The shape of another monstrous beast began to take shape. Its size left Hickory in no doubt Kabutai had read her mind and was now summoning the most fearsome beast in the universe, the monstrous telepathic creature, the Riv-Amok.
Enough! She directed her sparks toward Kabutai, the Shadow world disappeared, and the now came back into focus.
#
The door crashed open and Sikona spun into the room. Swinging his sword left and right, he launched himself at the guards surrounding Aslexis. Three collapsed to the floor, opened up from sternum to navel. The others were forced back to the wall, and Sikona skewered a fourth. The swords of the remaining two guards clattered to the floor.
He nodded at Hickory, his nose quivering with delight at her surprise. “Gareth and Jess filled me in. They’ll be pleased to see you have survived.” He motioned to the guards to release their prisoner.
Aslexis shrugged off his chains and stepped to Hickory. She moved to meet him, and they embraced and kissed.
“Well, I see you have discovered your kindred spirit at long last, my sweet.” Sabrina glided through the portal, her arms held wide. “I am so pleased for you.”
Hickory grinned at her. “Glad you could make it, Sabrina.”
Kabutai gave a slow disbelieving shake of his head and glanced at Hickory. “This is a trick, you have conjured an illusion.” He cringed as Sabrina neared.
Sabrina reached out her hand. “Do you think I am an automaton, Kabutai? A machine without feelings? Then, you think wrong! I have always had as much soul as you—and just as much heart. When we pass through the grave, and that will be soon enough, we will stand at God's feet, equal—as we are!” Her hand closed on the hilt of the sword, and she wrenched it free of his chest. A gaping hole appeared in the Warlord’s torso. His eyes fixed on hers, sightless.
Hickory gaped at the sight of the giant Bikashi female wielding the Sword of Connat. This wasn’t how she’d pictured things unfolding when she’d asked Jess to find Sabrina and bring her to the battlecruiser. She’d hoped Sabrina would prove a sufficient distraction to the Warlord to allow her to pluck the Sword from his chest.
Sabrina raised the Sword of Connat to eye level, looked to Hickory, and smiled. “Even for me, life has its gleams of sunshine.” She threw the weapon to the floor and embraced Hickory. “I will trust you to use this terrible power wisely. It has no place on Auriga.”
“It has no place on Earth, either, my friend. But there is one task it might perform before I consign it to oblivion.”
CHAPTER 33
Soul
Hickory faced Angela Merrik, the Sword of Connat hanging loose by her side. The President could not take her eyes from it, but it was fear, not desire, that held her.
Over the last few days, the threat of the Bikashi battlecruiser had evaporated. The world breathed again and was reconsidering its future. The galaxy was also in the throes of change. Sikona and Sabrina had departed for Auriga intent on establishing a new order of government on the planet. Hickory had addressed the parliament of the NWG and outlined her proposal to aid the twins in their quest; disbanding Auriga’s autocratic structure in favor of a more representative one would take time and resources. Eventually, though, Auriga would be readmitted to the Allied Federation of Planets, and this time they would be provided with the Allied FTL technology as a full member.
Parliament had finally listened to the Admiral and removed Merrik from office, placing her in house arrest under the Admiral’s jurisdiction.
“What do you want from me? Haven’t you done enough already?”
Hickory extended her empathic sense to touch the woman. “I understand your hurt, Angela. I would help your mind and your soul to become more at peace with one another.”
Merrik dragged her gaze from the Sword and glared at Hickory. “I have no soul, idiot, and my mind is my own.”
Hickory sensed her barriers being slammed in place, layer after layer, to form a thick protective shell. “Every individual has a soul. Some cannot be contained by their physical being, and you can see it shining from their eyes, reflecting the goodness and chivalry of their being. The Teacher was such a person, Sabrina is another, Anyar is yet another. Your soul has been squeezed and subjugated by your greed and desire for power. It is tiny now, forced into a remote corner of your dark mind, but it is still there waiting for you to recognize it for what it is and set it free. I can help you if you let me.”
“Save your biblical drivel for the naive. Religion is the opium of the masses, not of those in authority.”
“But you are no longer in authority, Angela Merrik, and never will be again.” She reached for her hand, then paused. “I will not force this on you. Will you accept the help I can give?
Merrik’s features were stoic, but Hickory perceived the internal battle clearly. Hers was a beguiling slavery. In her own domain, she’d tasted supreme power with few restraints. She’d fought to keep it so, but Kabutai had demonstrated a fiercer will and brought her down. Now the Warlord was gone, defeated by this Hickory Lace who offered her the hand of friendship and the possibility of a start afresh.
She was intelligent. She understood her chances of ever rising to those same dizzy heights again were negligible, perhaps zero. It was more likely she would spend the rest of her days in prison, gradually being driven mad by her frustrated ambitions.
Which was preferable? Frustrated impotence or neutered peace; incarcerated, with her neoteric skills free to seek their own path, or freedom of sorts limited by the restraints this woman would impose on her mind?
“Will it hurt?” she asked.
Hickory took her hand in hers. Gently, the golden energy sparks flowed from Hickory into Merrik, spreading through her blood and reaching her brain. Merrik trembled as the sparks eased her barriers aside until her mind opened. Hickory found the center of Merrik’s empathic power. Its source was black as obsidian. She recalled how uncontrollable her own neoteric gift had been until the scientists had linked her up to the biocomputer, PORO, and dampened her abilities. There was no PORO to help her, but she did have her sparks. She set them to work absorbing the desolation within Merrik from the time of her birth to her duel with Kabutai. The sparks scraped away the blackness in her mind and replaced it with reassurance and feelings of peace. At last, Hickory took away the last vestige of ugliness, the guilt over the death of her grandmother, and Angela’s soul was free to choose its destiny once more.
#
Gareth squirmed in his seat. “You set her soul free?”
Hickory relaxed on the sofa and leaned back. Aslexis put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. She smiled. “The essence of humanity, the part of our higher nature separating us from the animals. You might call it conscience or a person's moral sense of right and wrong. I call it a soul.”
Jess poured the wine and gazed at Hickory thoughtfully. “So, what an adventure. I hope that’s the last we hear of Angela Merrik.”
“Angela is taking a rest on Summer. The Admiral has been charged with looking after her until she is fully recovered. I understand she has expressed an interest in helping the Aurigans re-invent their society.”
“Might be a while before the Admiral agrees with her on that one,” said Gareth. “What about you? Are you going back to the Corps, covered in glory?”
Hickory laughed, the first time she’d allowed herself to feel happy in a long time. She looked up at Aslexis. “No, not straight away. Aslexis and I have some unfinished business in Carpentaria.”
“Like making babies,” said Aslexis.
Hickory pretended to punch Aslexis on the chest, but her eyes shone. “There are a lot of people up there who are looking forward to seeing us again. After that, I think a long holiday is in order.”
“And the Sword, what happened to it—did you send it into the sun?”
“No, I thought it a bit problematic given its history. I wasn’t sure it would reach there, and if it did, whether it would be destroyed. It’s in good hands.”
#
Anyar touched down on the Isle of the Dead. The flying machine Hickory had given to her was more sophisticated than the ones she’d helped to build, and she’d enjoyed soaring with the birds. She passed the hut containing the remains of her kinfolk and walked with purpose to the Lakedweller tower. She searched for the ancient cuneiform writing and found what she was looking for on the back wall of the building; the image of Ishtar, goddess of the land of the dead.
Aslexis had provided her with the key to entry. She pushed first on the gatekeeper, then on the number for fifty, then on Ninshubur, Ishtar’s second in command, then finally on An Utu, the Sun God. She took a step back, and her heart fluttered as nothing seemed to happen, and she wondered if perhaps she hadn’t correctly memorized the sequence. A moment later, the stonework trembled, and a segment of the wall moved inward.
Anyar poked her head inside and sniffed. It smelled musty and old, but there was no indication her ancestors might be present. She switched on the flashlight and entered. She located the fire torches, took one and drenched it in the nearby bowl of oil, then struck a match to light it. The flame flared up, and she held the torch high to look around.
Six small statues representing the gods of the Lakedwellers sat on the ancient stone altar in the middle of the tower. She located the secret compartment, and reverently laid the Sword of Connat, smothered in the fine cloth, in its final resting place.
<<<
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