Balance of Power: The Blackened Prophecy Book 2

by Oganalp Canatan

  “You would expect them to be at each other’s throats.”

  Sarah nodded. “That’s why I don’t feel safe. Everything is weird here.”

  “Maybe they’re all at peace with what has transpired,” Elaine said, drinking some wine.

  “Maybe the old priest and Samir. One accepts life as granted, and the other one trained his whole life to be prepared to die in battle.” Sarah let herself bite a small piece of meat but, smiling, she separated more than two-thirds of the food on her plate. “For the cat,” Sarah explained when Elaine’s brows rose.

  Elaine smiled. “The food’s good, you’ve got to admit that much, Sarah.”

  Sarah nodded. The food was good. “I get the two Baeal. They must have their own agendas.”

  “And my dad?”

  Sarah sighed, putting down her fork. “That’s the one thing I can’t figure out. Is he out on this quest for vengeance, for closure? I can’t tell. He’s becoming distant.”

  “He was always horrible at expressing his feelings, Sarah.”

  “No, not that.” Sarah looked at the men lost deep in discussion. Their faces were grim but not hostile toward one another. It was more like serious men talking about serious things. “He’s lost in his thoughts. Not telling much. After the battle of Earth, after we found ourselves on New Eden, he was happy for a while. Genuinely happy.”

  “What changed?”

  Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. First, sex became vague and distant.”

  Elaine giggled.

  “What?” Sarah smirked and threw Elaine a grape, which earned a scolding look from Brother Cavil that only made the girls giggle more. “Sorry,” Sarah said to the old man, letting him return to his discussion at the other end of the table. “You’re old enough to talk about that and probably had more than I did in the last few years.”

  “Sarah!” Elaine blushed.

  “Anyway,” Sarah’s cheer died. “We talked about daily stuff, but Ray was all about taking care of his cabbages and finding booze. He stayed awake at night. More than once, I found him staring out into the sky in the middle of the night, watching the stars. He never talked about those thoughts. Soon, we were like two strangers. I hung out with Darty all day long, and he drank and stared outside.”

  Elaine’s face sobered. No longer enthusiastic about her food. She reached for the wine, pouring a good third of the bottle into her cup. “More wine. Yes. Is that why you left him?”

  “I didn’t leave him, Elaine. He asked me to leave.”

  Elaine looked over her goblet.

  Sarah drained hers and poured more, sending the servant away. “I’m not a princess,” she had hissed the first time a servant tried to fill her cup. The second time, her response was along the lines of growling and biting. “He’s not coping well with what he’s become. None of us talk about it, but it’s the elephant in the room. The man can move mountains with his mind, for gods’ sake.”

  Elaine nodded slowly. “I don’t know how to feel about that myself. He’s definitely not the man I watched leave years ago. This man’s powerful and changed, but those stones are corroding him from the inside.”

  “That’s why I’m not happy having that snake around him.”

  “Sim’Ra?”

  “Yes.”

  “He cared for me while I was on Bacchus. He was more than helpful.”

  “Which worries me even more. Sim’Ra appearing here precisely before that thing arrived on New Eden, him not dying when Ray crushed his ships, and of all the people on that ship, picking you to keep an eye on. He has a plan. What it is, I can’t tell.”

  “And my father being erratic doesn’t help either. I’m still mad at him for choking that boy.”

  “Eras?”

  “Mhm.”

  “He wants to protect you, Elaine.”

  “That, I can understand. What I can’t understand is dad choking the boy. Why didn’t he warn him, warn me, yell, whatever? He was ready to kill him, Sarah. I saw it in his eyes. He was ready.”

  Silence took over for a good long minute, both girls playing with the food on their plates. “So, you like the boy?” Sarah finally broke in, mostly because she couldn’t bear her instincts screaming at her. A storm approaches.

  “He’s cute,” Elaine smiled. “Not that good-looking, but he’s kind.”

  “He has a thing for you.”

  “You think?”

  “I see.”

  Elaine’s smile broadened. “It’s nice to be appreciated. I’m not attracted to him, but it’s nice to have someone your own age to talk to.”

  “Elaine, the breaker of hearts,” Sarah shook her head slowly, smiling. “Just be safe, girl. Don’t get hurt. And remember where we are.”

  “I’ll look out for myself, I promise, Sarah.” Elaine paused a moment. “Are you afraid?”

  “Hmm?” Sarah raised her stare to meet Elaine’s. “What do you mean?”

  “Are you afraid of all this, you know?” Elaine waved her hand, making a circle. “About my dad, aliens, that cloud thing and all. Back in Consortium space, we were told the Brotherhood were terrorists. Now we’re dining at their guest hall.”

  Sarah licked her lips. “I’m not sure. Most of the time, I try not to think about it and let the flow carry me. Things are busy enough to keep feelings at bay. I’m afraid of losing you and your dad. Ga’an, Admiral Conway, this crazy old man, and Samir, you know.”

  “I heard that. I am not crazy!” Brother Cavil protested over his shoulder and returned to his discussion with Captain Samir about some six-legged antelope he had seen on New Eden, discussing possible names for the creature.

  The girls both smiled, raising their glasses to the old priest’s comment. “Amen to that, Brother,” Sarah shook her head. “But I also feel alive. The thrill’s addictive. You’ll get used to it.”

  “You’re taking this better than everyone.”

  “I’ve been in it from the very beginning, and I’m not the star of the show. It helps.”

  “You’re worried more than you’re telling, Sarah. It shows.”

  Sarah bit her lower lip, looking at the wine in her goblet. “One of these days, your dad will face something he can’t cope with, and we’ll need to be there when that happens to keep him on the right path.”

  “Right path?”

  “Think of it as the devil and the angel whispering over your shoulders. We have to be those angels when the time comes. Your dad is the wild card, and whoever plays that card will alter this balance.” Sarah’s eyes moved to the dark, tall figure sitting across the table, near Archibald. Sarah felt a chill run down her spine as Sim’Ra looked her directly in the eye as if to challenge her line of thought, smiling wryly. Sarah didn’t fool herself for a second—his face smiled, but those black eyes were colder than space.

  JUSTICE DELIVERED

  “I thank you for this enlightening evening, Lohil,” Archibald stood up and saluted everyone at the table. “If you will excuse me, I will now retreat. You are, of course, free to enjoy the rest of the evening as you like.”

  Ray wiped his mouth, looking a little dizzy from the wine. “I’d like to be on my way to Tarra immediately.”

  Brother Cavil put his hand on Ray’s arm, “We can leave at first light, son. We should first get some rest and sober you up.”

  Ray opened his mouth to protest, but Captain Samir nodded in agreement with the old man. “I don’t feel like I can shoot anything at the moment, boss. Best to get some sleep.”

  Ray looked as if he was about to ignore reason and head straight back to Fox, but his shoulders dropped when Sarah shook her head vigorously. “In the morning, then.” He turned at Elaine, “Elaine, time to go to bed.”

  Elaine sighed, “Really? Will you pour me some warm milk and read a story as well?”

  Sarah stepped just in time before Ray said another thing he would probably regret later, “It’s all right, Ray. I’ll be with her. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do anyway.”

  “Wha
tever, just be safe,” Ray shrugged, heading out of the dining hall with Samir, talking urgently in low voices, Brother Cavil following behind them, interrupting the dialog with his own ideas.

  “I believe I will ask to be excused as well,” Sim’Ra said, giving a royal bow to the women. “If sleep does not find you, you may like to visit the lower levels. Many interesting things to find in there.” He smirked and left the hall.

  “I don’t like him one bit,” Sarah whispered as she and Elaine watched the towering Baeal leave them alone in the dining hall. “So,” she turned at Elaine, “what would you like to do, young miss? The library?”

  “Nope. Too much wine for reading,” Elaine pursed her lips. “Maybe we should do as he suggested. See what our hosts are up to after dark,” she smiled, heading for the stairs at the other side of the large hall.

  “A stroll in the dark it is, then.”

  ***

  The walls were made of big stones paved together like medieval castles of Earth, with the mountain’s natural rock formations popping up here and there. The hallways were wide enough that several people could stand side by side, and at least three and a half meters tall. Braziers lined the long hallways, their slowly fading coals glowing dark orange. The duo passed through archways and doors, stairs going down and further down still, deeper into the mountainside that the Cosmon Brotherhood’s sanctuary was built in. Murals and banners displayed events of human history, as well as other species they had never heard of.

  “I’m puzzled by them, still.”

  “The Brotherhood? Yes.” Sarah was having doubts herself. “They aren’t the boogeyman everyone painted them as,” she nodded as they passed by the murals. “Granted, their ways are bloody, and there’s no excuse for that.”

  “But they aren’t the mindless killers like the Consortium would have us believe.”

  “Killers nonetheless but, no. I’m fairly certain that our own Consortium caused the same amount of death, if not more, as a profit-driven wealth empire.”

  “The means are as important as the end.”

  “Yes. The cause may be right, but the methods,” Sarah shook her head. “Just, no.”

  “There,” Elaine’s leaned her head to listen. “It happened again. Please tell me you hear that.”

  “You’re hearing things, girl. We’re tired, perhaps we should head—” Sarah stopped. Elaine was right. “All right, I’ve heard it too.” For the last ten minutes, Elaine insisted she heard someone screaming below. Sarah thought she was drunk. They both were. But now, she wasn’t so sure about Elaine being mistaken.

  “It’s coming from that corridor,” Elaine pointed at a nearby archway, curving a few meters away, hinting yet another level below where they stood. “Come on, Sarah.”

  “Elaine, maybe we shouldn’t—” but Elaine had already disappeared from the end of the corridor, leaving Sarah no choice but to follow. Not before giving a huge sigh, of course.

  By the time Sarah reached the end of the decline, what she had witnessed was total chaos. Elaine was yelling at a rather large man wearing the same light yellow jacket and belt. He wasn’t wearing his hood. Sarah wished he was. The man had a huge scar from the top of his bald head, passing across his left eye, blinding it. With his one-eyed stare and muscular build, the man was like an automaton—no expressions, no feelings. He was simply keeping Elaine at bay, keeping her away.

  If seeing the Cosmon goon struggling with Elaine disgusted Sarah, seeing why Elaine was ballistic made her want to spill out all that tasty evening meal. Eras was naked inside a cell with two other Cosmon followers at his sides; a man and a woman. The boy was chained to the ceiling by rusted metal shackles and seemed only half-aware. Blood trailed down his back from many wounds, probably inflicted by the small whip the woman held. It seemed Elaine had interrupted their torture. Sarah was sure if it wasn’t for Ray, they wouldn’t have made it this far inside the compound, let alone be allowed to interfere with this… atrocity.

  “What in seven depths of hell are you doing?” she hollered, finally breaking off from the spell of horror. “Let go of her before I blow your head off!” With one quick step, she was near Elaine, breaking the hold of the bald prison guard.

  “Eras,” Elaine cried again. “You let go of him!”

  Eras came to his senses with the shout momentarily. The boy tried to look up, blood dripping from his mouth. He smiled briefly, opening his mouth to say something but instead passed out.

  “What’s going on here? I demand to know,” Sarah barked at the guard. “Why’s this man chained and tortured?” Sim’Ra, I’ll kill you!

  The woman inside the cell answered, taken aback. “Eremite Eras offended the Lohil. This is his penance.”

  The way she said it made Sarah worse, as if she wasn’t already feeling at the bottom of a bottomless pit. It was as if she was interrupting a morning from dawning or birds from singing. The woman looked at her like Sarah was breaking down the world. She would if she had to. “This stops now. Release the boy!”

  No one moved except for Elaine, now sobbing more than struggling.

  “Don’t make me repeat myself, or you’ll be dealing with the Lohil.”

  That made clogs move. The moment Sarah mentioned Ray’s name, the guards’ eyes bulged, and Sarah was sure she saw the female torturer gulp. “As you wish,” she babbled, unshackling the poor boy.

  “Bring a stretcher and some wet towels.” Sarah went inside the cell to hold the boy. Elaine was near her in a heartbeat. “Okay, kiddo, don’t you worry. It’ll be over soon.”

  “I…”

  “Hush, Eras,” Elaine’s voice trembled. “Save your strength.”

  “I am sorry if I offended you and your father, Elaine,” he whispered before his eyes rolled back again.

  “Where is that damned gurney?” Sarah’s voice was thunder. Damn you, you black-hearted demon. Damn you, Sim’Ra!

  ***

  “Easy now, son.” Brother Cavil wiped the blood from Eras’s lips and reached for the glass of water nearby on the nightstand. “Here, drink this.” The old priest looked over his shoulder at Ray, his lips tightened, eyes flaring. “Seventy-five lashes. What were they thinking?”

  Ray didn’t say anything. Sarah and Elaine had dashed into his chambers with the news, and since he saw the boy’s condition, Ray felt genuinely sorry for Eras. He couldn’t let go of the boy’s face when he had almost choked him at the library. “Who did this?” Ray asked Archibald Cosmon beside him. “Did you order this?”

  “No, Lohil.” Archibald Cosmon’s face was calm, but with a hint of distaste in his eyes. “Penance is common here but not like this. This is fringe even by my standards.” He turned and went into the corridor, leaving Eras, the women, and Brother Cavil alone. Captain Samir and Ray followed him.

  “You,” Archibald Cosmon addressed the jailer waiting outside. “Who ordered you to do this?”

  “Protodeacon Hanker gave the order, Supreme Leader. He said the Lohil was offended because of the boy’s interaction with the Daughter-Heir and had to pay his dues.”

  Archibald Cosmon didn’t say anything, thinking. “Lohil, a word,” he finally whispered, gently pushing Ray away from the others.

  “What?” Ray wasn’t in the mood for court courtesies. He was angry at himself, he was mad at Sarah and Elaine for wandering, but what he felt the most was rage for what had happened to the kid. “I’m not in the mood, Archibald.”

  The wrinkles around Archibald Cosmon’s eyes deepened when he spoke. “What the Protodeacon ordered was just per our laws. It was extreme, but it was sanctioned. However,” he raised a finger before Ray could argue, “I understand the need for closure for you and for your daughter. I cannot condemn this action—that would blur the necessity to follow the rules. But I cannot stop you from acting.” He smiled. “You are the Lohil. You can deliver your own judgment.”

  Ray felt sick. He was again left to punish someone for doing their job, just as he had had to kill countless Baeal for acting on
orders. However, Ray had to prove a point to stop the violence rooted in this society. He didn’t want to understand the reasoning, the logic. He closed his eyes and sighed. “Take me to this Protodeacon Hanker.”

  “Right this way, Lohil.”

  STEFANU

  Ga’an cursed in his own tongue, doing nothing to hide his fury as Kirby and his men pushed Ga’an’s team into the bridge to join the command personnel. His hands were bound behind his back with crude plastic handcuffs, just like the rest of Deviator’s bridge crew. He and the rest had fresh bruises forming on their faces; some of the marines had swollen lips.

  “I am sorry, Admiral Conway. We were unsuccessful in our assignment.”

  Rebecca shook her head. “The blame is on me, Mr. Ga’an. I should have thought this through better.”

  “Yes,” a raspy voice replied over the navigation console without raising his head, fiddling with the controls. “Most people make that mistake, trying to bend the rules in opposing territory.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Me?” the man tilted his head. “I’m not here to make friends, Admiral. I just want the ship.”

  Rebecca looked at the gun, pointed at her face. “You do realize this is a military ship, right?” she asked, keeping her eyes on the weapon.

  “Yes.” The mercenary guard smiled at Rebecca. He had dark stubble and hair, both graying. Sunken, dark green eyes suggested a worn-out body, but the man’s posture was solid as a rock. This man knew how to handle himself. His stance was of a panther, awaiting danger and on constant alert. The easygoing act was a ruse.

  “You were Special Forces.”