by J. J. Green
It was Commander Calvaley of the Sherrerrs’ mountain stronghold on Ithiya. After Carina’s special request to visit the men’s quarters, there was no chance that he wouldn’t recognize her.
“Well, I never,” Calvaley said as he dropped casually into his seat and got a clear look at her face. “If it isn’t Private Lin, who disappeared right from under our noses. This makes a lot of sense.”
“What’s that?” Stefan asked.
“Your mage is no stranger to us,” Calvaley replied. “She served in the attack on Banner’s Moon. Served bravely and well. She appropriated a new Dirksen weapon that’s designed to incapacitate the enemy with terror. It emits an ultrasonic frequency that resonates with the amygdala in the brain, triggering an uncontrollable emotional reaction. Your mage stole what we believe to be the prototype before we blew up their moon. Or perhaps you spirited it out of there?” He raised an eyebrow.
If only, Carina thought, though she said nothing. Casting Transport on that thing would have saved a lot of effort and stress. Too bad she couldn’t sip elixir wearing a helmet.
“Carina,” Stefan said. “I’m impressed. You were helping in the Sherrerr cause even before I met you.”
“I was just a soldier doing my job,” Carina replied, “before I knew the Sherrerrs were rapists and torturers. I won’t be helping you again.”
“Stefan,” the portly man at the head of the table said. “Keep her in check, would you? We don’t have much time. I’d rather proceed without interruption.”
“Of course, General,” said Stefan. “I apologize.” He went over to Carina and bent down to speak into her ear. “If you think that my raping and beating your mother was bad,” he said softly, “just wait and see what I’ll do to her if you speak again.”
Carina clenched her teeth. She was already feeling the effect of the power Stefan had that her mother had warned her about. She would give anything to save the poor woman from more suffering. A sense of desperation began to gnaw at her.
At her side, Castiel smiled.
***
Carina had no choice but to listen as the Sherrerr heads of command discussed their tactics to defeat the Dirksens’ forces on Cestrarth. They were expecting to meet a vigorous defense and were working on the assumption that their attack was unlikely to be a surprise to their rival clan. As a result, they were bringing a large portion of their firepower to bear with the intention of striking hard and fast. The Sherrerrs wanted to utterly crush the opposing forces on the planet and take it over. Cestrarth’s position lent it strategic importance, and losing the military forces would strike a major blow to the Dirksens.
One way or another, it would be a decisive first battle in the war, in space, in the air, on the ground, and at sea on Cestrarth. As the officers talked, Stefan would glance at Carina every so often, as if hoping she was thinking up Casts she could use to aid the Sherrerr cause. She was not.
Carina was trying to figure out how to get her mother and siblings out of reach of their psychopathic husband and father. It wouldn’t be easy. Even if she could get the ingredients and create an elixir—a process that she’d discovered Stefan guarded against effectively—she couldn’t Transport the family off the ship. They were probably light years from any civilized regions, let alone habitable planets. The Sherrerrs would have gone somewhere remote in order to gather their ships in secret. Though Carina might have attempted a Transport Cast from a ship in orbit to a planet’s surface, trying to move a human being planetside from deep space was highly likely to end in a nasty, painful death.
Even if she had elixir in her hand right at that moment, escape of any kind was out of the question. Her only other option was to take command of the ship—a ship that was carrying tens of thousands of armed troops. It was no good. Escape wouldn’t be possible until the ship went to an inhabited region. Carina would have to think of a plan that might work when they were near an inhabited planet.
As soon as they were free, they could survive and avoid recapture with the help of their mage powers. At least, the mage children could. Carina wasn’t sure what to do with the children who hadn’t inherited her mother’s abilities. Would they want to leave too? She wasn’t sure. It seemed that Stefan had never behaved excessively badly toward them. Maybe they would prefer to remain living the rich, highly privileged lifestyle of the Sherrerr clan.
Castiel was watching her again. He was smiling. He looked extremely like his father. Carina wondered what her mother thought of her eldest son.
The meeting was drawing to a close. The holo of Cestrarth that floated above the central table disappeared and the officers began to push back their chairs and leave. The parts of the battle plan that had filtered through to Carina had given her no ideas on how she could Cast to influence the outcome, even if she’d been willing to try. The only time she’d Cast during a battle, all she’d done was Transport troops to another place. Killing took a lot of concentration and power, and it was grisly. She had no desire to do that to Dirksen soldiers, who, like the Sherrerr troops, were only pawns in the game the two great clans played.
Calvaley was walking around the table, heading over to her. “I haven’t given up on you, Lin,” he said when he arrived at her chair. “You’re an excellent soldier, and with your abilities you could raise high in the ranks very quickly. You could occupy an influential, lucrative position where you would not be subject to coercion. What do you say?”
“Now wait a minute,” said Stefan, rising to his feet.
“Sit down,” Calvaley told him. “I shouldn’t have to remind you that you aren’t an officer in the Sherrerr armed forces, and until you are, your surname counts for little. You are tolerated, Stefan Sherrerr, for what you can offer, and no more.”
The rage emanating from the object of Calvaley’s scorn was almost palpable.
“I would sooner cut my own throat than work for the Sherrerrs,” Carina said. “When you tolerate the actions of scum, you sink to the same level. One of my deepest regrets is that I ever helped you. I won’t make the same mistake again.”
“Hmmm...shame,” said Calvaley. “Not everyone thinks the same as you, you know. Control is the foundation of civilization. Without it, there is nothing but anarchy and barbarism. If you think our behavior is bad, you wouldn’t want to see what happens in a society that lives without fear of retribution. A society that lacks a controlling force isn’t a society, it’s a collection of individuals fighting, maiming, and killing to get what they want. When we have ultimate control over this galactic sector, we will see peace and prosperity on an unprecedented scale.”
“Keep telling yourself that, Calvaley, while you consort with rapists, torturers, and murderers. What you think you’re fighting is what you are. I despise you.”
Stefan drew back his hand to strike her across the face, but Calvaley stopped him with an impatient gesture.
“You’re young and confused,” he said, “and I have no doubt that Stefan has put your poor mother through a lot, so I’ll forgive you that. In time, when we’ve won this war, you’ll see that I was right. Like I said, many see the sense of our actions. That other soldier who disappeared with you saw fit to return to our ranks after his little sojourn.”
He could only mean Bryce. Bryce had rejoined the Sherrerr army? Carina said nothing, but her shock must have shown on her face.
“That surprised you, didn’t it?” Calvaley said. “Yes. I spotted him aboard ship this morning. He enlisted under an assumed name of course, but I knew his face. You see? He left with you, but he’s seen the error of his ways and come back to fight for a noble cause. What do you think of that?”
Carina’s mind was whirring as she tried to think of why Bryce would have re-enlisted with the Sherrerrs when he had a new business to run.
“Consider my proposal, Lin. It stands—for a little while.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ensconced deep within the Sherrerr ship, Carina was shielded from all the effects of the space battle going on
with the Dirksen fleets. She had learned they were aboard the Sherrerr flagship, Nightfall. While the destroyers, dreadnoughts, and fighter ships of both sides fought for control of the planetary system, all Carina saw was the interface feed from drones at Cestrarth. The flying spies transmitted vids and data from the planet surface to the room where Stefan had put her along with her two guards.
A jug and a glass sat on the table in front of Carina. The jug was filled with elixir. Parthenia had made it, and she’d done it perfectly. Carina had wondered why, when Stefan clearly had a mage who was willing to help him, he bothered forcing her to do his bidding. Perhaps it was because he thought she was better at Casting, or he wanted to assert his power over her.
After guards had taken her to the room, Stefan had told her he would be back soon, and left. She knew that he’d gone to fetch someone he could threaten to hurt if she didn’t do exactly as he asked. When he’d reappeared with little, sweet Darius in tow, her horror was almost equaled by her rage.
Stefan had his method of coercion honed to its most efficient and effective. It wasn’t surprising that he’d controlled her mother so well over the years. First, he picked his victim well. Carina had been expecting him to use her mother, but of course he’d realized they would try to collude and defy him, even at the cost of extreme pain. He’d passed over his wife in favor of another person he knew Carina cared about.
She’d loved the little boy even before she knew he was her half-brother. If she’d even guessed at what went on within Stefan’s household, she would never have returned him. But at his young age, the little boy didn’t know or understand half of it. Her mother had done a good job of protecting him. When Carina had asked him about his home life after rescuing him from the Dirksens, he had only told her the facts from his six-year-old perspective—his brothers and sisters, tutors, pets, and daily life. It seemed that up until recently, things had been fairly normal on the surface within the walls of the Sherrerr estate.
“Normal” was the last word Carina would use to describe what was happening at that moment. She could hardly conceive of someone so depraved that they would hurt a little boy, let alone their own son, in order to get what they wanted.
Darius was holding his father’s hand trustingly and looking all about him as the pair entered the room. As soon as the little boy’s gaze alighted on Carina he gave a beaming smile and tried to break away from his father to run to her. Stefan held tightly to his son’s hand, however, saying, “There will be time to speak to Carina later, Darius. Please sit down here.”
Looking a little confused, Darius climbed into the seat his father had indicated.
“We have an important job to do today,” said Stefan, “and you’re going to help us do it.”
“Do you want me to Cast?” Darius asked. He’d spotted the jug and glass on the table.
“No. Carina will be doing the Casting today. She is older than you and her abilities are much stronger.”
“Oh, am I here to watch?” asked Darius. “Like I have to watch Parthenia sometimes?”
“You are here to watch, to learn, and to provide encouragement,” Stefan replied.
“I can do that,” Darius said, though without enthusiasm. He was watching Carina sadly.
Carina was nauseated with disgust and overwhelmed with fury. At the word “encouragement,” Stefan had drawn out the torture instrument that he’d used on her from inside his jacket. He was holding it behind Darius, and the little boy couldn’t see it. The implication was clear: if Carina didn’t do as Stefan asked, he would use the device on the child.
Carina’s nerves hadn’t entirely recovered from the ministrations of the slim metal rod. They still tingled painfully at intervals when she was awake and asleep. Her whole being rebelled at the idea of Darius suffering the same agony she’d endured.
The little boy asked, “What’s the matter, Carina?”
She’d been trying to keep her expression neutral. She was clearly failing at the attempt. “Stefan Sherrerr, you’re a monster.”
“No, my dear,” he replied. “I’m very much a man, as I intend to demonstrate to you, to my great delight and pleasure, when I have a spare moment. Now, the situation is very clear, but as this is your first time, I think it wise to make it even clearer. I am well aware of the capabilities of mages, and also the limitations of their Casts. I know the effect is not immediate, that there is a lag, which is fortunate for me and very unfortunate for you. Both of the guards who are present are under strict instructions to immediately retaliate with deadly force if anything should begin to happen to themselves or myself.
“You may wish to take a chance, but will your Cast work before you or your brother are under any threat? I can assure you from experience that it will not. Your mother found that out the hard way, if only her poor feeble mind could recall it. Be assured, a pulse rifle can be fired faster than any Cast can work. If you do try, you will fail. You and your brother will be gone, and I will have four mages remaining at my disposal.
“But I would ask you not to attempt it, nevertheless, Carina, as step-father to step-daughter. Though you and I have yet to become better acquainted, I have grown quite fond of the boy, and I would be sorry to hurt him.”
“Father?” Darius asked, looking up at Stefan with wide brown eyes.
His father ruffled his hair. “Never mind. Just sit there and be a good boy.”
Stefan’s words had been beyond his understanding, but Darius must have picked up on some of the sense of what was going on because he suddenly began to cry.
Carina couldn’t stand it. “Take him out of here. I’ll do what you want.”
Stefan raised his eyebrows. “Capitulating so soon? I was expecting more of a fight from you. What was it you were saying? You’d rather cut your own throat? How dramatic. Yet here we are and you cave like a virgin on her first night.”
“Done with your gloating?” Carina asked. “Take him away.”
“No, I don’t think I’ll do that. I’d much prefer little Darius to remain present. His presence will keep my threat fresh in your mind, and he might learn something from watching you in action.”
Carina herself didn’t know what she could do to fulfill Stefan’s command that she help the Sherrerrs win their battle. She only wanted to protect Darius. The child had already been tortured by the Dirksens to try to make him reveal his mage status. He’d been through enough without his father torturing him too.
She closed her eyes and gave a heavy sigh. “Has the battle on the ground started? You know I can’t do anything in space, right? I can’t affect the Dirksen ships.” Starships traveling at even slow speeds were impossible for a mage to target, as far as Carina knew. In the handful of times that she’d tried, she’d failed.
“Your mother did manage to convince me of that limitation on mage powers, under considerable duress. I remain convinced, for the moment.”
“Then what’s happening on the ground? And how the hell do you expect me to do anything about it from up here?”
“The battle has begun,” Stefan replied. “See the drone feed,” he said into the air, and four holograms flickered to life above the table. Each showed a different view of a planet. There appeared to be four separate military encounters about to take place. One was at a vast concrete complex that bordered a stormy ocean, a second was at a plain that lay within a circle of extinct volcanoes, the third was at sea—Carina guessed that the military installation was on the sea bottom—and the fourth was in a polar region. At all four locations, Sherrerr tanks, armored guns, military drones, and soldiers in exosuits were approaching and defensive fire had begun.
Carina thought of Bryce. Was he taking part in any of the battles? Calvaley had said he’d seen him aboard the ship. She hoped that was where he’d stayed. She also remembered Mandeville and the other soldiers who had helped her bring the Dirksen weapon to the Sherrerr shuttle.
For the first time in her life, her distaste for the bloodshed and violence of military comba
t turned to hatred. Before, when she’d been a merc, she’d seen armed conflict as a necessary evil of human society. It was going to happen anyway, she’d reasoned. She couldn’t stop it so she might as well profit from it. Her feelings were different now. Her disgust for Stefan turned on herself when she realized what she had to do.
“Well?” Stefan asked impatiently. “Have you thought of something? Or do you need some persuasion?” He lifted the slim metal rod.
“I can’t Cast across the galaxy,” Carina said. “You’ll have to take me closer.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Carina asked Stefan over and over to leave Darius aboard the ship and not bring him with them on a shuttle to Cestrarth. She promised him that she would Cast to help the Sherrerr side even without Darius present, but he refused to even listen to her. He took his son from the room, telling Carina they would all go to the surface together once a shuttle was prepared.
Powerlessness and hopelessness engulfed her as he left with his son. Stefan was right. Despite all her brave words, she was caught in the same trap her mother had been for all those years. She couldn’t see any way out of it. And what had Stefan meant when he said her mother had found out “the hard way” what would happen if she refused? Her mother hadn’t mentioned any events along those lines. Carina wondered if the recollection was too painful for her.
A short time later, her guards took her to the shuttle bay. The place was nearly empty. Most of the shuttles were ferrying soldiers to the surface and the fighter ships had left to take part in the battle. Stefan and Darius were waiting for her, standing outside a shuttle at the far end of the bay.
When she arrived at the vessel, she repeated her request. “Please, Stefan. This is incredibly dangerous. We’ll be flying right inside the battle zone. Anything could hit us and take us down. Drones, ground-to-air missiles, defense rockets, even well-aimed sniper fire. This isn’t a military craft.”
