by Vi Voxley
"They know she is the host to whatever that thing is. And they're coming for her."
Rago considered that. They had been careless to let the Orochi scouts get away. Joanna had blinded them, the finding of their fated had been so unbelievable nothing else got through to their minds. And when the Orb had fallen, all they'd thought was how to save their fated.
"We'll deal with them," he said, his deep voice making it an oath. "And Doraton too."
Rago nodded.
"My lords," the healer said and they both turned like they'd been struck.
Joanna was still sitting by the healer's side, a worried look on her gorgeous face this time. Mareon had been holding her hand for a long time and Eredin felt a flash of jealousy, even if he knew it was all for Joanna's own good. The pattern glittered in the daylight like it was really there, carved right onto her skin.
Mareon gave them both a serious look before turning back to Joanna.
"I know the Lord Templar didn't behave in a way that would suit a man of his stature," he said, "but I could have used his help on interpreting some of these markings. I am a healer, not a religious man. The Orb of the Orochi is a half-mythological item. Did you say she touched it?"
"Yes," Joanna answered for them. "The Orb was about to fall and I caught it. It had killed others before and I was certain I was dead too. Then it just cracked open in my palms and this thing crawled under my skin."
Mareon was seemingly aimlessly tracing a pattern on her skin, following the curving lines of the violet root.
"Has it moved?" he asked, looking at Joanna. "My lords, you may weigh in as well. From the moment you first saw the pattern, has it changed?"
Rago and Eredin came closer, looking at the violet lines on Joanna's arm.
Eredin hesitated. He didn't want to be wrong where Joanna's safety and health might have been concerned.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I didn't pay it attention that closely. I don't think it has."
"Me neither," Rago said.
Joanna was looking at the pattern, a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I've fiddled with it for a whole day now," she said quietly. "I've barely been able to take my hands off it. It's that thing when you have a tooth missing or something broken and you can't leave it alone. I don't think I've seen the pattern change, no. It's the way it was yesterday."
"Very well," the healer said, finally letting go of her arm.
Joanna covered herself up. It seemed to Eredin that she was glad not to have to look at it anymore, although her hand moved right back to it, tracing a line on the cloth covering the root.
Mareon turned so he faced them all. The short, dark-haired man seemed at a loss for words, so eventually he simply shrugged.
"My opinion is this," he said, "and please take note it's just my opinion. There is no precedent to deal with things out of myth and fable. Let me just say this.
"The Orb of Orochi, which that sphere most likely was, has always been intended to be a weapon."
Eredin saw a dark shadow move across Joanna's features. She said nothing, listening, and so he continued as well.
"The history isn't clear on its exact use," Mareon was saying, looking uncomfortable. "There is much information about it, almost none of it fact. I wish I could say I've read it all, but I have not. I never took it seriously. Some things I know, however, some which you know as well, my lords.
"The Orb was a chemical weapon, to the best of our guesses. It was meant to damage the enemies and give the Orochis themselves more power. I suppose something like what the best of us can do, only definitely not as sophisticated and not willful."
Joanna spoke up.
"Could it cause tension?" she asked. "In the myth, I mean? Does it have the power to make people angry, angry without reason?"
"I suppose," Mareon said. "It's simplistic, but possible."
Joanna was shaking her head.
"I knew it," she murmured. "My ship, the one Eredin and Rago saved me from, it had the Orb aboard for a long time. There had been fights, I had to break up several of them. And every time the fighters had no reason, they acted as if they weren't even aware they were fighting."
"That sounds about right," Mareon said.
"So it's true," Joanna replied and the hopeless, cold tone of her voice made Eredin's heart skip a beat.
He never wanted to hear her sound so lost again.
"What will happen to me now?" she asked. "Is the weapon in me or am I the weapon?"
Mareon avoided his eyes, Eredin was certain of that.
"I don't know," he admitted. "The Lord Templar was here before and I regret to say he may have had a point. We can't tell what it is.
"The Orochis, you see, Miss Joanna, had hosts to control and aim whatever it is that hid inside the Orb. As time went by, the individuals who could do that grew lesser and lesser. So they hid it, a long time ago, in the fear that it would start killing at random. Nonsense, I know, but the scavengers are only barely civilized. They have odd beliefs.
"It clearly chose you as a host. I'm afraid there is no way to say whether you were chosen to be the first victim of some curse or if the Orb gave you its power."
Fourteen
Joanna
The healer was gone. There was nothing more for him to do after he'd determined the root couldn't be removed.
The reason was simple. It just wasn't there. Under Joanna's skin, there was nothing but flesh and bone and everything that had to be there. The only trace of the root was the violet pattern.
She wished she could have believed the root had for some reason decided to kick it in the night and simply slipped away like some monster in a horror movie.
She didn't buy that. It had become a part of her, for better or for worse.
"I'm afraid," she said, trying to give her fateds a brave smile.
They were the first words any of them had said in long minutes. Both warriors reacted at once, coming to hold her tightly in their embrace. Wrapped in their heat and love, Joanna bit back tears that were threatening to come. There was no use in crying and she tried to be strong, but it was hard.
"Not knowing is the worst," she whispered against Rago's chest, wanting to feel him instead of the hard armor he wore. "If I just had an answer of whether I was going to die or not, if I was going to cause others harm or not, I think I could live with that. The expectation is the thing I can't stand."
"You're not going to die," Eredin said and the forcefulness in his deep voice was so strong it made Joanna believe.
"The Lord Templar was right, though," she said when they let her go, looking at them with wet eyes. "I am a danger. I should leave this planet at once. You said it yourself, the Orochis are coming. Can't we, I don't know, run?"
She saw how little her fateds liked that idea. They were Haverins. Showing their backs to their enemies was not something they did. Both hesitated, clearly considering the implications to their honor.
"Okay," Joanna sighed. "How about I run then? The Orochis can't track me, can they? Right now, they're coming for Corolon because the scouts saw Haverins. What if I leave?"
"Absolutely not," Rago said at once. "We will not let you go out there. It's far too dangerous."
"Then what will we do?" Joanna asked, aware of how hopeless she sounded.
She hated it. Waiting for disaster to strike wasn't what she did either. Back on the Rivera, at least, she'd known what the fight was about and how she could arm herself. Now she didn't have a clue.
"The first thing we need to do is leave this house," Rago said to her surprise. "I know you think the Orochis are the danger, Joanna, but I fear there is a bigger threat to you already on this planet."
Eredin's golden eyes were somehow completely dark as he nodded.
"I agree with Rago," he said. "My uncle will come for you. This is the opportunity he's been waiting for. He has a chance to gain a powerful weapon, a proof that the gods are favoring him. Imagine what the Templars could do if you were a weapo
n. I will not let him use you like that. I won't let him lay a finger on you."
Joanna listened to them, wide-eyed and shocked. It seemed even the gorgeous day outside had turned darker. Was it really the same planet she'd looked at the night before, thinking that it could be her new home?
It was hard to believe now.
"I can't let you start a war," she said quietly. "Not with the Orochis and definitely not with your own people. Over what, me?"
"Yes," Rago said and his voice pulled Joanna back to reality from the misery she'd momentarily sunk to. "You can't say "for you" as if you aren't the most important part of our life. We would start a thousand wars for you, if need be, and win.
"Nothing that comes is accidental. The Orochis have been at war with us for a long time, there is no changing that today or on any day that follows. And the Lord Templar... you met him. A man like that can't lead our holy order. We were going to remove him from his title before this all began. Now he just gave us a reason."
The words made sense, but the sense of guilt wasn't leaving Joanna. She nodded sadly.
"That still doesn't leave us with any plan," she said. "What if we –"
She never got to tell her fateds about her plan, because at the next moment, the huge villa around them shook. Joanna jumped, with Eredin and Rago immediately covering her with their armored bodies, but the building stood.
It had just been hit with something tremendous.
"Doraton," Eredin whispered furiously a second before the Lord Templar's voice rang out across the villa.
"Attention residents of the Merive villa. You are surrounded by the Order of the Templars, defenders of the faith and Haverins. You have a dangerous weapon in there and we will remove her one way or the other.
"Give up and hand the female over. I might even reconsider letting you join the order after you've received due punishment for your insolence."
Rago and Eredin moved at once. While Rago rushed out of the room, Eredin held on to Joanna's hand.
"Lead the way," he called to Rago.
"Where are we going?" Joanna asked. "Eredin, I don't want to get anyone hurt because of me. The people in this villa, what if –"
"He won't hurt them," Eredin promised darkly. "It wouldn't be honorable for a godly man to go around killing servants. The only ones he wants are us, trust me. I know him. We need to get you as far as possible away from him. Rago will get us out of here. It's his home. Every warrior has a way to leave his home if he's surrounded."
"Wouldn't your uncle know that as well?" Joanna asked.
There was a savage grin on Eredin's lips as he nodded.
"Of course," he said. "No doubt he's looking for it right now. We just have to hope that whatever Rago has come up with is cleverer than the Lord Templar can figure out in a short span of time."
Joanna could hear Rago scoff in front of them, leading them below the villa. They ran down a spiral staircase descending right into darkness. She could barely see a thing, but Eredin's hand around her was strong and firm, keeping her on her feet even when she stumbled.
It was absolutely insane. Yesterday, she'd been a lieutenant of a meaningless little Terran ship. Now she was a potential weapon, running from a Haverin army and an Orochi invasion fleet.
Joanna pinched her arm again, just in case. She was still wide awake.
Above their heads, they could hear noises. It seemed the Lord Templar had presumed the warriors would never give up their fated. Eredin glanced upward with a grin and Joanna got the sense that he was enjoying everything that was going on, just a little.
"How can you be so calm?" she demanded. "What if he catches us?"
"He won't," Eredin promised. "He'll have to go through us and I promise you, there is no one up there who could stand against us."
"That is what all Haverins say," Joanna argued, feeling life returning to her once more as they were finally actually doing something.
Eredin laughed. It echoed strangely around them like they were in some gigantic hall. Joanna couldn't see a thing.
"It is," Eredin said. "Only we are neither lying nor boasting. Rago, how much further? If we need to make a stand, this is a good spot!"
"No," Rago replied from somewhere in front of them. "Come on!"
They rushed on for what seemed like an eternity. Behind them, Joanna could hear rushing, hard footsteps following them. As for her fateds, they were still leading her deeper and deeper underground until she was certain they were going for the center of the planet.
"Through here," Rago called and they must have entered some low tunnel, because Eredin forced Joanna's head down a little.
Crouching, she ran beside her fateds until a light started to shine in front of them. It felt like they'd ran for miles. They couldn't possibly be anywhere near the villa anymore.
Rago went in front of them. He was the first to emerge into the daylight, stopping at once to look around. Eredin helped Joanna out of the tunnel.
They had come out of the villa in some tiny little valley where the cover of tall trees kept them safely hidden from sight. The place was so abandoned and unseen that Joanna didn't question why Rago had chosen that as his escape route.
All that went through her head in the first seconds when she breathed in fresh air after the suffocating tunnels. Then Rago and Eredin drew their swords as one.
"An ambush!" Rago roared out. "It's a trap!"
Joanna jumped back with a small scream, seeing scores and scores of warriors in dark armors climb across the hillside that had hidden them from sight before. Rago and Eredin met them head-on, their swords cutting through the air and stopping the rush of the enemies in her direction.
Supporting herself on the small hill behind her, Joanna couldn't take her eyes off her fateds. They truly were as magnificent as they said. There had to have been a hundred Templars crowding them, yet Eredin and Rago twisted and turned in their midst, seemingly everywhere at once. Men fell away from them, screaming and clutching their broken bodies and weapons.
She noticed they weren't trying to kill the opponents. They were still Templars. Men who were supposed to be their brothers in arms if yesterday had gone differently.
Joanna felt a twinge of guilt but they had been right before. It was not her fault and the Lord Templar was being everything but fair. It was clear he used the holy order as his personal army.
Eredin and Rago held the line without pause or fault. None of the Templars were getting past them to her and Joanna cursed herself for not thinking of bringing a weapon with her. She hated feeling useless.
Back on the Rivera, she could risk breaking up a fight barehanded. On Corolon, that would have been laughable. Grown, born warriors with bodies they could modify. She imagined she could break her fist against them even if they weren't wearing armors.
Joanna was so caught in rooting for her fateds she didn't notice someone behind her until it was too late. The Lord Templar seized her up with surprising strength. She realized she'd been comparing him to her fateds all that time. Perhaps he wasn't a match for two young warriors in their prime, but he was most assuredly strong enough to hold her up like she was nothing more than a toy in his grip.
She really regretted not bringing something she could strike out with. Behind him, Joanna could see the healer with a guilty expression on his face.
So that's how he found us. Traitorous bastard.
The golden eyes of the Lord Templar were filled to brink with hunger. He looked at her like she was a treasure and at once, Joanna knew Eredin had been right. She was going to be held in a cage somewhere, or worse, to be used as a living weapon when Doraton figured out how to unlock whatever it was that was hidden inside her.
"Cease!" the Lord Templar roared across the battlefield.
The fighting stopped. Eredin and Rago turned to look at her and Joanna hated seeing the horror on their faces. She hated how easy it was for Doraton to disarm them, simply by having her in his grasp.
They'd been so worried the Or
ochis were going to use her against the Haverins, but it was wrong. The Lord Templar was going to use her against her fateds and who knew who else.
"Now," Doraton said quietly and with relish. "We will take these rebels with us and show them what fate awaits those who want to take up arms against the gods. And this pretty little thing here is going to come with me while I stop the Orochi attack with the weapon these men here would have denied their own people."
His voice dropped as he added, whispering into Joanna's ear:
"Don't be afraid, little girl. I'll make sure your fateds get to see my triumph before I kill them. And if you work with me against the Orochis, who knows what the future might have in store for us. I have been thinking for a while that our kings aren't fit to rule.
"Haverins should be united and led by a man who knows the will of the gods."
Fifteen
Rago
So this is the true face of what family means.
Like every other Haverin, Rago had been brought up to believe that Merives and Greoles were natural enemies. The only problem was that the way theory had it, they were enemies to each other.
Now, seeing Eredin's uncle dragging Joanna away and Mareon trying to give him some guilt-ridden sign that he'd only done what he did because of some convoluted reasoning Rago didn't want to hear... It was clear to him just how false the core principle of their society was. There was just as much betrayal in the families themselves.
All that was, of course, a distant concern for him.
The only thing that mattered was the look of shock and horror on Joanna's face. Rago didn't believe she was as much afraid for her own life as she was that she could actually be used as a weapon.
He caught a hard look from Eredin, who had stood motionless from the second the Lord Templar had shown up. Rago took that for a bad sign.
Whatever else he thought of Eredin was a distant second after knowing he'd never do anything to hurt Joanna or let her come to harm. The way he'd stopped when Doraton Greole threatened her life told Rago in no uncertain terms that the man was far worse than he'd previously believed.
