Ju-Long and Astrid exchanged worried glances.
The mercenary inched backward, leaning over slowly to get a grip on his helmet. He tucked it under his arm, his face never leaving The Garuda, his weapon still pointed at Nix.
“Wait for it,” Saturn said.
The man in blue was several meters away when he briefly turned back to Nix. Saturn never intended to let him get away. Not after what he did to Liam. One thing was abundantly clear. No matter what happened from here on out, she’d be the one to shoot first.
“Fire.”
Ju-Long and Astrid fired thousands of glowing bits of light, concentrated at the mercenary. He was quick. He fired back at the ship, the powerful laser boring a hole through the starboard wing. The Garuda jolted and purple energy flowed angrily along the channel overhead. The Aether, life force of the departed, nearly impossible to be calmed once infuriated. Ju-Long and Astrid continued to fire, following him as he disappeared into the depths of the spire.
Saturn could see Nix hovering over Liam’s body, putting pressure on his chest. She turned the ship around and flipped a switch, lowering the cargo bay ramp onto the marble spire floor.
“Ju-Long,” she said feebly, the adrenaline leaving her body until all she felt was the emptiness. “Take the controls.”
Saturn stood up from the pilot’s seat and passed through the cockpit quickly, ignoring Astrid’s consoling words which washed over her without meaning. At the top of the ramp she stopped, clenching her fists and preparing herself for what might come.
“Saturn!” Nix called to her urgently, “Get over here, now.”
Saturn suspended her disbelief and sprinted down the ramp, her body pumping whatever strength it had left through her veins. Nix was at Liam’s side, fingers and palms covered in his blood.
“Help me get him to the ship, there isn’t much time.”
Liam’s expression was devoid of life. He was dead weight in Nix’s arms. Even with Earth’s advanced medical technology there would be no bringing him back. Ultimately, the human body was a fragile thing, she thought. No matter how much she wanted him to live, she knew better than to hold onto false hope.
“Nix, he’s dead,” she said through her tears.
Nix donned a grave expression and met her eyes.
“Not all of him.”
37
“Ju-Long, up,” Nix commanded.
Ju-Long’s eyes traveled from the Dinari’s bloody hands up to his urgent expression. He did as he was told, shifting over to the co-pilot’s seat. He’d never seen Nix more serious.
“Nix, what’s going on?”
“There’s no time,” Nix said, flipping several switches, engaging the engines and retracting the wings.
Ju-Long felt the familiar rumble resonating through the floor from the engine room below. It was as though the ship itself understood the urgency of the situation.
“We should destroy the spire before that monster has a chance to escape.”
Nix’s fingers were hard at work running through a complicated sequence. He said vaguely, “This is more important.”
Without another word he fired every forward thruster and they shot off to the east at maximum speed. The landscape moved quickly, making Ju-Long woozy if he didn’t stare at a particular point. In time the light began to fade, until soon enough a sliver of light was all that remained on the horizon. Ju-Long didn’t know how fast they were going, but he knew if they maintained that speed for too much longer they’d make it around the whole planet in short order. The ship shook, creaking and showing signs of its age under the stress.
“Did you see his face?” Ju-Long asked.
“No,” Nix responded. “But he was no Ansaran, I would have recognized the ears. He was a Dinari.”
Astrid asked, “Are you sure? Who would do this?”
Nix regarded her over his shoulder. “That’s what worries me.”
Nix pulled back on the accelerator and they dropped down to a manageable speed. Ju-Long brought up a holographic map of the planet, spinning silently. Apart from the colony, there were a few other settlements marked but nothing for thousands of kilometers around their current position. It was a vast and lonely desert, colored with red ridges that grew out of the sea of sand. Where were they going? There was nothing there.
The Garuda slowed even further and dropped down to a lower altitude. Ahead Ju-Long could make out a structure built into the valley floor. It was some kind of temple, with a sprawling field of flattened stone that made up a massive circle. As they approached the center, he noticed several pillars jutting from the ground, supporting a small structure with open walls. Nix started the landing sequence and set the ship down as close to the center as was safe.
“What is this place?” Astrid asked, dumbfounded.
Astrid’s face was painted with wonder. Ju-Long noticed how soft her skin looked in the light of the setting sun. The blue tones shimmered with a tint of orange. Ju-Long made himself focus on the hologram once more.
“It doesn’t show up on any of the maps,” Ju-Long said, scrolling through different variations of holographic maps.
Nix glanced sideways at Ju-Long.
“You won’t find anything in the ship’s computer. Only a select few even know this place exists.”
Nix powered down the engines and rose from his seat.
“I’ll explain later. Just worry about getting Liam’s body out there,” he said pointing to the structure with the hint of a tear in his eye and quiver in his voice.
•
Saturn sat with her back up against a cargo crate, Liam propped up on her lap. She stroked his wild blond hair, now matted with dried sweat. The warmth was beginning to leave his body, something that made it even more real for her. The scar that ran the length of his right cheek had turned from tender pink to a stark white. She felt it with the back of her hand, remembering how he’d gotten it.
He was stupid back then. Hell, they both were. It was nearly a year after their run-in with Lieutenant Wilkes that the Terran Military caught up with them at the supply station on Phobos. The red planet was massive in the sky as always, only six thousand kilometers away. She remembered seeing the warship approaching out a porthole on the small station. There was nowhere to run.
“Liam,” she managed to say, her voice hardly able to breach her lips. “This is my penance. The things that happened before, the things I’ve had to do. It should have been me.”
That station had been home for weeks as they were ruthlessly interrogated. This time Lieutenant Wilkes had done a better job of picking his crew. Vesta Corporation never came. One day, in a fit of rage, the Lieutenant was fed up with Liam’s snarky jeers. He took out a straight blade, standard Terran military issue, and went to work. That was when things really went sideways.
“I’d do it again,” she told his lifeless body. “Turning on Vesta, joining that scum, facing the mines; it meant you could live. It meant we got this short time together. Knowing what it did to me, I’d do it again.”
Saturn could taste the salt of her tears on her tongue. Her chest felt hollow, home only to the void.
“Saturn, it’s time.”
She hadn’t heard Nix approach. Ju-Long and Astrid were close behind like silent shadows waiting on the lead of their master. Nix knelt down and wrapped Liam’s arm around his neck. Ju-long gripped his legs while Astrid took his other arm.
Saturn wouldn’t let go.
“Don’t take him,” she sobbed. “Not yet.”
“Saturn, we’re running out of time.”
“For what?” Saturn screamed. “Tell me!”
Nix snapped at Saturn impatiently, “If you want any part of him to live you’ll let me take him now. He died protecting me. This is the least I can do for him. It’s the least any of us can do.”
Saturn’s grip on Liam loosened. The others lifted him up and moved him toward the ramp, where Astrid pressed the button for the platform to lower. Saturn found herself hugging her legs, unabl
e to move but for the shivering emanating from her very core.
•
“Place him on the altar,” Nix instructed.
They laid him out flat on the raised stone surface within the center structure. A thin layer of sand covered everything around them and the pillars appeared to be worn smooth at every edge and every crevice. Carved into the pillars were faint images, glyphs depicting creatures akin to those at the Temple of Re on Garuda’s moon. There were dozens of them, none displayed more prominently than the great flying beast, its wings alone wrapped most of the way around the massive column.
Ju-Long peered around at Nix and asked, “What now?”
Nix turned back toward the ship and replied, “Now it’s up to her.”
38
Nix stepped out past the pillars and approached the front of the ship, its curved underbelly scarred by countless battles and myriad repairs. He gazed up at the cockpit near the center of the ship, unsure if his plea would even be heard. Nothing like this had been done in generations. He wasn’t even sure if it could be done. No matter what, he had to try. He owed his life to Liam and that was a favor that could never be repaid in full.
He remembered Elder Bartle’s teachings; the stories of The Union and the Corsairs. The Aether would respond to him, the souls of the dead would listen. The Garuda wasn’t the only soul that inhabited his ship, though it was by far the strongest among them. Worthy Dinari pilots had been allowed to complete The Union on a few occasions, though the practice had been put to a stop after the War of a Thousand Years. The number of dead far outweighed the living.
“I address the glorious beast within,” Nix said to the ship. “Garuda, king of all creatures, hear me.”
Nix waited, heart thumping loudly in his chest. All he heard was the whisper of the wind and the grains of sand finding their way between his many scales. It was just a flicker at first. The purple Aether took a minute before it began to flow steadily, growing in power and pulsing along eerily with the beat of Nix’s heart.
“Liam Kidd is not from this world, but you have felt his presence. You know him.”
Nix paused, beginning to choke on his words.
“Please,” he begged. “Only The Union can save him.”
There was a rumble from deep within the ship. The energy flowed relentlessly, pulsing quicker than ever. Nix heard the grating of steel against steel and a piece of the ship fell from under the bow. Sheer weight drove it down into the sand between the stones, mere meters from the Dinari’s feet. Nix watched as the energy began to die down until finally it faded away entirely.
“Thank you,” Nix said through his tears, bringing his hands together in praise. “Thank you.”
Nix approached the piece of metal. It had a handle forged from copper and a blade of steel, dull and ridged in a way that would make it useless as a weapon. He strode up to the object and waited for remnants of the purple energy to dissipate before pulling it from the sand. It was heavy in his hand, almost requiring both to hold it upright. Nix examined the blade up close, noticing gears that seemed connected to the sporadic ridges, working in concert for a higher purpose.
His eyes focused beyond the blade. Saturn stared back at him dazed, arms hanging limp at her sides.
“What is it?”
“If the stories are true, it’s a key.”
Nix motioned for her to follow him. When they’d reached the altar, Nix stopped and examined the ground around the stone slab where Liam’s body rested, cold and still. He counted the flat stones that surrounded the altar until he found it. The third stone in from the north, slightly rectangular where the rest were square.
“Ju-Long, help me with this.”
Together they dug into the sand around the stone and pried it back. It was only a few centimeters thick, far thinner than the rest of the stones around it. Underneath was a slit, protected from the sand. Nix stood and held the key aloft with both hands, but seconds later lowered it.
Nix regarded Saturn and said, “It should be you.”
He handed her the dull blade. Saturn examined it before looking back at Nix quizzically.
“What will it do?”
“It’s called The Union. Long ago, this was the process used to merge the beasts of legend with the Corsair Fleet. There’s not much time. There’s no way to know for sure if it will work, but there’s a chance a part of Liam could live on.”
“No, that’s not possible,” Astrid remarked, her tone suggesting she was trying to convince herself of just that.
“Is that what he’d want?” Ju-Long asked.
Nix grasped Saturn’s shoulders and gazed into her watery eyes.
“The choice is yours, but choose quickly. The stories say The Union is only possible for a short time after—”
“Don’t say it,” Saturn interrupted him, her voice meek.
Nix released her and took a step back. Saturn stared first at the hole in the ground and then at the blade in her hand. Nix couldn’t imagine what was going on in her head at that time. The Union was something spoken of only in whispers among the elders and the most trusted Dinari. A part of him wished that when he died he would be afforded the same honor.
Saturn gripped the copper handle tightly and held the piece of metal above the slot.
“Saturn,” Ju-Long began. “Are you sure?”
She didn’t remove her gaze from the slot below, her resolve palpable.
“No. But if some part of him could live, if there’s some chance, I can’t let it slip by. I won’t.”
Saturn thrust the blade into the slot, feeding it in all the way down to the hilt. The copper gears spun against one another as the ridges caught the tumblers. Saturn released the handle and looked around, taking a few steps back and waiting for something to happen.
“Do you hear that?” Nix asked.
A buzz grew out of the many pillars, chirping away, slowing the dust that blew through the air until the grains of sand might as well have been traveling through jelly. The purple Aether connected the pillars into an intricate web, encapsulating the altar in its grasp. Liam’s body was lifted up off the stone slab, his limbs drooping down. Nix had to shield his eyes from the blinding light. Through it all, Liam’s body began to wilt away, disintegrating into the air around them and adding his life energy to the web.
In under a minute, he was gone. The purple electricity collected in a ball atop the center of the pillars. It grew until a single beam reached out and struck the ship. The metal hull glowed from the intense energy radiating around it. Nix stepped out of the structure toward the ship, mesmerized by the elegance of the lightning’s dance.
The ground shook, forcing Nix to drop to his knees to hold on. A figure grew out of the ship. Its wings unfolded, nearly a hundred meters in span and formed from pure Aether. Each of its talons were larger than Nix, steeply curved and terrifying. Its fluid feathers made the bird seem somehow more alive. The Garuda stood on the back of the vessel and let out a roar that was half beast and half the chirp of the electricity.
The legendary beast was not alone. The energy began to morph, no longer a brilliant shade of purple. Somewhere at its core, the beast burned red, a fire taking the energy hostage and consuming it with its heat. The Garuda roared once more, invigorated by its new addition. Nix squinted up at the beast, using his hand to block the setting sun. Atop the creature there now sat a burning rider, clutching the flaming feathers at its neck. The beast calmed and sunk back into the hull of the ship, remnants of the unruly energy flickering occasionally along the channels between hull plates. In moments, it was gone.
“Did you see it?” Saturn asked, disbelief shading her voice. “Did you see him?”
Nix still stared up at the ship well after the Garuda’s image dissipated. Elder Bartle had told him stories about the Corsairs since he was a boy, but a part of him still couldn’t believe it actually worked. A part of him had thought the old man was full of it. Nix turned his head toward the altar. Liam’s body was gone along with
the blade key. A smile curled up his cheeks, his relief unable to be squelched.
“I saw.”
EPILOGUE
Death Wish stumbled through the pitch black hallway, placing a hand against the earthen wall for balance. The mercenary forced open the rough wooden door, its loose planks vibrating from the impact. Inside the small room, Death Wish lit an orb and let it float up toward the ceiling, illuminating a store room filled with antiquities. Every shelf held a secret, a piece of history. Whirling gears and cogs counted the seconds and chirped every minute on the dot.
Section by section, the mercenary dropped the pieces of sharp scaled armor to the floor. Once finished, Death Wish stood, nearly naked, only a tight-fitting garment clinging to rigid scales. At the back of the store room, the mercenary scanned the shelves, searching for one item in particular. There it was, hidden in the far corner on the bottommost shelf, tucked behind an hourglass filled with coarse sand stolen from Garuda’s sole moon.
The pyramid fit comfortably in Death Wish’s hands. Considering what the device could do, it seemed so small. But, after what the mercenary had seen, questioning the power of The Three was foolish. When Death Wish had made the trip through to this dimension, there was no way to know just how it would differ. Holding the device up to the light, the words engraved on the outside became clear. Vesta Corp. At least some things had remained the same.
The mercenary placed the pyramid on the stone floor near the center of the room. Using a dexterous claw, Death Wish traced the seam along the top third of the device, watching as a trail of blue followed along behind. Once finished, the mercenary stood and backed away, teeth clenched in anticipation.
The top of the device was lifted up by the blue energy emanating from within. In seconds, the shelves beyond began to morph, swirling like the colors of a melted painting. The air became tainted with the blue energy, engulfing everything around and spinning into a flat portal which led to another place. A wind escaped the gateway and knocked over many of the items on the shelves, crashing to the floor with the sound of broken springs. Death Wish raised an arm to shield the gusts.
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 48
