to see three Ketulans bearing down on the woman.
“Over here!” Liora shouted. “Come get me!”
The Ketulans didn’t appear to notice.
Liora picked up the Ketulan at her feet and spun within the confines of her handcuffs, flinging the body across the room. It hit one of the other Ketulans and fell to the ground. That got their attention.
All three Ketulans raced toward Liora. She looked around quickly, but there was nothing within reach that she could implement as a weapon.
Liora made use of the bar for leverage. She swung beneath it and focused her momentum to drive her foot into the first Ketulan. It slammed into the second, jarring them both. Liora took advantage of their distraction to focus on the third.
It swiped at Liora’s head. She dodged to the side, but the chain halted her movement. The Ketulan clipped her cheek with its blade. She felt blood well up from the shallow wound. Liora grabbed onto the bar and kicked. The roundhouse connected with the side of the Ketulan, sending it into its companions.
“Ludow!”
Liora glanced over to see the silver-haired woman cowering from the advance of six more Ketulans.
“Over here!” Liora shouted.
The woman met her gaze. Liora motioned.
Though leaving her shelter meant facing the attacks of the Ketulans, the woman did as Liora directed. She left the podium and dodged several bodies while the Ketulans, intent on her death, followed at her heels. The sounds of their grating and humming rose. Liora feared she wouldn’t make it in time.
Liora put her hand to the floor, angling her other arm around the bar to give her enough clearance to do so. She didn’t care if she had the Council’s approval or not. A glance up showed that the majority of the Council members had left the hall. The cloud of Ketulans that bore down on her and the other woman told of their certain demise. She hoped Brandis had gotten to safety. She would only have one chance.
“To me!” Liora called.
The woman dove onto the dais, her arms and legs streaming blood from the Ketulans’ attacks. Liora crouched over her with one cuffed hand on the ground.
“You can count this as the third time I violate your treaty,” she said.
“Screw the treaty,” the woman replied.
Liora grinned and pulled.
The energy took longer to reach her with the building between her and the planet’s surface. The claws of the Ketulans bit deep into the rents down her back. Liora sucked in a cry of pain, then it tore from her lips. The energy from the planet reached her, flowing up her arms and massing in her chest. A Ketulan shoved a claw beneath her right shoulder blade. Liora’s cry turned into a savage yell. She shoved the energy upward with all of her might.
Her handcuffs melted away and the Ketulans above her exploded in an arc. At Liora’s second push, the arc moved higher, searing through the majority of the Ketulans in the great hall. Liora rose with the arc above her head. She directed it at Ketulans in every alcove and on every stand. They rained down, metal body parts falling toward the floor only to be consumed by the energy Liora held above her head. She waited until the last Ketulan was destroyed before she let the energy vanish.
When Liora dropped her arms, it felt like the weight of the small planet weighed them down. She fell to her knees next to the woman, her gaze still searching the area above them for signs that any of the Ketulans had survived.
Liora glanced at the silver-haired
woman. She lay bleeding on the dais, her silver eyes wide as she stared around at the bodies and blood that littered the floor. The woman met Liora’s gaze and her body started to shake.
The fact that someone else needed her tore Liora from the shock of what had happened. She was grateful for something else to focus on.
“Let’s get you some help,” Liora said.
She ducked under the woman’s arm and helped her to her feet. Slowly, carefully, they stepped over the bodies of Council members and Ketulans. Blood made the floor slick so that they had to hold onto each other for support. Liora was grateful when they made it to the door and left the great room behind.
“Where should I take you?”
The woman’s silver eyes stared blankly at her for a moment, then she shook her head and her gaze focused.
“To my quarters. Down the hall to the end.”
The moans of wounded people, hysterical screaming, and others who tried to sort through the chaos met them at the next hallway. A glance to the right showed that the path was filled with members of the Council. They were too preoccupied with their own injuries to notice Liora and the woman go past.
The silver-haired woman was shaking so badly she could barely walk. Liora was grateful when they made it to the end of the hallway. The woman had enough presence of mind to put her hand to the door. It slid open and both women stumbled into the room.
Liora grabbed a blanket from the closest couch and put it around the woman’s shoulder. Her pale skin streamed with small cuts and gashes from the Ketulans. Liora could tell by the woman’s distant gaze that she was about to go into full-blown shock.
“Do you have a medic?” Liora asked. The woman didn’t respond. With her adrenaline fading rapidly, Liora didn’t have the strength to remain standing any longer. She dropped to her knees in front of the woman and repeated the question, her words slurring slightly, “Do you have a medic?”
The woman focused on Liora with some effort. She gave a shallow nod and said, “Susa.”