“Really?” Anasha asked, her thoughts happy and yet sad from the thought of Kristof.
“Indeed,” Max said. “Of course, I never had to push him off the deck to get started, so there is that.”
Anasha laughed and shoved Max playfully as she watched a door to the training facility where they landed open and Sabine appeared. The tiny Queen almost looked like a child, she thought to herself, as she watched Sabine jog to her. The Queen’s long braid flopped about wildly as she ran, which made Anasha smile even more. She saved the memory to share with Kristof when she found him.
“That went very well,” Sabine said with a laugh, “But what took you so long?”
“I picked up a stray along the way,” Anasha said, indicating to Max as he turned around so that Sabine could see him through his helmet’s visor.
While Max took of his helmet, Anasha struggle to decipher the look on Sabine’s face as she looked at Max. Suddenly, Sabine lunged at Max with a scream and wrapped her hands around the android’s throat as if to strangle the synthetic person, a neat feat given their vast height difference.
“You were supposed to protect him!” Sabine screamed as Max stood idly by, letting her do what she would. The sorrow in the android’s face nearly broke Anasha’s heart as Sabine started to cry and kick at the android. Anasha quickly went to the young Queen and pulled her into an embrace, where Sabine quickly broke down in long, choking sobs.
“I am sorry, my Queen,” Max said softly, kneeling before her. “I tried, I truly did, and I will never forgive myself for failing. My life is yours, if you wish it.”
“That won’t be necessary, Max,” Anasha said softly as she gathered Sabine up in her arms and headed for the training facility. “You’re family, nothing has changed about that. When we get back to the palace you can fill us in on everything. And don’t take Sabine too seriously, we’re all just upset about what happened, but we don’t blame you.” Max nodded as he followed them into the training facility. In the distance, night was approaching.
~21~
Everything hurt. There was no sense of anything else, just an ever present, throbbing mass of pain the size of a planet that covered and consumed everything. Kristof could no longer feel his right arm below his elbow, at least, but as for the rest of his body every single nerve felt as if it had been laid bare and then brushed with acid. The pain blocked out everything else.
It was a long time before he could even remember his name, let alone anything else. They’d arrived on Clovani Prime in the middle of the night, he remembered that much, and then a quick screening by doctors to ensure he stayed alive long enough for their purposes. Pain medication hadn’t been a part of his quick physical, however. That was not the Clovani way, which valued pain as both a teacher and punisher.
Since then he had spent his time in darkness, occasionally awoken to consume a food capsule and some water. Faces and names came and went as he fell into delirium, but he couldn’t connect the two. The blond and the brunette came the most in his flashes of madness, and he felt he should remember their names, but then the pain would spike and he would lose their names as he heard them screaming instead.
The reason he was even here eluded him now. More faces came and went, a younger version of himself and a woman with red hair and then just as quickly they faded. Things felt so incredibly hot, as if he were burning, for which he hoped was true so that the pain would end, but it never did. Memories of burning came back from a time before, when he’d felt his flesh burning away to nothing. This pain and burning didn’t seem as bad as that, at least, or at least he thought so. He just couldn’t be sure now.
More lights came next, with the doctors above him once more along with a woman in black, her hair bright like the flames that raged through his body. He found he could hear, as well, but the effort of understanding eluded him as he burned in pain.
“The infection is out of control,” he heard through the haze. “We must administer a massive dose of antibiotic right now or he will not last until the trial.”
“Fine,” came an answer from a million miles away in a voice he thought he recognized, but when he tried to remember her name all he felt was more pain. “See that he lives, or you will take his place at the trial.”
Darkness fell again after that. The darkness wasn’t so bad now. There were moments of lucidity where he could almost remember who he was and why he was here. Almost. It became almost a game when the pain was less, to try and remember and to piece together all of the pieces of the shattered puzzle of his mind. He remembered clearly for a moment breaking a glass while in zero gravity and how the shard of glass had floated around him. That was how his mind felt now.
Sabine, he thought, and suddenly the face of the brunette came to him, and he clung to the discovery like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. And then Anasha joined him as he drifted in the sea of his mind, lost and alone but for their memories now. Somehow their memories helped keep the pain at bay at last and allowed him to begin to connect the pieces through the delirium.
Sounds and voices came next in his mind. Explosions and screams intermixed with laughter and sounds of passion in a chaotic maelstrom that made him feel nauseous. At first he was unable to separate one from another. He wanted to scream himself, but his throat hurt too badly.
In a flash, one sound happened to match with the correct face and he found himself staring into the blue eyes of the blond, and he could hear her say I love you, before the moment shattered again. He wept, or at least thought he did, as the memory vanished. The next vision he saw, a man was falling into a lake of fire beneath, while the sounds of blasts and explosions whirled around him. He did scream this time, though it tore his throat to ribbons from the effort.
Kristof
He spun in the insanity of his mind, trying to find where the voice had come from, somehow recognizing his name in the madness. Kristof, my name is Kristof, he said over and over to himself, struggling to grasp a hold of his mind. The last image returned, and he now could recall the name of Subat, and he knew for sure that he wept this time.
Kristof
The voice was closer this time, he knew. The whirling of his memories was slowing, and he saw himself in bed with Sabine that first time aboard the Wraith, in what seemed a lifetime ago. He saw the look in her eyes as he moved inside her, and he had known then that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. The memories flashed and Anasha was with them in their bed on Purannis, and life had seemed so perfect then. He held on to these memories tight, refusing to let them disappear on him again.
Yet things did go dark again, though after a moment of panic Kristof realized he could still recall the memories this time. This darkness was silent, peaceful, for the first time since he did not know when. There was a sense of waiting here, though.
Kristof
From was seemed a distance Kristof watched as a figure slowly walked towards him, though there was no light and no sound, no sense of anything for the figure to be walking on, and yet walk it did. Details came to him in time, and he saw that it was his father-in-law Subat, and yet he sensed that it wasn’t truly Subat at all. There was the feeling of something more, much more, than what he was able to see.
Kristof, you must fight
“No,” Kristof moaned brokenly, realizing he could hear here. “No more. I can’t fight anymore, it’s too much.”
You are needed, Kristof. You cannot give in now. The war has come at last, as we have feared it must.
Memories returned to Kristof then, of a silent night when all the world had gone still, and the Phoenix God had come to him. He remembered the words of the coming war with Death, and the Phoenix’s desire that he should become some god slayer.
“Go back,” Kristof demanded, his voice faltering on despair. “I am not the one you want.”
Kristof, you must fight. You stand upon the edge of the abyss once more, but Anasha cannot save you this time. You must find your way back alone this time or
all will be lost.
“No,” Kristof moaned, “I am not your god slayer. You’re wrong. Find another.”
There is no other. Only you have faced what is required to touch the power. Only you have touched death thrice and returned through the Veil.
A memory flashed through Kristof’s mind of himself as a child, drowning in a pond near his family’s home. He saw his mother, for the first time in twenty years, crying above him as he choked out water and cried. Then he saw Anasha as she had come to him after the Wraith’s crash, saw her as she drew him back to the world of life even as his hand had passed beyond the Veil into the Underworld. And then he saw Anasha and Sabine together as they faced down Death himself for his soul, shining brightly like two avenging angels.
Only you, Kristof. Your child will perish if you should fail. He fights Death, even now, will you do less?
“He?” Kristof asked, his pain and despair suddenly forgotten. “I have a son?”
Not if you do not fight. Be strong, my son, they come for you.
The darkness faded and Kristof found himself immersed once more in his world of pain and anguish, but his mind remained clear now. He found that the room was not dark after all, he had just not been able to see through his agony most of the time. The room was a standard Clovani detention cell, he recognized, and memories of Korvan came back to him then.
His brother’s hatred had broken his heart to see and hear. Kristof had meant it when he’d told Korvan that he’d meant to take him away, too. He remembered all too well his sister Karina’s penchant for cruelty and torture growing up, having been a victim of it himself until he had grown old enough and big enough to fight back.
Karina had like to hit, a lot, which was normal for some kids he supposed. But Karina would always hit where she knew you were hurt, like the one time he had broken a rib on the practice field and she always liked to jab him there for weeks on end. Korvan had suffered similar abuses, Kristof knew, and his brother had not been as strong as he was. He had meant to take Korvan away from any chance of Karina continuing her abuses, because unlike with Kristof, it had not stopped as Korvan got older. Korvan may have grown strong physical, but he remained dominated by his sister all the same.
It wasn’t a good thought to imagine what his sister might have done to their younger brother once he had left for the academy. When Kristof had told his father after the trial and disowning that he wanted Korvan to come with him, his father had threatened Kristof’s life if he ever came near his youngest son. Korvan was subsequently transferred to a secret training facility, one that Kristof had been unable to discover. His only relief had been that his brother was away from Karina at last. Kristof pushed the thoughts away. They would not help him in his present situation.
Karina had been here, Kristof remembered, as visions of her standing over him floated to the surface. He was sure she had been disappointed by his unconsciousness, since that meant she wouldn’t have the pleasure of torturing him again. One time he’d told his father that he thought Karina was insane, but their father had only seen his sister’s strength and determination. Karina’s example had given Kristof issues with trusting women for a while, at least until Anasha had come along and cured him of that particular madness.
They are coming, the Phoenix had told him. That could only mean that Sabine and Anasha had found a way to rescue him, and he would have to remain strong until they did. With that in mind, Kristof tried to take stock of his situation. His right arm was a mess, he knew right off. The doctors had bandaged it, but he could not feel it, and the scent of old burns, blood, and puss came heavily off of it.
His left arm did not seem much better off, but at least he could feel it and move it. Another bandage was affixed to his bicep there, while his chest was wrapped in bandages that had bled through in spots. The memory of Korvan’s whip came back to him then. Something his brother had learned from Karina, no doubt.
With a sigh, Kristof lay back and prayed that if Sabine and Anasha were coming, that it was soon. His strength was fading fast, he knew, and he truly did wish to see his beautiful wives again, as well as his unborn son.
His son, he thought, and smiled.
~22~
Sabine looked on silently as Max recounted the tale of the fateful mission Kristof had undertaken at her order. She knew herself well enough to know her anger at Max was actually displaced anger and guilt that she felt towards herself, and she vowed to apologize to the android later. The details of the mission were leaving her with a cold pit in her stomach as Max recounted the explosion of Salas’s tower, to the loss of their escape route and the harrowing chase that followed.
Max’s guilt at leaving Kristof, despite Kristof’s order to do just that, weighed as heavily on the android as hers did on herself, Sabine saw. It was a wonder that an artificial being could feel guilt at all, though Max had never been an ordinary android in the time that she’d known him. There was definitely something much more to the android before her than there was to any other android.
General Mannis and her grandfather, Admiral Geoff Arctura, had joined her and Anasha to hear the android’s account of the mission. Her grandfather’s presence was a comforting one since her circle of family had grown so small. The occasional speculative glances her way bothered her a bit though, and she wondered what was on the old man’s mind.
Max finish his account of the mission and fell silent. Sabine rose and went to the android and pulled him to his feet. Max remained silent, apparently waiting to see if she would start hitting him again. Instead, she hugged him tightly, and after a moment he returned the embrace awkwardly.
“I’m sorry, Max,” Sabine said with a small sob. “It wasn’t your fault, and I don’t blame you for this.”
“Queen’s aren’t supposed to apologize,” Max said softly, “It’s in the rule book.”
Sabine laughed in spite of herself, and gave Max a grateful look.
“It seems the Clovani commander was quite insightful into Kristof’s methods,” Sabine’s grandfather said as the embrace broke apart. “He knew exactly how our team would proceed.”
“I had made the same assessment,” General Mannis added. “I made some inquiries with our Su’Tani spy net and was able to learn the commander’s name.”
The room’s wall screen came alive with what seemed an image of Kristof when he was younger and still an officer of the Clovani Navy, but then Sabine began to pick out the differences in the set of his eyes and the shape of his jaw. This can only be a brother, she thought to herself wonderingly, not having known Kristof had any siblings.
“Korvan Anders,” General Mannis confirmed a moment later. “Kristof’s younger brother, recently promoted to Admiral after the capture of Kristof on Dorcanus. It also seems that, then Vice Admiral Anders, has been the nemesis of our rebellion efforts of late. Most likely it was all in an attempt to gauge Kristof’s reactions and thereby anticipate his moves on Dorcanus.”
“He knew I would send Kristof after Salas,” Sabine growled.
“Apparently so,” Geoff answered. “Though your desire to have Salas brought to justice hasn’t exactly been a state secret.”
“The Admiral’s ship, the Vengeance, is currently in orbit over Clovani Prime,” General Mannis went on. “It would appear he is intent on being present for the trial.”
“Is there any other family we need to worry about?” Sabine asked, somewhat angry that she did not already know this.
“Just a sister,” Anasha said softly. “Karina. Honestly, I would have expected this sort of trap from her rather than Korvan. Karina has a rather nasty reputation, from all of Kristof’s accounts. Our intelligence people say she hasn’t improved over the years, either.”
The image on the screen changed to that of a red haired woman. She shared Kristof’s fierce green eyes and general features, in a more feminine molding, but that was where the similarities ended. Her eyes were also cruel, a sneer barely contained in the photo, and she gave off a general sense of jus
t being evil, Sabine thought.
“Colonel Karina Anders is a member of the Clovani Intelligence Group,”
General Mannis went on. “Our information is sparse on her, but the general sense is that she is lightyears beyond as cruel as she looks.” Anasha nodded her agreement.
“We need Kristof out and away from her if she is on Clovani Prime,” Anasha said darkly from the back of the room, “Otherwise I’ll teach her what cruelty really is.”
Sabine found herself in agreement, though she was a little shocked at this side of Anasha. Perhaps her lovely blond wife wouldn’t be so against what she had planned for the Clovani home world after all. She pushed the thought away, at last dismissing it. Some things were better left unsaid.
“The trial starts in two days,” General Mannis interrupted her thoughts. “Do you still plan to move ahead with the rescue as planned?”
“I do, General,” Sabine responded, tired of this particular conversation with the man. “Each and every part of it.”
“So be it, I will see it done,” the general said as he rose and dismissed himself. Sabine forgave his abrupt departure, she knew what she was demanding of him.
Max excused himself as well, and Sabine hugged him again before sending him to the maintenance facility to have his damage repaired. Anasha gave her a quick kiss and a promise to return shortly as she went with Max. Sabine suddenly found herself alone with her grandfather, who was once again giving her that speculative look that made her uncomfortable.
“The General is a good man,” her grandfather said unexpectedly as Sabine poured herself a glass of warm milk to settle the baby. “I was most pleased with his appointment as Supreme Military Commander when you took the throne. Which makes what you are asking of him rather disappointing.”
“He told you, I presume,” Sabine said, her back remaining to her grandfather.
“Yes,” came the reply as she heard her grandfather rise to his feet. “He is most distressed that you plan to actually go through with it.”
The Smuggler's Ascension: Dark Tide Rising Page 13