Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1)

by Carolyn Gross

  That day Will watched as she fought Jim with a relentlessness he hadn’t seen even from the toughest people training on Shey. For every hit she landed on Jim, though, he still managed to hit her twice. It was a vast improvement from her first session, but Jim was being tougher on her. Will could feel it every time her left side inadvertently got clipped. He could feel it with every new bruise. Watching was a practice in self-control.

  Jim looked particularly apologetic to Will after Preda had lost focus and he had flipped her onto her back. She got the wind knocked out of her, and Will could feel his chest tighten along with hers. He tried to keep his expression indifferent.

  “Preda, let’s call it for today, huh?” Jim said, and he glanced at Will.

  Preda shook her head and lined back up in the fighter’s stance that now came so naturally to her. Will couldn’t believe how quickly she was progressing. Today, though, she seemed to take every defeat personally. When Preda was about to advance on Jim again, Will saw Laney enter the room quietly behind her. Jim apparently also saw Laney and faltered at the last second. The opening was there, and Preda took advantage of the last-minute distraction. Jim had been teaching Preda to use her small size as an advantage. She hit him low with her tiny frame and used her momentum to flip him onto his back behind her. Jim rolled over and stood quickly. He was blushing furiously, but Preda was grinning from ear to ear. “Now we can stop for today,” she said.

  Will laughed and then immediately regretted it after seeing the look on his friend’s face. Laney walked over and grabbed Jim’s hand. “Are you hurt? It looked as if you hit the ground hard.”

  Preda and Will glanced at each other, and Laney quickly dropped Jim’s hand, looking suddenly self-conscious. Will noticed Laney was wearing several green jewel bracelets around her wrist.

  “You want to watch all our practice sessions, Laney?” Preda asked innocently.

  Jim looked as if he wanted to crawl under the chair Fiver was sitting in. Will took pity on him and said, “You ready to go for a run, Preda?”

  Preda grinned at him, and Will was relieved to see that some of the strain behind her eyes had disappeared. Jim and Laney left to go meet Artem for another battery of blood tests to determine if the water filters he was developing were effective.

  The run that afternoon felt cathartic for both of them, and Preda seemed to already have more stamina for it. Will had been pacing her, but she wanted to go faster and farther each time. When they had finished and made it back to their rooms, Preda’s door was slightly ajar. Will felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. He quickly put his arm in front of Preda to prevent her from going inside.

  “Wait here,” he said, and he quietly slipped into her room.

  It was Percin Vank waiting in a chair in her sitting room. Will breathed a sigh of relief, and Preda came in on his heels. Will gave her a stern look. “You have to start listening to me when I say you should wait.”

  Preda shrugged and said, “What if someone was anticipating your response and planned to kill me in the hallway?”

  Frustrating girl, Will thought.

  Percin stood when Preda entered, and humbly bowed.

  Preda laughed a little. “No need for that. I’m covered in sweat. How can I help you, sir?”

  Percin smiled slightly. It never ceased to amaze Will how much authority Preda effortlessly commanded, and yet she always seemed to defer to others in social situations.

  “I am here because I need to speak with you.” Percin glanced at Will. “Privately. No offense to Will here, but he is Tamron’s boy.”

  “In point of fact, sir,” Preda said quietly, “he is mine first and foremost now.”

  The truth of her words struck Will. He nodded without hesitation.

  “Yes. I suppose you are bonded,” Percin mumbled to himself. “Very well then.” He seemed to come to a decision. “Please sit down.”

  Will thought it presumptuous of the older Vank to offer Preda a seat in her own rooms, but Preda gracefully accepted and took a seat across from his. Will remained standing behind her.

  Percin glanced at him once and then addressed only Preda afterward. “You have every right to ignore me. My son…” His voice broke slightly. “He lost his way. I should have seen it. I should have known. He had always been more his mother’s child than mine. The two were inseparable when he was a boy. I was so busy on the council, I hardly had time for him anyway.” Percin scratched his head subconsciously while he spoke. “I should have seen that his fast rise to join the council was not to be close to me. It was always to eventually get close to you, Preda Vozia.”

  Preda nodded seriously. This information did not seem to come as a shock to her.

  “Forgive me for speaking of personal matters. My wife and I,” Percin continued reluctantly, “haven’t spoken much over the past few years. Ours was always a marriage of convenience and politics. It did not strike me as odd at first that she had stopped speaking to me entirely over the past few weeks. Even when we found each other alive on the Feria, she did not say a word to me.”

  Will felt a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach at Percin’s words. His fingers were subconsciously flexing as if they wanted to take action of their own accord. Preda sat straighter in her chair, but she nodded calmly for him to continue.

  “After seeing my son’s body last night, I finally asked her.” Percin swallowed as though the next words made him physically uncomfortable. “I asked her to open her mouth for me. I asked her to talk to me. When she wouldn’t do either, I knew.”

  When Percin looked up at Preda, tears were in his eyes. He was pleading with her to be merciful. He was asking for forgiveness.

  “I know coming to me must have been hard.” Preda used comforting tones, and Percin visibly relaxed. “I will not forget your loyalty, Percin. This will be handled with discretion.”

  Percin stood slowly. Will thought his face belonged to a defeated man.

  “My entire family…” It was all he said before turning and leaving.

  When he shut the door, Preda had still not moved. She seemed deep in thought.

  “We need to handle this tonight,” Will said.

  “What is linki?” Preda asked.

  Will was taken aback. Where did that question come from? “It’s an endangered species on Vaka. A water mammal. No one has seen a live linki since before I was born. I am told they were systematically hunted down for food. They were supposedly addictive to eat,” he said.

  When Preda looked up at him, she had tears in her eyes. “Frak’s last meal was linki,” she said. “I didn’t know what it was. The Ceren who work for him prepared it. They must have known it was linki. Do they also work for his mother?”

  Will gasped involuntarily. “You ate linki?” he asked.

  Preda nodded. She looked crushed.

  “Oh, Preda. I’m so sorry he made you do that.”

  It was a clear violation in her eyes. She shook her head as if to clear it. “We have to ask the people who prepared it where it came from. They are part of this,” she said.

  Will could feel the determination and anger coming off her in waves. There would be no memorial for Macera Vank as there would be for her son.

  51

  They stood outside a prison holding cell looking at the five Ceren cooks and waitstaff who served Percin Vank’s family: three women and two men. Preda had never seen a prison such as this one. It was white and sterile with a light that was far too bright. There were no places to sit or relax. Only a hole was in the center of the room that Preda imagined was for waste.

  The exit was a charged electrical field that turned on only when the prisoners in question approached it. It gave the illusion of freedom but the knowledge there was none. Tamron had insisted they place them in this room and leave them there for at least five hours with no word about why they were being held. Pr
eda was angry enough to allow this mental game. If it meant there was a greater chance they would get answers, then so be it.

  The people standing before her now looked terrified. Their eyes looked everywhere but at her—except for one. Preda had been told the woman was Macera’s personal attendant. This woman, identified as Hizmet, seemed to have eyes only for Preda. Will, Al, and Foxy were standing in front of Preda.

  Al insisted on speaking first. Apparently he and Foxy had a plan worked out between them. They had asked her in not so many words not to be there, but Preda felt this had been personal. She needed to look these people in the eyes and ask how they could have made her unknowingly participate in the extinction of an entire species.

  “We just need to know how long you knew about Frak’s associations and where he was able to acquire linki,” Al said calmly for the third time. “If we get the information we seek, we will consider your exoneration of any wrongdoing.”

  They all remained silent and shook their heads frantically. Hizmet continued to stare at Preda and only Preda. Al might as well have not been in the room as far as that woman was concerned. Foxy’s jaw was clenched tight, and Preda could see the knuckles on his fists turning white.

  Suddenly he surged forward and grabbed one of the younger men by the front collar of his shirt. The man was lifted clean off the ground, and Foxy held him up against the wall with his arm fully extended above him.

  Preda could see the man was turning blue and struggling for air. His legs frantically pedaled the air underneath him. Just before she was sure he was going to pass out, Foxy dropped him to the ground. He landed in a gasping heap. Foxy leaned down and whispered something quietly in the man’s ear. Preda could see his eyes widen, and he put his hands up in surrender.

  Foxy stood and crossed his arms over his chest in a relaxed stance as if nothing had even happened. Preda realized then how much of Will’s ruthlessness must have come from his father. The man coughed and finally caught his breath. He flinched when Al walked forward to help him stand.

  “Do you have something to say?” Al asked gently.

  The man looked as if he was going to weep. Instead a timid voice spoke up from the other end of the line. “I’m so sorry,” the woman said. “The linki was alive and being kept in a tank of Vakan water on the Feria. He was killed specifically for that dinner. By the time we saw the linki, the deed had already been done.”

  The woman’s name was Ukra, and she stared at her feet while she spoke. The linki’s death seemed genuinely upsetting to her. Preda believed what she said. Hizmet hissed to silence her, and Preda heard a familiar rattle from the woman’s throat. Hizmet had no tongue.

  Preda came forward and put her face directly in front of the woman’s so they were practically nose to nose. Hizmet was much taller than Preda, but the hatred seething from Hizmet’s eyes did not intimidate her. Preda felt Will tense behind her. This woman wouldn’t have broken her silence even if she’d been able to.

  In a perfect imitation of Frak’s last words to her, Preda said, “You should know it wouldn’t have mattered what happened here. You have been traveling toward your death ever since you set foot on the Feria.”

  Just as she had suspected would happen, recognition dawned in Hizmet’s eyes. She knew the precise significance of those words. Preda nodded and continued to hold eye contact with her until Hizmet turned away first. As soon as the woman turned her head, Preda turned her back on her.

  Without warning Hizmet lunged for Preda as she was walking away. She almost had her hands around Preda’s neck, but Will was there in an instant. He slammed Hizmet back against the wall. Hard. He held her pinned and looked back at Preda. He was awaiting further instruction. Preda looked at him and said, “Please show her mercy.”

  Will nodded seriously. As though it was no more of a task than taking out the trash, he sliced cleanly through Hizmet’s throat with a knife that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

  The other prisoners in the room backed away and stood flattened against the wall. They were terrified. As well they should be, Preda thought. Will was standing back in his customary position next to her. He was cleaning his knife on his shirt.

  Al addressed the four remaining prisoners together. “We would like all pertinent information regarding Soundless infiltration aboard this ship,” he said.

  Although there had been no menace in his words, the prisoners flinched as if the implied threat had been physical. Hizmet’s blood ran in a stream down into the drain by Preda’s feet.

  Ukra cleared her throat again. All eyes turned to her, and she spoke quickly. “Lady Macera Vank and Hizmet have been speaking without words since before we left Earth. I saw them cloistered in a room with her son. Frak was speaking. The other two were not. They were having a conversation all the same, though.” After seeing the implied question in Preda’s eyes, she added, “I do not know if she still has a tongue in her mouth.”

  Preda scrutinized her face closely. She seemed to draw within herself. The girl’s features were plain but for the prominent, angular nose that looked as if it didn’t belong on her face.

  “Thank you. Is there anything else you can think of?” Preda asked in a soothing tone.

  Ukra seemed to relax slightly. “Yes,” she continued shyly. “This was not the first time I have seen Frak and his mother eat linki. They have done so in my presence on Vaka. Lady Macera keeps many of them alive…to breed. I should have said something sooner, but I was afraid. I didn’t know whom to tell.”

  Foxy looked angry and surged forward to interrogate her further, but Preda put a hand on his arm to still him. “Ukra,” she said as she stepped between her and the menacing Kait, “do you have anywhere else to stay?”

  The woman shook her head. Preda sensed she was terrified. “Ukra, could you be loyal to me?”

  A demand for honesty laced Preda’s voice. Her feet tingled slightly at the use of power.

  Ukra did not hesitate. “I would love nothing more than to serve the family,” she said.

  Preda took the girl’s hand, and they left the prison cell behind. Will followed on her heels. Foxy and Al stayed behind to garner what information they could from the remaining three prisoners. Preda was glad she had found Ukra. The girl’s nature was too meek to be caught up in these affairs.

  That night Ukra slept in a room down the hall from Preda’s. The girl said she had never had her own room to sleep in. Preda believed her. She told her to stay out of sight for the next several days. Will ordered a guard to stand outside Ukra’s room.

  52

  Laney watched Preda enter the room. Her ever-present guardian was at her side. It seemed to her both Will and Preda had hardened over the past week. Preda had been constantly evolving ever since Laney had first seen her. Even her face had morphed into something more elegant.

  Laney’s parents had told her stories of this as a child. When the Vozia used their voices more, it changed them. Preda had already exercised her voice more than any ruling Vozia in Vakan history. Laney briefly wondered if she knew that. Will had changed as well. His movements now carried more implied menace than before, if that was even possible. The guardian was dangerous.

  Laney and Jim were sitting at the council meeting table with Tamron and Al. They were waiting for the arrival of the Vozia. Laney knew little about why she had been called here without the rest of the council except that it involved the recent disappearance of several Ceren servants living with Percin Vank’s family a couple of days before. Jim had told her Percin was being oddly silent about it.

  Shortly after Preda and Will sat down, a woman who appeared only a few years older than Laney entered. A guard Laney did not know shut the door behind her. This left the woman standing awkward and alone at the entrance. She was wringing her hands anxiously, and Preda smiled and invited her to take a seat. She sat stiffly next to Preda.

  Preda looked at Laney and Jim. “T
his is Ukra. She is one of the missing Ceren who worked for the Vank family.”

  Laney had a hard time keeping the surprise off her face. “They aren’t really missing then, are they?”

  Tamron shook his head and answered for Preda. “The remainder are under our observation. Aside from one.”

  Laney didn’t think she should ask about that one. Preda cleared her throat, and the look on her face confirmed Laney’s suspicions about the fate of the one.

  “We’re here today to discuss a persistent threat,” Preda said.

  Both Jim and Laney sat up straighter, and Jim asked, “More were involved in the attack?”

  “Yes,” Tamron answered. “It seems Macera Vank might have become Soundless. We have no confirmation yet.”

  Laney shuddered involuntarily. Macera Vank was a formidable political figure among the families. She garnered support from financial backers Percin would otherwise have had nothing to do with. The thought of her becoming Soundless terrified Laney to her core.

  Preda nodded after seeing her and Jim’s reactions. “I am told Macera is deeply entrenched in Vakan politics,” she said.

  Jim exhaled loudly as if he had been holding his breath. “You said it, sister. She pulls a lot of strings.”

  He stood and started pacing the room.

  “Which is why it is important that she not know about any of our suspicions until we are ready,” Preda said.

  “You’re not going to do anything about her?” Laney asked.

  “Unless we catch her holding open her mouth without a tongue in it, there’s not much we can do while we’re on this ship,” Al said.

  “It would appear she has been involved in multiple criminal activities that we might be able to prove once we land on Vaka. Not the least of which includes the prohibited captivity of an endangered species. Linki,” Preda said seriously.

  “Linki are extinct,” Jim corrected her quickly.

  “We have reason to believe they are not, and that Macera is breeding them for personal consumption,” Will said.