Drowned by Fire (Tales of a Dying Star Book 4)

by David Kristoph

  She left him, if only to keep the despair from overwhelming her. Eyes forward.

  The beacon on her wrist computer continued blinking, but it did not guide her toward the escape pod. It led inside a seven-storied building, back near Eovald's body. Jorda gently pushed the metal door open with her foot, sticking her fire-launching hands out in front of her. She slipped inside. Pavani followed.

  They were in an entrance room, like a lobby, with a desk along one wall and a staircase straight ahead. An apartment building, for civilians. The room stank with a sickly-sweet smell; she spotted the four bodies in the corner a moment later.

  The smell didn't seem to bother Jorda--her eyes remained focused. She glided across the room on silent feet, stopping on the other side of the staircase. Her hand shot out as if to fire, but then pulled back sharply.

  Pavani crossed the room and peered underneath the staircase.

  His Luminance was wedged underneath the stairs, curled in a ball facing away from them. He shivered slightly, though surely not from cold. The lower half of his gown was dark.

  Jorda reached underneath to guide the Emperor out. He flinched at her touch, crying out like a child and pushing himself firmly against the stairwell wall. It took a full minute of soothing words to coax him out, each of them holding one hand as he emerged. Jorda reached behind his neck, pressing at a small bulge of skin to disable his tracking chip. The blinking light on Pavani's wrist-computer disappeared.

  A new smell reached Pavani's nose, and she realized why his gown was dark. She cradled the Emperor despite the mess while Rob searched the apartments above for clothes. He returned with plain brown slacks, a shirt that buttoned up the front, and a sash that would serve as a belt. They were dirty and used, but cleaner than his filth-covered gown.

  He protested as Rob and Jorda removed his clothes. "No, leave me be. I just want to die. Why can't you let me die?"

  "Your Luminance, you can't--"

  "Don't touch me you whore," he spat at Jorda, shoving at her arm with what little strength he had. His eyes searched all around, delirious. "I need Julian. Julian will let me die, go get him for me. I need Julian."

  Pavani stared at the Emperor, diminished and scared and weeping on the floor. So many dead, so many sacrificed, for this small man. Countless Melisao whose names Pavani would never know, and far too many she did. Lorne, an engineer. Julian, Primeshield to the Emperor for twenty-five years.

  Admiral Acteon, my father. But that death she struggled to accept. Eyes forward, not backwards.

  She pulled the vial of pain medicine from her pouch, then nodded to the Flameguards. The Emperor kicked and screamed as they held him down. Pavani forced the medicine into his throat, massaging his jaw with a gauntleted hand until he swallowed. He continued to scream at them until the medicine took effect, the fire diminishing from his eyes until they closed. In his stupor they were able to easily change him into the civilian clothes.

  "So," Rob said when they were done, "what's the plan?"

  Pavani realized that with Julian dead she was in charge. She looked at the Emperor. His frailty was more pronounced now that he wore normal clothes instead of the gaudy royal robes. He rested on his back, eyes closed, like a corpse. Only his chest's movement proved he was alive. Pavani almost didn't recognize him.

  "Julian's plan was to get to the Palace," she said. "I think we need to continue to that end." The palace lay on the north-east end of the inner city, and they were currently on the outside part of the south-west, but the palace was the only safety she could think of.

  Rob nodded. "The sooner we get His Luminance to the palace, the better. If the worst should happen he needs to be near the heir, so that his immortal soul may pass on smoothly."

  Pavani nodded as if it were the obvious truth. That answered her question of what these Flameguards knew: very little. She would need to be careful with what she said around them, as this would be a poor time to shatter their piety.

  "There are only three of us," Jorda said. She sounded tired. "One of us will have to carry Him."

  "And you can't use your shield gauntlets if you have him in your arms," Rob added.

  "I can put him down to fight," Pavani said.

  "More likely you'll get shot instead," Jorda said. "You're a big target, in case you didn't know."

  "What's the alternative? Stay here and wait?"

  "Why not?" Rob asked.

  "Wait for what?" Pavani said. "Nobody knows where we are. Nobody even knows we're alive. We could reactivate His Luminance's tracking chip but that is just as likely to bring foes as friends. If they're not already on their way. Besides, he needs his medicine. His real medicine, not this pain-intoxicant that puts him to sleep. You both can see his fits are growing worse."

  Neither of them said anything.

  "We need to get to the palace, even if it means traveling through the city," Pavani insisted. Distant booms emphasized the danger of that. "If you have a safe way to reach the palace I'd love to hear it."

  Rob opened his mouth to argue. A sound in the street made them all swing their heads to the door. Voices outside.

  Wordlessly, they moved. Jorda stayed with the Emperor while Pavani and Rob tip-toed to the door, one on either side. The voices were louder. A small window set in the door showed the square outside. Slowly, Pavani moved her head to look.

  A dozen figures stood around the escape pod in the center of the square. Their clothes were disuniform; some wore green farmer's attire, others the brown uniform of civilian workers. One was a steadfast, dressed all in white. Their voices echoed off the buildings.

  "I'm telling you, I heard someone."

  "You hear all sorts of things that aren't there."

  "This was clear. A man calling for help. I'm certain of it."

  "The only thing you're certain of is your appetite."

  Laughter.

  "Search the area again," spoke a commanding voice. "Just a quick sweep. Three blocks over, Don says he's found another pod, though it's empty too."

  The men spread out in all directions. Two walked directly toward Pavani.

  She pulled her head away from the window. Rob's fingers flashed as he gave hand signals to Jorda across the room. She disappeared under the staircase with the Emperor. Rob took a deep breath, returning his stare to Pavani.

  She didn't know what to do. They could easily kill two, but the rest... no, fighting was a poor choice. Pavani looked around the room. There wasn't enough space for all of them under the stairs. It would take too long to carry His Luminance to another floor; the Children would be there within seconds. She and Rob could hide upstairs--the soldiers didn't have enough time to search the entire building, did they?--but she was loathe to leave Jorda and the Emperor alone.

  The bootsteps outside were only a few feet away. Rob's flame-fingers twitched at his side as he crouched back, ready to strike when they came through the door. Pavani readied herself too. It was the only thing she could think to do as a shadow moved across the window.

  Chapter 12

  Someone across the square cried out.

  Gravel crunched as the men stopped just outside the door. More sounds as they began moving away. Pavani counted ten heartbeats before stealing a glance out the window. Across the square the soldiers gathered at another building. A line of people marched out of the apartment, hands in the air. Steadfasts, surrendering.

  Pavani and Rob shared the window, watching. His breath was spicy like cinnamon as he let out a long breath.

  The soldiers arranged the captives in a line in the street. The same voice giving commands earlier spoke loudly, intoning. "Here, in the open and beneath she who burns brightest, declare your eternal devotion to our mother Saria. Renounce your false God before her, so that she may hear you lament in apology. Raise your voices loudly, so that she may know the fervency of your belief!"

  The captives all spoke at once, a jumbled scattering of, "We renounce our false God."

  "Declare your love for Her," the man s
poke, "the giver of life, the giver of light."

  Again, more unison this time, the captives said, "We declare our love for our mother, Saria."

  The leader dropped his rifle to the ground with a clatter, spreading his arms wide. "Go forth in her warmth. Go forth in her light, as Children!"

  The soldiers all raised their faces to the sky, eyes closed. After a moment the captives did the same.

  The leader bent to pick up his rifle, the ceremony over. "Anyone who wishes to fight with the Children of Saria will be rewarded. Make your way through the wall into the inner city. When you reach the front lines you'll be given weapons and assigned into combat groups. Walk in the open, without fear; those who hide in the shadows will be presumed enemies, loyal to the false god."

  Hesitantly, the captives all walked east, toward the Wall. When they were out of sight the soldiers left the square in the opposite direction.

  Rob slumped down, exhaling. Pavani relaxed too, but already her mind was racing, thinking of a plan.

  Jorda emerged from the staircase and joined them. Rob relayed what they'd seen. "They can't think a few words spoken under duress mean anything," he said. "But that's how it begins, one lie at a time."

  "He is conscious again," Jorda said, "though just barely. Mumbling incoherently, begging to die. He's in a terrible pain, too, though the medicine muted it. We can't possibly hope to travel to the Palace now. He'll bring every enemy within earshot down on us. We can't fight them all."

  You're right, we can't. "What if we didn't fight?" Pavani asked.

  The Flameguards looked at her blankly.

  "You saw what they did with those civilians," she said to Rob. "They let them go as long as they renounced the Emperor. Nobody knows what He looks like. Stars, even I barely recognize him in those clothes. If we pretend to be civilians heading forward to fight, we might get through fine."

  Jorda laughed. "And what will we say about His Luminance? That a shriveled, delirious man who has to be carried wants to fight?"

  "I don't know," Pavani insisted. "We'll say that we're just bringing him to the hospital. Something. It's better than staying here and watching him die, I know that."

  Jorda licked her lips. She nodded.

  Rob looked back toward the stairwell. Several quiet moments passed before he finally answered. "We'll need to change clothes. Especially you. Though finding something that will fit a woman your size..."

  They searched four apartments before finding something suitable: a brown dress-suit. She stripped out of her plated armor, placing it in a neat pile under the stairs, before pulling the dress over her head. It was made to hang to the knees, but on Pavani it barely went past her waist. She tucked it into the long under-trousers she'd worn beneath her armor. Her Shieldwarden boots were too conspicuous, but they managed to find a pair of men's shoes that pinched her toes. It was only uncomfortable, not painful, and for now that would have to do.

  The Flameguards had an easier time finding proper clothes: brown civilian uniforms, baggy and plain. Jorda laughed at Pavani when they came downstairs. "You look ridiculous, but it'll do."

  Rob was unscrewing the nozzles from his fingertips, which sprayed and ignited the fuel into flame. They clinked as he dropped them on the floor. "These have to go too," he said, tapping Pavani's forearms. "They'll definitely give you away."

  She hadn't taken off her shield gauntlets. He was right, though--they were as identifiable as the rest of her armor. She hesitated, then unclasped them from her forearms, first the left, then the right. The skin underneath bulged, angular and blocky, the batteries for the shields woven between her skin and muscle.

  Rob went to the dead bodies across the room, knelt, and returned with two blood-soaked scarves. He took Pavani's hands and wrapped a scarf over each arm, covering the batteries. He tied them off, took a step back, and looked her up and down. "Pretend you're wounded. Crouch down, too. That will make you seem less threatening."

  She felt naked without her shield gauntlets, but she nodded. Rob grabbed another scarf and tore it in half before wrapping it around his own arms, covering his dragon tattoos.

  "DON'T TOUCH ME," the Emperor shouted across the room. "I will not be moved!"

  Jorda threw her hands up and left the stairwell.

  "Your Luminance," Pavani said, bending low to peer under the staircase. The Emperor was still huddled against the wall, beneath the lowest two steps. "We're going to take you to the Palace now."

  His eyes opened, searching around without seeing. "I wish... I wish to remain here."

  The pain intoxicant didn't last very long. He was growing more delirious. "Everything is going to be fine," Pavani said, trying to sound soothing. "But we need to leave."

  "I am the Emperor," he said stubbornly. "You must do as I command. And I command you to stay."

  She took a deep breath. "Your Luminance..."

  "I WILL NOT BE DISOBEYED."

  Pavani stared. His Luminance grew petulant at times, when the pain became especially unbearable, but she had never seen him like this. She struggled to think of what to say to him, to convince him of what they needed to do.

  Jorda appeared at her side. She crouched beside the Emperor, grabbed his arm, and stuck him with something near the elbow. He cried out in anger, but Jorda's grip was strong. Slowly his protests grew weaker until he was asleep.

  "A drug," Jorda said, "something we found in a room upstairs. Illegal, but that doesn't much matter. It will go easier for us, now."

  They stepped out into the sunlight, extra bright after being in the dim building for so long. Pavani carried her broken God in her arms like a child. He weighed nearly nothing, as if his size were diminishing along with his power. Along with my faith.

  Every instinct screamed at Pavani to stick to the walls, to remain near cover lest they be shot, but she forced her feet to stay in the center of the street like the Children had commanded. They were just civilians moving into the city, with nothing to hide.

  They turned down a street to the east, where the Wall towered over the decrepit outer city buildings. Smoke billowed from the top. Beyond it rose the Chain, disappearing high into the clouds. Was it her imagination, or did it already appear tilted? They still had fifteen hours until it crashed, if Lorne was right.

  Once the engineer entered her thoughts he remained there. A good man, a loyal man, dying for his Emperor. For his God. Lorne, Julian, Eovald... so many people had died so this frail, pitiful person could survive. And for what? To live only a few months longer? Why were they doing this? To cling to an idea that, at that very moment, crumbled all around them?

  If there's no heir, there's no Emperor. His Luminance's immortality was proven by his eternal reproduction, his soul moving from one generation to another. What would happen when this body finally passed? Where would His soul go? It was a question all of them had avoided in the years since discovering the Emperor's genetic defect, a question none of them had wanted to ask.

  Pavani continued moving forward, bearing the silent burden.

  They passed other civilians, women and children who were dirty and scared. The Flameguards tensed when they appeared, but none of the civilians looked twice at Pavani's group, hurrying on toward whatever safety they thought could be found.

  The buildings closest to the Wall bore the evidence of war; some showed gaping holes from heavy laser weapons, while others were nothing but piles of rubble. The explosions, once distant, carried a shaking immediacy. One blast seemed just on the other side of the Wall, knocking loose the roof of an apartment tower, shattering into the street one block ahead. Pavani began eying their surroundings with trepidation, waiting to see what might fall down on top of her. The noise grew repetitive as they walked: boom, shake, crumble.

  The entrance into the Wall itself had been blown open, doors missing and charred streaks extending away from a blast. Nobody guarded the entrance or the Wall above. Nobody stopped them. Rob led the way inside. Pavani adjusted her grip on the Emperor as she picked h
er way over the rubble blocking the door. Although the God was not heavy, the burden of carrying him so far--along with the rest of the day's activities--was beginning to ache in her shoulders and elbows.

  They passed straight through the Wall, ignoring the stairway that led up to the rail station higher above. Within the thick structure the sounds of explosions were more muted, felt in their feet more than heard. Nobody stopped them at the searchpoint, the equipment there knocked over and flickering with electric sparks. They exited the Wall, stepping into the inner city.

  Sound buffeted them then. The scream of aircraft high overhead, the shriek of laserfire from rooftop positions clawing at the sky. Pavani heard the distant blasts more clearly, felt them push against the inside of her ears. Smoke rose from countless fires, plumes that stretched to the sky alongside the Chain, a forest of black ruin.

  The Chain. Its base in the center of the city still seemed stable from what Pavani could see in between buildings, but as she craned her neck she saw it had an obvious tilt, hanging over their section of the city before disappearing into space. Latea was a dim circle in the sky, distinct and disconnected from the Chain. It would be nightfall in a few hours, which meant they had half a day, maybe more, before the Chain fell. How much damage would it cause? Would they be safe from the crash in the Emperor's palace, in the north-east section of the city?

  If we can reach it in time, she thought, and if the palace is safe at all. The battle obviously still raged, but would it be over by the time they reached the palace? Would they arrive to find the compound occupied by the Children of Saria? What would they do then?

  Rob and Jorda were already moving forward, so Pavani pushed the thoughts out of her head, forcing herself to focus on the task at hand. They could worry about the palace if they made it there alive and only then. Eyes forward.