Void Emissary: The Book of the Void Part 1

by Lon Varnadore

  He closed his eyes, squared his shoulders and took a deep breath. He sought the Void… and found nothing. He shook his head, calming and dampening his thoughts. He reached out again for the Void… and found nothing.

  “What in the hells is wrong with me?” Pieter shouted. The birds of the glen startled by his outburst flew into the sky. For a moment, the sky was alive with a riot of color.

  “Calm yourself,” Pieter said, trying to focus on his breathing. He had to remain calm. He felt the Rift for just a moment, there in the corner of his vision, the red blur of it. He ignored it, letting the calming breathing take his mind from what he saw. The glow faded to nothing and was gone. He then reached out to again grasp the Void, and again felt it slip away from him like he was trying to grab and hold water.

  “What is wrong?” He tried to think of something to do, anything to reach the Void. He had never had this kind of trouble. Unless he was being shielded. Even before he knew what the Void was, he had always felt this other companion for lack of a better word, always there for him when he needed something. A boost to get up a tree to hide from his brother. A burst of speed to outrun his classmates at the Academy, before the Embassy came to him and tested him. The touch of knowledge that someone was holding something back, that was his greatest gift. That sense of truth had helped him in many things, even when he thought of eschewing the Void and becoming a merchant like his father. His mother wouldn’t have wanted that, yet he had finally embraced it when he that falling out with Charles. And gave him that scar.

  He shuddered remembering the feeling. He knew now it was the first calling of the Rift to him that caused the stone to shoot from the ground as the two fought with sticks. Charles had hit Pieter along the ribs and in a moment of rage and pain, he reached out and felt the sharp rock, as if it was in his own hand and threw it with all his might at Charles. Yet, Pieter himself was the one who shouted at Charles to get out of the way. His brother had been a little too slow to act. Had he been slower, Pieter was sure the rock would have shot right through his brother’s thick skull.

  He’d had a chance to make amends with Charles when he was on the estate, yet what had he done? He had used his force and authority to break into the Shadow Archive and get the information. He was a fool to think that he could have made amends with Charles. Charles wouldn’t want anything to do with him now.

  Just like Sarena.

  With a grunt he stood up and grabbed his witchwood sword. He slammed the blade down into a log and felt it bite deep. He struck again and again until the sword stuck fast and it wouldn’t move. He pulled at the hilt, “Damn it, move.”

  There was a sudden chill down his spine. He looked around and the world was starting to tinge more and more red. “Sodding hells!” He felt his body trying to push at the Rift, and sensed he couldn't do it. The Rift was started to invade him. He tried to fight it. To push away at the invading force. It pushed back harder and started to gain more ground. He felt himself being pulled down into a whirlpool of red light and anger and fear. He sucked air into his chest, trying desperately to find a center to hold onto. He sought the fire that he always used, yet it was banished even before he could summon it fully. He was lost again.

  The world tinged red. He gripped his sword and felt the power of the Rift flow into the witchwood. The blade itself glowed with a red hue. He knew what he should do. Hunt down these Lasha and kill each and every one of them. With them gone, he could take what he needed: an Ilvan ship. No, a fleet of them and fight these invaders.

  “Why do that?” The voice was silk and made him smile.

  “It is good to speak to you again, Sabe.”

  He felt his sword thrum in his hands. “Pieter, you can’t give in like this. You know that the Lasha are—”

  “Quiet. I am the one who wields you. Not the other way around.”

  “Really?”

  He felt his knees grow weak, he didn’t even feel himself fall to the ground. He blinked and he was in blackness. He looked around, the Rift still fueling him. “Sabe! Where are you. You brought me here, let’s end this.”

  A young woman appeared, dressed in gray rags. In her hand was a duplicate of his own sword. “Do you really want to have this fight?”

  “It is the only way.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Pieter looked at Sabe. “What are you playing at spirit?”

  She smiled. “Giving you another way out. You aren’t fighting for yourself anymore. Not for the Embassy, but for someone else.”

  Pieter charged forward, bringing his blade down on Sabe. She blocked it and slid back, gritting her teeth. “Without the Embassy, what am I?”

  “An Emissary of the Void.”

  “An apostate.”

  “But one with a student.”

  “We are fugitives.” He shoved back, then stabbed forward, trying to catch Sabe in the chest. She spun away from the strike, countering with her own. He blocked it, by a hair.

  “But you are fighting for something great,” Sabe said.

  Her words were making sense. Pieter knew that. He clenched his teeth. “What am I supposed to do? Give up all the old ways? Give up on a thousand years of tradition?”

  “Adding to a chain of events is one thing. But to be the first to forge something. Is that not just as important?”

  Pieter felt the fight leave him. He felt the last energies of the Rift sapped away. He dropped to one knee. Feeling someone there, he looked up to see Sabe. “Thank you.”

  “It is the one thing I had to do as your sword. It was the only thing I could do. But, it cannot happen again,” she said, touching him on the arm. “You come for me again, burning with energy of the Rift, one of us dies.”

  “I know Sabe, I know.”

  For the briefest of moments, he felt her touch him. He then blinked to find himself on the ground, his sword at his side. He took it in his hands and felt the purr. “Thank you, Sabe.”

  Kyp looked at the Ilvan as they surrounded Benny. It was weird to see the trees sway, and he heard the groaning and creaking of their branches, much like the way Benny sounded while they were in flight. Yet, they were helping Benny. Kyp could feel some strange thrum of energy from the other Ilvan that was being transferred to Benny. He could see the black and burned outer hull start to flake off as new, dark wood took its place.

  The Ilvan and Lasha were a family here. Which didn’t make any sense to Kyp. No family ever helped him. Pieter and Sarena were the closest thing he had to family. With Guy who knew where and the rest of the crew of the Osprey gone. His only family. He sighed. Everything that had meant something to him was gone.

  He looked down at his sword in his hands. Even you will be gone before long I am sure. Touched the hilt with a loving caress. It felt right, and it felt as though the sword responded to the touch, warming a little in his hand. “That is silly, a sword can't be alive.”

  But I am, Kyp.

  Kyp looked around, wondering who spoke. He dropped his sword. “Who is there? What is going on?”

  A bird chirped at him and then flew off. There was no one but him in the small grove. Not human or Lasha at least.

  It was me, Kyp.

  Kyp looked at the sword on the ground. “You?”

  Yes. I am Gar.

  “I think I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Swords can’t talk.”

  I am not “talking.” More communicating with you directly.

  “Do all Emissaries do this?”

  I do not know. I have only been alive a short time.

  “How long?”

  The moment you pulled me from the Mother, I have been alive and separate.

  “Wait, you were part of something else, but now, you are ‘alive?’”

  The sword gave him an affirmative.

  “I have hurt my head somehow. I am sick or something.”

  No, you and I are part of the same unit. I think you would call it a “family.”

  “What has family ever done for me?” Kyp w
as surprised by the bitterness in his own voice.

  Did your Sempai not help you in the dreadnought? Did Sarena not help you and Pieter when you were floundering aboard the Osprey?

  “How do you know about the Osprey?”

  You and I share memories. My memories are in you, just as yours are in mine.

  “Alright, for a moment, let’s say this is you talking and not some massive head trauma. Why do you call us a family?”

  Family are those who help you, even though they gain nothing. Sometimes will even be worse off. But they do it because they are family, and they love each other.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Pieter was led along the forest path, Toth walking along in front, his tail held high and his six legs moving along at a steady clip. “You will be expected to give something to them when you enter the Moot.”

  “I don’t have any kitty treats for—”

  Toth turned and leapt at Pieter. Pieter wasn’t expecting it, and Toth’s body drove him to the ground. Toth swiped at Pieter’s chest once. “Listen human. That is the last time you get to do that. Do you realize the world of trouble you are in? The world of trouble you have put all of us in?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Sarena and Benny could be separated, if the Moot has its way. They could choose to kill you and your little apprentice. I could be killed for bringing all of us to Ilvan in the first place.”

  Pieter looked at Toth. The Lasha glared at him. He put his hands up. “Alright, I’ll stop.”

  “Good.” Toth leapt off Pieter and started to walk again. Pieter took a moment to let out a small sigh. “You have to tell me how you were able to do that.”

  “Do what?”

  “You were able to leap at me, and I had no idea that it was coming. You have some way to block the Void from interacting with you. I know a few Emissaries that would love to study your kind.”

  “That isn't going to happen, human. Ever.” Toth looked at Pieter with unreadable eyes. “Is that understood?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “Good. You are as slow as a kit, yet I think there is some hope for your species. Well, most of them. Not all.”

  Pieter followed after Toth, glowering at the Lasha’s back for some time.

  “Now, I will find something for you to bring to the Moot. And, you have to wait and not speak until you are spoken too. That fact that they wish to have you in the Moot doesn't bode well.”

  “Why is that?”

  “The last human to be invited to the Moot was Captain Danning.”

  “Wasn’t that around the time of the Ilvan War?”

  Toth stopped and looked at Pieter. “Yes. Right at the beginning.”

  “What happened to Captain Danning?”

  “You see that strange human shaped thing in the trees?” Toth asked, pointing to an area that looked like a human’s upper torsos was coming out of a large tree.

  “Yes.”

  “That is what happened to Captain Danning.”

  Pieter swallowed and started to walked closer to Toth. He opened himself to the Void, yet things didn’t register with him, and that was the strange thing. Everything alive was supposed to be connected to the Void. Every living thing. It was one of the fundamentals of the Embassy. Yet, he barely felt Toth in front of him. Some of the trees, the massive ones, even the one with the human shape of Danning, didn't register. It was as if they blocked the Void from touching them.

  “Are you starting to understand what the Lasha can do?” Toth asked.

  “I think so. And, if the Embassy ever found out—”

  “It would be a bloody war that would have no victor.”

  “And there would be needless death on both sides.”

  “I am glad we understand each other then,” Toth said.

  Pieter nodded and looked up to see a large circular meadow that had boulders and rocks of various sizes and shapes ringing it except for two places. The path that he was on cut through the open area. And, he saw Lasha on the rocks and boulders, some in the trees themselves. There were dozens of them.

  “Stay here. Do not enter until I tell you to,” Toth said.

  “I understand—” Pieter said. Then he realized that Toth had disappeared. He stood before the clearing, hands behind his back, waiting. He felt a little naked without his witchwood sword. Yet, Toth had said that if he brought it along, then the Moot would kill him before he could say anything. Before he could even get to the clearing.

  “Well, I am half way there. That is something.”

  “What are you?” a voice asked from behind him.

  Pieter turned to see a young Lasha, small and close to the ground.

  “I am Pieter Strahd.”

  “Ah, you are the one who the Moot summoned.”

  “Yes, I am,” Pieter said. He smiled at the Lasha. “What is your name?”

  “Mine is not important. But I would like to know why you came here illegally?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You haven’t a gift for the Moot, you speak to me as though I am an equal to you, which I am not. I think you are going to die here today.”

  Pieter pulled back as if slapped. The way the Lasha had spoken so plainly, as though she was ordering breakfast. At least he thought it was a female Lasha. “I am waiting here for Toth to return. He went to fetch a—”

  “And you have my mate running around trying to find a present? What has he been doing going out on that fool ship?”

  “He said he was given permission, but Benny wasn’t.”

  The ginger Lasha sat on her haunches and looked at Pieter. “Is that what he is telling those out there? Hmmmm, he has much to answer for.”

  Pieter looked at the ginger Lasha. “Mate? He didn’t say anything—”

  “Goldie?” Toth said, coming from the woods to Pieter’s left. “What are you doing here?”

  “It is a Moot, love. I was summoned, as was the family.”

  Toth walked to Pieter and dropped a small branch with purple and black berries. “It might do, it might not. But it was the best thing I could do at the moment.”

  “Did you get those from Yusef?”

  “Your point, woman?” Toth turned, his tail coming up and his fur starting to bristle.

  Goldie sat demurely, watching Toth’s reaction. “We need to have a discussion, my dear Toth,” she said. It was calm and cold.

  Toth’s tail dropped, and he lowered his head a little. “About what, my love?”

  “You have been lying to the humans, saying Benny was the one who didn’t have permission to leave the planet. When you know damn well—”

  “Goldie, my love,” Toth started. He looked between Pieter and Goldie. “I must—”

  “The human knows much already. He will probably be executed anyway for the way he has spoken to me like an equal,” Goldie then gave Toth a glare. “Have you been telling them everything?”

  Toth stopped and looked at her for a long moment. Then, walked up to her and butted heads with her. She butted back. And Pieter felt like he was watching some strange courting ritual. Toth turned and looked at Pieter. “Relax yourself, Pieter. Goldie was having a bit of fun with you.”

  “Oh?”

  Goldie moved forward a little bit and let out a giggle. It was the strangest thing he had ever heard. “I am sorry to have startled you. But I haven’t had any interactions with humans in some time and wanted to have some fun.”

  “What about, Imara? Kaylee?”

  Goldie looked back at Toth. “Gone. They have been gone and do not respond to any calls. There has been some worry that they are… gone.”

  “That is distressing news,” Toth said.

  “What do you mean ‘do not respond to calls?’”

  Toth gave a sigh and looked at Pieter. Pieter knew the tone before he heard the words, but listened. “All Ilvan have something like the ansibles you have in your ships. Yet they are all interconnected with each other.”

  “You mean the Ilvan ca
n talk to each other, like a hive-mind?”

  “A crude word, but effective,” Goldie said. “The Ilvan can sense each other regardless of where they are in the Twelve Worlds. Except for the two Toth mentioned, their Lasha and human pilots have disappeared. And a handful of others.”

  “Does the Moot know of this?” Toth asked.

  “Elder Bythel thinks that it isn’t a problem. That they have strayed away and will return when they can.”

  “That is folly,” Toth said. “We need to bring this up, if Pieter can talk his way out of being executed.”

  “Why am I being executed?”

  “You are an Emissary. You have broken the peace between the Emissaries and the Lasha since the war,” Goldie said. She turned to slap Toth on the head once with her forepaw. “I would have thought that my mate would have better sense than to do such a thing.”

  “There is a reason for it Goldie.” He tried to butt her head and she refused, pulling away.

  “Then you better make it abundantly clear,” Goldie said. “Grandfather is in a mood.” She then bound off towards the Moot.

  Pieter looked at Toth for a long moment.

  “Ask,” Toth said with a sigh.

  “Grandfather? Mate? Permission?”

  “The Elder Bythel you heard her speak of. Yes, she and I were to be bonded in a few years. Once I am back from my mission. And I have permission to be off planet. Her grandfather just hates my father and wanted to put a black mark on me is all.” Toth walked over and nosed the small branch. “Does that answer everything?”

  “Not even by half.”

  “We don’t have time for this now. After we are done speaking, we can. If we can.”

  “I thought you could tap the Void and see the future?” Pieter asked, a bit of a smirk on his face.