Shadow (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #4): Bridge & Sword World

by JC Andrijeski

  Balidor clicked softly. “No. I don’t think that’s what concerns him.”

  “Then what?”

  Balidor gestured vaguely, about to answer––

  When another voice answered from the doorway.

  “He might be worried about me,” the voice said flatly.

  REVIK TURNED, STARING at the seer standing there.

  He knew the voice. He knew the face and eyes even better, but for a moment he only stood there, in the middle of the high-ceilinged room. He couldn’t quite make up his mind whether to believe his eyes––not until they found the gun in the man’s hand.

  It wasn’t pointed at him, but at the seer on the floor behind him.

  Revik moved his body, placing it between the two men.

  “No.” He looked the armed seer in the face, shaking his head, once. Holding up a hand, he made a peace gesture. “Wreg. Don’t.”

  “Don’t?” Wreg turned his eyes back to his. For an instant, Revik saw a flicker of emotion there. “This son of a bitch has you collared, boss.”

  Revik couldn’t help but smile.

  His eyes never left the seer in front of him. The broad-chested, tattooed male looked exactly as he had when Revik last saw him––yet something about having him standing right in front of him brought up a rush of feeling so intense, he couldn‘t think through it at first.

  Memories coalesced behind his eyes, trading this version of the seer with the one who’d given him the tattoo all those years ago. He’d remembered a lot of these things with Salinse, too, but all of it felt different now, more real. The man in front of him felt more real, too.

  Unable to express any of this, he averted his gaze.

  Clicking softly, he glanced at Balidor, then back at his second-in-command.

  At a loss briefly, he gestured vaguely with one hand.

  “How the hell did you get in here, Wreg?” he said.

  The Chinese-looking seer stared at him, his expression nearly blank.

  Revik felt a whisper of worry. “Your people. They aren’t––”

  “No one’s dead, Nenz… yet.” Wreg continued to stare at him, his eyes showing him to be at a loss, too. “What the hell is going on? A picnic? I thought we were rescuing you.”

  Revik’s smile turned into a grin.

  Without thought, he walked directly up to the muscular seer and pulled him into a rough hug. Still seemingly at a loss, Wreg accepted the embrace, clapping him on the back with his free arm.

  “And I can’t shoot this Adhipan prick?” he said, his voice still bewildered.

  “No.” Revik laughed, releasing the other seer. “Are you all right, brother?”

  “Am I all right?”

  “We’d heard rumors. About the Lao Hu.”

  “No.” Wreg continued to stare at him. Then, clicking, he shook his head. He amended his words. “Well… yes. But we worked something out with them.”

  “Yes,” Revik said, still studying his eyes. He had to suppress another flood of feeling, and managed it only by grinning wider. “We heard that, too.”

  “I really can’t shoot this fucker, Nenz?”

  Revik laughed. “No. I owe him my life, so I’d prefer if you didn’t. Anyway, we need him. We’re not exactly in a position to be disposing of high-ranked seers, are we brother Wreg?”

  “Can I cut that fucking collar off you, at least?”

  Revik glanced at Balidor, who was looking between the two of them, a vague tension around his eyes. It faded as he returned Revik’s gaze, but it crossed Revik’s mind that Balidor really hadn’t been sure he wouldn’t kill him, not until that moment.

  At the thought, he found himself staring at the Adhipan seer, thinking about this for the first time. Whatever else he might be, Balidor really was no coward. He’d not been sure what Revik would do, but he’d stayed with him anyway. He could just as easily have left, as soon as he’d completed his work in the tank.

  Hell, he could have been out looking for Allie.

  At the thought, Revik frowned.

  But the Adhipan leader was trying to answer Wreg’s question. After another pause, where his eyes fell slightly out of focus, Balidor nodded.

  “Yes. Vash agrees. I’ll take it off him.”

  “Wouldn’t want to waste the tech,” Wreg muttered. His expression remained puzzled, aimed at Revik’s face. But Balidor answered him, his own voice grim.

  “No, brother, we wouldn’t. Not considering how they’re harvesting it these days.”

  Wreg grunted, his eyes unmoving, but his hand conceded the point.

  His gun came down for real then. Wreg still looked annoyed, and more than a little confused, but he holstered the Mateba semi-automatic revolver in a beat up organic holster.

  Revik remembered the gun.

  Wreg had carried that damned thing for years, even though he’d switched to the more standard Beretta M9 for most military ops, when he wasn’t carrying an organic-modified M16 or G36. Revik smiled a little looking at it, strangely comforted by the familiarity, even with this.

  Balidor watched him put it away, too. Once he had, Revik saw the sharpness in Balidor’s eyes fade. His shoulders visibly relaxed in the same breath.

  Wreg likely noticed as well. Clearly, Balidor meant him to.

  Even so, Revik noticed a thread of nerves still in the Adhipan leader’s light. He smiled a little wider, unable to help himself.

  “You sure about that, ‘Dori?” he said. “Taking it off? I owe you a few good hits.”

  “Like hell you do.”

  “Maybe I’m still holding a grudge from the other day.”

  “I guess we’ll find out,” the older seer grunted.

  He pulled himself stiffly to his feet as he said the last. Motioning with his fingers for Revik to turn around, he closed the gap between them. When Revik only stood there, Balidor cleared his throat in some amusement, tapping at his shoulder from behind and motioning for him to bend his knees so he could reach the back of the collar.

  Revik complied, still watching Wreg as Balidor activated the thumbnail switch.

  The Rebel commander folded his thick, tattooed arms, staring at Revik as if trying to determine if he’d lost his mind––or perhaps if he had some plan in all this, and would kill Balidor once he was free. Maybe he thought the Adhipan had brainwashed him, or damaged his light in some way to make him compliant.

  Whatever the Chinese-featured seer was thinking, Revik could feel himself being scanned, although the collar made it impossible for him to pick up anything specific. Again, for some reason, it touched him more than annoyed him, and caused him to give Wreg another reassuring smile.

  Balidor activated the retinal scanner as Revik continued to watch the other seer.

  A faint vibration trembled the skin at his neck, and then it was over. Revik gasped a little, feeling the organic coils unwrap from around the bone at the top of his spine.

  The sensation filled him with relief, even as the nausea violently spiked.

  Fighting with it, he clutched at his chest.

  He’d forgotten how long it had been until the mechanism clunked open around his neck. He barely had a chance to enjoy the freedom of his light, however. Within seconds, as his light filtered back around him, a wave of sickness hit him so hard he let out a low sound. Fighting back a surge of bile, he closed his eyes, leaning a hand against the wall.

  Balidor caught one of his arms. Wreg caught the other, and Revik found himself in the almost humorous position of standing between the two men.

  “I’m all right,” he said, avoiding both of their eyes.

  “You sure about that?” Balidor said.

  “Yeah, I’m sure.”

  “You should sit a moment.” The Adhipan seer sounded angry at himself. “I should have had you sit. Vash warned me… it was part of why he was waiting to uncollar you. He wanted to come up with some solution before you were forced to deal with it without filters.”

  The concern was audible in his voice, and Wreg st
ared at the Adhipan leader, that incredulousness back in his eyes.

  “What the fuck is going on?” he burst out.

  His anger barely masked his frustration. He’d finished scanning Revik. Not finding anything wrong with him only seemed to anger him more.

  “What have you been doing here, laoban?” he said. “We thought we were here to rescue you… to break you free of being their damned captive! We expected to lose lives in the process. Then we get offered tea by that human brother of your wife… and that Seven fossil is inviting us to stay for dinner. Now shithead here is acting like your wet nurse!”

  Revik burst out in a laugh, glancing at Balidor, who clicked at him, smiling ruefully, an eyebrow raised.

  “You weren’t here earlier,” Revik said to Wreg. “When I kicked his ass, even with a collar on. He begged me before he tapped out.”

  Balidor rolled his eyes. “You are so completely full of shit, Illustrious Liar.”

  Wreg only looked between them, his anger worsening.

  “Nenz!” He slammed a hand against the organic wall. “What is going on? Are you all one big happy family now? With this asshole who seduced your wife?”

  Revik gave him a hard look.

  He glanced at Balidor.

  The Adhipan seer shrugged, giving him a flat look in return, as if to concede Wreg’s point. At the same time, he opened his light deliberately, letting Revik in past his shields, allowing him to feel whatever he wanted. Getting a glimmer of the Adhipan seer’s intent, even without probing for specifics, Revik felt his shoulders relax a little more.

  He realized he hadn’t really let it go. Maybe he never would, really.

  But it was enough.

  To be able to feel the other seer’s light, to really feel it, for the first time since everything happened, that was enough, too.

  Glancing at Wreg again, he couldn’t help but smile a little, shaking his head.

  “Yeah,” he said. “I guess so.”

  58

  RYNAK

  REVIK SAT IN the control room, his feet propped on the organic console. He still felt strange, being there, but he found his light adjusting to the surrounding folds of the Seven––and even the Adhipan––in a way that let him relax for the first time in months.

  Maybe more than months. Maybe since before he’d killed the boy.

  Scanning Wreg’s light another time, he glanced at Mila, then at Loki.

  He frowned a little, feeling the faint flavor of silver light still woven into their aleimi. It clung strongest of all to Wreg, which wasn’t surprising, but bothered him the most. He wondered if it would be enough, even if the older seer agreed.

  Wreg seemed to understand Revik’s request the best, but also seemed the most irritated by it.

  “But why, laoban? They’ve given us everything we’ve ever wanted, resources past anything these kneelers can offer you!”

  Revik shook his head. “I’m sorry, brother. It’s non-negotiable.” He hesitated, then made a conciliatory gesture with one hand. “…and anyway, it will unite the two factions of seers.”

  “And break it into three,” Wreg muttered.

  “Four, really,” Revik replied. “The Lao Hu will not likely join us, either––whatever agreements you have made with them.” He paused, his voice holding a faint reproach. “And those same four existed before, Wreg.”

  “But Salinse? And the others––”

  “Will be against us, yes,” Revik said. “Which is why I’m making this entirely voluntary. You can go whichever way you want. I mean that, Wreg. I am simply telling you where I am going, and what I would require of you, if you want to come with me.”

  Wreg gave him an irritated look. “Because I would follow some old man, instead of the Sword? I swore my loyalty to you, laoban.”

  Revik met his gaze. He opened his light to the other male, knowing he wouldn’t be able to reach him at this point, not fully anyway, but letting more of himself shine through anyway. At the same time, that emotion came back, coloring his words.

  “It is for you that I do this, Wreg,” he said, quoting the words quietly. “Trust me, brother. We don’t need them. We never did, but we definitely don’t now. Once I find Allie, we can…”

  He saw the other flinch and stopped, staring at his light.

  “What?”

  Wreg shook his head, gesturing dismissively. Revik noticed he didn’t quite meet his gaze. He was still watching the other seer when Wreg’s jaw hardened more.

  “What makes you think you will find her, laoban?” he said.

  “What makes you think he won’t?” Balidor asked, from the other side of the room.

  Wreg gave him a hard look, before shifting his gaze back to Revik. “I just mean… if she left here, and refuses to take her post as Bridge, what is there left to discuss?”

  “She left under a misunderstanding,” Revik said, not looking at him.

  “Did she? And whose misunderstanding was it?” Wreg glanced at Balidor long enough to frown. “Does she know you are pals with her lover now?”

  Revik flinched. Gritting his teeth, he didn’t look up.

  “Wreg, you’ve heard my condition. You can stay or go… but we need you to decide within the next twenty-four hours. Anyone who will not agree must leave by then.”

  “Ute is already gone,” Wreg said.

  Revik acknowledged this with a wave of one hand. “You are still here.”

  Wreg stared at him. Then he shook his head, giving Balidor another angry look. “I still don’t like that fucker, Nenz.”

  Balidor chuckled. Revik merely smiled, his eyes still on Wreg’s.

  “I can live with that, my brother. Please stay… if you would.”

  Exhaling, Wreg sat down, taking the seat next to his.

  “Do it then,” he grumbled. “Have your witch doctor perform his operation.”

  Revik pinged Vash in the other room, hiding his relief badly as he glanced at Balidor, then back at Wreg.

  Wreg studied his face for a moment.

  Snorting then, he smiled, seemingly in spite of himself.

  “You feared fighting on opposite sides with me, laoban?” He grunted, giving him a wry smile. “I suppose I should be flattered by that.” He paused, still assessing Revik’s eyes. Nodding then, almost to himself, he leaned back in his chair, opening his light. “Or were you only afraid you would have to kill me, runt?”

  Revik didn’t answer.

  Part of his light remained focused on the higher structures in the other’s aleimi, watching Vash unravel what had been put there by the Dreng and by Salinse. He glimpsed the flickering of the other’s light, saw Wreg feel the shift, too. For an instant, fear shone in his near-black eyes. Seeing it, Revik held his gaze, laying a hand on his muscled shoulder.

  “Your light will be stronger for this,” he assured him. “We do not need the Dreng to fight our battles for us.”

  “And the gods of the Seven?” Wreg grunted, giving him another wry look.

  “Only if you pray to them, my brother,” Revik quoted, smiling back.

  “And if I don’t?”

  Revik shrugged with one hand. “There is no contract here. No one here will force your light to conform to their need. I won’t permit it.”

  Wreg clicked again, softly, a faint skepticism in his eyes.

  Revik continued to watch the other seer’s light, noticing subtle changes as the silver sheen of the Dreng began to dissipate slowly. Even more slowly, the harder structures began to dissolve, and Revik felt Tarsi there that time, changing alignments in Wreg’s light, cleaning things off him that Revik hadn’t even seen.

  Unlike with Vash, Revik felt an emotional reaction in her and flinched slightly. It hit him in a faint shock that they knew one another, Tarsi and Wreg.

  Withdrawing slightly, Revik watched Wreg’s outline grow both softer and yet somehow more clearly defined. As the darker red light of his aleimi grew more visible, he smiled, unable to stop himself. He glanced up at Jax and Holo, w
ho had just entered the organic-paneled, octagon-shaped room.

  “And you? What will you decide, brothers?”

  Jax laughed, shoving playfully at Holo’s arm as Jon entered the doorway behind them, holding what was probably a mug of coffee. Holo shook his head at the same time, clicking at Revik sharply, as though deeply offended.

  Revik saw the humor in the shorter seer’s eyes.

  “We go with the Sword,” he said. “It is already done in us, can you not see it?”

  “Really, brother,” Jax said, going along with Holo. “We thought we would register on your scale of recruits a little more than that!”

  Smiling faintly at the humor in their eyes, Revik gave Jon a brief nod in welcome, gesturing in seer sign language that he wanted a coffee, too.

  Jon rolled his eyes, then walked over, handing him the one he’d brought, as if to say, “D’uh.” He then gestured back that food was coming for all of them.

  It couldn’t help but amuse Revik, that Jon knew sign language so well. He knew it a lot better than Allie, actually––better than when he’d last spent time with her, anyway.

  Taking a sip of coffee after nodding a thanks, he glanced at Wreg. He paused when he saw the older seer staring up at Jon, too, his body perfectly still.

  Wreg’s black eyes looked confused, almost bewildered.

  Revik watched him stare at Jon, and realized he was seeing his light, maybe for the first time. The seer focused then refocused, as if trying to see it differently.

  Grunting in amusement, Revik smiled, clicking to himself. Wreg would probably be seeing a lot of things differently over the next few months.

  Turning, he focused on the lights of Jax and Holo, falling into the Barrier just enough to see the truth of their words. Scanning them a few more times, in admiration of Vash’s thoroughness as much as anything, he smiled as the two of them began talking to Jon, Jax gesturing articulately with his hands. He noticed that Mila and Loki were in the Barrier now, too. He watched briefly as Vash began working on their lights, as well.

  Revik relaxed still more. With Jax, Holo and Wreg, that was five in under an hour. Hardly everyone, but certainly not nothing.