Seeker's Light (The Tazalian Series)

by N. I. Snow

  Kahluna didn't hear him as she pitched forward and tumbled down the pile of rubble. Jonah leapt down to her side. He checked to make sure she was still breathing. Relieved, he checked her pulse to find it beating at a dangerously low rate. She had lost too much blood.

  Pulling off his shirt, Jonah tore it into several strips. He tied one around the wound on her tail and the others around large wounds on her arms, legs and snout. After he had finished, he struggled to lift her up. He was only able to get her partly up. He allowed himself a moment to catch his breath before dragging her to a safer area. He had to wake her quickly, every moment they lost, the more Emma suffered.

  Six

  Dreams are a gateway into different worlds. Our imaginations run wild, molding memories and fantasies together. We humans can find ourselves in a magical kingdom or in Grandma's kitchen where she is cooking with her pet poodle.

  Tazalians don't dream as humans do. They remember past memories as though they were happening all over again. For Kahluna the memories weren't dreams, they were nightmares.

  It was freezing on the barren planet of Tandian. The year was 2122; Kahluna was 124 in standard years, forty-one in Tazalian. She was standing in a rocky clearing, her short tuft of hair waving in a light, chilling breeze. Her red eyes were narrowed and her claws held tightly to the pistol pointed at a cloaked figure in front of her.

  The figure spoke to her in a calm raspy voice, “You were clever to have slipped past the fleet, Kahluna. Shame your ship had been planted with a tracking device.”

  Kahluna gritted her fangs, “I'll keep that in mind.”

  The figure chuckled, she could imagine a fang-filled grin under the hood of the cloak. “It is not too late, Kahluna; you can still join me. The Gaia's power is limitless. A quarter of the galaxy could be under your control.”

  “Is that what you told Umelia before you killed her,” Kahluna growled savagely, a claw close to pulling the trigger.

  “She gave me no choice,” the voice pleaded.

  Kahluna didn't buy it. “That's right. The egg she had. You couldn't let her open her mouth and blurt out how you broke the single rule the Elders made among themselves—never mate.”

  The cloak ruffled with a growl from the figure, “I wasn't about to allow her to backstab me. If the other Elders had found out…”

  Kahluna continued, “You also couldn't miss out on the chance to have your legacy live on. Frankly I'm surprised the other Elders haven't noticed the resemblance. Then again, they are blind to your other treacheries as well.”

  Salianos pulled the hood from his blue-scaled snout, his violet eyes glaring at Kahluna. He continued smiling dangerously as he spoke, “That lovely shade of green you inherited from Umelia is enough to distract them from the blue you humbly took from me.”

  “You can keep them,” she plucked a blue-green scale from her neck and dropped it. “I never wanted it.”

  Salianos placed a clawed hand over his heart, feigning pain, “That hurts me to hear that Kahluna.”

  Kahluna scoffed, “Not hardly enough to make up for the suffering you put me through.”

  “I gave you the chance to live, to become the greatest Seeker alive,” Salianos snapped, his tone darker. “You could have been my second in command when we found the Gaia.”

  “I rather would have died than to live under your lies, your betrayal. I can’t escape the scars,” she motioned to the various scars along her body, “you gave me for your mistake.”

  “Your failure to comply to the laws.”

  “I'm glad hypocrisy wasn't a trait I inherited,” she snorted. “How do you hide that ego of yours from the Elders? Or are they too wrapped around your every word to notice.”

  Salianos chuckled darkly. “Yahrik and Tarline agree with my ideals, as for Abilasso, Shadonel, and Soforin. They could hardly care less.”

  “And Lutianist?”

  Salianos shrugged. “I'll be rather surprised if he lives another hundred standard years with the amount of knowledge that aging brain of his holds.”

  The silence that fell between father and daughter was more chilling then the wind blowing around them. Kahluna never took her eyes from Salianos. She knew how fast he could move, after all he had been a Seeker himself. In fact, all the Elders had been the first known Seekers. They were the first to set out across the universe to find the Ancients’ relics, each using their own unique skill. They had used these skills to revive the Tazalian culture thousands of years ago. Kahluna found it a sad irony that the same Elders that saved Tazal had done so for their own corrupt purposes. Now the former Seeker stood in a frozen wasteland eye to eye with the puppet master whose scheming had brought her much grief.

  Salianos was not about to let her leave alive. He was much swifter than Kahluna gave him credit. She had only time to land a single shot at Salianos’s neck before a blinding white energy spear sprouted from her chest, inches from her heart. Gasping for air, Kahluna fell to her knees grabbing for the spear. A kick to her head from Salianos ended her attempt.

  Clutching at the burnt scales on his neck, Salianos watched callously as Kahluna's eyes slowly shut. He bent down to check her pulse, he was satisfied to find none. Standing back up, he walked away from the apparently dead Kahluna, just as he had walked away from the form of his deceased mate, Umelia. The cold winds of Tandian made his black cloak billow like the wings of a demonic creature.

  It was that cruel memory that haunted the unconscious Kahluna by night. Though it had been 300 standard years since the event, the image was still as clear as it had been on Tandian. Now it was up to her to wake and rescue the human girl from the blue-scaled demon and it would require her to return to Tazal and likely face her demonic father again.

  Emma jumped when she looked up to find Zaharak standing in front of the cell. She didn't even hear him enter the room. The Seeker's impassive yellow eyes stared at her from underneath the fedora, making her nervous. Was he waiting for her to break down and panic? Then she felt the ship shudder as a loud metallic screech rang out.

  “What's going on?” she asked, watching Zaharak enter a code on the panel.

  The barrier around the cell disappeared and Zaharak walked towards Emma. He reached down and grabbed her bound wrists, checking the energy cuffs. As he was doing so, his guttural voice answered, “We are docking to the main warship,” he lifted Emma to her feet.“You are meeting your new owner.”

  As Zaharak pushed her to the center of the hull, Emma retorted, “I'm not a pet.”

  Zaharak pressed a button on his arm brace and a large opening appeared in the floor. Inside the opening was a ladder connecting Zaharak's ship to the warship. “No, but for your sake, I will tell you that obedience will spare you from the claws of Tarline.”

  Zaharak helped her get a good hold on the ladder, which was awkward with the cuffs on. “I take it, he's not a being you want the parents to meet?”

  “Not unless they enjoy being tortured,” Zaharak's voice was edged with sarcasm.

  A shiver ran down Emma's spine. As ordered she began climbing down the ladder. Zaharak followed closely after her, his tail pressed against his back in order to pass through the narrow enclosure. The climb from Zaharak's ship wasn't long, they reached the transfer to the warship in seconds, where another ladder waited half a meter below in a brightly lit connector.

  Emma put a foot tenderly on the first rung of the ladder. She carefully climbed down until it was time for her to transfer her bound hands. Zaharak waited patiently as the girl carefully balanced herself as she let go of the ladder. She held her breath as she reached down to the next ladder. When she had a good hold of the first rung she let out a sigh of relief. Emma continued down until her feet touched the floor of a gray walled room.

  She had to blink several times as her eyes adjusted to the bright lights from the panels above her head. By the time Zaharak stepped down from the ladder, Emma had been able to examine the empty room. There was only a single door to exit from. A control panel n
ext to the door and one next the ladder were the only items in the room. Zaharak entered a code, not on the panel, but on his brace. Emma watched as the warship's ladder folded into itself and then melted onto the ceiling forming into a seamless panel.

  Zaharak grabbed Emma's left arm, nearly reopening the knife wound. He walked her over to the door and pressed a button on the panel. A nasally voice spoke in Tazalian from the panel. Emma listened intently as Zaharak's husky voice took an even more apathetic tone in his native tongue. She preferred hearing him speak Earthnan. The conversation was short and from the sound of the other’s voice, they had been allowed to board through fear more than anything else.

  When the door slid open, Zaharak walked out of the room almost dragging Emma behind him. They entered into a large hallway that could have easily held several small houses side by side. The bright, white lights from the panels several meters above their heads mixed with the spaciousness was enough for Emma to forget that she was still a prisoner. A few Tazalians dressed in odd-colored shirts and pants roamed the hallway. At the sight of Zaharak, however, they seemed to remember having a job to do and departed through one of the doorways that lined the hallway. It appeared to Emma that Zaharak's reputation had preceded him.

  Turning Emma to the right, the Seeker lead her through another gray hallway. As they walked, Emma glanced at the different doorways trying to read the words that floated an inch from their surfaces. Had she not been rushed by Zaharak, she could have decoded each one. After a short while, the Seeker turned her down a hallway that branched off to their left. Emma soon realized they were heading for the center of the ship. This surprised her, she had been sure the Seeker would take her to the bridge which, from the outside, appeared to be in the front of the ship.

  They passed more Tazalians, who quickly turned their gazes to the ground trying to make themselves invisible to Zaharak. They hardly even noticed Emma. The Seeker didn't keep them in that hallway for long. He turned down another hall to their left with Emma stumbling in his hold. She was still tired from the flight through Neapolthia and Zaharak made no motion to slow his pace or stop. Half dragging the poor girl, he continued through the corridor until they came to a door at the end, where he placed a clawed hand on a flat holoscreen next to it. After the screen scanned the Seeker's hand, the doors seemed to shiver as the panels slid open; as though even they feared Zaharak.

  Inside was an office with a long counter at the right side. A maroon-scaled Tazalian in a white robe sat behind the counter looking at a holopad built into the counter-top. Across from Emma and Zaharak was another door with no control panel beside it.

  Zaharak walked Emma to the middle of the room. Not looking at the Tazalian secretary, his guttural voice spoke in Tazalian, “Yem fe loke.”

  The secretary looked up, his green eyes wide, “Zaharak! The High Elder requested not to be disturbed, even by a Seeker such as yourself.”

  “Either you alert Salianos to my presence and open the door or he will have to find himself a new attendant.”

  Emma managed to translate a few of the words; and though she wasn't able to fully understand, she could tell Zaharak gained the effect he wanted. Sweating, the secretary pressed an image on the pad and spoke quickly to it. As a raspy voice shouted at him from the pad and he pressed another image to open the door to a dark room.

  Before walking over to the doorway, Zaharak bent down and whispered into Emma's ear, “If you value your life, do not mention anything about Kahluna, not even about resemblances.”

  “What do you mean?” Emma asked quietly.

  Zaharak stood up straight ignoring her question. Pushing her forward they walked through the doorway into the darkness. The barely lit room reminded Emma of the holding cell on Zaharak's ship. Low-powered energy lamps ran along the walls of the crescent-shaped room. There were no accouterments save a bench chair and its occupant.

  Had it not been for the Seeker, Emma would have frozen in place. The cruelty and enmity showing from the Tazalian's violet eyes made Zaharak seem like a innocent child. That wasn't the only thing that made her pause. She understood now what Zaharak meant by resemblances. Except for the corrupt violet eyes, this Tazalian looked almost identical to Kahluna from the gaunt, faded blue-scaled snout to the broad yet slender body.

  Zaharak stopped nearly four meters from the Tazalian keeping a good distance between the older original Seeker and him and Emma. The Tazalian's clawed hands rested on his knees, which were covered in a long red-and-white robe. His violet eyes examined Emma briefly before glaring darkly at Zaharak. The young girl did not have to be a mind reader to tell he hated Zaharak.

  The two reptiles stared at each other for some time, angry violet eyes boring into emotionless yellow eyes. Emma nearly jumped when the faded blue-scaled Tazalian's raspy voice, edged with annoyance, broke the silence, “Lähk tar eftaka alt dlo mota alt Peft Setka, Zaharak ?” Have you forgotten to show respect to the High Elder, Zaharak?

  Zaharak reply was almost polite. “Sho Pa lähk, Salianos. Pa lähk sho motoma alt tar ka toka.” No I have not, Salianos. However, I have no loyalties to you at the moment.

  Salianos stiffened. Emma could tell whatever Zaharak had said, it had offended the High Elder, who looked ready to leap from the chair and tear Zaharak from limb to limb. Tension rose between them as they continued talking, yet neither showed any facial emotion. Emma quickly picked up their language. She wondered if they knew she was listening in on them.

  “I gave clear orders not to be bothered, Seeker,” Salianos used the word to downgrade Zaharak.

  Zaharak ignored the High Elder's endeavor, “I believe you will find what I have more important than your brooding.”

  Salianos gave Emma an icy glance before asking Zaharak, “A human? You waste my time with a hostage instead of bringing me the relic. What possible importance is that girl to me?”

  Zaharak chuckled frigidly, “I'll keep that question in mind when I meet Kahluna again,” he watched as Salianos’s eyes narrowed and then continued before High Elder could say anything, “This girl can read the Ancients’ runes.”

  Salianos's dark glare vanished into a look of surprise and interest. He forgot about Kahluna momentarily as he turned his violet eyes on Emma. He kept his gaze on her as he tried to sound skeptical, “You expect me to believe that this simple cub can read the Ancients’ words when even Lutianist cannot? What proof do you have?”

  Emma's face showed indignity at being called a simple cub and she failed to stop herself from snapping in Tazalian, “Who are you calling simple? I happen…”

  Zaharak removed his clawed hand from her arm and placed it over her mouth. Salianos's eyes lit up even more from her outburst. Zaharak pulled his hand from Emma's mouth and pressed a button on his brace. An image filled with the Ancients’ runes appeared above the Seeker's arm. Zaharak looked at Emma from beneath his fedora, “Besides having only taken moments to understand Tazalian, here is my proof. She will decode the Ancients’ writing for us.”

  Emma's heart pounded as she looked from the sinister Salianos to the impassive Zaharak. Taking a deep breath, she looked at the mess of runes in the image. She thought momentarily to lie about what she read, but that would only get her killed, either by Zaharak or the High Elder.

  Face paling she began reading the runes, “We mark this day as the be-beginning of our q-quest to find the Gaia. A-Ac-According to rumors its p-power sh-should be enough to bring…”

  “Enough!” Salianos's voice interrupted her. Emma began trembling as an evil smile appeared on the High Elder's snout. “In all my years, I have never expected to find a creature adept in the Ancients’ language. Now their secrets lie within my grasp. The Gaia…”

  “Eight million cardonans,” Zaharak interrupted Salianos's speech.

  Salianos bared his fangs, glaring at Zaharak for interrupting his speech. “Eight million? No creature is worth that much, not even her.”

  “If you would like, I can change my price to ten million or,�
�� he set a claw dangerously at the base of Emma's neck, “you lose your chance to have the Ancient's language unlocked.”

  Salianos bent his head letting out a feral snarl that reminded Emma of Kahluna, “Very well, I will have the funds transferred to your…”

  “Now.”

  Salianos pressed a button on the arm of the bench chair. “Now.”

  Zaharak pressed another button on the brace. He watched as the new image showed his already impressive accounts gain an extra eight million. Pleased, Zaharak pressed the button once more and the image disappeared. He removed his clawed hand from Emma's neck, whose body relaxed. The Seeker was turning to leave Emma with Salianos when the High Elder stopped him.

  “Since that ship of yours has been so nicely outfitted. I will need you to deliver her to Tazal.”

  Emma's eyes widened. “What?”

  Zaharak and Salianos ignored her outburst as the blue Tazalian continued, “As you know, Lutianist has kept an archive of every relic recovered; and since your ship is faster than any in my fleet, I will need you to take her there. After all, having her here will do us no good.”

  Zaharak didn't turn to face Salianos, “It will cost you extra.”

  “I will transfer thirty thousand now and an extra sixty upon her delivery to Lutianist.”

  “Very well.” Zaharak removed his hat and bowed to Salianos. “Always a pleasure doing business with you, High Elder Salianos.”

  He turned Emma back towards the door, but before he opened it, Salianos called to him, “She is alive, isn't she? Even though I saw her die at my own claws, I have always suspected her to have lived.”

  Zaharak pressed a button on the control panel next to the door before turning his head to look at the High Elder. “She's alive and once she repairs her ship, she will head for Tazal.”

  Salianos nodded, “To save the girl no doubt. Then Kahluna will meet her fate once more, and this time she will not be coming back.”

  Zaharak shrugged and continued to lead Emma through the door, which slid shut behind them, closing them off from Salianos’s hungry violet eyes. The girl hoped to never see those eyes again; but she knew that one day she would. She was going to Tazal with no hope of escape. The prospect chilled her and her nerves almost gave out, so that Zaharak had to nudge her through the reception room into the open hallway.