Trials of Conviction, page 46
Kira shifted, keeping an eye on Thea.
Raider knelt at the edge, searching the water for his daughter. "Where is she? I don't see her."
Thea's shoulders started to shake. A giggle left her. The sound growing until it bounced off the walls of the rotunda.
Pallas threw her a look. "Silence, traitor. Your reckoning will come soon enough."
"You don't get it. Gods can't be killed." There was a look of worship on Thea’s face as she stared beyond their shoulders.
Pallas and Kira's eyes met in realization. They turned too late as a being made of madness and light unfolded from the body of the Osiri.
Kira caught an impression of scorching gold where its eyes should be. The rest of the face’s details indistinct and hazy. As if her brain refused to focus.
The Osiri's voice was something out of a nightmare. "You will die painfully, screaming for your end."
Kira's ears buzzed from the assault. "Pallas."
He flicked her a glance, a grim understanding there.
Seeing it, Kira reached for her primus. It slammed into her consciousness, flooding her body with power and strength she'd desperately need.
Pallas tossed his sword in the air. Kira grabbed it, stabbing it into the Osiri's center.
The Osiri grabbed its length, using the blade to haul Kira closer as it lowered its face to hers. "You waste your time. I am eternal life. Unending. Undying."
"Haven't you ever wondered why they call me the Phoenix?" Kira snarled.
Flames started to lick along Pallas’s blade. Orange and yellow with hints of blue at their center.
The origin of her namesake channeled down Pallas's sword. It wasn't the best medium, but for her purposes it would do.
Kira shoved her power down its length.
In this place where her natural connection with her soul's breath was severed, it wasn't easy. It took chunks of herself. Bits and pieces, gladly sacrificed.
If this was what it took to destroy this blight, she'd offer it willingly.
The Osiri shrieked, the sound awful and penetrating. Like taking razorblades to her ear.
It wasn’t going to be enough, Kira realized. He was going to win.
Child.
Kira faltered, her consciousness suddenly in the pool below. Eyes flashed in her mind.
If she concentrated, she could make out the dim form of a coiled lu-ong crouched in the depths. Scales missing along its length. Open wounds that bled into the water around it.
Scars covered its snout and face.
Free me, child of a different era, it hissed with a touch of madness and a level of rage that was capable of toppling empires. You will not be able to destroy him by yourself.
"I don't know how."
The blessing does.
Suddenly, she was back in her body. The Osiri before her. Her flames still licking his body. Already weaker.
Off to the side, Raider was helping Elena out of the water. Thea was on the ground, her eyes lifeless. Pallas stood over her, his gaze on Kira and the Osiri.
Finn was fast fading from his wound on her other side.
In all that chaos, Lathan pacing out of the gloom along the edges of the room caught her attention. The only thing she could see in that moment. Lathan stopped on the edge of the walkway. Directly above the pool where the lu-ong was imprisoned. The lenacht was cradled in his arms as his eyes seemed to ask her a question.
"Do it," Kira ordered.
She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she didn’t really care. Nothing could be worse than what would transpire if they didn’t take this chance.
Lathan smiled and opened his arms, letting the lenacht fall. It dove into the water with a splash.
Kira’s ears popped as pure ki swept into the room, the pressure squeezing her body. A torrent of sound followed it. The roar of a beast finally finding its freedom.
"No," the Osiri breathed in horror.
A power originating from the lu-ong and lenacht rushed through Kira, twining together in a way that was stronger than they would have been separately. Her flames flickered and then caught, growing ever brighter as the unfiltered ki the two below were generating flowed into her soul. A deluge that threatened to destroy her in its flood.
Belatedly, she realized she was a conduit. A conduit for their will.
The water erupted just as her mind began to buckle. A massive lu-ong burst upwards. He crashed through the ceiling and beyond. All the way to the open sky. His body continuing upwards until even his tail vanished out of the opening.
Wreckage rained down on them. Raider cursed as he threw his body over Elena’s.
Still, the ki the lenacht and lu-ong had flooded her soul with continued to burn. A fire devouring her body and soul.
Kira redirected it, channeling it through the sword and into the Osiri despite the whisper in the back of her mind urging her to keep some of that power for herself. With it she would never risk having to lose anyone again. She could protect them. All she had to do was hold a little back for herself. Not much even. A tiny bit.
But loss was a part of life. She’d finally realized that.
If she held onto this power the lenacht and lu-ong had bestowed on her, she’d eventually become like this being in front of her. Corrupt and greedy.
What would be the point then? If it destroyed the beauty and good in her.
No. This gift had one purpose. To kill the undying and rid the universe of its taint.
She poured the last of her will down the sword. The Osiri’s answering scream was like that of a dying animal as he writhed under her blade.
Kira collapsed to her knees a second later. That was it. She had no more to give.
"He's gone," Pallas said with some shock.
Kira stared unseeing at the walkway beneath her hands. Oh God. Jin.
Somehow, she stumbled to her feet, ignoring Pallas's call as she staggered over to the place where Jin had fallen.
She hadn’t noticed before. The damage to her bond with him too extensive. Not to mention the intentional block he'd put up.
Still, how could she have missed something so important?
"What are you—?" Pallas broke off at the sight of Jin’s broken body.
His sphere lay in two pieces. The processing system damaged.
Kira’s hands hovered over him. Afraid to touch for fear that anything she did would accelerate what she could already feel happening.
"It's okay, Jin. We're going to be okay."
She was going to fix this.
"Oh, brother—this was not the fate we wished for you," Pallas whispered sorrowfully.
Raider pushed Elena toward the platform. "Help Finn."
Elena didn't move, staring at Kira and Jin. "Uncle."
"Do what I say," Raider ordered, waiting for her to follow his instructions before heading toward Kira and Jin. He knelt beside them. "Kira."
A little time. That’s all she needed. Just a moment to figure out what to do.
"Kira, he's gone."
She yanked away from Raider’s hand. "He's not gone! I can still feel him."
That's right. She could still feel him.
His soul. The thing that made Jin. It was still there. Fading quickly—but there.
Jin was never the drone. Hadn’t he proven that over the past few weeks? The sphere with all its circuitry and parts was nothing more than a vessel. One Jin could change at will.
"His spawn. Do you have it?" Kira asked desperately.
There was her answer. A vessel.
Raider's face showed confusion.
"The bird, Raider. I need the bird."
She just needed a medium to anchor Jin to. Preferably something that already carried his imprint.
Raider shook his head. "It’s not with me. I dropped it when I was fishing Elena out of the pool."
"No," Kira whispered, collapsing in on herself.
She couldn't lose Jin. Not like this.
Her gaze focused slowly on the cryopods. Specifically, the last one. The one that carried the boy that looked exactly like Jin.
Of course. Why didn't she think of that before?
"What?" Raider asked.
Kira shoved her friend out of the way, scrambling toward the pod. She fumbled for the controls, getting it open a second later. Water gushed out, spilling through the grates to the pool below.
Kira set a hand on the boy, her senses delving into him.
There was only one problem with the idea of placing Jin’s soul inside the boy’s body. And that was if the boy already possessed a soul of his own.
It was the biggest reason Kira had never gone this route before. Clones held their own sense of self. They weren't empty containers you could simply fill with whatever you wished. At least not without driving out what was already there.
That was a sin neither Kira nor Jin had wanted to shoulder. It stunk of their old masters. A level they never wanted to descend to.
"No soul," she breathed a second later.
Finally, something that went her way.
"Kira, wait. Are you sure?" Raider's face reflected uncertainty as he looked from her to the boy. "This clone is Tsavitee made. We don't know what it really is or its purpose for being here."
Raider had a point, but Kira found she didn’t care.
"I'm not letting him die here."
Not in this awful place.
Jin needed a vessel. There it was.
"Do what you've got to do. I'll guard your back," Raider told her.
"Thanks." Kira's voice was soft, picking up the two halves of Jin’s sphere before turning back to the boy. "This is going to work. Do you understand, Jin? Otherwise, I'll never let you hear the end of it."
Beads of sweat dotted Kira's forehead as she concentrated, pulling out the drone's essence. Jin's soul with it.
"There you are, my friend. Time for a new chapter in our story."
Kira slammed Jin's soul into the boy's body.
Thirty
Jin’s confusion and terror buffeted Kira, amplifying her own emotions as his soul threatened to slip away.
The new vessel wasn’t acting like the anchor she’d thought it would be. Without her there to hold the soul in place, it would escape. Eventually dissipating.
Kira refused to let that happen.
Unfortunately, her energy was flagging as she faced the realization that she didn’t have enough left in her to do what needed to be done.
A sob left her.
"No. Please."
She slumped, her forehead touching the boy’s chest. This couldn’t be the end. It couldn’t.
Graydon’s arms came around her, his hands cupping hers as his front cradled her back. "Together, cheva nier."
Power splashed against her defenses. As comforting as a hot bath on a cold and damp winter's day. Painless, unlike that of the lenacht and lu-ong’s.
"Use me," Graydon urged.
Kira did, weaving Jin into his new body with Graydon's power and the little bit of ki she had left. Little by little, Jin’s soul settled into its new home.
"We did it," Kira gasped.
At least, she thought they had. Jin's presence in their bond was scarily silent. To the point, she couldn’t be sure if what she felt was really him or a figment of her imagination.
Graydon caught her as all the strength left her body. "It's time to go."
"How did you find us?" Kira asked as she felt him turn her to face him.
"Coli, you sent up such a big signal."
Kira studied the gaping hole the lu-ong had torn in the ceiling during its escape. "I suppose I did."
"I would have been here sooner, but I had to find my yer’se first."
Kira's eyes fluttered closed.
Graydon’s lips pressed against her ear. "Thank you for staying with me."
Kira gave him an exhausted smile, unable to find the will to open her eyes as he lifted her.
"Tend to the injured. Anyone who can't walk, we'll carry them out," Graydon was ordering as Kira drifted off.
Graydon
Graydon felt the moment Kira went limp from unconsciousness. Her body loosened, her head resting against his chest.
He adjusted his hold, ensuring she was as comfortable as he could make her.
Solal nodded at the bank of cryopods and their inhabitants. "What about them?"
Elena's gaze flitted from one face to another. "You can't leave them behind. They're of my mother. That makes them my siblings."
Solal looked over her head at Raider as Amila moved to tend to Finn's wound.
The oshota's face was dangerously pale from blood loss. If they didn't get him to a healer soon, he might not make it.
Raider stared at the six unconscious children; his expression shuttered.
"Someone will need to take responsibility for them," Graydon said.
Elena scowled. "What does that mean?"
Raider knew. Graydon could see that from the way the human rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the unconscious children. He understood the same way Graydon did that they couldn’t release these children into the universe without someone there to guide them.
Elena tugged at Raider’s arm, her expression pleading. "Dad?"
Raider nodded, his gaze finding Graydon's. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure?"
It would be less complicated for everyone if the children disappeared.
He'd made a promise to Kira though. And his own conscience wouldn't allow him to order their elimination. Not without knowing whether they could be more than their masters made them.
That was what the lu-ong had offered the Tuann all those years ago. A chance at something different. It would be hypocritical now to judge these children for being in the same position they’d once been. Weapons and monsters—but not because of a choice they made.
Graydon wanted to hear Raider’s answer. Whether the human would prove worthy of the woman Devon had just carried out of the shadows and set beside Jin's cryopod.
Raider's gaze lingered on his former lover. "They might not be mine the same way Elena is, but Elise wanted them. She thought them worth saving. That's enough for me."
Good answer.
With that, Graydon gave his people a nod.
Solal and Devon headed for the cryopods as Amila lifted Finn, supporting the majority of his weight as they hobbled toward the rest. The oshota too proud to let anybody carry him.
Pallas knelt beside Jin with a look of wonder. "Little brother, I can’t tell you how good it is to see your face again."
Graydon pretended not to notice the emotion on the other man's face as he reverently cupped the top of the boy’s head.
A moment passed before Pallas rose. "Take care of them."
Lathan headed toward them, the body of a woman carried over his shoulder.
"As if I would ever do anything else," Graydon said with some amusement.
Pallas took the body from Lathan, holding the woman against his chest.
Graydon didn’t understand the flash of anger and disgust in the other man’s face. Especially when compared to the gentle way he handled her.
"Lathan will remain with you. You'll have need of him," Pallas said.
"And where will you be?"
A void of black yawned beneath Pallas's feet. "I have business to take care of."
The rift swallowed Pallas and the woman, leaving no evidence of their passage.
"Will he be alright?" Graydon asked Lathan.
The wanderer's face remained calm as he moved over to help Solal and Devon lay out the children. "He will grieve. And then he will kill."
Graydon glanced at the spot where Pallas had just been. "How very Tuann."
Lathan's smile was soft. "Yes."
There was a commotion as his oshota found a boy lying on the ground, just returning to consciousness. A general who looked confused as he took in the semi-destroyed state of the room.
"What happened?" the boy asked.
Raider whipped up his rifle, aiming it at the youth’s head. Graydon's oshota unsheathed their en-blades to point them at the boy.
Elena threw herself between them and the general, her hands held out placatingly. "Don't hurt him. He's with me."
"Not you too," Raider groaned, his rifle lowering slightly.
Elena looked puzzled for a moment before her face brightened. "Auntie is working with them, isn’t she?"
The general held still, aware that his continued existence hinged on Elena’s actions.
Smart. Maybe he could be of some use after all.
Graydon prowled toward him, stopping just out of reach. "You’re in luck. I’m going to offer you a choice. I suggest you consider it carefully."
The general’s gaze lifted to Graydon’s, a question in them.
"You may come with us—or stay here."
If he chose the second, he would die before the words finished leaving his mouth. Graydon wouldn’t risk leaving behind a liability. He was already being magnanimous enough in offering him this opportunity. One that was only possible due to the vow Kira had made to Aeron.
Emotion chased across the boy's features before defeat settled over his face. "You might as well just kill me. I can’t leave or else they’ll punish my family line. If I stay, my fate will be worse than death when they learn of the exalted one’s demise."
Elena looked stricken at that response.
On the other hand, Raider seemed considering. "There is a solution to that dilemma. It’s a bit out of the box though."
Graydon raised his eyebrows at the human.
Raider offered him a shrug. "We fake his death—Kira style."
Elena clapped her hands excitedly. "That’s it. If we take some of his DNA and fabricate it, it should be enough. Especially if we blow this place up on our way out. They’ll assume his body got caught in the blast."
Raider gave his child a careful look, his expression turning dark as Elena walked over to Graydon to reach into Kira’s battle suit. "Why is your plan so specific?"
"Auntie taught me what to do," Elena answered, withdrawing a tiny device from Kira’s pocket.
"Why would she teach you that?"
"Just in case."
Raider’s glare moved to the woman in Graydon’s arms.
Coli, it's a good thing you're not awake right now or you'd have a lot to answer for, Graydon thought with some amusement.
