"You're a thousand light-years away," Charla said. Her sudden speech made me jerk in her direction.
"Before this is over, you may wish you were a thousand light-years away, too. The ones behind your kidnappers are still out there, and they're gunning for all of us."
Chapter Sixteen
Founder's Palace, Campiaa
Zanfield Staggs
I'd never been invited to the Founder's Palace before. It wasn't quite to my taste, but it wasn't mine to decorate or furnish.
Nevertheless, it suited Teeg San Gerxon, who'd invited me to stay for two days, until it was time to check into the Eclipse.
The Eclipse also wasn't my first choice of places to stay, but it would do. I quite looked forward to walking in with my appointed entourage, merely to hear the shrieks and whispers that would surely come.
I'd worn a yellow silk jacket to this meeting with the Founder, with a purple shirt, which quite matched my hair.
"This way, Master Staggs," Dormas, Teeg's personal assistant, led me into Teeg's private study.
There was a smoothness to Dormas' voice and words, as if he'd had centuries to practice the art of putting people at ease. I liked the fact that I'd be one of only a handful of civilians who'd been invited to this hallowed office.
Teeg San Gerxon waited inside for my arrival. He looked better in person than he did in the vids, but then most people do. Dark hair, dark eyes, a suitably handsome face that many women fussed over—I wondered briefly if he'd had any surgical work done.
I'd never ask that question, however—I didn't want to tempt him to opt out of this agreement. It was a delightful opportunity to play at a mystery, without having someone supervise me at every turn.
"Good afternoon, Zanfield," Teeg greeted me as I swept through the door. "Please, make yourself comfortable."
"Thank you," I said, waving a hand. "I'd be telling my closest friends what an honor this is—if I had any."
"That's—surely that's not true," Teeg sounded surprised.
"Hmmph. You have no idea," I waved the other hand after choosing a chair and sitting on it. "I have acquaintances at best—most of whom only see the money and nothing else about me."
"I've had experience with that—on a certain, political level," he agreed. "But that's not important," he said, sliding away from the topic, as any good politician would.
"I've gambled beside many politicians and a few criminals," I shrugged. "They're pretty much the same."
"Surely you jest," he said, although I saw a hint of agreement in his dark eyes. I'd read his biography—he was a carpenter and then a contractor, before he took over the San Gerxon empire and wrested it into an Alliance that closely mirrored the Reth Alliance.
Anyone who could tame the lawless bunch that ended up as members of the Campiaan Alliance certainly had my support and respect, although I didn't say that. I let most people come to their own conclusions about me. It made life more interesting to do so.
Plus, I could afford any eccentricity I wanted; therefore, I had many.
"What I wanted to discuss with you is your entourage, and their positions as ASD agents," Teeg said. "You realize that they have to follow the laws and protocol set out for them at all times."
"Say no more," I held up a hand. "I've studied the ASD and CSD laws extensively. I believe I know all of them by now."
"Then I can trust you won't ask any of them to do something they shouldn't?"
"Oh, I never said that, Founder San Gerxon," I waved a hand expressively. "I never said that at all."
BlackWing X
Randl
Why didn't you tell us he wasn't susceptible to compulsion? Kooper demanded. The subject was Zanfield Staggs and a meeting he'd had with Teeg San Gerxon.
He's susceptible to obsession, I pointed out. Terrett's orders are holding. You didn't tell me you intended to place compulsion, too.
You know what this means, don't you?
That he'd make a King Vampire if he's turned? What's the likelihood of that?
We aren't communicating, Kooper accused.
Yes we are, you're just not listening. How do you know there aren't dozens like Zanfield out there? Each one could become a King Vampire in the unlikely event that a vampire just happens to have permission to turn them when they're near death, or even on a whim. It's not something you can control, Director.
Fuck. I hate it when you're right. I'll have Terrett tell him what he can and can't do during Conclave.
Thank you, I said. I didn't bother hiding my sarcasm. I also didn't need to point out that Teeg and Wyatt were both King Vampires because Lissa, their mother and grandmother respectively, was a Queen Vampire. I kept that to myself, because it would only aggravate Kooper more.
How are our guests doing?
Fine—keeping to themselves, mostly, although I think Jewl's Blevakians would like to have a few beers with Vik, David and me.
Right. I don't know that you can get a Blevakian drunk.
You don't know that we can't, either.
Good luck with that. I'll see you in a day and a half.
Right.
Travis
I learned two things. First, Jewl wanted dinner alone in her suite. She also wanted the two Blevakians put in the cabin across the hall from hers.
We made those changes for her quickly.
I wasn't surprised to hear that David invited the Blevakians to the galley for a drink after Jewl retired for the evening. If anybody could convince someone to have a drink, the dwarf could.
Did they accept David's invitation? I sent to Randl.
Yes.
You know not to let things get out of hand, I cautioned.
I know.
Good.
That didn't mean I wouldn't worry anyway, because I would. Trent had sent updated images to Mom and our dads. So far, we hadn't gotten a reply from any of them. I had no idea whether that was a good or bad thing.
I hoped they wouldn't be looking at us strangely when we saw them at Conclave. Sabrina often frowned and shook her head whenever she saw us.
Nothing else had changed—just a streak of our hair. You'd have thought we'd grown a second head or cloven hooves.
I sat in the Captain's chair on the bridge, considering those things when Trent walked through the door with a comp-vid in his hand.
"Message from Mom," he handed the comp-vid to me.
"Why didn't she send mindspeech?" I looked up at Trent.
"Read the message," he said.
I read the message. I've contacted Bree, Mom had written. This is an anomaly and shouldn't have happened. I'm hoping Bree will know the reason why.
Bree—Breanne. The Mighty Heart. She was also Mom's half-sister, but only a select few knew that.
Mom, we don't feel any different. It's just a streak of hair, I sent.
Honey, you're the child of a goddess and a Saa Thalarr. You shouldn't be affected by a suspension of time.
But we weren't suspended, I pointed out. Neither were the mutant Ra'Ak.
That may be the problem, but I don't know how that occurred. Suspending time generally allows for the person who's suspending time and perhaps one or two others. Even if the others are Ra'Ak, that shouldn't have been possible.
Randl doesn't call it suspending time, and I'll be honest, it wasn't the present time, anyway. I think it was time in the past, and he calls it split-time.
That's—unusual, she hesitated. I'll tell Bree that, too.
Did Trent tell you that we couldn't fold away during that time? If you can call it time, anyway.
He neglected to mention it, her sending was dry.
We were stuck there until Randl could get us out again.
Again, this shouldn't be happening to a child of the powerful, she said. Remind me to have a talk with Randl when we see one another again.
I will. You won't yell at him, will you?
No. At least I don't think so. He had my sons' lives in his hands, though, and that's something to c
onsider.
Mom, it's not tragic. We made it out again, and I think we need to thank Zaria for part of that, at least.
Then I'll be asking Zaria questions the next time I see her, too.
It didn't make any difference how old Trent and I became; we'd always be Mom's babies in her eyes. Even though we now had a tiny brother and sister—you didn't mess with Mom's kids, no matter what.
She'd lost one of us to suicide, and it still haunted her. Trent and I—we hadn't known Torevik—Tory—very well. By the time we were born, he lived away from Le-Ath Veronis and kept to himself much of the time.
Teeg and Ry knew him much better, and they wouldn't talk about that loss to anyone.
He'd been Reah's first High Demon mate, and father to all her daughters, including Lexsi.
And then he'd died in terrible distress and under horrible conditions.
I shivered, alerting Trent to my dark thoughts.
"Don't think about it, bro," his hand dropped onto my shoulder. "We'll sort this out eventually."
Randl
"Mak," I handed a large bottle of Refizani Blue to the eldest Blevakian brother. "Jak," I gave him the extra bottle I held—it was standard Blevakian manners to serve the eldest male first. "Cheers," I lifted my smaller bottle and tapped it against theirs.
"Cheers," Jak grinned and lifted the bottle to drink.
"Damn, I'm impressed," David swore after watching Jak empty more than half the bottle.
Mak laughed, pounded his brother on the back with one hand, patted his head with another and lifted his bottle to his mouth with a third while resting the fourth hand on a knee.
"Totally efficient," Vik declared and lifted his bottle to salute the Blevakians before drinking.
"We tell everybody that, they just don't listen," Mak agreed.
"I'd listen," David declared. "Anybody who looks like a fucking mountain needs to be listened to."
"My thoughts exactly," I clinked my bottle with David's.
Mak and Jak looked at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. I felt the tension drain out of Vik and he laughed, too.
Ice broken, David grinned at me and drank from his bottle.
Queen's Palace, Le-Ath Veronis
Lissa
"They think it's a battle scar, or something like it," I fumed. "Drake and Drew think so, too. I just can't wrap my head around what this could mean," I handed the comp-vid to Winkler, who lifted an eyebrow but wisely didn't say anything.
I could almost hear the Dallas drawl in the words he wasn't saying, however. That the boys were alive, they now had a white streak in their hair and nothing else had apparently changed.
"I think what bothers you the most may be that you can't explain where they were and how they were there," Winkler blew out a sigh.
He was right, but I was too far into my snit and wasn't prepared to let it go just yet.
What good did it do to be a member of the Mighty, albeit a junior member, when even I couldn't explain the shit going on around Randl?
"People may have said the same thing about you in the past." Breanne appeared in my study as if she belonged there.
"But," I pointed out.
"Your actions affected those around you—be honest," she added. Bree's dark hair was pulled back and fixed in an elaborate bun, but she was dressed in jeans and a cable-knit sweater. The boots on her feet told me she'd been someplace cold before dropping by for a visit.
"You called me, remember?" she said after I stood there, mutely gaping in her direction.
"What does the white streak mean?" I demanded, taking the comp-vid from Winkler and extending it toward her. She didn't take it; she already knew what it depicted.
"It means that someone thinks highly of your boys," Bree shrugged.
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"It means you're fortunate they have a white streak."
I opened my mouth to make a retort before examining her words more closely. "As opposed to—what?" I spoke slowly, reeling my anger back.
"Something far worse," Bree said and disappeared again.
Mountain Retreat
Brandl Gage
I was hoping to find a comp-vid in Randl's room that held fiction books. I was bored where I was; people were going in and out constantly, with little time to spare for me to have a conversation with any of them.
There were books in the library, that was true, but those were books made of paper and leather, and frankly, I was afraid to touch for fear I could damage them. A comp-vid novel would work fine for me.
That's when I found the coin in Randl's bedside drawer—the coin like the one I had from Vogeffa II, but this one was much brighter and less worn than the one I carried.
How he'd convinced Director Griff to allow him to keep the thing, as it was evidence, puzzled me. Lifting it to set it aside, it caused my hand to tingle. I meant to drop it immediately, but then the vision came.
I couldn't explain how I'd known it was Randl's vision engulfing me; I only knew that's what it was. My heart stopped when I saw the woman weeping. Then, a coin was flung on the bed beside her after she'd been abused by some filth.
Consciousness left me past that point, and I couldn't recall how long it lasted.
BlackWing X
Randl
The Blevakians weren't picky about their breakfast; Jewl was. I sent three different trays to her suite at the same time, so she could choose for herself.
At least there were no major complaints afterward.
While we'd drank together the night before, David ended up teaching Mak and Jak to high five and fist bump.
They were quite happy with their new knowledge, and I saw Jak fist-bumping David when they passed one another in the ship's passage between suites.
Randl? I received mindspeech from Trent, our Captain for the day.
What is it? I sent. I was on my way to the workout room to lift weights.
We have a message from your father. He says it's important that he talk to you right away when you get back.
Anything wrong? I asked.
He made it sound urgent.
Can you do without me for an hour or so?
Yes, but you can't—you don't have your energy back yet, do you?
I think I have enough for that, I replied. I'll keep you posted.
All right.
I folded space, my intention to work out forgotten.
Mountain Retreat, Campiaa
Randl
"Pap?" I cautiously opened the door to his suite. He sat on the side of his bed, his worn coin from my mother held gently in his fingers.
"I touched the coin you have in your drawer, while I was looking for a comp-vid I could read on," Pap said softly.
I made my way into the room and took the chair beside the bed so we could face one another. He studied the coin and didn't look up at me.
"What about it?" I asked. "I have to give it back to Kooper eventually, but I'm not done with it yet."
"I saw what you saw," Pap said, confusing me for a moment.
"Saw what?"
"Saw the woman, and the man or whoever he was, throwing the coin onto the bed."
"It's upsetting," I agreed.
Pap reached up to wipe tears away. "That was your mam," he said. "I'd recognize her anywhere, in any way."
I went cold at his admission. How could that be? Did someone rape her and then finish the insult by tossing a coin at her naked back while she wept?
"Are you sure?" I reached out to place my hand on Pap's shoulder.
He couldn't speak, he merely nodded.
"I don't know how, son," Pap's voice was broken and anguished when he regained control of his emotions, "but you find this bastard, and you teach him a lesson he'll never forget."
"Do you know who he is? All I see is a hand, and it isn't that of the Prophet," I said. "I'd recognize him anywhere."
"I'll lay odds that the Prophet knows where the coin came from."
Pap could b
e right—the Prophet could have a connection to either the man or to my mother, and that frightened me. However he came by it, the coin was the same and had, at one time, been in the possession of my mother.
"Don't worry, Pap," I said. "The Prophet is certainly in my crosshairs, as David would say. We'll find him, don't you fret."
"Find him. Make him pay." Pap's fingers closed tightly around his coin.
"I need to get back, Pap," I said, rising from the chair with a sigh. "Are you going to be all right until the ship docks?"
"I know you have important things to do, Son. I'll be fine, I just have to—come to terms with this."
"Then let me hug you before I go," I coaxed.
He rose to his feet and allowed me to embrace him for several seconds. "You know," he said, his eyes still misty as he pulled away, "Your mother, just before you were born, said something to me."
"What's that?" I asked.
"She said, he's the light against my darkness. She was rubbing her belly at the time, where you rested. You came three days later, and she died less than an eight-day after that."
"Why did I not hear this before?" I asked. I'd never seen it in him, either, so this was new to me.
"Because you were born blind, Son, and I thought talking about the light would only be cruel to you."
"Pap," I rested a hand on his shoulder. "I understand your reasoning. Thank you for telling me now."
"I'm sorry I waited," he said. "Go. Get back to your work. Things will turn out as they will."
"Yeah," I agreed. Things would turn out, and that worried me a great deal.
BlackWing X
Travis
Seven hours remained before we reached Campiaa, at our best speed. Randl appeared on the bridge after a brief visit with his father, gave me a nod and walked out the door.
I didn't miss his troubled expression, though. Whatever his father told him had made him worry.
As if we didn't have enough of that to go around already.
At least Jewl hadn't made any demands during Randl's absence—she trusted him more than she did the rest of us. Wyatt had stayed out of Jewl's way—I believe Randl convinced him to do so. Jewl was sharp—there was no doubt of that, and if she ever had revenge against Teeg San Gerxon on her mind, then Wyatt could become a target.
MindMage: BlackWing Pirates, Book 2 Page 22
