Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series

by JB Trepagnier

She felt Elan’s arm around her waist. “People think it’s cursed.”

  She just nodded. She wondered if people would be that superstitious when they got to Ragnis Crystal. Nia kept turning around to smile at Elan and Elan would just squeeze her to let her know not to worry about Nia. They seemed to go lower and lower before Nia got to a hatch door that led to a stairwell. Thankfully, they hadn’t stripped the solar panels, so there was light down there.

  She finally laid eyes on the entire Cendian sixteen at the bottom of the staircase and for the first time since she got there, she was a little self-conscious. What if they didn’t like her or found her strange looking like Nia did. They didn’t notice her at first because they seemed to be crowded around someone. Slowly, all eyes looked up and were trained on her. She moved closer to Elan.

  They all went down on one knee when they saw her with Elan, even Galih, who she met the day before. She finally saw a Cendian girl slumped in a chair. She let go of Elan and rushed over to her. She started firing questions off at Galih.

  “Love, let him speak,” Elan said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

  “Our sixteen with gifts similar to yours, they have limits like you.”

  “I can’t heal her. I don’t know what fixes it other than to sleep it off.”

  “I know you don’t have healing abilities,” Galih snapped. “I need you in Hikmat’s head again.”

  She sighed. She knew what she needed to do to walk out of there this time thanks to Tati. The assassin in the next cell was confused and screaming in her head.

  “What did you do to that one before I got here?”

  “Well, he had his brain scrambled for a little while and now he’s got no idea how to kill. You and Elan are going to have to decide what to do with him.”

  “He knows my face from when Elan chose me from the slaves. He was the one they were going to send to kill me. He just can’t figure out how he’s supposed to do that now. He would kill me right now if he knew how.”

  “Should I burn him or do you want to do it with ice?”

  “Later. What am I trying to get out of Hikmat this time?”

  “They have a meeting at the Temple of Abra. It’s where they gather. All the church members will be there. I need to know how many we’ll be up against. I’ve no idea what’s going on with Ace and our military, but I’m not sending them into a temple that large if they’re going to be outnumbered and outgunned.”

  “You just want their numbers and firepower? I already told you they haven’t built their weapon yet.”

  “We still have other guns here, Isolde,” Galih said, rolling his eyes. “Not like you have on Avala, I’m sure, but do you think our military keeps people in line by throwing rocks at them?”

  “What do they fire?”

  They had all sorts of different guns on Avala. They had one that shot a laser that could burn a hole straight through you, bullets that exploded on impact, and another laser that was only meant to stun and disable. She had no idea what they had on Cendis.

  “Bullets and flamethrowers. Can you get to work now?”

  Elan followed her into Hikmat’s cell. He was crumpled on the floor in an unceremonious heap and it looked painful. She didn’t really try to readjust him or make him more comfortable. She sat in Elan’s lap like she had before and touched Hikmat’s forehead. She searched for previous meetings at that temple. She picked up a thought that The Temple of Abra had been burnt at some point, so she stopped when she got to a large, burnt out room with a new altar at the front.

  “The temple is not totally full. I can make out about three hundred people. There are no children there. They are not allowed. Koswara bolts the door from the outside at the start of every service. He’s never attended one, he just makes sure everyone is locked in. Hikmat starts their ritual with a blood sacrifice. It’s a medium-sized animal. We don’t have this on Avala, but it looks similar to a species of dog.

  “They hold it over a basin and slit its throat. Once the blood is drained, they burn the body. There’s this chant they do while it burns. They are asking Fia to accept their sacrifice and bless them. They pass bowls of the blood around and draw this symbol on their foreheads. I don’t know what the symbol is.

  “Once they all have blood on them, Hikmat gives them a speech. I can hear it. It’s all hate. Hikmat rallies them to his side by giving them something to hate. Several things to hate. The Avalians, the monarchy, and their advisors. He wants anarchy so he can assume the throne. He has a twin. He’s on board with killing me and experimenting on Elan.

  “Hikmat has no attachments, no weakness you can exploit to make him turn from this course. If you release him and put him in front of The Children so you can trap them, he will incite a riot so he can find a way to escape. There’s a door behind a tapestry they hung behind the altar. Hikmat is the only one who knows about it and Koswara doesn’t bolt it. Koswara bolts the front and goes to that back door. Hikmat has a plan, if things ever go wrong, he escapes from that door, Koswara bolts that door shut too, and if someone is not there to attack, Hikmat will burn it himself.”

  She let go of his head and leaned back into Elan. She didn’t know if Galih wanted anything else, but she needed a break from the horrible things she was seeing in that man’s head. Elan must have known or thought she was going to faint. He tightened his arms around her and pulled her to his chest.

  Her nose wasn’t bleeding this time, but Hikmat’s was. “Did you need anything else?” she asked Galih.

  “Not from Hikmat until we know what’s going on with our military. We can’t make any plans until we know our numbers against theirs. You two need to pass sentence on Koswara. He’s committed murder and he would have killed you given the chance.”

  “He would have tried. We can’t kill Koswara yet,” she pointed out. “The Children will expect him at this meeting. They think he’s protecting them, not locking them in for slaughter. How are you going to get Hikmat and Koswara at that meeting with what I just told you?”

  “I can handle that part,” one of the sixteen said. He was almost Elan’s height, but thin and wiry. Elan always kept his long hair tied back with a leather strip, but this man had his hair on the top of his head in a bun like a woman. “Gareng, my queen,” he said, introducing himself and taking the knee again. “I think you can help with that too. Ombah, my trainer, she said you can plant suggestions? I can manipulate memories. I can make both Hikmat and his assassin forget ever being here. I can make them forget Meida and Nia. I can make them think they are simply going to a regular meeting and you can perhaps plant the suggestion to Koswara that he bolt the back door and wait. You or Elan can kill him outside the temple and our military will have The Children in one place to round up.”

  “Then what? You burn the temple again? All of those people, they just want fire. Only Hikmat’s family knows what he intends to do to Elan and me and even his family isn’t in on his full plan.”

  “His followers aren’t totally innocent,” Galih pointed out. “You saw them sacrifice a helpless animal and anoint themselves with blood. That fighting ring Elan fought in? It used to be to the death until Elan. Koswara killed people in the ring and they loved it. Elan was booed when he didn’t kill Koswara. Elan had to prance and preen like an animal doing a mating dance through several fights before they stopped booing him for not killing.”

  “You’re talking about burning three hundred people alive in a locked building. What about their children? Don’t you have a court system to give them trials? Maybe some do need to die, but not like that.”

  Galih looked at Elan like he was pretty fed up with her. “Burning people has always been our way. You may do things differently on Ragnis Crystal, but we’re still on Cendis following Cendian law.”

  “Cendian law works when we’re talking about one murderer or thief or a small group of rioters. We still give them a chance to speak for themselves and try to at least defend their act
ions, even if everyone knows they will be burned. We’re talking about burning three hundred people without even giving them the chance to speak. Our people will riot, even if we go public with their crimes. What do you think is going to happen when we drop the bomb about Isolde and me right after that? No one will follow us if they think we signed off on that. There will be people that agree with them.”

  Galih looked like he was about to argue, but Isolde cut him off. “Not everyone will follow us to Ragnis Crystal. There will be those that stay here and on Avala. If Elan and I leave two angry, broken planets behind, they will eventually attack us, either separately or together.”

  Galih let out a defeated sigh. “Our military that joined them. Will they be there, armed? How are we supposed to subdue that many people and who is supposed to hear them out?”

  Isolde felt Elan surge with a little pride, so she let him speak. “It’s time the Cendians knew the truth about the sixteen. If they are bolted inside that temple, me or Isolde can easily take out Koswara. There’s windows, aren’t there? I’m not the only one with defensive mind gifts.”

  A small girl stepped forward with a devilish grin. “Karta, my queen,” she said, bowing her head. She looked at Elan boldly. “I can handle that entire temple on my own. See that blood coming out that monster’s ears? That’s a slow burn, when I want to make it hurt. If I send a mass pulse, they’ll all be out for hours.”

  Karta looked amused and extremely proud of herself that she knew how to do that. Isolde wondered how she trained and reached out with her mind. Karta wasn’t immune to her and her mind was an open book. Karta was thinking about all the times she rendered her mentor unconscious in the middle of the forest where they trained because she didn’t want to do her lesson or she simply just didn’t like something he said.

  Isolde broke into laughter and everyone was looking at her like she shouldn’t be laughing right now except Karta and Elan. Karta seemed to know what she saw and gave her a cheeky wink.

  “I’ve seen Karta in action in her thoughts. She’s got this handled. Elan and I can handle Koswara. Is there a place you can keep them once they are out?”

  “We don’t have that many jail cells,” Elan pointed out. “Justice is usually swift on Cendis. We can lock them all in their fighting pit. They can divide into groups and elect a spokesperson. They will speak before everyone. The sixteen, my mother, her advisors, the high born, and the common people. No more secrets.”

  “Even you and Isolde?” Galih snapped. “None of us knows what is supposed to happen when you bond, but I know you keep putting it off.”

  “The dying swarms weren’t enough for you? A new water source on Avala isn’t either? We’re on the right path. Isolde is fierce enough on her own and it’s obvious we have feelings for each other without some magical bond. If we have to go public before we attempt it, so be it.”

  “We need to stop arguing. Galih, you need to get Dasimah back to her chambers so she can sleep this off somewhere more comfortable than that chair,” Isolde fussed. He liked using both of them until they fainted, but he needed to take better care of his sixteen when they took things too far. “This could all go horribly wrong anyway if Ace finds out your entire military is now a part of The Children. Ace could be a member and tip them off.”

  She felt Elan chuckle behind her. “No, Ace would find all of that very dishonorable. If someone approached him about the pits, he would report it. I think you’ll find Ace will be quite relieved to find out the truth about me and will see the value in our alliance.”

  “All of you, back down the hatch and into your quarters,” Galih barked. “You did well today. Save your strength. We’re going to need it.”

  Chapter 21

  Ace had been putting out feelers for some underground fighting pit he wasn’t sure existed, but he really wanted to see Elan. Part of him thought Sartika was coming up with some elaborate plot about Elan being a fighting champion and that slave girl really being a princess. He doubted the existence of some paradise planet. Elan couldn’t have kept up that performance that long and Ace had been present for many of his tantrums.

  Ace had been periodically knocking on Elan’s door and no one was answering. He had flat out pounded and the boy was either ignoring him or he slipped out without anyone knowing. Someone would have seen him leave with that slave girl. Something else was going on. Right before dinner, Ace went back and pounded again. It took a while, but he could hear shuffling behind the heavy door.

  Elan threw the door open looking like the pudgy Elan he knew. Elan ushered him in and to Ace’s surprise, whipped his shirt off.

  “Thank the gods you know now and I don’t have to wear this damned padded shirt. Isolde? You can come out!”

  Elan was hiding the body of a well-trained soldier underneath the long-sleeved shirts he always wore no matter what the weather was. The girl he took for his toy looked like all the other slaves when Ace gave her a brief disapproving look before she disappeared with him. Elan wasn’t the only fighter in the room looking at her now.

  She wasn’t dressed like anyone on Cendis. Ace had no idea how she even got on the planet, much less brought fancy clothes like she was wearing. Her defined biceps flexed as she crossed her arms and cocked her head at him curiously. He never really studied the slaves very much. He couldn’t decide if she was beautiful or strange looking. He kept trying to picture her with white hair, red eyes, and longer lashes, but it wasn’t working.

  He had no idea why she laughed. “You’ll have to get used to black hair and green eyes if you come to Ragnis Crystal with us. I found the Cendians a little strange looking at first too.” She saw the look he was giving her. “I hear thoughts. You were broadcasting pretty loudly.”

  “I’ll admit I was deceived about Elan, but please don’t play more tricks on me. Especially not with all the stress I’m under with the investigation Sartika gave me.”

  “You’re worried if you can trust your tribunal. Lieutenant Crash, Specialist Viper, Sargent Stretch, and General Boomer. That’s your tribunal? You have strange call names. Different than the Avala military.”

  “You’re giving her military secrets?” Ace shot at Elan.

  Elan just grinned. “No, she got that out your head. You look like you need a drink. Watch.”

  Elan pointed to the squat table in his sitting room. The wine flask lifted on its own, filled a glass, and the glass floated across the room until it was right in front of Ace. He didn’t take it.

  The Avalian girl walked over, grabbed the glass, and held it out to him.

  “It’s not poison. And my name is Isolde, not Avalian girl. You look like you need something stronger than wine. Come sit,” Isolde said, guiding him over to the floor pillows.

  Ace tried not to glare at either of them when he took one pillow and Isolde and Elan shared one. She was practically sitting in his lap. He tried to remind himself she wasn’t really a slave, she was a princess and may very well be his queen one day.

  “Only if you come with us,” the girl said with a gentle smile. “I hope you do.”

  “Can you not do that? A man’s thoughts should be private.”

  “Can you blame me with everything going on? You’re trained military. I don’t know if they teach you to withstand torture like ours. I’m listening to make sure you aren’t hiding being a member of The Children. You could want to kill me just like Hikmat did even if you weren’t just because you don’t think Elan and I should mix. I believe you said our children would be monsters?”

  He whipped his gun off his shoulder strap and slammed it on the table. “Check it. It’s not even live to shoot you. Something tells me you’re trained in fighting styles I don’t know and if they knew they were sending you here, you know ours too. I’d be stupid to try to face you in hand to hand combat, even though I’m twice your size.”

  “And you’d be correct,” Elan grinned, kissing her neck. “We’re pretty evenly matched when we spar.”

>   “Why are you beating each other up when you’re supposed to eventually get married?”

  “Isolde prefers being a warrior over a princess and we like sparring together.”

  Ace saw the look they exchanged and suspected their fights ended in things that had previously been off limits to a Cendian and an Avalian. He quickly changed the subject.

  “The other children born the same day as you. Are they like you here and on Avala? Can you do anything else I need to know about?”

  Isolde laughed. She had a nice laugh. Musical. “On Avala, we can freeze things and use ice like weapons. If I wanted to, I could shoot an ice dagger from my hand, either through your heart or between your eyes. We all have some sort of mental gifts too. I can read minds and I can steal thoughts. It’s very unpleasant for everyone when I do that. The others can do things similar to that or they have defensive skills like Elan.”

  “Defensive?” Ace asked, started to get a little scared.

  “Would you have rather I hurled a chair at your head or made you punch yourself rather than pour you a glass of wine?” Elan said.

  “She has ice. Do our sixteen have fire like we used to?”

  “We all do, yes. And we either have gifts like Isolde or defensive gifts a little more powerful than mine. We have a plan to take down The Children and our tiniest sixteen can manage it on her own.”

  “This is dangerous knowledge, for both of you. For the rest of the sixteen. Not everyone is going to be like The Children, but when they find out the truth, they will be upset about the deception, then that’s going to move to fear. After they’re done being afraid, they are going to get angry. If they find out you were blessed, but you have no way of giving them what you have, they will riot.”

  Isolde and Elan exchanged looks like they didn’t want to tell him something. Elan sighed.

  “You know how our people used to have bond animals? The sixteen do, on both planets. Isolde and I are supposed to have a bond like that. We know how we are supposed to do it, but it’s a process. If you’re going to rush us or continually ask about it, please don’t. We’ve no idea what is supposed to happen when we bond, but did you read the reports about the swarms dying? Fresh water was found on Avala too. In places their drones have already scanned.”