She'd been informed that we'd suffered a loss in the family, and the pub was doing everything in their power to see that we were taken care of.
More people wandered in from the street and took a table near the window. They'd come here after a day's work, to relax. The owl family watched the new arrivals, as well as the servers and bartender.
"They're all—like us," Chloe turned toward me and brushed a stray tear off her cheek with a shaking hand.
"This is my home, love," I leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"You never felt out of place, did you?" Jim asked softly from the other side of the table.
"No. This is normal. You will find good and bad here, like everywhere else, it's just that here—you would easily fit in."
"I wish Gran could have seen this. And Mum." Two more tears rolled down Chloe's cheeks.
"My love, don't cry," I pleaded with her.
"I can't help it," she buried her face against my shoulder.
"I know. I'm here," I whispered and held her close.
* * *
Campiaa
Tybus
"The war is over," Dormas placed a comp-vid on my desk. "I've had mindspeech from Teeg. He says there are massive losses, and Veshtul was practically destroyed before Jaydevik's army left. He says, too, that bodies of the remaining humanoids in that city are scattered in the streets, bloated and rotting."
"I was afraid it would come to that," I said and touched the comp-vid to power it on. "Many of those High Demons were alive when Le-Ath Veronis and Harifa Edus were attacked long ago. They did nothing, then, to help us against the Ra'Ak. All the dark worlds were destroyed, while Lendevik and his closest cronies watched from a distance."
"And so comes payment due," Dormas shook his head. "Teeg says that only a quarter of the High Demon population survives."
"Vampire and werewolf races were rebuilt from less," I pointed out. "Others failed to survive at all."
"I wish I had the information you hold," Dormas said. "You remember so much, while I only recall that which occurred during my lifetime."
"Most only know that much, and some much less, because they believe it unimportant."
"Have Jaydevik's daughters been informed?" I asked.
"Not yet. I was hoping a family member would arrive to tell them."
"Family members are in short supply," I said.
"We know what one of them did when she heard her father could be dethroned. I shudder to think what could happen when they learn he is no more."
"Transport them to Kifirin. Let them see the destruction their father wrought."
"Belen," I rose and dipped my head to him.
"We will do as you ask," Dragon, Crane, Drake and Drew arrived, all nodding to Belen. Winkler and Martin joined those four quickly.
"Dormas, gather our guests," I instructed. "It is time to take them home."
* * *
Uluru
Anita
I suppose someone was listening, and had become weary of us trading insults and accusations with Morgett and V'ili. The chasm lay between us, and neither party could bridge that gap.
Power had been eliminated in some warped and perplexing way. Even Pheligar could do nothing about our predicament.
"I will kill you again," V'ili shouted across the distance at me.
"Fucking try it," I shouted back.
That's when the walkway moved beneath our feet, pushing both platforms toward one another. I realized that they should have been connected all along, and whatever sentience remained in the empty Library was correcting that problem.
Morgett's Ra'Ak roared; the walkway moved again, closing the distance and bringing us nearer.
We couldn't form a shield against his venom, now. Another roar; another jolt forward.
"Move back," Adam turned and motioned for us to obey. I learned why quickly—Kiarra became a giant white unicorn. At least that ability hadn't been taken away from us. She'd been created to do battle with the Ra'Ak. Lowering her head, she pawed the ground with a hoof, sending a challenge to Morgett.
The walkway moved forward again.
"Wait," I hissed as both crouched.
"No," I shouted as the unicorn and Ra'Ak leapt across the remaining distance. I think I screamed as the unicorn's horn skewered the Ra'Ak, who dusted, sending his chunks toward us.
We were knocked off our feet when the walkway moved again, connecting one end to the other above the falling body of a selfless unicorn.
The twins attempted to flee; Adam and Merrill were on them immediately.
V'ili, however, strode angrily toward the rest of us, casually swiping his claws against Watson's wolf as he attempted to bite through black scales.
"Get back," I shouted at Mason and Sandra. "This is my fight," I added.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard Daris scream before it was cut off.
One twin down.
I grinned at V'ili as he approached, showing him my full set of pointed teeth. "Come on, brother," I hissed. "It's time I paid you back."
* * *
Veshtul, Kifirin
Lissa
Dragon, Crane, Winkler and my Falchani twins arrived with Glinda's girls and Reah's eldest daughters.
Belen had asked us to hold off clearing Veshtul's streets of the dead until those eight young women arrived with their husbands.
Here, the humanoids had no power or recourse against High Demons gone mad. Some of the dead were children, who'd perished beside their parents.
Every structure in the city was damaged. Many were completely destroyed. In the background, standing tall and forbidding, was the High Demon palace.
Tybus had designed it long ago. He'd never intended for it to witness such horrors.
"Why does it smell so awful?" Jheri asked.
I wanted to snort. I didn't. Obviously, she'd never seen the dead, before. Had never come close to a corpse left baking in the sun for two days or more.
Tara and Raedah had medical training, however. They weren't surprised at all. "They've been dead at least two days, Jheri," Tara said. "This can happen quickly, when the temperatures are higher."
At least Reah had insisted that her girls get additional schooling. Jhase and Jheri had gone straight into marriage after they reached twenty-two years of age, after finishing their studies with tutors at eighteen.
"Glinda is sleeping." Karzac arrived—probably after Drake and Drew sent mindspeech. "This will produce a pestilence if it isn't cleaned up quickly." Karzac surveyed the dead with a critical eye.
"Why is Mom sleeping?" Jhase walked toward Karzac, her husband right behind her.
"Because your father attacked her," Karzac handed her unvarnished truth. "He broke several bones in her face and ribs. If my Lissa hadn't been there to send her back to Le-Ath Veronis, she'd have died at his hand. This," Karzac swept a hand toward bloated bodies, "is also his handiwork."
Jheri's hands went to the back of her neck as she blinked at Karzac. "Mom's all right, isn't she?" She walked toward Jhase and Karzac.
"Your mother is healed of her physical trauma and is now resting."
"Where's Daddy?" Jhase's words were whispered.
"Dead, after attacking Glinda and your uncle Denevik," I said. "He led an army against Foth Castle, and only a quarter of the High Demon population is now alive to tell that tale."
"That can't be true," Sara, one of Reah's last set of twins, breathed.
"It is true."
Reah had come, with Wardevik, Nedevik and Denevik with her.
"Here's your chance, Jheri, to sneer at Reah because she had dirt under her fingernails after tending the gishi fruit groves," I said. "Look around you. Every death here, and every death at Foth Castle was brought about by your father and your uncle Garde. Yours is not the only loss, here. I lost a mate and a son. Tara, Raedah, do you not acknowledge that your father is dead, too?"
The tears that refused to fall before were falling now. For my son, and the daughters who didn't recogniz
e him as their father.
For Reah, who'd saved Kifirin and was belittled and ostracized for it.
"It's all right." A large, blue hand dropped onto my shoulder from behind.
Except that it wasn't completely blue.
It looked as if the blue were covered in gold glitter.
It wasn't gold glitter.
I blinked at Zaria through my tears.
"I will Change What Was, now," she said, and lifted her arms.
Chapter 18
Queen's Palace, Le-Ath Veronis
Lissa
Zaria didn't rebuild the city, or remove the dead. The High Demon palace was cleared of the curse infecting it, however, and Reah's six, who'd long thought of Glinda as their mother, dropped to the street where they'd stood and wept—at the loss of their father and the plight of their mother.
Kory and Lexsi had shown up shortly after, and joined Reah to walk into the palace. Already the Reth Alliance was processing Kifirin's application to rejoin the Alliance, under Reah's rule as Queen.
Glinda and her daughters were offered Council positions, so they could assist in shaping new laws for Kifirin. Glinda accepted immediately; Jhase and Jheri with less enthusiasm.
All of Reah's daughters were now on the Council, although Lexsi, as Reah's designated heir, held a higher place.
Nedevik and Wardevik Weth, along with Kory and Denevik, served as the Prime Committee of personal advisors to the new Queen. That position would no longer be held by a single person, and I was grateful. Together, they added proper representation from the humanoid population, so all of Kifirin's inhabitants would have a voice and a vote on the Council. Roff smiled when I delivered that news to him.
As for Zaria, she'd disappeared as swiftly as she'd arrived. It left me wondering what else she'd had to do to set things right.
* * *
Revalus
Anita
I'd killed V'ili inside Uluru, while the Ra'Ak horde surrounding that monolith disappeared in a rain of sparks that dropped to the ground.
Images from Old Earth show Uluru slowly lowering to its normal spot on the ground, with not a scratch to be seen.
None of what we'd seen or experienced inside was ever revealed.
It wasn't until later that I learned the truth.
Yes, I'd killed V'ili, there inside Uluru.
Adam and Merrill had destroyed the twins. Kiarra's unicorn killed Morgett, before she fell to her death.
Those things happened.
And they didn't.
I learned something, there.
I still have no idea how it was accomplished.
V'ili was there, in Uluru.
He was also elsewhere, ahead in the timeline. As were the twins. Kiarra, too; placed there by Zaria, in an effort to keep the timeline intact. I hadn't known what dire consequences could come from destroying the timeline.
Not then.
I do, now.
Lexsi was the one to tell me. How she knew it, I have no idea. I visit her on Kifirin now and then, with Watson by my side. Queen Reah, her mother, always makes us feel welcome.
Somehow, too, the twins and V'ili's other selves didn't recall meeting one another, or attacking Earth with Morgett.
"I think they were taken from before," Lexsi reasoned with me one day.
"Before they'd met?" I asked.
"Yes. It doesn't sound logical, but it is. Zaria had to maintain the future she'd already participated in."
"That gives me a headache, just thinking about it," I'd replied.
Watson and I had been given a home on Revalus, although once or twice a month, a werewolf with the talent would arrive and transport him to Harifa Edus, to run with a wolf pack there under one of its six full moons. That's where he was, now. I sat on our patio, thinking of the past and listening to birds in the trees around our home.
"Anita?"
I stiffened. I knew that voice.
"Zaria?" I turned toward her. She'd come to Revalus.
Finally.
"I have something for you," she held out a hand.
"What is it?" I reached out to take what she offered. It was a tiny chip to fit my comp-vid.
"V'ili's final death," she smiled at me. "And Vardil Cayetes', V'ili's latest criminal cohort."
I hadn't lived on Revalus long—because it hadn't existed before. Somehow, Zaria had achieved that miracle and brought many Sirenali to live here, alongside the pod'l-morphs.
"Is it fitting?" I asked. My fight with the Uluru version of V'ili had been vicious and bloody before I gained the upper hand and sliced his throat.
"I separated his particles, I'm sorry to say. I don't do fights or torture," she added.
"I sort of get that about you," I said. "Thank you for this," I held up the chip. "I'll wait for Watson to get home and we'll watch it together. Want to stay for dinner?"
"Thanks but no. I have a few errands to run," she said and disappeared.
Errands could mean buying shoes or saving worlds, where Zaria was concerned. Honestly, I'd been afraid to ask which it might be.
* * *
SouthStar, Avendor
Morwin
"Tea," Chloe set a cup at my elbow as I read a student's report. "Gran and Mum are coming for dinner, and bringing Susan, Tim, Georgia and Sarah with them. David isn't coming; he's out with the reptanoids, tinkering with the hover-tractors."
"I think Mother Rose and her family like vacations at SouthStar," I said, setting the comp-vid down and smiling at my wife.
"I think Gran likes flying with your Avii students," Chloe laughed. "They love Mother Owl."
I'd never told Chloe that in our past, her grandmother and mother had died. Zaria, whatever she'd become, had brought a miracle to the owl family. I was grateful.
"I'll be pleased to have dinner with your family, dearest," I patted Chloe's hand.
"That's your way of saying run along so I can finish my work," she teased.
"I would also be pleased if my students learned proper punctuation," I declared. Chloe left my study with a chuckle.
"I made a promise."
Two ranos pistols were set on my desk. I looked up to find Zaria standing there.
"The only promise I recall is that of telling me who killed my father."
"And that's why I'm here," she said. "Come. Bring your pistols. It is time."
* * *
"Morwin, I understand you have a score to settle."
I'd taught this one. Quite shrewd was Rylend Morphis, King of Karathia. "Their power has been removed," Rylend rose and nodded to Zaria, who stood by my side in the King's study.
"Which one?" I knew about the Karathian Court trials. Deris and Daris Blackmantle had been found guilty of crimes too numerous to list.
"Deris killed your father," Zaria said.
"I don't do executions," I said, my voice sharper than intended. The pain of my father's death still disturbed me, even after so many years had passed.
"I know that," Zaria said, patting my shoulder. "Why do you think I brought both your pistols?"
"So. You match a rusty, old soldier against a known killer?" I studied Zaria's face.
"You don't like those odds?" Rylend asked, his voice soft.
Zaria's gaze pierced me. I wish I could say that it didn't make me uncomfortable after a while, but it did.
"I will allow you to choose your weapon," she said. I blinked for a moment before lowering my eyes.
"I find that acceptable," I agreed.
"Dad and I will come with you, as witnesses," Rylend said. "To close the books on this, I hope."
"Where is Deris?" I asked Zaria while Rylend sent mindspeech to his father, Erland Morphis.
"Deris and Daris are scheduled to be released on Evensun shortly. We will arrive to greet them."
"I'm ready," Erland arrived. "Shall we?"
Zaria transported us to the penal planet of Evensun.
* * *
Evensun
King Rylend Morphis
> Zaria arranged for us to arrive just as Deris and Daris walked off the transport ship. She'd shielded us, too, so the Campiaan Alliance ship wouldn't know we were there. The transport lifted from the ground and flew away, leaving the two prisoners behind.
That's when we were revealed to the twins.
"Come to rub it in?" Daris sneered at me.
"I don't have to. I can leave anytime I want," I said. "You, on the other hand," I shrugged.
"You are filth and have no right to the throne," Deris snapped. "If our grandfather were still alive," he didn't finish.
"If Hegatt were alive, he'd be standing here with you, stripped of power," Dad said. "That's a dead argument and not why we're here."
"Then why are we here?" Deris demanded. "And why did you bring that dwarf with you?" He pointed rudely at Morwin.
"Well," Morwin said, "Long ago, you killed my father."
"Ah. That. I killed many people. You can't expect me to answer for all of them, can you?" Deris laughed, as if it were a joke to him. Daris giggled, amused by her brother's words.
"I'm not the one sentenced to a penal planet," Morwin observed.
"You came here for something," Deris became serious quickly.
"Yes. I came here to challenge you to a duel."
"What if I choose not to participate?" Deris lifted an eyebrow. Already he was sizing up Morwin, and considering that he held the height and the upper hand in the matter.
"Then you get to walk into the general population, who are no doubt heading this way, intent on stealing your clothing and killing you if you resist," Morwin explained.
"What do I get if I win the duel?" It was a fair question.
"You get to keep the weapon you choose," Zaria said. "To fight off your attackers and establish yourself here on the planet as someone to be obeyed."
"A weapon? What sort of weapon?" Deris was now interested.
"Choose." Zaria held out a hand and a variety of weapons appeared on the ground between the twins and us. Swords, knives, guns, even ranos pistols lay there.
"This is a ranos pistol?" Deris stepped forward and lifted the weapon.
"Most definitely a ranos pistol," Morwin nodded.
"Then I choose this," he waved the pistol and stepped away from the other weapons.
"Morwin, you must now choose your weapon," I said, expecting him to choose the identical ranos pistol.
A Demon's Due: Latter Day Demons, Book 3 Page 24
