by evil wind
"Power up our weapons,” Kamau ordered, “just in case.” He looked to the Navigational Officer. “Are you locked on to the other three ships?"
"The StarRaider is about four clicks larboard,” the Nav Off reported. “The DarkWind and the Diabolusian ship are two clicks beyond them to the starboard."
"What of the Amazeen ship?"
"It's still in its docking harness inside the hub and the engines have yet to engage."
Kamau bit down on the cuticle on his thumb nail. It was a nervous habit his men knew all too well. “And the princess Zainabu? Is she safely on the Amazeen vessel?"
The Nav Off nodded. “Aye, Your Grace, she is."
Breathing out a long breath at that news, Kamau nodded. “Good. As long as she is safe."
The Nav Off and Com Off exchanged glances. Everyone on the Necromanian ship was aware how the princess felt toward the J'Bai of Prince Lares Taborn.
* * * *
In the cargo hold of the StarRaider Raphaella Constantine and Maeve Lynne McGregor were going over the cases of Triso and Sustenance the Amazeen had had the foresight to include among their supplies. "There should be enough but perhaps we might take on more before we set out for Terra,” Maeve Lynne suggested.
"Before we left I told the lab people to brew more just in case and to have the ancillary step up on collecting Sustenance,” Raphaella said. “I hope I thought of everything although I certainly didn't count on there being another Reaper.” She tapped her foot. “Perhaps we should have another con cell or two added once we get back to Corinth."
"Captain Cree should be proud of you, Raphie,” Maeve Lynne said. “You are looking after him and his bloodkin."
"Better than that Terran healer ever could,” Raphaella snapped. “When we get to Terra, I plan on ridding him of that bitch Caitlin!"
Maeve Lynne made no reply for everyone knew once a Reaper mated, it was for life. Getting rid of Caitlin Kelly would make no difference in how Khiershon Cree would feel toward the Amazeen—and especially not if Raphaella harmed Caitlin in any way.
"Let's head for the bridge,” Raphaella said. “The show is about to begin!"
* * * *
Khiershon Cree was pacing the bridge of the DarkWind . Iyan had taken the command chair with the former admiral of the Rysalian Fleet Command sitting beside him. He was worried about the Triso and Sustenance on their ship. He had not given his bloodkin a thought as he prepared to go after them and that had been a major mistake that could lead to an even bigger calamity. "What if one of my bloodkin is in Transition or near to it?” he asked, stopping to stare at Iyan.
"Let your bloodsire worry about that,” Tylan said. “Once he has them on the Amazeen ship, he can assess the situation and will let you know if he needs to put one or more of them into confinement."
"Will he have Triso do you think?” Caitlin asked. She was sitting beside Tylan Kahn in the chair reserved for the ship's healer.
"By the gods I hope so because I have very little with us,” Khiershon said.
"We can get more on Corinth,” Iyan reminded him.
"Is that why you're digging a hole in the deck?” Caitlin questioned. “Are you worried there won't be enough Triso to last us to Terra?"
Khiershon plowed a hand a hand through his thick brown hair. “That and Sustenance."
"Sustenance shouldn't be a problem,” Iyan said. “Between the Amazeen crew, the crew from the Orion , Admiral Kahn and his men, as well as any others willing to go to Terra with us, the issue of Sustenance is handled."
"So then it's just the Triso that is the problem,” Caitlin said.
"And that's a helluva big problem,” Khiershon reminded her.
* * * *
Captain Elena Vargas on the Diabolusian ship, the Pantera , was thinking the same thing and wondering if the problem with Triso had been adequately covered. She had a crew of fifteen women—including herself—and had every intention of going to Terra with the luscious Tylan Kahn. She and her women could provide Sustenance for the Reapers but the drug those warriors needed to keep them out of indiscriminate Transition was of the utmost importance. " Teniente Ortez, on un canal seguro informa al DarkWind que nos romperemos lejos y los contestaremos cerca de Chale. Necesitamos tomar algo de mi familia en Diabolusia," she told her Com Officer.
" Aye, Capitaine!” Ortez replied. She opened up a secure channel and hailed the DarkWind . “ DarkWind, this is the Pantera. The Capitaine wishes me to inform you that we will be breaking away and will rejoin you near Chale. We need to pick up something from her family on Diabolusia."
* * * *
"What? Why the hell is she...?” Khiershon snarled at his Com Off Dakin Hesar. "Vargas Pharmaceuticals is the galaxy's premier supplier of industrial strength tenerse,” Sinjin Wynth informed his captain on the D arkWind.
"I don't give a gods-be-damned..."
"Tenerse,” Caitlin said. “Think about it, Khier."
"I don't..."
"Tenerse,” Caitlin stressed, staring into her husband's eyes. “But you call it..."
A light seemed to go on behind the Reaper's eyes. “Triso,” Khiershon said with a sigh and closed his eyes slowly, his lips moving as though he were praying.
"She's going after Triso for our Reapers,” Tylan said. He grinned. “I knew I liked that woman the minute I saw her."
Khiershon opened his eyes. “Thank Captain Vargas for me and tell her we'll be watching for her near Chale. Make sure she knows we won't leave without her."
Troi rolled by with Raven close behind. “'Alls well that ends well',” the ‘bot giggled.
"'She covered me warm, and she prayed to the angels to keep me from harm—
To the queen of the angels to shield me from harm,’ “Raven agreed as it took its position by Troi near the weapons com.
"'I have heard of the lady, and good words went with her name,'” Troi agreed.
* * * *
"Coordinates for the Triso and Sustenance are locked in and on sequence to be transported up as soon as the last Reaper is on board,” Lt. Melankhoia Chanz told Kahmal. “Kam will be the last one we bring up." "And would have it no other way,” Kahmal said quietly.
"Don't forget the Reapers will be heavily drugged with céasadh ,” Lt. Renata Aegean reminded her fellow crewwomen. “They'll be disoriented and no doubt in pain."
"Testy Reapers aren't a pretty sight, either,” Augenia Deon quipped.
"Cree will handle them once he's on board,” Kahmal said.
Ceatie—the weretiger—insinuated his head under Cirolia Sern's arm and mewed.
Sern scratched the old were beast under his ear. “He'll be with us soon enough, baby. Don't worry."
"What about the destruction of Room B?” Lt. Cedilla Tyrian asked.
"Room B is set to be taken out as soon as we start out the iris,” her fellow engineer Chanz informed her.
"Everything is ready, ladies,” Kahmal said as she took her seat in the command chair. “Pray to Alluvial everything goes as planned."
"They are coming out,” Princess Zainabu Waberi said, pointing to the vid-com screen.
* * * *
"The Festival is about to start,” Nyndham Dax informed the crew of the DarkWind . “The doors of the Titaness are opening." "Doors are opening," Sern sent to Kamerone Cree.
* * * *
The Prime Reaper got to his feet and turned to face the prison in which his bloodkin had been incarcerated. He ran his sweaty palms down the legs of his jumpsuit and licked his suddenly dry lips just as the first gong echoed over the courtyard. Stepping up to the bars he saw the women beginning to gather in the courtyard. To him, it seemed as though the females were pouring out of every crack and crevice surrounding the buildings circling him. That was unnerving enough but the fact that they were completely silent as they approached made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Not even the shuffle of their feet or the rustle of the long pale blue robes they wore broke the stillness.
The only sound was the
rhythmic bang of the low gong as the women filled the courtyard to near bursting.
From out of the Titaness came three women marching side by side. Dressed in lavender robes they were followed by three more sets of women and behind them walked the Prophetess-Mother LeJong Kym in a robe of deep purple.
A space had been left for the twelve priestesses to take their position in front of the semi-circle of eleven poles to which the Reapers would be led to their deaths. A gilt chair had been arranged directly in front of the place where the priestesses stood and it was to this throne-like seat that LeJong moved. When she was seated, the gong stopped.
Stillness, silence, the complete and utter lack of sound made Cree uneasy as he gripped the bars of his cage. His gaze was glued to the entrance of the Titaness, his nerves stretched taut as he waited to see his bloodkin. Until he actually could reach out and touch them, he would not cease to worry and the longer the time ticked away, the more uneasy he became.
"Please, Alluvial,” he begged, squeezing his eyes tightly shut. “Please. Do as You swore. I humbly beseech You, please!"
The thought of his bloodkin dying before his eyes was a horror paused at the back of Kamerone Cree's brain. Not even the massive agony beating at his temples could blot out the fear he felt or the exacting worry that was all but crippling him. In his nostrils he could smell the scents of his cousins dying in the very cage in which he stood trembling and that smell was washing over him in waves of terror.
The Prime Reaper jumped as a deep, resonant bell began to toll and his eyelids flew open. It was almost as though the sound was throbbing in his head and it increased, magnified the pain of the headache that was slowly driving him insane.
It was the sound of chains rattling in counterpoint to the loud bell that made Kamerone Cree's heart beat faster. Sweat was standing out on his forehead and upper lip and running down from his arm pits and along the center of his chest. His breathing was harsh as he waited for the first of his kind to exit the Titaness. At the twelfth peal of the bell, the first prisoner dressed in a gleaming white jumpsuit Cree knew was made from the same material Kate had worn to her execution came out of the prison.
Kaelan Cree—the youngest of the Reapers—could feel the heavy pull of the manacles dragging upon his arms. The iron was cutting into his flesh so tightly he was bleeding and the neuroleptors he'd been injected with before being escorted from his cell was magnifying the pain a thousand times over. It had been months since he'd seen the sun and the light was invading his eyes like daggers of glass. He squinted, seeing only a mass of blue-clad bodies lining the cobblestone walkway over which he passed, but deeply inhaling the sweet, fresh air that wafted over him.
Behind Kaelan was the next youngest, Eachan Gehdrin, and in order of their ages: Comyn Coure, Killian Kiel, Corydon Cree, Toryn Belial, Ghrian Tohre, Braiden Cree then his twin Rylan, and finally Taegin Kullen, the eldest. The only one struggling was Taegin and he was fiercely hissing at his captors, cursing them with words meant to insult and degrade.
"Be still, Taegin," Kamerone whispered to his blood nephew.
Taegin stumbled to a stop as Kaelan was forced up onto the platform and his arms bound behind him to the pole. “Prime?” he asked.
"In the cage, Taegin."
Taegin craned his neck to look around the sea of women but could only see the curved iron of the cage's roof. He hissed at the woman beside him.
"Do not embarrass your father, Taegin," the Prime Reaper ordered. "He was a brave man."
Taegin lifted his chin and clamped his lips shut, stumbling forward as he was pushed rudely by his guard while Eachan was lashed securely to his pole. He cast his enraged glower over the women, hating each and every woman of them to the depths of his being.
One by one the young Reapers were pushed up the steps of the platform and secured to the gleaming poles—the center one of which still bore the flame-marks where Kathleen had met her fate.
With the Reapers chained to the poles, ten women in scarlet exited the Titaness, bringing with them the staffs upon which a crescent moon perched. Each of the women took their position in front of a Reaper and then stood at parade rest: staff held at an angle from their bodies, free hand bent behind their backs.
Another woman—dressed in black robes—came out of the Titaness carrying the Labrys, the double-headed ritual battle ax that symbolized the matristic power of the Multitude.
Kamerone held his breath as LeJong Kym got to her feet and took the Labrys from the High Priestess of Rituals. “Please, Alluvial,” he prayed again. “Don't fail us."
Kym walked to the edge of the platform and held the Labrys toward the heavens. “Oh, Majesty of the Multitude, Fruitful Mother of us all: Hear our prayer!” she chanted.
"Hear our prayer!” came the united response from the women.
The Prophetess-Mother lifted her other arm to the morning sky. “You have led us from our misery, oh, Mother of us all!” she cried out.
"You have led us!"
"You have taught us the pathways to peace and prosperity!"
"You have taught us!"
"You have granted us the fulfillment of our bodies and souls!"
"You have granted us!"
"You have graced us with the wisdom to rule our world with a just hand and a pure heart!"
"You have graced us!"
"You have protected us from the savagery of the male who abused us and enslaved us; who murdered our Sisters with impunity and slew our offspring!"
"You have protected us!"
"And you have given us your Majestic help to set right the wrong that was done to our Sisters on this very night so long ago!"
"You helped us!"
LeJong Kym brought her arms down from the heavens to which she had cast her prayer and extended her left hand toward the men bound to the poles. “May the Wind be with you,” she said softly beneath her breath.
The ten scarlet-robed women snapped to attention with their bare heels clicking together then extended their staffs toward the bound men.
Chapter Twenty-One
As fire sprayed from the staffs toward the Reapers, an ultra bright blast of light slashed over the courtyard and the women gathered there stumbled back, throwing up their arms to shield their eyes from the bright illumination. The air sizzled and crackled and snapped, grew intensely hot—so hot the women cried out and fled the super-charged heat, falling over one another to put distance between them and the blistering energy building over the courtyard.
Cree could not see what was happening on the platform. The wild shrieks of the fleeing women, the screams, the saturated heat undulating him toward him in waves combined to intensify his unease and he shouted at the running women, yelled out for LeJong Kym. He thrust his arm through the bars trying to catch a passing woman but she clawed at him, raked his hand with her fingernails, and pulled away savagely. He jerked at the bars, screaming at the running women. When the smell of burning flesh finally registered on his consciousness, he threw back his head and howled.
* * * *
The Alluvia shot out of the iris faster than any ship had ever left the docking station—so fast a wing clipped the opening and sheared off a section of the iris’ titanium skin. Behind the departing ship, a loud explosion rocked through the Fleet Command and jagged stone flew high into the air, crashing down into the courtyard and into the waters of the Reflecting Pool. Banking sharply to starboard, the Amazeen vessel shot into hyper drive, leaving in its wake three other ships that were struggling to follow. Dorrie Burkhart struggled to get up from the transporter pad but her feet slid out from under her and she went careening against the bulkhead, slamming shoulder first into the unforgiving wall. “Son of a fucking bitch!” Dorrie bellowed.
All around her, what she realized must be Cree's bloodkin were trying to gain their footing as the ship upon which they found themselves went careening hell bent through the heavens, moving so fast they were pressed heavily to the deck.
"Where is he?” Dorrie
shouted, trying to see Kamerone amidst the men. “Where is Cree?"
Toryn Belial was the first of them to be able to get to his feet and he stood pushed up tight to the wall behind him, unable to do more than move his head. “Where is the Prime?” he asked for all he counted was the woman and his nine bloodkin.
"Cree!” Dorrie screamed. “Cree!"
Ghrian Tohre was cradling his left arm in his hand. The flesh was burned all the way to the bone and he was shivering with the intensified pain caused by the céasadh invading his system. He stared at Eachan Gehdrin whose face was burned deeply on one side. He shuddered as Eachan looked over at him.
"Pretty, huh?” Eachan asked. “Hurts like a mother, too."
"The bitches burned us,” Killian Kiel said as he lay on the floor, the lower portion of his body blackened to a crisp.
"We'll heal,” Taegin Kullen said. He was sitting with his back to the wall, the stump of one leg sending tremors of agony through his lower body.
"Where is Cree?” Dorrie shrieked. She was trying to peel herself off the wall. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were wild. “Cree!"
"Someone shut that bitch up,” Taegin growled, “before I pull her fucking guts out."
"I can't move,” Kaelan Cree spoke up.
"Are you hurt?” Rylan Cree asked.
"No. You?"
"No but Braiden looks like a fucking lobster,” Rylan reported.
"I feel like a fucking lobster,” Braiden told his twin.
"I don't think we were supposed to get hurt,” Corydon Cree said. He was nursing a severely burned shoulder.
"Hell yes we were!” Taegin grumbled. “They had to make it look like we were toast."
"Cree!” Dorrie sobbed wildly.
"Wench, shut the fuck up!” Taegin yelled at her. “I'm going to pulverize your ass if you don't!"
With a suddenness that stunned them, the ship cut its power almost 75% and the relaxation of the gravitational pull released them from their enforced immobility. As soon as she could push away from the wall, Dorrie sprang at Taegin, her hands going for the Reaper's eyes.
