by T. G. Ayer
She waved a hand at the guard who stepped closer to Nerishka and went down on one knee. He held the cuffs forward, and Nerishka, unable to do much else, extended a leg at a time to allow the man to snap the cuffs in place around her ankles.
“Any attempt to remove the cuffs will trigger delivery of the poison. If you leave Maitreya, the poison will be delivered. And of course, it goes without saying, leaving Valkris is out of the question.”
Nerishka wanted to scream at the woman, to unleash her fury. But she bit down on her emotions.
Everything had gone awry from the moment she’d entered the House of Varani. But Nerishka was used to having to adapt to changing situations. Very rarely did she face a mission that turned out to be a simple kill.
And in Kalki’s case, Nerishka had the means to be very, very adaptable to the situation.
Kalki pushed off the balustrade and glided toward the doorway, her hips swaying as she moved. Nerishka followed while the guards scurried away. Inside the receiving lounge, Kalki paused beside a crystal wine decanter that formed an elegant spiral. “Wine?” she said, glancing over her shoulder.
Nerishka bit her tongue. “No thank you,” she said as she drew closer to the large fireplace. The black stone—mined from deep within the Asanga Mountains west of Maitreya—gleamed as it outlined the empty fireplace.
Above the hearth a gigantic stone carving emerged from the wall, carved out of a mammoth boulder also extracted from the bowls of Asanga.
“I wonder what she’d think of this?” murmured Nerishka, staring up at the benevolent gaze of the mother of the House of Varani. Sumati was revered almost as a goddess; her passion and love for her people had known no bounds. In Kalki’s case, the apple fell light years from the tree.
“Mother wouldn’t care. She’d be too wrapped up in her desire for upliftment, in her eternal attempts to redeem the common man.”
There was a bitter edge to Kalki’s words, and Nerishka turned to face her. In most gallant battles, one never hit an opponent when he was down. In this case, Nerishka didn’t give a damn.
She took a breath. “I don’t think you’ll need to wait to reach an agreement with Justin.”
Kalki was setting the decanter back onto the table, and reached for her wine goblet before asking, “Now, why would you make such an assumption?”
“Because I believe that in a fair and amicable negotiation it is only honorable to put one’s hand on the table.”
“You don’t have a hand to play, my dear girl,” Kalki scoffed.
“That’s where you are dangerously mistaken,” said Nerishka as she drifted across the room toward a second carving, this one depicting the War of the Houses, an ancient battle that had been fought on Valkris centuries past.
Sumati, for all her passive generosity, and desire for peace, had lead the battle and had won it for her House and their allies. Nerishka turned to face Sumati’s daughter, who was more rolling-freight-train than passive-aggressor. “You see, when I killed your old friend Bardolan, Vizier for the Vela Cluster’s Chancellor, I had to go to hell and back to prove that he was here to kill you. That he’d done everything in order to eliminate you, because we all knew how influential, how important you were. Your position was coveted by many, so a threat on your life wasn’t all that unusual.”
Kalki smiled thinly, and Nerishka could see her eyes clouding over. Either she was chatting with Rudas and ordering Nerishka’s immediate death, or she was still a little suspicious but mostly clueless.
The thing was, when people looked at Nerishka, they would never immediately assume she was a threat. It had been an advantage on numerous occasions.
Nerishka drew closer and took a seat on a chaise, resting her elbow on the low backrest as she stared out at the valley. The light from Chorin had faded and inky night bled into the reddening sky, the effect quite macabre.
Nerishka smiled as she glanced over at Kalki who was standing very still beside her wine decanter, her goblet still untouched in her grip.
“But what I went on to discover—by pure chance, mind you—was that Bardolan was merely a puppet, and the puppet master was one of our very own.
“That the dart he’d aimed at you was meant to ensure you would not come into contact with the toxins with which he’d laced his gifts. That the scions of House Mitala, House Sankara and House Kapila would perish in a mass assassination attempt. The perpetrator would have been in custody, and everything would have been neatly tied up.
“The Vela Cluster would make amends for their delegate’s treachery and you would continue as powerful as ever.” Nerishka paused and tapped her lips, her eyes meeting Kalki’s.
The scion was still holding her wine glass, frozen in place. Then she took a slow breath. “I’m assuming, from the confidence in your voice, that you have sufficient proof, so I’m not going to contest its validity. You just don’t know the whole truth. And it had nothing to do with House Mitala.”
Nerishka shrugged. “I don’t really care about your truth. I wanted out of Valkris Espions. That was no secret. And yet you forced it on me.”
“I didn’t see your parents objecting,” Kalki retorted. She glanced down at her drink, weighing it for a moment before downing the contents of the goblet and reaching for the decanter. “Even when Sirene…was killed, Valan had no objection to his daughter joining the Espions.”
Kalki’s words cut deep and Nerishka took a slow breath. “He did object. You overruled him. My grandparents objected too.”
“Ah yes. Railan did have a few words for me. But eventually he too understood my goal.”
Nerishka got to her feet. “I’m not particularly interested in your goal. Could you please remove the cuffs? I have sent you the documents with the offer from the Hand. I think you will find it satisfactory.”
“This is called blackmail, dear girl,” Kalki murmured.
“No. I’m not blackmailing you. If I wanted to, I would have done it a long time ago. I would have outed you to everyone when you deserved it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Grandpa Railan asked me not to.”
“He knows?” Kalki’s eyes widened and she tossed back a second glass of wine
“Sort of. Only the gist of it. He said there were bigger things at play and he hoped we’d misunderstood your intentions. He was all for giving you another chance. I still don’t understand why he bothered.” Nerishka shrugged. “There. I’ve sent the encrypted files, including the codes. You should be able to use the details to find and remove all proof that it ever existed in the first place. How fortunate that I was the one who’d discovered your dirty little secret.”
Kalki smiled. A blink later, the cuffs unlocked and slid to the floor beside Nerishka. She toed them aside and turned to Kalki.
“I’m leaving Valkris, but I will be back. This is my home, yes, but you can’t tie me to this world. Nobody can.”
Kalki’s voice stopped Nerishka in mid-turn. “This isn’t just your home.”
Nerishka whirled around to study Kalki’s face, certain now the woman was playing another one of her mind-games.
“I’m sure you understand biology, Nerishka,” Kalki said, pouring another glass and moving to stand before the carving of her mother. Kalki held the glass up to the sculpture and chuckled. “Sumati and Nikaya, lovers forever. Even their love couldn’t surmount a simple thing like human DNA.”
Nerishka frowned, taking a step forward. “What do you mean?”
Over her shoulder, Kalki replied, “Did you ever wonder why House Mitala was Second to House Varani?”
“Grandma Nestashia…she fought alongside Sumati and Nikaya in the Great War,” Nerishka said, her voice faltering.
“It had little to do with her bravery, no matter what you may think.” Kalki smiled. “It had everything to do with biology.”
Nerishka frowned, considering Kalki’s words. It didn’t take a genius to figure it out. “Grandpa Railan…is your progenitor?”
Kalki clapped
the fingers of her free hand against the heel of her other palm, “Yes, my dear niece. Took you long enough.”
Nerishka stared at Kalki, the pieces slowly falling into their respective places. House Varani dies with Kalki unless she miraculously produces heirs.
Kalki’s laughter echoed around the room. “I see you finally understand. But don’t look so upset. Someday you and Nadine can fight it out as to who will inherit the position of Grand Matron of the Ruling House of Valkris. But until then, I’ll keep an eye on things for you.”
Nerishka stilled for a moment. That her conversation with Kalki hadn’t gone to plan was an understatement. Now she had to adjust, change gears to fit the situation.
Without another word, Nerishka turned and walked toward the door.
“Oh, Nerishka,” Kalki called out, her voice sickly sweet, and tinged with worry, “I just tried to access the file. It’s refusing the codes.”
As she crossed the threshold, Nerishka glanced over her shoulder and said, “I’ve changed my mind. After this mind-blowing revelation, I think the importance of that information just skyrocketed. I think I’ll hang onto it for now.” Then she strode off, leaving her aunt furious and alone.
The last thing Nerishka heard as she reached the end of the corridor was a rage-filled growl and the sound of glass shattering on stone.
“What a waste of good wine.”
IT’S ME, REALLY
STELLAR DATE: 10.12.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Belshazzar, Nimrud Station
REGION: Xerxes, Ayra System (Independent)
As Nerishka had predicted, no one paid her much mind in her new persona and before long she was off the ship and ambling through Nimrud Station’s passenger terminal with her personal belongings.
Though the Ayra System was independent, it had a single government, and other than the simple security arch at the end of the passenger umbilical, there was no official inspection to worry about.
Her cargo pod of plants and supplies had taken another route, one more circuitous, and not tied to her at all. It would wait at another shipping company’s warehouse until she was certain that things would go well with Dresden.
Speaking of Dresden, Nerishka thought as she brought up the station’s map, locating the address he had provided in a message he’d sent while she was en route.
The message had been perfunctory, just details on where to meet and a few other notes about the supplies she’d requested. The business-only nature of his communication had both worried her and left her with a sense of relief.
He might still be upset with her, but at least he was able to be professional.
Nimrud was a huge station that sat at the terminus of the planet’s single space elevator. The bulk of the station was a two-hundred-kilometer spire with seventeen major toroids rotating around it, and another thirty smaller rings interspersed throughout them.
Dresden and his team had secured quarters on the ninth ring, which bore the name Parthis, in a district named Eridu.
While they rode the maglev, Nerishka pulled up the data she had on Dresden’s recent activities, scanning it for what had to be the tenth time in the last few days.
The file was spare, leading Nerishka to smile. The man had always had his ways of disappearing whenever he wanted to. He’d have been stupid to think that the Hand would not monitor his activities after he left, and if Nerishka knew anything at all, she knew that Dresden was not a stupid man.
The maglev car slowed at a stop on the central spire, and Nerishka shifted in her seat to avoid an ungainly porter-bot, followed closely by two men who appeared deep within a Link conversation, both their expressions slightly glazed. Behind them, a child screamed and a mother’s soft voice attempted to placate the unhappy kid.
Twenty-nine stops later, Nerishka finally exited the now-crowded maglev car, pulling her luggage behind her while staring out at the Eridu section of the Parthis toroid ring.
Lyra replied, her statement surprising Nerishka.
Looking out over the low rolling hills, dotted with trees, all growing under a clear, domed overhead, she had to agree, it was a nice sight, just unexpected.
There was little traffic on the thoroughfare outside the maglev station, but it still took several minutes for the groundcar to arrive. Nerishka set her luggage on the seat beside her and passed the address over the Link. She didn’t send the car right to Dresden’s location, but rather to a restaurant a kilometer away.
The ride was estimated at ten minutes, and Nerishka allowed herself to relax, breathing deeply and clearing her mind of worry. She’d find out soon enough how Dresden felt about working with her again. There was no reason to stress about it beforehand.
The car dropped her off in front of a small restaurant named ‘Taste of the Nile’, and she wondered what the Nile was, a place, culture, or perhaps a delicacy.
The area around the restaurant was a park-like forest, trees clustered in copses, small ponds lined with reeds, and grassy expanses, a few with children running through, playing with aerial drones that were engaged in what looked like a game of tag.
The walk to the house Dresden was renting was uneventful, and Nerishka found herself wondering why he’d selected such an unconventional base of operations.
Nerishka sighed.
The homes in the area were arranged in a cul-de-sac, all entrances leading off one circular street, the center of which was occupied by a little wooded area. The small forest contained trees much taller than the multi-storied homes and was wide enough that no resident had a clear view to any other home.
Smart way to ensure privacy in such a small complex.
The path leading up to the house was bordered by a low hedge covered in brilliantly colored flowers. The teardrop-shaped petals shimmered with an almost fluorescent light, making the entrance to the home appear far more inviting than it truly was.
Lyra said.
Nerishka sent out a ping to Dresden, waiting for his acknowledgement, but she got nothing back.
Lyra sent a mental shrug.
Nerishka walked to the door and rapped twice, waiting for an answer, but none came. She shrugged and passed her tokens into the security panel, and the door slid ope
n. The interior was dark, but her vision adjusted for the lighting and she looked around.
Nerishka stilled and frowned. The further she moved within the building the more certain she was that something was off. She pushed her luggage against a wall, taking a deep breath, she calmed herself, tuning everything else out before inching down the narrow hall.
Just then, something solid slammed into Nerishka’s back and her armor hardened to protect her as she flew forward.
The vials hit the floor and shattered, releasing a swirling orange smoke that exploded in the air around them.
