The intense brightness of it startled Jelena, making her squint. Wait, that wasn’t all from her attack. The entire sky flashed white, sending strange highlights through the clouds.
The man stumbled back, for more reasons than one.
Jelena rushed after him, even though she sensed that Erick and Masika were fighting out in the garden and needed help. She couldn’t simply run away. She had to keep the man between her and the others, or she would be easy target practice for them.
She jabbed her staff toward him again. This time, he parried the blow, using his rifle like a fencing foil. But the lightning erupted again, as happy to branch up his rifle as his arm.
He dropped the weapon, roaring with anger and pain. But he wasn’t done yet. He leaped at her, once again trying to bury her and perhaps pummel her to death while he was at it.
She planted the butt of her staff, using the cobblestones to brace it, and angled the tip so that it caught him full in the chest plate. She poured her energy into it, and sparks leaped as more lightning streaked up, curling all about him. A branch flicked into his faceplate like the popper of a whip, and the Glastica cracked. The man yelped and stumbled back, reaching for his face.
Jelena took the chance to jump away, throwing her barrier up behind her again as she raced into the garden to join the others. Erick and Masika were fighting back-to-back, he with his staff and mental power, she with her blazer and physical power.
Once again, white light flashed overhead with the brilliance of all three suns shining in the sky at once. It came from high above the castle, or she might have suspected Thor was responsible. This time, the ground shuddered along with the light.
“To the walls!” someone cried over speakers.
A black ship—an imperial stealth Fang—streaked past overhead. Only then did Jelena realize the castle was under attack. She barely had time to register it or ponder who it might be—not the Alliance in that old imperial ship—before blazer fire hammering at her barrier brought her back to the moment. Some of the guards might be obeying the order and running to the wall, but the ones in the garden weren’t ready to give up their nearby prey yet.
As Jelena reached Masika and Erick, a thunderous boom sounded, not from above but from the rear of the castle. Something large and brown flew across the garden and landed with a crack on the landing pad by the shuttles. A door.
Thor ran out of the doorway, looking toward Jelena’s group, his eyes intent and utterly fierce as they met hers. Blood smeared his cheek—it didn’t appear to be his—and his hood had fallen back. He gripped his sword, crimson rivulets running down the blade.
Out of nowhere, a guard leaped a hedgerow and pointed a rifle at him, nearly point blank. Thor barely glanced at the man before he was hurled upward and backward like a boulder launched from a catapult. The guard flew over the wall and disappeared.
The troops fighting Erick and Masika, as well as the men firing at Jelena, saw that and halted their attack. Jelena wasn’t sure if some command had come in over their helmets, or if they were horrified—terrified—by Thor’s deadly display of power. Whichever it was, they all turned and ran for the front of the castle.
Not slowing, Thor ran onto the trampled grass of the garden. “I told you to get to a shuttle,” he barked at Erick.
“Yes, and we’re working on it.”
“You made it ten feet.” Thor flung his hand toward the side of the castle.
“We made it at least thirty.”
“Come on.” Jelena stepped between the men and nodded toward the landing pad. “If the way is clear—”
Another boom erupted, this time from above as two more of those Fangs flew past, dropping bombs. More white flashes lit up the sky, and then a great shudder wracked the castle.
“The forcefield is down,” Thor said over the clanging of alarms, alarms that had grown louder and more intense, with a shrieking wail joining the bleats.
“Let’s go shuttle shopping,” Jelena said, racing for the landing pad and trusting the men to follow her.
They sped out of the garden, skidding on the cobblestones of the main walk as they spun around a corner. A bomb slammed into one of the unprotected castle towers. Stone flew in all directions, raining down on the courtyard. Jelena ran faster. They would need time to start up the shuttle and figure out how to override whatever security was on them.
Thor caught up with her and ran at her side, that same determined and fierce expression on his face. He didn’t say anything, but when a guard leaped out from behind a shuttle ahead of them, he sprinted instead of slowing down, and charged right at the man. Their foe got his rifle up, but Thor’s sword whipped across, glowing an eerie blue as it sliced the weapon in half.
Jelena attempted to run around the fight so she could get in the shuttle and start it up, but a blast of hot air slammed into her. At first, her confused mind thought it was some Starseer attack—had the brother evaded Thor?—but realization came in the next second, as the shuttle lifted off scant feet from her. She checked with her senses and found at least a dozen occupants inside, some of them children. The Vogel family? How had they reached the shuttles without her seeing them run past? An underground escape tunnel?
It hardly mattered now. As the guard brawled with Thor, the craft rose into the air. Another bomb slammed into the castle, and Jelena curled her lip at the shuttle. She could understand wanting to get the children away, but it seemed cowardly for the adults to flee, leaving their troops behind to fight and die.
“Who in all the suns’ fiery hells is attacking the castle?” Erick yelled, grabbing Jelena’s elbow and propelling her toward a second shuttle.
Glad there was one, she could only shake her head and run toward it on ground that shifted and bucked under her feet. Something bounced and tumbled past her. A rock from a destroyed tower? No. She caught a better look, and her gut lurched. That guard’s helmet—and his head.
She wanted to snap at Thor—did he have to behead them?—but there wasn’t time. And how much could she truly protest when he was protecting her? All of this had been to protect her—or at least their group—she reminded herself as she flung open a shuttle hatch and raced for the pilot’s seat. She’d only talked him into coming along to see Leonidas. All this help he was giving them was a gift. What would have happened if he hadn’t been there when she’d stumbled into Starseer Vogel?
“I need a lock picker,” she barked as she slid into the seat and waved her hands over the controls, controls that stayed dim instead of responding to her. Another handprint scanner waited in the center of the console. It flashed red when she patted it.
“On it.” Erick flung himself into the seat next to her, resting his palms on the console and closing his eyes.
The ground lurched under the shuttle, and something snapped deep within the platform the castle rested upon. The entire structure could fall out of the sky any second. Would it be karma if Jelena plummeted into the ocean far below after sending those guards to that fate?
More booms came as black Fangs filled the sky, hurling bombs at the castle. While Erick worked, Jelena sent her senses upward and was amazed and appalled at the battle going on high above. While those Fangs attacked the castle, four bigger ships wheeled and banked, exchanging fire with the three vessels that had been on patrol earlier.
“They must have had some sense that this was coming,” Jelena muttered, realizing that all that alertness hadn’t been related to her group, after all.
“We’re in,” Thor said behind her as the side door shut.
Masika raced up behind their seats, gripping the back of Erick’s. Thor merely slumped against the closed door, looking weary for the first time. Looking human for the first time.
“Done.” Erick leaned back, and the view screen and control panel came to life.
Jelena had already familiarized herself with the console, and her fingers flew as soon as they could.
“Is that Regen Sciences?” Masika asked, squinting through the view
screen at the Fangs.
“I only know that the Vogels knew these were rivals, and the attack wasn’t unexpected,” Thor said.
“Regen Sciences,” Masika affirmed.
Thor’s voice grew distant as he spoke again. “More ships are coming down from orbit. Alliance military.”
“Sounds like a good time to leave,” Erick said.
“Working on it.” As Jelena ignited the thrusters and lifted the nose, something slammed into the top of the shuttle. Metal crunched loudly, and she flinched and almost piloted them into a tree in the garden. “What was that?”
She growled as the shuttle responded sluggishly.
“One of the towers,” Thor said.
“The remains of it,” Erick said.
“Most of it.”
They shared short glares, and for a ludicrous moment, they reminded Jelena of the children they’d once been, always arguing with each other. Then Thor’s face grew weary again, his chin drooping to his chest, his blood-smeared jaw dark with beard stubble, and she saw the man once more, the man she didn’t know as well as the boy she remembered.
Abruptly, the view of the damaged castle, the walls, and the garden disappeared, plummeting out of view. Jelena gasped in horror, sensing the fear of the dozens—no, hundreds—of people who had been left behind. She had the presence of mind to pilot the shuttle away from the battle still going on above them, but she could almost hear the shrieks of the men and women as the castle plunged ten thousand feet. It hit the ocean so hard, it flew into pieces. Jelena tried to lock down her senses so she wouldn’t feel the people die, but it was too late. She knew right away that nobody had survived that.
Her hands shook as she flew the shuttle away. She tried to tell herself that the carnage and death would have happened whether they had been there or not, but tears ran down her cheeks and guilt filled her heart. She had never experienced so much death before, and she knew she would never forget it.
Thor came to stand behind her as she evened out the shuttle’s flight and set a course for the beach where they’d left the Snapper. His face looked even wearier than it had a moment earlier, his eyes beleaguered.
You felt that, she thought to him. He would have had to—he was more powerful and better trained than she. All those people dying at once, she added.
Yes. He rested a hand on her shoulder, though he looked like he needed support as much as she.
I imagine that’s what war is like, all those people dying at once. All those people dying, period. She’d heard her mother’s stories, of course, and very occasionally some from Leonidas—he rarely shared that part of his past—but this was the first time it all felt real to her. It chilled her anew to think of the deaths she and her friends had been responsible for the last couple of weeks. And for what? To save some animals? To get Masika out of an unpleasant situation? It was hard to say it was worth it. How can you want that? she asked, thinking of war again.
Thor lowered his hand, frowning. I do not want war.
Isn’t that the whole point of your training? What you plan to do? You want the empire back, right? There’s no way that’s going to happen without a war. A big war.
War is not what I want. It is not what anybody wants. But to roll over and accept the Alliance as my master is unacceptable. More than that, it would be sick after all the atrocities they committed to take down my family and the empire. I made a promise to my father, one I intend to keep.
With war?
He looked down at her through lowered lashes. Maybe I’ll use guile.
Is that what you used in storming the castle? She gave the sword on his belt, retracted once again, a pointed look.
No, but I was angry.
Because she’d been hurt? Jelena wasn’t sure whether to feel pleased or worried that seeing a friend get hurt could drive Thor into a rage. When he raged, people died.
I know some of the Vogels made it out. Did the Starseer brother?
No. Thor glared defiantly, not at her but at the view screen, and then walked to the rear of the shuttle and sat down.
Jelena couldn’t fault him for killing the man, especially since her unexpectedly powerful foe might have killed her if Thor hadn’t rushed in, but she wondered again how many people had died who wouldn’t have died if she hadn’t made the choice she had back on Alpha 17. And would some of those Vogel children, perhaps the grandchildren of Luca Vogel, find out Thor had been responsible for killing him and want revenge someday? Jelena rubbed her face. How easy the spiral into war and atrocity.
“You all right?” Erick asked quietly, glancing back at Thor, then meeting her eyes. Masika had also settled into one of the seats back there, and she stared morosely out a porthole.
“I will be.” Jelena forced herself to concentrate on the route ahead and nothing more.
“Good. I’d hate to think Thorian can rub his broodiness off on you when he’s fondling your shoulder.”
“That was hardly a fondle.”
“Oh? It was a long touch. Like fifteen seconds.”
“You were counting? Are you developing voyeuristic tendencies?”
“No. I was holding my breath and hoping you’d shove his hand away. He’s way too dark and sullen and blood-covered for you. Leonidas would never approve.”
Jelena resisted the urge to look back and see if Thor was paying attention to the conversation.
“I don’t think Leonidas minds blood-covered men,” she said, welcoming the distraction that the conversation offered. “Considering how often he’s been one.”
“Being a blood-covered man and wanting one for your daughter, even your step-daughter, are different things. I assure you, he wouldn’t approve.”
“Would he approve if we found someone to fondle your shoulder?” she asked, preferring to deflect the jibe than consider the seriousness lurking behind it. Besides, it wasn’t as if Thor was sticking around, nor had he done anything to suggest fondling was on his mind. No, war was on his mind. Unfortunately. The entire universe, certainly the Alliance-run part of it, would be happier if he could be distracted by fondling.
“I don’t know about Leonidas, but I’d certainly approve.” Erick gazed wistfully out his own porthole instead of looking back at Masika, as Jelena thought he might. “Do you remember where we parked?” he asked.
“Yes. I’ll get us there as soon as possible. We have a surgery to attend.”
Epilogue
Jelena sat in the auto cab, wedged in between Thor and Erick, silently urging the robot driver to go faster. Morning had come, two of the system’s three suns gleaming off the windows of skyscrapers and elevated trains, and she wasn’t sure how long they had until Leonidas’s surgery. She’d gotten the hospital address from Austin, the only one who’d stayed aboard the Star Nomad to watch over things while the family was gone. Someone must have come by to pick up the twins.
Jelena wasn’t sure because she’d chosen to dock the Snapper at a different port, in case the Alliance was looking for them. The rates-by-the-hour junkyard-slash-parking-lot she had chosen promised discretion. The tacky sign out front said so, and she hoped it proved true. Laikagrad was on a different continent and far from where Sunset Island had gone down, but news traveled quickly around the globe and throughout the system.
But she would worry about that later. For now, she just wanted to make it in time to give Leonidas a hug before he went into his surgery. If someone was waiting to arrest her when she got out, so be it.
“I can’t believe you’re going to wear that get-up to the hospital,” Erick said.
Jelena plucked at the unicorn-head gold necklace dangling against the pale blue blouse she’d changed into and almost answered before she realized he was talking to Thor. Erick, who had also changed out of his black robe and wore beige cargo trousers and a T-shirt proclaiming his affinity for thrust-bike races, clucked his tongue at Thor.
“You look like death’s apprentice,” Erick added. “Dying people are going to think you’re there for them.
”
“I’ve been traveling light,” Thor said, flicking a baleful glance at him. “And Jelena didn’t suggest that there would be time to shop for hospital-friendly clothing along the way.”
“I didn’t know you’d want to go on a shopping trip,” Jelena said. “I’ll be happy to stop with you on the way back. Maybe we can get you something bright and perky.” She didn’t presume to pluck at his black sleeve, but she did eye the sword, pistol, and knife attached to his belt. Would he get past hospital security with any of that?
“I don’t think deposed princes are allowed to be perky,” Erick said. “They’re supposed to be gloomy and broody.”
Thor’s eyes narrowed.
“Yes, like that,” Erick said.
I’m glad you’re coming, Jelena told Thor silently, but I am concerned there will be trouble.
You think Leonidas will pick a fight with me?
I think the Alliance will if someone reports seeing you.
They will not see me.
Jelena wasn’t so sure. He might be able to diddle with people’s minds, but what about security cameras? Are you sure you don’t want to go back and stay on board until Leonidas gets out of the hospital?
I am certain.
She did not argue further. She honestly believed Leonidas would be pleased to see him, and just in case his heart transplant wasn’t a permanent, long-term fix, Jelena wanted to make sure Leonidas saw everyone he wished to see while he could.
The cab stopped at the hospital’s main entrance, and Jelena pushed the glum thought from her mind. Eager to see him and gauge his health for herself, she hurried up the walkway and through the doors.
An angry bleeping sounded when Thor walked through, and her concerns leaped back into her mind. Why had he brought all his weapons? She paused to wait—and look around for cameras—as two uniformed men approached him. Erick rolled his eyes. Thor kept walking, exuding calmness, almost indifference. The security guards’ steps faltered, and their eyes took on glazed expressions. One reset the door scanner.
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