The Lady And the Order [Sunsinger Chronicles Book 4]

by Michelle Levigne

  “Who?"

  “Sshhh!” Ganfer said nothing more, though Bain held his breath and waited.

  Then Bain realized that it wasn't his heart he heard thumping in his ears, but the heavy tread of approaching feet. He opened his eyes and looked at the smear of light on the floor.

  A shadow moved across the light, then the light vanished altogether. A moment later, the door creaked loud and low. It sounded like a heavy door, reluctant to move on old, sticky plastic hinges. Light flooded the room, revealing the dirt floor, mounds of an odd, purplish brown straw, and the dirty, cracked, mud-smeared plastic walls.

  “Awake?” The man who looked a little bit like Jax chuckled and stood in the light so Bain couldn't see his features; just his vague outline surrounded by white-gold haze.

  Details are important, Sister Marnya had said. Bain didn't know why he remembered those particular words, except that perhaps he couldn't make out any details of the man who had kidnapped him.

  He felt sick again. He hadn't realized until that moment that he had been kidnapped.

  Fi'in, please help me, he prayed quickly.

  Ganfer had said they were on their way. Bain hoped they were Jax, Lin and Sister Marnya.

  Details. That word came back to him. Bain tried to think of what to say.

  “Afraid?” The man took four steps into the room and stopped. “You should be, little boy."

  “I'm not—” Bain stopped, coughing hard enough to make his head spin.

  While he tried to regain his breath, he remembered how the older children at the orphanage always treated the little children like they were stupid. They were always surprised when one of their victims fought back. If the man thought he was a little boy, would he get careless? Would he think Bain couldn't do anything to fight back?

  “Where's my mother?” Bain asked, when he could speak again.

  “Your mother?” The man laughed. “She's not your mother."

  “She is! She adopted me three months ago."

  “Is that a fact?” He snickered. “You don't know anything about your mother, do you?"

  “She's a teacher."

  “Yeah. A teacher. I should have known better than to grab a stupid, useless kid."

  “Yes, you should have known better,” Sister Marnya said from the doorway behind him.

  He turned, moving faster than Bain thought a person could move. Sister Marnya moved faster. She leaped through the stream of light, spinning and leaping so she hit him hard, kicking him in the face with the hard heel of her boot and then in the chest with her other foot. The man let out a yelp, cut short with a choking sound. He fell backwards, arms flailing, and hit the floor with a loud thud that sent clouds of dust and chaff flying through the air.

  Marnya leaped, landing on him with both knees. Her fists flew, arms pumping like windmills. She pounded him, three blows with each fist. Then she stopped and pressed both hands against his neck. In the sudden silence, her gasping breaths were loud.

  “Sister Marnya?” Bain thought maybe he was wrong. He had thought his kidnapper was Jax, sitting in the shadows. Maybe this wasn't Sister Marnya.

  She didn't look like Sister Marnya. Not the Sister Marnya he knew. She wore a form-fitting black singleton, with a compartment belt slung low around her hips. A hood covered most of her hair. She carried a beam-burner in one holster and a multi-dart in the other holster. Her face was pale, set in stern lines, with a flush of exertion making two dark pink slashes across her cheeks.

  “Oh, Bain, I'm sorry.” She slid off the man's chest and stumbled across the dirty floor to him. Sister Marnya dropped to her knees next to him. She pulled a knife from the sheath in her calf-high black boot and sliced the rope holding his hands. “I put you into danger. I never should have listened to you. I should have sent you back to Sunsinger as soon as we realized there was trouble stalking us."

  “It's really you?” He let out a gasp of pain when he tried to push himself upright. His hands were cold and felt like pins stabbed through flesh and bone.

  “Of course it's me.” Sister Marnya wrapped both arms around him and hugged him hard. She sniffed and made a face. “Sorilex. I forgot how awful that wretched stuff smells. I'll bet you feel sick and dizzy. Your head is going to hurt in a little while."

  “It hurts now,” he admitted.

  “Lin and Jax are somewhere around here. There were so many buildings, we had to split up to look for you.” She helped him stand up. Her hands were strong, digging into his upper arms to support him as Bain struggled to his feet.

  “Only two others?” the kidnapper said. He chuckled as Marnya turned around, startled. The sound came muffled from his swollen mouth. He sat up now, his face bloody and twisted into a mask of anger. He held something at his side, out of Bain's line of sight.

  “I seem to be making quite a few mistakes lately,” Sister Marnya said. She pressed her hands into Bain's shoulders and guided him to stand behind her.

  “Definitely. You didn't think we would send an ordinary Human after the wise, invincible Sister Marnya, did you?"

  “I didn't think anyone realized I had left Vidan,” she admitted. Her hand slid down her side to the multi-dart.

  “No!” he shouted.

  A bright, green-blue bolt of light split the air, crackling with explosive energy. Bain let out a yelp and threw himself sideways, out of the line of fire. Sister Marnya shrieked and fell backwards, clutching her burned arm.

  “You shot her!” Bain roared. He struggled to his feet—then halted when he saw the beam burner in the man's hand, pointed directly at him.

  “Dorrel is the most deadly shot who ever betrayed the Order,” Sister Marnya said between teeth clenched in pain. “Don't give him an excuse to shoot you, Bain."

  “But—” The boy gave up. He didn't know what to say. The smell of melted plastic and charred flesh and spilled blood made the air thick and closed his throat so he could hardly breathe, let alone speak.

  “Stay behind me,” she ordered.

  “Oh, yes, hide behind the lady,” Dorrel sneered. He struggled to his feet. Bain was glad to see the man was unsteady. “It's gratifying to see you haven't forgotten anything Commander Raf and I taught you."

  “Traitors like you make it necessary to keep up my self-defense skills.” Sister Marnya tried to sit up. She couldn't manage, holding her injured arm with her good hand. Bain scurried over on his knees to help her.

  “Traitors.” The man spat, hard, making a loud plopping noise in the straw and dirt. “The Order is wasting its time, helping ordinary Humans, Marnya. We have the in-born abilities to rule the universe. When are you going to admit Kilvordi was wrong?"

  “Fi'in gave us our talents with a responsibility,” she said between her teeth. “Superior strength and intelligence means we must use it for the good of everyone, not to make ordinary Humans our slaves."

  “Idiot.” Dorrel slid his gun back into the deep pocket of his long coat. He wiped the last of the sticky, drying blood off his face. “Get up. By now, my guards have taken care of your two friends. We'll have a nice, friendly little reunion before...."

  “Before what?” Bain couldn't help asking.

  “Believe me, little boy, you don't want to know.” He laughed when Bain glared at him.

  Bain helped Sister Marnya stand. She leaned into his support and she trembled. Bain bit his lip, imagining how badly her burned arm had to hurt. Yet, she didn't make a sound.

  Funny, but her arm didn't look like it was bleeding anymore. Bain could still smell the burned, melted plastic smell of her jumpsuit, but the blood and burned hair smell had faded. He looked a little closer.

  The burn wasn't as wide or as red on her arm. It wasn't bleeding anymore.

  “Careful,” Sister Marnya whispered. She pressed a finger to her lips, signaling Bain to quiet.

  “Come on. We have a ship to catch,” Dorrel said. He led the way to the door and turned to face them. “I'm sure our leader will be delighted to make you his guest until you cha
nge your mind."

  “You might as well kill me now,” she said. Her voice didn't tremble with pain like it had before. “I won't change my mind or betray my vows to Fi'in and to Kilvordi."

  “You will.” He grinned and gestured at the open door. “Come along, High Scholar Sister Marnya.” He bowed, making a grand, sweeping gesture.

  As he stood up straight again, his mouth open in a wide grin, a silver streak darted from Marnya's hand to his chest.

  Bain stared at the knife imbedded nearly to its black hilt in the man's chest. A slow river of blood started to stream down his chest, marking the pale blue shirt. Dorrel slowly looked down at the knife. A tiny gasp escaped him, and a thin trickle of blood escaped the corner of his mouth.

  His knees buckled. Like a slow-motion image, Dorrel gradually, almost gently tumbled backwards into the dirt and straw.

  “Take this,” Sister Marnya said. She pressed her multi-dart into Bain's hands. “Stand guard, but be careful no one sees you in the doorway.” She pushed the boy toward the open doorway, and then stumbled across the floor toward their downed kidnapper.

  “Is he dead?” Bain asked. He leaned against the wall. His knees felt rather weak and his stomach wanted to turn upside down again. He couldn't seem to get his gaze off Dorrel and that knife sticking up out of his chest.

  “Not yet. He's a quick healer, just like me, but if we leave that knife in him, he'll bleed to death before his heart and lungs have a chance to heal.” She dropped to her knees next to the man and started emptying the contents of the tool pouches in her belt.

  “But—he tried to kill—can't you let him die, then?"

  “Bain, what is the use of being good people if we do the same things our enemies would do?” she asked, raising her voice a little over the hiss of the antiseptic spray.

  “Huh?"

  “He would have left me to bleed to death. I know that. But if I say I am a good person, a servant of Fi'in and protector of Humanity, and if I hold to my vows to the Order of Kilvordi, I can't let my enemy bleed to death. All life is sacred, whether the person using that life is good or evil.” She braced herself, kneeling against Dorrel's hip, and yanked hard on the knife. It came out with a soft shriek and a popping sound.

  Bain winced and looked away.

  “If I walk away and let my enemy bleed to death, I will be as guilty as if I stood here and stabbed him until he died,” she continued. She sprayed more antiseptic, then pulled out the pump bottle of coagulant and squirted it into the wound. “Sometimes, doing the right thing is doing something you'd rather not do."

  “Like being nice to bullies,” Bain muttered.

  “Exactly.” She let out a gasping little laugh. “Besides, we can take him prisoner while he is recovering and when Kilvordi's Dream gets here, we'll take him on board and question him and learn more about the Shadows. Maybe we'll even discover who their leader is."

  Bain understood now. Her reasons made perfect sense. He wondered, though, why she had lectured him on doing the right thing and life being sacred. Bain suspected this was one of those things he would figure out when he was older.

  “How's your arm?” he asked. Bain hoped that was a safe subject.

  “Fine.” She raised her arm just for a moment, exposed brightly in the light from the door. Then she went back to work.

  Bain stared anyway. Except for the scorched and melted edges of her missing sleeve, there was no sign of burn and bleeding on Sister Marnya's arm.

  He was going to be sick again. He just knew it. Bain knew it was stupid and he hated his rebellious stomach, but what else could he do?

  “Bain?” Lin's voice startled him.

  He jerked around, facing out through the door again, and brought up the multi-dart into firing position. Lin stopped four meters away and stared at the weapon in his hand. She slowly raised her hands and forced a crooked smile onto her lips.

  “Are you all right?” she asked.

  “Sorry.” Bain lowered the gun. He nearly dropped it and had to clutch tight at it. That made him even more aware of the feel of the grip and trigger and the round magazine holding tranquilizer, exploding and acid darts, waiting to be fired.

  Lin crossed the open space between them and stepped into the building. She looked at Bain for five long heartbeats, so intently the boy thought maybe she could read his thoughts. Then Lin wrapped her arms tight around him until he almost couldn't breathe.

  Suddenly, Bain felt much better.

  * * * *

  “That's why Order soldiers always try to go to the front lines in any conflict,” Sister Marnya said.

  Lin, Bain, Sister Marnya and Jax had gone back to Sunsinger once the spaceport security forces showed up. The guards took charge of Dorrel and his four assistants and promised to lock them into the most security prison facilities they could find, until Kilvordi's Dream appeared. Sister Marnya asked Lin if she and Jax could stay on Sunsinger until her ship arrived. Lin had been glad to oblige. She had also insisted on checking Marnya's arm in the medical alcove, once they returned to the ship.

  Except for a lack of the fine, golden white hairs on Marnya's arm, there was no sign at all that she had been shot. Bain sat on the floor next to Lin, and stared. He knew about Marnya's rapid healing. She had told him about it, after all. Still, he couldn't get used to it.

  “We take bigger risks,” Sister Marnya continued, “specifically because we do heal faster. It's harder to kill us. Why should we let more ... fragile Humans risk themselves when we can take more damage?” She managed a thin smile for Bain and Lin.

  “That doesn't mean you should make martyrs of yourselves,” Lin said. She shook her head as she started putting away the medical equipment.

  “If we don't make ourselves responsible for other Humans, we become like Dorrel and his friends,” Jax said. “In the Order, we know we're different. Our bodies are stronger and faster. We're practically indestructible. We either consider ourselves servants to our fellow Humans, or we make the mistake of considering ourselves better. Eventually we think we have the right to rule, and we lose all respect for life. We can't let that happen."

  “We who benefit from the genetic engineering of our ancestors owe the rest of the Human race,” Sister Marnya said. She started to roll down the sleeve of her clean shirt.

  “Why?” Bain wanted to know. “It's not your fault. You didn't ask for it to happen to you. The wars over genetic engineering weren't your fault, either."

  “True. But we can't walk away from the pain and damage and loss in this universe and say that since we didn't cause it, we aren't responsible. Everyone is responsible, one way or another.” She reached out one hand and brushed a few strands of hair off his forehead. “Like the Spacer oath, everyone is my son and daughter, my mother and father, my brother and sister."

  Someday, Bain thought, when the war with the Mashrami is over, maybe Spacers and the Order can work together and we can help everyone, faster and better.

  He wasn't sure yet if it could be done, or how. He only knew a new organization to protect and aid the far-flung colonies of the Commonwealth was needed. Why shouldn't he be the one to do it?

  END

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  About The Author

  Michelle lives in Strongsville, Ohio, just about half an hour from Lake Erie and Cleveland. She graduated from Northwestern College, Iowa, with a BA in theater/English, and from Regent University, Virginia, with an MA in communication (film/writing). She has over 40 short stories and poems to her credit in fan fiction—Star Trek, Highlander, the Phoenix, Beauty & the Beast, Stingray, among others. Her first professional sale was also a first-place win in the Writers of the Future Contest, with the short story “Relay.” This story introduced one of her favorite “Barbie Dolls,” Rhea Jones. She's a pivotal figure in a series of books Michelle calls Wildvine County. Someday they'll even see print....

  “Sunsinger” belongs in a universe Michelle created called “The Commonwealth.” Bain and his adventures are about 3/4 of the
way through the planned books—there's a lot of history she's still fleshing out. It's great fun, having

  Visit her personal web site, members.aol.com/MLevigne/open.html, to see some of the other universes Michelle plays in, and other books available.

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  OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE THROUGH WRITERS EXCHANGE:

  SUNSINGER BOOK 1: Bain Kern wanted to crew a starship and explore the galaxies. But an orphan on a colony world in the path of an alien invasion had no real hope of his dreams ever coming true.

  SPACER'S CREED: SUNSINGER BOOK 2: Bain's prayers were answered: Captain Lin Fieran wanted him to stay on Sunsinger and be her crew for another evacuation trip to Lenga. When they got there, everyone had already been evacuated, so they went to the next world in the path of the Mashrami invasion.

  DEAD WORLD: SUNSINGER BOOK 3: Bain and Lin meet up with Ranger Captain Gilmore again. Gil has an important mission for Sunsinger's crew: helping test a new device to protect ships from the alien Mashrami. The only problem is, Lin has to get Sunsinger very close to the aliens in order to test it!

  Keep track of Michelle's books at her Author Page at Writers Exchange: www.writers-exchange.com/epublishing/michelle.htm

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  Visit ebooks.writers-exchange.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.