Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1): Bridge & Sword World

by JC Andrijeski

  “Apparently so,” Terian gazed down Revik’s body. “Missing her again, are we?”

  He fought to go unconscious again, willing it.

  “Let’s go over it again…”

  Revik tried to remember the line of questioning they’d been on, couldn’t.

  “Who has the succession order, Revi’?”

  The sickness worsened. “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Really?” Terian walked around his inert form. “Shall we pull your friend out of her cage again? Maybe if I played with her a bit, that might jog your memory?”

  Revik clutched the chain where it attached to the floor.

  He avoided the female with his light, but he couldn’t help looking for her with his eyes. Her naked body lay slumped in an iron box against the far wall, her eyes half-lidded, catatonic. The slack look on her face was more than he could bear, worse than the long cut that bisected her delicate features. He remembered the last time Terian brought her out here, felt his stomach lurch even as his eyes drifted to her feet bleeding through the dirty gauze he’d used to staunch the blood. He’d taken two of her toes that time, one from each foot.

  “No,” he said, hoarse.

  “No?” Terian said. “Say please, Revi’.”

  “Please.” His eyes returned to the floor. “Please, I—”

  “All right.” Terian smiled, waving him off. “…Since you’re being a good boy.” His eyes narrowed. “The succession order, Revi’. The truth this time. I have it from very reliable sources that you were the only one who had it after Galaith.”

  Revik hesitated, trying to think. Terian kicked him, hard, aiming at the muscled part of his thigh, and he gasped.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I swear it’s the truth. You can read me… you know I’m not lying. If I ever had it, they wiped it when I left—”

  Terian kicked him again. Revik shifted half to his side, fighting to breathe.

  Rocking on his heels, Terian touched his lips with a finger, gazing up at the ceiling.

  “Yes,” he said. “That memory loss is most irritating. But you know I don’t fully believe you, don’t you, Revi’? Your light is different, you see. Ever since that day on the ship, it is different than it was. I know you can’t feel it with that restraining device around your neck, but take my word for it. You. Are. Different.”

  He prodded Revik’s back with his boot at each word.

  “You feel much more like my old friend than you did in San Francisco. So much so I have a hard time believing you, when you say you don’t remember.”

  Revik just lay there, breathing into the tile.

  They’d been over this.

  He’d lost track of answers he’d given, contradicted, lied about. He knew Terian likely no longer listened for details anyway. By now he knew exactly what Revik did and didn’t know. What he hadn’t said aloud had been ripped from his mind––about Allie, every intimate detail, every lie and truth and half-truth. Work he’d done under Vash. His job in the Guard. How he’d spent his years in Russia. Work he’d done in London.

  It wouldn’t be enough. This had become an endurance game, and he would lose.

  Even as he thought it, the rod jabbed at muscles in his back, just enough that he reflexively tried to block it.

  “What were you dreaming about, Revi’? Just now?”

  Images swam forward. He saw Allie again, her hands on his chest, holding his arms. He remembered her pulling on him and hardened painfully.

  Now that he was powerless to block it, the separation was like a drug. It brought wanting, but also regret, memory in sharp relief, emotions he could barely comprehend, much less control. The sickness worsened. For a moment, he could only lie there, half-gasping.

  The collar sparked.

  Terian bent down, gripping his hair, pulling his head back.

  “Every time. You know, Revi’… your eyes glow every time I mention her. You really are a mess, my friend.” He relaxed his hold, adding casually, “It’s not like I have a lot of telekinetic seers to study, to see the effects they have on their mates. But the glow eye thing of yours intrigues me. So do those lights you managed to shatter on the ship.”

  His eyes turned clinical, studying Revik’s with a faint edge.

  “Incidentally, I was with your wife while you were fucking that human.” A half-smile tugged at his lips as Revik looked away. “If your goal was to hear her beg, I think it was working, my brother. Truly. I very seriously considered mounting her myself.”

  He gripped Revik’s hair tighter, forcing him to look at him. He bent closer to his ear, his voice a murmur. “The images coming off her… gods. I could have called in the whole Guard. We could have taken turns. I don’t think she would have minded a bit, Revi’. Not a bit.”

  Revik fought the image out of his light and the collar tripped, sending white fire down his spine. When Terian released him, he lay his face against the tile, breathed into the cold floor.

  His eyes caught those of the other human in the room, who squatted in a cage next to the one where Cass lay broken against the wall. The man there looked even skinnier and paler than Revik, if that were possible. Seeing the sympathy there, Revik closed his eyes.

  He felt Jon’s light reach for his, a pale comfort.

  Bright… so bright for a human.

  Too bright.

  The yellow eyes swiveled in Jon’s direction.

  “Interesting.” Terian rose, starting towards the row of cages where Jon was already moving, scurrying to put his back to the wall, as far away from the cage’s door as possible.

  Revik lifted his head, writhed to his stomach.

  “Fucking dirt blood,” he gasped.

  Terian halted, halfway to where Jon hunched in the corner.

  Revik fought for breath, pushing out words. “…You’d give your cock to be me. That’s the real reason you’re doing this. Not to find Allie. Not to learn more about any fictitious ‘succession order’… but to pretend you’re stronger than me. That you beat me. It’s pathetic, Terry.”

  Terian turned.

  Behind him, Jon waved Revik off, his hazel eyes rounded in horror. But Revik’s gaze fixed on the human’s bandaged hand. His jaw hardened.

  “It speaks.” Terian folded his arms, cocking his head with narrow eyes. “Wow, Revi’. Did you just… insult me?” His smile widened. “I confess, I didn’t think you had it in you. Not after our last go-around.”

  Revik’s throat was so dry he was hoarse. “You still can’t stand the fact that Galaith made me second over you.” He grunted. “He’d still take me back, Terry. In a fucking heart beat. You know that, too.”

  Terian smiled, gesturing him forward. “Go on.”

  Revik saw the hardness beneath the smile. He’d reached him.

  But not enough.

  He blurted, “Feigran, right? Wasn’t that your name?”

  Terian’s smile grew leaden.

  “I remember.” Revik’s fingers tightened around the chains. “A shit-blood from the Ukraine. Dugress, right? A town I destroyed… on accident, I admit. I don’t remember.” He barked a laugh. “I was drunk a lot back then, but there’s no way I’d destroy a crap town of beet farmers on purpose. We were short on ammo as it was…”

  Terian’s full mouth thinned.

  Behind him, Jon had gone rigid, as still as death.

  “I had to study files on all of my…” Revik barked another hoarse laugh. “…subordinates. It’s coming back to me now. You’re one of those inbred seers with an inferiority complex, is that it? Saw too many of your relatives go to the gas chambers? I guess that would hit at your self-esteem a little. Supposedly superior race, and you’re exterminated like rats.” He coughed, tasting blood. “Tell me, did your father really get so poor he sold his wife? Did he sell you, too, Feigran? Is that how the Rooks acquired you? For a few dead animals and—”

  The rod came down hard, in the middle of his chest.

  Revik stopped breathing, losing all sense of wh
ere he was.

  The pain whited out his vision. He blocked it and the collar flared around his neck. Before he could go unconscious, Terian stepped forward and kicked him in the face. The shock yanked Revik out of his mind just as the mixer hit him lower with the rod, low enough to bring a scream.

  For a long moment, Revik thought he was dead.

  Terian lifted the pulse.

  Groaning, nauseous, Revik tried to crawl away.

  Terian stepped forward, kicking him in the stomach.

  “You’re damned lucky I want this body for myself, Revi’.” The yellow eyes shone cold, lifeless, when Revik looked up. “I might find more creative things to do with it, if that were not the case. You should be thankful I have not yet run out of questions for your mind, too, because once I have, it will cease to exist.”

  Revik tried to clench his muscles when the Rook kicked him again, couldn’t. He cowered, gasping, when Terian approached him next, but that time, the other seer walked right up to his head. Crouching, he grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking Revik’s head back.

  “Do you know what I’m going to do with this body of yours once it is mine, Revi’? Do you know the very first thing I will strive for? I’m going to find your darling Alyson, and I’m going to thank her properly for not coming for you. She won’t walk right for weeks, I promise you.”

  Seeing the barely concealed look in the other’s eyes, Terian grinned.

  That time, it reached the rest of him.

  “Ah, yes. You don’t like that, do you? I bet you’d like to take an axe to me now… eh, Rolf?”

  He let go of his hair, but didn’t move away. He continued squatting there instead, watching him with narrow eyes.

  “I don’t know why you care so much all of a sudden, anyway,” he said. “You were hardly the model husband, Revi’. Selling your cock to humans. Getting blow jobs from Seattle hookers while she slept alone. If she’d been raised seer, she would have stabbed you in your sleep by now, my friend. I wouldn’t even be able to torture you.”

  Watching Revik avert his eyes, he folded his hands between his bent knees, letting his voice grow thoughtful.

  “I can’t help but wonder how long it took her to act on that separation pain, once she didn’t have you around to screw with her head.” Watching Revik’s face, he clicked at him softly. “You could have popped that cherry, my friend. Can you imagine? Being the very first inside the Bridge. And as a mate, no less. And you call me pathetic…”

  Revik stared down at his hands. Blood dripped on them from his mouth. He remembered the presence he’d felt around her, and the sickness in his gut worsened. Terian’s words replayed themselves in his mind, and he couldn’t even disagree with them.

  Terian laughed aloud, clapping him on the shoulder.

  “Ah, that reassures me, Revi’. You know I am right!” The seer leaned closer. “Hey! Revi’!” A smile lit up the handsome features. “Do you think that’s why she hasn’t come looking for you?” Reaching down, he massaged Revik’s genitals. He smiled when the other man groaned. “…Maybe she doesn’t even want this in her anymore, eh Revi’? Or do you think she’s the type to get off on mass-murderers? Tell me honestly. Are my chances with her better or worse, if she thinks I’m you?”

  Revik writhed as far away as he could with his wrists bolted to the floor. He fought to contract his light, but the collar only flared again. Terian gave his testicles a brief, hard squeeze, laughing, then let go. Revik nearly blacked out.

  Turning, Terian smiled at Jon, winking. “Want to help him out this time, sport-o?”

  In the cage next to Jon, Cass rattled the bars. “Stop it!” she screamed. “Leave him alone!”

  Revik raised his head. Not now.

  Cass couldn’t get his attention now, not when Terian was—

  “I think you have fans, Revi’.” Terian glanced down at him. “Shall we reminisce about the old days? Or simply act them out? I'm sure they would love to hear about how we used to get our kicks, you and I. How much alike we once were.”

  “I hope he kills you!” Cass screamed louder.

  “Oh-ho!” Terian laughed, squatting by Revik again. He tapped him on the head. “Remember that French girl in Bangladesh? The one Colonel Harding was so fond of? How long did you manage to keep her alive? Was it two weeks? Three?” He glanced at Cass. “You were a lot more fun back then. You had better taste in friends, too, as I recall.”

  His yellow-gold eyes went flat, studying Cass clinically.

  Revik shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

  Rocking his weight back to rest on his heels, Terian cocked his head. “You know, I can’t even tell if I believe you. You so clearly want to believe yourself.”

  He rested his arms on his thighs, his voice serious.

  “You know, don’t you, Revi’? You know the truth about you and me. You know, deep down, that I have only the purest of motives in bringing you here. You are sick, you see. You have lost your way. I want my friend back. Back on the side of non-hypocrisy, of fun, of ideals with practical application. I want you to face reality. To remember who you are.”

  He smiled wider, glancing at Cass before he looked back at Revik.

  “Barring that, I might have to peel your skin off in little strips like one of those ingenious devices we used in Prague… do you remember, Revi'? Just to deal with my disappointment, you see.”

  Revik swallowed, not looking up.

  Terian grabbed his wet hair. “Are you telling me to flay the girl instead? Or maybe the pretty young boy-cousin?”

  Revik’s eyes found Cass and Jon without his willing it. The seer was pushing him to focus there, but he thought about them anyway.

  Maybe he could make it quick.

  If Terian tried to fulfill one of those fantasies, it would be the easiest thing in the world to break Cass’s neck. The thought made the sickness worse, enough that he lowered his face back to the tile, fighting to breathe.

  He wondered how much of it was his, and how much Allie’s.

  Laughing, Terian released him. “Oh, Rolf. You are the clever one. I suppose I may have to wait on my fun, then. At least until you learn it’s bad manners to break the nice toys I give you.”

  Still squatting beside him, he studied Revik’s eyes.

  “Tell me honestly,” he said softly. “Tell me the truth, Revi’, and I’ll leave the girl alone. For today, at least… I won’t touch her. Are my chances with your wife better or worse wearing this beat up body of yours?”

  Revik closed his eyes, wiping his jaw with his hand. He glanced up, feeling the sickness lodge somewhere in his chest.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  Terian just looked at him for a moment. Then his smile hardened.

  “You really don’t.” He clicked softly. “You may not believe this, Revi’, but I find that sad.” Straightening, he regarded the man lying at his feet. “The Dehgoies I knew wouldn’t have played those games with someone he was courting, much less his wife. Your first wife seemed to think you were a good husband. When you weren’t off gassing your own kind, that is.”

  Prodding him with a foot, he sighed then, hands on his hips.

  “Enough. Just looking at you is making me tired.” He glanced around the green tile room, the splashes of bloody water on the walls and floor. “For your touching display of loyalty to Alyson’s childhood friends, you have sustained a break.”

  Stepping back, he wiped his hands on his pants, grinning at him.

  “I’d like to reward you, though. Your humans, too… once I’ve washed the shit smell off me from you. So expect another visit today, all right, brother?”

  Without another word, he walked to the mirrored wall.

  Touching a panel, he disappeared through the opening that formed in the organic metal.

  Once the hole melted shut, Revik slumped to the floor. He pressed his mouth to the wet tile, trying to inhale blood-tasting water, but the floor sloped in the wrong direction, leaving it slick but almos
t dry. The attempt only frustrated him, made his thirst desperate.

  Jon’s voice came at him jaggedly from the nearer cage.

  “Revik.” His English was hoarse. “Revik! Listen to me, goddamn it.”

  Revik turned, fighting his eyes clear, his voice. “What, Jon?”

  “Keep pushing him like that and he’s going to kill you. Stop it, alright? Just stop! I mean it, man… stop.”

  “Yeah.” Cass’s voice slurred. “Stop it.”

  Revik said, “It’s okay. We’re fine, Jon… Cass.”

  “Don’t give me that shit!” Jon said. “You can’t go suicidal on us, man! You can’t! We need you. We fucking need you.”

  “We’re okay,” Revik repeated. “We’re okay, Jon…”

  He lay there, willing his mind blank, wishing more than anything he could go back to where Allie slept. She didn’t always find him. There were gaps that went for days.

  Eventually she’d stop looking.

  Pain blinded him at the thought. He rolled over onto his stomach.

  His eyes closed when Jon’s voice jerked them open again.

  “God.” Jon stared at him, eyes hollow. He licked his lips, staring still, as if examining the damage. “Thanks… okay?” He clutched a bar with his mutilated hand, twisting on the metal. “Thanks. I mean it. Just take it easy. Don’t provoke him any more. Don’t let him kill you. We need you, man. We need you…”

  “We’re okay…”

  “Are you listening to me?”

  Revik acknowledged the human’s words with a nod, then let his head slump to the tile. He promptly fell unconscious.

  40

  WIRE

  REVIK! WAKE UP! Come back… come back to me!

  He reached for her with his light. Fire shot into his neck, gritting his teeth.

  “Dehgoies.”

  A different voice.

  “Dehgoies Revik?”

  He tried to lift his head. His tongue had dried into his mouth. He couldn’t swallow. His temples pounded. He fought to clear his eyes, watching as a man placed a chair more than a body length from where he lay on the tile. Middle-aged with dark skin. Likely a seer from his physical appearance and the expression in his eyes.