Zosma spat, face going dark. The black sheep is still family. Isn't that what you always said? He pointed with the tip of his sword towards Sabik. That one is allowed here, but I can't take back what's mine?
The sounds of fighting drew Dee's attention back to the fray. She itched to get involved, to clash her steel against another, but Sabik's grip continued to hold her. Indignant that he would stop her, that he would lay claim over her ability to decide infused her steps with vigor. She stepped into him, forcing him back with the leverage of his grip on her. A quick step away loosed herself, and she was free.
Sabik's massive size stopped her short. She rubbed her nose, too surprised by his appearance in front of her to be angry that he interfered.
"Your youthful recklessness needs tempering."
She bit back a comment, wondering how he would react if she pulled her weapon on him, while the voice in her head screamed for death.
He must have read the thought on her face. He smiled. "Temperance, Desiree."
Her name from his lips shivered down her spine, distracting her from what she might have done. She looked into his face for the first time without fear of what might happen when she did. Her curiosity was too peaked by her reaction to him.
"Why should I go with you?"
He thought she was bending to the idea. His smile told her that.
"Those things you think only Zosma can tell you, I could source them out, as well as keep you safe, really safe, from them all. They would never find you again if that's what you wished."
Her first reaction was to ignore his statement as posturing, lies to sway her to his side, but she found that she believed him.
"You don't have his answers."
"No, but I know I could get them."
"You couldn't possibly know that."
He didn't bother to respond. Instead, he waited for her to decide.
"I don't trust that you're not manipulating me."
His eyebrows rose at the statement, her words so quiet they were more to herself than to him.
Dee glanced at the fight, astonished how many bodies piled around the Twins. The waste of so many lives caught in her throat, distracting her from Sabik.
"STOP!" The words were out of her mouth before she thought about what she was doing. "Wait! Please. Just stop."
No one listened to her command.
Please. Stop this.
Pollux swore in their ancient language, and Dee snapped her head to see what had brought his distress, heart hammering that maybe one of them was injured.
But it was for her the Twin cursed. His eyes met her's over the crowd of Soldiers, his expression begging her not to do the thing she was about to do. In his eyes, she saw his plea for her not to abandon him.
But it wasn't abandonment, it was progression. She couldn't stay here, couldn't stand by and do nothing, especially if that nothing was propagating Pollux's idea to use her as a tool for his agenda.
Dee turned her gaze to Zosma, whose attention had also fallen on her.
Please. I'll come with you. No more of their sacrifice for me. Not like this.
He studied her face, and she held fast, not wilting under his scrutiny.
His stern expression morphed to that of fatherly warmth, and at the end of that transition, he barked out a single command that had his Soldiers falling back. Even the Twins halted their killing spree at his command.
Silence settled over the battlefield. All eyes turned to Dee and Zosma as they approached each other.
Staring into Dee's face, Zosma spoke, deep voice propelled from his diaphragm, so it carried over the wind. "She has offered to come freely."
The Twins stalked forward, Asellus on their heels. A gesture from Zosma kept his Soldiers from interfering in the Rishis' convergence.
Pollux reached her first, just a half-step in front of his brother, but it was Sabik's voice in her head that turned her attention from Zosma's paternal stare. Be careful you can extricate from your decision when your questions are answered. I would not imprison you.
Dee spun to watch him flow forward, his words an echoing doubt in her mind. Still, her response was in a confident tone. These answers are worth the risk. These answers only he can give.
If Zosma was playing her, playing them all, she'd be in even worse trouble.
-Then we will kill them all.-
She pushed the thought back, determined to follow through with her decision, ignoring the wrath of her subconscious, ignoring the Rishis’ words of warning that overlapped each other.
Dee held up a trembling hand, signaling the cease of the debate. "This is my decision. It's my final answer."
She braced, waiting for a fight or for Pollux to pick her up and race off to some new location while her eyes watched for the swing of a sword. Instead, there was nothing. Only heartbroken looks from the ones who'd tried to hide her.
That they allowed her this decision caught her, and she blinked slowly, meeting each of their eyes.
-What else might you have done if you'd only asked.-
Feeling the slightest pang of guilt, she reminded herself there was no reason for it. It was them who'd imposed on her. She was allowed to make her own path, set her own rules. She would not feel bad for finally doing it.
The matron came forward. One palm pressed to Dee's forehead, while the other pressed over her heart, she met Dee's eye with a sad smile before leaving the field. "Don't forget all you've learned. Continue your practice."
Castor bowed, a shallow gesture from the hip. "We will not interfere with your decision." His attention turned to Zosma as he straightened. "But know this will not go without a formal complaint."
"So noted, great warrior. Cry to our self-proclaimed leader and see what comes of it."
There was a hesitation in Castor, and for a second, Dee was sure he would lunge at his once-commander. From the tension in the others, they anticipated it as well.
But, the moment passed, and Castor followed Asellus off the field.
Pollux took Dee's hands in his. "There is greatness in you. Don't stop creating your own story."
He laid a brotherly kiss on her cheek before following his Twin, nodding to Zosma's soldiers with a sly grin.
Sabik was closer than before, startling her with words breathed down her neck. "You know I don't play by the same rules as the rest."
Zosma spoke before Dee could formulate a response. "You would take away her freedom to decide?"
Sabik held Dee's gaze. "If I believed she was being manipulated, yes."
"You believe she's being manipulated?" Zosma's bland tone matched Sabik's.
Sabik ignored the question, instead asking his own of Dee. "Is it true that this one has taken responsibility for what you are?"
Dee nodded cautiously, not sure where the question would lead.
Sabik switched his attention to Zosma. "Swear it. Swear this to be true."
Zosma's face went dark, his jaw pulsing. After a pause, he nodded, reluctant, then raised his arms to forty-five degrees, palms up, face tilted towards the sky. Whatever Han meant by swearing, there was more to it than merely locking pinkies.
Barely loud enough for Dee to hear, Zosma recited something in that strange language she'd only heard on rare occasions from the Twins. It sounded like he repeated a statement three times, but she couldn't be sure.
When his eyes opened, it was clear he wasn't happy with whatever he'd done.
Sabik's voice was a whisper. "You really did it."
Sabik turned his attention to Dee, looking at her as if for the first time. Dee wasn't sure what to make of it, her stomach fluttering in anticipation of some new catastrophe.
Finished with his study of her, the larger man put his chin to his chest in a sort of bow before disappearing with a press of wind that ruffled Dee's hair.
"Well, that was easier than expected."
Dee let out a burst of startled laughter, more at his casual tone than his words.
Zosma clasped her on the s
houlder in an expression of solidarity. "Let's be off before the Twins change their minds."
Part 5
9
The desert stretched around her, flat, arid land as far as she could see. The sun, whose fiery breath seemed of a different world in this new place was as different from the thin air of Asellus’ mountain retreat that a place could be.
She had no experience with deserts, and her knowledge of geography was such that they could have been in Arizona or the Sahara for all she could tell. Time passed in isolated pockets of surrealism while cast thousands of meters in the air, so not even the time lost to travel helped her determine this new location. Disoriented, feet rooted to the cracked earth, she watched those around her scurry on their pointed tasks.
Had she made the right decision to come here?
-You could sprint off into the desert. You could probably out-run them all.-
She stared across the baked plain, headache building behind eyes forced to squint through the glare. Sweat pooled in crevasses of her body under the linen shirt and pants she’d been given, glad not to have the homespun wool clothes from Asellus’ to compound the heat.
A crash drew her attention towards the lone structure that broke the flat nothingness surrounding her. A group of Soldiers had dropped some large piece of equipment in the center of the bay, their peers laughing and heckling their clumsiness.
Dee smiled, remembering her own experience with a group of Soldiers. Ellie and Ainn had brought Amalthea’s Soldiers to watch her, to train with her, to show her what she might do if she just let go. The exercise had worked. Dee had found the switch that opened the floodgate to the mysterious skills that lay inside her. For a time, in that circle, she’d even found a place to belong.
The plane revved its engines behind her, a boost of power so it might start its taxi into the massive building, if only Dee would move.
When she turned back to the hanger, Zosma was at her side. “Let’s get you out of this heat.”
His words were simple, but Dee couldn’t help think of the layers of meaning the statement might hold. If all he’d claimed were true, this might be her last stop. If he had all the answers, this crazy adventure she’d been thrown in might be at its end.
She held onto that thought as she followed the Rishi into the shade of the hanger, casting one last glance around before she lost sight of the desert, eagerly transitioning from the blaze of direct sunlight to the cooler interior temperature. She held onto the positivity of an end to it all, suppressing the anger that asked for release. That lid was kept closed by the questions she wanted answered. Once those questions no longer held tight that lid…
Dee paced at Zosma’s side, taking in the movements of his people. Some helped secure the plane, while others threw bags from the cargo hold. Most had made their way to the back of the hanger where multiple rows of lockers sat. Each worked casually to secure their belongings while carrying on conversations typical among groups used to working with each other. Dee smiled along with the jokes and good-natured conversation, surprised at how normal it all was.
She followed Zosma past them all, through the giant building that housed the plane along with rows of equipment and supplies Dee couldn’t judge in their hurried pace. She was led to a narrow door secreted in a back corner. A single Soldier waiting beside it was the only reason Dee’s eyes recognized it as such. Made to find it on her own, she never would have thought to look there.
Nervous butterflies swarmed her insides as she followed through the opening into a dim hallway. Rather than consider she could be walking to her doom, she focused on what she could see.
The corridor ran parallel to the back wall of the hanger, just wide enough for her to stick her elbows out and not brush the walls. After twenty meters, roughly a quarter of the length of the hanger, the straight hallway doubled back on itself at a downward slope.
The pair took this sharp corner into another corridor that continued on. Rather than move down this hall, Zosma stopped after a few paces. A palm placed against the inside wall triggered some security measure that spit a panel out of the surface with a click.
-Cool.-
On tip-toes, Dee peered over Zosma’s shoulder, curious at the hidden technology. She watched Zosma manipulate the palm reader and keyboard before sliding the panel back into the wall.
Zosma walked past her, back the way they’d come, but Dee stepped forward, staring into the space she knew to look. Even so, Dee couldn’t find any sign in the cement that something hid within.
Impulse to reenact what she’d seen ignored, she hurried to catch up, wondering what Zosma had manipulated and why. No sound or visible change had occurred to whatever he’d done.
Dee turned the corner to make her way after Zosma to find him stopped half-way up the first hall. He faced the shared hanger wall, and Dee saw a red light pulse before he turned to her with a proud grin.
“Wait’ll you see this.”
Not sure what to expect, the Rishi’s relaxed demeanor, mixed with her curiosity, washed away her apprehension.
When the wall shuddered, sending a low vibration through the hall, Dee jumped. When it began to rise, Dee pressed herself back, eyes wide.
Zosma laughed, but she barely noticed, too intent on watching for what would be revealed.
The wall rose almost four feet over half-a-minute to reveal a staircase as wide as the hall they stood in. It descended beneath the hanger, narrowing as it carved a path into the earth.
Dee stared into the darkness. She was not going down there.
“Don’t be nervous. These are simple measures to ensure curious enemies can’t just waltz into our sanctuary.”
Simple measures?
But it was his use of our that pulled her attention to his face.
She met his eye, shocked by what she saw in his expression. From the first, she’d felt like some long-lost daughter reunited with her family. When she’d thought coming to Zosma for answers might be the best plan, she never imagined dealing with an ancient Being who thought of her as a daughter would be a part of it. She wasn’t sure what to do with that. It further tempered her anger and left her—tired.
When he started down the stairs into the din, she couldn’t convince herself to follow. Staring past him into the questionable dark had her paranoia stirring, and all the reasons she should have stayed with Asellus and the Twins flooded her mind.
Zosma came back up the stairs, a hand held out to her. She stared at that hand, torn between taking it and ripping it off.
“My brain is having a hard time believing I’m not in grave danger.”
His posture went still. “You decided this.”
“Sure, but not because I thought we’d be friends. I thought you had answers for me the others didn’t have, but I didn’t think those answers would come without a price.”
Her attention remained on the stairs and the dimly lit path that led to who-knew-where. Only when Zosma stepped level with her, did she look at him.
“The price which might be your imprisonment? Or something similar?”
She nodded, swallowing around panic that she might make him angry. She’d told herself she wasn’t going to hide behind cowardice anymore, but that didn’t mean there would be no fear.
The concern in Zosma’s expression set her back. There was no reason for him to pretend this level of concern. He had her. There was no one coming. There was no way she would get out of here if he didn’t allow it.
She stared into his face, searching for the lie, searching for the game. It was the only explanation for him to look at her as if she genuinely belonged here, belonged with him, as part of his family.
“I did think I was coming to some prison. But I figured it was worth it to at least, finally, know what was going on.”
The flash of what Dee interpreted as respect flashed over Zosma’s face, further convincing her this wasn’t some elaborate game. Unwilling to believe, she pushed it off, telling herself the exhaustion from the stres
s of the day had clouded her observations. Besides, whatever was truth and which were lies didn’t matter. If she were in grave danger, or not, she’d agreed to be here. There was nowhere else for her to go.
With that, Dee breathed deep, forcing trust to take the reins, and took Zosma’s hand.
She stepped down, then again, until they set a steady pace. She peered through the pale light to see where they headed. As the stairs narrowed from their twenty meter width to three on the landing two stories below, a broad, gunmetal door blocked the way. She breathed around the vice of claustrophobia, wondering instead at the security measures that were leagues above the other Rishis. Was Zosma’s paranoia bounds above the others, or was there some reason for it?
While the possible cause left her nervous, she considered this might be the first time no one got in to break her out.
-You’ll never get out,- her inner-voice was quick to assess.
She blinked fast against the helplessness that welled, pushing her attention to her surroundings to ignore the overwhelming despair.
There was no panel or keypad to play with at this door, but from each side of the landing, a spot near the ceiling opened, allowing small camera-looking contraptions to roll outward. They moved down and back up the wall with an electronic whir on tracks that opened to the room.
Dee jumped, nervous energy contained by Zosma’s reassuring hand on her arm that made her skin crawl. If they hadn’t taken her weapons, she would have hacked the devices from the wall.
“They scan biometrics, check for weapons, and make sure nothing unwarranted enters.”
Dee stared at the ceiling where the scanners slipped back into hiding. Barely, she thought she made out a seam in the wall that told of the scanners hiding place and the tracks it would move on when triggered. Again, she’d never have noticed if not looking for it.
Amazement stacked on amazement at the level of technology encased in this place. She wondered what unwarranted things Zosma referred to and who would be stupid enough to try to bring them in.
The door opened, sliding silently into the ceiling, its sudden movement another cause for Dee’s heart to skip a beat. Her eyes blinked fast, overstimulated by the bright light that greeted her. When her eyes adjusted, she blinked again.
We Are Forever (Rishi's Wish Book 2) Page 7