Remnants

by Honor Raconteur

  “Color me surprised,” Chi drawled. “Z’gher already flatly refused.”

  “We’ve already had it for two hundred years,” Bannen pointed out, tone bland. “I think it’s someone else’s turn.”

  “I understand the Z’gher Emperor basically said the same thing.” Maksohm shrugged, lips curled in a hint of amusement. “Not quite that politely, though. Alright, if we’ve got the rest of the evening to ourselves, I want to take advantage of it.”

  We were all perfectly on board with this plan.

  It took a few minutes for us to gather all of our belongings up and then to change over to our new suite, and after we did so, the team more or less scattered. As hotel suites went, it was the nicest I’d ever stayed in. There was a large living area in the middle, two bedrooms flanking either side, and a very sizeable bathroom on the back wall. A tub almost large enough even for Vee’s height, which said something, dominated one wall. The rooms didn’t have much in the way of personality. The walls were all painted in calm hues of green, the furniture a light beige, but still, nice enough. If we had to be stuck somewhere waiting for the world to fall apart, again, I could think of worse places to be.

  Vee, once she discovered the tub, immediately filled it and locked the door. She wouldn’t even let Chi in. Maksohm went for the dining room downstairs, Bannen and Chi heading out again for a late night snack. They promised me faithfully they weren’t going to spar, and since they didn’t take most of their weapons with them, I decided to believe them.

  Not that I believed for a moment they’d stay out of trouble completely. Please. I’m not that naïve. I just trusted that they wouldn’t be endangering each other.

  But with everyone gone, it meant I had the suite more or less to myself for once. Unwilling to pass up the opportunity, I fetched one of my books, stretched out along the couch, and read in the blissful quiet.

  The novel was good, but not quite enough to hold my entire attention. My eyes kept coming to a stop on the page as my thoughts drifted back to the trouble looming over our heads like a dark cloud. My nightmares were intense, startlingly real, but didn’t always make sense in the light of day. I knew exactly how worried I was about all of this. I could handle my own fears and uncertainties. My concern lay in how Bannen was coping.

  In a word? Badly.

  To him, Toh’sellor had always been the ultimate boogieman. I think seeing it as a young child started it. It was terrifying enough as an adult, but to see that thing at seven years old? To know that it was slowly eating up the land around it, that in time it would even reach his homeland? That had to be beyond terrifying. It’s always amazed me that he willingly went in to battle that thing at my side. That he never flinched from doing so. I wasn’t sure if I would’ve been able to do the same in his shoes.

  And now he was forced to do it again, all because some power happy idiots with no common sense thought it a good idea to play with chaos. Worse, he also struggled with the fear that he might be a target. That he might be dragged to Toh’sellor as nothing more than an experiment. I knew the necklace we’d given him allayed that fear some, but it couldn’t dismiss it completely. Some part of him felt like he had to always be on guard.

  If all of that weren’t enough, Bannen tried to handle my fears on top of his. I wanted him to relax a little, to not stress about me at least, but there was no way I could get him to do that. Unless I magically stopped having nightmares. For my own sake, I’d really, really like to stop having nightmares, that would be lovely, but short of drugging myself every night I didn’t know how to manage that. For Bannen’s sake, I’d certainly try the drugs, but they were somewhat addictive and I couldn’t afford any kind of addiction. My body struggled enough to handle my magic as it was; I couldn’t put any additional pressure on it. It was very much a predicament.

  Relationships could be challenging some days.

  I had no idea how much time had passed, but I’d read about six chapters when Maksohm came back up, a content expression on his face. He didn’t take one of the armchairs, or the other couch, instead he lay on the floor next to me, stretching out with a groan.

  “Lower back and thighs cramping?” I asked, full well knowing they were. A straight day hunched in a chair will do that.

  “I’m getting too old for this,” he complained to me. “What are you looking at me like that for? I’ve got ten years on you. In ten years you’ll understand.”

  I seriously doubted that. He acted all ancient and decrepit, but he could give even Bannen a run for his money. “Uh-huh.”

  Snorting, he let it go, and we lay there in peaceful silence for a moment. I didn’t pick my book back up, as the silence carried weight. I could tell he wanted to ask something, but Maksohm never said a word until he carefully considered how to phrase it first. I gave him the time he needed to formulate the question.

  “How bad are they?” he finally asked. “They’re normally antsy, I know, but if they’re playing archery dodgeball, then it’s worse than antsy.”

  “I thought they were actually taking the waiting very well,” I admitted morosely. “Or as well as could be expected. They actively participated in the meeting.”

  “So it took you by surprise too. They’re just such active men, I knew that waiting like this would wear at them quickly. It’s why I sent them with you. I thought having something to occupy their time and attention would keep them from…” He grimaced, expression warring between resigned and frustrated. “Well, things like archery dodgeball. Are they sleeping alright?”

  “Bannen seems to be,” I answered slowly. “Well, I guess I can’t say that. He’s waking up whenever I do, and I know that he’s not coping well with the fear of being kidnapped. I don’t think Bannen’s ever been a target like this before, never faced something he couldn’t combat. It alarms him.”

  “I imagine it does. His people are ferocious fighters, they don’t fear anything except Toh’sellor. The idea of having to face that on his own would of course be terrifying. Sards, but I’m terrified for him. I’d hoped the necklace would help, though.”

  “I think it did. At least, better now than he was, but he’s still not managing a full night. Chi…I’m not sure. Whenever I wake up, he’s always up as well.”

  Maksohm chewed on that for a moment. “That’s not a good sign.”

  “I don’t think it is either.” Vee had warned me that Chi stressed in different ways than most people. He was the type to stay up, to stay alert, to use food and adrenaline to keep himself awake instead of being sensible and trying to catch sleep. His record was five days straight with only two catnaps, which seemed insane to me. How did he even function?

  I knew we all handled stress differently. I knew that having Toh’sellor loose again touched dark areas of our minds, visiting the place of nightmares, and we all loathed having to relive that battle. But as much as that terrified me, I think in some ways it was worse for Chi, Vee, and Maksohm. I just didn’t quite understand why.

  And none of them were really willing to talk about it.

  “We’re not even sure how many days he’s been like this, but at least one night. It’s likely been more than that, if he’s slipped enough that you’ve noticed,” Maksohm said ruminatively. “Yeah, I can see how he thought archery dodgeball a good idea. Whatever common sense he has tends to go out the nearest window after a while. My question is, why didn’t Bannen realize it was a bad idea?”

  “Excuse me, do you not know him? Bannen finds anything dangerous fun.”

  Maksohm rolled his eyes. “Yes, so he does. He told me once that was why he’s attracted to you—because you’re the most dangerous woman he’s ever met.”

  I laughed because it was true.

  “Still, he’s an experienced fighter, I would have thought he at least had survival instincts,” Maksohm bemoaned. “It’s not like he played this game with some random archer. He was playing against Chi.”

  Who was the most skilled marksman in t
he MISD and most of the known world. I understood precisely what he meant by that. “Why do you think my heart nearly stopped? But that wouldn’t be a deterrent for Bannen, he’d find it even more fun with Chi as his opponent.”

  Maksohm heaved a decade’s worth of sighs. “Vee’s right. They’re perpetually twelve. We’ll need to find some way to distract them in the evenings or they’ll come up with something equally dangerous and ‘fun.’ We’ll need to discuss this with Vee, see what she thinks.”

  “I agree.” Yet again, I heard nothing but stress and frustration from one of my teammates. When we’d first come up with the terms of my contract, and Maksohm’s name came up, I hadn’t hesitated in grabbing him. If we’d been faced with the situation now, of Toh’sellor missing, would I have done the same? Who was I kidding, of course I would have, but I certainly would have talked to the man about it first. He’d lost enough to Toh’sellor already, and it felt a bit much to keep demanding things of him. A sick feeling of guilt pitched and squeezed in my gut. I rolled onto my side, tucking an arm under my head so I could see him easily. “Dah’lil, I feel like I should apologize.”

  He tilted his head to give me a strange look, eyes slightly narrowed in confusion. “What on earth for?”

  “Because I basically volunteered you to be team captain without asking if you were alright with that. I mean, I know you were in that position for us before, but that was a temporary thing; we all knew that. You’re kinda stuck with us now.”

  He waved this off before letting his hand rest on his chest again. “I would have been in that position regardless, I’m more senior than the rest of you.”

  “I know, but you didn’t realize we’d be facing Toh’sellor again either—”

  “Rena.” He lifted up on an elbow, giving me a reassuring smile. “I don’t mind. In fact, I’m glad; you facing that thing without me would give me a head full of grey hairs. I’m not the type to sit on the sidelines. Okay?”

  “Okay.” I did feel better hearing that. I personally believed the role of team captain fit Maksohm the best. Vee was a bit too quick-tempered to handle multiple people well, Chi too irresponsible, and Bannen too focused on me to think about other people. I lost track of things quickly when focused on a task, which was a very bad trait for a leader to have. Still, I did feel like I’d dumped a lot of responsibility on his shoulders without even a by-your-leave. Seeing his expression, hearing him dismiss the concern, only eased my conscience by half.

  The other half of me wondered, if Maksohm took care of us, who was supposed to take care of him? “How are you? Are you coping alright?”

  He gave me a gentle smile, dark eyes crinkling up into the beginnings of crow’s feet. “I’m alright. Well, no. If I’m being honest, I have to say that I absolutely hate the situation we’re in, but I’ve been in equally sticky situations with little information to plan by.”

  “Really? Something as crazy as this?”

  “Well, no, most evil villains have more sense than this. In that they don’t steal things that will turn them into mindless zombies. I have to admit this is a first. That said, I’ve still seen situations almost as crazy as this and I keep consoling myself that I have you. And as long as I have you, this thing is beatable.”

  That, hearing those words from him, threw things into a totally different perspective for me. Maksohm had always been this rock, the one person I knew wouldn’t be shaken, no matter what happened. He’d still be logical, on point. He’d know what we would need to do next. To hear that this man had placed his sanity on me, and depended on me to get him through all of this—I didn’t know how I felt about that. Happy? Scared? Relieved? Rattled? Perhaps a mix of all of that.

  Realizing he expected a response, I gave him a lopsided grin. “Happy to help?”

  His eyes closed for a second, huffing out a breath that could have been a laugh. “You’ve no idea. I’m sorry it’s putting so much pressure on you, though. I wish there was some way to take some of that weight off of you.”

  Me too. But that didn’t seem possible. “I’m just glad I don’t have to face it again alone.”

  “I understand that completely. Bannen said that Toh’sellor was the worst childhood monster ever. I had to face that monster, we all did, without any hope that it would disappear when we turned on the lights. At least until you showed up and soundly thrashed it. I can handle that there’s still a monster lurking under the bed, Rena.” He gave me a wink. “Because you’re the stick I can beat it off with.”

  That made me laugh. “I’ve been called many things, but not that.”

  He let me chortle, smiling at my amusement, perhaps pleased he’d gotten that response from me. “Remember, too, that Toh’sellor isn’t going to be insanely large and near undefeatable like last time. It’ll be large and powerful, but I think by the time we spot it, it’ll be more along the lines of a shard. We can handle that.”

  “You really think so?” I hadn’t thought of it in those terms, but that sounded so much better than the image in my head.

  “We have the three continents worth of agents and policemen and coast guard on the lookout for it,” Maksohm pointed out. “Someone will spot the signs before it grows to epic proportions.”

  I clung onto that optimism. “I really hope you’re right.”

  He sank back onto the carpet with a sigh. “So am I.”

  We got all the way out to the street before Chi asked me the inevitable question: “What do you want to do?”

  “Something active would be nice,” I admitted, as I frankly felt stir crazy with all of the waiting around we’d been doing.

  Chi’s look at me was packed with sardonic humor. “The last time I picked what to do, we got the wives mad at us, so let’s have someone aside from me make that decision.”

  I saw in his face, in his body language, something I didn’t really want to see. He had bruises under his eyes, his shoulders and stance screamed with tension and fatigue. Chi was literally pushing himself past his physical limits, and not in the good and happy sense. I suspected that if I could wear him out physically, then maybe he’d collapse on his own and actually sleep. My mouth came up with a plan before my brain did. “What if we take that empty building, the old factory near the field, and use that as an obstacle course? There’s some abandoned poles there, right? Set them up as targets, run up the building, leap, aim, see who can actually hit the target while in the air.”

  A grin lit up Chi’s face in slow degrees. “You with daggers, me with arrows? Me likey. Let’s go, not a lot of time left.”

  Winter days are too short to do much in, and we only had so much time before the meeting ended and Rena and Maksohm came out to fetch us. Or Vee got done running errands and came looking for us. We likely had about two hours of daylight left to us. Fortunately, the field was close, so it took minutes to get there and I surveyed the area with a critical eye. The building in question stood only two stories, we couldn’t really get hurt leaping off of that. There were three logs leaning up against the side of the building—no wait, a fourth one lurked under the tall grass. Perfect.

  Without a word, we went to work, finding large bricks to hold the logs upright. They didn’t need to be perfectly straight, or hold weight, just vertical enough for us to have a target. We set them a variety of distances away from the building, the closest a mere ten feet away, the furthest at fifty. Hitting something with a dagger at fifty feet, while airborne, would be quite the challenge. Chi would have better luck hitting that than me. But whatever, I could give Chi the handicap.

  The building had definitely seen better days. Half of its siding had come off at some point, leaving it exposed like a gap-toothed crone. My eyes tracked over the broken masonry, the exposed metal support beams, the empty windowsills, and I could see the path upwards.

  “Stairs are basically dust,” Chi observed laconically.

  I snorted. “Stairs are for whimps.”

  “You really are my brother from a
nother mother.” Grinning at me, Chi gave me a regal bow and a flutter of the wrist. “Do go first.”

  “Shouldn’t we mark targets on the poles?”

  He gave me a pitying look. “I highly doubt you’ll be able to hit all the poles. Just do your best, okay?”

  “Oh it’s on now, you pillock,” I mock-growled at him, relieved when he gave me his usual snarky grin.

  “I’m sensing a certain lack of respect, here—a note, just a faint note of disdain that I’m not certain I approve of,” Chi informed me with the most patently false frown ever to be worn on a man’s face.

  “I’ll try harder. Any disdain in my voice should be obvious.” I loosened the daggers in their sheaths along my thigh, mostly out of habit, then took off running, Chi cackling behind me. Masonry scraped lightly at my palms and fingertips as I started scaling the side of the building. Really, there was an amazing amount of footholds; I hardly needed to worry. Sure, a few things sagged or creaked under my weight, but it all held.

  I had to use both hands to get me over the top of the roof, and I noted a few dark spots that looked half-rotted, but my goal wasn’t to stay up here. I hopped lightly off, hands already reaching for the daggers. Of course I hit the nearest targets to me first as it would take considerable heft to get that last pole. The daggers flew into the wood with satisfying thunks, all of them at the top, thank you very much.

  Gravity started truly sucking me down, pulling hard, and I only had half of the distance left. I focused and threw hard, the dagger sailing toward the last pole, but I had no time to watch it. The ground approached alarmingly fast. I braced and rolled, coming in for a landing, and the dirt slapped me hard against the shoulder and face.

  Oww.

  Okay, I maybe should have paid more attention to the landing part. That...that might have been more important than the last dagger making it in. I felt that. A lot.

  “Bannen?” Chi called. “You dead?”

  “I’m breathing, aren’t I?” I called back, forcing air into my lungs, because landing wrong will force the air out of your lungs.