Admiral Kayens sighed. ‘That bliddy quake.’
‘It is over and done with,’ Kyrus said. ‘The Realm has need of your services, gentlemen. We lack experienced senior officers, so I would rather have both your parties join us. About this base... Captain Seffild; you can get the dome and the field going again?’
‘Certainly, sir,’ Seffild said. ‘It will take time, but I will get my base ready to receive ships, sir.’
‘Excellent. Captain Willoder, are you and the men and women behind you willing to serve the Realm?’
‘If that evacuation order came from the Cra... We should have known the heritor would never abandon the Realm! We were wrong and Admiral Kayens was right. Realmfleet is our home too; if you still want us, we will serve, sir.’
‘Then you will take over acting command of this base. As soon as the outside facilities are restored, we will send you some frigates. For now I want you to search the wrecks in case any of the AIs can be recovered. We won’t leave any brain behind if we can help it.’
‘Thank you, sir,’ Seffild said.
‘It is part of the new Fleet Regulations,’ Kyrus said. ‘Ship’s brains are members of the crew. Now, would you wake the admiral’s men?’
Kyrus watched Willoder’s men put the hall to order and collect all arms, while on the other side, the admiral was speaking earnestly with his men. Then he called Realmport.
‘Gunild?’
‘Sir! You brought back 3rd Fleet Base! I noticed him coming alive; so wonderful! Any problems?’
‘Not any more. Do we have another base in need of an admiral with men but no ships? I will leave half the garrison here, and relocate the other half.’
‘We do, sir. The High Admiral just returned from 6th Fleet, at Krogond 2. The ships are there, but no one to crew them. Your man could move right in.’
‘Rear Admiral Kayens; I’ll tell him. Ask Krogond to send a ship and pick them up. I’ll give you the details when I return.’
‘Very good sir.’
An hour later, 6th Fleet’s battlecruiser arrived. Kayens’ men embarked with their families and possessions. Willoder’s men watched them leave and hesitantly some of them shook hands with the admiral’s people.
‘We’ll be leaving too, Captain Seffild,’ Kyrus said. ‘In case of trouble, don’t hesitate to call Ms. Gunild.’
‘I will, sir. I am monitoring all quarters discreetly. I do not expect problems. With Captain Norrol gone, the men seem resigned to the new situation, but I am not taking any chances.’
Kyrus nodded at Jathra and Holyn, took his leave of Willoder and returned to his ship.
As soon as he arrived on the bridge, he stopped in his tracks. Half of his ship was blackened, spattered with gore from the heaped dead covering every inch of the floor, while the other half was clean and homely, and gleamed in a golden light.
‘You did that well,’ a tall, emaciated man in a battered and bloody armor said. ‘Only one dead, and his mind had snapped. I have seen enough dying, so I rejoice.’
‘Still, I wish you had seen fit to save Norrol too,’ a blond girl in a spotless white robe said. ‘He was misguided, but he did not deserve to die.’
‘I know,’ Kyrus said. ‘Yet I wasn’t about to let him kill me instead. May I as your names, great gods?’
‘We are Heran and Dotte, the Siblings of Peace,’ they said. ‘Peace at Last,’ Heran added.
‘And Peace Eternal,’ his sister said.
‘We will need your help again,’ Heran said.
‘But not yet.’ Dotte lifted a hand, and a white feather came down. ‘Peace,’ she said.
Heran flicked a finger, and a small drop of blood turned the tip of the feather red. ‘At a Price.’
‘Give it to the unwritten one.’ Dotte waved and her brother raised a bleeding fist. Then the bodies, the blood and the clean fairness were gone, and the bridge was normal again.
Kyrus looked at the stained feather in his fist. Peace at a price.
‘S-Az?’
‘Admiral, sir?’ the AI answered. ‘Back already?’
Kyrus grinned. ‘Let’s go home.’
CHAPTER 26 – AWAKENING
‘You got a third present for Six?’ Kambisha stared at the long, bloody feather. ‘From the gods of Peace?’
‘At a Price,’ her brother said. ‘They will need my help again.’ He looked troubled at the thought.
Kambisha grinned. ‘Quite probably. Not everything we do goes without a fight.’ She picked up the feather. ‘Let’s give it to Six. Perhaps it will jog his memory.’
They found the boy in his chair, staring at nothing. When they entered, he turned his head.
‘You have it!’ he said gravely.
Kambisha raised her eyebrows. ‘A little something from the gods of Peace.’
‘A fateful gift. Not to be accepted lightly.’
He cupped his hands, and she dropped the feather between his fingers. For a long moment he sat motionless. Then, with a slight sigh, he pressed the feather to his chest.
He shuddered and his eyes lost a little of their innocence. ‘Time presses,’ he said. ‘I must go to Tallaruu.’
‘But we don’t know where it is,’ Kambisha said.
The boy looked at her. ‘Now we do.’
‘Then where is it?’
‘Look at your maps.’
‘Gunild?’ Kambisha said. ‘About that Tallaruu planet...’
‘Yes, ma’am. I... It’s here. Tallaruu, Morkon 3; an A+ world, uninhabited, with a moon. That’s all, I fear.’
‘Please check with Lin-Gor; we’ll have to go there tomorrow.’
‘You will take me?’ Six said. ‘That is good.’ He went and lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Kambisha looked at her brother and shrugged. Then they went out.
Tallaruu was a sparkling jewel against the blackness of the universe. A deep azure, dotted with clouds of the purest white, bathing in the warmth of a golden sun.
‘It’s almost too beautiful to be real,’ Kambisha said.
‘Tallaruu, the Jewel of the Gods,’ Six said. ‘They made it as their family home, but they never go there.’
‘Then who does?’ Kyrus said.
‘Today, I will.’
‘Any place special you want to visit?’ Kambisha said.
‘The temple,’ Six said. ‘The Temple of the Gods.’
Immediately they saw a huge mountain below them, with a golden-and-white building on its peak.
‘We jumped,’ Emma said, chagrined. ‘We weren’t here just now.’
‘It’s probably the gods giving us a shove in the right direction,’ Kambisha said.
‘I am not equipped for gods,’ Emma said. ‘My sensors don’t register their manifestations.’
‘Well, a lot of what they show us is fudge, anyhow,’ Kyrus said. ‘They’re a band of funny guys, those divinities. I wonder if they truly believe in us.’
‘A ponder-worthy statement,’ Six said. ‘There could be truth in your words.’
‘Do we go to that palace?’ Kambisha said.
‘We do,’ Six said. ‘Only the two of you will be permitted inside. I believe you are seen as some sort of agencies.’
‘You know quite a lot, all at once,’ Kyrus grumbled.
‘Tiny buds open in my mind, feeding me driblets of knowledge. It is tiresome.’ The boy frowned. ‘If only I understood why.’
‘Let’s go to your palace,’ Kambisha said. ‘We’ll need our brooms.’
‘It is not my palace,’ Six said. ‘It is the abode of the Allmother. Do not worry; like the others, Lodastra is not at home.’
Emma opened the nearest door, and they rode out into the glorious sunlight. Even at this height, the air was invigorating, and they went slowly, enjoying every minute of it.
As they approached the castle, tall golden doors swung open, and they entered a courtyard full of flowering bushes and tall, elegant trees. Small waterfalls tinkled and colorful birds sang together as they
flew from tree to tree.
‘It’s too much,’ Kambisha said. ‘Too much a show, as if they were an act of Qoori automatons.’
‘They are a show,’ Six said. ‘They’re an altarpiece, praising the gods.’
Silently, they walked into the palace. Six led them without hesitation, as someone with a clear goal, and they followed him through lofty halls and magnificent, painted rooms, until they came to a small chamber, the walls lined with machinery.
In the center was a chair. Six sat down and donned the golden crown that hung from an armrest. Meters whirled, gears buzzed and whirred, and vaguely Kambisha thought to hear an echo of the birds singing in the courtyard.
Six stiffened as he listened, his face intent.
Finally, previously amber lights on the machine’s control panel turned green, the whirring stopped, and Six took off the crown. ‘Yes! Now I know!’ His whole being shone with exultance and his eyes as he looked at Kambisha weren’t innocent at all.
‘I am the heritor.’
CHAPTER 27 – REVOLT
‘What!’ Kambisha gripped her brother’s shoulder to steady herself. ‘You are the Moi heritor?’
‘Not yet Moi,’ the boy said. ‘I must go to my temple at Moigar for the dedication, but I am the blessed of the gods.’
‘Then why were you without memory?’ Her eyes narrowed, and she looked at him as if he was someone else entirely. ‘Or weren’t you?’
‘I truly was,’ he said. ‘You see, I am a rep. A clone, as they call us officially. The government doesn’t want it be known, but I can tell you as you are outsiders. The Moi heritor is not immortal. He lives a long life, and seemingly without changing, but old age or accidents happen even to him.’
He smiled gently. ‘So there are reps, replacements; each identical to the last one, but with an empty mind.’
‘An unwritten mind,’ Kyrus said.
‘Exactly. When a heritor dies, a rep is sent to his palace at Moigar the same day, to take his place. The new one needs the approval of three gods to learn the location of Tallaruu and gain admittance to the heritor machine. Here in Lodastra’s abode, he receives the knowledge that is the heritor’s birthright. As the final step, his servants in Moigar add the memory of his predecessor. Then he is ready to take over the duties of the heritor.’
‘It sounds like a load of chicanery,’ Kambisha said. ‘Why is this necessary?’
‘It is part of the heritor’s magic,’ Six said, fixing her with his eyes. ‘The Moi follow him unquestioningly because he is the immortal favored son of the gods.’
‘Or so they believe,’ Kyrus said. ‘Are you?’
‘A son of the gods? Yes, that is; a piece of the Allmother was embedded into the first heritor’s body, and copied into all the others.’
‘So you’re neither immortal nor favored,’ Kyrus said. ‘Twin is right, that is nonsense.’
‘Not at all. The gods approved of me with their gifts; else I wouldn’t have been able to come here.’ He shifted his gaze to Kyrus. ‘Now we must go to Moigar for my dedication.’
‘We’ll do that later,’ Kambisha said. The whole thing sounded phony and she wanted time to think, to evaluate what a Moi heritor might mean to their plans.
‘I cannot wait,’ Six said implacably. ‘We shall go now.’
He lifted a hand and Kambisha couldn’t move. Then there was darkness.
They came out in a dark room smelling of mold and rotting.
‘What did you do?’ Kambisha said furiously. ‘I said later. Is this how you repay our help?’
‘I know,’ Six said, his mind clearly elsewhere. ‘But you are no longer in charge. I have taken over command, High Admiral.’
‘Where are we?’ Kyrus said in a dangerous voice.
‘Moigar, the heritor’s own palace,’ Six said. ‘My palace.’
He made a light, and Kambisha saw it reflect in the puddles on the floor. She noted the rotting carpets and the fungi growing on the walls.
‘Some palace,’ she said contemptuously.
‘This cannot be!’ Six looked around with a mix of horror and shocked arrogance on his young face. ‘This is the heritor’s palace! The holiest building in Moigar.’
‘No longer,’ Kyrus echoed his sister’s scorn. ‘Remember what happened, heritor. You died, or disappeared. The people knew you had lost the favor of the gods. The Cra saw it, too, and kicked the Moi out. Your own fabricated tales told everybody your fall meant the end of Moi rule, so your Realm crumbled. You are through, mister heritor.’
‘That was my predecessor,’ he said, suddenly defensive. ‘I am not him yet; I haven’t got his memories. We will go to the holiest and get it over with. After that, we’ll talk.’
‘Let us follow him for now,’ Kyrus said, watching his sister.
Kambisha was half inclined to knock that stupid Six on his head and drag him back to Realmport, but she nodded.
Through dank corridors they went deeper into the building. Several times, unseen animals fled at their approach, but that was all. The place appeared deserted.
Finally they came to an immense hall, with stairs leading down.
‘The Auditorium,’ Six said. ‘The holiest is beyond it.’
‘Fine,’ Kyrus said. ‘There is seven feet of water in that place.’
‘The holiest lies higher. It should be dry. We will use your brooms.’
‘You’re mighty free with your demands, aren’t you?’ Kambisha said.
‘I am the heritor,’ Six said coolly. ‘I have the right.’
They rode across the black water toward a heavy, ornamental door. The door was ajar, and they went inside.
It looked much like the place in the Allmother’s castle, with machinery, a chair and a crown.
‘The Heritor’s Receptacle.’ Six went to the control panel and his fingers stroked the dirty surface. His face was filled with emotions that were unpleasant to watch. ‘Here is the power! My power! I will take what is mine.’
He sat down in the chair like a conqueror, donned the crown, and flipped a switch in the armrest.
The machinery came alive, coughing and gasping, and the boy stiffened like the first time. He sat rigid, face frozen, and then his body arched back and he screamed piercingly.
Kambisha sprang forward and reset the switch. The machine came to a hiccupping halt while Six pressed his body up on his arms, his eyes bulging and blood running from his nose and the side of his mouth. ‘My predecessor... lives. He is... mad.’
Then he collapsed.
CHAPTER 28 – REPENTANCE
Kambisha grabbed him. ‘We’ll go back to Realmport.’ She gathered her power, but found none.
‘I... can’t!’ A deadly cold crept up, paralyzing her limbs with its fear.
Kyrus lifted a hand, and a spasm crossed his face. ‘Nothing.’
‘Yet the brooms work,’ Kambisha said hastily, mounting hers.
But the broomsticks remained inactive.
‘We’ll have to get out,’ Kyrus said. ‘Maybe the building is protected against all but the heritor’s magic.’
‘Curse it!’ She dragged Six from the chair, suppressing a wish to slap him, and carried him out of the little room.
In the door opening she stared at the water, nearly as dark as the surroundings. ‘We’ll have to swim.’
She concentrated on her sense of direction and went down into the cold, smelly water. Then, keeping Six’ head above the water, she propelled herself with one arm and her legs across the auditorium. Twice, she ran into some obstacle under water, but then she bumped into the wall on the other side.
‘Ky?’ She didn’t scare easily, but now, in the dark and without her magic she felt helpless and afraid.
‘Here.’ Her brother’s voice came from above. ‘Hold the idiot up; I’ll pull him out.’
Treading water, she managed to lift Six’ limp body, and she felt him being taken from her. Then she got her hands on the edges of the low wall and heaved herself up. She got one leg on the
wall and with a mighty push, rolled out of the water.
‘Darn all Moi!’ she muttered, as she came to her feet. ‘Twin?’
Kyrus chuckled close by. ‘Swimming in the dark; ain’t it romantic?’
She spat and refused to think of the taste the stinking fluid left on her lips. ‘Now where is that corridor?’
‘Straight ahead,’ her brother said.
‘You got Six?’
‘Sure; I want to beat the heck out of him, not leave him here.’
‘You’ll have to wait your turn,’ she said. ‘Now, let’s see where the exit is.’
‘You know the way?’
‘Yeah,’ Kambisha said, blessing the memory she’d inherited from her father. She remembered the route Six had followed, but apparently not every obstacle along the way as they stumbled through dark rooms, bumping into furniture or wet, rotting drapes.
Suddenly, something big sprang into her face and she screamed in horror.
‘Spiders!’ She hacked around with her saber. ‘Godsforsaken, cursed spiders!’ There were seven or eight of them, hairy monsters the size of a football, leaving sticky threads all over her as she killed them one by one, yelling curses that would have had her kicked out of every Kell barracks.
‘They’re dead,’ she said finally, sheathing her blade.
‘Good girl,’ her brother said, but she heard a quaver in his voice.
They hurried on, sloshing through muddy hallways full of squealing rats and climbing over barriers that hadn’t been there on the way in.
‘I can’t remember all these tables ‘n things barring our way,’ Kyrus said.
‘It is the same route,’ Kambisha said. ‘Perhaps he kept the way free for us. Stupid, secretive idiot!’
At long last she stopped. This place was familiar; it had been the room they arrived in.
‘We’re back where we began,’ she said. ‘Now what?’
A door creaked in the dark.
Her heart seemed to stop. ‘Ky!’
He chuckled, and she breathed again. ‘We’re at the way out.’
Kambisha joined him. He was right! There was a hallway, and the front door stood open. Outside it was almost as dark.
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