by Elin Wyn
Odeon was in much better shape than I had remembered, and seemed to be happier.
That made me unhappy.
“What the hell is all this?” I demanded. “You…”
Odeon held up his hand to stop me. “I understand that you’re confused, and that your confusion is causing you to lose your calm and to act out. Please, enjoy some bread and cheese and try to calm down.”
“Calm down! What the hell are you talking about?” I yelled. “I think I’ve got the right to be a bit angry and to lose my calm. You were supposed to be dead, and then I find you here, alive? What the fuck, Odeon?”
He took a deep breath and set down his tea. “First,” he started, his voice beginning to pick up that tone he had with me when I was younger and had made a mistake. “You will keep your voice down in my home. You are still that temperamental little woman I raised that hasn’t learned how to be quiet. Secondly,” he folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. “My name is no longer Odeon. I go by Viekat now. Vy-eh-kat. Understand?”
I threw my hands in the air. “Why should I give a shit about your name? Fucking tell me what is going on.” My voice was shrill and was getting louder. I felt Sylor’s hand on my shoulder, but I shrugged him off. “Why did you fake your death?”
Odeon, or Viekat, whatever the hell his name was, sighed and fitted me with his infamous impatient stare. “Young lady, this is my home. You will not disrespect me in my home. Do you understand me?” The calmness in his voice only infuriated me more.
I opened my mouth to yell, but Sylor spoke before me. “I believe, sir, that Nesta’s confusion regarding your situation has been a bit much for her. She looked up to you, counted you as a mentor and a parental figure. You must understand the loss and now sense of betrayal that has caused her to take leave of her senses.”
I stared at Sylor, my eyes hurting from how wide they were. How in the hell could he be nice to this guy right now?
“You may very well have a valid point there. If you don’t mind my asking, which one of the races are you? I haven’t quite learned them all yet.” Viekat…I didn’t think I would ever get used to that name…put on his polite face for Sylor, one that I recognized. It was the face he usually used when he was trying to gain someone’s trust right before he scammed them.
“I am a Valorni. We are a warrior race,” Sylor explained. I was happy he didn’t provide much more information than that.
“Ah. I understand,” Viekat said with a nod. “That would make the others the Skotans and the…Kyveers?”
“K’vers. They are a very technological race. They augment themselves using technology to help gain an advantage over other species or races,” Sylor said proudly. While he wasn’t one of them, I knew that he had emulated them when he created the tech-sleeve he wore on his left arm, where he only had three fingers left.
I shook my head. “No.”
Both of the men looked at me in confusion.
“No,” I repeated. “You’re not going to get away with ignoring me. I want an explanation, and I want one now.”
“Well, at least you finally said it calmly, little mouse,” Viekat said with a smile.
“Don’t call me that,” I growled.
He laughed. “You always did hate that nickname, didn’t you?” I didn’t respond. I wanted my answers and I wasn’t going to let him change the subject. “Okay,” he said with a clap of his hands. “I’ll be straightforward with you. I needed a change.”
“A change!? What the fuck do you mean, you needed a change?” I asked, surprised to hear my voice stay so calm and quiet. I decided not to be quiet anymore. “You raised me. You taught me how to steal, how to hide, and how to manipulate people. You fucking raised me, asshole!” My voice was loud, but not yet at the point of screaming. “How could you just abandon me like that? How could you abandon Sabre?”
“Don’t,” he said with a shake of his head. “Don’t try to make this personal.” He took a long drink of his tea while I fumed. How the hell was I supposed to not make this personal?
He continued. “Sabre was failing.” His voice was stern and quiet. He was no longer interested in hearing my demands. “Sabre was falling apart, there was nothing left for me to do with it. I was close to disbanding it anyway.”
“What?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was done. The people of Nyheim were starting to get used to our games anyway, so when the Xathi attacked, I took the opportunity to get out and start over. I knew certain people wouldn’t just let me leave, so I faked my death, had a little work done, changed my name, and came here.”
He raised his hands and moved them to have us take in the entire building. “I could never have had a place like this back at Nyheim. I won’t apologize for making my life better and creating a better business.”
“But,” I said, my voice shaking, “why did you leave me?”
“That was my one regret,” he said, his voice almost a whisper. His eyes dropped and he seemed to shake a little as he took in a breath. When he brought his head up, his eyes looked red. “When the Xathi attacked, you were on a run and I couldn’t find you. I wanted to bring you with me, but I couldn’t wait for long. I had to act. I’m sorry, my dear. I really wish I could have brought you with me.”
I was struck silent. He wanted to bring me along. He hadn’t forgotten me. Wait. “Wait,” I said out loud. “Why haven’t you come for me, then?”
“I wasn’t completely sure you were still alive. I had planned on sending one of my runners to Nyheim to look for you and invite you to come here, then I heard about the dome and figured there was no way to get to you.” He reached across the table and took one of my hands in his own. He had never done that, at least not like this. “Stay. Here. With me.”
My heart pounded. I didn’t know what to say.
“Come back into business with me and I’ll make you my right hand,” he said when I didn’t respond. I looked over to Sylor. He didn’t look happy, he actually looked a little sad. I felt sad. I didn’t want to leave him, but I didn’t know anything about his life. I knew this life. I was good at it.
I couldn’t think about him.
I needed to think about the life I had known. The life I had lost.
I waited for Sylor to say something.
To stop me. To tell me that I couldn’t leave the mission.
That I couldn’t leave him.
I wanted him to stop me. To tell me to turn away from my old life. I needed something from him.
He just looked at me impassively.
“Your mission is complete with me,” he said.
That was it.
I was just the means to getting the toxin.
He didn’t care any more about me.
I turned to Odeon.
I nodded, slowly. “Okay.” Sylor’s face fell.
As did my heart.
Sylor
I was dumbfounded. After everything, she had chosen to stay with the man that had left her, that had forsaken her to start a new life under a new identity. He was lying, I was sure of it. He had no intention of being the man that she knew.
However, it had been the only life she knew and he had offered her a chance to return to it. I could not fault her for wanting to return to what was familiar.
Which made our parting all the more painful and difficult. “Are you sure you wish to stay here, with him?” I asked as we spoke quietly in a remote corner of the warren. We had come to this corner because the closest stall was nearly fifty yards away, and the closest anyone walked was nearly ten yards away. We had our privacy, at least from prying ears.
“This is my home,” she said quietly. “Sort of, anyway. This is all I’ve ever known.”
“You’ve known me,” I interjected.
She smiled sadly. “I know, and I’ve loved our time together. Well, you know.”
I nodded.
“But, what good would I be to you out there? You guys are fighting some sort of war against this vine creature. What wou
ld I be able to do to help?” she asked, her hands on my chest.
I gently grabbed hold of her hands. “You were the one to help me find a way out of Nyheim. You knew where to go to find the toxin. You’ve been a tremendous help to me.”
She shook her head, a single tear threatening to fall from her eye. “That’s just it, that was all I knew. I don’t have anything left to offer.”
“You know that’s not true,” I countered. “I thought we were getting to be close.”
She turned her face down, her voice slightly muffled as she spoke to the ground. “We were, and I don’t want it to end, but…this is where I belong.”
I could feel that I wasn’t going to change her mind. I kissed the top of her head and pulled her in close to me.
“I’m going to miss you,” she whispered. She turned her head up towards me. “I’ll come visit you, I promise. And you need to come visit me.”
I nodded. “I will,” I whispered, not trusting my voice.
“And you have to tell me how the toxin works. I mean, if it’s successful or not, okay?” She pulled away from me and looked up. “Come back here if it doesn’t work and I’ll help you find another solution, I promise.”
“I will,” I said, surprising myself at how strong my voice sounded. I had fully expected it to be husky, or broken, but it came out strong and certain. I did wish to return to see her. I leaned down and kissed her, one last time. When we finally parted, her eyes were filled with tears.
She pulled herself away from me and left.
Well.
I made my way back above ground. The sun was already making its way towards setting, marking the time at mid-afternoon, or later. I had a long walk ahead of me.
I started toward the forest, thinking about all that had transpired over the last few days, my thoughts circling, doing a poor job of distracting me from the ache in my gut.
I had come to trust Nesta. My feelings for her had grown into something that was important to me. I felt certain as to her capabilities. I trusted in her ability to take care of herself.
It was him that I did not trust.
I knew, deep down, that Odeon was a liar. He was conniving, deceitful, and about as trustworthy as a Xathi.
I had turned myself around, twice, within Duvest’s city limits in confusion. Now, I turned myself around again and started heading back towards Duvest and Nesta. She needed me, and I needed her.
I no longer simply wanted her, I needed her. Her absence was a tangible thing. This wasn’t logic. But it was fact.
As I got to the edge of the forest, I stopped. What had I been doing? What had I been thinking? She was a strong, stubborn, amazing woman that had survived for nineteen years in a dangerous underground environment.
She would be able to handle things…so I hoped.
I turned back around and headed back to Nyheim, determined to put my duty first. If Nesta wanted to return to the life she’d had before me, then I would return to my life before her. I had the toxin that was needed, I had to return it to Tella and Leena.
I respected Nesta, trusted her.
I needed to trust myself.
My trip back to Nyheim took several hours, it was after midnight when I returned to the hole. I lowered myself down, dropping the last couple of feet and landing heavily. The last time I was in here, Nesta had been curled into a ball, shaking uncontrollably. It had been that moment, that bit of vulnerability that had caused me to treat her differently. I started to treat her as a person, not as a common thief.
It was because of that change that I had begun to have feelings for her, that I had come to trust and believe in her. I shook my head to clear it. I couldn’t think of her any longer. I had my duty to attend to. I crawled out of the tunnel and made my way quietly through the underground. I found my way back to the surface and began to make my way towards General Rouhr’s office.
My only problem was that it was far too early in the morning. Everyone was asleep, and it would be inconsiderate to rouse them. They would be better suited to do their work with a full night’s rest.
So I entered his building, greeted the night guard, and sat down on a bench.
“Should I notify the general that you’re here?” one of the guards asked.
I shook my head ‘no’ and stayed sitting on the bench.
I had a long time to think about everything before the general arrived, a bit startled to find me sitting on a bench in the entrance to his office building.
“When did you get in?” he asked as he strode into the building and past me.
I rose from my seat and stepped in line, directly behind him. “A few hours ago, sir. I did not wish to wake you that early in the morning.”
From the movement of his head, I could tell that he had rolled his eyes. “Punishing yourself again for something?”
“No, sir. Merely attempting to be considerate, sir,” I responded. He led me to his office, motioning for me to sit. I took the chair he indicated and sat. I reached into my pack and removed the case with the toxin.
“Is that what you went looking for?” he asked as he sat at his desk.
“It is, sir,” I answered as I placed the case on his desk. He stared at it for a moment, then looked back at me.
“Report.”
“Nesta and I made our way to Duvest and spoke with a local herbalist. She directed us to a set of caverns where a creature called a Kouldarc lurked. Its teeth excrete the toxin, it’s how they kill their prey. I managed to kill one of the beasts with a modified round of my blaster. Nesta extracted the teeth before the creature was able to disintegrate,” I explained.
“Disintegrate? Really?” he asked in wonder.
“Aye, sir. It turned to dust right before our eyes,” I said with a nod.
“And what happened after that?” he asked.
I hesitated as I took a deep breath. “We left the caverns and began our return.”
He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. “Did you put her back in her cell when you returned?”
I was forced to shake my head in answer. “No, sir. During our return, she managed to escape. I was unable to locate her and made the decision to return with the toxin. I felt it was the more prudent decision.”
He smiled knowingly. I doubted that he believed my amended report, but it did not matter. The important matter at hand was that the toxin got to Leena and Tella, soon.
“Well, that is true. Take the toxin to the ladies, then get some rest,” he ordered.
“Aye, sir.” I stood, gently picked up the case, and gathered the rest of my gear.
“Actually,” Rouhr said, stopping me. “Why don’t you take a few days off? You’ve been busy and look as though you deserve it.”
“I thank you, sir,” I said as I lowered my head, “but I must decline. I will take this to Doctor Leena and Tella and provide them with whatever information they need from me. After a few hours of sleep, I will return to duty. Sir.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “You look exhausted.”
“I understand, sir, but my duties call,” I answered. “I must attend to them.”
He gave a sort of half-shrug and gave a resigned sigh. “Alright. If you won’t take the time off, then provide the women with the toxin and whatever information they need, then get some rest. I expect you to work on some sort of delivery device for the toxin.”
“I will, sir.” I left his office and took the toxin to the laboratory. Inside the lab, I presented Leena and Tella with the toxin, warning them to be careful, the teeth were still dangerous.
I answered all of their questions regarding the Kouldarc and the extraction of the teeth, including what I was able to discern of the caverns in which it lived, but ignored any questions they had about Nesta.
When they were satisfied with the information I had provided, I left them and went to my quarters. I cleaned myself off, washing away all the dirt and dust, then laid myself down in bed.
I wondered about Nesta
before falling asleep.
Nesta
I had thought that things were going to go back to how they were back when Sabre was my life. I could have been more wrong, but I don’t think by much.
Back when Odeon was running Sabre, we took care of the people that worked with us. Basically, we scammed the surface people that weren’t poor and used the resources we got from them—sometimes legally, most times not—to take care of Sabre and everyone that worked with us. We had been, maybe not exactly family, but close to it.
We never resorted to violence unless it was in self-defense, and even then, we tried to make sure that the violence was only enough to get away, not to cause any real harm. If anyone went ‘off the reservation,’ as Odeon put it, and caused a lot of damage, a lot of harm, they were dealt with. They were ostracized, shunned, and—in extreme cases—turned over to the authorities on the surface.
But, no matter what, we took care of each other and only messed with the people that had the means to survive our wheeling, dealing, and scamming.
Yeah.
That wasn’t the case anymore. Odeon had changed and I didn’t like it. I wasn’t happy with the way he was running things now. He went after everyone, even the people that trusted him. He smiled in their faces, told them all the right things, then still did what was best for him. He had me working with one of his goons, some guy so ugly, I didn’t even bother remembering his name, and had sent us out into the warrens to collect.
We collected ‘payment’ from several people, and most of them looked as though the ‘payment’ was all they had left. When I brought it up with Odeon, he just shrugged at me. “Everyone needs to pay. We can no longer afford sympathy,” and then he would send me on my way.
I was already struggling with the new direction he was taking things, but when he sent me after Gamma Prym, that was the last straw. Goon-boy walked with me, not telling me where we were going. He just said, “We’re getting payment,” and left it at that. It drove me nuts.
When we got to Gamma Prym’s door, I was on the verge of rage. “Go in, get payment, come out. Keep it simple, don’t be stupid,” he told me as he pushed me towards Gamma’s door.