“Unless neither of them is human,” Galih grumped. He sometimes had his doubts any of the sixteen were entirely human with the things they could do.
They couldn’t hear the alarm in the passage, but Botak assured him it would go off after the third wrong password. They must have stood there ten minutes before a sleepy Elan and Isolde opened the door and let them in. It was still early, so Galih wasn’t upset with them for being sleepy, but he needed them alert later.
“Please tell me the two of you are well rested,” he demanded.
“We aren’t fighting,” Elan said, putting a protective arm around Isolde. “I’ll take Koswara out with my mind and Isolde will be listening, but we aren’t using our fists unless something goes wrong. I’m going to be protecting Isolde and my children and she will be listening and alerting everyone so there are no surprises.”
So, Isolde did listen to someone. If Galih had suggested that to her, she probably would have taken Koswara out herself just to spite him. He forgot she could hear his thoughts.
“No, I wouldn’t. If Hikmat hears a struggle outside before Karta takes everyone out, this could go horribly wrong. It makes sense to have Elan do it and just have me listen. It’s also safest for me and everyone else involved.”
“If you faint again, will it hurt them?” he asked, pointing at her stomach.
“I won’t faint unless I’m touching someone. I don’t get tired at all just listening. It’s like having a radio on. I’ll be listening for doubt and what Hikmat plans on saying to turn people against Elan. How did you plan for that?”
He told her about the fake memories and what he and Eros had done. She grinned at him and told him it was brilliant. Elan kissed the top of her head and agreed with her.
“Not trying to step on any toes here, but shouldn’t you be eating?” Botak pointed out.
Galih half expected her to attack him again, but she just laughed. “I ate a little of everything last night. Go hide, we’ll have enough brought in for everyone.”
They all ate together and Galih’s mind settled a little. He noticed Isolde was doing most of the talking and Elan had his head cocked to the side.
“Tati is watching the cabin Hikmat and Koswara are in. She’s seen the hole you dug like Meida is buried in it. She says you even dumped a drink everywhere like they trashed the place. Whatever that drink is, she says Isolde and I shouldn’t drink it.”
Botak laughed and Galih actually smiled at that. Neither of them would know what Chilled Hell was. They probably both grew up drinking fine wine and never bootleg liquor made in broken pod fuel tanks.
Isolde’s nose wrinkled. “How do you clean the tank so the liquor doesn’t taste like engine fuel?”
This time, it was Galih that couldn’t stop laughing. “You can’t. It doesn’t matter how you clean it, how many times you filter it, or what you try to flavor it with, it’s always going to taste horrible. Drink too much of it and you’ll go blind, but it’s easy to make and gets you drunker than anything you can buy in a pub.”
“I’ll stick to ale.”
“I had you pegged for an expensive red wine type of girl,” Galih grinned.
“And you’d be wrong. Jovin always tried to drive it into me a princess didn’t drink ale like a soldier, but he always lost. I’m not going to be drinking anything for the next year or so anyway,” she said, her hand going protectively to her flat stomach.
“What will Ace and the others be doing while Karta is knocking them out? And how are we getting that many people down to the pits anyway?” Elan asked.
“The entire military knows about The Children now. There will be several Military Apexes waiting near the temple, but not where they can see what’s going on. They are bringing all the Apexes they have on hand and they all seat fifty since they use them during riots,” Galih said for Isolde’s benefit. “I will raise Ace on COMM when they are all out and the military will swoop in to collect everyone. From what Ace told me, our men don’t think highly of The Children. They’ve removed the seats from the Apexes and just plan on heaping as many people as they can fit in the back.”
Isolde just nodded. “I have limits. Both of you know this, but perhaps you don’t know I can’t speak to more than one person in their head at a time. You’re either going to need to give everyone a COMM or assign me someone to talk to.
“I have an idea,” Elan said. “Tati can hear you. We can easily talk to the other sixteen through their bond animals, but Ace, Galih, Botak, and anyone else will need a COMM. It’ll be almost instantaneous between the bond animals once Tati hears her thoughts. She can speak while she listens and talk to me and the rest of you over COMM.”
“No, she needs to use the COMM you were given. The military knows about The Children, but they don’t know about Isolde. No one can know until you’re ready to announce the alliance and come clean about your gifts.”
“You’re right. But we will have to tell them soon. After the trials for The Children, we’re going to have to come clean. They’ll know Isolde was responsible for finding them and all of us worked together to bring them down.”
“We should all be together right now,” Isolde pointed out. “All of the sixteen need to be together and their mentors need to be with them. My bond animal keeps mentioning tests and I think this is a big one. We need every input we can for any scenario that could get thrown at us. Is there a place we can all meet?”
Galih knew just the place. “You’ve only seen the cells in the old ship. They have a mess hall large enough for everyone.”
“Gather everyone,” Elan said. “Isolde and I will go talk to Tati, then meet you there.”
The hours ticked down while Galih and Botak gathered everyone up and led them out to the ship. It was chaos when they finally settled down in the mess hall and Elan and Isolde were missing. Galih had met with the sixteen together and these mentors separately, but not every single one of them together. He didn’t know if they would finally stop talking over each other once Elan and Isolde got there. He couldn’t blame them for being excited to finally be able to use their gifts for something good, but perhaps they hadn’t thought through all the dangers.
He finally heard Isolde in his head. “I can hear all of you, so I know we are close, but Elan and I don’t know where the mess hall is.”
Botak jumped to his feet and pressed the button to open the hatch to the mess hall. Galih hadn’t even realized it was closed. They must have passed it up because Botak returned with both of them pretty quickly. The room immediately quieted like Galih thought it would. Elan took a stool at the head of the table and Isolde just had to sit on his lap. Galih pushed his irritation aside at that because something he didn’t understand must happen when they touched if she didn’t faint anymore stealing thoughts.
Elan and Isolde had military training so they took point. Isolde and Dasimah spent the most time in Hikmat’s head, so they knew the most about how he may react if something went wrong. They both thought he would go straight for the secret back door and set the entire place on fire with his people inside. If he couldn’t get out, he would incite a riot so he could find a way out in the chaos.
Galih thought they had covered all possible scenarios and had even gone into the impossible before they finally started making the trek out to the temple. There were sixteen bond animals outside the ship waiting and for that, Galih was grateful. They would either fight or get their human out of there. All of them greeted their bond animal with affection and their Pawswearsea rubbed their faces against hands and necks. All except Elan and Isolde. There seemed to be tension between the two of them and Tati.
The Temple of Abra was in an area of the woods no one went to anymore like the ship. They thought it was cursed. They all had a good cover of trees and bushes while they watched people file into the door. Someone carved a new door for these people. The temple was stone and there were scorch marks everywhere, but the door looked new. The windows had been boarded up and he had no idea how some of the
sixteen were supposed to work if they couldn’t see inside.
He nearly leapt from his hiding place and beat the man to a pulp when he saw Soma approaching the temple. He had never liked the man, but he had tried to hurt Isolde during Elan’s announcement. If he had been in on the plot to kill her, why hadn’t Isolde or Dasimah seen it?
Isolde snuck up next to him. “I told Sartika Soma would join them if he knew. Someone must have gotten to him. This is his first meeting. I can hear him. He hopes there’s an answer in there for getting rid of me. He thinks I’m playing Elan for a fool and our children would end up being demons.”
“He’ll be captured with the rest of them and have to answer for it.”
She gave him a curt nod, but she didn’t go back to Elan. Elan came over to them. “All of the people going in have Elan on their mind. The freeze, the moon, they think it means something important and they don’t know if they should be looking to Elan or Hikmat for answers.”
“There’s more highborn in there than I would have thought. Don’t they know if they are caught, their whole family will be stripped of titles and lands?”
“They want more. Hikmat hasn’t told them of his plan to overthrow the monarchy, but they all think his star is on the rise and it’s just a matter of time. They think eventually Hikmat will sit on the throne, get their fire back, and better their station even more than it already is.”
“What about the poor going in there? What do they hope to gain?”
“They are the most filled with doubt. Some of them are only here because they want to hear what Hikmat has to say about Elan and me, but most are already turning to Elan. Some of them, they had friends that came with them and they have already decided to follow Elan and didn’t come. The ones that came anyway, their doubts are about me. It was what I said before. They think if Fia wanted him to have a bride that understood the invisible, she should have chosen one of them instead of an Avalian slave.
“Most of them talked to me at the wedding to see what I was like. They can’t decide if they like me or not. They want to, but there’s another part of them that has always thought that even though they are poor, they are still above the slaves. Elan and I challenged that ideal when they spoke to us in person and now they are confused and want answers.”
The last person trailed into the back of the temple and Koswara barricaded the door like they knew he would. Galih ordered Elan and Isolde to get back there and get him to lock the back door too, then knock him out. They both nodded and disappeared. Once Koswara was out of sight, Galih pulled Karta in.
“Can you do this without seeing them?” He wasn’t sure and most everyone had to be seeing them or touching them for their gifts to work. Isolde could hear behind walls and he was desperately hoping Karta could send that pulse behind walls too.
Karta could pull off devious quite well for such a small package. “Walls don’t keep me out. It’s just like a scream that I can point in any direction. Are you ready for me?”
“Are you going to scramble my brain and everyone out here when you do it?”
“Please,” she scoffed. “I’ve got much better aim than that. Here it goes!”
“Wait!” he said, grabbing her arm. “We need to know Elan and Isolde have succeeded and I need to know what’s going on inside.”
His COMM finally buzzed. “Koswara has barricaded the back door and Elan knocked him unconscious with a nearby rock. Hikmat is still trying to figure out what to say. He can see people are starting to doubt and that there are fewer people there tonight. I think he intends to go with telling everyone I’m some sort of demon that caused the freeze and Fia saved all of us by setting the moon on fire to melt it. He plans on saying I called the freeze to destroy the planet and Fia stepped in and stopped me. He wants to ruin Elan by saying Fia never spoke to him. He’s going to set the scene for overthrowing Elan by saying he’s mad and thinks Fia is talking to him.
“He can’t say any of this yet because they have that ritual they do before the meeting. If Karta can get in there now, she can save that animal they plan to sacrifice.”
Karta stood up and grinned. Galih thought the pulse was just inside everyone’s mind but every single boarded up window in the church blew out, but he couldn’t hear rioting and screaming.
His COMM buzzed again. “I can’t hear anyone inside the temple, so they must be unconscious. Tell Karta excellent job. How long will they be out?”
Eros stepped forward. “As long as I want them to be.” He whispered into the air, then crossed his arms with a satisfied grin.
Atikah seemed totally put out she didn’t get to play this time. “Will I at least get to question them?”
Isolde must have heard her on COMM. “No, Elan and I have a plan. You’ll play a part in killing Hikmat, but everyone will think you are Fia. The military needs to get in there now.”
“Get your ass back here now so they don’t see you.”
“Tati is here,” Elan said. “She’ll carry us to you faster.”
Elan and Isolde were back pretty quickly. Galih gave the signal and it wasn’t long before armed military members were inside the temple carrying bodies out to the Apexes. As soon as word got out there was a cult gunning for Elan and Isolde, everyone volunteered. No one asked questions as to why they would all be unconscious when they got in there. They all just did their duty and carted bodies out the temple.
They all stayed in the clearing well after the temple was empty and the Apexes had disappeared. Galih ordered them back to their chambers. This was only the beginning.
Chapter 36
Everyone was hooting, hollering, and celebrating on the long walk back. Except for Isolde and Elan. They trailed behind everyone silently with their arms around each other. Everyone was so happy, they didn’t notice their king and queen didn’t share their joy. Elan and Isolde knew better. This was too easy and just the beginning. They could say Fia told them about The Children and knocked them all out so they military could safely bring them in, but the more lies they told about Fia, the worse it was going to look for Elan when he did tell the truth.
They just let them celebrate and told them they did well as they separated in the passages to go to their chambers. It was late, but Elan sent for food since they had only eaten a light dinner.
“Do you think Tati or Soelva is going to tell us how to announce to your people about The Children or this is another test?” Isolde asked.
“It’s definitely a test, but I’ve been thinking about all the riddles they’ve both been giving us. Tati said Fia and Fanndis were the same person. We know their accents aren’t like ours and they seem to know things that happened before. What if they met the gods?”
Isolde gulped and had no idea how to tell Elan this. Believing this was okay on Avala, but not on Cendis. “I stopped believing in the gods when I was nine. I refused to go to temple no matter how many times Fjola had me beaten for it. It took a year, but she finally got it through her head I wasn’t going back. Most of our scientists don’t believe either. Our priests and churches follow The Order of Prodigies. They worship Fanndis and the other gods. The scientists formed The Healers of Defiance to sort of thumb their noses at The Order. They meet twice a week like everyone does at temple, but they talk scientific theory instead of dogma.”
Elan didn’t look like he was judging her or rethinking their marriage and alliance. “So, you attended the meetings with The Healers instead?”
She shook her head. How to explain this so he could understand? “The Healers are just as much a religion as The Order. Think about it. They both gather together to talk about their ideals and they think it’s the only right answer. You’ll never find the answer to anything if you think your idea is the right one and refuse to look anywhere else.”
“But you refused to attend temple and try to see things from their point of view?”
“I was angry, Elan. I don’t understand how you weren’t either with that elaborate farce you had to put on. I thought my
mother hated me and Jovin kept driving it into me as soon as I could understand that the fate of two planets rested on my shoulders. He didn’t say me and you. He said me. I was responsible for getting to Cendis, teaching you, bedding you, and getting you to agree to the alliance.
“When I decided to stop going to temple, it was because I thought if Fanndis was real, she wouldn’t have put all that expectation on me. If I had to learn everything I needed to know, why couldn’t there be a point I could eventually rest and be happy? I thought it would be this constant struggle with you trying to pass laws because you’d have to talk to your mother first and she would be manipulating things in the background.
“Now I don’t know what to think. Fjola never hated me and I’m happy with you. We do get to relax sometimes before Tati calls us or someone starts pounding on the door again. I know Tati and Soelva know something and I suspect it was their doing that you had to put on that farce and I came here believing lies I just don’t know what their end goal is and why we have all these tests.”
Elan just shrugged. “I didn’t get angry because I latched onto the idea that you were coming and you were my soulmate. And it worked out. Maybe Tati and Soelva were around when the gods were still here. Maybe one of them was a bond animal to a god. Both our planets have been worshipping gods from the monuments the humans found when they settled, but how did they find out their names if they didn’t find any humanoid creatures here? Maybe Tati, Soelva, and the rest of the bond animals are ready to give us those answers and the reasons why we all got fire and ice, then lost it. Maybe they have the answers to who was responsible for the sixteen on both planets.”
“I think they have all the answers! And we aren’t going to get them until they’ve put us through hell. Something bad is coming, Elan. Bringing down The Children was too easy. All this has been too easy.”
Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series (The Waljan Chronicles Book 1) Page 27