The Smuggler's Ascension: The Ties That Died

by Christopher Ingersoll

  The Palace was attached to the Temple of the Gau’dran’Seti by a long passageway that was blocked by a pair of fearsome looking guards all in black armor and deep, shadowed cowls. The guards blocked the way to Korvan’s guards, but allowed him to pass. Another insult that Korvan intended for Karina to pay for. She had anointed him as Emperor, she should have the grace to then follow his orders.

  The interior of the Dark Temple, as the people here on New Clovani Prime called it, was cut from massive slabs of obsidian that shined in the light of torches. Korvan felt the place was barbaric, and yet fitting for the Dark Priestesses and their foul powers. Not for the first time, he wondered how Karina had allowed herself to become so deeply entangled in the ways of these wretched witches.

  Karina had called herself Death’s Paramour, which Korvan assumed was some internal title of the Priestesses. He could not deny the deference the other Priestesses suddenly had shown his sister, though. The witches seemed to grovel before his sister now, which seemed funny to Korvan when he thought that Karina had basically called herself a whore for death.

  The central room of the obsidian temple was home to a great stone, step sided pool filled with a black, oily looking liquid that swirled seemingly of its own accord. Several dark Priestesses circled the pool as they chanted in dead voices, while in the distance Korvan could hear the screams of dying slaves. It hadn’t surprised him to learn the Priestesses had kept slaves, even though the practice had been outlawed for a thousand years. Where they got the slaves from he did not care, he only wished they would die more quietly.

  From an altar high above the black pool, Karina gazed down upon the chanting and circling Priestesses. Korvan angrily headed towards the set of stairs that would take him to his sister so that he could demand answers.

  “Damn it, Karina, your attack failed,” Korvan yelled angrily as he reached the halfway point of the stairway. “I want Kristof dead, do you hear me?”

  “Be silent,” Karina ordered him with annoyance.

  “You forget who I am,” Korvan began loudly, “I am the….aaaaAAArrrgggg!!!” Korvan screamed as he body became enveloped in black lightning from the floor. Korvan fell and rolled painfully back to the chamber floor.

  “You are a puppet, no more,” Karina hissed at him spitefully. “I told you the attack on Kristof would fail, but you insisted so I agreed to humor you, and maybe get lucky and kill our brother’s little whore. But do not believe for a second that you rule here, or rule the Empire. Now be silent!”

  Korvan panted wildly as he struggled to calm his muscles that continued to spasm uncontrollably. His every breath was laced with pain as his skin burned everywhere the lightning had touched him. In time he regained control of himself and struggled to his feet to look at his sister in a new light. His fear of her from their childhood together had returned in full force.

  As before, Karina was robed like the rest of the Dark Priestesses, with the exception that she had left her head bared. Her red hair in this dark chamber looked like fire in a mine shaft, while her green eyes remained ringed in black fire much like the black lightning that had struck him down. She was watching the pool intently, waiting for something it seemed.

  In time, Karina descended from the altar above to stand before the black pool. Her face seemed exalted as she peered into the inky liquid, and Korvan looked to the pool to see if he could see what had caused such a look to cross her face. He saw nothing but the oily mass of liquid, though.

  “Our enemy has unleashed a powerful weapon,” Karina said after a time, “Something he cannot control and so endangers us all.”

  “What weapon? What has Kristof unleashed?” Korvan asked, his curiosity greater than his fear, if only barely.

  “Kristof is not the enemy,” Karina said, her eyes still lost in the depths of the pool, “He has become the weapon. The Phoenix is the true enemy, our Master’s most hated foe. Even now, our Master seeks a way to counter what the Phoenix has done, lest our brother destroy all for which we have worked and slaved for millennia beyond count.”

  “I don’t understand,” Korvan admitted fearfully.

  “Nor should you, dear brother, for that is not your purpose,” Karina sneered. “You will gather the remnants of the fleet and launch an attack on the Protectorate. Kristof must not be allowed to seek the answers he now looks for, for we will truly be lost should he find them. I want Durani reduced to dust. Go now, and do not fail our Master.”

  Korvan was about to object when Karina slipped the robe from her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. She was nude beneath, he was horrified to see, though her nudity was not as shocking as what Korvan saw had become of her. The veins beneath Karina’s skin were as black as the pool before her and she appeared gaunt, almost skeletal as her skin was stretched tight over her bones.

  With no other word to him, Korvan watched as Karina stepped into the pool and walked deeper into it until she had gone completely under and was gone. Korvan stood in shock until a Priestess appeared at his side and pointed towards the door he had come in through. He knew now that he was no longer in control of his destiny, and he meekly headed towards the door to carry out his new orders. Apparently being the Emperor wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, after all.

  ~10~

  Meditation was difficult at times, more so when things were chaotic. So Kristof’s total disruption of the peace at the Su’Vanii Temple had had made Anasha’s life, and therefore meditation, difficult. She had spent the past twelve hours rushing around, assuring the senior Su’Tani commanders that her husband was not in fact going to war with the Order.

  When Anasha had given Kristof directions through the Temple to seek out the Elders, she had not expected him to immediately get up and go bull his way through to them. She was deeply embarrassed by what had happened, and so far had not allowed her husband to apologize for running roughshod over the people that had been her family for a large part of her life.

  So now, after finally getting things settled, Anasha had come to her father’s home to find some alone time. The house brought back countless memories for Anasha as she wandered around looking at her father’s things. It was still too painful to believe he was gone, and she had been delaying packing away his things. Meditation was of course impossible with so many memories assaulting her here, but she tried nonetheless.

  Her legs were folded beneath her, and her hands rested on her knees, but all that came to Anasha were tears. There were pictures on the wall of when she had been a child and her mother still alive, the three of them standing before a viewport as they watched the great space krakens in the distance when she had been eight or nine. Her mother had been killed the year after the picture had been taken, Anasha remembered, in service to the royal family when she prevented the assassination of Sabine’s grandmother by taking the laser blast herself during a different Clovani aggression.

  Anasha forced out a breath and tried to force her mind into stillness as she closed her eyes, but even then the images came. She saw her father on the day she had passed her novitiate trials and how proud he had looked. She saw the disappointment when he had learned she’d left the Su’Tani to marry Kristof. And she saw his death, again and again, as she had felt it through her connection with Kristof.

  Tears fell as she wept uncontrollably, so she did not hear the door open and close behind her, and she was unaware anyone was there until she felt strong arms wrap around her and hold her. Anasha didn’t need to look to know Kristof had found her despite her evasions, she just sat there in his embrace and wept as her heart ached and felt raw. Her chest hurt from the pain of it, as if some rotted, festering part of her was tearing itself free.

  As she calmed, Anasha felt that Kristof wept with her. She could feel his tears on the back of her neck as his head lay against the back of hers. She turned herself in his arms so she could see him and wrap him in her arms, her anger at him from earlier forgiven and forgotten. There was pain and guilt in his gaze as Kristof looked at the pictures o
n the walls, a guilt so deep that she could not feel an end to it.

  “It was my fault,” Kristof whispered into the silence of the room. “He warned me there was a darkness waiting for me on Dorcanus, but I refused to back down. I was so sure of myself…even as I suspected something was pushing me to that world.”

  “Shhhhh,” Anasha whispered as she embraced Kristof tighter. “Father was a grown man and the Commander of the Su’Tani. He could have stopped you and ended the mission if he had wanted to. He chose to go there as much as you did, you can’t blame yourself for his choices.”

  “I should have found a way,” Kristof sobbed. “It should have been me.”

  “No, no, no, my love,” Anasha sobbed with him. “He loved you. He would have given anything for you and for me, and for Sabine. I felt him go, love. I felt him take that shot for you, because he knew I needed you and Sabine needed you. Please, baby, don’t let this tear you up anymore.”

  They wept together again in earnest as they let their pain and grief run unchecked. Sabine’s spirit was with them suddenly, wrapping them in her love and warmth even as she shared their tears and pain. Anasha felt Kristof’s vast anger and rage, that she and Sabine had not even known he had been carrying since Subat’s death, slowly dissolve and fade away within their embrace. Anasha felt her own pain and anger slowly easing as well as the tears fell.

  Anasha closed her eyes as she leaned against Kristof, and suddenly her spirit floated free and into the Void of meditation unexpectedly. The experience was disorienting as she floundered to gain control of her senses in this realm. As she steadied herself, Anasha began to sense that there was a blue light coming towards her and she tensed as it took on the shape of a person. Suddenly, she cried in pain and joy as she saw her father’s image coming to her.

  “Anasha, my child,” Subat said as he smiled and embraced his daughter’s spirit. “I am so glad that you and Kristof were finally able to start laying this grief aside at last.”

  “I miss you, daddy,” Anasha sobbed.

  “I know, sweetheart,” Subat said with a small sob of his own. “I am ok, though. I have gone on to serve our true Mistress in the afterlife, as was always intended for the Su’Tani before we lost our way.”

  “I don’t understand,” Anasha said as she looked at her father. He did indeed seem happy, and the last of her pain faded in wonder as she saw him now.

  “You will in time, my child,” Subat said. “The important thing now is that Kristof continue on with his plan. I cannot reveal what he needs to know, but he does need to know that he is on the right path. Sabine’s plan will aid him in his quest, so pay close attention to what she learns. Time rushes to a great event, and it will either end in light or in darkness. Stand strong beside your loves, my child, and keep them close.”

  “I will, daddy,” Anasha said, not able to keep a strong face at seeing her father’s spirit, her pain threatening to return. There were so many things she wanted to say, but couldn’t find the words for them.

  “You must watch Kristof, his healing is not as complete as it seems. And know that I love you, my daughter, and I am very proud of you,” Subat said with a smile, and a caress of Anasha’s cheek. “We will see each other again soon.”

  “I love you too, daddy,” Anasha said as she started to weep again, and the vision faded until she was once again in Kristof’s arms.

  Kristof looked at her worriedly as he held her, clearly not having been part of her vision. Anasha broke into fresh tears as she relayed what had happened to her worried husband. Kristof pulled her tight to him and held her as her tears slowly faded. There was a hollow place left inside where her grief had been, and she felt empty and spent. Kristof rose to his feet and lifted her easily and brought her to a small couch where he laid her down. He covered her with a blanket then and began to turn on a few lights in the darkening apartment.

  Moments later, Anasha watched as Kristof began making a pot of tea for her, and for just a moment she saw her father in those actions. She smiled at the memory, glad that Kristof had found her. They had both needed healing that neither had realized, and it could perhaps not have happened in any other place. At least not so fully and completely. Anasha had needed to completely disarm her grief in order to unlock Kristof’s, she realized. Her father’s warning worried her, though. If he was right, then Kristof’s grief had not yet run its course, though she could not understand why it warranted a special warning.

  Kristof brought her the tea and handed the steaming cup to her before taking one for himself. Anasha watched as he sat across from her, searching for words to things he didn’t know how to express, and she knew exactly how he felt. She smiled a little at how alike they were even as she remembered how often he had commented on how alike she and Sabine were. She supposed it was why the three of them worked so well together, they so perfectly filled the holes in each other.

  “I miss him,” Kristof said simply, and it was enough. Nothing more he could have said in that moment could have expressed it any better.

  “I don’t know what to do here now,” Anasha said with a small sob. “I can’t bear the thought of…taking things down, as if I were putting him away somehow.”

  Kristof gave Anasha a long look then, as if considering something rather radical

  “What if we gave the place to Max?” Kristof suggested softly.

  Anasha suddenly felt how perfect the idea was. The android had become such an integral part of their family that she could not think of a better way to show him how much he meant to her, to all of them. The android was struggling with learning his own emotions, and this place was so steeped in emotions and memories that it would be a perfect place for Max to see and learn what it was to feel.

  Going to her husband, Anasha slid into his lap and kissed him. Kristof wrapped her in his arms tightly as she lay her head on his shoulder.

  “I think that is a wonderful idea, my love,” Anasha said.

  “Our little android is growing up and moving out,” Kristof said with a half laugh, half sob that made Anasha laugh in return.

  In time, once darkness had fully fallen over the city, Anasha closed up her father’s home. Taking Kristof’s hand, they walked slowly through the night as they made their way back to the Palace. Subat’s simple house was one of many in a small neighborhood that had been reserved centuries ago for the Su’Tani and their families. Much like the Su’Tani themselves, the homes were simple but immaculately kept.

  “I’ll have to maintain the actual ownership,” Anasha thought out loud, “So that the house doesn’t revert back to the Temple control, but I think Max would learn a lot there.”

  “As do I,” Kristof replied. “I had also had another thought, but I wasn’t sure how it would be received by the order.”

  “I wouldn’t be in a rush to make any requests of the order for a while, after today,” Anasha said as she elbowed him in the ribs lightly. “What’s this thought you’ve had, though? Hopefully it’s better than storming the Temple again.”

  “I want to make Max an honorary member of the Order,” Kristof said after a moment’s pause.

  Anasha stopped in her tracks as she stared at Kristof while she considered his outrageous statement. Yet the more she considered it, his idea didn’t seem so outrageous after all. The Su’Tani valued life and served in its defense, and Max had in his own way since meeting Kristof also served that noble purpose.

  “You’re just full of good ideas today, your Temple visit excluded,” Anasha said finally as she took Kristof’s hand again and they resumed walking home. “It will take some convincing with the Elders, after today has blown over for a while, but I will certainly present it to the other Commanders.”

  “He deserves a different life,” Kristof said quietly. “I can’t keep dragging him into battles, he doesn’t have enough sense of himself to tell me no yet.”

  “True,” Anasha said as she loved this thoughtful side of her husband, “Though as a General now, you will not be rushing
off into battles either.”

  Kristof laughed, the first real sound of happiness he’d made all night.

  “I was hoping you and Sabine would forget about that,” Kristof half joked.

  “Not on your life, mister,” Anasha said, then laughed at herself. “Now I sound like Sabine.”

  “It’s not such a bad thing, is it?” Kristof asked her curiously.

  “No,” Anasha replied without even having to consider it. “I love our little pixie queen so much, that picking up her mannerisms is an honor.”

  “That’s almost what her grandfather calls her, you know,” Kristof said with a laugh. “She doesn’t know I know, though.”

  Anasha laughed as well, picturing Sabine and Admiral Geoff together. She could see the love Sabine had for the man that had replaced her father.

  “When this is all over,” Anasha said after a while, “I want us all to go away together for a while, alone. You, me, Sabine, the baby, Max, Sabine’s grandfather, just family.”

  “I think Sabine had a similar desire,” Kristof admitted. “We need to prepare ourselves for the reality that the baby is most likely going to be a God, though, Anasha,” he added seriously.

  Anasha turned to her husband and could see the pain and anger at the thought that was there, and knew this was the other source of his rage besides the loss of her father. She went to him then and placed her palms on his cheeks. The rage remained after all, though cooled for the moment.

  “One battle at a time, my love,” Anasha said quietly. “I won’t accept that outcome until it comes to pass, and neither should you. Don’t give up on yours and Sabine’s son.”

  “Our son,” Kristof said softly as he returned her gaze. “He is yours too, my love.”

  Anasha smiled and felt a tear roll down her cheek. “Our son.”

  ~11~