Wildfire and Steel

by J. J. Green

  Castiel’s hands curled into fists. “My father was worth more than all the rest of the Sherrerrs put together!” It was actually his mother who had killed Father, but he was not about to inform Calvaley of that.

  Sable raised a hand to her mouth to cover a smile. Castiel breathed out heavily. Fuck them. “Tell us the shipyard coordinates.” He waited. “Last chance.”

  When neither of the Sherrerr officers answered, Castiel was actually pleased. This was going to be enjoyable. He unstoppered his elixir bottle and took a swig. Then he closed his eyes to concentrate. He’d practised the Cast on animals on Langley’s estate, with varying results. But the animals had always died eventually, and that was all that mattered.

  Castiel wrote the character and sent it out, deciding at the last minute to send it at Tremoille. Calvaley had insulted his father’s memory, but Tremoille had called him a nasty word. He wasn’t going to stand for that, especially not with Sable Dirksen as a witness. He had to show her that he wouldn’t allow anyone to disrespect him.

  Tremoille shrieked and clasped her back. She began to wriggle around, as if trying to escape something. But there was no escaping the Split Cast. Calvaley was on his feet and shouting, banging his cell wall with his fists. His words were drowned out by Tremoille’s howls of agony.

  Castiel was gratified to note Sable’s amazement at what was happening. He had finally gotten her full attention. Calvaley was pounding and kicking the wall in fury while Tremoille writhed. A pool of her blood was widening around her. Then, all too soon, it was over.

  Calvaley turned his face from the contorted, mangled figure.

  “Keep the lights on and their shared wall transparent,” Castiel said with as much authority as he could muster. “Let him see her for the rest of the night. Then in the morning we can ask him for the coordinates again.”

  Sable pulled her gaze from Tremoille’s remains. “Come out here.” She closed Tremoille’s cell door.

  “That was dumb,” she said. “I didn’t know you were going to kill her. Now we’re one Sherrerr prisoner down, and a useful one at that. You should have told me what you were going to do.”

  When Castiel opened his mouth to reply, she held up a hand to silence him. “But I have to admit, you have some interesting skills. Maybe we can find a use for you.”

  Castiel cursed inwardly. Enthrall. He should have tried the Enthrall Cast. What a stupid mistake. He might have been able to force them to answer questions without hurting them. Only he’d been trying too hard to impress Sable.

  “There’s plenty more I can do,” Castiel said. “That’s only a small part of it. Let me try again.”

  “No. I want to think about it before I let you loose on my prisoners again. That’s enough for now.” Sable yawned. “I’m going back to bed. Come with me.”

  They left the prisoner cells and returned to the older part of the castle. Sable took Castiel up another flight of stairs. At the top, the servant who had met him at the entrance was waiting.

  “Find him a room,” Sable told the servant. Then, without saying another word to Castiel, she walked away down the corridor.

  In this part of the mountain castle, carpet ran along the floor, softening footsteps and reducing the chill. Castiel followed the servant, but he glanced repeatedly over his shoulder to see what Sable was doing.

  She stopped at a room at the far end of the corridor. Four men stood outside it. At first, Castiel thought they were guards, but during one long glance backward, Castiel saw Sable look each man up and down before poking one in the chest. Her choice followed her into her room.

  That night, Castiel’s thoughts were diverted from his killing of Tremoille to what he’d seen in the corridor. He wondered if one day he would be joining Sable in her room.

  Chapter Eleven

  According to the data Carina was seeing from the shuttle’s scanners, Dirksen and Sherrerr ships had clearly slogged it out hard for control of Ostillon. As well as the traces of heavy and prolonged pulse fire, it looked like something big had exploded. The interplanetary space was a mess.

  She set a trajectory that would take them in the opposite direction from the fast-moving cloud of flotsam.

  Cloak was a useful Cast. The shuttle’s scanners could receive data yet other ships’ scanners were apparently not picking up their presence. Otherwise the ships in the vicinity would be giving them five seconds to explain themselves.

  How long would the Cloak last? Carina was about to leave the controls to go and ask Darius when she heard someone run up behind her. Before she could turn to see who it was, she was slapped across the back of her head. Carina spun around and caught Parthenia’s arm as she was about to land another blow.

  Carina stood up, maintaining her grip on her sister’s arm. They locked gazes. Carina released Parthenia. Her sister hit her again, slapping her forcefully across the face. Carina bore the attack as Parthenia continued to rain blows on her head and face. She didn’t defend herself.

  Parthenia’s fist split Carina’s gum across her tooth and hot blood oozed into her mouth. Her ear rang from Parthenia hitting it. Then her sister landed a blow on the bridge of her nose. Blood burst out and ran down her face. The pain brought tears to her eyes.

  Eventually Bryce realized what was happening and ran into the cabin. He grabbed Parthenia’s shoulders and pulled her away from Carina. She didn’t resist.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Bryce said.

  Parthenia didn’t take her eyes off Carina. She took a step closer. Bryce inserted his arm between them to prevent her from resuming her attack.

  “Don’t ever speak to me again,” Parthenia hissed at Carina. She turned and stalked out of the cabin.

  “Stars, you’re a mess,” said Bryce. “I’ll find something to help you clean up. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Carina sat down and put her head in her hands. Blood dripped from her nose onto the console. “I don’t blame her. It’s no more than I deserve.”

  “No more than you deserve? She should be on her knees thanking you for saving her life. She would have died on Ostillon by herself.”

  “I know, but what I did was wrong. She’s old enough to decide for herself what risks she wants to take. I just couldn’t bear to lose her. Not after what happened to Ma. I was being selfish. Now she’ll hate me forever, justifiably.”

  “At least she’ll be alive,” said Bryce. “I can understand she would be angry, but she’s overreacting. She has to know you did it for her own good.”

  Carina pressed her sleeve against her nose to stem the flow of blood. “You don’t understand. Casting Enthrall on another mage goes against everything we stand for. It’s a Cast you’re only really supposed to use in self-defense. It’s entirely against our code to use it to gain advantage over someone, especially another mage. Double-especially your own family. I guess Ma made that clear to them at some point. What I did was far worse than abandoning Parthenia to her fate. I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of them hated me now as well.”

  “I’m sure they don’t, and that Parthenia will come around eventually. If they hate you for saving their sister from Castiel, they’re a bunch of idiots.”

  Carina smiled and then regretted it as her cut gum sent out a sliver of pain. Her nose hurt like a bitch too. “They’re only kids, Bryce, and they were protected from the harsh realities of life as they were growing up. When you consider that, they’ve all done amazingly well over the last few weeks. I’m proud of them.”

  “If you say so. I’ll try to find a cloth and some water.”

  Carina hoped that the shuttle was stocked with water and other emergency supplies. As it was a military vessel, she would have been surprised if it wasn’t, but it was a possibility. The vessel was so old it had probably been brought out of storage for the battle. She hoped it contained what they would need to sustain them during their trip to their next destination, wherever that might be.

  She checked the fuel
level and was gratified to see it was registering one hundred percent. Next, she checked the shuttle’s range. Her heart sank. The little vessel would not take them far. She brought up the local region’s star map and drew a sphere at the boundary of the farthest the shuttle would take them without refueling.

  “Bryce asked me to help you,” said Nahla, standing at the cabin doorway. She was holding a piece of cloth and a water ration.

  Carina had hardly spoken to the little girl since rescuing her from Langley Dirksen’s mansion. Little Nahla had been constantly quiet and submissive, meekly going along with whatever they did. Carina hadn’t even asked her if she was pleased she had taken her away from Castiel.

  “Thanks,” Carina said.

  Nahla moved closer and dampened the cloth with water from the container before carefully dabbing at the drying blood on Carina’s face. She touched Carina’s nose, which made Carina suck in a breath and wince. Nahla drew away in fear.

  “It’s okay,” said Carina. “It just hurts a bit.” As Nahla resumed her gentle cleaning, Carina asked, “What’s Bryce doing?”

  “He’s talking to Parthenia.”

  It was nice of him but Carina doubted it would do any good. She knew that in Parthenia’s position she would have reacted just the same, if not worse.

  “Are you glad you aren’t with Castiel anymore?” Carina asked, hoping that at least one of her half-siblings didn’t despise her.

  “Yes, I am. I thought he was a nice brother, but he was mean to me. I didn’t want to stay with him anymore.”

  “That’s good to hear, Nahla. Thank you.”

  The little girl blushed and looked down, unused to receiving approval.

  Stefan Sherrerr had screwed up his offspring in so many different ways.

  ***

  “Not another freezing trip,” Oriana whined.

  Their shuttle had departed the Floria system, and Carina was explaining their destination options. Only two star systems with inhabited planets were within range and to reach either of them would entail a reenactment of their flight from the Nightfall, where they had endured life support set at the minimum level for survival to eke out the fuel.

  “We don’t have a lot of choice about it,” Carina snapped. Her nose continued to throb. She wondered if it was broken.

  Parthenia hated her, and now she realized she’d persuaded her family to leave Ostillon only to face the prospect of a dangerous journey and an uncertain arrival. “So, which is it to be? The ship’s data banks don’t carry much information on either system. Both have only one habitable planet, and they’re both backwater places, which is good.”

  “Huh,” said Bryce. “You mean like Ostillon?”

  “Right,” Carina sighed. “Like I thought Ostillon was. So I guess we have no idea what the hell we’re going to find.”

  “I vote we go to whichever is closest in that case,” Ferne said.

  “There’s only three or four days’ difference in traveling time,” Carina said. “The one that’s farthest away seems a slightly better bet to me. Its name is Pirine. The nearer one is mostly rock. That’s called Goania. The inhabitants might have to ration water.”

  “But do these worlds belong to the Sherrerrs or the Dirksens?” asked Parthenia. “Isn’t that the most important question we should be asking?”

  “The ship’s database is way outdated,” Carina replied. “But according to that, both systems are neutral, which really means they’re disputed, as we know. But what difference does it make? Both clans are after us. Maybe I should try to take you out of this galactic sector entirely. Now the Sherrerrs and the Dirksens know about mages, it may be the only way you’ll ever be safe.”

  “I’m not doing that,” Parthenia said. “As soon as I can, I’m returning to Ostillon to find Castiel. And if he’s left the planet I’m going to search for him. I’m not going to rest until I make sure he’ll never hurt anyone again.”

  “I haven’t given up on doing that either,” Carina said. “Just not with you guys in tow.”

  Parthenia refused to acknowledge Carina’s words.

  “I vote we go to the closest planet,” Oriana said. “The rocky one. The less time we spend freezing in space the better.”

  “But we need water for Casting,” said Carina. “If it’s in short supply, that could make things difficult for us.”

  “Then as soon as we’ve refueled,” Oriana said, “we leave for Pirine.”

  “Pirine isn’t anywhere near Goania,” said Carina. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it now. We’re hanging in space outside the Floria system. Once we make a decision we can’t change our minds. Do you know how much it costs to fuel even a little, ancient ship like this? After we arrive at the new place, assuming we aren’t detected and manage to hide the shuttle, it will take us months to work and save enough money for another journey. Whatever we decide now has to be the right choice.”

  Carina was beginning to rethink her decision to open the question of their destination to her brothers and sisters. She’d wanted to include them in the planning more because she was feeling bad over what she’d done to Parthenia.

  She was also wondering if she’d done the right thing in escaping Ostillon. News of their escape must have gotten back to Castiel, and ships would be searching for the fine trace of a single, small shuttle fleeing the system.

  Bryce had been silent for the discussion but he finally spoke. “In my opinion, you’re over thinking it. We don’t know enough to make an informed decision and we have no way of finding out any more information. Pirine could be a secret Sherrerr military base and Goania could be a Dirksen prison planet for all we know. Just pick one and we’ll go there. We’ll have to take whatever comes to us no matter what.”

  “So, Goania?” Carina asked.

  “I guess so,” Bryce replied.

  “Yes, Goania,” Oriana said.

  Ferne nodded.

  Darius said, “I want to go wherever you think is best, Carina.”

  “I don’t mind,” said Nahla.

  “I vote we return to Ostillon,” said Parthenia.

  “I’m sorry, but that isn’t an option,” Carina said. “Looks like Goania it is. I’ll set the coordinates. Can you all please scour the ship for whatever you can find to help us get through the next four weeks?”

  “Four weeks?!” Oriana was aghast. “That’s twice as long as it took us to get to Ostillon.”

  “We could always go to Pirine,” Carina said. “That would take us four and a half weeks.”

  “Ugh, I hope we find something different from ration bars to eat,” replied Oriana.

  Carina doubted the shuttle had been stocked with anything else. She only hoped the rations weren’t as old as the vessel itself. Leaving the others to figure out how they were going to survive the journey, she returned to the pilot’s controls to input Goiania's coordinates and pare down every energy consuming system on the ship to its minimum sustainable level.

  They were in for a tough journey, but perhaps arriving at Goania would prove the beginning of a brighter future.

  ***

  The bare interior of the military shuttle didn’t make for the best sleeping quarters, but the vessel contained emergency gear and the children had sufficient imagination to make tolerable beds from it in the narrow aisles between seats. Carina set the quiet and active shifts. It helped to have a routine and well-defined ‘days’ and ‘nights’ to keep them from descending into apathy and depression. In the quiet shift, Carina and Bryce slept next to each other for warmth and the girls and boys similarly huddled up.

  There wasn’t much to do except sleep. They didn’t have the ingredients to make elixir and the supply that they had was precious. They needed to save it so that Darius could Cloak the ship again when they landed on Goania. After that, they might need all the Casts they could muster to remain safe.

  Carina grew to enjoy settling into Bryce’s arms to sleep. The physical closeness of him was her only comfort. She was wracke
d with self-doubt over what she was doing and fear for the lives of her siblings. Parthenia still wasn’t talking to her, though the rest of her siblings didn’t appear to also hate her guts. Nonetheless if that was what it took to keep them alive she would bear it.

  One quiet shift, soon after she dozed off, Carina found herself on the grassy plain once more. She immediately recognized the place. She knew she’d been here many times before. She also knew she was dreaming. How come she didn’t recall these dreams when she awoke?

  The plain was empty and all she could hear was the wind in the grass. Feeling eyes on her back, Carina spun around. There they were. In the distance, the familiar figures were toiling in her direction. Again, she saw the extremely old woman swathed in robes, the almost-giant of a man with a long beard, and the childlike figure.

  They seemed far away, however. The last time she’d seen them they had been closer, so close that the old woman had been able to look her in the eyes.

  Where was she? And why did she keep returning to this place regularly when she slept? Carina set off walking through the grass toward the people in the distance. Perhaps if she could meet them she could ask them for an explanation. She walked quickly, wading through the thigh-high grass. She didn’t know how long she would remain asleep. Time seemed to pass differently in the dream world.

  But though Carina strode as fast as she could, she didn’t draw any nearer to the group. If anything, she appeared to be moving away from them. Forcing her way through the high grass was hard. She halted while she caught her breath. Her gaze remained on the walking people, and as she watched she frowned. Though she was still and they were walking toward her, they were actually growing more distant.

  What was happening? The uniform, grassy plain seemed to be growing wider as she watched. She would have to run if she wanted to draw close to them, run faster than the expansion of the plain.

  “We’re going the wrong way!”

  Someone was shouting in Carina’s ear. Someone she knew.