The Exxar Chronicles: Book 01 - The Erayan

by Neal Jones

  The sharp whistle of the comm panel interrupted her drowsiness, jerking the lady princess from her reverie, and she scowled as she sat up to press the button. "Yes?"

  "Your tea and bread, m'lady."

  Vatra's irritability waned as she recognized Sierik's voice. "Bring it into my bedchamber, please." Vatra had looked for her cousin after the guests had begun to disperse and after Erengaar had retreated to his private chambers with Larewyn. When she couldn't find Sierik, she had decided to call it a night, but perhaps she wouldn't be sleeping alone after all. She rose and cracked the door, then removed her nightclothes and sat back down in her chair. Sierik entered a few moments later, and he smiled with rakish delight as he set the tray on a side table near the door.

  "You're late," Vatra chided.

  "My apologies, m'lady, but I was delayed by Senator Koden. I forget how long winded he can be when he's had too much wine. He insisted that I join him for a walk in the art gallery. I stopped by the kitchen to grab a late snack when I heard your order come through."

  "Hhhhmmmm, you poor thing." Vatra spread her legs and dipped a finger into her warmth between them. Sierik responded by removing his coat and shirt and then began unbuckling his pants. Vatra rose and extended her finger to him, and he lapped at its tip with a leisurely roll of his tongue. "Your wife is not expecting you home tonight?"

  "No. She knows that Erengaar's celebrations sometimes run very late."

  Vatra was more relieved by this than she let on. She pushed her cousin back onto the bed and then knelt to pull off his boots and pants. As soon as he was naked she climbed on top of him, the tea and bread completely forgotten. Neither was there any conversation for the rest of the night. In the holoscreen displays the sun had set, and a sprawling blanket of stars hung high over the dark, rippling water.

  ( 5 )

  Erengaar tapped one finger impatiently against the inside of his arm as he waited for Doctor Rimshar. It was well after midnight, and the lord prince had waited until he was sure the rest of the family was secured in their private quarters before summoning the doctor. Larewyn was in the guest wing of the palace, where she would remain until the night of their wedding, so the lord prince had his quarters entirely to himself. He had wanted to meet with the doctor earlier, before dinner, but Vatra's surprise visit had distracted Erengaar. He cursed himself for being unable to resist her. He had promised himself that their last encounter several weeks ago would be the final one, yet once her gown was a dark puddle around her pale feet, he'd been consumed with lust. The arousal had quickly abated, of course, as it always seemed to these days, and he'd been relieved that she hadn't prolonged his climax as much as she used to.

  Now, as he anxiously awaited Rimshar's arrival, Erengaar wondered if his sister would accept the ending of their affair with maturity and reason, or if he would have to take stronger measures. Her behavior during dinner that evening, while not entirely out of character, had been unusual in that she consumed a great deal of wine which, in turn, loosened her tongue, especially later in the evening. She hadn't stated anything directly, but a few of her comments to Larewyn hadn't fallen on deaf ears, and if most of the guests hadn't been as inebriated as Vatra, they might have put two and two together.

  The servant girl appeared in the doorway, bowing as she spoke. "My lord, Doctor Rimshar has arrived."

  "Wait for me in my bedchamber."

  The girl nodded and then scurried from the office. Rimshar appeared a few moments later, looking rushed and a little bedraggled. "You didn't have to wait for such a late hour," Rimshar growled. "I'm not as young as I used to be, Erengaar, nor do I like wasting time with formalities. So let's get on with this and be done."

  "Do not speak to me as if we are equals, doctor," Erengaar warned. "I am your lord prince, and you will address me as such."

  For just a moment, the doctor looked as if he was more amused than threatened, but he had the good sense to bow his head. "Of course, my lord. Your will is mine."

  "That's better." Erengaar sat back in his chair and folded his hands. He said nothing for a minute or two, deriving pleasure from watching the doctor try to mask his impatience. "It's my will that my father pass away on the morning after I launch our invasion of the Federation. I don't care how you do it, so long as he breathes his last breath before the dawn."

  Rimshar wasn't surprised by this command. In fact, he had expected this much sooner from either Erengaar or Vatra, but, then again, they all had thought that Emkai would be dead long before now. Those inflicted with Adp's rarely lasted more than five years, and just over a decade had passed since the initial diagnosis. "Understood, my lord. I will make it so. Is there anything else you require of me?"

  The doctor's immediate acceptance of this plan caught Erengaar off guard, and he took a moment to examine Rimshar's expression for any hint of duplicity or sarcasm. There was none. "No. That is all."

  "Goodnight, lord prince."

  Erengaar made no reply, and he remained in his office for several minutes after Rimshar left, pondering the fate of the doctor. Perhaps it would be wise if some unfortunate accident befell the royal family physician. It wasn't the fact that he was privy to many secrets. It was his familiarity with the royal household, the way he thought himself an equal just because he had served Emkai for so long, that made Erengaar resent him. Servants were servants, no matter how long they occupied the same space as royal blood, and they should never forget their place. The lord prince found himself suddenly aroused as he left his office and headed for his bedchamber. Only six days until he could sit on the throne and wear the crown! The servant girl was one of the prettier ones, and she put up a proper fight for she'd been told to wait for him before. He struck her in places where the bruises wouldn't show, and he imagined it was his sister whom he was violating. It was just after the darkest hour of the morning when the girl was let go, and while she was bloodier than last time, it was nothing that a dermal and tissue regenerator wouldn't fix in two minutes or less.

  ( 6 )

  The next morning, in the courtyard of the palace gardens, Vatra reclined in her sun chair and watched Erengaar teach Jharek a new fencing stroke. The lord prince demonstrated the move several times, and then had his nephew practice it. The boy was not as clumsy as he was three months ago when he had first demanded of his mother to find him an instructor. It had been during dinner one evening, and Erengaar had volunteered immediately to teach Jharek the art of Skelperi.

  The lord prince was naked from the waste up, and a thin film of sweat glistened on his bare chest. Vatra remembered that first night ten years ago when her half-brother had come to her late, drunk, and all but forced himself upon her. She had been too frightened and bewildered to reject him, but even if she had tried she would have failed. He was five times as strong as her, and the next morning he claimed not to remember anything from the previous night. But it happened again two weeks later, and this time, Vatra fought back. But Erengaar quickly subdued her, and the lady princess had been stunned to discover the extreme arousal that his attacks raised in her. She looked forward to their third encounter, which occurred only two nights later, and Eren wasn't drunk. From then on, the affair was cemented as a regular routine. Erengaar was not nearly as violent now as he had once been, and even back then he had never been so rough with her that he inflicted more than some light bruising.

  Vatra was surprised now to discover how much she missed his violence and the deep passion that had come with it. He had needed her then, in a way that was almost too much for words to explain, a primal need that seemed to erupt out of nowhere. As for her, he sated her loneliness when Tiegran was away on his long trips, touring the outer colonies. She also derived great pleasure from the taboo of their affair, and it had ignited something within her that Vatra had never known she had. For most of her life, she had been a submissive, shy daughter of the royal family, always living in the shadow of her father and brother. Until that first night when Erengaar had stumbled into her private quarter
s "by accident" and "mistaken" her for one of his serving girls, Vatra hadn't dared to fight back against anything. She simply accepted her heritage and her place in the bloodline, content with whatever her father handed down to her.

  But now she was woman of her own name and right. One of the reasons she had kept Tiegran's surname instead of returning to her own after his death was to separate herself from Emkai. That small act of defiance had been encouraged by Erengaar, and Vatra quickly discovered that he always came to her on those nights when he had had a fight with the lord emperor. She never knew, even unto this day, what exactly those fights were about, but their affair was one more way to thumb their noses at their proud father, and they both relished it as often as possible.

  But then came the diagnosis of Adp's Syndrome, and as the lord prince began to come into his own in the process of learning to rule the empire, his visits to his half sister's bed were less and less frequent, until she was lucky to have even one night a month with him. Last night's tryst before dinner was the first in several weeks. Vatra tried to ignore the ache that permeated her chest, a physical pain so forceful and so throbbing that she felt the sting of tears at the edge of her vision. She forced them away with a violent swipe of her hand and reached for her glass of juice. Her hangover this morning had been brutal, and she had spent most of it here, in the garden courtyard, beneath the shade of the old osf tree.

  "Mother, did you see that?? I bested him!" Jharek gushed. His face was red and his hair was glued to his scalp.

  "Yes, Jhar, I did. Now, take a rest before you succumb to heatstroke."

  Her son obeyed, walking to a pair of servants who helped him remove his armor and vest. Erengaar walked to the vacant chair next to Vatra and settled himself, wiping his chest and face with a towel.

  "You're much too easy on him, sister. Look at him. If he doesn't start to work out more often, he will stay as scrawny and lean as he is now. He will be picked on by other boys and unable to defend himself and his name."

  Vatra glanced at her son to make sure he was far enough away so as not to hear their conversation. "He will never be picked on, Eren. He is a son of the House of Valayne. As long as you and your sons sit on the throne, he will be protected."

  "Are you certain of that?"

  Erengaar's eyes simmered with amusement, but his tone carried an edge that made Vatra suddenly wary. She wasn’t in the mood for a verbal sparring match. "Yes, brother, I am. Is there a reason I shouldn't be?"

  "No. Of course not. It's just that one never knows what fates the Gods choose for us."

  "Yes, it is strange, isn't it? I once believed that the Gods had blessed me with your presence in my bed almost every night. Now, I find myself back within your shadow, as if you remember nothing of our...special relationship."

  Erengaar flicked his gaze around the courtyard, his eyes cold and hard. The two of them were alone. Jharek had returned to the palace with his servants. The lord prince faced his sister. "Our 'relationship' was the actions of children, Vatra. We were young and foolish, and we had our fun. But now it is time for me to assume my seat upon the throne, and I will be married very soon. It's time you found yourself another diversion."

  "How is Larewyn? I overheard a pair of servants in the stairwell this morning, and they said that she's a virgin. Is it true?"

  "Of course it's true. We are saving ourselves for each other until our wedding night, just as the Gods wish it."

  Vatra giggled, and the look of fury on her brother's face at her reaction only made her laugh harder. "You...you can't be serious, dear brother. My gods, but you are truly the hypocrite. I suppose, however, that's what will make you an ideal lord emperor. You will be as good as father was during his reign."

  She never saw his fist, but the force of the blow caused a burst of fire in her left cheek, and she was thrown out of her chair. Erengaar leaped on top of her and grabbed a chunk of her hair, pulling so hard that she couldn't stop the tears. He leaned down so he could speak directly into her ear. "I would be very careful if I were you, sister. I may not be as merciful as our father, and his reign is at an end." He slammed her face into the copper brick that comprised the floor of the courtyard, scraping her other cheek, and then let her go. She waited until he was gone to haul herself to her feet, and she gently pressed a hand against her left cheek. Just a little more force behind his blow and her brother would have shattered the bone. Vatra reached for a towel to wipe her face and eyes, and she scolded herself for crying. She should have seen it coming, should have realized what her brother had turned into, but she was just as naïve now as she had been those many years ago when his violence against her had aroused her beyond any controllable measure.

  Oh yes, Eren, she thought with bitter amusement, you will be no different than our father. And Larewyn will learn quickly what it means to serve as lady empress.

  Vatra stood and covered her lower face with the towel, making her way to the far edge of the courtyard and leaving through a servant's entrance. She knew every back corridor and hallway of the palace, and she made it to her private quarters without being seen by anyone except a handful of the servants. She drew herself a bath and then examined her reflection. Thank the Gods for modern medical science. The lady princess opened a drawer in one of the cabinets next to the mirror and used a type two regenerator to heal the tissue and reduce the swelling. She then transferred the pale blue beam to her right cheek where it instantly made the scrape disappear. Vatra put the instrument away, examined her reflection once more, then stepped into the steaming water. She selected two tiny jars from her rack of spices attached to the wall above the tub and poured a few drops of each into her bath, swirling the water with her hands to dilute the mixture evenly. She then laid back and allowed the oils to soak into her skin, and she remembered her ruminations from the night before, as she had watched Jharek sleep. Yes, she reminded herself, my son will be lord emperor before he is twenty-five, and my brother's head will adorn a stake on the wall above the palace's front gate.

  It was enough to make her laugh. Again.

  Chapter 20

  ____________________

  ( 1 )

  Ship's Log, ECS Dauntless.

  38-22574.08 GSD.

  Captain Kathryne McKenna recording.

  It has been two days since our return to the alien planet, which my crew has labeled 'Gateway Prime'. Commanders Decev and Benson, with the aid of engineering and science teams, have succeeded in restoring full power to the underground cavern, which serves as the control center of the planet's defense network.

  Also, Lieutenant Endari and her team have repaired the Apollo, so I have ordered a more detailed scouting mission of the planet's surface, as well as dispatching a science team aboard the Rubicon to survey the remainder of this star system. Thus far, neither branch has yielded any significant fruit.

  McKenna stepped out of the cardon field and stopped short, stunned by the cavern now illuminated in full glory. The size and depth was even more awesome, more terrifying, and the captain found herself mesmerized by the sheer volume and thickness of the technology that lined the walls. Armor plating, conduit tubing and relay networks were all smoothly integrated, and at even intervals there were access stations with holographic interfaces just like the one at this catwalk intersection. Nor was this the only catwalk to connect four points of the cavern walls. According to Decev's last report, there were two dozen walkways just like this one, and McKenna craned her neck to judge the distance between this one and the next one up. Then she looked over the railing to see how far it was to the next one down, and she gasped at the canyon which was between her and the ground floor that was out of sight far below. Each t-shaped catwalk was adjusted so that it was not quite directly beneath or above the others, so there was a good chance that, should the captain somehow go tumbling over the railing, she would probably be caught by the next catwalk that was only a few dozen meters below. But she took little comfort from this and forced herself to step back. As she turned
from the railing she saw Decev walking to her from the opposite far end of the walkway.

  "Impressive, isn't it?" the science officer gushed. "We’ve barely begun to dig into the insides of this place, and what we've found so far is astounding."

  "How so?"

  Decev motioned to the nearest PTL, and the women began walking back to it. "For starters, the technology used to construct the computer network is unlike anything we've ever encountered before. I could explain it to you, but it's easier to show you." Once they were in the lift, Decev inputted a command into the holo-display and the car began to descend. "We're only going six levels down. The relay conduits there were undamaged, and we used them as a model to repair the others."

  "Have you found a cause for the damage yet?"

  Decev shook her head. "Other than neglect from lack of daily maintenance, the only other cause we suspect is seismic activity. In certain sections of the walls there's giant cracks that measure almost two hundred meters, some of them more. I've assigned those sections as priority, and we've got about half of them repaired. The rest should be finished by tomorrow night."

  The lift came to a smooth halt and Decev stepped out first. McKenna followed, her gaze immediately drawn to a large section of the wall on the far side of the cavern, straight across the intersection. As she got closer she could see where the exterior paneling of the conduit had been removed, and a trio of engineers stepped aside at Decev's behest. The captain sucked in a sharp breath at what appeared to be a large, pulsing organ – a piece of flesh that resembled a beating heart. Coming out of it was an intricate network of microfibers, wiring and other tubing. These were connected into various ports inside the conduit, and the network disappeared up into the relay system behind the wall. McKenna leaned forward, examining every detail of the "heart", and she could now see that the "flesh" wasn't exactly flesh after all, but some kind of synthetic material.