Soul Bond

by Christine Price

  They sat in silence, Julian drowning in his memories as Kaelem pondered his words.

  “Listen to me, Captain Gaspar,” Kaelem finally said. “We must retrieve the ring and take its power away from Zzesstari hands. The soul rings cannot be made anew, but their technology can be duplicated as long as the originals are still at large. Through helping you, we help ourselves. For every one we destroy, a sin of our past is remedied.

  “But I do not know if we can save your lover.”

  Julian’s free hand spasmed, automatically closing into a fist as he bit down on the inside of his cheek, stopping a thousand angry words from spilling out. “We can’t have come this far and not have some way to save him!” Nausea tore at his stomach and he clenched his jaw to stop it from shaking. It was fruitless. Kaelem must have seen the anger—the crushing despair—in his eyes. Julian forced himself to turn away, ineffectually hiding from the too-calm mind of his steward.

  “The tie the ring forged between the Zzesstari and your lover runs deep. If we simply cut it, then all that remains of Ellis will snuff out like a candlewick and Ezvorkian will keep all the power of the soul he has been siphoning.”

  Julian’s mind railed at the words, silently denying what he knew to be true. “Can’t we…reverse it, somehow?”

  “When we touch down planetside, there are undertakings we might go through to make his passing more bearable and give you the time you need to say goodbye.”

  “I don’t want to say goodbye,” Julian said, standing suddenly. Kaelem made no move to step back from the Captain’s sudden ire. “Look at the price he paid for me. How could I dishonor him by being unwilling to pay whatever it takes to save him?”

  “If there was a way to join the two of you, it might draw his essence back from Ezvorkian, but the Airthir soul bond cannot be recreated by men.” Kaelem’s head shifted a bit. “Believe that if there were a way, I would share it with you.”

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but you have to understand that I don’t find it all that comforting at the moment.” Julian gritted his teeth, trying not to lash out at his steward. All this time, Kaelem had dangled hope before him and made him believe that there had been a way to save Ellis. All for nothing. He forced himself to take a steadying breath. It was done. He was just surprised that Kaelem wasn’t already trying to pull the ring from Ellis’s hand. “Why did you do it, Kaelem? Why drag us halfway across the galaxy when you knew there was no hope?”

  “Julian, the Airthir have learned hard lessons about trust. While I know that you are an honorable man, and my people hold you in high esteem, I had to be certain that you would come to Airtha to allow us to destroy that damned ring.”

  “I can’t accept that. I don’t care if the chances of me saving him are one in ten billion, Ellis and I are going through that stupid ceremony.”

  “But—”

  “How else could I live with myself? When I realized I’d left him behind, it destroyed me. Grasping at straws may be futile, but it’s the sort of futility that will keep me sane.”

  Silence stretched out between them until Kaelem finally nodded to himself and moved towards the door. “I shall prepare the shuttle.” He stepped out without another word.

  Caught in helpless grief, Julian returned to Ellis’s bedside.

  “If I lose you, I don’t know how I’ll go on,” Julian told him. There was no response. Julian took Ellis’s hand in his and pressed his forehead against the cool fingers. “I would pay any price, just to be with you.”

  The silence was damning and Julian cursed. He cursed Ezvorkian and Orifian for their part in the circumstances that had brought his lover here. He cursed the Airthir for striking their demonic bargain with the Zzesstari. He cursed Kaelem for his false hope and empty words. He even cursed Ellis for not allowing him to die back on the Ethervold rather than putting them both through the grief of losing each other all over again.

  Most of all, he cursed himself. If he had not let Ellis doubt his love, maybe the other man would have let them meet their fate together, rather than taking the burden of Ezvorkian’s evil upon himself.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Aboard the Eyas, lower atmosphere of Airtha Prime

  Coalition Standard Date 113-234.7

  The sight of pristine silver buildings cropping up from Airtha Prime’s dark mountains offered Julian little comfort. The Eyas was flying perilously close to one of the largest peaks on the planet below, and Julian gritted his teeth as Kaelem drew ever closer to the massive formation of volcanic rock. He fought against his urge to take the helm from Kaelem, increasingly nervous as they winged towards the ground.

  Ellis shivered in his arms. His body had been tearing itself between freezing and fevered the last few hours, and Julian could do little more than adjust the man in his embrace. Ellis relaxed his entire body against him as the Eyas touched down on Airthan soil.

  “The elders await.”

  Julian inclined his head and stood, lifting Ellis’s wasted body. The Airthir opened the hatch and Julian followed him down the plank to the ground below. He and Ellis had both been inoculated against the poisonous gases in the Airthan atmosphere, but Julian couldn’t help holding his breath during those first few steps forward. If anything went wrong, he had left ownership of the Kestrel to Barth.

  A small group of Airthir stood waiting for him at the foot of the shuttle. Without a word, they surrounded him, their heated bodies pressing against him and Ellis. Julian glanced at Kaelem, his frayed temper eased somewhat by the Airthir’s calming presence. The too-warm atmosphere of the planet was already beginning to seep into his pores and a sweat broke out across his body.

  They stood in heavy silence. All around him, the Airthir communed in silence and he only received the minutest brush of awareness against his consciousness. Cool fingers reached out to Julian’s forehead, caressing his skin with feather-light touches. He tried to bear in mind what Kaelem had said about the contact drug that had to be smeared on his skin. It would make him more susceptible to whatever mind-altering technology would accompany his attempt to save Ellis from the ring’s effects—a last-ditch effort to save his lover’s life, though Kaelem thought it was futile. Each elder drew what felt like a different sigil on his forehead. There was no difference at first, but slowly he began to understand the conversations going on around him. It was scattered and hard to make sense of. Their language seemed to rely more on sensations than words. He got the impression that they weren’t hopeful about Ellis’s recovery, but the thoughts were cut off when they pulled away.

  After what felt like an hour of standing in the cumulatively unbearable heat, the aliens finally backed off, leaving only Kaelem at his side. They retreated from the landing site and Julian shifted Ellis in his arms. Kaelem beckoned him to follow.

  Making their way from the Eyas, Julian felt his eyes water from the stinging clouds hovering near the ground. The sweat clinging to his shirt occasionally caught a gust of hot air, cooling him slightly before the overbearing heat hit him again. The distance shimmered with an oasis-like effect that made the mountain before them ghostly in appearance, but through the vaporous air he began to make out black dots that he had to assume were the entrances to some sort of cave network.

  “In these places, my people created the soul rings,” Kaelem said. “And in these places, we damned ourselves.”

  “I’ll save him.”

  While Kaelem did not pause in step, the subtle movements in his normally too-still body made his hesitation obvious nevertheless. “Julian, you must understand. Ellis is very far gone—”

  “And you must understand that I haven’t come this far to lose him now.” Julian took a steadying breath, though the air stung his lungs. “Even if it means my life for his, I’ll take that damn ring off his finger and make sure that Ezvorkian is never able to hurt him again.”

  The responding silence spoke volumes. They drew closer to the base of the mountain, the cave entrances ominous before them. Kaelem came to a halt
outside the largest one. The sides of the cave were smooth and obviously manufactured, but there was no light within the depths. Julian glanced sidelong at Kaelem.

  “This place has a…sense about it; echoes of memories from the days when we were only able to communicate to one other. You may call it magic, if your beliefs run a more holistic route.”

  Julian swallowed nervously and held Ellis tighter against him.

  “I shall wait here for your return. You will see echoes of your past and his. They wait like ghosts for the unprepared, but do not be afraid. You must not be afraid. You will know what to do, when the time comes. If you love this Ellis as much as you claim, then you must rely on that love to bring you both through this.”

  Julian took a deep breath, the acrid taste of the planet’s atmosphere bitter on his tongue. He took his communicator in hand. “Barth?”

  “Yes, Captain?”

  “We’re going in. I’m breaking radio contact.”

  There was a pause on the other end. “Good luck, Julian.”

  Julian passed the communicator to Kaelem and took the first few steps into the darkness of the cave. It should have been impossible for the air around him to become hotter, but the cave air pressed oppressively against him, making it hard to breathe. Ellis’s chest shook with rasping breaths and Julian steeled his nerves to continue forward.

  The dark swallowed them and the dim light from the world outside disappeared as soon as they moved past the entrance. Julian continued forward without pause, his steps surer than his heart. He focused everything on the man in his arms, trusting that Kaelem had not steered him wrong.

  A light appeared in the distance ahead and he continued unerringly towards it. The harsh cast reminded him of the artificial light aboard the Kestrel. Somehow, he was seeing the interior of a ship—a room that appeared from nowhere. It was so out of place in the darkness around him that his steps faltered. That was when he heard the voice echo around him.

  “…you’d be surprised what desperation can do to a weak mind…”

  Julian spun, his hand itching for his blaster only to remember he’d left it on the Eyas. If there was someone in the darkness, he would be caught blind and unarmed.

  “I have asked what you would be willing to sacrifice.”

  He froze. The voice was slimy with contempt and he recognized Ezvorkian’s perfectly manicured diction.

  Julian’s lips drew into a sneer. The room before him was the Captain’s quarters aboard the Ethervold. He had become intimately acquainted with it when Ezvorkian had captured their boarding party. The air shimmered and projected images appeared. He started when he saw himself—what had Kaelem said about ghosts?—standing in front of the corpse-feeler.

  He remembered hearing the words—did he have to relive his time aboard the Ethervold once again? In his nightmares, he could still hear the whip’s crack. Julian glowered at the alien. This was how he remembered him—malformed and slightly shrunken, as if he had not developed properly in the womb.

  “I would be remiss in my duty as your captor if I did not ask them the same.” The other captain had been fishing. All along, he had wanted someone to wear the soul ring and prolong his wicked existence. Julian had been blind to it at the time, steadfast in his belief that Ezvorkian had wanted to enslave them.

  “Don’t you dare touch them!”

  “My dear Julian, I don’t need to. You’ve done all of my work for me.” The Zzesstari’s lips twitched. Julian watched the goon behind him grab and strangle him almost to unconsciousness before hefting his limp body and dragging him from the room.

  He’d thought that would be the end of it, but another door opened and one of Ezvorkian’s brutes forced Ellis inside. Julian’s stomach gripped in fear. Were these Ellis’s memories he was seeing? Had his lover been forced to watch everything? Ellis was pushed to the ground before the captain and glared at him.

  “So much defiance,” Ezvorkian said, “when I am prepared to show your friends such compassion.” He smiled, translucent lips pulling visibly across his teeth.

  Ellis’s face paled. “What do you want?”

  Ezvorkian’s finger twitched and the alien holding Ellis hit him with a hard backhand. Ellis sagged in his grip and was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

  “I find it intriguing that the last of the Celestial Fae would fall into my grasp. And so easily, too. A matter of chance and I find myself with the singularly fascinating opportunity to extend my life forever. You could grant me immortality.”

  “I would rather die than wear one of your damned soul rings.”

  “I shouldn’t be hasty, were I you. You see, I know a fair bit about your race.” Ezvorkian’s hoverboard circled Ellis’s prone form. “You’re the lone remnant of your kind, doomed to travel the stars until you find that one soul who can free you from your immortality. Centuries pass. Civilizations rise and fall, yet you remain. Everything you care for wastes away. Friends. Lovers. Other elves. Each piece of your life dies, yet you continue on in hope of finding the one soul in trillions that might free you from the shackles of immortality.

  “You should consider my offer a gift.”

  “A gift?”

  “The soul ring will mimic that for which you’ve sought your entire life. You will have your mortality. And you will have the privilege of spending the remainder of your days attached to me.”

  Ellis stared at him, unmoving.

  “Do you know what I can do to your friends, elf?” His voice was still calm. “The anguish I might offer them that would last beyond their deaths?” He hit a button on his chair and the sound of Julian’s screams suddenly filled the chamber.

  Ellis’s hands flew up to his ears to block out the sound, his face twisted in grief and horror.

  Ezvorkian cut the connection. “I want to know what you would be willing to offer, to keep them from it.” Ellis’s head dropped, his shoulders shaking. “To keep him from it.” Ellis barely withheld a gasp. “Oh, yes. I know exactly what Captain Gaspar is to you. And I know ways of making him suffer beyond what his mind would be able to bear.”

  Julian held Ellis tighter in his arms.

  “Tell me.”

  “Anything,” Ellis whispered.

  “Anything,” Ezvorkian repeated. A cracked tongue ran across his thin lips. “Yes. I might be amenable to that.” He hit a few buttons on his board and a small hatch opened. He withdrew a ring box from inside and cracked it open. “Here it is.”

  Ellis stared at the contents with horror.

  “Submit and I shall release them.”

  “Let them reach safety first.” Ellis took a steadying breath. “And then I’ll wear your evil ring.”

  “No!”

  The scene before him shattered like pieces of rough-hewn glass flying out around him. Julian braced himself, bending his body to shield Ellis from the worst of it. When nothing hit, he straightened. The pieces shifted into familiar patterns and soon the entire galaxy stretched out around him, mimicked in stars created from the memories he and Ellis now shared. The cave lit up from their silver-blue light.

  In his arms, Ellis appeared translucent and his illness seemed to fade away. A particularly brilliant star formed before him. Brighter than the others, it stood out among the millions that surrounded it.

  Ellis shifted in his arms and pulled away from his grasp. “Anything.”

  Julian started at the voice.

  “Anything to keep you safe.” Ellis stood at his side, the ring glowing fiercely on his finger and pulsing in time with his heartbeat.

  “Why, Ellis?”

  “All this time, and you still don’t know?” The star began to flicker in and out of existence. Julian shook his head in disbelief. “I love you, Julian. And I’ve been searching for you a very, very long time.”

  “I would have died to spare you this.” Ellis started to collapse. Julian was there in an instant, catching him and lowering him to the ground gently. “I still would.”

  The drum of the ri
ng slowed, mimicking his heartbeat. “It was my choice to make. And I would make it again.”

  “I never wanted this for you, Ellis. I love you.” Julian lowered his head to catch Ellis’s lips in a kiss. They were cold beneath his.

  The star faded out completely.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Airtha Prime

  Coalition Standard Date 113-234.73

  “No.” He was torn between Ellis’s body and the new void. The ring was still glowing sickly yellow, but he could feel no heartbeat. “Ellis…you were trying to tell me the whole time, but I didn’t listen.” The words came raw from his throat. He pulled Ellis up from the ground to hold the still form against his body. He nuzzled the cool skin of Ellis’s neck. “Every day you were gone, I felt it. You…you are my soulmate, Ellis.”

  The cave began to shake around him with hard staccato impacts. The stuttering reminded him of Ezvorkian’s guns hitting the shields of the Kestrel. Had the Ethervold repaired her engines enough to catch up? He waited and felt the same one-two-three beat of her guns hitting the mountain that housed them. When it came, it confirmed his suspicions. Ezvorkian had found them.

  If he’s drained Ellis’s soul completely, why is he still attacking the cave?

  Julian leaned over and pressed his forehead against Ellis’s, all thoughts focused on his lover.

  Are you still there? Are you alive? There was no response and Julian felt tears welling. Please, Ellis. I can’t do this without you anymore.

  “You’re never without me.” A specter of his lover appeared before him, a sad smile on his face. His skin seemed to shine with the same light as the stars that surrounded them. “I waited for you for a thousand years, Julian. I was happy to have you even for the short time we shared.”

  “This can’t be the end of it!”

  Ellis shook his head. “If I could stay with you for eternity, I would. My heart…my soul in your keeping. Even now, you call to me.”

  Julian reached down and touched the ring on Ellis’s finger. The spectral figure shuddered. “You wore this ring, so that I wouldn’t have to.” He wrapped his fingers around Ellis’s. Where the ring touched him, he felt the last warmth from Ellis’s body thrumming against his skin. The ring wrought such evil, but it felt so warm and reminded him so much of Ellis. Even brushing it was like touching his lover again.