The Zoya Chronicles Boxed Set

by Kate Sander

"You heard her," Ujarak said. "Help us." The men obeyed and, hesitantly, grabbed at Kai to try and help. Kai moaned softly in pain at the new pressure on his wounds.

  "Hang in there," Senka said to him softly. "We're almost there."

  "Tell Shiloh we're coming," Ujarak barked to no one in particular. "I want this creature treated with the utmost respect. These two saved you from a swarm of Lampex wasps." The villagers gasped again and whispered to each other, wide-eyed.

  They brought Kai to a hut and were ushered in by a large woman with particularly big earrings and braided white hair adorned with flowers. Senka figured this was the village’s healer, Shiloh.

  "Put him there," she said in heavily accented English, gesturing at a bed of woven leaves on the floor. They obliged, and Kai let out a high-pitched whine.

  Shiloh worked her way up and down Kai's body, muttering to herself in a language Senka didn't understand. Exhausted and worried, she watched, not even noticing that Ujarak had sent some villagers for something.

  "This is not the work of a Lampex," Shiloh said, pointing to the festering wound on Kai's shoulder.

  "No, it's not," Senka said. "They called it Azreal. Some people in the woods captured me, we killed it to escape."

  "You killed Azreal?" Shiloh said, stunned. "Those people have been feeding us to that foul beast since the beginning of time. You are certainly a god as well. As is this black beast. What is his name?"

  "Kai," Senka said.

  "Kai. Kai is now a God. I will do everything in my power to save him."

  She looked at Senka and wincing, she looked up and down at Ujarak. "Your wounds are bad as well, but you will both live. My daughter will come and give you herbs while I work on Kai. I will sew your face and shoulder up after."

  Ujarak and Senka nodded their agreement.

  The villagers came back with water and food for Senka and Ujarak. Shiloh barked orders at them and talked quickly, all while putting some water in a kettle in the corner of the hut.

  The villagers rushed out again, this time with wide-eyed bows to Senka and Kai.

  "I have sent them for the herbs that I need. He is on the edge of survival, but if he is as strong as you say, I think we can help." She smiled at Senka and patted her arm. "Give me distance and time."

  Ujarak nodded and pulled Senka away from the hut. Shiloh's daughter soon joined them, smothering the large cut on Senka’s face with a mint smelling herb mixture.

  "It's always the same," Senka mumbled to Ujarak through terse lips after the girl was done.

  "Hmm?"

  "I always get the same injury," she gestured to her face. "You'd think I'd have learned by now it was coming."

  Ujarak laid a hand heavily on her shoulder. "I'll go check on him." He left her to her thoughts.

  Dazed, confused, and lonely, Senka sat by a bonfire and drank from a pitcher of fermented wine. She wasn't sure how long she sat there alone, but the wine was doing its job and the pain in her face was subsiding. Ujarak sat heavily beside her.

  "He is sleeping," he said. "Shiloh has given him his medicine and stitched him up as best as she can. Now we must wait."

  Senka stared at the fire. "That ship off the coast. Where is it from?"

  "A country named Anzen that is far away across the sea. They trade with these villagers for that wine you're drinking. There is a whole giant world out there that we didn't know about when we were living in Langundo. I feel foolish, only ever thinking it was us and Carabesh in the world."

  "Anzen?" Senka said, surprised. "You're sure that's what it was called?"

  "Yes, I'm sure."

  "We need to get on that ship when Kai is better. I know a woman, a Zoya, who was once the empress of Anzen. I came back to this world to look for her. I think that's a good place to start."

  Ujarak stayed silent.

  "Get your sea legs back, big man. We're going on a ship."

  7

  Black Eyes

  "Tell me again, and go slowly," Carter said to Ramjeet. "Why do you think that a natural disaster will occur again? How can you possibly know?"

  "It's in the math," Ramjeet replied urgently.

  Black Eyes was tucked in the corner of the glass office, watching the exchange. Carter looked tired. He had bags under his eyes and was rubbing his temples, staring at the screen Ramjeet was showing him (Carter had informed her that this was called a tablet).

  "Look, this is the background radiation of the universe."

  "Yes, that has been in existence since the Big Bang. What about it?"

  "It's changed."

  "I'm looking at it. No, it hasn't."

  "I'm telling you it’s infinitesimal but the change is there."

  Carter sighed and leaned back in his chair behind his desk. "Okay, so even if it had changed, which I'm not saying it has, then why do you think that has anything to do with natural disasters?"

  "The sun," Ramjeet said excitedly.

  Carter stared at him.

  "You went to MIT," Ramjeet said. "I don't know why I have to explain this."

  "Let’s just say particle physics and meteorology weren't my forté," Carter said.

  "The sun is being affected by the small change of background microwave radiation. This has slightly altered the oscillation of the magnetic field of the sun. That has a huge effect on our weather system."

  "The tsunami in Brazil was caused by the Scotia Plate hitting the South American plate. It has nothing to do with the magnetic field of the sun."

  "But-"

  Carter held up his hand, effectively silencing the young handler. "Your job, Ram, is to make sure that Laura is safe on missions and to help her complete them. Now, I have asked you all to find me Freudman, by any means necessary. Where are we with that?"

  Ramjeet hung his head. "I've found his grandfather, of the same name, a Doctor Wolfgang Freudman, born in 1876 in Germany. That's where the lineage ends. I cannot find any birth certificate in any nation for the younger Freudman. He wasn't officially born anywhere."

  "He most likely has stolen that name from someone else," Carter said. "Took the name of a dead man, easiest way to change an identity. Start at the beginning. Find me someone with the same face as him. He sounded German, start there. Access their street cameras and look for him. Find him."

  Ramjeet nodded and sulked as he walked to the door.

  "Present the theory, with the math to back it up, when you're ready," Carter called to him. "Change my mind, but do it on your own time."

  Ram perked up and walked through the door.

  Carter sighed and leaned back in his chair.

  "I have no idea what you guys were talking about," Black Eyes said.

  "You're still here," Carter said without opening his eyes. "The hallucination hasn't left yet."

  "I'm not a hallucination," Black Eyes said, sauntering over to the desk. "I'm dead. Big difference, we've been over this."

  "Then why can't Ram see you? Why haven't all my handlers asked me who you are?"

  "I don't want them to see me."

  "Oh good, so I just look crazy because I'm talking to nothing. I've only been in charge here for what, six weeks? This is exactly what I need, a hallucination talking to me. Certainly makes for a strong leader."

  Black Eyes hopped on to the desk, pushing a pen aside.

  Carter snapped upright, "What did you do?"

  Black Eyes shrugged, "I moved a pen. I didn't want it to stick in my ass."

  "Yes but I heard it move. It actually moved."

  Black Eyes rolled her eyes. "See? Not a hallucination. Can we be done with this conversation yet?"

  "Why don't you show yourself to the rest of these people? Then I won't look crazy."

  "Not my problem if you look crazy," Black Eyes said. "Plus, I can't believe I have to tell you this, but you're basically a spy, are you not? And you can't tell me any reason why you would need someone invisible that no one knows about?"

  Carter sat up slowly, a glint in his eye.

  "S
ee? You may want me to stay invisible."

  "Fair point. And you're here to stay?"

  Black Eyes shrugged, "I like it here. It's nice, honestly, having some choices back. Not like Tory knew I had no choice when she told me to do something but the distance is nice. I spent a lot of time with only one other person, it's good to have some change."

  "So tell me your story. Who is this Tory?"

  "Tory is a Melanthios woman. They look like us, the Melanthios. You'd be one of them in our world. Anyway, she was a General in the army. We went to war, following Senka in her campaign to kill a traitor to the throne. Messy stuff, hundreds died. Tory... accidentally shot me during the war."

  "Wait, you're telling me that you're attached, so to speak, with the woman that killed you?"

  "Not as if I have a choice. Ghosts aren't really a thing to the Melanthios. You go to the spirit world of the ancestors after you die. I'm not really sure why I'm different."

  "You said that Tory used to be a General..."

  "We left Ismat after the war, that's the biggest Melanthios village. Traveled north over the tundra to find Tory's father. The Shaman sent her on the quest. I thought it was stupid but we found him." Black Eyes' eyes grew dark. "I told her it was a bad idea."

  "What happened?"

  "He tried to kill her. Her own father. He was acting as if he was possessed, like he couldn't stop himself. Then, suddenly, Tory transported us to a ship. We fought the leaders of the Ampulex. They are terribly powerful Zoya and we barely got away. Tory used a stone the Shaman gave to her in a vision..."

  Carter was staring at her, pure confusion on his face. "What you're saying defies physics."

  Black Eyes shrugged. "Not really sure what this physics is but it certainly sounds like magic. Anyway, we fought this man and woman and we barely got away. The weirdest part was I could do damage to them. I hadn't made contact with anything... physical for a long time." Black Eyes brandished her dagger, spinning it in her hand. "I cut the woman's face. Tory managed to bring us back along with the stone. Then her father ran out into a snow storm and died. Last I heard Tory was heading north over an ice bridge. I was sent to find Senka and a couple of others. Once here I decided to stick around."

  "How did you find me?"

  Black Eyes shrugged. "Waited with Senka's body. Look, I have a question for you. What is that small thing that everyone has? It has a screen on it and lights up?"

  Carter had to laugh. It was all so absurd. Worse was that he actually believed this hallucination's story. "What, a phone?" He reached into his pocket and brought his out, showing her.

  Black Eyes beamed. "Yeah! That. Why does everyone have them? What does it do?"

  Carter shrugged, "I really don't know where to start. It's a communication device and helps us access information."

  "But all I see are people avoiding communication by looking at them."

  Carter laughed. "You have a point. I'm exhausted and Ram has given me a lot to think about. Time to go home, shall we?"

  Black Eyes jumped up from her perch on the desk. "You inviting me or do I have to follow you?"

  "I'm inviting you. Might as well as I don't think you're going anywhere."

  Black Eyes flashed him a rare smile.

  Carter grabbed his coat and led her to the door of his glass-walled office. Thankfully the blinds had been closed during their conversation. He didn't need his staff thinking he was crazier than he was. Not thinking, he opened the door of the office and held it open for her. He didn't realize his mistake until he followed her through and saw Ramjeet's averted eyes fixed pointedly at his desk.

  "Shit," he muttered to himself.

  He walked toward the door, completely ignoring Black Eyes.

  "Wait!" she called. She'd stopped at a picture on the wall beside the door. "Who is this?"

  Carter paused and waited until Ramjeet returned his earphones to his ears and ignored him. The picture depicted a man with a fur hood, staring daggers at the camera. "That is Sir Roald Ammondson. He was the founder of the Zoya Task Force over a hundred years ago. Why?" Black Eyes was staring, wide eyed. "Black Eyes, why? Why does it matter?"

  "That's him..." she muttered. ”That's the guy who attacked us on the ship in my world. Him and a woman. He's a Zoya?"

  Carter shook his head, "That's impossible. Roald Ammondson died in 1911."

  8

  Tory

  The decorated gold and purple walls pulsed with the dream. The gold tribal symbol of the wasp was there, again, just like it was every time. The earth moved back and forth under her feet.

  "My dear Roald," the woman named Malin called from her chair. Tall, blonde, and just as gorgeous in Tory’s mind as she was the last time Tory visited this maggot. "Our visitor is here," the accented, sickly-sweet voice called.

  "No," Tory said to herself in her dream. Her body thrashed against the memory, but it was no use, she couldn't wake, not yet. Not until she let her.

  Roald stepped into the chamber.

  "No!" Tory yelled, writhing against what she knew was coming.

  "Yes, dearest Malin?" The broad shouldered blond man with short hair asked.

  Malin pointed at her. Tory tried to flee.

  "Not yet," said the insidious mind-maggot, her own voice talking to her in her dreams. "You're not done here yet."

  "Ah!" Roald said smoothly, opening his arms wide. "Welcome, dear stranger."

  This time she was allowed a step back. The dream mirrored reality, but as reality had been a vision, was there even a reality to be had?

  "You have no reason to be afraid," Roald said kindly with a smile that did not reach his eyes.

  The dream did not wait to answer Tory's existential wondering.

  "You are an expected guest, Tory," Malin said.

  "How do you know my name?" Tory felt herself demanding. No. That's not what I want to ask. I want to ask why I'm here? Why is Black Eyes attached to me? But she didn't ask that in reality, so she couldn't ask that now.

  "We've had our eyes on you for a long time," Malin said over her screaming thoughts.

  "Since you were born, in fact," Roald added. "And please, sit and eat. I'm so sorry, we forget ourselves as hosts sometimes."

  "I'm good standing," Tory said. She tried to break the dream. She needed to get out.

  "Not yet," the maggot said. "You must watch it over and over."

  "Back to the point," Tory said, "why have you been watching me since I was born?"

  "Well that's not entirely true." Malin shot Roald a warning look.

  Tory had never picked up on that look before. In the weeks past, the nightly dream haunted her. She'd always been too frightened to pay attention.

  "Now you're getting it," the maggot said to her in her ear.

  "Your father was gifted with the opportunity to prove himself to our cause. It seems he did not free you from your earthly bonds as he led us to believe twenty years ago."

  Malin was mad at Roald for telling her that they had been looking for her.

  "Wait, you wanted him to kill me twenty years ago?" Tory was asking.

  "My dearest child. We offer salvation from the cruelty of this world. Your father was sent to free you from terrible decisions. That is our gift to you."

  "Well I'm not in a receiving mood," Tory said. The exhaustion hit, as it always did.

  Wake up, she sobbed. Just wake up. "Not yet," the dream maggot said, "you have to watch it all."

  "Why would you want to kill me in the first place?" Tory asked, though she didn't mean to. "What am I to you? I've neither heard of you, nor do we have a quarrel."

  Roald sent Malin a warning glance. "It was not aimed at you, specifically, child. We merely wanted to test your father's allegiance."

  "He's lying," came Black Eyes' voice in her ear. Tory didn't jump this time. She'd had this dream nightly since the event had occurred six weeks ago, and she was no longer surprised that Black Eyes was there.

  "If you're not with us, we will have to take that
choice away from you."

  "You can't take any choice away from me," Tory said. "You can kill me, but I make my own choices."

  "Unfortunately, we can," Roald said softly.

  "It's for your own good," Malin said. "A small sacrifice of fear, then you won't have to make a decision again. We take away the burden."

  Tory took a step back and shrugged her bow off her shoulder.

  "It's for your own good, you know," Malin said, eyes downcast.

  Roald snapped his fingers.

  "Run!" Black Eyes yelled, but there was no time. Six Sun Gods ran into the room through the chamber doors. Tory went through the motions of taking her bow and shooting them down, but she knew what was coming in this dream.

  No, she pleaded, not again.

  "Watch," the dream said to her. "You did it, you watch what you did."

  An arrow whizzed by her shoulder. Tory couldn't stop herself, the dream was in control. She ducked, pivoted and fired all in one movement.

  "No!"

  Black Eyes was standing behind her. Beautiful, tall, elegant Black Eyes. She coughed, Tory's arrow sticking out of her chest.

  The dream flashed to the ridge overlooking the battle against the Sun Gods, the first time Tory shot Black Eyes. When she'd actually killed her all those years ago. The scent of the forest, of her home, assaulted her nose, causing a deep-seeded longing in her heart.

  Tory rushed to the dead woman's side. "Black Eyes, come back to me. I miss you."

  Black Eyes didn't answer. Her eyes darkened into black and she died, blood pooling from her chest.

  "Black Eyes, come back. I'm lonely, I miss you."

  Her eyes stayed dead.

  "She's ready for you, my dear."

  Tory turned to face Malin. This time she was in the Melanthios forest with the war raging all around them. Elegance and grace contrasting with the ravages of war.

  "Watch her now," the dream said. "Watch carefully."

  Malin stared into her eyes.

  "So noble," Malin said softly. "To be most afraid of taking a friend's life." Her eyes swam. Tory saw her reflection in the smoky green.

  "Closer," the dream hissed.