by Chloe Garner
And yet, as the sky pinked and the city stirred with the necessary work of daylight, she and Jesse stood in a small sailboat, watching the Url and Aland grow smaller and smaller.
“We won’t come back, will we?” Cassie asked.
“We don’t belong here,” Jesse said. “No matter how much we want them to be successful, this isn’t the place for us to spend our time. We’ll do what we can, and then we’ll go.”
Cassie went to sit on the edge of the boat, eyes sharp for the occasional breaches around her as their Adena Lampak escort came up for air.
“Why do you always come back?” she asked.
Jesse sat across from her, folding his hands.
“I’m not sure I know how to answer that,” he said. “For all your attempts at control and all your petty politics… and your pitiful technology and barbaric medicine… and all of the intellectual ankle-biters I have to wade through…”
“Okay, okay,” Cassie broke in. He laughed.
“For all that… There’s something familiar to you. Something I find charming.”
Cassie slid to the floor of the boat, resting her back against the side wall and watching the sail as it shifted in the steady wind.
“It’s home,” she said. “For all its flaws.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Jesse said, leaning out over his knees. “I’m not willing to identify with you people just yet.”
Cassie laughed.
“You just described just about every family ever.”
“Said the orphan,” Jesse said.
“Hey, low blow.”
“Sorry.”
She thought for a moment about how big the universe must seem to him, all of the sparkling planets with all of their people on them, people he could apparently fit in with, if he was willing to expend any effort at all. All of them available at no effort, just an act of will.
And her species purported to control him. With threats and with contracts.
You don’t try to leash a Palta, she thought, smiling to herself.
“Will you tell me about Palta?” she asked.
“No,” he said. “You’ve read about it.”
“But I never saw it,” she said. “And you know how bad our reports are, compared to…” she waved her arms, indicating the boat, the sea, Calenna receding into the distance.
“No,” he said. “I won’t. I’m sorry.”
She wanted to press him, but his expression warned her off.
“You’re only just skating by, aren’t you?” she asked. He raised his eyebrows. “It’s been almost six years. But it’s still…”
“The first thing I think of every time I wake up,” he said, nodding.
“I would want to talk about it,” Cassie said. “To remember.”
“Problem is, it’s still there,” Jesse said. “Everything… It’s all still there. And there’s nothing I can do.”
He was staring at her, willing her to understand. She realized she never would. Never could.
“I’m sorry,” she said. He sighed and nodded.
“Yeah.”
He turned his head away and she followed his gaze, staring out at the horizon like a vague promise. There was something out there. She didn’t know what, but by virtue of being a horizon, there had to be something out there beyond it. There always was.
Jesse was a capable sailor.
The Adena Lampak stayed with them through the sun’s crest and as it began to decline, resting in the boat at intervals to sleep, and then leaving them as the sun told them that they would only arrive back at Calenna by dark if they departed.
Even though they were soundless and largely invisible, Cassie felt their departure.
It was something akin to that first day, landing in the ocean with no land in sight, wondering if Jesse really knew what he was doing.
The ocean just kept going.
It was mentally daunting to know that there was no land.
They were relying on a rogue sect to pluck them out of the water and give them food and shelter because… Jesse said they would.
She knew at the front of her mind that they could just leave, if they chose. They weren’t trapped. This kept her from the ranging madness that the sea threatened, but those were long hours, especially as the sun reached the horizon. She’d dozed on and off as she felt need, so the end of their third twenty-four hour period at sea became relatively meaningless, outside of that sunset.
Three days of darkness.
Jesse was happy to have the stars to work off of, but the sound of the water, the rock of the boat, the air in the sails and how it pushed at the boat like an animal toying with its prey, these began to grate on her in the darkness.
The cluster of moons that caused the tides waxed and waned, counting out the phases of the night, and Cassie strained, pointlessly, mindlessly for sounds of life.
It was better when Jesse would talk to her, but she realized she had triggered a period of grief, and his attempts at conversation were half-hearted at best.
The Adena Lampak had neither use nor materials for blankets, outside of the leather they used to build their shelters, and while the short cot Jesse had rigged was comfortable enough, Cassie’s posture never made it quite straight, and her muscles began to ache with the days of wrong use.
When the wind picked up during the night, Cassie found herself without any respite from the endless sea spray. Her clothes were packed away with some other less-useful supplies, and she took them out once to use them as a towel and then a blanket, but a wave broke in front of the boat, sending up a cloud of spray that drenched her, and she put the clothes back away, resigning herself to the wet.
Jesse adjusted the sails and went back to the prow.
As the stars began to fade and the moons indicated the return of the sun, the wind shifted and they started tacking.
“We’ll lose a few hours this way,” Jesse said, sitting next to her on the edge of the boat, counterbalancing the wind. “We’ve been lucky so far, though. Should be in the Other’s territory before too long.”
“They have towers?” Cassie asked, clenching her teeth to keep them from chattering.
“All Adena Lampak do,” Jesse said. She nodded.
“Good.”
He looked at her, amused, then put an arm around her shoulders.
“Didn’t realize you were so fragile, Cassie D.C.”
“I’ll show you fragile,” she muttered. He laughed.
They were tacking hard, the boat tipped dangerously in the water to Cassie’s uncalibrated seat, and Jesse kept trimming the sails to keep the boat upright, when the Others appeared.
Jesse cut the sails entirely, letting the boat settle back flat in the water, and he and Cassie took hold of the ropes tied to the mast. Cassie wasn’t going to be so easy a target this time.
An Adena Lampak, deceptively similar to every other Adena Lampak she’d ever seen, stuck his head out of the water.
“Who are you and what do you want?”
“I seek an audience with your Url,” Jesse called back. Several more heads popped into view.
“We have no Url,” another Adena Lampak said.
“The Centralists sent you, didn’t they?” the first asked. There was muttering among the half-dozen Adena Lampak now watching them.
“Yes,” Jesse said. Cassie thought that might have been a bit too direct, if it was even accurate, but she didn’t say anything. “They asked me to come because they don’t understand why the war happened. And neither do I.”
“Jealous imperialists,” someone muttered. There were agreeing noises.
“Turn around and go back the way you came,” the first speaker said. “You’re not wanted here.”
“My sincere apologies, but I’m rather too curious to just leave. You must have some manner of leadership I could meet with.”
“… ambush…”
“… like we’re that stupid…”
“… sending spies…”
The fir
st Adena Lampak held up a hand and the group fell silent.
“We have no reason to trust you,” he said. “You can leave or we can kill you. You don’t stand much chance against us here, land-creature.”
“I stand more chance than you think,” Jesse said. “I’m Palta, and this one’s feisty.” He indicated Cassie. She glowered at him, then looked back at the Adena Lampak. The word ‘Palta’ had stirred some quiet interest. The leader turned back, listening for a moment, then faced Jesse again.
“Come with us.”
They vanished and Jesse peered over the edge.
“Could use a tow…”
The city was small, comparable to the outposts they had originally stayed in. The Adena Lampak searched the boat, dumping their clothes over the side along with anything else that wasn’t readily identifiable, then they sunk the boat.
Jesse held her hand.
One of the Others made to tie their hands, but Jesse shook his head.
“Not going to happen.”
“You aren’t guests here,” the Adena Lampak said.
“Search deep into that shriveled pea of an Adena Lampak brain and tell me the history of people who have tried to bind a Palta,” Jesse said, gazing steadily forward, not looking at the Adena Lampak.
“Show respect,” another one growled.
“Him, then,” the first said, motioning at Cassie. Jesse’s grip stayed steady on her hand.
“Does you no good,” Jesse said. “If one of us is a threat, it’s me.”
Cassie resented that, but kept her mouth closed. She was still smarting that she was going to turn up in the portal room wearing a leather bikini.
Her phone had gotten lost along the way, too. Probably still in her pants. They’d be on their own, dealing with security, when they got back.
She turned to face the Adena Lampak, letting him see her unconcern. His eyes narrowed, but another of the blue-skinned beings grunted and started up the stairs. The confrontation was over.
They followed a trio of Adena Lampak up the stairs, winding around the sole post of the city. They passed half a dozen landings with their attached halls and rooms, working their way up to the top of the tower.
It was an Url’s chamber.
It wasn’t as nice as the one at Calenna, but the styling was unmistakable.
“Thought you’d ditched the Url thing,” Cassie said. She saw the corner of Jesse’s mouth twitch.
“I was given a reception fitting for a Palta at the Url’s throneroom in Calenna,” Jesse said. “If this is a contest, they’re winning.”
“Silence,” one of the Adena Lampak in front of them said.
“We have no Url,” another said.
“… ought to have killed them at sea…” Cassie heard behind them.
They’d taken her military-issue knife.
She stared ahead, above the Adena Lampak in the room, considering what she knew of Adena Lampak physiology. Most of the fighting portions of their bodies were muscle and cartilage. In air, she might have an advantage with a fixed skeleton that ran the length of her arms and legs, especially knowing that their core organs were already stressed by being out of water.
She could fight her way out, she thought, if she could figure out what ‘out’ was.
They waited as the crowd of Adena Lampak shuffled around the center of the room. There were an awful lot of them, Cassie thought. Why were there so many? How were they feeding all of them? Was this a raiding force?
And then the crowd parted.
And she saw her.
She felt Jesse stiffen, but didn’t register it. She pulled away, curiosity driving her to action she didn’t consciously consider.
“I know you,” she muttered, weaving through the crowd. The Adena Lampak tried to get in her way, but she was actually quicker on her feet than they were, and she wasn’t moving like a threat. She just needed to see.
A hand wrapped around her arm, the cool, smooth skin surface of an Adena Lampak. Cassie tried to pull loose, not violently, but trying to see the woman again.
She’d been standing, one hand behind her back, the other resting on something around shoulder-height next to her, bored but alert.
The hand wrapped tighter around her arm, and then there was human touch on her other arm.
“What did you say?” Jesse asked in English.
“I know her.”
“How?”
“I saw her before.”
“Where?” Jesse asked. “When?”
The Adena Lampak split and the woman came into view, standing next to a pierced and decorated Adena Lampak sitting in a great, wide chair.
“What are you doing here?” the woman asked in Gana, sharp expression pointed at Cassie. Cassie realized what she had missed the first time.
“She’s Palta.”
“Yes,” Jesse said.
“She’s Palta,” Cassie said again, louder.
“Thank you,” Jesse said.
“Who is this?” the blond woman asked.
“Why have you brought them before me?” the pierced Adena Lampak asked.
“He’s Palta,” one of their escorts said.
“What is that to me?” the seated one asked.
“I’ve been waiting for him,” the blond woman said, straightening subtly. Her blue eyes twitched to take in Jesse. “He likes to meddle.”
“Who is she?” Cassie asked in English. Jesse took her hand, not answering her.
“I’ve always known the Adena Lampak to be a race of careful consideration,” Jesse said.
“Do you imply that I’ve not been considerate?” the pierced one asked, spine curling in the chair, making the creature look more like an eel and less like a dolphin for a moment.
“I don’t understand what you’ve done,” Jesse said.
“What he’s done is take power away from the warm-water free-loaders and put it where it belongs,” the blond woman said. Jesse tilted his head at her.
“We should talk,” Jesse said.
“You would say that,” the woman answered. She turned to the Adena Lampak. “He’s manipulative. Gets what he wants with words.”
“And what is it that you want?” the Adena Lampak asked.
“To prevent the complete genocide of the race from this foolish war,” Jesse said.
“We don’t want war,” the Adena Lampak said. “The Url forces it on us, picking off our hunters and our farmers with dawn raids… which, if you came with the Url’s blessing, you knew of, did you not?”
“I did,” Jesse said, “but no further. I am not a war consultant. I had no interest in their tactics.”
“So you come to us from our enemies, knowing that, even this morning, they would kill more of my people, and you expect me to do… what?”
“I want to understand,” Jesse said. “I want to be the intermediary who finds the misunderstanding and opens the door to peace.”
“And of what interest is that of yours?”
“Why wouldn’t that be my interest?” Jesse asked. “The Adena Lampak are a people I have long respected. I fear for your survival.”
The Adena Lampak tilted its head back and laughed.
“I have no such fear.”
Jesse was silent for a moment as the blond woman glowered and the Adena Lampak glowed. When he spoke, his voice was low.
“What’s your game?”
“The Southerners have long been neglected by the Url. I have built the largest, strongest military our people have ever seen. I have fought the terrors of the deep seas, and I have won. The Url will not control us any longer.”
“I’ve never gotten the impression that the Url was much interested in control,” Jesse said. Cassie nodded.
“You wouldn’t understand,” the Adena Lampak said.
“And the Palta standing next to you does?”
“He has stayed with us. Studied with us. Understands our lives.”
“You may as well leave,” the woman said. “We are going to continue to pursu
e the eradication of the Centralists and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“I have no intention of leaving until I understand,” Jesse said.
“I’m very busy,” the Adena Lampak said. “You can understand from somewhere else. Take them away.”
Cassie and Jesse found themselves hauled back out of the room and down flights of stairs, pulling up at the last minute and turning across a landing. The Adena Lampak threw them into a room and left.
“Quickly,” Jesse said. “Where have you seen her before?”
“With Charm,” Cassie said. “The Kenzi. It was right before Charm took that really bad turn, and I just forgot. She disappeared right after I saw her. I was going to ask but…”
Jesse put up a hand and shook his head.
“Why were you there?” he murmured, eyes off to one side.
“Who is she?” Cassie asked.
“Her name is Mab,” he said.
“What does she want?”
“I have no idea,” Jesse said. “I don’t know how she got off Palta.”
“She was there?” Cassie asked. Jesse nodded.
“I’m certain of it.”
An Adena Lampak entered the room.
“The Advisor says you’re not to be left alone.”
“He’s smart,” Jesse said. “Any idea what they plan on doing with us, beyond this?”
“You think we’re barbarians, gone rogue,” the Adena Lampak said. “You’re wrong.”
“They kill you, you kill them. Is that really what you want?” Jesse asked.
“Theirs are the old ways,” the Adena Lampak said.
“I don’t understand,” Jesse said.
“You wouldn’t.”
“I’m Cassie, and this is Jesse,” Cassie said. “Will you tell us your name?”
“I am Benth,” he said.
“You hurt a friend of mine in a raid. Someone who had been nothing but kind to me,” Cassie said, ignoring the tiny squeeze Jesse gave her hand. Letting them know they’d injured one of the future Urls would be a betrayal. She was a bit annoyed he thought he needed to remind her of that.
“We hurt lots of people. Kill lots of them. So long as the Url stands against us, we’ll continue.”