“Escort Akad to his destination,” Elise instructed the Legio. “See that his vessel takes off without incident.”
The wolfish Kaeradi red-robes moved so swiftly Darkyn had no time to think, much less form a feasible alternative. In truth, he knew of no alternative, but he couldn’t bring himself to embrace that fact.
Georgia turned Darkyn to face her then, so that he couldn’t see his brother departing the pao, the path, and ultimately Uhr and the blessings and bounty of this life. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her, but what he saw were hints and sparks of the ancient wizard who met them on the sands of the beach in the vision-plane.
“Get a grip,” she said simply and firmly, despite the tears coursing down her cheeks, blending with the wild markings of her pa. “He’s always right, your brother. We have our duties now, to Akad and to everyone else. Don’t make me think I’ve greatly underestimated you.”
From high in the darkening sky of Uhr, Guardian let out a wrenching cry. It rose above the infinitely sad song of the Chimera, above the restless, frightened murmurs of the crowd, above the growing wind and the distant but distinct thrum of the approaching Barung.
Darkyn felt like the falcon was screaming his pain for him, leaving him some sanity and dignity in this, the first moment he did not think he could bear.
He knew Georgia Tul’Mar was correct. The only course of action open to him now was to complete this task, and in doing so, honor the sacrifice his a’mun twin so freely made.
We have our duties now… Her words rasped against his mind until he found the strength to move, to head for the hovering Arcus, Calamus, and Telum with Georgia and Elise following close behind.
When he glanced upward, Guardian had departed. Teeth grinding, fists clenched, Darkyn kept walking down the orchard path, through the pao throng, though he knew his losses had increased.
The falcon had gone to Akad, to be certain his brother did not die alone.
“Time…for…grief…later,” he told himself, and realized even Krysta would grieve the stubborn, jealous bird. They had found an accord as of late, the two women who had claimed his heart.
In his wake, Darkyn heard his warriors giving information and organizing the pao into groups. Those with psi-strength would monitor in the ways of the mind, lending whatever energy they could to the pa of the three ships, for as long as they could. Those with technological strengths would assist with communications and problem-solving as needed.
Those with lesser shares of either, they would speak to the gods, to the goddesses, to any favorable powers who might listen.
We have our duties now…
Darkyn stumbled.
Elise and Georgia moved up to support him, and he heard the call of his hallas.
Come to me, she said, in the patient, loving voice Akad would have used in the same situation. Only Akad had sealed off his mind and person, and Darkyn knew he would never again feel his brother’s healing mind-touch, or the force of his embrace.
Come to me now, my love, my munas, Krysta repeated. Don’t forget your nature. You are made of stone, when need be.
Darkyn became aware of Ki Tul’Mar and Fari in the link of six. They were offering a grudging sort of tribute, neither certain they could force themselves to do what Darkyn was doing—surrendering a brother for the good of the whole—no matter if that brother volunteered.
Even in his final choices, Akad unifies and spreads peace. Darkyn’s statement dropped into the link, to be met with five gentle agreements.
And then he reached the spot below Arcus.
Krysta lowered the ship expertly beside him, and he stepped through the hull that would have opened only for him.
Keeping the ship steady with her mind was no easy task. Krysta battled her own grief and tears along with the increasing awareness of her sha’s crippling pain. Ki and Fari had equal difficulty, but Ki managed to bring Calamus to bear for Elise to board. Fari dipped down with Telum and retrieved Georgia shortly afterward.
On Krysta’s command, the three ships moved up toward the turbulent orbit around Uhr.
Companel communications chattered in the back of her awareness, though she had no companel.
The People were trying to land all of the pao ships—but they could not.
Just as Akad couldn’t take off, and Krysta couldn’t lead her now-cloaked ships into orbit.
Something was blocking them!
A shield. Fari swore. It’s nothing of our making, and I don’t believe it’s being cast by The People.
It’s coming from…him, Ki confirmed, and Krysta knew he was using his formidable logic and new awareness like a laser probing tool. It seems to be made of tangible emotion. I know that is not possible, but I sense discord. Unrest and misery. Somehow this beast has given energy to our fears and pains, and he is using them to hold us down.
Of course, Krysta thought, cursing her own stupidity. Most predators paralyze their prey in some fashion, just before they strike.
“’Let loose the gentle innocents,’” Darkyn murmured, broadcasting the thought to all psi-adepts on the surface. Krysta felt him change the gating on his mind’s energy to loan her more strength, to free her mind to make the call she wanted to make.
Please, she psi-sent immediately, calling up images of Chimera on Uhr and even on Arda, should any be able to perceive her. Help us. I beg you. We need your song!
Stellar seconds passed, then stellar minutes. With each tick of her mental clock, Krysta’s heart hammered harder against her ribs. She tentatively reached for Darkyn’s comfort, but he seemed seized by a distant stupor. But for the energy leaving the various gates of his mind, he was a million miles from their present.
What if they don’t come? She pitched this worry for her mind alone. What if—?
But she didn’t get a chance to finish the thought.
A swell of high-pitched but amazingly smooth and pleasing music met her physical ears, coming even louder through her psi-perceptions.
The song had a timeless feel, and Krysta wondered if she knew it. She knew that was impossible, but perhaps the melody was archetypal. Universal.
Whatever it was, she thought it might be working. The unrest in the skies began to settle in spite of its malevolent intent.
She felt a ripple in the bleak energy holding Arcus hostage.
From Uhr’s surface, the song intensified. A golden-white glow rose into space, accompanying the notes, swirling like the delicate but powerful sounds.
Companel chatter picked up. The People were finding holes in the shield that had dropped over the little moon. In rapid, organized fashion, they brought the pao ships down to the safety of the surface, setting the smaller ones down on the landing strip and the larger ones on the edge of the drylands where space allowed. Shortly, nothing would be in the air but the three psi-powered vessels, Akad’s decoy vessel, and Barung.
The Chimera sang and sang, giving of their wondrous, guileless natures, and driving fissures into the dark barrier of discord and despair surrounding Uhr. No such emotions could withstand the joy and warmth of that simple, forceful song.
Steady, Elise instructed through their link, with Georgia’s force of will backing her up.
Krysta narrowed her focus, forcing out as much of the psychic and technological noise as she could. Arcus felt like a part of her body and mind, moving at unimaginable speed in response to a single thought-direction.
“Darkyn,” Krysta said aloud to her sha, who had settled numbly into the chair beside her. She offered her hand, and after a moment, he took it.
Useless platitudes about Akad drifted through her mind, but she discarded them. The best thing she could do was stand beside her mate, to offer him as much of her as she could spare and still fly the ship. This realization came to her easily, as many things about healing were beginning to come. They just…made sense. Seemed right. Like masterful shadings in a portrait, or the perfect addition to a collection. She could see the needs faster and more clearly with every
passing moment.
Not bad for a mass murderer’s direct descendent, she thought darkly.
Sister, he was an executioner. Ki managed to sound like a patronizing older brother even in such a maelstrom of activity. He had a role in his world, and he played it.
He enjoyed it, she countered. He was dangerous.
No, Fari argued. He was efficient.
Enough, Georgia snapped. We’ll argue about genetic stains later, okay? I think it’s time to act.
Krysta pulled her awareness back to the emptied orbits of Uhr. Arcus, Calamus, and Telum now flew alone, but for a refitted cargo ship a half-rotation to port. Further out, a now-condensed and streaking blackness arched toward them, moving almost too quickly to perceive.
And right above them, the Chimera song opened a massive fissure, wide enough to release her ships and Akad as well.
The evil is upon us! she called. To me, Brothers! To me quickly!
Ki and Fari responded with no questions or comments. Calamus and Telum streaked to her wing points, and she led them out of the barrier. Immediately, she extended the shield of Arcus to encompass them behind a wall of pa.
This had been the design of the ships’ many makers, to create a host of weapons that would seem no more than normal space energy to the perception of Barung. If he scanned them, he would sense pa, but pa was everywhere, in all things, in various concentrations throughout any living galaxy or universe.
Barung would instead, they hoped, concentrate on the unnatural vessel escaping Uhr’s orbit, the single unshielded ship. This would deflect his course to Uhr, and if Akad played his role well, aim Barung in the direction they wanted him to go.
As if on cue, Akad’s psi-voice seemed to boom through space and time.
I am here, Barung. The son of your enemies, many times mixed. I have come to kill you as my ancestors could not. Do you dare to challenge me?
Instantly, the blackness slowed and changed course for the cargo ship. Akad piloted the vessel to the edge of Uhr’s far-orbital space, well beyond the dark shield that sought to hold him back. Krysta realized the little vessel, though ramshackle in appearance, had been refitted for speed and endurance.
Another surprise for the Eater of Worlds. Another tiny advantage in a game of fractions and parries.
“You claim to know my enemies.” Barung’s voice sounded real, physical, and right next her elbow. Krysta startled, but kept Arcus from reacting only by sheer force of will—and the help of her sha, who seemed to have left his stupor. He was standing now, directly beside her, his presence like the strongest rock dead-center in a howling storm.
I know your enemies, the ones who banished you, Akad said, nudging his ship forward, leading the evil farther away from Uhr, and from Arda, toward the field. I call you out in the name of Kaerad, and the warriors of the spirit. I call you out in the name of Arda, and the warriors of the mind.
He paused, putting more distance between himself and Uhr, leading the Barung further into the desired field. Krysta eased her ships forward, overtaking Akad and positioning her tiny fleet in front of him, ready to drop their cloak at the right moment.
Akad dropped his final challenge then, and he did so with a perfectly-timed flair of rage and indignation. You filthy, murdering bastard. I call you out in the name of Myrddin and Perth, and the warriors of the heart, who will always survive no matter your destruction!
Space seemed to shake as Barung emitted a terrible roar. His essence changed size and shape, becoming a maw of unimaginable size. In the blink of an eye, he snapped up Akad’s ship, then seemed to spit it free seconds later.
Krysta had an image of the vessel tumbling away through ripples and rips in time and space. The speed was lethal, if not the shockwaves of disturbed natural space. In seconds, the vessel disintegrated, leaving a shocked hole in the consciousness of Krysta, Darkyn, and the rest of the circle.
“For nothing,” Darkyn said dryly, squeezing Krysta’s hand so hard she thought her fingers might break.
“He had not the taste of my enemies,” Barung murmured. The beast sounded petulant, almost like a child. “He was lying.”
Krysta froze, mentally and physically. The pain in her hand echoed Darkyn’s rage and profound sadness, mingled with utter frustration. She heard the confusion and stress of her brothers’ minds, and Elise and Georgia. Then she heard Darkyn in quick communication with the psi-adepts back on Uhr. His hand released hers and passed over the stone in his chest, which now glowed a brilliant yellow—and she understood.
Akad was a’mun, born with no stone. Like most of the modern Kaeradi, he wouldn’t have the full essence of a third of the trilogy Barung sought.
How easy it was for a grand plan to fail, to fall on such a tiny, trivial point.
Fractions and parries, Krysta thought desperately as the dark energy force grew yet again compact, and began to turn back toward Uhr.
“He was lying!” Barung roared.
Perhaps, came a steady, strong retort Krysta recognized, but couldn’t place. I, however, am not. If you would have a taste of the blood of your enemies, then try to take me!
Who is that? Ki and Fari asked almost at the same time.
Krysta glanced at her sha, and the surprised admiration of his expression gave her the answer.
“It’s Brand, your cousin. The one who killed Kolot.” A shudder of hope took her, but she gathered herself quickly. “He must have been hovering in low orbit, in case we had need of him—he’s of your blood!”
“And he has the stone.” Darkyn rested his hand on his chest.
To restore my honor, to right my wrongs! Brand’s psi-cry rang through Krysta’s mind, and any with the skill to hear, as he streaked toward them.
Barung hesitated, but in the end, could not pass up the possibility.
He gave pursuit.
You have my blessings, cousin. Darkyn’s mind-voice was heavy with pride and new grief. Your honor is clean, and you die without wrongs.
Brand’s relief and determination felt as tangible as the dark shield they had broken through to escape into space, just before Barung swallowed the racing ship in one swift, brutal movement.
Krysta waited, breathless.
This time, the Eater of Worlds did not spit out his prey. Instead, he gave a satisfied growl of hunger.
Before he could turn back to Uhr, Krysta dropped the pa shielding concealing Arcus, Calamus, and Telum.
“We are here!” she shouted in her mind and aloud. “Do you think to take us so easily?”
They waited only long enough for Barung to identify them, to imagine how it would be to kill off the lines of his long-sworn enemies in a single coup.
Once more, space seemed to shake with his roar.
Krysta felt a charge of panic and determination. Doubling her focus on her ship, she pointed Arcus for her destination and began a flight faster than any she had known.
Ki and Fari rocketed behind her, so close and in such unison they might have been exhaust from her wings.
Barung bore down on them, a relentless wave of hatred and rage.
“Why do you run from me?” he asked Krysta. “Do you think I will let you keep the love and happiness you think you have found?”
Darkyn stroked her shoulder, helping her keep her thoughts clear of her fears. She was surprised how easy it was to ignore the bastard.
But then he turned his attack on Darkyn. “And you—how many failures can I count? I just killed your brother, Ta. You failed your a’mun twin, and lost him forever.”
Krysta flinched as Darkyn stiffened, his thoughts ranging out toward that distant stupor she had felt when he first came aboard. She linked her arm with his, directed as much love as she could through their flow of energy, and worked frantically to keep flying the ship.
Do not fall into his trap. Fari’s voice rose through their link. My honest mistakes cost my parents their lives, and I thought they had cost me my sister. I almost gave up—but that is what evil and despair want. Hold fast,
my new brother-by-marriage. Keep your mind on your shanna. Your hallas.
Darkyn’s grip on Krysta’s arm tightened, and gradually, he brought himself back from that distant place of pain. Back to the present. Back to her.
Barung made the rounds, attempting to inflict doubt on Ki, on Fari, on Elise, and finally Georgia. It became easier to ignore him as their bonds strengthened.
Krysta expanded her perceptions, gaining an understanding of their location in space, in the “field” constructed by the ancients. In a sense, it was no more than a rudimentary energy fence, except that it had gained strength over the eons to have something like a life and consciousness of its own. Such was the way of all things of power, left to their own devices too long. They were inside the fence, streaking toward its core, at which point they would have to break their unity and head for the three points of the triangle the fence connected. From those three points, fates and forces of the universe willing, they would trap Barung where he hovered, unsure which enemy to pursue, and hold him until the weight of empty space crushed him completely.
They had moved so fast—unbelievably far, unbelievably swift! They were nearing the point where they would have to separate. Krysta felt loathe to do that, to let go of her family and feel them scatter to distant points in this desperate, nearly hopeless gambit.
She felt the comforting hum of Arcus, and wondered if the ship was trying to soothe her newest hesitations and fears. These fascinating crafts were something almost outside the range of possibility, just like defeating Barung.
With life, with pa, with love, there is nothing outside the range of possibility, Krysta, my sister of heart and purpose. I charge you with remembering this, now and always.
A sharp, stunned silence suffused the mental linkage of the six.
It was Darkyn who finally found his psi-voice long enough to ask, Who said that?
But they all knew.
The rhythm, pattern, and calm, confident presentation belonged to only one man: Akad of Arda and Uhr, priest and brother to them all.
Something tickled Krysta’s cheek, and she knew before she reached up to catch the item what it was.
Arda: The Captain's Fancy Page 17