by J. J. Green
He was referring to the execution of Sable Dirksen. But that hadn’t been strategic. It had been a spur-of-the-moment action borne of rage and the desire for revenge.
“And yet,” said Carina scathingly, “we didn’t kill you, or you.” She pointed at the man and woman in turn.
Her statement was beyond denying. Lomang’s lips folded over his large teeth like a trap.
The movements of the Regians became more agitated. A noise like a mixture between a hiss and a rattle sounded from their part of the gym.
She estimated the smuggler and Mezban’s time was nearly up. “You have one chance to save yourselves. There were others you took out of stasis who were especially important to me. If they live, I’ll do a little performance, then we’ll talk about what happens going forward. If you killed any of these three people, you’ll follow them, courtesy of our friends over there. You can lie, of course, but that’ll only delay your deaths for as long as it takes me to find out.”
“We didn’t kill anyone else!” Lomang spluttered. “Only your commander. That’s right, isn’t it, Mezban, my love?”
She held Carina’s gaze with her own, her eyes hooded. “My husband speaks the truth. Only the blue-eyed man died.”
Carina turned her attention to Lomang.
“Actually, that isn’t quite correct,” he said, under her stare.
“What?” Mezban also glared at him.
“My love,” he said nervously, “Some of the mercenaries died when the ship was taken by the Regians. Do you remember? We found their bodies and put them in the airlock.”
“Ah yes.” Mezban’s gaze moved to Carina. “But we did not kill them. And if you’re worried about the old man, he remains in stasis. The Regians told us they don’t want his aged body.”
“Calvaley?” she asked.
“If that is his name,” Mezban replied disdainfully. “I never inquired.”
Carina decided to take their words, for now.
One of the aliens lifted itself up, and began to walk toward them. The hissing rattle grew louder. It was clearly this one that was talking.
“One more thing,” said Carina.
“Yes!” squeaked Lomang. “What? Anything!”
“My siblings and I are to be released from captivity immediately. We are to have the freedom of the ship.”
From the corner of her eye, Carina saw Mezban give a small smirk, which the woman hastily shut down when Carina turned to look at her.
“Yes, we agree!” Lomang exclaimed.
The Regian was halfway across the gym. Its mouth parts were opening and closing, perhaps because it was speaking or perhaps because it was anticipating a tasty meal.
Carina opened the flask. It contained only one mouthful of elixir, not enough to do anything major. She would have dearly loved to space Lomang and Mezban, but she had to be cautious. She swigged the elixir, then closed her eyes and swiftly Cast. When she opened her eyes, Lomang was already moving through the air.
She’d contemplated sending him in the direction of the approaching Regian, but if he opened his bowels in fear that could be messy. Instead, she sent him in the opposite direction. When he neared the gym wall, she dropped him, heavily enough to make a satisfying thump, but not break his bones.
The Regian paused, its pincers clicking on the floor, as if in thought.
Over the next few minutes, the reason for Mezban’s ill-concealed smirk became clear.
After dumping Lomang on the other side of the gym, Carina noticed a slim, rectangular bump on Mezban’s chest, under her clothing. She’d thought Mezban and Lomang understood the Regians’ language, but when she saw the bump, she suspected this wasn’t the case.
She stepped up to Mezban and reached into the neck of her shirt.
“Hey!” the woman protested, trying to fight her off.
But Carina was too fast. She felt for a string, located it, and yanked it. A translator emerged from Mezban’s shirt. Carina pulled it over her head and at the same time she thrust an open hand toward the woman. “Give me your comm,” she demanded.
Mezban popped the small device out of her ear and handed it over, sending Carina a black look along with it.
Wrinkling her nose, she wiped the comm on her pajama pants before inserting it into her own ear.
Immediately, she heard a long string of words in Universal Speech, even though she could hear nothing inside the room. The Regians were talking to each other, but she guessed the pitch of their voices was mostly outside the normal human hearing range. The noises she’d heard them making before had only been a small part of what they’d been saying.
However, the translator she now held in her hand wasn’t effective at translating the creatures’ language. She frowned, trying to make sense of what she was hearing.
The four Regians seemed to be arguing. She heard Humans and No a lot, as well as Better way and Prefer. She also heard Soon, Decide now, and No, later.
The aliens constantly talked over each other. They understood what was being said, no doubt, but from a human perspective the conversation was one big jumble. Also, the translator didn’t convey any differences in the individual voices. They all sounded exactly alike, so it was impossible to focus on one of them to try to comprehend what it was saying.
Carina closed her eyes in an effort to comprehend the gist at least.
She heard Arrive soon a bunch of times, and No time left.
Her heart sank as she realized what she was probably hearing, and why Mezban had smirked at her demand for the freedom of the ship: the Bathsheba had nearly arrived at her destination. The amount of time Carina and her siblings had to enjoy that freedom was limited. They could be down to a mere few hours for moving around the vessel, communicating with their friends and allies, and devising a plan to defeat the Regians.
She opened her eyes and asked Mezban, “How long do we have before we reach their planet?”
“We aren’t sure exactly.”
Carina grew angry. First the smirk, and now Mezban was apparently being deliberately vague. She was as much of an idiot as her husband. If they were to survive, they needed Carina. They should be helping her, not making everything more difficult.
Her anger must have shown because the woman held up her hands.
“Honestly, we don’t know. But it isn’t long.”
“So that’s why they told you to get everyone out of stasis. They wanted us all ready to disembark. And what’s going to happen when we arrive?”
Lomang had gotten up and was walking toward them, limping and grimacing.
The small woman’s face was gloomy. “That’s what you were helping us with. We have very little information on what happens to people captured by Regians, and what we do have has come from secondhand sources. It’s said that they prize human meat as a food, but they also use us as slaves on their farms. We were hoping that your skills would be useful for the latter function, and we wanted to find out all that mages can do so we would have some roles to suggest to our captors.”
“Human slaves for agriculture? Why would they need us for that? Machinery is way more efficient.”
Mezban shrugged. “Who knows? But I would say it’s preferable to being eaten.”
“Most things are,” said Lomang.
He’d arrived while the women had been speaking.
Carina came to a decision.
“I’m leaving,” she said, then, glancing at the Regians, who still seemed to be arguing about what to do, she added, “providing these creatures let me.”
“I doubt they’ll try to stop you,” said Mezban. “Everywhere except the residential areas is sealed off. They’ve allowed us free run of those areas, knowing we can’t escape.”
“I want to know one more thing,” Carina said. “How long was I in stasis? Wait. Two things. Has the Bathsheba been diverted far from her original course?”
Lomang answered: “All we know is the Regians deactivated our stasis capsules six weeks ago. Your Deep Sleep chamber was sea
led off, but then they told us to wake you all in stages over the next few weeks.”
“It was then we realized our chance,” said Mezban. “We thought, the mages can deliver us. But your siblings were not capable of demonstrating their talents to our captors. You, on the other hand, have the opportunity to save us. You must take it. You must…”
Indignation and fury blazed in Carina. She stepped up to the woman and glared down into her little, smug face. “You had the opportunity to save one man’s life! Not even that—you had the chance to simply allow him to live, and you didn’t take it. Why the hell should I save you?”
Lomang spluttered, “But you said—”
Carina was already leaving.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Parthenia paced the floor of the living room, rigid with outrage.
“How could they have been so stupid!” she exclaimed.
“I know, I know,” said Carina, rubbing a spot between her eyebrows.
She was half-sitting, half-lying on the sofa. Her eyes were sunken in shadows and her skin was pale and tight. She was experiencing the effects of her time in stasis. Parthenia had been similarly affected, and so had their siblings. Carina would recover in a few days, but from what Mezban had said, they didn’t have that long. They had only hours to act, and it was all due to Lomang and Mezban’s idiocy.
“If they’d given us our freedom…” Parthenia went on. “If they’d taken you out of stasis earlier…We would have figured out a way to take back control of the ship by now. We would have spaced the Regians and continued to Earth.”
Carina groaned and sat up, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her head flop down.
“But instead they wanted to retain control over us,” said Parthenia. “They chose to use us to try to impress the Regians when we could have entirely defeated them. Only that would have left Lomang and Mezban beholden to us. They had to be in charge, even as we’re all being transported to our deaths.”
“Or to be used as slave labor on farms,” Carina reminded her.
“Yeah…” Parthenia paused, then said, “That part doesn’t make any sense.”
“Right. It doesn’t. But that’s the least of our worries. I…Ugh…I think I’m gonna be sick.” Carina got up and ran to the bathroom.
Parthenia sat down and tried to ignore the sound of her sister vomiting, or, rather, retching. As far as she knew, she hadn’t eaten a thing since coming out of Deep Sleep.
It was clear Carina needed her help, and, from what she’d said about them working together, it sounded like this time she might actually accept it.
The thought brought a small spark of joy, despite the dangers they faced. But she didn’t really believe her sister would ever give up trying to control her or their brothers and sisters.
That was a problem for later, however. What should they do first?
One step was obvious: they had to make more elixir. But then what?
Carina emerged from the bathroom, wiping her mouth. She flopped down onto the sofa, asking, “I look like shit, don’t I?”
“You’ve looked better.”
Suddenly Parthenia knew she’d never stopped loving her sister, in spite of everything that had happened between them, yet, somehow, she liked her better when she was weak and vulnerable.
“I can barely think,” Carina said. “We should do something—now. But I’m not sure what. Maybe we should focus on finding Jace. The Regians know I can Cast, and they know you all can too. That’s what Lomang told them even though they didn’t see a demonstration. So they’ll be wary of all of us. They’re probably already figuring out the possibilities of what we can do. But I don’t think they know about Jace.”
A door to one of the bedrooms opened, and a tousle-haired Ferne poked his head out.
“You two are up early.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Parthenia replied. “Wake up Oriana. I want you both to make some more elixir, fast.”
“But—”
“We’re allowed out of the suite,” she interrupted. “Hurry up.”
He darted across the living room to another door.
“Nahla will get woken up, too,” said Parthenia, “but that can’t be helped.”
“She needs to be awake and alert,” Carina said. “She also has to stick close by us while we do whatever it is we’re going to do. The Regians believe she’s a mage, and they might hurt her if she doesn’t Cast for them.”
“I’ll tell her when she’s up. I was thinking, if we’re fast and we all Cast together, we could simply Transport all the Regians outside the ship. Then the Bathsheba’s ours.”
“It isn’t going to be that easy,” replied Carina. “We don’t know how many there are or where they’re situated. Mezban said all the operational areas of the ship are sealed off. I’m guessing that’s where most of the Regians are right now. And they came here in their own ship, don’t forget. That must be following alongside us or joined to our ship like the Duchess and the Peregrine, and it’ll be carrying a crew.” She shook her head. “There’s going to be a battle. No doubt about it. I hope the Black Dogs’ weapons haven’t been destroyed. We need to find them.”
Ferne emerged from the bedroom, followed by Oriana, sleepy-eyed.
“Can we really go outside now?” she asked.
“Yes,” Parthenia replied, “but be careful.”
“I don’t think Lomang and Mezban are going to give up control easily,” said Carina. “They might try something—perhaps try to force you to Cast for them, or use you as hostages. It would be stupid of them, of course, but they’ve shown a special talent for that.”
“Don’t worry,” Ferne said airily. “It won’t take us long to make more elixir. As soon as we have it, if Lomang comes near us I’ll threaten to Cast Fire into his hat.”
Oriana chuckled.
“This isn’t the time for joking,” Parthenia said sternly.
As they’d been talking, Ferne and Oriana had crossed the living room to the main door.
Ferne opened it and peered outside. “The guards have gone.”
They went outside, but before Ferne left he looked back at Parthenia and Carina. “I’m glad you’ve kissed and made up. Everything’s so much nicer when you act maturely.”
The door closed.
Carina raised her eyebrows. “Did he mean me?”
“I think he meant both of us,” Parthenia replied.
***
Half an hour later, the mages, armed with still-hot elixir, were roaming the Bathsheba, searching for the Black Dogs. They walked the empty, silent corridors as a group. Carina hadn’t wanted to split up for the search and Parthenia had agreed with her. Despite the greater efficiency, the younger children could be taken hostage, especially Nahla, who had no way of defending herself.
They were at the highest level, where many suites were situated, but they found them all unlocked and unoccupied. Lomang and Mezban had apparently wanted to keep them separated from those who might help them.
They turned a corner, and were suddenly confronted by a solid metal wall that blocked the route entirely. The Regians had sealed it off.
“What’s through there?” Oriana asked.
“The viewing dome,” replied Carina.
“Why don’t the Regians want us to go to that?” asked Ferne.
“No idea. We’ll have to go back the way we came. Try another direction.” The elevators weren’t working, so they found an access shaft and climbed down it to the next level.
Here, things were busier. They passed several of Mezban’s troops, but without incident. The soldiers had clearly been told to leave them alone.
But they still couldn’t find the mercs.
“We should just ask one of them,” said Parthenia.
“Or I’ll Enthrall someone,” Oriana offered.
“Yes,” Carina said. She about-faced and ran back to the last person they’d passed—an older man, who looked as though his years in the military had been long and h
ard.
“Where are the Black Dogs?” she demanded. “Where are you keeping them?” Her hand moved toward the canister of elixir on her hip.
The man’s features signaled his alarm. “There’s no need for that, miss! The mercs are being held in the refectory. Just along there aways.” He pointed in the direction they’d already been heading.
Carina turned and ran back to her siblings, but she didn’t stop. She sped right past them, calling out, “Come on. We don’t know how much time we have.”
Outside the refectory, a group of ten or more of Mezban’s men and women stood, but they were unarmed.
“Move aside,” Carina ordered.
The troops parted silently, watching the mages. Parthenia stepped through them and tried the door.
“It’s locked,” she told the others.
That made sense: lacking armed troops, Lomang and Mezban had put the mercs in the refectory while they were still groggy from stasis and unable to put up much of a fight, and then simply sealed them in. They would have access to food and restrooms in there, though little else.
Carina was already Casting Unlock.
A moment later, she opened the door wide, and the smell of unwashed bodies floated out.
“Phooey!” exclaimed Oriana, wafting the space in front of her nose.
“It’s Lin and the kids!” someone inside the refectory shouted.
Whoops and hollers followed.
Carina went inside, and Parthenia peeked in.
Immediately, she covered her mouth and chuckled.
Mezban’s guards hadn’t given the mercs anything to wear after taking them from their Deep Sleep capsules, and the men and women had improvised by creating underwear from table napkins. They resembled large, muscly babies, naked except for their diapers.
Several of the Black Dogs had descended on Carina and were alternately slapping her back and lifting her off the floor in bear hugs. Over the sound of cheers and yells of general jubilation, Parthenia could faintly hear her sister protesting and telling them to be quiet.
Then through the hubbub she heard someone call her name.
She turned.