by Azalea Ellis
Instead, I scraped my claws gently on the armor by my side, the motion drawing eyes. “I think you’ve misunderstood. What we’re willing to offer is already extremely generous. Resources and relief efforts for those left destitute by the war, the type of healing you’ve never seen before in your life, and the possibility of collaboration with a society so technologically advanced the things they can do seem like magic.”
I turned to Commander Levier beside me, who was either unable or unwilling to hold back his sneer of disgust toward the humans. “Or, we could destroy any ability for Earth to access or contact Estreyer again, and leave. Estreyer is in need of my team’s services quite desperately, in fact. I’m sure they would rejoice if I returned to them immediately and didn’t bother with mitigating the devastation here. In fact, I can’t think of anything Earth has to offer worth the resources they’d be expending if these negotiations go as I had hoped. Really, the only reason we’re even having this meeting is that I’m part human, and sentimental.”
Levier nodded. “Indeed. I believe many of my people will be desperate to convince you of such. Perhaps, if you wanted to ensure the survival of your race and save a number of innocents, we could allow them to immigrate to Estreyer. They would be treated fairly, with your name to shield them.”
That caused a lot of grim stares, uncomfortable shifting, and a bit of distraction as people talked with their aids and considered my not-so-subtle threat.
“We are absolutely interested in cooperation,” a woman said, throwing a glare toward a screen of her own, which I assumed displayed the tactless politician who’d irritated me.
Someone else spoke up. “I agree. However, we can’t ignore the fact that millions of lives have been lost during the course of this attack, and billions more put in imminent danger. While I understand this is an unfortunate but unavoidable result of global war, I do have concerns about the populace’s willingness to set aside grudges and cooperate with those they’ve come to detest. Truthfully, I worry about not only the civilians, but also those who might be in charge of these cooperative efforts between our two worlds. Perhaps a gesture of goodwill would be appropriate, as a sort of…apology?”
I stared at the man.
Adam scoffed. “Just say it outright. You want a bribe, a payoff, some blood money to grease the wheels a little bit?”
“A bribe? Certainly not! I meant an allocation of resources, perhaps technology, to show what benefit you might bring to offset the damage you’ve done, and mitigate hostility. I’m sure it would make all this easier if we didn’t feel like we were being threatened into cooperation, but rather brought into a beneficial partnership. You may speak about your capabilities all day, but hard proof would be much more likely to sway the people in this meeting, I have no doubt.”
Levier turned to me. “They wish us to come begging to them, bearing gifts…for the purpose of convincing them the worth of our further gifts?” He turned a hard stare back into the cameras. “Perhaps you should come bearing gifts, to convince us to have mercy on your worthless race.”
The meeting didn’t get any easier from there. Eventually, all the major countries agreed to the peace and varying levels of interplanetary cooperation, but along the way we had to deal with more requests for reparations and access to Estreyan military technology, supposedly to ensure an attack like this one wouldn’t happen again. Not all the people included in the teleconference were idiots. In fact, most of them weren’t, but those that were seemed to speak loudest and demand the most attention. If the Estreyans, and thus myself, hadn’t been holding nearly all the cards, it probably would have been even worse.
Even so, when I demanded that the leaders of NIX and their counterparts in the other countries revealed their actions to the public, as well as the names of those who condoned and aided them, the meeting devolved again into anger, threats, and outright denials.
“Perhaps the results of allowing so much power without any oversight will be the catalyst for change in how our society is run. There’s a saying, you know. Don’t do anything you’d be afraid to have reported in the news the next day.”
My words were no comfort, and in fact seemed to only stir the cauldron further. But by that time, I’d run through my very last drop of patience. “That’s non-negotiable. For those of you who decide to refuse, I’m still not decided if it would be better to kill you, or just expose the truth on your behalf.”
NIX’s leader hadn’t spoken very often during the meeting. Now, he leaned forward. “A threat like that might convince people to just remove its danger altogether and take our chances with the war we’re already fighting. If you try and destroy the public’s trust in its leaders, it will destabilize our society and send us into ruin just the same.”
Commander Levier and Torliam both stepped forward, placing themselves deliberately and protectively in front of me.
Adam glared, muttering something about hacking into his accounts and ruining his life.
I indulged myself in a wolf-like grin, showing too many teeth. “The problem with that thought is, it’s entirely impossible for you to kill me. I can travel through alternate dimensions.” That was stretching the truth so far away from Zed’s real ability to let the team travel through the Other Place that it was a blatant lie. Still, it sounded impressive. “You could bomb this place till rubble left the atmosphere and I could still walk away and find you.”
Torliam glared at the white-haired man on the other side of the screen. “You also seem to be confused about your people’s strength. Eve Redding is beloved by my people. If it were known that you even spoke such a threat to her wellbeing, there would be no one to restrain us. You would force us to take your threat seriously. Your world struggles to stand against our warriors now. You will be crushed like bugs under a force a thousand times stronger, when every warrior able to slay a monster finds a balm for his outrage in the blood of your people. You know not the power of the dragon you poke.”
I kept scraping my claws against the armor at my sides, my bones almost itching with the desire to be anywhere else. I really was not cut out for politics.
I didn’t want to meet Queen Mardinest with any trace of weakness, so I forced myself to sleep a few hours before gathering before the Estreyans’ Shortcut with the rest of my team and the delegation. Besides us, Commander Levier and a squad of Estreyan guards were coming, along with a small group of the less abrasive humans I’d spoken to during the negotiations. They’d been rushed to the city on high-speed personal flights from all over the world.
While we gathered in front of the metal sphere surrounded by orbiting rings, one of the escorting Players glared toward us, not bothering to disguise the loathing in her eyes when she looked at me. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her at first, until I noticed her nose, which resembled Commander Petralka’s. She was the girl I’d fought with the second time we attacked NIX, when I’d broken the Shortcut and then been manipulated into joining their organization.
Torliam leaned in a little to murmur near my ear. “If you wish, we might demand they replace the girl with someone more respectful.”
I shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter. She’s only coming along as decoration. It’s not like she’d really be able to do much if Queen Mardinest set Ichi on her, for example.”
“Her insolence could undermine your authority.”
I let one corner of my mouth curl upward. “I don’t think much could undermine my authority, when I have the cure.”
That was evidenced by the scurrying eagerness and sideways looks from the ship’s crew when they thought I wouldn’t notice. My team’s armor had been cleaned and polished while we waited, and we looked impressively imposing.
Commander Levier’s eye caught on a warrior in the corner, who held a drink and a platter of snacks, literally ready and waiting to rush over if I indicated hunger or thirst. He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “That is true, Godkiller. If you gave the word, I suspect half my warriors would abandon their se
rvice and follow after you.”
Gregor reached up and grabbed my hand. He snorted, looking around. “Only half? I’d say at least eighty percent of them feel some sort of sycophantic hero-worship toward you.”
Kris frowned at him. “Gregor! Stop being rude,” she murmured.
Birch seemed to feel that the whole situation was quite normal, but also was apparently under the impression that he was the most important person in the room and all of the fuss was on his account. He pranced over to the crew member with the platter of food and made a demanding noise.
The Estreyan didn’t even hesitate, kneeling to the ground and placing the platter in front of the growing winged cat.
Jacky reached out futilely, as if to stop him, but Birch had already started snapping the snacks up. She lowered her arm belatedly. “There’s cheese. He’s going to be farting later.”
Adam glared at her. “Don’t complain. You’re not the one who he always tries to gas in the face!”
One of the human politicians looked between my group and Birch. “Is it—” she cleared her throat. “Is that your pet, Ms. Redding?”
“No. He’s one of the team.” I raised an eyebrow. “He might look like an animal, but that’s just because he’s an alien. Birch is sentient, telepathic, and understands both English and Estreyan.”
“Oh,” her eyes widened, and she stared at him with barely restrained curiosity. “Do you think he’d communicate with me?”
I shrugged. “If you ask nicely, maybe.”
She looked around, then sidled over to the creature, with the Player scowling and following close behind her.
Birch was disinterested and even distrustful at first, but she cajoled him with effusive praise till he deigned to touch his nose to her hand and communicate directly into her mind.
This delighted the woman, but put her guard even more on edge.
Birch bared his teeth at the Player and swirled a warning gust of air around them.
The woman found this even more thrilling, and then turned to scold her escort for the girl’s lack of diplomacy, before coaxing Birch to come back to the main group and introduce himself to the other foreign dignitaries and politicians. At first, they were wary, but, after the first couple people exclaimed in delight when Birch did a trick with one of his abilities or showed obvious intelligence, most of them warmed to the creature.
I frowned. “They love him. I should have just let him deal with the whole peace negotiations! We could have gathered them all in a room and let them pet him, and it would have been over in an hour.”
Zed grinned widely, bouncing on his toes. “We should get him a little badge! It can say, ‘Official Diplomatic Envoy,’ or something, and we’ll send him out to all the official events and meetings so we don’t have to go.”
Gregor sneered at Zed. “Idiot. How’s he supposed to wear a badge? Obviously, it should be a collar or a harness.”
Zed squinted down at him doubtfully. “Why don’t we just ask Birch what he’d prefer?”
They devolved into childish bickering, and I grinned, a little of the tension I’d been feeling released.
The crew finished coding all of us into the Shortcut, and the orbiting bands swung faster. With that familiar vibration through my bones, we returned to Estreyer once again.
Chapter 35
And this too will be swept away.
— Marcus Aurelius
Apparently, the Shortcut technology needed to connect to a “place of power,” which is why they were usually used to transport people to Trials, where the gods’ power acted as the necessary anchor, regardless of distance. However, a group of the most talented arcane technologists was able to create anchors at different places of power, like the huge caverns beneath the city where Torliam had once broken the blood-covenants NIX forced on him.
That was where we appeared.
The humans didn’t fare very well with the sudden disorientation and nausea, and, even after they’d recovered from that, they struggled under the increased gravity on Estreyer. Still, they were awed at the glowing crystals, the symbol-carved circle under our feet, and the gigantic stalactites and stalagmites jutting out and throwing dramatic shadows everywhere.
Even Estreyan signals had trouble reaching so far beneath the Earth, but we were still able to use one of their datapads to access the news network. Specifically, we searched for news of Blaine.
It had been reported as the assassination it was, which surprised me. However, apparently someone had run with our “allies of the Sickness” scheme and blamed this shadowy group for his death. Queen Mardinest had supposedly been investigating it, but had found no leads.
With the escort of Estreyan warriors and Players, our group moved out of the circle and toward the bowels of the castle. We startled some servants as we moved higher, and Commander Levier sent them scurrying for some of his fellow royal warriors who would have more insight into what was going on in the palace.
Either Queen Mardinest had some way of knowing the Shortcut had been used or one of the people we encountered informed her, because she met us just as we reached the ground floor.
Her eyes widened as they tracked over me, my team, and the other smaller people who were also obviously humans. She eyed her own warriors. She hadn’t been contacted in many Estreyan days by that point, which had probably alarmed her. Even so, she narrowed her eyes and looked down her nose at us. “Was she captured, or has she surrendered?” she asked, looking at me though she was obviously talking to Commander Levier.
Before he could answer, I spoke. “Neither. I return triumphant.”
Her eyes widened, then narrowed. “Let us go to my war room. We may speak freely there.” Her eyes lingered on Torliam, who stood just behind me, and then she turned and strode off down the hallway. She had guts, I had to admit.
Gregor glared at her back, then looked up at me. “Are you going to kill her? She had Blaine killed, right?”
“I think she probably did. We’ll have to do some investigating to find out for sure, in case I’m wrong. If she’s responsible, I’ll make sure justice is meted out.”
Gregor frowned harder, not satisfied with my words, but he didn’t say anything more.
I didn’t like it either, but I could work with a blackmailer who really disliked me, since I didn’t have the resources to easily replace her. I couldn’t work with a murderer, but I also wouldn’t have Torliam’s mother executed without proof, no matter how strained their relationship was. “Will you be okay, going to the spot where it happened?” I asked. I was sending the rest of the team, besides Torliam, to the array where Blaine had been murdered, so Kris could check for a spirit and they could get some sort of closure, or something. I wanted to go, too, but the time crunch was too great. Someone died of the Sickness pretty much every minute. I had to stay and talk to Queen Mardinest.
He scoffed and looked away. “Of course I’m going to be okay. I’m more worried about you getting assassinated if you stay here by yourself.”
I ruffled his hair, grinning when he jerked away and scowled at me. “I’ve got Torliam, and a whole squad of Estreyan guards are staying with me. I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but turned to leave with the rest of the group.
Zed gave me a pointed look back over his shoulder. “Be careful, Eve.”
I only nodded.
Escorted by a group of guards who took their jobs so seriously it was almost comical, Torliam and I followed the queen to her war room. It was the same room I’d met her in to negotiate when we first arrived at the capital. The human diplomats were shown to a nearby room to wait.
Mardinest stood at the head of the table, her hands on the back of the chair placed there. She watched my guards, as they spread throughout the room looking for hidden enemies, then stationed themselves in every corner and by the door. “Have you deceived even my warriors, then?”
I almost felt bad for the vindictive glee I felt, except I was too full of glee to actually
feel bad. “No. You were wrong. Your son had not been acting as a fool all this time, I am no more a charlatan than you, and your people have chosen to serve me based on proof. We have found the God of Shaping and Molding, and discovered the cure to the Sickness.” I stayed silent to let my words sink in.
“Proof?” she echoed, her voice faint.
Torliam laid his hand on my shoulder. “Eve has examined hundreds and cured over a dozen people now, including the ones you knew of. It does not matter what stage the disease is in, or if symptoms have shown themselves. If someone has been infected, she can cleanse them.”
Seemingly anyone with Seeds could do the same, with the help of the lance, but we were trying not to advertise its purpose. Plus, it was more satisfying to see her expression, this way.
“Have you come to dethrone me, then? To execute me for heresy?” Her words were more demand than the fearful plea I’d been secretly hoping for.
I sighed. “Perhaps not. I require the Estreyan people to make some rapid changes and shifts in resource allocation, to help mitigate the damage that has been done on Earth, as well as prepare society for the reality of a cure and the process of slowly spreading that healing throughout the populace. It is not so simple as a shot or elixir I can distribute en masse. You may not have believed, but from your words when you threatened us, I gathered your desire to safeguard the people is genuine. If I am right, and you truly have the best interest of the people at heart, and not simply your own pride, you will agree to serve me. What could be more important than the eradication of the Sickness? Dethroning you would only make my job more difficult. We would have to find a replacement and deal with possible power struggles from the other powerful families.”