"Did anybody take the time to find out?" Wyatt countered.
"No time, man," Travis said. "Maybe we can do a more thorough search if we find somebody on Bornelus."
"Did you see anything out of the ordinary?" Travis turned to Sabrina. "Bones, maybe?"
"I didn't see any bones," she shook her head. "I did run out of that building as fast as I could, though, so I wasn't really looking for anything other than somebody who wanted to kill me or keep me from getting away."
"Bones can be hidden in walls and still be effective," Terrett pushed potatoes around his plate. I knew this information upset him—that his bones could be taken and used to hide anyone from the powerful. His life meant nothing to those who were so minded to use him for that purpose.
"That information stays on this ship," Travis warned.
"Of course," Wyatt agreed.
"I saw very little in those who attacked us," I confessed. "In the dead, I found nothing. The living were following instructions, as you might imagine, but there was an encroaching obsession similar to that of Pyrik's President."
"With no way to tell what that could be," Trent frowned.
"It's confusing," I admitted. "I wish I knew more or could have seen more."
"Stop worrying about it—you did what you could in a limited amount of time," Trent said. "You'll end up second-guessing yourself to death."
"What he said," Wyatt lifted an eyebrow and nodded toward Trent.
I didn't tell them that I'd had disturbing dreams about Pyrik the night before—I'd dreamed that the dead we'd found on Cord'ilus were walking the streets of Pyrik instead, specifically, the streets of Mer'bali.
It was shiver-inducing, and in my dream, I'd shouted and screamed for the dead-walkers to stop or they'd infect the living.
It had been a frustrating experience, and one in which I'd felt particularly helpless, thinking all the while that I should be able to do something more to stop them.
An overwhelming urge had come over me to burn them, but the practical side of my brain informed me of the impossibility of that act.
Yes, I had lucid dreams at times—since I was quite young. Always, my rational self pulled my dreaming self away from such foolish notions and efforts.
I'd already known that those affected by the anomaly could be destroyed by burning, and that had carried over into my dream.
Burning was also the reason we had two High Demons with us. Both could make fire in their demon form, but Lexsi far outshone her husband Kory in that respect. Lexsi was Wyatt's sister, and the youngest of his siblings. I knew they were having silent conversations now and then, because I caught them smiling, then attempting to hide their smiles.
"We'll reach orbit range of Bornelus tomorrow afternoon, so be ready to go if we get an all-clear from our sensors," Travis said. "We'll go down heavily armed, just in case."
I wasn't looking forward to a repeat of what happened on Cord'ilus—I'd been on the verge of panic when the dead popped out of tall grass to attack us.
The whole, grisly experience was difficult to eradicate from my waking thoughts, too, as I could easily recall my visions of bodies nearly blasted to pieces still coming toward us, following the instructions of who knew what—or who.
I was beginning to consciously call whomever it was the necro-sorcerer, as I had no other functional explanation for his or her talents.
"Who could spawn such?" I blurted aloud, stopping all other conversation at the table.
"Spawn what?" Travis asked.
"A necro-sorcerer."
"Now there's a new term," Trent sighed. "But it fits."
"It troubles me," I admitted. "It doesn't fit within the universes. To me, it feels as if it doesn't belong, somehow. A mistake, perhaps, or the worst sort of aberration."
"You think Mother Nature was misbehaving, in this case?" Kory asked.
"I can't give credit for this to Mother Nature, and, if she exists, I'm sure she wouldn't accept credit," I shook my head at the High Demon Prince. "If this wasn't a design from what we consider normal, thinking creatures, then it is perhaps the strangest of accidents. However it happened, it has the stink of interference all over it."
"I get that idea, too. Mom and Gran worry that V'ili may have had a hand in all this, but even he couldn't command the dead. He had obsession, yes, but not this. Nothing even close to this," Lexsi shivered. Kory placed an arm about her shoulders to ward off the sudden chill enveloping his mate.
"I'm sure he never placed any obsession that could grow until it consumed the victim, either," Terrett grumbled. "No Sirenali could do that. V'ili never demonstrated those talents during his long life, and he would have if he could do so."
Yes, I knew the one called V'ili was Terrett's father. Terrett wanted nothing to do with his murderous, criminally-inclined paternal figure, whom he'd never actually met. I wasn't about to upset Terrett with the information I knew. He didn't deserve it and Quin loved him, so I understood there was nothing but good in Terrett's intentions.
In fact, he'd have gladly killed V'ili if he could. I was grateful Zaria had done it, however, as that removed an additional burden from Terrett's and others' shoulders.
"At least we know V'ili's dead," Wyatt said, echoing my thoughts.
"I'll drink to that," David raised his glass.
I was invited to the bridge after breakfast and training with Bekzi the following morning. Bornelus had come into view and became larger as we neared orbiting distance.
"Three very active volcanoes," I reported what I knew at Travis' request. "My guess is that nobody will want to be within range of those—the living won't like breathing ash, I think."
"That's what we think, too, which eliminates six large cities," Travis concurred.
"Kooper had someone go through all the flight plans from Veechee for the past several years, and nothing was recorded," Trent added. "This shores up Wyatt's theory that small-time pirates are involved, because they'd have no need of arranging flight plans. Do you suppose their base could be on one of these abandoned worlds?"
"That's possible," Travis agreed. "I'd hole up somewhere like that—a place where nobody wanted to go or thought to look."
"Is it possible to get all the locations where the logging industry has gone—all the deserted worlds they've visited in their search for suitable trees to make wood products?" I asked.
"I don't see why not," Travis said. "How far back do you want to go?"
"Several years," I said.
"I'll ask Kooper to find out when they started looking into this sort of thing, and work their way forward," Trent offered.
"Thank you."
"You got a hunch, bro?" Travis asked.
"My ASD instructors say to check every lead. Perhaps those who've visited these worlds looking for suitable forests stumbled across something and thought it wasn't important enough to report. We may need that information."
"Bro, you're a genius," Trent said and pulled his comp-vid from a pocket. A message was composed and sent to Director Griff in short order.
"We should have an answer before long," Trent said and pocketed his comp-vid.
"If we find nothing here, I'd like to dock on Veechee and check Vrak's former address," Travis said. "I'll send that message to Kooper after we've searched the planet."
"You think he may have hired somebody to kill the one who arranged his travel with those pirates?" Trent asked.
"Anything's possible. I'm hoping bro here can tell us something from his former neighbors."
"That's a thought," I agreed with Travis' assessment. "We'll check on that, if Kooper allows it."
"Here's my thought," Travis said after a moment. "If small-time pirates are involved, why would they hire another faction to haul an important cog in their wheel to Pyrik?"
"To keep attention away from them, in case they were caught—which they were," Trent suggested.
"Besides, Terrett was with you the whole time, wasn't he?" I asked.
"Yes," Tr
avis admitted.
"What if our enemy can't see that, like most others can't? Can Sirenali detect one another, or is that impossible for them, too?"
"Let's ask Terrett," Travis suddenly looked grim. He sent mindspeech, because Terrett folded onto the bridge in moments.
"Can Sirenali detect other Sirenali, or are they just as hidden from each other as they are from most people?"
"Ah. I wondered when you'd ask that," Terrett replied. "If Sirenali could detect one another, do you think V'ili would have survived as long as he did? V'ili and others of his ilk were undetectable to anyone, including other Sirenali."
"That's sort of fucked up," Trent breathed.
"You wonder why Cayetes and V'ili were so interested in creating young Sirenali, before cutting their tongues out so they couldn't place obsession? That is part of the reason. I and my brothers hadn't a vision of V'ili or others like him."
"That's messed up, bro," Trent shook his head.
I'm sorry this upsets you so much, I silently sent to Terrett.
So many younglings died, and their bones were sold to criminals, to hide them from others with power.
He didn't say everything he knew, either—that some of those young ones had been thrown to flesh-eating worms while still alive, to fill the orders coming in from the criminal factions clamoring for more Sirenali bones.
Sirenali bones worked, and never had to be fed like the live ones did. The thought of such horrible deaths made me ill, just as it did Terrett.
"How close do you have to be before feeling the buzz from a spell?" Travis switched to a safer topic.
"I had to be at the building in Mer'bali before I felt it," I admitted. "I suppose that means I have to be practically on top of it."
"When did you feel it in the coin that dropped next to Sabrina?" Trent asked.
"Just before it dropped beside her. The buzzing became overwhelming, almost, as if the spell had been timed for release."
"There's a thought," Travis frowned at his brother. "I'll ask Bel if that sort of thing can be arranged."
"I've never heard of such, but warlocks and wizards do have their secrets," Terrett observed.
"That's for damn sure," Travis chuckled.
Sabrina
So far, Travis and Trent hadn't made a move, other than to have meals with me and kiss me before I went to my cabin to sleep.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't want more, because I did.
A part of me understood that they had to remain loyal to the ASD and wanted to prevent any ideas of favoritism from invading the crew. My body, on the other hand, was screaming for them to ignore everything and take the advantage when it was offered—and it was certainly offered.
Fuck protocol, I growled mentally.
Baby, don't be like that, Trent teased. I hadn't meant for that to be heard—how had it been heard?
Removing my hand from my chest where the medallion rested, I considered how lucky I was that they'd only received two words from me. It could have applied to almost anything upon examination, and I examined it from every angle, torturing myself with the idea that I'd come across as a wanton if I weren't careful.
For a moment I contemplated taking the medallion off before reconsidering such a rash decision—it had saved my life and kept me from getting raped on Cord'ilus. Nobody should argue with those kinds of results.
The other thing I considered was that Randl had almost stopped speaking to me. That I couldn't explain. I went out of my way to be nice to him, but still he felt distant, as if I'd offended him somehow.
There were no more confidences from him; no explanations when I failed to understand something. Our training had gone in different directions, too, and I missed having him in the same sessions.
He was a good friend—perhaps the best of friends, now that the others had betrayed me as they had. I considered that I had no friends, now, only potential lovers, and I had nobody to tell my troubles to about the lack of an intimate relationship.
Before Lorvis' treachery, I'd have been in constant communication with her regarding my relationship—or lack of one—with the twins.
Perhaps it was better this way. My instructional vids from the ASD said to keep personal secrets personal and secret, or they could be used against you or those you cared about.
Damn.
Why couldn't I be more like Randl in that respect? I figured there was a mountain-sized pile of information inside him—information that would never see the light of day so as to keep others protected and safe.
I guess he'd had to learn that from an early age, being what he was. After all, if you found out your cook was having sex with the next door neighbor, both of whom were married to others, it might have been better to keep that to yourself rather than announcing it at the dinner table as I'd done when I was twelve.
The ensuing battle between families resulted in the loss of our cook, a refusal by my father to give a reference and at great cost to the neighbor, who ended up never speaking to us again, even when my father supported him during a legal battle over property after his two wives left him.
That's how I knew to always be honest and transparent in every relationship I'd had. Too bad Fergue hadn't learned that lesson.
"He's dead now," I whispered, as if reminding myself of that fact. "Lorvis, too."
"We're moving into orbit around Bornelus," James, our pilot, announced throughout the ship. "Sensors will begin a sweep shortly."
Randl
"Something here," Travis indicated the spot on a three-dimensional map created by the on-board mapping system. "Sensors suggest it isn't native to the planet and appears newer. It's what Kooper's drones pointed out, too."
"No humanoid life forms detected," Nathan, the navigator, read the console in front of him.
"No surprise—especially if they're dead," Trent responded. "Well, we haven't found anything else. Let's go down and take a look."
"It feels empty to me, but that doesn't mean we won't find something or learn something," I said.
"You'll be issued a weapon before we go down," Travis clapped a hand on my shoulder. "Get dressed for jungle conditions, bro, and meet us in the galley."
Half an hour later I walked into the galley where the others were gathering. Everyone was dressed similarly, in high boots to our knees, variegated green fatigues, helmets and an equipment belt.
Weapons were being issued by Terrett, who handed a pistol to me when I walked in. As my equipment belt also had a holster, I checked the gun as I'd been instructed before placing it in the holster and snapping the strap over it.
"We're ready," David came in last. James and Nathan would stay on the ship, but they'd been issued weapons, too, in case someone attempted to board the ship in our absence.
They'd also been instructed to get the ship away if everyone in our landing party were killed. It would be their duty to report everything they knew to Director Griff afterward.
I saw the determination in Travis and Trent's eyes—they intended to get us in and out safely, even if it cost them their lives.
I sincerely hoped it would never come to that.
"Ready?" Travis asked.
"Ready," we said in unison. He folded space with all of us in tow.
Spread out, Trent's mental voice advised after we landed on the planet's surface. He and Travis, armed with ranos rifles, held them at the ready as they stepped forward, walking through vine-and-grass-covered terrain that appeared even on the surface. Beneath that plant-covered surface it was anything but even.
I stepped carefully as a result, my pistol gripped tightly as I searched with mindsight and senses for anything that didn't belong. In the distance, perhaps a mile or more, lay the outlying buildings of a large city.
We were walking through the remains of the city's suburbs—the homes of which had been built of less permanent materials and had long since decomposed or sunk into the ground.
That's why I was careful where I stepped. Vines could conceal anything be
neath their surface, as their roots could be far away from the leaves I stepped through.
On foot, it would take a while to reach the location Travis marked on the holo-map. I worried that tension would only ramp up the closer we came to that epicenter.
I noticed that Terrett and Bekzi were at the back of our group, constantly watching behind them while Travis and Trent led the way. If anything came at us from either direction, the most seasoned would handle the initial attack.
In the middle, keeping all of us within their nullifying range, stalked Prince Kory and Princess Lexsi. If any spells were thrown at us, they'd be nullified quickly by our High Demons.
Wyatt walked near the back, close to Terrett and Bekzi. We were guarded well enough for most emergencies. I hoped it would be enough, as visions of Sabrina's disappearance from the ASD warehouse kept playing through my mind.
None of us were expecting that, and Sabrina had reached out for the gold coin as anyone might do in similar circumstances. I had no desire to see that happen again. Perhaps that was why Travis and Trent saw to it that she walked near Kory and Lexsi.
Susan and Jayna guarded the sides—I walked ahead of Jayna while David walked ahead of Susan opposite us.
All of us froze when the snapping sound came—as if a twig had broken underfoot. I'd gone still, and once I knew we were temporarily unharmed, I closed my eyes to reach out with my mental sight, as if worried that what I'd registered with them open had to be wrong.
We'd triggered a trap.
Not a spelled trap; a more mundane variety of a trap. Nobody move, I cautioned in mindspeech.
We have to all disappear at once, I informed Travis. It's coming.
It? He sounded incredulous for a moment, until the ground rumbled beneath our feet.
Something was burrowing toward us.
Something very large.
"Get ready," Kory gritted between clenched teeth. "Trav, get the others out of here."
I felt my body jerk away as Travis and Trent did as Kory asked, leaving him behind. We landed quite a distance from our original location. Kory changed quickly. I'd never seen a High Demon in Full Thifilathi before.
I also had never seen what erupted from the ground to attack his Full Thifilathi before.
MindSighted: BlackWing Pirates, Book 1 Page 20
