The Smuggler's Ascension: The Ties That Died

by Christopher Ingersoll

  Sabine smiled as the vows were exchanged, the prayers were said, and the bride and groom exchanged kisses before the gathered crowd. The applause was deafening, so Sabine was unsure when she thought she heard the crack of thunder. A quick glance around the amphitheater though told her she was not the only one to have heard it.

  The sky overhead suddenly grew dark as black storm clouds gathered with frightening speed. Lightning began to flash as the crowd below rushed to seek cover, expecting rain to fall at any second. It was lightning, however, not rain that began to fall, striking repeatedly throughout the gathered crowd.

  Screams of pain and loss begin to mix with the cracks of thunder that followed each strike of lightning. Sabine sensed Kristof rise beside her, and she could feel his towering rage. She looked up at him quickly to find his eyes glowing with a red fire that she had never witnessed there before.

  “Enough!” Kristof yelled, and his voice was like a crack of thunder by itself.

  The dark clouds broke apart overhead and a dark robed figure appeared and floated down to settle on the amphitheater floor. More bolts of lightning appeared, only now they came from the robed figure’s hands rather than the clouds. The lightning arced towards Sabine and she screamed in fear, only for Kristof to suddenly seem to catch the lightning in his hand and hold it, as if her were holding a great thrashing snake,

  The white lightning suddenly turned as red as Kristof’s flaming eyes, and just as suddenly the robed figure below screamed in terrible pain before exploding in a tightly contained blast that was also surrounded in a halo of red fire. As the explosion died off, the clouds overhead broke apart and the bright sunshine returned. Silence filled the arena, broken only by the moans of the injured and the crying of other guests who still remained.

  Sabine let out a great choking sob as she looked down to the altar to see Stephan holding Giselle, her chest a burned mass from a lightning strike. She rose and ran to the stairway nearby, fighting a mass of fleeing people as she made her way down to the amphitheater floor and to the altar. Kristof and her guards had followed her closely, his eyes still alight but muted as he watched the sky for any more surprises.

  Stephan wept as he held his bride, and Sabine went to him and hugged him tightly from behind. Kristof came to their side, the fire in his eyes now gone, and knelt to lift the deceased bride into his arms. Sabine knew they were too late to save Giselle, but she appreciated that Kristof wouldn’t just leave her lying there on the amphitheater floor, nor would Stephan want her to stay there either.

  “Come, Your Grace and Your Majesty,” Kristof said tensely. “It is not safe to stay out here. We must go.”

  Stephan nodded weakly as he allowed Sabine to take his hand and lead the way as her guards formed up around her and forced a path through the crowds. She was weeping as well as her heart broke for her friend that had just lost the love of his life. Had she not feared this same thing each time she’d seen Kristof unconscious in a hospital bed?

  Sirens were sounding at last as medical staff appeared to attend to the wounded and the dead. Fighter screamed by overhead as well as they searched for an enemy Sabine knew they would not find. It seemed the war had come to even this paradise, and she was furious. The look in Kristof’s eyes as he carried Giselle’s body spoke volumes about his anger as well.

  Sabine remembered well seeing that lightning she’d just witnessed before. One did not easily forget an encounter with Death. She chocked it up as another debt the Dark God owed them, and she had a feeling the Kristof would call that debt due soon.

  ~5~

  Kristof sat and looked at the blood on his hands from the bride as the room grew dark around him. Sabine was with Stephan, who had needed to be sedated after the shock of the attack had worn off. Kristof was not worried for her, he sensed that death would not send another agent this day, though he could not say how he knew it.

  The death of Giselle had shaken Kristof. It was all too easy for him to imagine Sabine or Anasha as the ones laying there, chest burst open and burning from a lightning strike. That had been the true intent of the attack, he suspected, though he doubted the enemy had planned to lose their agent. The power within him had seen to it that those plans of theirs had changed quickly.

  It had been the first time that Kristof could clearly remember using this new power. There were brief, vague memories from Clovani Prime, and then his confrontation with the Phoenix God aboard the Queen’s Honor afterward, but this was the first time he had truly felt what he now carried within him. It had frightened Sabine as well, he had seen, even as he was striking down what could only have been one of Death’s Dark Priestesses.

  Sabine found Kristof sitting in the dark still a while later. She rushed to his side and hugged him tightly as he sat and pushed the images he’d imagined of her and Anasha from his mind. He knew she had imagined similar images of him and Anasha even as she’d remembered seeing him in the hospital bed while they were rushing Stephan away from the amphitheater. It was too easy to imagine ‘what if’ when these type of things happened.

  “Are you ok?” Sabine asked Kristof, and he had to shake himself out of his thoughts and focus on her worried face.

  “Yes, I’m fine,” Kristof said lowly. “How is Stephan?”

  “The doctors had to put him totally out,” Sabine said with a catch in her voice and tears in her eyes. “That poor, dear man.”

  Sabine fell into Kristof’s arms then, and he held her tightly. The blood on his hands smeared on her dress and her arm, but neither cared in that moment as they held each other. Anasha’s presence was with them again, having felt their distress from home, and offered what support she could from lightyears away.

  “This new power of yours scares me,” Sabine said after a while once her tears had subsided. “It appeared like fire, but it was cold.”

  “It isn’t the power of life, like that of the ak’Sun Su’Tani was,” Kristof said after a moment. “This feels more like a weapon inside me and no more. I think it used to be more, but now it is just condensed down into this raw, implacable weapon for the purpose of killing a God.”

  “That sounds terrible,” Sabine said sadly. “Who would make such a thing?”

  “I don’t know,” Kristof admitted, “But we need answers, and soon. This war marches on with or without us, but we are slowly running out of time.”

  “Because of our baby,” Sabine added, knowing well what he was thinking in that moment. “I don’t want our baby to be a God, I don’t want to lose him.”

  Sabine cried then, and Kristof held her close. He did not want to lose his son either, and yet it seemed the choice was not theirs to make. Questions swirled in his head that needed desperate answers. Why him? Why his son? Why was any of this even happening and how did he stop it?

  Kristof rose with Sabine in his arms and headed for the bathroom. The blood on his hands was now all over her, so he started the shower as she slowly undressed. He helped ease her from her gown and undergarments and helped her into the shower before he underdressed himself. They showered quickly, enjoying the brief moment together but not feeling the desire that normally accompanied such a moment. He then dried her and helped her into a robe before he found a towel for himself.

  The apartments they had been given for their stay included a well-equipped computer terminal, and Kristof sat before it in just a towel and keyed in a comm request to Purannis. He wasn’t surprised when Anasha answered the call almost immediately.

  “Are you two ok?” Anasha demanded, needing to hear what she already knew.

  “We’re fine,” Kristof reassured her. “Many people aren’t, but we are ok. Stephan’s wife didn’t make it though.”

  “Oh no,” Anasha said with sincere regret. Kristof knew she still hadn’t forgiven Stephan, so her sorrow for his loss was a bit surprising. She wasn’t a monster, though, of course.

  “I need a meeting with the Su’Vanii,” Kristof said before the conversation could get sidetracked. “I need answers.”r />
  “I will see what I can do, my love,” Anasha said doubtfully, “But they rarely see anyone. Even my father had difficulty seeing them unless they wished it.”

  “Be very persuasive, my love,” Kristof said, feeling some of the power’s implacableness. “I’ll see them one way or another. I’d rather they see me voluntarily.”

  Anasha’s shock at his pronouncement was not unexpected, but Kristof could feel the time ticking away. If he was correct, they had a little over four months until this war came to a head, and there was too much he still didn’t know. Anasha’s loyalty and dedication to the Su’Tani and their Elders, the Su’Vanii, would have made his statement sound like a threat, and perhaps it was in a way. He intended them no harm, but he would not allow them to be evasive and play games if they had answers he needed.

  Perhaps Anasha sensed all that through their shared connection, because after a moment she nodded and said, “I will see what I can arrange. Where is Sabine?”

  As if on cue, the tiny Queen appeared at Kristof’s side and sat in his lap.

  “I miss you, my love,” Sabine told Anasha.

  “I miss you too, my love,” Anasha replied. “You two need to hurry home.”

  “We will be heading to the Honor in an hour or so,” Sabine announced. “Stephan has been sedated and is likely to be kept out for a while until he he’s ready to cope with his loss.”

  Sabine’s voice caught again, and Kristof hugged her tight.

  “I understand,” Anasha said sadly.

  “Ok, enough about us,” Kristof said after a moment. “What are you keeping from us?” Kristof watched as his blond wife actually flushed in guilt at being caught out in hiding something.

  “Max is experiencing genuine human emotions,” Anasha said finally.

  “I know,” Kristof said even as Sabine gasped in surprise on his lap. “Why is this a problem?” he asked, clearly confused.

  “You’ve never read or heard about the android massacres from a couple centuries ago?” Sabine asked, clearly surprised.

  “Not really,” Kristof replied with a sinking feeling.

  Sabine filled Kristof in then on the brief but bloody history of androids gone mad, with Anasha filling in other pertinent details. It made for a gruesome story, and yet Kristof had a hard time equating those stories to his foul mouthed friend.

  “I made Max promise me to come to me if he ever found himself having problems with these emotions,” Anasha said as the tale ended. “What I never considered was that Max is having dreams now as well. That wouldn’t be so bad, but I think Max may be suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress because of what happened on Dorcanus.”

  Anasha filled them in on discovering Max dreaming and all that followed. Suddenly the breathless feeling they’d gotten from her made sense. Kristof cursed himself for not seeing the danger of Max evolving as he had over the past few years and felt a certain amount of blame for the pain Anasha was still in from the blow she had taken.

  “Stop that!” Anasha yelled at him suddenly. “This is not your fault.”

  Kristof began to laugh then, much to the shock of his two wives.

  “This bond between us is something else,” Kristof said between laughs. “I guess we’re never going to be able to play poker together.”

  Sabine and Anasha’s laughter joined his, and they all felt better afterwards. The horrors of the day were no less horrific, but they were at least a touch more manageable now.

  “We’ll deal with Max and help him through this when we get home,” Kristof said at last. “He’s family, he deserves no less.”

  “Agreed,” Sabine chimed in. “I love that big lunkhead.”

  “I’ll see he knows that,” Anasha said with a smile and a laugh. “Be careful you two,” she added seriously, “And hurry home. I love you.”

  “I love you too,” Kristof and Sabine said in unison, which elicited another laugh as the connection went silent. Sabine snuggled into Kristof’s lap, and he was loath to have to disturb her.

  “If the Honor is leaving in an hour, we should get ready,” Kristof pointed out.

  “It’ll wait,” Sabine said lightly. “It’s mine, after all,” she added with a giggle.

  Kristof laughed and smacked her ass to get her moving. Sabine bit his neck before rising from his lap and looking down at his towel wrapped waist which was no longer doing its job of covering him.

  “You’re a little under dressed for space travel, my love,” Sabine said with a giggle as she headed off back into the bedroom.

  Kristof laughed but remained where he was as the events of the day reasserted themselves. He hoped Anasha was able to arrange a meeting with the Su’Vanii without him having to resort to other methods. He greatly respected the Elders, but the time for games was passed.

  Not for the first time, he found himself wondering what had caused this war between the Gods in the first place. The Phoenix had seemed eager to kill Death, so much so that he had released a power he could not control. Kristof wondered if Death was just as eager to kill the Phoenix. And what could have happened to cause such enmity between such beings. Too many questions, too few answers, Kristof thought to himself as he followed Sabine into the bedroom.

  As he’d found her that morning, Kristof found Sabine standing nude in the bedroom as she laid out clothes for the trip home. He paused to admire the beauty of this tiny woman who managed to be a huge part of his life. The swell of her stomach where the baby rested added to her beauty as she moved about, not yet aware of his gaze yet. He drank in her beauty even as he began to wonder if it was really necessary that his son become a God.

  ~6~

  Anasha winced as Kristof felt her ribs for any breaks. She’d refused to go to the medical facility when Kristof and Sabine had arrived home, so now she had to endure his poking and prodding while being reminded that the med scanners wouldn’t have hurt at all. It almost felt as if he pressed harder than was needed on purpose, just to emphasize the point.

  The Queen’s Honor had dropped out of hyperspace an hour ago and the shuttle had launched almost before the dreadnaught had completely reverted to real space, giving testimony to the eagerness in which her husband and wife wished to be back by her side. Anasha loved the sentiment, but she did not love the pain she felt now. Judging by Kristof’s grunts, she had at least one broken rib.

  Max appeared at the door to the bedroom and looked in shyly. The android had been very withdrawn since the accident, and seemed to not know what to do with himself. Anasha felt truly bad for him and wished she knew what to do. Sabine solved that problem, though.

  “Am I welcome here?” Max had asked shyly, with an almost heartbreaking quality to his question as Kristof examined Anasha’s wound.

  Sabine had gone to the android and hugged him so tight that Anasha had expected the android to pop in half. Max had looked down at her, this tiny woman whose head barely reached his chest, and Anasha thought he would cry in gratitude had he been able.

  “You are always welcome here, Max,” Sabine had said simply.

  Kristof rose as well and went to hug his friend, and Anasha felt a tear of her own in the corner of her eye as the android embraced Kristof in return.

  “You will always be welcome in our family, my friend,” Kristof said, “I just wish you’d come to all of us sooner if you were having trouble.”

  “That’s my fault,” Anasha admitted. “I may have given him the impression that he should only come to me.” Anasha then explained more fully her conversation with Max in the past. “I forget how literal androids can be sometimes.”

  “Max,” Kristof said, “After everything I have been through, if I can learn to not be a murderous rage monster, then I know you will be better at it than I.”

  “Thank you, all of you,” Max said and they could all feel his sincere gratitude and not just a computer generated response.

  “So what’s the verdict, doc?” Anasha asked her husband with a touch of sarcasm.

  “One cracked
, three bruised, but nothing too serious,” Kristof said. Having suffered broken and bruised ribs himself, Anasha trusted his opinion. “You’ll want to find some of that salve the Su’Tani healers make, it helped me tremendously.”

  “I will,” Anasha replied as she slowly pulled her shirt back on. “Tell me about Durani.”

  Sabine retold the events of the wedding, Anasha was surprised to see. Kristof seemed distracted, or unwilling to talk about it. She knew that the new power sat heavy within him, she could feel the edges of it and how cold and hard it felt, like holding onto a rifle in subzero temperatures.

  Anasha also saw that this new power had somewhat unnerved Sabine as well, since she had seen it in used very close up. As the tale was recounted, Sabine shivered as she told of the cold red fire that had burned in Kristof’s eyes and sent down through the lightning to destroy the Priestess.

  “I just couldn’t believe how cold it felt,” Sabine said, “Even though it looked like fire. Why is it like that? The other power didn’t seem that way.”

  “The ak’Sun Su’Tani is the power of life, even when used as I used it,” Kristof said, repeating their conversation from Durani, “Because I used it in the defense of life. I keep thinking about this new power, this Utani’van’Morto, and wonder that it was imbued in me by a God, but it can’t be controlled by a God. That almost suggests to me that it came from something…more than a God.”

  “What is there beyond the Gods?” Sabine asked. “Most of our people don’t even believe in the Gods anymore, so a lot of that history is lost.”

  “Even among the Su’Tani, who legend says once served the Gods, we do not always believe,” Anasha added. “Things have gone too long with no evidence of their existence.”

  “I have a feeling that people will get all the evidence they could want, soon,” Kristof suggested darkly. “Did you have any luck with the Su’Vanii?”

  Anasha knew he would ask eventually. In the hours that she waited for Kristof and Sabine to return home, she and Max had gone to the Su’Tani Temple to seek an audience with the Su’Vanii or at the least their servants. Anasha, despite her being the ranking member of the Su’Tani now, had been brusquely denied.