WHEN HEROES FALL

by Abby J. Reed

  The Queen’s face twisted. “You dare flaunt what you stole?”

  Malvyn smiled, a man in control. He tucked the pendant back into his tunic, patting it safely away. “I flaunt nothing that was not given.”

  “It was given so that I might have someone to spend the rest of my life with.”

  “I did not share the sentiment.” He touched the back of his neck. “A couple septdias each generation renews the cells enough. I do prefer the younger version of ourselves, do you not agree?” He gave her a knowing look. “Or perhaps you prefer to maintain some decorum and keep yourself in motherhood range, Queen Mother? I heard you had a daughter. I am glad your hard work finally paid off.”

  The only hint of rage was the way the Queen’s fist clenched. “I am surprised you survived this long with that tongue.”

  “Interesting. I always had the impression you enjoyed my tongue.”

  “I should have cut it off as soon as you approached my ship.”

  Malvyn’s smile turned rakish. It was like peeking behind the curtain to see the remnants of another world and another man. “And miss all I had to offer?” The Queen’s other fist clenched, but Malvyn continued. “You can try accessing my line all you like, but you will make no progress, much like you hadn’t searching for this payload all these cycles.”

  “Is that the way you prefer to play? By throwing offhanded insults?” The Queen tilted her head. She slid a dark slender hand to her side and unsheathed her kpinga. “All right, then.”

  Behind her, another pod floated from the shuttle. It settled between Malvyn and the Queen. It unfurled, revealing a round form on its knees inside.

  My gut wrenched.

  Brody stood. He blocked the light from his eyes with a thick hand.

  Not Brody, not Brody. Stars and ‘stroids, please please not Brody.

  I stumbled forward, but Malani gripped my tunic. Her wings ground into the dirt, holding me back.

  “Let me go. Malani, let—”

  “Don’t,” she hissed. “The Extrats.”

  I stopped pulling against her. The Extrats were still in the open, and they still considered me a threat. If I went out there to Brody, they might attack him. I couldn’t risk that. Not yet.

  A cry came from the tunnel. “Brody!” My parents had seen him.

  Brody turned toward my mom’s voice. “Mom! Dad!”

  Mom started forward, but Luka’s great arms restrained her. I couldn’t hear what he said, but her fists beat against his chest. Cal had hold of my dad’s hands, trying to make him pause. My gut twisted further at their joy, at their grief.

  Brody stepped off the pod toward my parents, face lit with hope and such pure joy, then halted. He looked down, confused, at his feet that refused to move. He touched the back of his neck. He glanced to our parents. At our mom, who gave up beating against Luka, hanging limp off him. At our dad, who now held on to Cal with a paling face.

  Brody looked to Malvyn. “Chief Malvyn, what’s going on?”

  Brody’s body went rigid. His gaze loosened, as though he had lost focus permanently. His upper body slouched, then straightened, almost as though he’d been reset.

  Malvyn barely looked at Brody. “What is this?”

  The Queen smiled. She ran a light fingertip along the kpinga blade, then hung it back on her side in a careless motion. “You know I prefer not to get my hands dirty. Is using a child to kill you too much?”

  For the first time in my life, Malvyn looked afraid. He ground his heels into the dirt, raising his fists, ready to fight for his life.

  Brody—Brody didn’t even blanche. He stepped forward again, his movement rigid. His face was as blank as a box full of unconnected wiring, no electrical messages telling his brain what to do. He was little better than a bot receiving orders.

  Oh, stars. The Queen had hacked him.

  I shrugged off Malani’s hand. Malani cursed, but I waved her away, to stay behind. I burst from the trees into the open. “STOP! DON’T!” I nearly tripped over Circuit as I adjusted to the land. “STOP!”

  The entire horde of Extrats turned to face me as I limp-sprinted into the open, my arms wide and low to keep my balance. Their faces watched, hungry, but only the Queen’s surprise, a flick of her hand, kept them from attacking. I crossed the distance fast as I could until I planted myself between Malvyn and Brody. We stood like planets in alignment to the Queen. She was a sun. We orbited her.

  I raised my hands to her, looking above Brody’s head and ignoring his empty eyes. “Please, stop. You can’t use him like this. Please.”

  The Queen’s eyes flashed. She almost seemed to grow in size. I had no doubt she would’ve thrown the kpinga at me already if not for the fact that I was alone. “You are the young man from the TriRing prison vid, are you not?”

  I looked between the Queen and her army. All I had to hold back a Queen who was stars-knew-how-old and an entire horde of Extrats was me and Circuit. We’d last secs. Even Malani wouldn’t be able to fly over here to help in time.

  I grit my teeth. “He’s my brother. I won’t let you hurt him. I won’t let you hurt anyone. Not here.”

  The Queen tipped her head back and laughed. It was a beautiful, deadly sound. “You believe you can stop me?”

  I shifted on Circuit. No. No, I don’t. “I’ll try. You’ve hurt too many people already trying to get the dark matter and its power. No more.”

  “What do you believe I will do with all that power?” She sounded curious. “Or are you one of the ones who believe the dark matter will let me hack lines, hack entire fleets? The lack of creativity in your kind is disappointing. All of you think alike.” Her nose twitched into a sneer. “No,” the Queen said. “I could’ve already done that.” She flicked her hand toward the skies above. “There.” Her smile turned sickening sweet, her arm still outstretched for show. “I just hacked half the ships above. Watch me make them dance.”

  The sky lit with falling stars. No. Not falling stars. Falling ships. Horror filled my mouth. Jupe, Tahnya—

  Colored lights flashed as distant shots fired, as ships collided and exploded, but the layers of atmosphere muffled the sounds. It felt almost as distant as watching a vid on a tablet screen. I couldn’t see where she sent the ships. The asteroid blocked my view.

  The weight of what this meant didn’t have time to sink in. The Queen continued as though she hadn’t sent half of those above to their deaths.

  “I do not belong here,” she said. “Traveling through the wormhole was supposed to be a quick escape to evade what chased us through the stars, not a permanent residence. We were never meant to stay, to live here. And when the wormhole closed, and the ring portal went dark, trapping us on this side of the universe, I wept. I wept. Then I found the first sample of dark matter. And I knew. But all the dark matter in the galaxy was not enough. Until this system, until this planet. Once I mine the dark matter from this planet’s bones, once I suck its life from the marrow, I will finally have enough. I can restart the portal. I can change the singularity back into a wormhole. With the dark matter from this system, I can go home.”

  Despite all the tang of horror flooding my mouth, her words tugged on my heart. Wasn’t that the same thing I had wanted this entire time? To find my true home? Her expression was a mirror of everything I’d felt. The anger, the want, the soul-grit need to chase something more. The burden of stepping toward that more, only to find it slipping farther and farther away.

  How much of a hypocrite would I have to be to prevent her from doing the same thing I had been trying to do these past septdias? We both tried to follow our dreams of a better life. We both tried to do what we thought was right.

  Kidnapper.

  Controller.

  Traitor.

  Destroyer.

  Except our methods we
re not the same. Like Malani said, that made all the difference.

  The Queen kept going. “I had planned to leave Scorpia in my stead. To watch over this galaxy while I left. Then she proved she could not be trusted. So I will burn this planet myself, rip up the ground on which you stand, and tear down the asteroid myself.”

  The Extrats seemed to sway on their feet. “The asteroid?” I said.

  The Queen pointed to the object swallowing our sky with a paintbrush like movement. “Can you not hear it whisper? Can you not hear it sing? With the blood in my belly, I feel it now underneath my feet, above my head calling to me.”

  I took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter. You can’t have it. You can’t have any of it. I won’t let you.” I shifted, holding my ground, not only between Brody and Malvyn, but between her and the tunnel filled with survivors and dark matter. My ears rang with the false tinny notes of my bravado. “I’ve prepared for war my entire life.”

  Another deep condescending laugh. “You think this is a war?” She gestured to the valley. “These are tribes spitting at each other. Animals with their hackles raised. It’s not even an entire planet. A skirmish involves at least one system. A threat involves a wedge.”

  “You’re still bringing—”

  “Do not talk to me of wars until you have seen galaxies bleed. Do not talk to me of wars until you have seen stars weep. Do not talk to me of wars until you have seen nebulas fade. You do not know what war is, boy. You can only pretend.”

  Cal, with his haunted eyes, stared at me from my mind’s eye. You weren’t here, Breaker. You weren’t here.

  “I am giving you a choice,” she continued. “Stand aside and I will let you come with me through the wormhole. I could give you worlds, galaxies you could not dream of even if you had a thousand cycles.”

  The red dot. The red dot blinking, beckoning—

  More, more, more.

  This was it. My dream served on a blood-drenched platter. The want pounded like another heart, burned like a never-ending flame ever since I laid eyes on my First Hope.

  With the wormhole open, the map would solidify. I could follow the coordinates. Even if the red dot wasn’t the home I dreamed of, I’d finally know. I’d be free of this planet, free of any ties holding me back. The constant ache of more would finally end.

  I’d be part of Brandon’s stories.

  You couldn’t do it, Breaker. You couldn’t do it.

  The whole universe spread at my feet. All the world, all the stories, all the dreams, all the more at my fingertips. All I had to do was move. One tiny shift, and I could have everything I ever dreamed.

  But.

  Scarlatti.

  Scarlatti would suffer. And it had suffered so much already at my hands. It was a tiny, insignificant place. And I hated it. Hated it so much.

  I also loved it.

  The planet that raised me. The planet whose scarlet dirt ran in my veins. The planet that cradled my brother’s grave. The planet I first called home. Maybe it was insignificant to the siren call of that blinking red dot. Maybe it was nothing more than the crashed landing pad of a madman. Maybe it was nothing more than a springboard for an amputee with crazy dreams of more.

  Or maybe it was everything.

  Who was I to say?

  More had become a cage. It had grown bar by bar, surrounding and entrapping us both while neither of us had noticed. Maybe the only way to be free was to release it, so that our hands could be free to grab hold of what was right in front of us.

  My focus zeroed back on the Queen in time for her to say, “You wouldn’t be willing to trade one, tiny miserable planet for a galaxy, for the thousands of galaxies through the wormhole?”

  My voice was steady and sure. “My mistake was that I’ve always thought I could make that decision.”

  The only hint of surprise was the Queen Mother’s mouth twitching. “Well then.” Her head cocked, looking at the toy she was about to crush. “Have fun.”

  As though she shouted a silent command, the Extrat horde broke. My stomach in my throat, I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the onslaught of claws. When it didn’t happen, I opened my eyes, confused.

  Like a crashing wave of liquid onyx, the Extrats flooded the open space, toward the tunnel. They gave me a wide berth, as though an invisible line fenced them out of a private circle. None glanced my way, as though I wasn’t worth the attention.

  A movement out of the corner of my eye snagged my attention.

  Brody—

  He handled a knife as long as my forearm, glistening and wicked sharp. He twisted, his face still blank and unseeing, from Malvyn to me. And advanced.

  Chapter 45

  LUKA

  The Queen lifted her hands to the sky as though in prayer and the line of Extrats broke like a storm. My core tightened as the advance party turned back to the mouth of the cave, toward us.

  “Weapons!” I yelled. I held my minis loose, ready for impact. Sounds of blades being drawn.

  A soft twisting touch against my cheekbone. It filled me with an elation that didn’t come from battle fever. I swept at the distraction. The touch was familiar though. Where had I felt that before?

  A rumbling underneath my shoes. I risked a quick glance backward. The ground rippled. No, not all of it—only the vein of dark matter. It curled out of the ground like a snake’s head.

  My head whipped toward the tunnel opening. The Queen still had her hands raised. Her mouth still moved. She wasn’t praying.

  She was singing.

  My stomach turned over once.

  The dark matter struck like a viper, snatching the nearest person and flinging them out of the cave, straight into the oncoming Extrats. The entire vein surged from the ground, all of it, all the way back into the depths of the mountain.

  “ELIK, GET THAT UNDER—” I barely had time to yell.

  The advance party crashed.

  I hacked away the claws of the first Extrat, plunged my mini into its chest. Muscles flared as I yanked it back out. Minis flashed as I crossed them and beheaded the next. A shot to slow the next one, a duck and a plunge into the heart. Kicked the body away.

  Part of the dark matter swirled at my feet. A sharp song yanked it away. One of the Elik—

  I pressed back farther into the cave, tripping over a dead Extrat.

  Throb, throb, throb.

  The rest of the horde reached us.

  Screams echoed as claws connected to flesh. Screams as the Elik tried to contain the dark matter writhing to life. How far could her melody reach into the tunnel? All the Queen had to do was make it force us out of the cave.

  A fist to my jaw. I went sideways, slamming into the ground. Copper filled my mouth. A kick to my shoulder, pinning my arm underneath. I lashed out with my legs, hooking the Extrat, knocking it to the floor, using the momentum to stand. I stabbed down.

  A thread of dark matter whistled through the air. I ducked. It swirled past me like a tentacle. Its thin strip had caught the ankle of a woman and was dragging her out of the cave. I leapt forward to help.

  Song bits brushed past me. I recoiled, ready to slice. These song pieces locked together. A puzzle come to life.

  The song slammed into the metal. Forced it to drop the woman. Pinned it to the side of the tunnel, where it strained against the music.

  I found the Elik man working the song. He stood, legs splayed, with a look of fierce concentration. One hand curled, holding this song into place. Another, pointed in the direction of another rogue vein. His lips didn’t stop moving.

  All around us, other survivors beat against the Extrats. They yelled against the terror they’d endured. They yelled against those taken from them. They yelled to protect their home. The noise was a riot in my ears.

 
I grabbed the woman’s hand, hauling her back up.

  All we had to do was hold out until Scorpia came down. I glanced out to the sky. Fireworks exploded as ships fired, a battle in the atmosphere. Landing through that would be near impossible. I glanced deeper into the tunnel. A glimpse of Yana finishing an arc into an Extrat that had slipped past the bottleneck. A scrape traced from her cheek bone to her clavicle. The entire cave was a seething mess of blood and metal. Bodies piled, making it harder and harder to move.

  I looked out through what little of the mouth I could make out. Despair dragged through my system.

  There was only a never-ending tide of black, black, and more black.

  Chapter 46

  JUPE

  As though an uninterested god’s hand extended from the stars and plucked a fistful of machines from the atmosphere, half of all the visible ships—Extrat, faction, Queen’s fleet—were yanked from their flight paths and flung. Shots fired, engines flared, a cacophony of light—

  Comms flooded my interface. Wide beams hurled out in a desperate attempt for help before—

  They crashed into Carmesi.

  Horror flooded my mouth. My knees went weak and if I weren’t already sitting down, I would’ve collapsed. I couldn’t hear the colossal boom. I didn’t need to. Clouds of fire and smoke billowed, the ripple spread over the planet’s surface as the concussive aftereffects took hold.

  I leaned against the interface. My body turned rubber.

  Smeared at my eyes. The now-orange cloud, stained from the fires, was still there.

  What—? How—?

  All those people gone. Dead. Within secs.

  Panic struck like a knife. I fumbled over the interface. Oh Angel, oh Angel. The Firehawk—

  More colors burst across my window. Shots fired from within the Queen’s fleet. Return fire from a few of the still-arriving non-faction ships. Wide beams saturated my interface.