Daughter of Discord (Star Mage Saga Book 1)

by J. J. Green

  “You need to see a doctor right away. There has to be an army medic aboard the ship.”

  “I guess I should do that, now that my plan fell through. I just can’t seem to get up the motivation. I’ve lived with this illness so long, I feel like it’s part of me and my destiny.”

  “Don’t talk like that,” Carina said, filled with alarm. She’d learned from Bryce how quickly the disease became serious once it took hold. She clutched her mother’s hands. “I only just found you.” Her throat constricted and she couldn’t speak. It was no surprise her mother looked so bad. She suddenly jumped up. “Come with me.” She pulled on her mother’s hands to try to encourage her to stand, but she remained sitting.

  “Where? We can’t leave these quarters.”

  “You have to see a doctor. You’re seriously ill.”

  “Oh Carina, I don’t know that I want to.”

  “You have to, Mother. If not for yourself, then for the rest of us. For me.” Carina sank to her knees and laid her head in her mother’s lap. “Please. As bad as things are, I can stand it. I finally found you. It was so hard being alone for all that time. Always hiding what I was. I hate Stefan and I hate the Sherrerrs and everything they’re doing, but I can bear it. We’ll work out a way to escape together. But if I lose you, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

  Her mother stroked her hair. “I missed you so much, Carina, but it comforted me that you were safe with your Nai Nai. I knew she would take good care of you. I didn’t think she would die so soon and leave you all alone. I’m sorry for that, but better a life spent alone on the streets than growing up in Stefan’s luxurious slave camp.”

  “Maybe that’s so,” Carina replied. “But that’s the past. I’m here now, and I’m strong. That evil monster hasn’t worn me down. And I can fight. I’m determined to get us out of here, more so than ever now that I know how sick you are. I want to give you a reason to live, Mother. I never had you for so long. I want us to be together for many more years.”

  “I want that too, Carina. I just don’t think it’s possible. I tried to keep you safe from Stefan, but he caught you in the end. I guess I’ve given up hope.” She sighed. “But if you want me to see a doctor, I will.”

  Carina jumped up and went to the main door of the living quarters. She told the guards that her mother was very ill and needed to see a medic immediately.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  The ship’s doctor spent only five minutes with Faye in her bedroom before contacting Stefan to ask permission to take her to sick bay. With her husband’s say so, she went with the doctor to the medical center. No one was allowed to go with her. Though Carina argued for permission, Stefan wouldn’t grant it.

  After spending another hour examining her and running tests, the doctor left the room, saying she would return in a moment. Faye waited alone on the narrow examination table, naked under her medical gown. She hadn’t looked at her body properly in weeks, and even she had been shocked at how thin she’d grown and the extent of the bruises that covered her skin.

  The doctor returned. She sat on a tall stool next to the bed and folded her hands in her lap. “I’m sorry to leave you like that. I had to speak to your husband first. I’m sure you’re well aware of how things are run around here.”

  “I understand. So, what did you tell him? What’s the news?”

  “Faye,” the doctor said, “why did you stop taking your preventative? You must have been aware of the risks.”

  “I was fully aware, but my reasons for my actions aren’t your concern. Are you going to tell me what you found out or not?”

  The doctor said, “I also wanted to speak to your husband to ask permission to have you evacuated to the nearest friendly planet so that you could begin medical treatment immediately.” She paused and looked down. “That permission was refused.”

  “I see.”

  “If I had the equipment and the drugs, there might be a chance I could...” The doctor paused again. “The disease has progressed so far, it’s now in its final stages. You have maybe one or two weeks left. I’m very sorry.”

  Faye nodded. It would be hard on Carina. Very hard. She regretted that. And little Darius. He loved her so much. But despite her regrets, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit relieved that her long suffering would soon be over. If there were an afterlife, she would see Kris again. “I think I’ll go back to my family now.” She climbed down from the table and picked up her clothes.

  “I’ll prepare some medication for you to take with you,” said the doctor. “It’ll help ease your symptoms and make you more comfortable. I imagine you’ve been feeling some bone pain and tenderness and are having night fevers?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “I thought so. I wish I knew why you didn’t seek help earlier. What you have is entirely curable with the appropriate treatment even in its late stages. Maybe if I could get you to a hospital within the next week or so you might have a chance, but that seems unlikely in the circumstances.”

  Faye locked eyes with the woman. “You examined me, didn’t you? You saw the scars. That’s what he’s done to me. For years. In my position, would you want to carry on?” When the doctor looked away and didn’t answer, she said, “Please leave. I want to get dressed.”

  In the empty examining room, as she slowly put on her clothes, Faye wondered why she’d waited and done nothing while the disease ravaged her body almost as badly as Stefan had. She’d told herself it was for the same plan that she’d related to Carina, but the words she’d just blurted out to the doctor seemed to ring truer. She could have told Stefan how sick she was weeks before, but she hadn’t. Perhaps, deep down, she’d never intended to go through with her plan. Perhaps she had only been trying to find a way out.

  The guards escorted her back to the living quarters. It was late. All the children had gone to bed. Only Carina remained awake, waiting for her in the lounge. When she went inside, her daughter stood up. “What did the doctor say? Have you started treatment?”

  She went over to the beautiful, strong, courageous young woman and took her in her arms. She could hardly believe the little girl she’d left behind had turned into such a wonderful, good human being. It hurt so badly to know that the time she had left with her was painfully short.

  She kissed her daughter on her cheek. How could she tell her? She couldn’t find the words. Not then. Not yet. “Yes,” she replied. “She’s given me some medication.”

  Carina hugged her tightly. It hurt, but Faye didn’t say anything.

  “You’re going to be okay?” Carina asked, her face buried in her mother’s shoulder.

  “Yes, I’m going to be okay.”

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Carina was sleeping soundly, relieved that her mother’s illness could be cured, when guards woke her. They’d come directly into her bedroom. The two women watched impassively as Carina dressed, then they escorted her through the dark living area. The rest of the family were asleep. Carina didn’t know what time it was but she felt as though she’d slept only one or two hours.

  Tiredness tugged at her eyelids as the guards took her through the ship, one in front of her and one behind. Neither would answer her questions about where they were taking her or why. She could only hope that she wasn’t being permanently separated from her mother and siblings.

  “Carina,” Stefan said expansively when she arrived at her destination. “Glad you could join us.” The guards had led her to a wide auditorium. Tiered rows of seating against one wall faced a window that took up the entire opposite wall and looked out on the local starscape.

  “You mean you’re glad your guards woke me up and forced me to come here,” she retorted. Senior Sherrerr officers who had been at the pre-battle strategy meeting were also there, but Carina didn’t care about embarrassing Stefan in front of his family. She would take every opportunity to demonstrate to them exactly what he was.

  Stefan frowned in anger. “Come and sit here.” He gestured
to the seat beside him.

  Other officers were there too. Twenty to thirty men and women in uniforms bearing the Sherrerr insignia were taking up most of the seats that faced the view of the galactic expanse. Carina recognized Raynott, who had orchestrated the assault on Banner’s Moon. Calvaley was absent for some reason. A pair of guards stood at each entrance, though whether they were there for her Carina wasn’t sure. She started. One of them was Bryce.

  He didn’t react when their eyes met, and Carina was thankful that no one seemed to have noticed her shocked reaction. She didn’t think Stefan would want her to have friends among the guards. Once more, Carina wondered how Bryce had ended up aboard the Sherrerr flagship.

  She sat next to Stefan. A guard stood on her other side. Stefan immediately leaned closer to whisper something in her ear. Certain that he was going to communicate some nasty remark or an even nastier threat, Carina stood up and briefly pretended to straighten her clothes. When she sat down again, she propped her elbow on the armrest farthest from Stefan and rested her chin on her hand, so that her mother’s husband would have been forced to lean comically far across her seat to speak in her ear.

  It was a petty gesture but Carina was taking whatever she could get. Stefan tutted under his breath. Carina wished she could reach over and break his neck. Only the knowledge that her mother and siblings would suffer the consequences prevented her.

  Tremoille, the senior female officer Carina had seen at the strategy meeting, began. “Now that we’re all here, finally, I’ll play the vid data sent back by our drones. As you’ll see, the intel we gathered on the Dirksen planet has proven to be correct and not planted information.”

  The window on the stars went black as it became a screen. A different starscape appeared.

  “We sent out around three hundred drones,” the older woman said. “This vid is has been compiled from all the recordings we received.”

  The starscape shifted, the lights in the room dimmed, and the area between the audience and the window became a room-wide holo of a field of stars. The stars were subtly moving, or rather, the drones had been traveling into them at high speed, faster than the fastest starship.

  “So, where exactly is this?” a voice asked.

  “Sacrasi Region,” Tremoille replied.

  “What?” someone exclaimed. “Right on our doorstep. The arrogant bastards.”

  “Last place we’d think to look,” another audience member remarked.

  “Exactly,” said Tremoille. “If it weren’t for the intel we got from invading their planet, we would never have thought to look here.”

  The stars in the holo continued to shift. The drones seemed to be heading toward a dark area of space at the center of the scene. Carina’s curiosity had been piqued, but she was damned if she was going to ask Stefan to explain what they were watching.

  A few moments later, she saw it. Or rather, them. The drones had sent back telemetry on heat signatures their scanners picked up. The specks of red were artificial structures in the depths of space.

  “At this point,” said Tremoille, “we began to lose drones.” Tiny flashes of light peppered the holo. The red specks grew quickly larger and began to assume the rough outline of starships. “The Dirksens had spotted them and were picking them off. The volume and quality of data decreases until the last drone is taken out. Around… ” The officer paused. “Here.”

  The hologram blinked out, and the window reverted to being a plain window again.

  “Are we sure that was what we think it is?” someone asked.

  “It would be a difficult and elaborate fake if that’s what it is,” Tremoille replied.

  “Nevertheless, it could be a decoy,” the questioner persisted. “The information we found on Cestrarth could be false after all. The whole thing could be an elaborate trap. If we send the strength of our fleet there, we would be leaving our own planets inadequately defended and vulnerable to attack.”

  “On the other hand,” said Raynott, “if it is the Dirksen shipyard and we destroy it, we will have struck a decisive blow. They would find it hard to recover and fight back after that.”

  “Agreed,” the first officer said, “but the same applies to us. Even if it is the shipyard and not a trap, it will be very heavily defended. More so now that they detected our drones and they know we know where it is. The battle to destroy it could cause us such great losses that we’ll find it difficult to recover.”

  “What if we could take out the shipyard without exerting vast amounts of firepower?” Stefan asked. “What if we only needed to get one heavily defended ship close enough for my mages to take out the entire place?”

  Carina turned and stared at Stefan. So this was why he’d had her woken up in the middle of the quiet shift and brought along to the meeting.

  “You’re suggesting your mages could destroy the entire Dirksen shipyard?” Tremoille asked incredulously.

  “I’m certain of it,” Stefan said. “It’s stationary, unlike starships, which they find difficult to target. Starships move too fast. We have the schematics of the place. I’m sure my mages could cause significant damage with a Cast.”

  Carina noted he didn’t ask her for confirmation. She had no idea how to do what he was promising his clan.

  “Aren’t you being a little over-confident?” Tremoille asked. “I mean, the destruction of the military installation on Cestrarth was impressive, but attacking the Dirksen shipyard will be an order of magnitude more difficult. And it isn’t as though there’s an ocean handily nearby. What do you imagine they would do?”

  “I suggest you give them a chance,” Stefan said. “It won’t only be Carina here. The others are ready to take part in a battle. Even my youngest son.” Someone in the room made a sound signaling disgust. Stefan ignored it and went on, “Working together, I’m sure they could destroy the place.”

  “We don’t plan battles according to vague notions and possibilities,” Tremoille remarked acidly. “I ask you again, what do you imagine they would actually do?”

  “I’ve seen my wife move things with the power of her mind many times,” said Stefan. “I’m sure that by combining their powers they could move a strategic ship or piece of equipment that would create a great deal of damage.”

  “Not in any shipyard I’ve ever seen,” a voice murmured.

  “Then if we could get something to connect them with a member of personnel,” said Stefan, “they could control their actions and force them to activate a self-destruct.”

  “Why in all the galaxy would a shipyard have a self-destruct capability?” Raynott asked, incredulous. “What would be the point of that?”

  Stefan was beginning to look flustered. Carina was sorely tempted to leave him to flounder in embarrassment in front of the Sherrerr officers, but she had an idea. If she and her family really could destroy the Dirksens’ shipyard, it might work to their advantage. In the vast amounts of hot debris from the destruction, it would be hard to detect the heat signature of a single, escaping shuttle. And if her knowledge of the local galactic territory was correct, there were habitable planetary systems within shuttle range.

  “I think we could do it,” she announced. “I’m not guaranteeing anything, but I think we could. If you gave us a chance.”

  “Hmmm… ” Tremoille looked suspicious. She clearly didn’t trust Carina, and she was quite right. Carina wasn’t remotely interested in helping the Sherrerrs, but she would do anything to free her mother and siblings from captivity.

  “Tell us then,” Tremoille said. “What would you do?”

  “If you can get us in close enough,” Carina replied. “We could Cast Fire into their fuel stores.”

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  After a long debate among the Sherrerr officers, they agreed that Carina and her family would be given the opportunity to try to destroy the Dirksen shipyard. They decided to commit their largest and most powerful ship, Nightfall, to the attack. Defended by most of the rest of the Sherrerrs’ fleet, N
ightfall would bring the mages within Casting distance of the shipyard. The flagship could sustain a lot of damage before it was put out of action.

  The practical and strategic aspects of the attack was out of Carina’s control. She would have to trust the Sherrerrs’ military arm to do their job. Destroying the Dirksen shipyard with the Fire Cast was up to her and her family. That part worried her. She didn’t know how effectively her mother had trained her siblings in their Casting, but she suspected that it was not very well—deliberately so. In her mother’s position, Carina would have taken every opportunity to downplay her abilities and limit those of her children. She doubted that her sisters and brothers were at anywhere near the proficiency she needed them to be. Yet if they were to escape, their Casts had to be successful.

  “I confess I’m surprised at your congeniality,” Stefan remarked to her as the meeting broke up and his voice wouldn’t be heard over the hubbub. They were getting up from their seats. “What’s brought about your change of attitude?” He turned and fixed his gaze on her, as if he were trying to bore into her mind.

  Carina shrugged. “It doesn’t benefit us if the Sherrerrs lose. You would only make our lives harder, wouldn’t you? I’m not so stupid as to refuse to do something that would help my family.”

  Stefan looked unconvinced, but he said, “I’m glad to hear you’re coming to your senses at last. It’s a shame your mother has never been so sensible. Her life could have been much more pleasant if only she had been equally compliant. I only hope your new approach is genuine. If it isn’t, the punishment I will inflict on all of you will be swift and merciless. You’re aware what I’m capable of. Do you understand me?”

  “I understand. But I think you’ll be surprised at what we can do when we really make an effort.”

  “I hope I will be.” Stefan paused, his gaze searching her face. He stepped closer.