“You’re a princess?”
“There is no word in your language. Everything is heavy, like excessive baggage. My duty is not that of your royalty, my people simply loved me.”
“If it’s your past you want to talk about, I’m sure the others would love to listen. I don’t feel like sitting through your life story.” I grabbed my holoscreen and opened a link to the mechanics behind skysilk.
“You will listen!” She spoke harshly and I turned to look at her.
“I have seen this happen to many men. They find a partner imperfect for them.” She sucked her teeth for a moment and let a spark roll across her palm. “I heard a word once before the civilization was lost. A word that explains all cost. As the Japanese once said, giri… a word full of pain. Of masks and lies and always of shame. For duty they work, without reward. For their family they picked up their sword. It hurts so much and yet you decide to live as such. Release your pain before it’s too late, there will be other’s for you worthy to mate. Love lost takes a great cost. But never does it take your right to love again.”
I felt like she was trying to make me feel better, but she was failing. Yet… something inside of me did feel a little less closed. I wanted to ignore her, wallow in my misery, but I was intrigued by her words. “I understand your words and I understand your reason. Yet, I feel as if I have understood absolutely nothing. I could study you my whole life and never understand.”
She laughed, a surprisingly delicate sound and pulled a bottle I didn’t know she had from what looked like thin air. “This won’t heal your heart, but it’ll clear your mind. Might make you a bit more kind.”
“Zuhara O Kande…” I muttered to myself, but my thoughts were cut short by the inevitable thirst lingering in my throat.
“Able!” I heard Raven’s scream at the same time the holotrain hit something and I was sent barreling into the glass of the windshield. As I tried to regain my bearings, the train continued trying to push against whatever it had become caught on. When I finally managed to press the emergency break button, I swore. There was no telling what kind of damage the collision had caused. I rushed back through the train to the hatch that would let me climb on top of the train to see what was happening.
Raven and Nihilo were already there, quickly unscrewing the unused cap. As they saw me, they moved to the side, knowing if it was anything living, with eyes, which we had hit I would be able to control it and if it was something else, I was almost as strong as they were. I looked out and met a sight I could have never imagined.
“How…” I muttered as I stared at the wrecked, totally demolished holotrain being quickly encased by the aggressive vines of what used to be called silver lace. I stared for a second, watching as the plant moved in front of my very eyes. Slowly, if I hadn’t been watching, I might have missed it, but constantly.
“Able? What is it? We can’t see down here!” Raven called up to me and I opened my mouth to answer when I suddenly saw the flash of a stun-gun burst from a broken window and sear the encroaching silver lace. The plant let out a sound that couldn’t be described, but was full of malice and increased its advance.
“A wreck. Get Zuhara O Kande; there are people still in there!”
“Nihilo! I’ll go with our beloved conductor!” Raven cried and as I raced over the tops of the bedroom car and towards the crumpled remains of the once holotrain. As I drew closer, I recognized the symbol on the side with surprise. Then I saw the platforms they had been trying to build to hold the interceptor cannons.
“Be careful,” I called back to Raven. “These Earth Guard soldiers were trying to set a trap for us. We shouldn’t be saving them, but I have a plan to get them off of our backs so if we can get at least one of them out alive, I would appreciate it.”
“If they shoot, no promises. I’m too beautiful to die.”
I looked at the train for a minute before I found the exact spot where the shot had come from. The busted window was just big enough for me to squeeze through, but as I slipped through to the topsy-turvy insides, I heard the telltale hum of a charging stun-gun.
“Freeze Skypian! If you move an inch closer, I’ll shoot!” I looked at the idiotic dark skinned man with a funny accent with annoyed amusement.
“Is that anyway to address your savior? How do you even know I’m Skypian? I could just be really skillful at climbing and jumping.” The man shuddered and seems to grow disoriented for a moment before stumbling back.
“Now see? If you had been polite and lowered your gun, I would have been inclined to grab you.” The man closed his eyes for a moment, coughing.
“Able dear, move over please. Unless you want to see up my shirt, in that case I would have to politely decline. I’m a married woman!” I stepped to the side and Raven came sailing, gently down.
“Don’t move! I’ll…” The man had to stop, panting to catch his breath. As he moved I caught sight of the same golden tattoo behind his ear that Nihilo wore, though his was a bird that moved rather than the flipping koi that trailed scenes of warring dragons around Nihilo’s body.
“Oh my, for someone so animistic towards Skypians, you seem to have a little bit behind your ear.” The man tried to cover it, but couldn’t manage to get his arm up high enough,
“Come now, we’re all of the better species here.” Raven let out a humph and I almost wanted to remind her of her human husband, but decided now wasn’t the time as a sliver of silver lace touched my ankle.
“If you apologize, we’ll help you get out and drop you off near some random human city to be rescued by your racist employers.” The man was silent and I sighed.
“I’m not joking. Your life doesn’t matter to me.” I beckoned for Raven, entirely serious about leaving.
“Wait! To hell with it…” he wheezed. “I’m so…”
He passed out before he could finish his apology, but I gestured for Raven to grab him anyway. I looked around the ruined room and noticed the jammed connector door with slight interest. They could have any kind of goodies stored in their storage room ripe for the picking. I looked at the encroaching silver lace and calculated I had only about five minutes before the passage was sealed.
“Get him out of here and to Zuhara O Kande. I’m going to see if there’s anything to salvage in the storage room.” I ordered Raven and even though she looked dubious, she obeyed.
It took me longer than I would have liked to pry open the door, but when I did it was worth it. It looked like they had come prepared to take down a miniature army. I took another calculating look and figured the best thing would be to grab a pack of stun-guns and laser swords rather than to grab the larger weapons. It would be best to arm my entire crew rather than to give one person the ability to destroy the entire holotrain if they missed.
I waited a second before moving carefully down the side of the inverted train car and was still forced to catch myself on the bolted sideways kitchen counter to stop from falling. I looked at the guns and swords, wondering if the rusted bar that was hanging from the floor, which used to be one of the sides, would hold my weight. I was fairly scrawny but still over a hundred pounds. I decided to take my chances as I noted conveniently placed cabinets that I could use to climb back up if I missed.
I jumped and was stunned as the bar held. It didn’t even creak as I held on to it and I was pleasantly pleased at its durability. I reached over and grabbed the sheaths, draping five swords over my shoulder before looking around for something to put the guns in so I could easily carry them, especially the ridiculously powerful scatter-shot. They were illegal everywhere but Skypia, where they were used to guard the prisons. So I had made a really big impression on them.
“Pl…” I frowned at the weak, almost nonexistent stutter. I almost wrote it off as my imagination, but then a choking cough wheezed out of the utterer and I sighed.
“I’m too good for my own good sometimes,” I muttered to myself and let go of the rail to fall down to the side, now bottom, of the train. I hiss
ed as I landed on angry Silver lace that had practically covered the area hidden in shadow from a breach in the hull.
I quickly danced to the side of it and when it no longer felt my pressure, it calmed down to continue its slow curl through the car. I looked around and stopped to stare at the girl, a young woman completely encased in the silver lace.
“My, my Ado. This is new,” I muttered as I danced carefully closer to her, avoiding the silver lace. “You must have given them this brilliant idea. It is brilliant, violent, tyrannical and barbaric, but brilliant. I’m actually at a bit of an impasse. What should I do with you?”
“Ba…” I realized with a jolt that the silver lace was literally crushing her, making every breath come increasingly difficult.
“Yes, I suppose you could call me a bastard. I do fit the technical definition, but that is no way to talk to someone who could possibly save you if he is so inclined.” I sat down on an overturned barrel and stared at her. “Should I save you? You heavily disappointed me by joining the Skypian Earth Guard, but this little incident is impressive. But yet again, it’s a fool who encourages those who try at his life to become more skillful for if he continues to, eventually it is they who will be the winner. My original interest in you has now come dangerously close to foolishness. So, what should I do?”
“I…” I saw the whites of her eyes as they rolled back in her head and jumped back as a sickening crack came from her body.
“Damn…” I made my decision and with a few quick slices from one of the swords had her free enough that I could lift her. I stared up at the door with unease as I realized I had spent too much time in here and the silver lace was dangerously close. “I won’t even be able to grab the guns.”
I jumped as when I had just grabbed the edge of a cabinet with Ado draped over my back a piece of silver lace fell down and hit me.
“Able? Are you down there? You were taking too long so I—”
“Raven! Good. Glide down here, be careful though. There’s silver lace everywhere.” I saw a flash of brilliant colors before Raven grabbed the cabinet before mine, never touching the ground. She had switched completely into male clothing and her voice had dropped into its natural octave.
“Who is this little thing?”
“A thorn. An interesting thorn. Can you take the swords and grab at least a couple of those stun-guns over there to take with us?” He looked up at the rack of guns and smiled.
“I can do better. This shirt hinders my flying anyway.” As he flapped upward, I stopped paying attention so that I could climb out of this quickly advancing death trap. Poe was the better equipped Skypian to escape this. After all, plants don’t have eyes.
“I’ll go and deposit these and be back to help you!” He called as he flapped, sailing upward in short bursts.
“It’d be better if you made sure the entrance stayed clear!” I called after, but couldn’t be sure if he heard me or not.
I may be a Skypian, but carrying Ado who was easily twenty pounds heavier than me up was wearing me down quickly. I made the decision as I reached the first car. I would not die for her and if I couldn’t get to the exit with the extra weight, I would leave her.
“Sorry Ado, I’m not suicidal.” I muttered and unhooked her arms from around my neck.
“I’m quite glad I didn’t listen to you.” I looked up at Poe, now shirtless and smiled a little at the small trail of feathers leading from his arms to his nipples.
“Grab her will you?” I shouldered her off and without having to carry her; I quickly scrambled through to the outside. For a second, I thought Poe had gotten bogged down with her too until he suddenly appeared, carrying the girl.
“Humans weigh so much. I thought it was just something about my honey, but even this girl must weigh at least one-fifty.” Poe huffed and I wanted to retort, but the silver lace was too close to completely encasing the train for casual conversation. I picked up the guns and swords he had dropped near the entrance and made a break back to our train. We would have to keep an eye on the silver lace so that it wouldn’t grab our train too.
“Get Zuhara O Kande!” I yelled as I shot back down through the hatch. “She needs medical attention immediately. We also need someone on the hull to keep the silver lace from grabbing us. Nihilo, grab a laser sword. I’ll join you in a second”
“I’ve got a better idea, let me electrify the area. It’s like a coat of fire; if you touch it the consequences will be dire.” Zuhara O Kande came sweeping in and when Raven finally closed the hatch, she touched the train and a bright circuit of white shot around the train. After a minute it seemed to disappear, but I knew it had only moved to the outside of the train.
“Zuhara O Kande, she had her—” Zuhara O Kande visibly bristled as she saw Ado and turned to glare at me.
“Before you ask me what you want, think a minute without your gallant. This girl is a menace, she is full of falseness. Pain and tragedy she will cause, you will be left wrapped in gauze. Do you truly wish for me to save her, or shall we dispose of this evil cur?”
“She isn’t evil, she is merely an enemy and she doesn’t deserve to die. No one does.” Zuhara O Kande was less than pleased, but she knelt down at my request and started gently probing around Ado’s injuries.
“Zuhara—”
“Leave Able, I will call you when she’s stable. Go check on the man in the back, his body too much blood does it lack. No one on the train can keep him alive, into darkness he will soon dive.”
“I’ll be back in a few minutes.” I walked to the back of the train and found the man propped on the bed, paisley, his bird frantically swirling around his face. “Good morning.”
“I’m dying,” he muttered strongly, but I knew his life was slowly fading. I could tell by his eyes, the increasing dullness of them.
“I’m not going to lie, you’re going to be dead within the next couple of hours. Unfortunately, none of our blood is compatible with yours so we can’t give you what you need. Our doctor has given you medicine to make sure you’re comfortable and if you need anything, we would be glad to provide it.”
“I don’t need help from Skypians like you.”
I snorted at his statement.
“That is part of the reason I chose to save you. How does a Skypian come to believe that Skypians are evil and join the humans?” I made him meet my gaze and in his weak state he easily fell prey to my power.
“I was raised by humans… when I turned… it was the worst moment of my life.” Another changeling child…
“How did that happen?”
“I…” He was struggling not to answer and I sighed.
“I myself was raised by humans on Earth. I tested negative until I changed and then I became a Skypian. Well… that’s not quite true. I’m half-Skypian. I’m not sure how, but I am half-human.”
“So… I’m not the only one…” he murmured and closed his eyes.
“That is all I wanted to know. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“A priest… do you have a priest. I would like to have one last confessional.”
“We have a Buddhist priest. He has taken a vow of silence, but he will listen to you if you wish.”
“Yes…” He wheezed and I winced, realizing he didn’t have hours left.
“I’ll get Nihilo then.”
“Nihilo!” I jerked back as the wounded man suddenly grabbed my shirt, regaining energy from his surge of emotions. “That bastard! Do you know what he did?”
“You need to calm down. If you exert yourself anymore—” My warning was too late and he collapsed partially in my arms. I laid him back down, but his anger refused to be calmed.
“He killed a man… a good man and a good friend… for a lie…” I caught the words with interest, but the man was quickly fading.
“Wait! Can you tell me anything else about him?!”
“He killed… my brother… over a… lie….” The man faded beyond the power of my gaze and I swore, realizing exactly w
hat I had just lost. I had lost my link to Nihilo’s past. I buzzed for Zuhara O Kande, telling her of the fate of her patient and headed back to check on Ado.
As I passed by Zuhara O Kande in the corridor, I was viciously shouldered. I stopped and stared after her fleeing back. What was going on with her? Was it because that man had died. Or was it something even more disturbing?
“Ado,” I greeted the bandaged woman who Zuhara O Kande had had the audacity to put in my room, on my bed. I didn’t care that I hadn’t been using it; some things were unacceptable.
“You bastard!” I stopped her lunge with the power of my eyes and her own pain sent her to her knees.
“Please stop being this way. I’ve had a bit of a bad day.” I winced as I rhymed, with a thought towards the angry Zuhara O Kande.
“You—”
“Don’t!” I snapped uncharacteristically, stopping whatever insult she was about to throw at me. I walked over and helped her back in my bed. “You can stay here until we get closer to a human town. We’ll drop you off there. We had nothing to do with the silver lace attacking your base. That was your folly for building one so close to one of the most dangerous plants still in existence. When it senses movement, it attacks.”
“I… didn’t know that.” I nodded and prepared to spend my night in the cabin again.
“Wait,” I did wait at her yell and watched as she painfully stood. “The others…”
“Dead. We rescued one man, but he died of blood loss a few minutes ago. I’m sorry.” I turned to leave, suddenly losing my interest. Ado could make me mad. She was no longer the harmless young girl I had played with. The sooner I got rid of her, the better off I would be.
“I said wait!” She grabbed me and I turned around forcefully. But her lips were there, her cracked but still beautifully brushed lips.
I didn’t know I was kissing her until she gasped as I accidently pushed against her broken rib. Then I had a moment to decide how bad an idea this was before I was kissing her again. I felt the slight pain as my fangs came out and when she innocently moved her tongue too close to me, I tasted the sweet coolness of blood.
Majesty Page 14
