Raus sighed.
“The rest isn’t very pretty and doesn’t bear illustrating,” he said. “But they were dead after that. What followed was chaos. Those loyal to my father fought in his name. The Tower was painted with blood by morning, and in the end, those who’d sworn to fight for me turned on me. It seemed that no Kaplers were better than one. I told you that my father was the last king. How could I claim such a title after all that had happened? I didn’t care so much at that point about titles or my own life, really, but when they threatened to kill Ban, defenseless in this tank, to make sure we were all gone, I went a little crazy.
“From then on the Tower has been home to only the two of us. There have been temporary boarders over the years, but fate has always seen fit to remove them in one way or another. I have waited a very long time for you and your Empire, Jav.
“I’ve never told anyone this story, either. Maybe because I’ve never had someone I considered to be a peer, maybe because I’m ashamed. I don’t really know why I’m telling you, except to answer your question. It’s all for Ban.”
5. THE FRACTURED BUTTERFLY
10,689.146
Jav had gone out looking three times in the last three days. He’d checked and rechecked the area where he’d first seen her, expanding his search in either direction of the perimeter each time, but he’d found nothing, no hint of a familiar face or recognizable curl of hair. He went out again anyway and would continue to do so, at least until the Vine came and his regular duties resumed. Duties aside, the Vine would bring its poisons, which would first reduce then eliminate any chance of ever finding her.
He was beginning to think that it had all been his imagination, that there were no such things as soul echoes, and that he was a fool for taking the time to look, even with Raus’s solemn and genuine support. He shrugged mentally. He missed Mai so much, and it was her face that he saw in his mind when he tried to recall the Sarsan girl. He wondered, though, if he’d perhaps stepped onto the slippery slope of the insane. He might be just in time for early-onset paraphrenia. The symptoms were right, except for his doubt—
Wait. Paraphrenia? Symptoms? How did he know that word—that condition or any of its accompanying symptoms?
Jav stopped and stood among the people in their rags and their antique armor, some turning with a start when face to face with the Kaiser Bones, most closing their eyes, trying not to see him or pretending that he really wasn’t there; he stood among the campfires and the tents and the hovels, the rusted swords, spears, and other weapons arrayed in racks and ready for use. He looked down at his hands, his bone-joint fingers doubling in his vision. Suddenly they seemed far away, like they weren’t his fingers at all. Everything was distant now and edging farther away. Fever heat washed over him wetly within the Kaiser Bones, and his legs started to shake under his own weight. All around him boomed and thrummed with the deafening drumbeats of his heart as his head grew lighter and lighter. His vision thinned, leaving gaps, a precipice forest that threatened to swallow him in all directions.
Who am I? he thought thunderously, hoping to halt the sensation and meaning to voice the words, but finding himself unable to.
A towering shadow loomed over him, imposing and insistent. He looked up with reflexes as fast as molasses, with failing eyes that might not see. But they did see. They saw with a clarity that Jav himself could not manage. He saw her face, her soft brown hair framing her perfect white skin, cheeks always flushed, blue eyes always smiling when they beheld him.
“Jennifer,” Jav whispered. He was certain of the name, but none of the other necessary associations. In the vast, empty hall of his mind, something shattered like glass and all went white.
• • •
Jav awoke flat on his back, looking up at a dark sky—how much time had passed?—and the darker silhouettes of several Sarsans staring down at him. He sat up and noted a number of blunted or broken weapons littering the ground: they hadn’t ignored the opportunity to try to kill him while he was unconscious. It didn’t matter. While Dark, he was in no danger from them.
He put a hand to his pounding head and said to anyone who might respond, “The girl.”
One of the men turned, snapped his fingers twice, and called, “Bring Anis.”
A group of three men with a beautifully proportioned girl huddled in their midst came forward, pushing their way through the crowd that surrounded Jav. Jav saw how they clutched at her arms, at once coveting her as a potential weapon against him and fearing her as anathema.
Jav stood, brushed himself off, and pushed with the flat of his hand a man who didn’t move to give him room. It was a casual gesture, but the man, almost twice Jav’s size, went down instantly, sprawling clumsily.
Jav stared at the girl. Her face was still hidden by harsh shadows, until she looked full upon him, her features seeming to surface from a black pool. He tried to focus on her eyes, her cheeks, her mouth, her hair, but they were all shifting colors on a kaleidoscope palette. He saw many things. He saw the brown hair and blue eyes of the woman he’d known in another life as Jennifer, and with the uttering of her name in his mind came a stab of pain, like a thick needle under a driving weight. Her features changed, as he continued to stare, like sand being shaped and molded by the receding tide, her skin tone darkening, her eyes brown, her hair a light cascade of black waves. This impression was stronger and felt real, but as he spoke Mai’s name, not quite daring to hope, the pain came again, sharp and severe, blurring his vision before bringing it into raw, razor-etched focus which left no more room for doubt.
Jav let out a long, ragged, and purely symbolic breath to calm himself. Now he could see the girl—really see her—and though she was not unattractive, she looked neither like his memory of Jennifer nor again like Mai. But something in her face, something about her recalled them both.
“You’re called Anis,” Jav said to her.
She nodded demurely.
“Leave us,” he said to everyone else.
When no one moved, Jav turned to the man who had called for Anis. “What is your name?”
Before he could even consider his reply, Jav was on him, pulling his face down with one hand firmly wrapped around his throat. The man swallowed hard through Jav’s grip and said in a sputter, “Jamus.”
“Jamus, unless you’d like to see this wretched soil fertilized with the blood, meat, and bone of everyone I can get my hands on in the next two minutes, I suggest you take it upon yourself to make sure my words become reality. I can cover a lot of ground in two minutes when I put my mind to it. Do you understand?”
Jamus tried to nod as his face darkened to purple.
Jav released him and his head shot back as if on a spring as he wheezed sharply, sucking in precious air. Jamus clutched at his throat, swallowed hard two more times to ready his voice. “Back away,” he cried hoarsely. “If you value your lives or those of your neighbors, do as he says without hesitation. Back away.” He continued to shout until Jav and Anis were alone.
Jav returned to normal and drank in the sight of the girl before him. To call her a girl was strange considering her size in comparison to his. She stood over two meters but her face was that of a girl in her late teens or early twenties. The more he looked, the prettier he found her. Her face was powdered with dirt, but beneath the thin veneer of grime, her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were grey pearls, almost identical to his own, but hers shone with a strange light that Jav thought only he might be able to see. Her hair was like straw, both in color and in temperament; though short, she had it tied in back where it fanned impressively. Somehow he knew that if he put his fingers through it, despite its appearance to the contrary, her hair would be soft and luxuriant. He felt a little drunk. He now remembered once-forgotten moments of having known Mai, or really, of seeing Jennifer in her and he felt that now. The feeling was fading, but it lingered longer—and burned more intensely—than it ever had with Mai and this time he knew what he was experiencing. He still didn’t re
member Jennifer, or know why this was happening, but he knew what it was like to encounter a soul echo now, of that he was sure.
Finally he said, “Do you know me?”
Her lips parted slightly as she held his gaze, considering her answer, “You fell from the sky, as shot from the Lightning Gun.”
“Did you see my arrival?”
She nodded.
“Then you know that I wasn’t shot from the Lightning Gun, that I’m not from Sarsa.”
“One need only look at you to know that,” she said matter-of-factly.
Jav smiled. “Of course.
“I come from very far away and yet when I arrive here, I, the first of the Empire ever to set foot here, feel as though I know you, that I have known you, or echoes of you, in other places twice as far from here and further still.”
She lowered her eyes, unable to meet the intensity of his gaze, and unable to see any logic in his words.
Jav touched her chin gently with his fingers, raising her face to his again.
“Beautiful,” he said, bringing a fresh flush to her cheeks. In that instant, deep within her eyes, in the place where the cogs and gears of the universe moved, he thought he saw recognition. He thought that she knew him, too, even if it was on a level far separate and removed from her own comprehension.
“There’s something here, Anis, some reason to draw us together for—at the least—a third time, and I would know it.
“Come on,” he said.
She was speechless and grinning in spite of herself, having grown intoxicated with his energy and his interest in her. She followed after him breathlessly, her hand held gently but firmly in his own.
• • •
“You want to keep her here?” Raus said.
“I want to keep her safe,” Jav replied.
Raus shrugged. “There’s a suite of rooms that she can have the run of, but she will remain behind locked doors. She’s not to leave those rooms. I don’t want to see her.”
Jav nodded. “Not even to see if she’s Milla Marz?”
“Especially not to see if she’s Milla Marz. If it’s her, maybe this will break the chain. Though I doubt that fate would make her both of ours.”
“Thank you, Raus.”
Raus put a heavy hand on Jav’s shoulder as he started to go. “I hope it works for you this time.”
Jav was taken aback by the other’s sincerity, and could only reply, “Thanks,” again, hoping that the reciprocated sentiment was understood.
• • •
Over the next several days, between briefings with Raus and reports back to the approaching Root Palace, Jav visited with Anis. He first saw that she was washed—and had to exercise a fair amount of willpower to prevent himself from taking advantage of her. Despite her differences to Jennifer and to Mai, she was so maddeningly familiar. Unclothed she was magnificent. He could think of no other way to describe her. Her body was that of a giantess, statuesque and perfect. She never uttered a single protest to his ministering, verbal or otherwise, and the idea of taking her felt like slipping into the past, comfortable and long overdue, like resuming right where they’d left off. And maybe it was like that, but not for Anis.
She was willing enough, something she’d made plain her second day at the Tower, but it was clear that, for as much as she was attracted to Jav and was excited by his pursuit of her, she still spoke in terms of bargaining for her life. He wanted to see an end to that before they progressed any further.
There wasn’t much to learn about Anis Lausden. She was the only child of parents she never knew, raised by her uncle and his family in the camps on the fringe of the Black Fields. She was 20 if her uncle’s count was right.
She didn’t know anything beyond the camps or the indoctrinated hatred of the Kaplers, though this latter was strangely put aside and somehow not relevant now that she was within the Tower walls. That suited Jav just fine, though. Antagonism would serve no purpose and simply get in the way—of what exactly, Jav was not sure, but they talked easily enough. There was never anything of import to discuss. Their talk was casual, filled with little but pleasantries, but Jav felt a sort of progress nonetheless, an unconscious creeping movement, from that place where the cogs and gears of the universe turned. Something was coming. Something was filling Anis Lausden a little more each day, until eventually, Jav was somehow certain, she would be more fully aware of their connection than he was and answers would finally present themselves.
On the eve of the Vine’s arrival, he kissed her on the forehead, as he had taken to doing, and she told him he missed her lips, as she had taken to doing—but this was after she had taken his head in her hands to correct his faulty aim. He promised to see her soon, informing her that he would be away for a few days, helping to settle things with planetfall. She smiled as he left, knowing with a borrowed and still-faraway sense that she would never see him again.
10,689.154
The Viscain Tree shook the continent when it made planetfall. Thousands died from the resulting quakes and floods, but Kapler Tower yet stood tall, unmoved and untroubled by the shock. The poisons were already spreading out from the trunk, commingling with the heavy dust clouds that blotted out the dim rays of the sun.
This was the second landing Jav had witnessed firsthand. The first time he’d still been blood-drunk and unused to the power of the Ritual Mask. This time, with his faculties unimpeded, he was humbled by the power and scope of the Vine—the Emperor, in truth.
He’d watched it fall from the sky, judging its touchdown point at about fifty kilometers from Kapler Tower, and waited halfway between. With AI at his disposal, the shifting ground was nothing to Jav, and while Dark, there was little that the power of nature on this scale could do to harm him. Still, that Kapler Tower was unmoved by the resulting seismic activity was further testament to the family’s genius.
He approached the Root Palace, which was already growing, expanding, reaching down and out with myriad greedy tendrils to grip the whole of the planet, claiming it forever for the Empire. He stopped just below and before the main gate as walls of fresh, pulpy Vine fiber began their slow rise from the ground to later encircle what would become the new Palace courtyard. It would take several days for the walls to reach their full height, but it didn’t matter. The only possible threat was the Lightning Gun, and by now, Jav felt he knew Raus well enough to believe that he’d dealt in good faith and that he could be trusted. Jav looked up the length of the Vine, again marveling at its sheer scale, but something lower caught his eye.
From one of the wide tether launch bays two hundred meters up, he saw someone waving. Jav smiled when he realized who it was. He jumped, applying a bit of AI to ensure accuracy, and lighted upon the inner lip of the bay.
“It’s good to see you, Kalkin,” Jav said.
“And you, Jav,” Kalkin said, taking Jav’s offered hand. “Apologies for the rush, but Witchlan has set us a busy schedule.”
“Is something going on?” Jav asked.
Kalkin shrugged. “He wants you debriefed before we bring Kapler in. You’re to continue as our main point of contact which means there’s not much chance of you getting much rest over the next few days.”
“That’s okay. I’m all rested. Let’s get started.”
• • •
Tia Winn bowed low before the Emperor. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in his physical presence. It was almost always a projection or Witchlan who spoke to her, whether she was alone or with her fellows, and it had never been so soon after planetfall. The dark olive walls of corded resin rose up seemingly infinitely, while the Emperor himself towered above and before her, his carved features aglow from within with unnatural firelight. She could not tell where he ended and the cyclopean walls began.
She wore what she usually wore, which is to say not much. Her chalk white skin fairly shone in the gloom of the chamber, reflecting the Emperor’s inner light. Her breasts were nearly spilling from a blue and gray striped
halter, and her Artifact, the Keepsake Cameo, peeked out from the start of her cleavage.
She would be glad when she was finished here. She’d heard that the locals were as big or bigger than both she and Wheeler Barson were. There might be some fun to be had before they were all exterminated.
“I won’t keep you long, Tia Winn.”
She swallowed hard. The words came a little too close to what she was thinking and every good psychic knew that a loose mind was a good way to lose your mind or your life. She snapped to mental attention and said nothing.
“I have a great many things to do in a short period of time,” he continued.
“Yes, Lord Emperor.”
“What we are about to discuss is of paramount importance and is to be kept in strict confidence.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.”
“I know that you know something about the events on Planet 1397 that led to the awarding of the Ritual Mask, so you may understand why what I’m about ask of you is so important.”
Breaking protocol, Tia looked up in spite of herself, startled by the Emperor’s words. “Lord?” she said before correcting her breach of etiquette.
“You have nothing to fear, Tia Winn, so long as you guard your thoughts and do as you are told.”
“Yes, Lord Emperor.”
“Before Jav Holson was Jav Holson he had a woman; the very woman that led me to Planet 1397, in fact. Then on Planet 1287 he had another woman, in some ways very similar to the one before her. Do you know what happened when those women were killed?”
Almost afraid to speak, Tia shook her head with a nervous jerk to indicate that she didn’t.
A strange, wheezing chuckle escaped the Emperor. “The sky opened up and wept. The wormholes that so plagued us were both times the result of a woman’s death. In both cases, Jav Holson’s woman.
The Blood Solution (Approaching Infinity Book 3) Page 5
