by Anna Carven
“No,” Noa shook her head. “I didn’t realize you were ‘keeping’ anyone in there.” Although now that he mentioned it, she had an idea who it might be. Was the one who’d been responsible for that horrible attempted psychic hijacking imprisoned in there? She shuddered. Who could possibly be so dangerous that even the Kordolians would want to keep him locked up?
“It’s the second time you’ve been out here today,” he said softly, causing a little chill to run through her. Had they been watching her this entire time? Did nothing get past these aliens? “Why here of all places, Human? There’s nothing out here but rocks, sand, and this Kaiin-cursed heat.” He pressed his lips together in a thin, disapproving line. “Always this fucking heat. I hear Antarctica is nice, but this place is like Kaiin’s tenth hell.”
Noa shook her head, confused. She had no idea what he was talking about. How was she supposed to explain the concept of psychic silence to this hardened warrior? She didn’t even fully understand it herself. She drew Abbey’s shawl around her in a protective manner. “I just needed a bit of time alone,” she murmured, not wanting to give away too much. What if the Kordolians decided her ability was worth harnessing for themselves? She didn’t want to be a guinea pig again. Not for SynCorp, and not for these aliens. They were wolves in wolves’ clothing, and she hadn’t yet decided if they were villains or protectors.
“Hm.” The Kordolian looked skeptical. “Whatever you were doing out here, we all saw it. We all felt it. A shockwave like that doesn’t just come out of nowhere, and you can’t hide a dust cloud. The General and the Patra want to see you. Come.”
“But…” She just wanted to be left alone, but how was she supposed to argue with these scary creatures?
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, Human. I’m not going to do anything to you.” He made a face. “Arin would kill me if I did. The one you should really be afraid of is locked up in an ultra-secure cell. You’re staring right at it. If he can get inside your head, then that’s a problem. Come.” He rose to his full height, extending a hand.
Gingerly, Noa placed her long, slender fingers in his gloved hand. He hauled her to his feet in a surprisingly gentle motion. The other three warriors closed in around her.
The thought of escaping didn’t even cross her mind. Back in the SynCorp facility, she’d seen what these Kordolians were capable of with her own eyes.
She wasn’t going anywhere.
Noa glanced down at the boulder she’d landed on, her eyes widening in surprise. A wide crack ran down the middle, and she was certain it hadn’t been there before.
Holy moly. Did I do that?
And now she’d become a person of interest to the Kordolians. Great. She really didn’t want to meet this General, but what choice did she have?
“I’d advise you not to go near that cell again without our protection,” the warrior told her, staring off into the distance. He radiated controlled tension, as if he might explode into action at any moment. “Its occupant is extremely dangerous. You have no idea what a Silent One is, do you?”
Silent One. The term struck a deep chord within her. So that’s what they called his kind. She laughed softly to herself. He hadn’t been so silent when he’d been trying to take over her body now, had he?
“Not entirely,” she remarked dryly. “I take it they’re not exactly friendly.”
The only response she got was a knowing laugh as the four warriors exchanged looks of bitter amusement.
Noa sighed. “I didn’t think so.”
Chapter Seven
Ashrael lay flat on his back on the cold hard floor of his cell, trying to figure out what in Kaiin’s hells had just happened.
He’d been unconscious, but for how long, he wasn’t sure. The stump of his left arm ached, and his memory was foggy.
Slowly, he rose to a sitting position and cautiously sent out his ka’qui, taking stock of his surroundings.
He froze.
Something was different. It was her.
She’d infiltrated the edges of his consciousness, and now her presence lingered at the back of his mind, lush and alluring.
What the hell had just happened?
He remembered sitting on the floor and meditating. His sixth sense had been fully extended, and he’d been hyper-aware of his surroundings. Although he was trapped in an ultra-security cell, making escape a near-impossibility, he was still able to extend his ka’qui outside. He knew the lay of the land and the arrangement of the structures surrounding him. He could sense anyone who approached.
When she’d appeared, he’d been confused at first. Her aura was so distinctly Human, and yet she radiated raw, untamed power.
Power she didn’t even know she possessed.
He’d never encountered anyone as undisciplined and clueless as this female. The few Humans he’d observed since coming to Earth had been soft, oblivious creatures, possessing little to no ka’qui ability. Sometimes, he’d caught fleeting glimpses of the thoughts spilling from their minds and he’d quickly formed the impression that they were creatures ruled by emotion. For the most part they’d been indulgent, sentimental, and sometimes fearful. He’d come to the conclusion that their species lacked the talent and fortitude to successfully wield the ka’qui.
But then she’d come along, fumbling, clumsy, sticking her psychic fingers where they had no business being. Intrigued, he’d probed her mind and found her open and malleable. She was like an infant with no barriers, no control, and no discipline. She’d barely been capable of mindspeech, but when he’d spoken to her she’d learned quickly, finding her voice.
Ashrael had acted out of impulse and desperation, doing something absurd. Even though he had no training in mind manipulation, he’d tried to find her weaknesses and bind her to him in the same way his Mistress had done to him. It would have been so useful to have a Human under his control. He would have found a way to use her to help him escape. His attempt had been crude and forceful, and for a while, he’d thought he was going to succeed.
Surely a weak, undisciplined Human like her would be easy to dominate.
He’d thought she was weak until she’d pushed him out of her mind with such brute force that he’d been knocked unconscious.
By Kaiin, that had been a magnificent thing.
Ashrael put his right hand behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. With his second sight, he saw it as a network of low-density energy. Beyond it was the wide sky of Earth, saturated with harmful ultraviolet light.
He tested his link to the Human again, making sure it was really there. To his surprise, it was certainly there, and although it was subtle, he couldn’t shake it.
It was crude and incomplete, but somehow, in trying to push him away, she’d formed a mindbond with him.
Just like his Mistress had. He was now psychically attached to two cursed females, except with the Human it had been almost instant, not forced.
Bonding with the Mistress had been painful, but this had been sublime.
Fuck.
He knew what that meant. Impossible.
Could she possibly be…. a sarien?
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was bonded to a Human of all creatures? Just when he’d thought the gods couldn’t get any crueler, this had to happen.
Ashrael closed his eyes and laughed.
And was shocked to hear a sound he’d never heard before.
His own voice.
“What?” he gasped in Kordolian, his voice cracking with astonishment. “I can talk?” The words sounded strange to his own ears, and the feeling of actually using his voice, of his vocal chords reverberating in his throat, was even stranger.
It was as if he’d been granted a power he didn’t know how to use. Had the Human’s interference somehow disrupted his original mindbond to the extent that he could now speak?
The problem with the ka’qui and the hidden energies of the Universe was that nobody, including him, really understood the intricacies of wielding such power. Even
those who had instructed him knew so little. Most of the true knowledge had been lost with the ancient ones, and possessing the talent in this era was dangerous. There had been tales of young apprentices being mentally burned by their abilities, falling to the curse of madness.
Ashrael wondered if he might join them soon.
“Only time will tell,” he said to himself, savoring the echoes of his own voice. An innocent sort of curiosity overtook him, and for the first time in his life, he was filled with a sense of wonder.
He was no longer a Silent One in the truest sense. The Vow of Silence was a part of the mindbond, a cruel restriction forced upon them so that if they were caught, they could never betray the secrets of their masters. It was also a means of separating them from the living world, a way of preventing them from forming attachments. Without communication, Ashrael had been a mere spectator to life, doomed to observe his fellow Kordolians from a distance.
Look, but don’t touch. Don’t speak.
But now everything had changed, and all because of a single Human.
He remembered the moment she’d gathered her strength and pushed back. Her aura had flared, turning from a hazy, jumbled mess into a brightly burning beacon.
For a moment, he’d been stunned by its magnificence.
Then his world had faded to black.
He tested the bond again, trying to get a feel for her. She wasn’t even aware of their connection yet, the fool. Ashrael wasn’t curious by nature, but his contact with this Human had awakened a strange desire in him.
He wanted to know her. He’d sensed her aura, and now he wanted to be close enough to study her. He wanted to see her with his second sight. He wanted to smell her, to hear her, to feel her with his only remaining hand.
He ought to know the Human who had the power to break his mindbond.
Too bad he was stuck in this unbreakable prison. Too bad he was at the mercy of the uncompromising General Akkadian, who would not rest until he got what he wanted. Ashrael groaned. For the first time since he’d been captured, a strange desire swept through him.
All of a sudden, he yearned for freedom.
Chapter Eight
The interior of the building was dark and absurdly cold, in sharp contrast to the harsh desert environment outside. Noa shivered, wrapping Abbey’s shawl around her bare arms. She couldn’t see a thing, but she was painfully aware of the fact that she was surrounded by a small, deadly entourage.
The Kordolian warriors moved like spirits in the darkness. At times she had to remind herself they were actually there and that they didn’t mean her any harm.
This was all too surreal. After her terrifying telepathic experience, she’d captured the attention of the Kordolians in a big way.
What did they want with her? Were they… arresting her? She shuddered, shuffling awkwardly through the darkness, her steps slow and uncertain. The Kordolians were a dichotomy; they were dark and fierce and yet they took Human mates. She’d seen it with her own two eyes. The women who’d chosen Kordolian partners didn’t strike her as crazy or coerced. No, they radiated contentment.
A hard-yet-gentle hand landed on her shoulder, guiding her in the right direction.
“I forgot that you Humans have terrible dark-vision,” the warrior said wryly. She now knew he was called Rykal, and that out of the four, he was the talkative one. The others didn’t say much at all, and for some reason she found that rather unnerving.
A soft blue light-source flared to life, granting her a small amount of visibility. They were heading down a narrow corridor, past seamless, curving black walls that lacked any sense of logical geometry.
They rounded a bend and led her into a room. Noa suppressed a gasp as a section of wall unraveled before her, countless tiny fibers coming apart to reveal a cavernous space.
In the center of the space was a long desk, and surrounding it were numerous alien devices; monitors, holoscreens, and faintly glowing instruments emitting cold blue light. To Noa, it was all incomprehensible alien technology.
Her attention was quickly commanded by the imposing figure sitting behind the desk. The General regarded her with a hooded crimson gaze, his expression unreadable. Unlike the armored warriors surrounding her, he wore dark robes reminiscent of a Japanese kimono. In the shadowy darkness, his austere features took on a sinister cast.
Noa tried to calm her hammering heart. Remember, this is Abbey’s freaking husband. He can’t be all that bad. To her surprise, she couldn’t hear the thoughts of the General or any of the soldiers surrounding her.
Why was it that the disturbing psychic overflow affected her only at certain times?
“You have something that is of interest to me,” he said, his deep voice echoing throughout the empty space. “I am told you are something of a rarity. Tell me, Human, what do you know of the ka’qui?”
“Ka’qui?” Noa blinked. “I don’t…”
“I don’t know what the Humans call it. I am talking about the energy that binds the Universe together, the energy that comes from living and inanimate things alike, the energy of thoughts and consciousness and the forces of nature and life. Only very few individuals can manipulate it, and you seem to be one of them. Apparently, that makes you unique in this galaxy, Noali.”
Noali. How did he know her real name? Standing in the center of this dark room surrounded by aliens, she suddenly felt very unsure of herself. Not knowing their true intentions was torture, but then again, she’d just spent countless days, weeks, months locked in a medical prison with no hope for her future, so she could handle this.
“You seem to know a lot more about this ability than I do,” Noa replied, holding her head up. She returned the General’s even stare, a wry smile tugging at her mouth as she pointed at her shaved head and the scar running down her scalp. Fear deserted her. What could they do to her that hadn’t already been done? “As you probably already know, I didn’t ask for this. My life as I knew it was taken from me.”
“Hm.” The Kordolian inclined his head, his eyes narrowing. Noa felt as if he were sizing up pieces on a chessboard, planning his next move. He gave nothing away. After a moment of consideration, he turned away and spoke to some unseen person in the background.
A strange presence touched the edges of her mind. Whoever was doing this was subtle, in contrast with the dark, relentless force she’d felt from that other one, that demon. Unlike her previous attacker, she didn’t sense any bad intentions from this presence. Noa stared, but beyond the small radius of blue light, she couldn’t make out anything.
“You might see your ability as a curse now, but I am told that is because you have no idea how to control it,” General Tarak said, directing his attention back towards her.
Hope and trepidation flared in Noa’s chest in equal amounts. Perhaps these formidable aliens could help her learn to control her terrifying ability. “Believe me, if I could control it I would, but right now, the thoughts and the visions that enter my mind are totally random. It’s driving me insane.”
“With time you will go mad,” he agreed, his tone infuriatingly nonchalant, “unless you learn the basic techniques used by the Silent Ones. The Patra can provide you with the necessary training.”
Noa’s expression became resigned. She had no idea what a Silent One was, but clearly the Kordolians had people who were like her; telepaths, or psychics, or whatever they were. The General was offering her timely salvation.
Here it was, the crux of the matter. Nothing in the Universe was given freely. Noa sighed. “I suppose I should ask you the obvious, then. What can I possibly offer you in return?” Not for one second did she possibly think that this dark, powerful creature might have altruistic intentions at heart. From what she’d heard about Kordolians, that wasn’t likely at all.
“Your power,” he said simply, and Noa wondered if she were about to enter into a deal with the devil.
“My power?” She blinked.
“Yes.” Unexpectedly, the General smiled, reveal
ing the twin points of his fangs. There was nothing warm in his smile. It was a hard, glittering smile. “You might be of use to me, Noali. As always, you Humans never cease to surprise me.”
Chapter Nine
“He’s dangerous. We’ve already explained it to you, but I’m just reminding you not to let your guard down. Elgon will handle the fine details. Don’t worry, we’ve set it up so that you don’t actually have to come face-to-face with him. You’ll be able to see him on the holo. If he starts messing with your head again, let us know straight away. We’ll knock him out.” Rykal grinned, his expression both savage and boyish. His remark elicited a snort of amusement from the heavily armed warriors flanking them.
The medic, Zyara, was with them too. In contrast to the dark-garbed warriors, she wore flowing robes of pure white. Noa was grateful for her presence. Zyara had always been patient and understanding with her, even though she’d expressed frustration at failing to properly understand Noa’s condition. She’d often complained that she hadn’t been able to help Noa as much as she’d wanted to.
“I’m a medic, not a mystic,” she used to say. “Thank the Goddess you have those audio-buds, and if they stop working, there’s always sedation. That’s all I can do, Noa. If you want me to, I’ll knock you out.”
A strange thrill ran through Noa as they reached the entrance of the dark building, which she’d learned was the Kordolian version of a small prison. She wasn’t a thrill-seeker by any means, but part of her was curious to know what kind of being had all these fearsome Kordolians up-in-arms. Four of the Kordolian warriors, accompanied by the wizened old man called Elgon, were to enter the Silent One’s cell while she and Zyara watched from a separate room.
The General was conspicuously absent. According to Zyara, the assassin was under a strong compulsion, and it made him harbor a strong desire to kill the General.