The Faarian Chronicles: Exile

by Karen Harris Tully

  “Well, what’s our next move?” someone yelled from the back.

  “I’m working on several ideas,” she replied. “First, I’ll be contacting all of our friends for help. We need to create a media backlash against those so-called justices. Second, we need volunteers to recruit a team and start a petition, please. Get every Kindred member to sign it, and then we’ll send it out immediately to every other Kindred in Afaar. Make sure they know this isn’t just an attack on our General. It’s an attack on Faarian rights.” A knot of people quickly gathered and moved to one side, already working on their links.

  Alten started moving through the crowd, but people kept stopping her. After the first several, she held up her hands. “Please, everyone, I have to get started, but anyone with ideas and suggestions, send them to my link. I’ll read them immediately and get teams started on anything that might help that we’re not already doing. We’re going to need to all work together to get our General back. Sunny, Thal, you two are with me.” She waved him over.

  The crowd began to disperse, and to my surprise, most of them took a moment to pat me on the back as we passed, murmuring things like, “nice try, kid,” and “that took guts.” They seemed sincere and suddenly I felt part of the weight bearing down on me lift… like they were accepting me into the Kindred fold in a way that I hadn’t been before. In a way I hadn’t tried to be before.

  The rest of the day, Alten assigned me and Thal to sort through all the ideas and suggestions that poured in from everyone, which wasn’t a bad punishment when it came down to it. At least I felt like I was helping in some way. Meanwhile, she made contact with the leaders of every Kindred, gaining their support and getting them to speak out publicly. And, she assigned Thal’s dad to do the same with all his store-owner contacts.

  I knew I needed to send an email home to Dad, but sorting messages kept us busy late into the night and anyhow, I didn’t know how to break the news. Every email I’d sent lately seemed to get worse and worse and now… how did I tell him that we’d lost the trial and Mom was in prison?

  Teague, Sarosh, and Micha all stayed with me again that night and the next day when patrol resumed. The haratchi didn’t care if Mom was there or not, and another big eruption was expected late that night.

  Even with the bodyguards, I found that I was really jumpy, especially while outside. Every little thing had me spooked, and I half expected vampires to appear behind every bush. The guy was dead, I knew he was, but in spite of that (and changing rooms, and the reassurance of the holo-TV program) I still didn’t feel safe. And I finally realized – Teague and Sarosh had made me switch rooms. They expected another attack. It was only a question of when.

  “Sunny,” Thal came up behind me, making me jump. “Hey, are you okay? You look kind of funny.”

  “Yeah. Say, Thal, could other people outside the Kindred know that our warriors are preparing for a haratchi eruption here tonight?”

  “Well yeah. An alert goes out to all the Kindreds, in case it gets out of hand and we need help. Warriors from the other Kindreds can hop on the pods and be here within minutes if needed. Why?”

  “Because I think Drazen’s boss, whoever he is, is going to come for me again. And wouldn’t it make sense for him to come while Mom’s in jail and half the warriors are out? Tonight’s his big opportunity. This time, I’m gonna be ready.”

  That night at dinner, Thal and I sat in a corner and went over our plan, following Teague’s order to stay in the Great Hall where she could see me. She and Sarosh were both on call tonight so they could stay with me, part of the warrior backup team for those who’d be out in the field. For our plan to work, we’d have to come up with a way to give them the slip.

  “What’cha doin’ losers?” Lyta snatched my link over my shoulder before I even knew she was there. “It better not be any more practical jokes against us.”

  “Yeah, or you will totally regret it,” Otrere sneered. They’d actually been nice for most of the day following the trial, never once mentioning my tears on the national news, but now they were apparently back to being their usual selves.

  “What’s this?” Lyta asked. “Plans for redecorating your room, Sunny?”

  “No,” I sneered back at her and made a grab for my link.

  “If you must know,” Thal said, “we think there’s a good chance that Drazen’s boss is planning to attack Sunny again, maybe even tonight.”

  “Hahaha! What are you going to do, stake out your own bedroom and then run away screaming if someone actually did show up?”

  “No!” I said, grabbing my link back. “I’m going to show these people once and for all that they can’t mess with me.”

  “That’s cute,” she laughed. “Hey Ote, what do you think the chances are that another rogue would try attacking Princess here again?”

  “After the last one ended up in a white box? Pretty slim,” Otrere answered.

  I snorted a badly suppressed laugh.

  “What?” Lyta demanded.

  “You called your sister Odie, Garfield,” I choked out. I put my head down on the table with a thunk as I laughed and my eyes leaked with hysterics. They both looked confused.

  “Whatever, Princess,” Lyta said finally, rolling her eyes and walking away. Otrere flicked me on the back of the head and followed as usual.

  “Have fun waiting for nothing tonight,” she sneered over her shoulder. I raised my head to make a face at their backs and stick out my tongue. My bout of admittedly hysterical laughter dried up, but left me feeling better than before.

  “Who’s Odie-Garfield?” Thal asked.

  Chapter 32: Masked Women

  "Uh, Sunny? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all! Maybe we should call for some help?” Thal yelled late that night over the grinding, scraping noise of a four-foot square of stone wall being removed from my old bedroom, as if cut all at once by a giant, glowing cookie cutter.

  It had been super easy to come back to Mom’s apartment unnoticed. Half the warriors were out in the desert dealing with the haratchi den eruption, and the other half had been called away to the Pendergrast Kindred to help with another eruption that had gotten out of hand. Thal had been abuzz with excitement at the news that our reserves were being called out and had made me race down to the train station to see them zip away at near light speed in the emergency pods.

  “Alten’s gone into labor, so you’ll stay with Nico while we’re gone,” Teague had grunted as she and Sarosh got in the expanded pod with the rest of the backup team. “Don’t give her any trouble.”

  I’d just sighed and nodded as the pods took off at a speed that made me feel a little sick. A holo-message from Great-Aunt Nico popped up on my link.

  “Report to the infirmary. My daughter’s in labor and I’m not going to be traipsing around after you. If you’ve never seen a birth, it will be an education for you.”

  We were leaving the underground station when Thal noticed a small package for me, that must have arrived by train, in my mother's mail cubby. Thal “oohed” at me as I opened it and a little holo-John popped up with a recorded message.

  “Saw the trial coverage. What a mess,” he said. “You have my whole family’s support, and we all signed the petitions for retrial. Anyway, I’ve been working on making this more accurate and thought you might need something other than your traditional blade weapons - John.” I opened up the little box to find his miniscule taser weapon tucked inside. I slipped the L-shaped, partial glove over my index finger and thumb and practiced aiming it at the wall, careful not to touch the finger pads together.

  “He must like you,” Thal teased. “And you have to admit, he’s got good timing.”

  The infirmary was bustling as they prepped for Alten’s delivery and any injuries when the warriors returned. Nico pointed us to two seats in the waiting room and told me not to go anywhere. With my usual bodyguards gone and Nico “assisting” Alten in the delivery room, we didn’t even have to sneak out. No one noticed us leave.<
br />
  Back in my mother's apartment, I crossed to one side of the small living room/kitchenette and surveyed my mother’s abandoned possessions with mixed emotions. Even though nothing had been moved, Mom’s room – the whole apartment – felt empty.

  “Wow, there it is! I didn’t realize it was so close,” exclaimed Thal, entering my old bedroom on the other side of the apartment

  “What, who? They’re here already?” I ran to the window, drawing my scy.

  “No, not the Anakharu. The haratchi eruption. See?”

  A swarm of winged creatures circled like enormous vultures over the desert only a few hundred yards beyond the Kindred's dome fence. They dive bombed in and out, backlit in the strange half-light of the setting white dwarf sun.

  Thal took out his link and zoomed in. “Ugh, can’t really see the warriors at all over that ridge. Maybe we’ll get lucky and one of them will record it for us,” he said. He watched as the white sun set to darkness and the warriors' artificial spotlights lit up the seemingly never-ending fount of ravenous giant birds streaming into the desert sky. I avoided looking, the sight of haratchi making my instincts hum and my scy itch in my hand. I made myself put it away and sit down where I couldn’t see the eruption to wait. That wasn’t my fight this time.

  “You know, I think Lyta and Otrere were right. No one’s coming,” Thal said after a while.

  “Oh yes they are,” I replied. “I can feel it.”

  “Are you sure you can actually fight anything on that ankle?” he asked.

  “Yes, for the tenth time Thal. It’s much better. I took some ibuprofen and it’s all taped up and ready to go. I could do just about anything on it.”

  We sat in the dark room on the cold stone floor, waiting till our butts – and minds – went numb. I was starting to think Thal was right and this stakeout was a bust when my link beeped with an incoming call.

  “H-hi John,” I stammered when I answered and his little two-inch hologram popped up in my hand, hoping he couldn’t see my blush.

  “Hi, Sunny. I was just calling to make sure you got the taser I sent. Um, did I link you at a bad time?" His deep voice sounded confused. "Why are you sitting in the dark? Is that Thal with you?” John asked.

  “Oh, uh yeah. Um, you know, we just didn’t want anyone overhearing, cuz, you know, I haven’t told anyone besides Thal about the taser. Thanks, by the way. That was really thoughtful of you.” Whew! That came out semi-coherently, didn’t it?

  “Um o-kaaay, you’re welcome. But why is it dark in there? What’s going on?”

  “Oh nothing,” Thal said brightly, elbowing me in the side to be quiet, “just sitting in the dark. Say, is there anything we should know to use this weapon?” he asked.

  “Well, you just put it on, point, and press the pads together. You remember, Sunny?” he asked.

  I nodded, slipping the thin L-shaped weapon over the tips of my thumb and first finger and pressing the finger pads together experimentally. Nothing happened.

  “Does it have a safety on it or something?” I asked.

  “Yes, and good thing too, or you would’ve just shot Thal.” He rolled his eyes at me and I grimaced at Thal in apology. “It works on the same principle as your link, so you have to deliberately think “shoot” while pressing the pads together for it to work. Also, it takes about an hour in the suns to recharge, so you’ve only really got one shot. Hey, you’re not planning on trying it out on yourselves, are you?” he asked with a squint at us.

  “Nope,” we replied together, “not us.”

  “Why do I not…” John began.

  “Sunny!” hissed Thal, interrupting him and whacking me in the arm. He pointed as a four-foot square started glowing blue on the stone wall of my bedroom, around the window that had been sealed shut after the attack.

  “What is that? Is that a laser cutter?” John’s tiny hologram turned to look where Thal was pointing.

  “Uh, Sunny? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea after all! Maybe we should call for some help?” Thal yelled over the grinding, scraping noise of the four foot-square chunk of stone wall being removed, as if cut all at once by a giant, glowing cookie cutter.

  I jumped, dropping my link as I turned to look, sending it skittering into a corner. John’s tiny hologram disappeared. Crap!

  “Thal! Get on the other side of the door, now! Here take this!” I pulled him around the doorframe into the living room and shoved the taser into his hands. “Just don’t shoot me with it!” I hissed as I pushed him behind me and crouched to peer back into the room. I’d been expecting someone to maybe break the window, not take out most of the wall!

  A second later, both of our links made a long chirruping noise I’d never heard before.

  “What’s that?” I asked, glad when it stopped and hoping whoever was cutting the wall on the other side hadn’t heard.

  “The perimeter alarm!” Thal exclaimed. “The Kindred’s under attack!”

  “Um, yeah Thal,” I replied, gesturing at what was left of the wall in my old room. The stress must have been getting to him.

  “No, by haratchi! The cutting noise must have attracted them and they’ve breached the dome fence. All trainees and intermediates are being called out to fight!” he exclaimed, looking at the message on his link. “We’ve gotta go!”

  I grabbed his arm as he got up. “No Thal, we have to stay here!”

  He started to protest.

  “We can’t let haratchi into the Kindred through that giant hole! You just said they’re attracted to the noise, so they’re coming right here.” I pointed for emphasis. “Someone has to be here to fight them off, and we’re the only ones who know what’s going on!”

  “You’re right,” he said. “We have to tell someone.”

  “Who?” I asked. “They’re all out fighting!”

  Thal’s link buzzed with an incoming call. Thal looked startled and then answered it.

  “Sunny, Thal, what is going on?” demanded John.

  “John, I’m sorry I hung up on you, but we’re a little busy. The Anakharu are breaking in – like, literally – and the haratchi are attacking.” I peeked around the doorframe to see what was happening.

  “Sunny, stop! They’ll see you,” John said as the stone scraped and the walls creaked around us. Dust sifted down from the mortar and I held my breath, waiting for the rest of the wall to collapse, but it held – for the time being. “You didn’t hang up on me, I minimized myself. I can be your eyes and ears inside that room. Here, this is what I can see from your link.” An image popped up of some unseen force pulling the wall outward. “They must be using some sort of hover lift – either that or there’s a really strong telekinetic aboard. Who are these people, Sunny?”

  “Anakharu,” I repeated impatiently.

  “This isn’t like any rogue Afflicted I’ve ever heard of,” he replied.

  “The last one, Drazen, mentioned his boss when I was fighting him,” I said. “We think it has to be him.”

  “Huh. They didn’t mention that in the news,” John mumbled.

  The scraping sound stopped, and Thal and I peered intently at the little image where the cut piece of wall floated outward from the rest of the building.

  “Wait, I don’t see anything out there. What’s doing this?” Thal asked.

  “An invisible ship,” John and I said at the same time.

  “It has to be like the ship we traveled from Earth on,” John said.

  “At least that explains why no one on the ground has spotted it. But I can’t believe no one’s noticed the giant hole in the wall yet,” I said.

  “They’re all looking at the hole in the fence, concentrating on the haratchi coming through,” Thal said. “We’re on our own.”

  “Good,” I growled. “Whoever it is, they’re mine this time.” These vampires were through messing up my life.

  “Did something weird just happen to her eyes?” John asked Thal.

  “Yeah. Her mom’s do the same thing.”

/>   “Quiet you two,” I growled.

  “Sheesh, she even sounds like the General now.” Thal’s link now showed an open door in an invisible ship, like a rectangle of light floating in the night sky. As we watched, two women phased in through the gaping hole in the wall. I looked for some way to distinguish them if I had to describe them later, but they were both so… average. They wore all black, including goggles that covered the upper halves of their faces. They were both average height and weight, their hair worn in standard buns. They didn’t have the same skin tone, but neither was super pale or dark, or had distinguishing marks that I could see.

  “I don’t believe it!” John muttered.

  “What?” Thal and I hissed at once.

  “This.” The view on Thal’s link zoomed in to show their hands. Each of them wore one of John’s tasers on their hand, but the design had been modified to include a web of black, lacy, fluttering… something at the wrist.

  “That’s my taser! That’s my design! I’ve been sitting on it because Dad said it wasn’t ready to sell yet. They stole my design and added an ambient energy sponge! But how did they get past the bio-conductivity feedback problem?” He paused to let the horror of an ambient energy sponge, whatever that was, sink in.

  “John,” Thal said, “we’re not techno geeks.”

  “If they got it to work, they’ll be able to fire more than once,” he explained grimly.

  "Okay Thal, there are only two of them,” I whispered. “I’ll take the first one through the door with my scy and I want you to shoot the other one, okay?” He nodded and I turned to focus on the doorway, shifting my weight over the balls of my feet and taking a better grip on my scy.

  “Sunny Price,” a woman called in a saccharine sweet voice. I grunted under my breath in surprise. How in the heck did they know my Earth name? “We’re not here to harm you,” she continued. “Despite my colleague’s over-zealous entry, there’s no cause for alarm.”

  “The window wasn’t locked. It was sealed shut,” the other one grumped, her mouth stiff and pursed like a fish. “What was your plan, sit on our hands and hope she came out to us? We can put it back when we leave and no one will notice.”