by Leyton, Bisi
Getting to the hall, he saw High Father seated on a stone throne in the center, surrounded by five of his sons and brothers who were now the Sens of the Six Pillars. Beraz’s seat sat empty. There were forty-three other Dy’obeth males in the room with them.
Not acknowledging Bach, High Father continued his conversation, “Karvas. Why have you not gotten the Vashteen Plains under control? My son, we are to rule all the discovered realms. How can you be part of that if you cannot contain a few thousand Dogs?”
“Forgive me Father. I was focusing on gathering the Terrans for extermination. I intended to deal with the others when that was done, but I have sent my sons to drag out and destroy their first-born. When the Vashteen plains are running red with Dog blood, they will settle down.” Karvas chuckled.
“Then ensure it is settled by the next moon or I will take your first born as penance.” High Father scowled, but broke into an icy smile. “Coia?”
Bach’s mother entered the hall.
“This is no place for women,” Karvas called out to them.
“Do not lecture me on what is right.” His mother walked up to her father. “High Father, I see you have decided to make yourself the Sen of the First Pillar? That is slightly self indulgent.”
“In this realm, I am the First and therefore head the First of the Pillars.” Stroking his chin, he responded warmly. “I owe you because you released me, but Karvas is correct, this council is not for you or your sister. And my daughter, never speak to me in that tone again or nothing will save you from me.”
His mother scoffed. “Obviously, being in Ajana has made you milk-hearted. When you were at your prime, you would have cut out my tongue the moment I opened my mouth.”
The men fell silent.
“Are you mad girl?” Karvas rose. “How dare you call our greatest leader milk-hearted? Being around Dogs and Rats has made you forget your place.”
“I remember my place, brethren.” She sneered. “Would you prefer to be called soft?”
“Soft?” High Father rose. “If you want to die today, I will oblige you.”
Her eyes darkened. “No, today is your day to die.”
Bleeding, Beraz hobbled in while held up by a Drone. He dropped to the floor by her feet. “Bach...” Beraz pointed.
“The rabja.” Maniko smiled from the door. “Bach fought Beraz for his seat and for me.”
“A rabja?” Karvas muttered. “Finally, you stepped up nephew. Now that you are a man, you can teach your mother some manners.”
The Dy’obeths laughed at this.
“He is a liar.” Beraz strained as blood dripped from his mouth. “The Terran—”
“Why did you keep him alive?” High Father asked Bach. “I do not require a confirmation. Kill this disgrace.”
The men around cheered.
“It was not a rabja.” Beraz crawled to his father. “High Father, he is hiding the truth about his Terran.”
“At least die with some dignity Beraz.” High Father kicked him away. “Do not shame your name by rumors, stories or pleading for your life. Bach, finish him and take his seat.” He gestured to Beraz’s chair. “We have a lot to discuss before we start our campaign to cull the Dogs.”
“Father please—”
“Beraz, it is over.” Karvas scowled. “You are embarrassing yourself.”
“No, you should listen to the old fool,” Coia called out. “I swear you will be intrigued.”
Bach stayed still to witness this, the last time his relationship with Wisteria was exposed, he’d watched her suffer for it. This time, it would be different, he would make them suffer and it felt good.
“Coia and her sons have been plotting to destroy us. He’s even bonded with a Rat.” Beraz pointed at Bach.
Several Dy’obeths laughed.
“Is this true?” High Father asked Bach.
“Yes,” Bach answered boldly. “I am bonded to a human.”
“So, you shed Beraz’s blood over a Rat, over nothing?” outraged High Father demanded.
“I shed nothing over her. There is a difference,” Bach scoffed and walked over to take a seat on the steps that led up to the high table. “And if anyone—anyone says the word Terran again, it will be the last thing they say. And High Father as much as you claim you want to die, you fear meeting Satan.”
“Matula, how dare you? I’m afraid of nothing.” High Father tossed the stone table at him.
It sailed in Bach’s direction.
Firmly rooted on the ground, Bach punched through the table, breaking it into bits.
“Sorry I am late. I did not realize we had started this already.” Felip shuffled in. “Have I missed it?”
“No, you have not.” Coia touched an amethyst pendant that hung around her neck. “You are right on time.”
“Where were you?” Malcolm demanded.
“You were supposed to be here an hour ago.” Bach fumed.
“First, sorting things for Lady Coia and second, I do not answer to you,” Felip snapped.
“Coia, what is this? You bring a Dog into this matter.” Karvas sneered.
“Felip has every right to be here,” she replied. “This is as much about him as it is about me.”
“Then he will share your fate. Kill them all.” High Father growled. “And Beraz for his weakness.”
Dy’obeths gathered around them.
“Bach, when I am done I will destroy your milk-hearted brother, and find your Terran and teach her about Dy’obeth torture.” Karvas chided.
His mother doubled over laughing.
This startled everyone, who for a moment stopped to watch her.
“You idiots. Stand where you are.” She touched the amethyst that hung around her neck. “Stand completely still.” She twirled around the room.
All the Dy’obeths stopped, apart from Bach and Malcolm. Even though their bodies couldn’t move, the frozen Dy’obeths yelled insults at his mother, all struggling and straining to move, but found they couldn’t.
“Shh… quiet,” she hissed.
The room fell silent.
“But you may speak father.” She pointed at him.
“What is this sorcery?” High Father demanded.
“It is knowledge Father. The very thing you feared the most about the humans. This is Galahad’s Talisman.” She touched the stone around her neck. “It broke the hold you had on the Drones thousands of years ago before the humans drove you and the rest of the blood thirsties in Ajana, like dancing bonobos.”
“We were defeated in battle,” High Father declared.
“Battle? The First Pillar was made of thinkers and schemers, but not warriors. They defeated you because they were smarter. I know this because I helped them.”
“You worked with the Rats?” her father said slowly. “I swear your death is going to be the worst thing you could possibly imagine, but release me now and I may forgive you.”
“I do not want your forgiveness.” Coia took out a curved dagger with a blue blade. “Do you remember this?”
Judging by the design, Bach guessed the danor was over a millennium old.
“What is it?” High Father asked.
“This is the Ninth Metal danor Beraz used to torture John Walter.” She gazed at the blade.
“Who is John Walter?” High Father asked.
“You are unbelievable.” She seethed. “John was the first person I truly loved, a Terran and a beautiful musician.”
“The Rat you defiled yourself for?” High Father fumed.
“No, the man I loved with everything inside me. Remember, you sat right there.” She pointed at his throne. “You mocked him as Beraz and Karvas broke every bone in his body, regenerated him and broke him again. Then locked him in a cage for days while he starved to death in agonizing pain.”
“That is our way,” Beraz croaked out.
“And if I remember, you did worse to the other Terrans,” High Father responded.
“I should have been the one who decide i
f he lived or died. You stole him from me! You took away my Mosroc and with it any chance I had to give him a love-death!” She stormed up to him. “Then, you took my children.”
“Mongrels? All this over mongrels and Rats? It is laughable,” her father mocked.
“Laugh all you want now, because after today, you will never laugh again.” Coia slashed his cheek with the blade.
“D’cara,” he grunted, but couldn’t move as his dark blood dripped to the floor. “You’re a joke.”
“A joke that is going to infect you with prax.” She studied the blood dripping from his knife.
High Father’s eyes widened. “Where did you get that?”
“The Hall of Ages.” She grinned.
“Only the humans of the First Pillar can—” he started.
“Oh I know that and while you were distracted rounding up Terrans, I sorted that technicality out. Maybe if you had more brains and less muscle you might have figured out something was not right.” She produced the vial Wisteria had brought. “The First Pillar was never really going to use it on you back then as they were milk-hearted, so I released it and forced you into Ajana then.”
“You helped the Terrans poison us,” Beraz finally realized.
“You are very slow,” Bach remarked.
“My children and I are immune to prax. It was a gift in exchange for helping the First Pillar.” Coia dabbed some of the prax on her finger and wiped it across the cut on High Father’s cheek. “Father this is just for you.”
“You’d give the Family the satisfaction of seeing us destroyed.” High Father shook his head.
“I care even less for those animals than I do for you. Back then I defended the Dogs because I believed they were better than you. When I met another human, Cleto Callas, the Family reacted the same way you did. They murdered him too.”
“You bonded with another Terran.” High Father’s jaw dropped. “You shameless whore.”
“Aleix called me the same thing when he found out, but I was to be the Lady of Jarthan and he was ambitious, so I agreed to marry him in exchange for not killing Cleto’s sons.” She glanced at Bach. “Now, I will let his own son end him.”
Yes, we get to finish off Aleix, the darkness jubilated in Bach’s mind
“You could take them out together.” Felip strolled to High Father’s throne and pushed the man aside. Sitting on the throne, Felip put his feet on the table. “I like this.”
Karvas strained to turn his head angrily at Felip’s disrespect.
“Speak Karvas, I can see you have been dying to speak.” Bach’s mother nodded in his direction.
“Get the Dog out.” Karvas hissed
“Felip has every right to be here. As I said, this has to do with him too.” Coia neared Karvas and rubbed some prax into his blond hair. “Felip is John Walter’s great-great-great-grandson and all that is left of my Beloved and my daughter Edytha.”
Shocked, Bach looked at Felip.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you?” Felip feigned ignorance.
“Why did you not tell me?” Bach muttered to his mother.
“There will be time for all things to come to the open. Right now, we will deal with High Father.” She poured the prax into her mouth and sprayed it over the motionless Dy’obeths. “High Father, the prax in you will spread with every Dy’obeth you touch. I command you all to leave Trogia Palace, hunt and kill every human, Dy’obeth or Famila on this realm, but do not set foot on Jarthan. When you are done, turn on each other until not one of you is alive.” Coia gestured to High Father, the five Dy’obeths at the high table and Maniko. “You lot will wait.”
The remaining Dy’obeths raced out in complete obedience to Bach’s mother.
“Before you think I am getting milk-hearted. I do not want to spare you. I want you to witness the fall of the Dy’obeths and the Family and the happiest day of my life.” His mother spoke passionately. “Bach—Now you may kill Beraz.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Lies, those are lies
Wisteria searched her cell for something to use to create a portal, but all that was in this cell were a mattress and a hole for using the toilet. Sitting on the bed, she watched the sun once again set. At least Garfield was safe for now, but it gave her little comfort because she knew the Dy’obeths wouldn’t stop, once they’d finished what they were doing here. Her home would be next.
A Drone entered and dropped to the ground unconscious. Enric stood behind him wearing the black gloves with metal knuckles.
“You’re alive?” Her jaw dropped.
“I cannot explain—” He hobbled in.
“Felip just let you in here?” She didn’t move. This could be a trick.
“No, we journeyed through a portal.” Garfield appeared and threw something at her.
Grabbing it, she saw it was a sword with a blue blade.
“Next time you walk out to your death, make sure you’re armed,” Garfield said.
“Thank God.” Jumping up, she hugged him.
“One hundred percent pure Ninth Metal,” Garfield replied. “How does the blade feel?”
Simply holding the weapon made her feel stronger. “Very light.” The tips of her fingers turned purple and she dropped the sword in shock.
“It’s okay. It’s normal. You draw your power from this metal and I guess your body is starved for it.” Garfield handed her back the sword. “Plus Ninth Metal poisons them, so it is doubly good.”
“How do you know this?” Wisteria asked.
“Robinia told me and now she’s not an avatar, she’s a lot more open,” Garfield replied.
“Where is she?” She scanned the dark room for the girl.
“In the Hall of Ages. No way am I getting her involved in this mess.” Garfield took out an arrow.
“Why is he here?” She nodded at Enric.
“He told us what happened.” Garfield gestured at him.
“Did he tell you he turned me over to them because he wanted to be a Dy’obeth?” She glared at Enric.
“Like I said, I cannot explain,” Enric retorted coldly. “It is not my place to make you feel better. Trust me, I was doing what was best. You had to infect Bach and he could not to suspect it was a set up.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” She glowered. “You served me up, to ensure I’d infect him?”
“Obviously, it did not work, but now I am here and I will help you. We do not have time—” Enric said.
“The next time you have a bright idea, you tell me.” She punched Enric in the face.
Bewildered, he staggered back from the impact of her blow. “How did you do that?”
“Probably a combination of you being half dead and the Ninth Metal she’s holding,” Garfield theorized. “Wisteria—Bach tortured him because of this.”
“Do not—” Enric interjected.
“He almost died,” Garfield continued.
“Is that true, Enric?” she asked.
“We need to go,” Enric responded. “Now.”
“Plus you did the same thing to me.” Garfield pointed out. “You left me in the Hall of Ages without even—”
“I’m sorry. It was all I could think to do.” She strapped the sword over her shoulder.
Enric left the cell and the pair followed. In the passageway, were a handful of people. One was Bach’s father, Sen Aleix.
“What is going on?” She drew out her weapon. The last time she’d met him, he tried to kill her.
“This is who you came to get?” Injured, Aleix shuffled toward her. “She cannot leave with us, this is her doing.”
“Eminent, we do not have time to argue,” Enric barked. “Are you able to move or do you need to be carried?”
“I can walk,” Aleix simpered and staggered past her.
“How did you find me?” she asked.
“After Felip left, Alba was completely taken over by the Hall of Ages, and Robinia got her to trace Felip’s threshold journey to here,” Garfield said quietly as th
ey moved down the hall.
“And she obeyed you?” she asked.
“You asked the Hall of Ages to answer my questions, so Alba had to,” Garfield answered.
“What happens now?” she muttered.
“Some free minded sentinels and empirics are prepared to help, but every hour more and more are killed, imprisoned or turned into Drones,” Enric explained as they hurried through the darkness. “Once we get out of here, you will tell us your plan.”
Wisteria almost tripped over herself. “My plan?”
“Well?” Aleix demanded.
Her plan had been to infect Bach with prax or free him with the beadle pin. Both of those had failed.
“Forget the girl, there is nothing she can do,” Aleix quipped bitterly. “We will assemble the last of the free and take Trogia Palace by force. Leave the Terrans behind.”
“Eminent, we did not come for you and I will leave you here,” Enric warned.
“High Father is at this Trogia Palace?” she asked Enric.
“He is meeting with his Sens right now. Coia will be there too. We will have seconds to do anything.”
“If you children attack them, you will not last long. High Father and his brethren will decimate you all,” Aleix sneered.
“I know that,” she said firmly as she closed her eyes to think.
“What is the plan little girl?” Aleix ridiculed.
“I need to get Galahad’s Talisman from Coia,” she replied. “We’ll need a diversion.”
“And Bach?” Garfield asked.
“There’s nothing I can do for him, he’s one of them now.” It broke her heart to admit it.
“No, my son is nothing like those animals.” Aleix piped in.
“What animals are those, Terrans or Dy’obeths?” she glared at him. “You’ve nothing to add to this conversation because left to you, he’d be dead already.”
“He is still my son,” Aleix said unwavering. “And everything I have done was for his good.”
“You had Didan stab him,” she reminded him.
“He would have been regenerated properly had you not taken him from—” Aleix’s face turned red. “This is not helping. If you need a diversion, send me up to him. He will come after me.”