by Clara Woods
Persia. She had jumped up and was almost caught by Muha Dara who threatened to touch her. Lenah concentrated her effort there. Anything to get them away from her friend. The mob around Persia tore at each other. But where was Persia?
“There are too many,” Lenah croaked out, feeling helpless.
“Join forces,” Zyrakath’s voice sounded from right next to her.
Lenah concentrated back on the fight.
“There’s a big group coming for us,” one of Corinna’s guards said, the constant firing of his lasers illuminating the sudden darkness.
“They’re here, they’re coming!” he yelled a few moments later, his voice sounding even more urgent.
Weight crashed down onto Lenah. She hit the roof under them hard.
“Join forces,” Zyrakath urged again.
This time, Lenah succumbed. She thrust her mental self over to Corinna, some part within her knowing how it could be done. She poured power toward the woman, but without an idea in mind. Just the power.
The weight moved on top of her. A guard. He’d thrown himself on her when the Muha Dara had come too close and provided her with a human shield. He moved again, and Lenah fully jerked to attention when she saw his skin turn gray only a few centimeters in front of her face. Suddenly, his eyes shone purple. She wiggled under his weight, trying to reach her gun. He came closer, touching her suit with his gray hands. Stars, he wanted to expose her skin.
Suddenly, his head exploded into a cluster of flying stones. Other parts of his body followed, and Lenah could finally move away from him. She looked up.
Zyrakath had let go of his leg and was holding a gun, the guard’s own gun, that was almost as tall as him. Thank the stars.
Resolve forced Lenah on. She started pouring into Corinna again, and their eyes met. Corinna’s widened in surprise, and then the haze of her influence grew. She closed her eyes, sending a huge wall, several hundred meters, upward.
Stone—limbs, heads, and torsos—started to rain down on them. One hit Lenah’s visor, and the displays blinked wildly in front of her eyes. She shut them and kept pouring into Corinna.
In that moment, she was aware that Corinna could make her do and believe whatever she wanted to, and she could even use Lenah’s own magic to do so.
Yet Corinna was only strengthening her suggestions toward the Muha Dara. Images of killing each other, no, the desire to kill, the emotion of hatred, all ran wildly through Lenah’s mind, and she struggled to keep still. She wanted to join the fight, rip someone’s limbs off. I’m only the tunnel, she told herself over and over, with the small part of her mind that was still Lenah.
I’m not one of them.
I’m NOT one of them.
I’m Lenah.
I’m…
38 Cava Dara
Suddenly, the urge to attack ceased. Simply ceased. Lenah, who had been fighting over it with all her willpower, buckled when her limbs were suddenly no longer able to move. Then, a presence stormed her mind. Just ran her over, flattening out the part of Lenah that she’d been holding onto.
She was horrified, she was angry. About everything spinning out of control, dread of what was happening, guilt about being a driving force in it. How could she have been so wrong? How could she have lost everything in just one day? The mage farm gone, lives lost, and the anger at the one person who’d caused so much of it, this daughter of a business partner, who could have been an ally, but who instead turned out to be a deceitful child. She wanted to make her hurt, to pay for it, so that she wouldn’t have to shoulder so much anymore.
“Both of you, stop it.” A voice demanded, way too close to her ear. “Lenah stop, other mind controller, stop.” The voice insisted.
She didn’t want to. This anger felt good. This power over someone else felt so good.
But, you’re Lenah… A tiny voice in her head wailed. It was so low; she chose to ignore it. She was Corinna Cheung, and she had proven multiple times that she deserved to be in charge. It always turned out better when she was. But today, she’d lost control. Today, so much had been lost.
“Lenah! Push back!” The annoying voice yelled again; this time accompanied by a shake to her shoulder. She felt her head roll as if it was lying on the ground when she knew that she was standing, looking down on the spread-out and twitching figure of her forced ally.
Something was not right about that… The fraction of Lenah in her mind nodded frantically. Started begging her for more control. Let’s take our power back, it whispered.
With a jerk, she became aware of a steady stream of energy leaving her. Why was she doing this?
The Lenah corner yelled at her: That’s it, that’s what we need to stop!
Yes, she should. It was hard work, and she was starting to feel really, really tired. She concentrated on stopping the outpour, and, suddenly, the anger stopped.
A yell sounded next to her as Lenah opened her eyes. She saw that Corinna had gone to the ground and was clutching her head, tears streaming out of her eyes. Lenah lowered her head again. She was so tired.
“Miss Cheung!” A loud male voice made her wince.
Lenah had a killer headache herself. With an effort, Lenah opened her eyes and looked at Corinna.
One of her guards—the only remaining one—was bending over Corinna. She swatted his hand away and tried to get up.
“Thank the stars, you’re well. And you defeated them all,” he exclaimed at her show of energy.
Corinna looked up at the sky, and Lenah followed her gaze. The sky was clear, not a single cloud of Muha Dara obscured the colorful sunset.
“Are they all gone?” Lenah croaked. Surprised by how dry her throat was.
“Yes, we defeated them all,” Corinna said, looking at her. They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Lenah remembered the anger this woman had just felt toward her, then the overpowering guilt. Corinna gave an almost invisible nod of her head. “We really defeated them all.” She repeated.
“It was incredible, all of a sudden all of them started to attack each other. The whole area at once,” the guard said, putting away his weapon.
Lenah turned to see Zyrakath hovering low on the roof.
“How did we do, Zyr?” she asked.
He flew closer. “It did not look like what the books described. You seemed to lose control, but you still did it.”
“Lose control? That’s putting it nicely,” Lenah winced, turning her head. Corinna was still clutching her temples.
“Are you all right?” Lenah asked. Had the experience been even worse for Corinna? Lenah couldn’t image what was worse than losing complete control over herself and being swarmed by someone else’s emotions like that, but Corinna had influenced thousands of Muha Dara at once. “Corinna, are you all right?” she asked again.
Corinna groaned something that remotely sounded like a yes, she was okay.
Slowly, Lenah sat up, fighting a wave of nausea. The area around them was barely recognizable. Instead of the beautifully planted plaza with food and drink booths, it was a war zone littered with light-gray rubble. Some pieces had shattered by falling from up high and looked like mere rocks. Others still had the shape of a face or a limb. Windows were missing from all the office towers. The only building that had seemingly withstood the past few hours without so much as a scratch was the temple of Life in Paradise.
Persia! Stars, where was Persia? Lenah frantically tried to see better through the rubble at the foot of the temple, her suit helping her as it turned to night vision and zoomed in by itself. Her friends weren’t there. Were they buried under the destruction?
But then she saw the gate to the temple open. Cassius’s familiar figure peeked out. After scanning the sky, he stepped into the evening light.
Persia was right behind him. Lenah breathed out a big sigh of relief, grinning widely and waving as she saw them look toward the pagoda roof. Thank the stars, they were both okay.
But Cassius didn’t wave back. With a sudden movement, he j
erked up his laser and started shooting. Lenah followed the trail of his weapon, and her heart skipped a beat.
“Corinna!” she yelled, shaking the woman who was still lying on the ground. Corinna’s eyes snapped open.
“Give me your magic,” Lenah urged, watching the two winged figures descend. She heard Corinna gasp, then felt the inpour of magic. Lenah sent everything they both had toward the Cava Dara. Attack each other. Go away.
But they kept coming.
Suddenly, it was so cold, Lenah could feel it even through her suit. Laser beams, several at once, were hitting the Cava Dara and were leaving scorch marks on their white bodies and wings, but it didn’t stop their descent.
The creatures were less than ten meters away from Lenah now, and for the first time, she could see them with all their terrible detail. They were naked, their skin not resembling any material Lenah had seen before. It didn’t look like skin; instead, it shimmered as if made of something between polished stone and c-nano, but with an iridescent silver tone. And those purple eyes—sentient, and so cold. Otherworldly.
Lenah felt sweat run down her forehead, then stop as it turned to ice.
The creatures descended in a slow glide, wings unmoving, as if gravity didn’t apply. Maybe it didn’t for them. Then their eyes met, and Lenah’s heart became stone cold. Her magic faltered and faded. All she could do was stare back.
Seconds, or maybe minutes, ticked by. She didn’t know. Until a terrible shriek—like a piercing blade of ice—rocked her out of her lockdown. Lenah broke eye contact and saw the second Cava Dara teetering under the constant barrage of laser fire it was receiving from the temple entrance and from Corinna’s guard. Its wings moved, giving two mighty beats, but instead of going up, it tumbled down. Another shriek sounded, and Lenah was pushed backward by what felt like a wave of icy air. With a crash, the body of the Cava Dara hit the ground where it splintered into thousands of pieces.
Lenah looked back at the first Cava Dara, the one who’d stared at her. It was now the sole recipient of Cassius’s and Persia’s laser fire. The moment she looked, the creature found her eyes again. Emotion, hatred, an image of herself dying blasted through Lenah’s mind, and she felt herself fall backward, unable to catch herself. Lenah clutched her heart, suddenly sure that it would stop at the next beat. But she couldn’t feel anything through the suit. Panic flooded her as a third shriek interrupted the silence. Lenah looked up to see the creature flap its wings once. And then it was gone.
Lenah blinked and looked around. The Cava Dara had moved several hundred meters away and was rapidly gaining height. A few moments later, it had vanished.
Lenah closed her eyes, trembling. She’d never felt this helpless. And this cold.
“Why is it so cold?” she asked through shivering teeth, clutching onto the one thing she could at least explain. She knew cold. The rest of the encounter had been too eerie to address.
39 Aftermath
Slowly, the plaza was coming back to life. A constant stream of survivors walked out of the temple and into the evening twilight. Lenah watched as almost everyone had the same reaction.
Hugging themselves against the cold, people looked up fearfully, then down in disbelief about the rubble that covered the whole area. At first, no one talked, but after a few minutes, a crescendo of whispers, then shouts of happiness filled the plaza. They hadn’t believed it possible, but they’d won the day.
Their relief was contagious, and, slowly, Lenah felt herself getting warmer. And lighter, as she watched the people around and was able to push the encounter with the Cava Dara into the back of her mind. She was also starting to feel the effects of her suit’s inner heat regulators. Not feeling like she was about to freeze to death considerably helped to lift her spirits.
Corinna wasn’t fairing so well. After Cassius had helped her off the roof, she’d collapsed onto the ground, shivering and barely able to speak. Now, her guard was holding her upright as they made their slow way back to the ship. Maneuvering over the rubble was tricky, and they had to pick each step with care.
Lenah felt exhausted, too. If it weren’t for her suit giving her extra strength, she might be right there with Corinna who had stumbled again and didn’t seem to be able to support herself when the guard tried to pull her up. Without comment, Cassius stored his weapon in his belt, then lifted her in his arms.
They continued with Cassius carrying Corinna in front, the guard, Lenah, Persia, and Doctor Lund in the rear. Uz trailed several meters behind.
“Do you think this was it?” Persia asked softly into the silence.
Lenah swallowed. She didn’t want to think about this.
“There were hundreds of Cava Dara in the Syrr princess’s video,” Doctor Lund spoke out loud what Lenah was thinking. “Where’s the rest? We only saw two today.”
Persia sighed and looked like she’d already come to the same conclusion but had wanted to hear something else. Lenah shared the feeling.
“Maybe something happened during the last six thousand years,” Lenah said and shrugged as they reached the Star Rambler. The ship stood where they’d left it as if nothing had happened.
“The probabilities of that are close to zero. This mechanism has worked for eighteen-thousand of your standard years,” Zyr answered, and Lenah glowered at him. She didn’t feel like hearing this right now.
“There’s a positive side as well,” Doctor Lund said as he walked up the small ramp of the Rambler. “We won today. You two,” he raised his arm and pointed at Lenah and Corinna, “pushed the Muha Dara back. And you,” he pointed at Cassius and Persia, “destroyed a Cava Dara. We have powerful weapons that the Syrr didn’t have.”
“Right now, I don’t feel like a powerful weapon.” Lenah winced as she struggled to make the small climb up the ramp into the ship. “I only want to sleep with a heating blanket over my head for the next three days.”
“I think it’s time for a round of Cassidian marches tea,” Uz said from behind. “For everyone.” She added after looking at every one of them, except for Doctor Lund whom she seemed to be pointedly ignoring. She overtook them and vanished into the common room.
Lenah grunted her agreement. The tea sounded like the ideal next step. Maybe then, she’d be able to think about what to do next.
“Zyrakath, do you think we can train to become better at this? Not lose control?” Lenah asked the drone.
“I suppose,” he said distractedly. He was putting down his leg that he’d carried all the way back to the ship. “I’m not the right person to tell you. You need someone with knowledge about mind mages.”
Lenah nodded, then sighed. She knew where she could get that kind of knowledge.
She walked behind Cassius, who was carrying Corinna into the common room where the scent of Cassidian marches tea had already taken over. Lenah pulled off the helmet of her suit and collapsed onto the chair next to Corinna. Cassius sat opposite them.
“What should we do now?” he asked, looking directly at Lenah.
She shrugged. Was it cowardice to want to think about anything but that right now? But soon, they’d need to fly the Rambler somewhere, and by then she’d better have come up with a good plan.
“We should prepare for the next attack. Get better at this.” She waved a hand in between her and Corinna’s head.
“And how would we do that?” Corinna stuttered through clattering teeth. Uz, who had been about to give Lenah the first cup of Cassidian marches tea, adjusted and handed it to Corinna. She accepted with only the slightest grimace, then took a big gulp.
“We go to the Guild,” Lenah said as Uz handed her the second cup of tea.
Corinna shook her head. “The Guild where they train warp mages?”
“It turns out they might have some experience with mind mages as well,” Lenah said, taking a deep sip of her cup. Warmth exploded in her veins, and she sighed. A plan started to form in her mind. “I think we should give a certain group of mages a ride to their home base.”
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She saw Cassius’s eyes dart toward Corinna in alarm and followed his gaze. Corinna was studying Lenah. “You mean the mages who escaped from the farm,” Corinna said flatly.
“I mean the mages that we freed from an abusive job.”
Corinna’s eyebrow lifted, but instead of objecting, she took another sip from her cup. “And hypothetically speaking, you think the Guild would not only be able to train us, but this group of mages will show us the way to their base?” she asked.
Lenah raised her chin. “They’ll need some form of transport. I doubt the Guild has a ship just parked around on every planet. The Rambler might be their best way to get home fast.”
“The Guild. Most secret location in the galaxy.” Cassius shook his head, but his eyes crinkled with amusement. “Wow.”
Lenah wouldn’t argue. No one knew where the facilities were located. But Lorka had offered, hadn’t he? And there was also the question why the Cava Dara were still attacking.
“There’s only one mage farm, right?” Lenah asked Corinna.
The other woman looked up at her in surprise, then nodded. “Why?” she asked.
“Because the attacks didn’t stop when we destroyed the first one.”
“Are you implying something is still triggering them?”
Lenah nodded, hoping Corinna would explain. But she just stared ahead grimly, lips quivering from the cold. Thoughtful? Angry?
“No matter what, we’ll go to the Guild first,” Lenah said more to convince herself than anyone else. She hoped they would be allowed to leave again. Especially, without going through the decades-long training mages usually took. She only had days, maybe weeks, until the next attack.
Once this was over, the last thing Lenah wanted was to be institutionalized again. She was ready to live her own life. See what she really wanted and maybe what was between her and Cassius. His intent gaze met hers as if he knew exactly the direction her thoughts had taken, and despite all her worries, butterflies fluttered in Lenah’s stomach. She smiled as she took another sip of her Cassidian marches tea.
