Conquer - Sect Wars: book 3, page 19
Itazi?
You’re going to upset everyone here, aren’t you?
I don’t mean to!
He chuckled.
Taj shoved the camera in my face. “You really shouldn’t be here,” he said.
I could barely see him through the large lens. But I asked, “Why not?”
“You’re not made for water,” he said. He turned on his heel and ran after her.
I did not want to go inside the ship, inside her Icarian. There were far too many people I didn’t know onboard, though. So I ran after both of them. When the main doors closed in my face, I gently put my palm to it and spoke the truth.
“I know you can hear me in there, Chai. So can your Icarian, Mixie.”
The door opened again, and she was back in front of me. Her red hair almost literally looked as if it were on fire, but it was her aura. She lit the skies with her energy and power. “You have no authority here,” she said.
“But I do,” I simply said.
“Determined to fuck this all up, aren’t you?”
“I’m here to complete my mission,” I said. “Nothing more.”
“Your mission?” she asked.
“You want to do this right here, in the middle of your ship’s deck?”
“What mission?” she asked.
I put my hand to the Icarian’s cold metal, and I let my feelings through. My concern for her, the storms, the stone . . . the future.
Her face changed.
“Yes,” I said. “You feel that through Mixie; listen to me.”
“We don’t have time.” She turned and ran back inside. “Get those lines off now!”
I could see outside onto the deck now from the bridge of her ship. It was pure chaos.
Oto?
I’m back with the others. But I am going to have to hold the front of this ship. When we’re back into the seas, you need to be on deck, with Chai.
I understand, I don’t much like being inside.
The city is going to fall, he said. When that does go under, you need to be out. Hurry.
I couldn’t do anything to help them or her. Or could I?
I moved slowly to the front window and let my aura out there. “We’ve got this,” I said. “I will not let anything hurt you. Trust me.”
All eyes turned to me, all Chai’s most trusted sailors, and those she was rescuing. Everyone felt it, me; everyone then moved faster.
“What did you do?” Chai asked at my side.
“I told them the truth,” I said. “Under my care they will never be hurt.”
“You can’t promise them that.” She went to hit the speakers to talk to them as well, and I just gave her a stare. I didn’t need to put my hand up to her, she stopped herself.
“They’ve got this,” I said. “But when we’re out there, I’m going to need you to lead me.”
“What is your mission?” she asked me once more.
I went with what was in my heart, put my fist to my chest and bowed. “To kill all Vipers,” I said and I looked into her eyes. “To protect this planet and the people on it that deserve it with everything I have inside me.”
“Kill?”
“If I must, I will.”
“Then you will be needed on deck. There are others out there who will want this ship sunk, and not just because you’re on it.”
“Who else is here?”
“Governor Sitvas,” she said.
“Don’t tell me, he and Captain Black . . .”
“He and his father . . . two very opposites of the same coin.”
“Fuck me,” I said.
Chai shook her head. “No thanks.”
I laughed at her words, but on the inside, I knew exactly what was coming. Except I wasn’t used to space fights, or even real war, but it was going to happen here, in the ocean in the middle of a storm.
A storm Oto had managed to calm it for now, but for now really was the term.
Chapter 18
Back out on the deck of Mixie, Chai’s ship, I felt the other Icarian, too.
The people moving around securing everything were buzzing about like stirred hornets. I moved up the deck to the front of the ship. She was big. Perhaps not as big as Captain Black’s, but big enough.
Once there, I put my hands to her rails, and I felt her tremble. Don’t be scared, I said to her. My name’s Kei Tullius, and I will help you.
I am Mixie, she said even though I knew. How can I not be scared? I have the most powerful man on this planet aboard my very weak structures. We’re about to go out into the storm with nothing but me as protection.
No, I said. You have me, too. I might not be a straight match for Oto Aetos in control. But I more than match him in pure power.
I feel that. But—
Trust me, I said. Trust us.
I am at your command, she said. I would trust only you above my bonded.
I swallowed, and I risked. Does she really not have any kind of thoughts for me?
The laugh that came back was like Chai’s. I could see why they were both linked so well. But there was no answer forthcoming.
Hold on, my lord.
I noted the ropes at the front and moved to wrap myself into one set, securing myself to the front of the ship.
Allowing my reach to encompass the whole of her internal levels, Mixie settled her engines and pushed outward. I could see Oto and the others following along. May I? I asked him.
Of course, came his reply.
I reached over with my qi and secured my connection to him by tapping into his pathways, and free-flowing energy passed between the both of us.
You’re doing things without even being prompted, Itazi said. Again.
It feels right. If we both need it, it’s there.
Just be careful. Oto might have the control, but if he draws from you in full, it will hit hard, and he might not know when to stop.
Keep an eye on me as well.
We all will, came the voices of my Taharri and Ivori.
Duly noted, I replied, then I turned to Mixie. I need access to the internal reports on the bridge. Itazi can help me filter them through, but I need to see what’s out there more than you do.
I can do that, she said. One moment.
Before my eyes filtered several images, mostly those underwater, and for a moment I felt like I was deep inside the ocean.
I couldn’t breathe.
You can breathe, Itazi said. Calm yourself. You can see everything ahead of us, like she can.
It’s amazing under here, I said.
Yes, Mixie replied. I do love the waters. They’re so freeing.
I’m not sure about that, but they are something else.
For those who are Water affinities and can tap into their yin side, anything in or around the ocean is perfect.
Perfect. I did like that word. I hoped one day it would all feel perfect for me, too.
The way ahead was clear.
Then it wasn’t.
Seven blips appeared ahead.
Then seven more.
Captain Black is trying to get this ship to pull away from you, Oto said.
The waters around us were also getting choppier, the winds picking up once more. We need to get these people onboard somewhere else that’s safe.
Chai’s asking for you from the bridge, Mixie said.
I locked into the bridge’s frequency. “I didn’t think they’d be so close. We need to leave these waters, now.”
“We’re not running away,” I said. “Those ships are Icarian.”
“They’re also going to shoot us out of the fucking water.”
“No,” I replied, and I could almost see her anger, as well as feel it. That much had been coming through from Mixie. “No, they won’t.”
Connecting our bridge to Captain Black’s was harder than I thought. The Icarian there were resisting. But Poeat wanted to look like she was.
I’m with you, she said. You can speak with the bridge.
Be ready, Itazi said. This is it. They will come for us now. Repeat after me.
Repeat?
Word for word. Everything I say.
Okay, I said my heart beating faster.
“Níl luibh ná leigheas in aghaidh an bháis.”
It translates to. There is no remedy or cure against death.
I repeated it.
“Tiocfaidh bás do chách.”
Death will come for all.
“Tá rogha agat, beo nó bás. Déan é.”
“Ní bheidh lámh dheas do bhanríon trócaireach.”
You have a choice, live or die. Make it. The right hand of your queen will not be merciful.
It didn’t take long; the ocean waters around us erupted in missile fire. Mostly at us. That still shocked me. “They’re under some brainwashing,” I said to him.
Then they cannot be saved, Itazi returned to me, his sadness evident.
I let Chai and Mixie choose their course. We were not running, but we watched the ships in front of us just turn on each other. This was devastating.
By the time we would get there, there wouldn’t be very many left; but it was obvious who was with who, though. It bore down to three on two.
“Moving into defense positions,” Chai announced.
If they open fire on me, Mixie cautioned, I don’t have the strength.
I said don’t worry. Please. Don’t.
The next thing we did see was those ships turning on us. The other two were battered, and probably not far off sinking themselves. The winds around us beat down, and heavy rain started.
The two ships were now in missile range.
They are firing, Itazi said.
I reached inside myself and kept the rain and winds off us at least.
Mixie’s defense wasn’t good enough; she really did have nothing in her left, from all she’d been fighting this last few months.
The missiles were heading straight for us.
Faster.
I thought about what I could do, what I should do.
The things I wanted to do, needed to do, would show my strength.
Not just my strength. Our strength.
Closer.
I don’t think so, I said.
That’s when I felt another pull.
Something was trying to tap into my energy. “Oh, oh . . . sneaky,” I said aloud.
“What is it?” Chai asked.
Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Not something, someone was manifesting on the deck of the ship.
“Who is that?” I asked Chai.
“Good question,” a voice said. “Who are you? And what makes you think you’re strong enough to save or protect this planet, these people?”
Oh, really . . .
The missiles were getting even closer. I couldn’t concentrate on both. I turned to the figure still forming. Putting my trust in the others, all of them. “Because I am, and I need you above all with me.”
“Then prepare to show me your worth.” The form solidified into an older woman. Her long, graying dark hair spread out behind her in a long plait. She deftly pulled a sword out from nowhere and then another. Then she bowed to me and I reciprocated.
She really wants to fight me? Here? In the middle of a war?
Yes, she does, Itazi said.
I pulled on the rope tying me to the deck and let myself free. Thought only of my Kreeshon. When it appeared before me, I let my energy flow and separated it.
The woman—I had no idea of her name—didn’t hesitate. “You don’t know how to use them. You aren’t worthy.”
“Well, I’ll show you I am.”
When our blades met, there were sparks.
“Kei!” I heard Taru cry out.
But I quieted her thoughts with my confidence.
The woman’s attacks came in fast. But I couldn’t let any single one of them through.
“Incoming hit,” Mixie shouted.
I sidestepped the attack heading my way, spun around, and dropped to the deck, placing a hand to the cold, wet metal surface. “You can stop that missile,” I said to her. “Use me.”
Use you?
As I took hold of my sword’s handle and spun sharply, I just about managed to avoid the incoming swipe to my head.
That was close.
The missile was almost upon us.
The storm ramped up, too. The deck bounced below me and threatened to tip me off.
“Not a chance,” I said, lowering to my knees to make sure that, when I hit the deck again, I was steady enough to not fall over.
So close, that missile was so close.
Mixie. Now!
Mixie’s drain on my qi, that fucking hurt; she wasn’t competent enough to use me without hurting me. I couldn’t struggle here . . . I needed to keep fighting, I pushed back up.
Water exploded less than a few hundred feet off the deck, and the woosh of hot air blasted over my face. The whole ship shuddered beneath me.
They’re firing again! Mixie said.
Hold it together, please!
The moment my enemy tried to turn next, seeing we were all struggling, she got in another set of parries. I evaded her and countered even faster. I wasn’t letting up. This wasn’t a game, or play. I needed her out, fast.
My next strike hit her left arm, and she dropped her sword. My next strike stopped at her throat.
“Enough!” I said.
“You couldn’t have, even if you wanted to,” she said. “You are weak. You are a mess. You do not deserve the stone.”
She vanished.
The storm around us took another turn, and the deck of the ship creaked with such intensity below me I thought it was going to snap.
“What is it?” I shouted through to Chai.
“We can’t take much more of this,” she said. “We’re losing.”
I looked to Captain Black’s ship that was suffering as much as we were, but it had not taken or moved away from our side.
Oto?
We’re okay, Taru said. We have Captain Black and his father in our custody; they won’t be setting any more missiles off at you or the others.
They fired at us?
Help Oto, Taru said. He needs you now.
I tried to get through to him, to reach inside myself. He was fully concentrating on the both of us. He was stopping that storm from getting in.
His focus shifted to me. “You see inside the ship,” he said. “The Icarian, you help them.”
“What?”
“They need you, and Itazi,” he said. “They’re going to have to hold your ship together, when that’s the last thing they’re feeling.”
Mixie really was falling apart. “Okay, I can do that.”
I wasn’t sure how to, though, until I looked deep into the ship, to feel the other Icarian that were here. Six souls created this ship together, of course, and it was amazing; they were amazing. Bonded to each other—and to Chai. That was new, all six? Then to some of the men on here, though I couldn’t see them at first, then I did.
This was interesting, almost like I’d stepped out of my body.
“You almost have,” Itazi said by my side.
I stayed with them, on the inside of the ship, though I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be physically on the deck so much either.
Waves bounced us everywhere, up and down, up and down. We made a huge headway into the depths of this storm. I felt every single part of it as it started to batter us from every angle. Stronger, so much stronger.
“I can’t take any more,” Mixie said. I felt her trembling—opening my eyes just a little to find the whole ship was shaking.
I could see Oto, as if he were before me. He had both hands outstretched. The others were around him, on his deck, hands following his. Like a beacon he stood there, but he was struggling.
I was torn . . . I wanted to help him but needed to help them all more.
I couldn’t be in two places at once.
Itazi, this is you. You and Ivori. You have to be there for them.
We’re not allowed to interfere.
Don’t give me that, I said. You interfere all the time; you just don’t make it a conscious decision. This is for you. You have to help them. You need to be there for them. I need to be there for Oto.
Oto’s trepidation spread through us.
You’re their king, I said to him. They need to see you.
Okay, he said. I will do this.
I felt him move off, and I focused back on Oto, making my ghost-like way to stand by his side. When he glanced at me, I saw pain, terrible internal pain.
How are you here? he asked me.
I’m not, I said. I’m just projecting across to you.
I can’t do this, he said. It hurts so much.
I watched him struggle even more, and his knees were going to collapse.
Oh well, at least that’s something I can do.
W—-wh-at? he stuttered. He was shivering too, his whole body shaking with pain, emotion, failure.
I reached for him, took his hand across the distance in mine. Interlocked my fingers with his. Let me take that pain for you.
Pain Resistance.
Skill wasn’t really the word for it. Pain Resistance was just something else. Maxed out.
Well, maxed out was more than needed here. I could associate it with nothing I’d been through before. No amount of bone breaking, nor internal corruption would ever be associated with this.
“What. The. Fuck,” I stammered out.
It is doing the best it can to protect itself, a voice said on the inside. Was that . . . it was . . . the voice from Isala. Her voice. She was some kind of god, some kind of all-protecting being. It doesn’t want the stone to leave; it knows the people of the planet here need it just as much as you do.
What do you mean?
The stone isn’t creating the storms, The only thing that protects this planet from the dangers of the storms is the stone.
Fuck.
Then I can’t take it, I said.
You need me, she said. But you need to get there and show that you are much more than just a thief. Only then can you bind us all, and I can protect all of them.
Thief? I don’t think I’d ever been called that before.
