"Certainly for his files," I agreed absently, while keeping my eyes on Milli and Faram. Faram had just made the mistake of calling me a piece of ass with no other skills.
I will kill him if you ask it, Rigo informed me as he stalked away to follow Parak.
P'loxett
Gillen Wilker
"I will not risk you again until I find a suitable partner," the Prophet hissed at Je'Dik. Anyone else who had the temerity to question the Prophet's actions would be dead already. I had no idea why he'd allowed Je'Dik to survive—especially after the failed assassination attempt on Hraede, which resulted in Kault's death. Somehow, Je'Dik was far more important than I'd suspected.
Je'Dik was angry, but I couldn't see his eyes through the goggles he wore to tell how angry he was. I wondered if the Prophet could read his body language as easily as I could.
"I want another like Kault," Je'Dik demanded. "We worked very well together."
"You will take what I give you," the Prophet allowed his temper to show, now. "We have many scheduled for death. You will do this for me."
Nobody would have mistaken the force of that command; it vibrated throughout the room and settled in my bones. Anyone else would have fallen to the Prophet's feet and kissed them, if he'd allow it.
Je'Dik merely huffed and turned to leave. Ploxett, who also appeared unworried, stood nearby, relaxed in his stance. I, on the other hand, shivered from the command the Prophet had given another.
"Ploxett, have you enough of the formula to continue your work?" The Prophet turned to my companion.
"Yes, my commander," Ploxett dipped his head to the Prophet. "I have enough for four worlds before I am forced to create more. I am ready to go wherever you send me."
"Good. Go to Galk first, then to Corez, Kwark and Murazal."
"It will be done as you command. Come, Gillen. We have work to do."
Royal Palace, Galk
Reah
While Ocenosek and Cudworth were both troubled by the disappearances of Tory and Denevik, Cudworth displayed the most concern. I considered that the brothers had gotten close to Denevik since coming to Galk and left it at that.
Meanwhile, Lexsi, Kory and Wardevik had come to visit. Mostly, Lexsi wanted to ask questions about her father's disappearance and Warde desired to know whether I wanted Tory as a husband again.
I doubted it would trouble him greatly—he'd gotten used to my other mates. My worry was whether I'd actually get Tory back from wherever he was, or even if he were still alive.
Would Randl know, because of the coin on Tory's chest? Perhaps I should send mindspeech to find out.
"We can pinpoint where and when they disappeared, but that's all we can do," Bel Erland mumbled. He was more troubled by the disappearance of his father, but all the disappearances concerned him, as they did Wyatt and me.
Bel Erland and Wyatt had even folded space to Karathia and Campiaa to determine what they could when their fathers disappeared, which wasn't much. Dee had seen Teeg's disappearance, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. At first, Dee imagined Teeg had folded space for some emergency. It was nothing of the kind.
At least Tybus was still there and standing in for Teeg while everyone available searched for the missing. As for Ry, Erland, his father, had seen him disappear and knew immediately that something was wrong.
Pieces of my heart were missing, as were three of Lissa's sons and her eldest daughter. All of us had taken terrible blows, and our hearts and our patience were now pushed to the limit as we continued our missions.
When the knock sounded on my study door, Wyatt went to answer it. Rezo Nilus stood outside.
"Come in, please," I invited. "You ought to know about the disappearances, as you're one of us, now."
"It's the King, isn't it?"
"His stand-in, just as I'm the stand-in for the Queen," I agreed as Nilus settled himself on a chair next to Wardevik's. "He is my husband, in reality, as you may have guessed."
"It has not escaped me that the two of you are far closer than your royal counterparts."
"Agreed. I hoped it would pass unremarked," I said.
"Most fail to notice anything the King does," Nilus replied. "I notice, because it is my habit to do so. That means that you need another to act as your King. Your advisor's absence can be easily explained away. An excuse won't hold for the King."
"I suppose you're right," I conceded. "Wardevik, are you prepared to step in for Tory?"
"If that is your wish."
Always the diplomat, I sent. Is it what you truly want?
I see the expediency of it, and it makes sense. I will do this, my love.
"Bel Erland, can you make Uncle Warde look like the King of Galk?"
"I can." He rose and went to Wardevik before casting the spell to disguise him.
"That's very good," Rezo Nilus complimented Bel Erland's work.
"He's my son and a Fifth-level Karathian warlock," I sighed. "Like his father, the missing King."
Corez
Vik
We only realized we'd been walking through a haze of carbon monoxide after we walked out of it. Someone with power had formed a dome of it over the capital city of Varalon and kept it there long after it had served its purpose.
Not only had it killed all the inhabitants, it also killed any normal creature thoughtless enough to walk into it. As High Demons, we weren't affected by the poisonous air, but it was easier to breath once we left it behind.
I thought it strange that we'd not found any humanoid bodies or skeletons on our journey out of Varalon. Perhaps they'd been removed by crews wearing protective gear.
"This suburban area is also deserted," Denevik pointed out as he began walking again. "You know we'll need food and water if we're stuck here."
Meerius, is there anything like that for us to find? I sent.
The closest drinkable water is fifty miles away.
"I think we'll have to fly if we want water anytime soon," I told Denevik. "Meerius says it's fifty miles from here."
"Can he direct us?"
"Yes."
"We'll lose our clothing."
"Yeah. Well, it's water or clothes, take your pick."
I will keep your clothing for you.
Meerius' words baffled me.
Miniaturization, he said, as if I should have understood that all along.
"Take your clothes off before you change," I told Denevik. "Meerius says he can keep them safe while we fly."
Falchan
Drake
We'd been biding our time, listening for the first signs of the attack. Drew and I had gone into our meditation poses while Gavin, whose hearing was far better than anyone else's in the Falchani army, stood watch outside our tent.
The three of us were waiting for dawn and the enemy to arrive.
I hear them, Gavin sent. Gather your blades and come. I will transport you both to the front if you wish it.
He could do just that, I realized. Our combined weight would be nothing to his vampire strength, and his speed would ensure that nobody saw us clearly as we passed.
Drew and I stood smoothly from our seat on the tent floor—as we'd been taught.
"Take us, then," I told Gavin while sheathing my blades.
Gavin wasted no time; he wrapped an arm about each of us and flew through the camp as if the god of haste had infused his body.
Ravers, Drew sent as we came to an abrupt stop before the vanguard of the enemy.
Ravers indeed, I replied and pulled both my blades simultaneously.
Murazal
Nissa
The last time I'd been in danger, I was twelve. Here, on the future Murazal, danger invaded our very pores. We'd found a blast crater on the outskirts of the city, where I placed a concealing spell against sight, sound and smell.
Afterward, Toff built a small fire using a spark of power, and Trik managed to find a scrawny rabbit for our dinner.
Most of the people we'd seen were hungry and
angry. If we hadn't hidden ourselves behind spells, they'd have probably attempted to steal our clothing and shoes.
"What are we going to do?" I asked my husbands. "We can't stay here, but I have no idea where we should go."
"If I recall the maps of Murazal correctly," Trik began, "there was farmland to the west of the capital city. I say we head that way tomorrow. I have no idea whether another animal will show up within my spell range to feed us breakfast. There's certainly nothing growing in this area to feed us; everything has been scavenged by the people we saw earlier."
"I agree with Trik," Toff said.
"Then tomorrow, we'll go west. Let's hope we don't starve before we find a better place to be, and then try to figure out what the hells is going on."
"It's like whatever your mother and the others were trying to do failed completely," Trik told us. "Or that they'd never attempted it in the first place."
"It does have that feel to it, doesn't it?" I agreed with his assessment. "Something happened, that's for sure."
"I think we should do casting spells while we head west," Toff suggested. "In case we run across something that shouldn't be. If we find anything, we can report it if we ever get back to our own time."
"This," Trik waved a hand, "would certainly interest a lot of people, and Ildevar Wyyld, especially."
"Mom, too, unless she's caught up in this mess somehow, just like we are," I said. "If Zaria finds out, she'll certainly be on top of it."
"I wonder if anyone else was pulled away from our time," I mused.
"That could be," Trik acknowledged. "If they were, then I assume there's a reason for it."
"You mean a reason other than making us suffer and die?" Toff crossed arms over his chest and stared at the lip of the blast crater above our heads.
"We're not dead yet," Trik pointed out. "We have abilities at our disposal that the suffering inhabitants of Murazal do not. If there's a way we can help them, then now's the time to start thinking about that."
"He's right," I told Toff. "If the enemy placed us here, then we will do everything in our power to reverse his intentions. We'll need to fashion water flasks out of something," I said, suddenly seeing a path open before us. "And maybe something to carry food, too. We have no idea whether we'll find food whenever it's time to stop for the night, so we have to conserve when we do find something."
"Agreed," Trik said.
"Agreed," Toff sighed.
Galk
Rajeon
"This reminds me of something I read," Morrett took stock of our surroundings. Everything was either dead or dying, and we'd walked quite far from the city. Even in the distance, I could see little growing, and we'd seen no evidence of living creatures, either.
"What's that?" I asked absently, considering which animal to change to in order to find water. It was our most pressing issue, in my mind.
"It was in books from the Larentii Archives, about the Life Giver."
"Life Giver?"
"Queen Reah," Morrett shrugged. "She saved many worlds that had been sucked dry of their essence by a rogue warlock. They all appeared barren and dead after a while. Somehow, she was able to replace the power within them and bring them back to life."
"Then I suppose it's too bad she isn't here right now," I complained. "Look, do you think you can hold onto the feathers of a giant eagle? We need to find water, or we won't last more than a day or two. An eagle is the best way to see something far off, in my estimation."
"Then we have to try. I hope you can catch me if I happen to fall off."
"I'll do whatever it takes," I promised.
"Let's go."
More and more, I was coming to admire this Sirenali. He had a full measure of courage and determination, and it shored up my own. I went through the change, ruffling my feathers as I settled on the ground for Morrett to climb up.
Soon enough, he was settled right behind the base of my neck and gripping feathers as if his life depended upon it.
As it did.
Taking off would be difficult for him. With hope that his grip was firm, I launched myself into the sky and beat my wings forcefully to gain height and speed.
I find this intriguing, if a bit terrifying, Morrett sent to me.
Same here, I replied. Hold on. I see sunlight glinting off something in the distance. We'll investigate.
And so we did.
Kwark
Rylend Morphis
"You know what bothers me?" Teeg asked as we walked toward the outskirts of the city.
"What's that?"
"No bodies. No skeletons—nothing. All of that is gone. I can't scent anything decomposing that isn't plant life."
"Now that you mention it, that is odd."
"What do you know about Prophet's disease?" he asked.
"Not much, really—just that it's a thing. Bel Erland knows more than I do."
"I wouldn't know either, except they blasted that stuff all over the crowds in Campiaa City and infected several metric tons of residents. On top of that, the Prophet took the bones of people infected with it, crushed them with the concrete they died in, then sold it to be reused in several new constructions. People inside those new buildings went nuts afterward."
"What's your point?"
"That he may have infected this world with Prophet's disease, then took the bones, crushed them and set them loose in some way on other worlds."
"That's scarier than anything I've heard in a long time. Is there any way to tell if that's what happened here?"
"Think about it—civil wars, famine, shortages and deadly diseases? Some of the diseases were never identified, according to what I read."
"Then it could be Prophet's disease, plus other, unpleasant things, I suppose. I've heard he isn't the most merciful of despotic criminals."
"And he has a few rogue gods at his beck and call. It would be easy for them to conjure up a few incurable maladies to go along with the Prophet's disease. Kills the people faster and frees up their bones for other uses."
"Because you can only kill so many in a day, physically speaking?"
"Why not? He's all about making people suffer, too, so there's that."
"Where is the ASD, CSD and everybody else in all this?"
"No idea. Maybe the planet was quarantined or something?"
"Then something would have been in the records, stating that," he argued.
"Yeah. You're right. Did you see anything on there about the space station closing? This is a hub world—what about all the worlds it serviced? What happened to them?"
"Hold on," Teeg pulled the comp-vid out to look in the files again. "Uh-oh. This says the space station was closed more than a year earlier from where and when we are right now—everybody thought the disease was being carried in from other worlds. As for the other worlds, I'll have to Look—there are no records, or they were dumped."
His eyes lost focus for a few moments. While he Looked, I did the same. "Civil wars," we said in unison as we refocused on one another.
"If the same thing happened on other hub worlds, then the entire Alliance—or Alliances—could be at war, thanks to the Prophet and his likely minion, D'slay."
"What about Mom and the others who are trying to protect the hub worlds, then?"
"No idea. I've tried mindspeech—it either doesn't work off-planet, or they're not listening or plain not there."
"If they're not there, where could they be?"
"If I knew, I'd have told you already. I feel like this planet and the others around us have been shoved out of their places and abandoned."
"How could that happen? It makes no sense."
"Nothing about this makes sense, or have you not noticed?"
Falchan
Drake Tatsuya
How long did you say this battle lasted? Gavin had given up any pretense of using blades and had been fighting with his claws for the past two hours.
Until sundown, I replied. That's another hour away, if I'm right about the sun's
position this time of year.
You never have to tell a vampire when sundown is, Gavin reminded me as he relieved two more enemies of their heads.
Where did they get all these people? Drew demanded. I wasn't sure about Gavin, but Drew and I were as thirsty as we could possibly be. Somewhere behind us, the water wagon servicing our battalion had been damaged or destroyed. I wished for the ability to fold space; I'd head for the nearest river for water.
Have you tried Pulling water to you? Gavin asked. Apparently, he understood our plight, although we hadn't told him about it.
No. I assumed since we couldn't fold space, I began.
Here. A full waterskin slapped me in the face while a second one hit Drew in the chest.
Damn and tarnation, Drew cursed before jerking the cork from the container and drinking. Gavin stood beside him, dealing with all who tried to reach him while he drank his fill.
My waterskin lay at my feet while I fought on.
Your turn, Gavin informed me as Drew got back to the business of fighting.
Pulling the waterskin into my hand, I did as Drew had, removing the cork and drinking the thing dry. I didn't drop it again until there was no liquid remaining inside it.
My turn, now, Gavin said. Cover me.
I took the front, Drew covered Gavin's back as the vampire emptied his waterskin in record time. Once that was accomplished, the claws he'd sheathed appeared again and no enemy stood before him for long.
One more hour, I reminded myself.
Only one.
Chapter 15
Kabbuc Mountain, Mardir
Toad
"Now that Kault is dead and Je'Dik has been called back to P'loxett until another partner can be found, it is up to us to assassinate the next target," D'slay snarled at me. He wanted no physical part in this, especially after Kault was killed so easily.
It was obvious to me that the one in Larvalis' place held power of some sort; I could think of no other reason why anyone would survive an attack from a misting vampire and another whose parentage I could only half guess.
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