Born of Sand (Tales of a Dying Star Book 5)

by Kristoph, David

  It was only a few seconds but felt like forever, legs heavy and steps hard. He fell into the dark alley with Hyken and leaned back to watch Mira stumble through.

  "Farrow," Mira said. "Did you see..."

  He looked up the alley. The mouth opened to another street one block farther, and he took off at a jog. He wasn't sure which way they were going but they'd need to keep up the pace in case they'd been seen. They were out of the palace, but he didn't feel anywhere close to safe just yet.

  The next street looked similar to the last, twenty feet of open exposure before another side street. "Farrow," Mira said, more insistent. "Did you see it?"

  Something in her voice made him hesitate. "See what?"

  "Look up. It's... in the sky. It's huge."

  Betraying his every instinct, Farrow leaned out of the alley until the grey sky came into view. He could hear the aircraft somewhere to the left, and to the right he didn't think he could see...

  His mouth slowly dropped open. What the shit.

  The grey sky wasn't sky. It was the grey exterior of an enormous spaceship, long and spear-shaped, descending through the clouds. The dozens of peacekeeper bunkers among the city were shooting at it, not some ship piloted by Hob. The front end glowed orange--he'd thought it was the sun, before--and as it cooled details came into view. Plating and external antenna. Windows, and protrusions with the unambitious and ugly purpose of defense, bristling with turrets and larger ordnance.

  And the name, painted in massive letters across the side:

  O L I T A U

  A ship Akonai had mentioned in joking. A ship to escort the Melisao settlers to another star.

  For a few long moments Farrow didn't believe it. The Melisao must have brought it here to fight us, he thought. Until the Olitau spawned smaller craft of all kinds--Riverhawks and Goshawks and long Seahawk bombers--that began attacking the peacekeeper defenses among the city. They're not Melisao, Farrow realized. There was only one group to whom they could belong.

  The aircraft spun and dove, firing thick lasers and dropping bombs upon the peacekeepers. One by one the spraying green turrets raking the sky drew silent, including those at the palace. Then all that remained were the aircraft patrolling above, circling menacingly between the ground and the artificial grey ceiling that now sprawled in all directions.

  Farrow began walking back in the direction of the palace, toward the plaza by the front entrance. He was too stunned to feel afraid, his fingers and toes numb. Mira called out to him, but he knew that's where they needed to go.

  And he was right. From the Olitau came a transport craft, blocky and boring. Escorted in a box by four Riverhawks, though no city resistance remained. It landed it the open plaza just as Farrow reached the outskirts. Soldiers were already there, and they ran at Farrow screaming, gesturing with their rifles. Farrow raised his hands and the others emulated, and allowed the soldiers to disarm them.

  In the distance, the transport opened and a single man stepped out, tall and slender. Farrow had the distinct impression he was looking in their direction. The soldiers he'd surrendered to cocked their heads, listening to some device in their ears. They led Farrow toward the transport and the man.

  Akonai stood patiently with his arms behind his back as the soldiers guided Farrow forward. The leader of the Children wore a wide smile on his face. "You are here, and not hiding in the sand?"

  Farrow hated him for his mocking tone. "'Rise up and take back your own planet.' That is what you told me the last time we met."

  "I did."

  "We were making plans to that effect. We were close."

  Akonai's smile somehow widened. "Not close enough."

  "I thought Melis was your primary focus."

  Now Akonai laughed. "It was."

  "And yet you are here. Too cowardly to fight the Empire where they exist in strength?"

  Akonai considered him for a long moment. "Word really does travel poorly to this awful planet. There is no Empire. The Emperor is dead. Melis has fallen, taken by Spider and my son Onero. The peacekeepers here were a shell group, cut off from the rest and continuing the war for a few weeks because they had no other choice. And they folded at the slightest hint of force."

  He nodded at the palace. "You probably could have danced your way inside and thrown down the Governor with a handful of men, had you the courage."

  If Farrow had so much as a knife in that moment he would have gutted the man from groin to gullet. "Fuck your courage. Fuck your Children. You could have sent us word but you didn't. We were taking the shitting planet for ourselves tomorrow and you stole that from us!"

  One of the guards stepped up and struck him in the belly with the butt of his rifle. Farrow doubled over. "Watch your tongue in front of His Luminance."

  Mira finally found her voice. "His what?"

  Akonai stepped forward until he was right in front of them. "Why, now that this planet has fallen I am the King of this star system. Melis, Praetar, the ice moons of Ouranos... they are all within my domain. Kneel before me, beg my forgiveness, and perhaps I won't bomb your Freemen where they cower beneath the sand."

  The others looked to Farrow, still clutching his stomach. When he could, he stood up straight with what energy he had left.

  "Kneel," Akonai growled, his smile gone.

  Farrow looked around. At the two rows of guards on either side, boxing them in. At the skyline bordering the palace plaza, the city he'd worked so hard to capture, was so close to taking back before having it ripped away from him. At the triangular clusters of Riverhawks flying in formation above the city, and at the massive not-a-sky spacecraft just beyond. He looked at his prisoner already on his knees pleading.

  And he looked at Mira, the woman who had been prepared to die in the desert. The woman he had rescued, who was looking to him for guidance, with weariness and hurt and desperation back in her eyes. And in front of it all determination, her jaw clenched, prepared to follow in whatever Farrow decided to do.

  He met Akonai's wrathful gaze, the man's hands balled into fists at his side. In an instant he would have them killed. Akonai opened his mouth to speak the word.

  Farrow knelt.

  About the Author

  David Kristoph lives in Virginia with his wonderful wife and two not-quite German Shepherds. He's a fantastic reader, great videogamer, good chess player, average cyclist, and mediocre runner. He's also a member of the Planetary Society, a patron of StarTalk Radio, an amateur astronomer, and general space enthusiast.

  He writes mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy.

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