The Last of the Ageless

by Traci Loudin

  Jorrim spoke as soon as Kaia paused. “I hate to say it, but I agree with Nyr. We need to be on the offensive.”

  Soledad glared at him as though he were insane. Kaia picked up a satchel and motioned them into another room. Curious to see more of the Ageless stronghold, Dalan strode forward so everyone could crowd in. He found himself surrounded by Ancient machines, all humming at different pitches, as though alive. A table stood in the center of the room like a sacrificial altar.

  His skin itched. He needed to be outside, in the air, away from the weight of Ancient relics.

  As Kaia rummaged around in drawers throughout the room, she said, “We’ll split up. Nyr wanted to use me as bait, so... I’ll draw them off with some decoy technology.”

  Dalan recognized a few of the items she packed in the satchel as being healing supplies. The rest remained a mystery.

  Soledad pulled something from one of the drawers and handed it to Kaia. “They’ll know you couldn’t have taken all the technology with you, though, so they’ll still want to search the lab. They’ll send their slaves to subdue you.”

  “No,” Nyr said. “I bet the Wizard will go after her.” Korreth nodded.

  Kaia sealed the bulging bag and set it on the table. “I think Nyr’s right. They’ll think I have the tracking device and come after me first. They’ll consider the lab something they can deal with later.”

  “So the rest of us will be prepared to ambush them as they chase you through the grasslands.” Soledad’s eyes landed on each of them in turn. Dalan narrowed his eyes at her tone, but could find no fault in their plan.

  Nyr smirked. “You can order your little Purebreeds around all you want, but we Changelings will do as we wish.” She jutted her chin out at Kaia. “No matter what happens, I’m going after the Wizard. I plan to be the one to slice the grin off his face.”

  Dalan tried to gauge everyone’s reactions and realized someone was missing.

  Caetl? He tried to mentally prod him as he would Saquey, but got no response. He brushed past Nyr and found Caetl sitting on the floor of the first room, rubbing his temples. Nyr and Ti’rros followed him.

  “Caetl.” Dalan kneeled down beside the mystic.

  The big man exploded up from the floor, knocking Dalan back. “It’s not my fault!” His eyes darted around, unseeing. “It’s not my fault.”

  Dalan waved a hand in front of his face.

  “Shit,” Nyr growled. “If his mind’s gone, he won’t be able to—”

  “How long was the mystic out of it?” Soledad aged, strands of her dark hair going white. “They may have overhead everything through your devices.”

  Nyr’s eyes slid through Soledad before refocusing on Dalan. “They definitely can now. The Wizard says they’re on their way. He says they just want to talk.”

  Chapter 26

  From the south tower, Korreth watched the distant figures leaving furrows in the grasses. He glanced at his Changeling companions to find Nyr’s eyes shining with anticipation. They’d decided to send Kaia ahead and see whether the Wizard and Zen would take the bait or whether the mystic had completely given away their plans.

  Nyr’s feline ears pointed forward, twitching around at times, listening to the sounds of preparations around them. But Dalan hunched over, his whole body tense. His skin took on a golden hue as he struggled to find the balance between human and horse. Korreth considered how to reassure the boy, but Nyr spoke first, startling Dalan.

  “This is the hardest part. The waiting.”

  The steady stream of people evacuating Searchtown had ended hours ago. All of Kaia’s people would wait at the edge of the northern forest, living on their supplies and whatever they could forage for now.

  As bait, Kaia waited atop a horse, north of Searchtown but far south of the evacuees. Once spotted, she would gallop off to the west, leading the enemy away from her people. Korreth admired her self-sacrifice and her unwillingness to risk others’ lives.

  “Zen doesn’t age,” Korreth advised them, “so strike at anything not covered in metal, like his knees and face. If we can get around his metal armor, he should be easier than most Ageless to kill. Then Jorrim and I can help you with the Wizard.”

  Nyr grinned. “I’ll get to enjoy slicing the Wizard’s face into ribbons again and again and again before I kill him.”

  Dalan shuddered. “Am not here to choose sides. Only want the necklaces off.”

  The boy could be their best weapon against any of the Ageless. Free to act, and free from whatever torture the Wizard would inflict on Nyr and Ti’rros. Korreth had to convince him to act. “Then why did you try to save those people back there?”

  “The Ancient Teachings allow me to fight in defense of life. Or in vengeance for life taken.” The boy’s voice lowered, perhaps from the partial transmeld, or perhaps because he tired of explaining himself. “Can’t invoke vengeance for anyone but my own slain tribemates, and those people weren’t of my tribe.”

  Korreth couldn’t believe Dalan had traveled so long in Nyr’s company, considering his morals. The feline leaned forward, out over the edge of the tower wall, her ears pricked toward the three approaching figures.

  “You could fight in defense of the pathetic Purebreeds’ lives,” she said, as though Korreth couldn’t hear her. “Besides, didn’t you listen when the Wizard said all those things about the Catastrophe, about the Ancients—”

  “Thought you were unconscious…”

  “The mystic told me afterward.”

  That piqued Korreth’s interest, but they didn’t have time to stand around discussing Ancient history. “So you’ll help us against Zen?”

  “Will admit it’s a gray area. According to the Ancient Teachings, war is abomination, so ‘defense of life’ does not allow us to choose sides in a battle, unless the elders declare it.”

  “But the two Purebreeds don’t fight of their own accord,” Nyr said.

  Korreth narrowed his eyes. Like most Changelings, Nyr clearly held Purebreeds in contempt, yet she pushed Dalan into helping them.

  “You know that the Ageless are Ancients.” He hoped to apply the right leverage against the boy. “They don’t hesitate to take what they want, whether that means war or killing innocents like those poor Purebreeds that Soledad led against Nyr’s clan.” The image of Tora slumping to the ground with red blossoming on her shirt came unbidden, but he pushed it away.

  Dalan’s brown eyes bored into him. “Even if the Teachings don’t come from the Ancients, that doesn’t make my tribe’s ideals any less important. Are still good rules to live by.”

  The boy faced west, away from the approaching figures. “Maybe that’s the real reason the elders put us through the trials. So that we learn nothing fits neatly within the Ancient Teachings anyway. Have to decide what’s right on our own.”

  Korreth held his breath. The boy was at the tipping point, so he had to try. “You saw how many people Zen killed back there. He’s not going to let anyone go. The sooner you recognize that, the better. We’re all in danger here.”

  Dalan checked the side of his Ancient handgun. “Do either of you know where Caetl is? Can tell us what all the Ageless are planning.”

  “We already know we can’t trust any of them,” Nyr muttered. “And no.”

  Korreth said, “He’s probably holed up somewhere so he can focus on protecting you all from the Wizard.”

  The three ominous figures drew closer, one taller on foot than the two riders on horseback. One of the riders split off to circle northward around the town toward Kaia. Korreth found his obvious movements worrisome.

  Dalan said, “Saquey shows me it’s Azaiah... I see his tail.”

  Korreth hid his amusement as Nyr’s eyes narrowed.

  “They must’ve heard our plans from the mystic after all,” she said.

  “Not intentionally,” Dalan protested.

  Korreth interrupted before Nyr could argue, “Care to join us, Nyr?” Her close-range tactics might not be useful a
gainst Zen, but she could add to the chaos and distract the giant while he and Jorrim took him down.

  Nyr lost her fur, her human nose suddenly protruding. “You’ll be busy with your treaty talks. In the meantime, I’ll take care of some unfinished business. I should’ve known the Wizard would bring Azaiah. Don’t worry; I’ll be back before the fun starts.”

  “Will go where the Wizard is.” Dalan descended the ladder to join Ti’rros, who had been unwilling to scale the tower.

  Nyr climbed down next and, without another word, mounted the horse she’d saddled in preparation. Korreth climbed down and hurried along to catch up to Dalan and Ti’rros. Soledad and Jorrim waited at the point where the wall met the eastern wing of the V-shaped building.

  Inside the walls, the eerie silence weighed on Searchtown like a heavy mist.

  “Let’s greet our guests, dears,” Soledad said. Her faded red and orange beads contrasted against her tangled black and gray hair.

  As Dalan and Ti’rros went on ahead, Soledad stopped Korreth and Jorrim and laid her hands on their arms. “Just one spell left.” She began whispering in that strange language again, interrupted by a sound from outside the walls.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Korreth caught movement. Zen vaulted over the wall and landed in front of them. His cyborg parts creaked and groaned, but his glowing eyes showed no hint of pain.

  The wind fled from him, and Jorrim took a step back, as though pushed back by its force. Korreth did his best to appear nonchalant as he gripped the Ancient SCL, but his heart raced and he imagined his eyes were as wide and fearful as Dalan’s. He wondered if Soledad had time to finish her spell, and what it would do to them. He didn’t feel any different.

  Another man clambered over the wall after Zen. He threw back his hood, and his tail unfurled from beneath his shirt.

  “Azaiah,” Dalan whispered. “But Saquey showed me...”

  “Looks like Nyr was right after all,” Jorrim muttered.

  Zen’s voice boomed, “You surround yourself with these puny humans, Ageless sister?”

  A fresh red line marred the side of his face, probably from Dalan. Hope rose in Korreth’s chest.

  “Let’s make introductions, shall we?” Soledad said, nonplussed. “These days, I call myself Soledad.” Zen snorted, but didn’t interrupt. “These are my faithful followers, Korreth and Jorrim. And these—” She motioned to Dalan and Ti’rros.

  Dalan stepped forward, his eyes hard. “Dalan, the transmelder you had the pleasure of fighting just yesterday.”

  Pride welled in his throat for the boy, the only one who’d fought the cyborg and lived.

  Looking equally unimpressed, the Joey said, “Ti’rros.”

  Zen’s laughter rumbled in the ground and the buildings around them. “Very good, very good. This is Azaiah, a ‘faithful follower,’ as you put it, of our brother, Liang. And I call myself Zen, first of the Ageless to become enlightened since the day we knew we were Ageless.”

  Soledad smirked, but gestured to an open door of a large, gray-walled storage building. “Won’t you come in for tea?”

  To his surprise, Zen and Azaiah entered first, apparently unperturbed by the possibility of a trap. The large space opened around a table and six chairs. Zen put a foot onto a chair to test its strength before resting his massive frame in it.

  “It would appear you’re fresh out of tea and crumpets.” His voice echoed in the emptiness.

  “Yes, well, the people took what they could when they fled.” Soledad sat down at the table with him, while everyone else remained standing.

  Though allied with Zen, Azaiah lingered near the door as if ill at ease. Korreth nodded to Jorrim, and they took up posts on either side of the room, keeping both Azaiah and Zen in their sights.

  Tapping her long nails on the table, Soledad shifted into a young woman and smiled. “Why don’t you start by telling me why you did this,” she waved a hand in Zen’s direction.

  “You mean why I decided to use my allotment of technology to its fullest potential? I’m not going to wait around for some indeterminate time and then just give it all back to these ungrateful morons.”

  “So you’re a rebel. You’ve got a problem with authority,” Soledad sat back and examined her nails.

  “That’s not it at all.” The giant’s lips drew down, as though baffled. “I’m tired of living in squalor for century after century. I want what’s best for our kind, for the Ageless.”

  “And that’s why you’ve been killing us off?” Soledad rolled her eyes. “Please.”

  “Most of those were accidents.”

  “It didn’t look like an accident when you killed Cerrit.”

  Korreth held his breath. If Zen killed her… Jorrim’s eyes were wide, and he nodded to reassure him.

  Zen shook his head. “Did you know the Purebreeds killed my sister Rafia?”

  “These Purebreeds?” Soledad jerked her thumb back at Korreth and Jorrim. “No.”

  “You know what I mean. They also killed Timar. And when I went to investigate, they killed me too.”

  Soledad leaned forward. “We’ve all lost a few ages over the years. What do you mean?”

  “They’d rigged a trap in a grain silo. I went in and couldn’t claw my way free. I suffocated. Again and again. Over and over, each of my ages died in agony as I struggled... for hours. Have you ever died of suffocation, Soledad?”

  Korreth’s stomach sank. He couldn’t imagine the torture of dying once of suffocation, but over and over? He’d assumed some of the Ageless would’ve gone mad over the centuries, but Zen was a special case.

  “No,” Soledad said. “And that doesn’t give you any reason to go around murdering other Ageless.”

  If he killed Soledad, nothing could stop him from destroying any town or village he wanted. She was their only hope of defeating him. Yet, if she died, they were free. Korreth’s gaze flicked to Jorrim.

  “Cerrit was a mistake,” the giant said, “but truly, I have no patience for the ones who destroy their own technology or let it molder. We Ageless could be so much more, Soledad. We could bring about a new age.”

  He cocked his head. “Tell me, why are you here? Surely you realize that your very presence undermines the Prophet’s most sacred Mandate.”

  “We haven’t had much success confronting you one on one. So we forged an alliance.” Soledad shrugged.

  “Yet here you are, alone. Say you manage to drive me out—or kill me, whichever. Do you really expect me to believe that you won’t take a peek at Kaia’s secrets?”

  Soledad waved that away. “I was with her in the lab just a few days ago. I don’t pry into her technology, and she doesn’t pry into mine.”

  “How civilized.” Zen rose, and Korreth found himself holding his breath. “Then you won’t mind giving me a tour while our host is away.”

  “Wait,” Soledad said. “Azaiah, please go with my followers and escort the Changeling and the Joey outside.” Soledad’s child-like eyes met Korreth’s as she continued, “But then you may return.”

  Korreth tensed, waiting to see who would make the first move. Zen nodded at Azaiah to carry out Soledad’s command. Korreth moved toward Dalan, though he wasn’t sure what he would do if the boy resisted. At Soledad’s command, they would injure or kill the transmelder, whether they wanted to or not.

  Except, Soledad hadn’t actually issued a command to the two of them.

  Dalan held up a hand. “Ti’rros, let’s go outside.”

  The Joey turned gracefully and Jorrim visibly breathed a sigh of relief. “That could’ve gotten messy,” he muttered as they escorted the Wizard’s pawns outside. As soon as they set foot on the street, Azaiah positioned himself in the doorway.

  “Thank you for not resisting,” Korreth said.

  “Of course,” Dalan said. A green dragonfly buzzed overhead and into the building.

  “What do you think they’re doing?” Jorrim asked.

  Azaiah grinned at them, his tail thump
ing on the door frame. “Zen’s going to convince her, just as he did my master.”

  Korreth imagined Soledad and Zen together, enslaving tribe after tribe.

  “It would seem so,” Ti’rros said. “Caetl feared this would happen.”

  She gave no command to us, Korreth tapped on Jorrim’s shoulder. Why?

  Jorrim shrugged and said, “It doesn’t matter. If she does join Zen, we won’t have to fight him after all.”

  Korreth shook his head. It was a clue, but he couldn’t figure it out. “I can’t believe he’ll convince her. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Nyr and Caetl suspected she might go over to his side all along,” Dalan said. “I naively assumed she was better than that.”

  Jorrim squinted at him. “Better? She’s nothing but a manipulator.”

  Korreth blinked, and said without thinking, “What if she is manipulating Zen?”

  “Then she’s a fool,” Azaiah said, his tail curling. “You’re either with Zen or against him. He’ll allow no middle ground. My master saved both our lives when he agreed to join him.”

  “Azaiah’s right.” Korreth spoke quietly so his words wouldn’t carry inside. “All the Ageless are a little off, and it’s no wonder, after living through the Catastrophe and seeing the horrible things that must have happened during that time. And then to live on for several more centuries after that.”

  “And dying over and over,” Jorrim said.

  He tapped on Jorrim’s forearm. Convince him.

  Jorrim took a breath, his eyes darting around as though looking for the words. “You have to wonder whether Zen and the Wizard are truly sane… Remember how many of your tribemates Zen killed? And now your Wizard has joined him?”

  “I’m a Changeling, but without much power compared to most.” Azaiah shrugged. “I’ve often found that the best way to survive in this world is to ally myself with more powerful friends. And Zen is, without question, more powerful than all the rest.” The gleam in the man’s eyes made Korreth uncomfortable. “When the Ageless rule over all the other tribes, human or alien, I will have been one of their longest and most faithful allies.”