“You’re telling me this woman is the same burn victim that was delivered to you several months ago?”
“I have detailed records to prove this is the case, yes,” Ilene said.
“Sounds more like you ought to be calling the FBI,” Mike said. “Maybe Agents Mulder and Sculley can help you better than we can?”
“Don’t be a jackass, Mike,” Luke said.
“Don’t tell me you believe this?”
The room was spinning around him. Luke couldn’t shake the sense that the man without hands and this woman were somehow connected. The man also had a similar unusual complexion—and blue hair. “Why is her hair that color? Is it some kind of dye?”
“She had no hair when she arrived,” Ilene said. “But, yeah, I confirmed it’s her natural hair color.”
“If she’s not dead, why keep her on ice?” Mike asked.
“Because the refrigeration slows down her regeneration,” Ilene said, her voice filled with excitement, almost joy. “Don’t ask how I found that one out.”
Mike’s quivering brown eyes focused on his. “What are you thinking, Luke?”
“You don’t want to know,” Luke said.
“Well, I’d like to know,” Ilene said, covering the body and pushing it back into the cooler. As it shut it made a loud shushing noise.
“When did you say she was discovered?” Luke asked.
“Several months ago,” Ilene said. “A truck driver discovered her on the side of the highway sometime before sunset.”
“Do you know the date?” Luke asked.
Her expression told him that she knew he was very serious.
“Let me look it up.” She dug out her phone. “Subject was discovered along the highway on July fifth at about 7:45 pm.”
Luke felt his breath catch in his throat.
“What is it?” Mike asked. “You okay, Braddy?”
Luke’s eyes were drawn back to the cooler where the Jane Doe lay. There was a familiar...pressure coming from that body. He felt lightheaded.
“Yeah,” Luke lied. It felt like something was clawing through his head. He couldn’t stop seeing the man without hands, sitting in that county jail cell. The look in his eyes.
He remembered looking at the clock then and thinking he should have called Adrienne an hour ago. The time stuck out like a sore thumb.
“That’s about the time that Cory Johnson called in about the man without hands,” Luke said.
CHAPTER EIGHT
KIRANA
Kirana hadn’t slept for most of second moon, and not just because of the humiliation she’d endured in the Hall of Trials.
Father and Takarus had been up most of the night. At first it had started as a quiet conversation, but soon it had devolved into a shouting match. Father did not approve of Takarus’s relationship with the son of Kyrties; he’d demanded that he stop fraternizing with the boy immediately, and told him that there would be severe consequences if he didn’t comply.
“It is time that you and your sister take your training seriously,” she’d overheard Father saying. “And that starts now.”
“That’s not fair!” Takarus had screamed.
“It is not meant to be fair, son.”
“He’s my friend and you can’t take that away from me!” Takarus had shouted, running up to his chambers and slamming the door shut.
If Kirana was honest, she’d always wondered why Father hadn’t done so sooner. Perhaps he’d merely wanted to give Takarus the chance to see the boy’s corrupt nature for himself?
She didn’t want to leave her bed, or the soft linens that she held close to comfort her from her disgrace. It would be tempting to stay up here, locked at the top of the tower where no one would have to look at her.
It was terrible to admit it, but it was painfully obvious with the first two moons of punishment over.
On the first day, after Dirkus the Third had beaten Sage and Reysha, it had been her turn. She had still been in shock at the display she’d seen from both of them. To think that the son of Kyrties had learned how to use pure Sulen. And Reysha’s power was equal to his. Both of them stood on a plateau far above her.
Dirkus had held back against her, and yet all it had taken was two blows to force her to give up. The look of disappointment in his eyes...she could hardly bear it.
At least it wasn’t Father who had seen her disgrace.
Even today, when Dirkus had forced them to balance on the Pillars of Thought above the ever-burning fires, Sage and Reysha’s stamina and will seemed to be far beyond hers.
“Do you delinquents know the significance of this test?” Dirkus had asked them.
Kirana had not hesitated to answer, “The ever-burning fires represent us as we were, our war with the Shar. The balancing pillar is us as we are now, struggling to remain out of sight, balancing at the edge of extinction. To successfully balance over the fires is to show that you understand this, that you respect where we come from as a people.”
“Wrong,” Dirkus said.
“What?” Kirana almost fell from her perch.
“That’s some nonsense that some philosopher came up with,” Dirkus had said, clasping his hands behind his back. “The truth is, this is a test of endurance. But it’s the easiest of the Trials. If you can’t get through this test, then you should give up any hope of completing the Trials. And instead of making you do this for an hour, you’re going to do it until the bells toll for second moon.”
“That’s not possible!” Kirana had shouted.
“Perhaps not for you.” Dirkus had gestured to Sage and Reysha, whose eyes were closed, completely focused. “But it appears your rivals don’t feel the same.”
In the end, she’d lasted halfway until second moon before she lost her balance...but Sage and Reysha had seemed like statues. They didn’t make it the entire way to the bells, but they came damn close.
Dirkus had seemed satisfied with this.
She cursed herself for having allowed those delinquents to surpass her.
How dare they!
The question was...how could she even begin to close such a large gap before the start of the Trials?
The answer seemed obvious...but she hadn’t dared to show her face to Father since her outburst at the cathedral.
No one was stronger than Father. Well, at least no one who wasn’t an Elder.
After next moon’s punishment, she would ask him to train her personally. She knew he held back in the lessons he gave to their class.
He won’t refuse me, she thought. Right?
Another hour passed and she found that she still could not sleep. There was a strange, familiar feeling permeating the city, and it felt like it was moving toward the Hall of Trials.
She left her soft linens and went to her chamber window. Outside, the city looked as it always did at second moon. Empty. Except for one person, far away in the distance The son of Kyrties was moving through the city.
What are you up to, oath-breaker? she thought.
Before she even knew what she was doing, she found herself opening the window and scaling down the outside of Father’s tower. The Tower of the Guardian was situated high above the city, and had watch stations placed at strategic places throughout the tower, below the living quarters at the top. Valier loyal to Father and Geidra would take turns trading shifts through second moon, watching for signs of trouble.
Kirana avoided those rooms by climbing between them.
“Commander had another spat with that boy of his,” she overheard a male Valier say.
Her heart was in her throat. For a moment she was almost certain that she’d be caught. What if she wasn’t good enough at suppressing her Sulen? What if she made too much noise?
What am I even doing out here? Kirana thought.
Do you see what you’ve made me do, Son of Kyrties?
“That little shit is never going to be a Valier,” a female Valier said. “He’s too weak.”
“This new generation is so di
sappointing. I’m almost glad I never had children.”
“As if a female would mate with you.”
“Hey! That’s not true... I’ve had potential mates. I just, I’m so devoted to my people, you know?”
“Trust me, women talk about these things.”
“What? You do?”
“Yeah, we get into big meetings and there’s nothing to do but talk about the men in our lives.”
“And...” the male Valier sounded desperate. “And what do they say about me?”
“Well, nothing really. You haven’t done anything of note.”
“I’ve done things of note! I spent three processions in Minia, you know how big that city is? There’s a lot of Shar there.”
“Yeah, big deal. If the legends are true, Commander Kiel’s killed armies of them. Now there’s a warrior.”
“I could if I ever saw one...”
“Don’t worry, I believe you. The other women though...”
Once she was certain the Valier hadn’t detected her, Kirana kept moving. On the ground, she took off after Sage’s Sulen, sticking to the shadows and using only her muscles.
If he was attempting to leave the city, she would catch him. She imagined the stupid look on his face when she finally did catch him, and the pride in Father’s eyes when she turned him in.
The son of Kyrties would be exiled, and she would only have Reysha to contend with in the Trials.
2
Kirana crept down the long cavernous tunnel leading to the Hall of Trials. The Olloketh crystals gave the damp walls an eerie feel.
Outside the Hall of Trials, she heard shouts and explosions and felt a tremendous amount of Sulen building inside. What would she catch him doing? Beating someone to death? Vandalizing the Pillars of Thought? Or violating the ban on training within the second and third trial chambers?
Kirana pushed the doors open and peered inside.
Sage was...just training. He was practicing his lightning, fire, and...something else. He was going over his tracks from his fight with Dirkus the Third with his eyes closed.
What are you doing? Kirana thought.
Then, he placed his palms in front of his body, sweat beading atop his brow, and a white ball of pure Sulen materialized in front of him.
His eyes shot open and he tossed the ball of Sulen forward, allowing it to explode on the floor...and then he did it again!
Even he was taking this seriously.
And what was she doing with her time? Stalking him. Why was she wasting so much of her time following this boy, hoping to catch him in some kind of mischief?
Kirana knew the answer, even if it was too painful to dredge up memories from fifteen processions ago. The nightmares still came. Watching helpless from some tower near the cathedral as they battled...as Mother and Kyrties’ mate died.
It was hard to recall everything that she’d seen. She had been so young...but she remembered the look in the traitor’s eyes as he faced down Father.
No one was stronger than Father; but the traitor had stared Father down, and there had been no fear in his eyes.
Father insisted that the traitor was dead...but Kirana feared there was no killing someone with such evil in their heart.
Sage let out another violent shout, and more pure Sulen flowed from his palms.
Kirana’s brow furrowed; she clenched her teeth.
You want to be a Valier? she thought, grinning. We’ll see about that.
CHAPTER NINE
SAGE
With his suspension over, Sage returned to his lessons. Unlike every other first moon, Sage was early today, finding the training caverns sparsely filled with groggy students.
Each training chamber was marked with the names of their two instructors. Commander Kiel was the primary instructor of his chamber, and Captain Tullis was the one who filled in when the Commander had more important matters to attend to, like surface missions. But with the Trials looming so closely, Kiel had taken a keen interest in preparing his students.
Tullis also trained other groups, and many of the Captains traded training duties with one another, but not Commander Kiel. For whatever reason, his focus was on Sage’s class.
Sage found his training chamber. The Olloketh crystals lit the faces of the few students that had arrived before him with a dim blue light. Kirana glared at him; Takarus smiled, but hesitated.
“Takarus,” Sage said. “Haven’t seen you since the summons.”
Takarus nodded. “Father has Kirana and I doing drills with him now.”
“Brother,” Kirana said, turning her scornful gaze on her brother. “Do not speak of your training to the enemy. Remember what Father said.”
Takarus sulked. His golden eyes looked...sad. “Right...enemy.”
“What’s she talking about?” Sage asked.
“Father says I’m not allowed to see you anymore,” Takarus said.
“What?”
Sage didn’t know what to say. He’d been friends with Takarus since day one of lessons; there wasn’t anything that they didn’t get into together...
“Did you not hear him?” Kirana said. “He can no longer afford to be held back by associating with tainted blood.”
Fires licked at Sage’s heart. His fists tightened, and as he turned to Kirana, he saw there was real fear on her face. “This tainted blood’s served me quite well in our punishment, wouldn’t you say?”
Kirana’s mouth dropped wide.
“I’m sorry, Sage,” Takarus said. “Father says I’ll face consequences if I disobey him...”
“Whatever, man, do what you feel is right.” Sage blew past him and got in his row, second-to-last from the back of the chamber.
He couldn’t help but imagine how good it would feel to crush Kirana in the Trials. Ever since he and Takarus had become friends, she had made it her personal mission to spoil any amount of joy in his life, especially when it came to his friendship with Takarus.
Just when I think Kiel’s looking out for me, he does this, he thought. Bastard.
To think—just ten processions ago, the first time he’d come to this chamber and gazed on the crimson and black flags that marked the walls of the rectangular chamber, he’d been excited to partake in lessons with his brothers and sisters...
And he’d found nothing but anger in the eyes of the other children, his peers. All but Takarus.
Takarus had been the only one to dare to speak to him that first moon. It wasn’t much of a surprise that he’d choose his father over his friendship with Sage...but that didn’t mean it hurt any less.
Maybe it was my fault, Sage thought. Maybe I caused too much trouble for him.
At least he’d get to see her later...
He would have to deal with many more days of punishment, but—and maybe this was a little crazy—he was actually starting to look forward to it.
Reysha seemed a little abrasive...but not really in a bad way. So many of their peers were the spitting images of their parents, right down to their beliefs, but she seemed different. He wasn’t sure why, but when she looked at him, he felt a strange warmth in his gut.
He hadn’t slept much before the bells tolled for first moon. Balancing over the ever-burning fires hadn’t caused him to faint, thankfully, but the rest of his body had felt like it had caught fire. It took every muscle in his body to keep his pillar from teetering over.
The pillars were each fixed to some kind of gear system that caused them to tip and fall when any amount of weight was applied to the platform.
Kirana had fallen first, and Sage had laughed so hard that he’d nearly fallen from the platform. Dirkus had chastised him for his outburst and he’d apologized.
In some ways, Dirkus’s teaching methods were easier to deal with than Kiel’s.
Kirana had been sent ahead of them to the Temple of Ara’ka, leaving them to balance on the pillars for a few more hours.
Sage had been the next to fall—he remembered thinking that it might have been due to his
excursion to the surface—and Reysha had fallen right after him.
Dirkus dismissed them to the temple, telling them that next time they had better make it until the bells tolled.
Reysha had followed him the entire way to the temple; they’d said little to each other. He wondered if she’d been as nervous as he had been.
Wren had been there. He’d stopped to say hello, and she’d bowed, giving the usual pleasantries required while she was on the job.
Reysha had been standing close by, sporting a strange expression on her face as he addressed his friend.
“How are things in the Urdys Quarter?” Sage had asked, not really knowing what else to say. It was always difficult to say what he really wanted to when they weren’t alone...he never knew who was watching.
Wren had smiled nervously, glancing around to make sure no one had been observing them, then she’d loosened up a bit. “The same. I’m glad to see you’re okay. I heard you came in pretty beaten-up yesterday.”
Sage nodded. “Yeah, Dirkus forced us to spar with him.”
Wren seemed offended by this. “Why?”
“Because we’re weak,” Sage said, staring at his hands. “I think... I think he’s training us.”
“That’s some barbaric training...” Wren said.
“Yeah?” Reysha broke in. “Well, I guess a healer wouldn’t understand.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sage asked.
“Why are you bothering to talk to this undesirable?” Reysha asked.
“She’s my friend,” Sage said.
Reysha scoffed, glared at Wren, and walked on.
“I see you’re making new friends,” Wren said, a strange look in her eyes. “She’s pretty.”
Sage watched her go, that warming feeling in his gut returning. “Does she really believe that?”
“It appears so,” Wren said, smiling. “It’s okay though, nothing I’m not used to. You should get to your chamber, I’m sure Argis is waiting.”
“Argis is healing me today?”
“Apparently, the acolyte assigned to you yesterday has fallen ill.”
“Strange.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Wren was already walking away, waving goodbye. “I’ve got to go!”
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