The Search for Ulyssa

by Heidi J. Leavitt

  “For House Kruunde!” he cried.

  Bren fired the rock at the guard, smashing it into the back of his head. He screamed shrilly and dropped the knife. The guard wrenched his body around, his feral eyes locking onto Bren’s. Suddenly, three more shots rang out in quick succession and the guard’s body jerked as bullets punched into his back. He collapsed forward, landing on the body of the woman he had been attacking.

  Three more Palace Guards arrived, and Bren stared at them in fear, his hyperalert mind not sure if they were here to help or here to finish what the first guard had started. They had their guns pointed at him, and one shouted an order in terse Denicorizen that Bren was unable to make out.

  The guard repeated his order and Bren shakily raised his hands, hoping they would realize that he was unarmed and not a threat. One guard kept his weapon trained on Bren, while another moved forward quickly and shoved the crazy dead guy off the body of the woman.

  “He shot her, I think,” Bren stammered, gesturing at the limp figure. The Palace Guard gently turned her over, and Bren gasped. Her entire torso had been scorched by a diffusing laser. The guard pressed two fingers to her neck.

  “She’s still alive!” He started shouting orders into his communicator so quickly that Bren couldn’t decipher the Denicorizen. A distant siren started to blare.

  “Who is she?” the Palace Guard nearest Bren said in accented Basic. He was still aiming his gun at Bren, though he didn’t seem to consider him an active threat. “Do you know her?”

  Bren swallowed back the bile rising in his throat and raised his eyes from her charred chest to her untouched face.

  “It’s Madam Morten,” he said thickly. “The wife of the Union Ambassador.”

  Kendra’s aunt.

  16. Hospital Vigil

  Kendra woke in a panic, unsure where she was.

  Dina? she called wildly. Her heart started to race, and she tried to push herself to her feet, only to find that her legs had gone totally numb. Her head was pounding.

  I’m here. Shhh, calm down. You’re safe.

  Just the sound of Dina’s voice calmed her enough for her to look around and get her bearings. She was curled in a padded chair in a private hospital waiting room.

  Her memories flooded back. A squad of Armada soldiers brought them here from the palace. They were waiting to hear if Aunt Andie was going to survive. She had gone in for surgery several hours back. Kendra realized that her uncle’s aide Mr. Granger had entered the room and was having a muted conversation with her uncle. That had probably been what awakened her.

  Where have you been, Dina? It’s been the most awful night. Kendra drew in a deep breath, trying to keep more tears from leaking from her eyes. She had cried enough for one evening already. With a security lockdown in place after her aunt was shot, nobody had been able to find Tiran before they left for the hospital, and with the mental barriers still looming in her mind she had felt lost and alone and terrified. Her uncle had been wild-eyed with grief and panic himself, which scared her even more.

  I’m sorry. Dina paused. I had to keep Ulyssa away from you. When she figured out who you were, and that we were connected—well, I was afraid of what she was going to do. And I was trying to stop her from . . . Dina’s voice trailed off.

  Stop her from what?

  “What?!” her uncle exclaimed loudly. Kendra jolted upright. She turned and looked at her uncle and Mr. Granger.

  “Intelligence believes she is on the current Red List of the Brotherhood,” Mr. Granger said.

  Kendra gasped. Her aunt was on the Red List? But why? Was that why she had been shot? Someone from the Brotherhood was trying to assassinate her?

  Stop her from that, Dina said sadly.

  Huh? Trying to assassinate my aunt? That didn’t make any sense. Why would Ulyssa attack Aunt Andie? Ulyssa was drawn to Aunt Andie, Dina had said. Not that her twinspark wanted to kill Aunt Andie.

  Ulyssa was involved. She was manipulating several people to make it happen. Not that they needed much encouragement.

  The sudden change in her uncle’s tone caught her attention again.

  “He knows. Somebody has told the Oman who she is.” Her uncle’s voice was hoarse with fear.

  “I don’t understand, Ambassador,” the aide said. Kendra shook her head. She didn’t understand either.

  “How much do you know about the Corizen Revolution, Steven?”

  “A fair amount. I studied everything I could get my hands on when you hired me. I even took a class or two at the university,” Mr. Granger answered.

  There was a long pause, and her uncle seemed to drag out his next words from some tightly hidden place deep within.

  “My wife is Sirra Bruche.”

  Kendra tried to process the news that her aunt was the famous revolutionary hero, too stunned to find any words.

  I thought so, Dina said smugly.

  What?

  Come on, Kendra, the connections were obvious.

  But if she was married to Laeren Bruche . . . she could have had a child . . .

  Dina knew where Kendra was going with this. Exactly the right age as your cousin?

  Her uncle’s furious voice interrupted again. “Why did no one tell me this before? We should have had added security.” He took a breath and then continued, his voice almost building to a shout. “If I had known she was on that list I never would have brought my family to the palace tonight!”

  Kendra cringed back against her chair. Her uncle looked ready to attack someone—and his aide clearly thought so as well. He held up his hands, a placating gesture. “I don’t know, sir.”

  Uncle Casey is scaring me. Are we in danger too, Dina?

  Tiran is, Dina admitted in a tiny voice.

  What?

  The Bruche family has enemies. So I learned from Ulyssa. And she seems determined to make things worse.

  Her uncle stood up. “Steven, I want you to contact security at the International Complex. I arranged for the Palace Guard to send Tiran home. Have Tiran brought here to the hospital under heavy guard. Then contact Admiral Hernandez and have him approve a portal jaunt to Zenith.”

  “Shall I arranged for a ship then, Ambassador?” the aide asked.

  “Yes,” her uncle said, his voice dropping. “But I’m not sure when I will need it yet. I need to wait until my wife comes out of surgery.” The aide nodded and then briskly left the room.

  A ship? Is he going to send Tiran off-planet, then? Kendra nibbled at a fingernail. Will that keep her safe? What about Aunt Andie?

  I suspect your uncle is going to put us on that ship too, Kendra.

  No, he can’t! I’m in the middle of a term! And I haven’t even gotten to talk to Bren after that disaster of a dance—he’ll think I’m mad at him! Besides, what about your twinspark?

  I think it might be best to go back to Zenith. We need to get away from Ulyssa. She’s—well, a threat.

  To who?

  A lot of people.

  Can we stop her?

  No. I don’t want her anywhere near you.

  Kendra sighed. She didn’t like the idea of leaving at all. But she might not have a choice in the first place.

  “Uncle Casey? Are we leaving Corizen?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

  Before he could answer her, they were interrupted by the doctor in charge of her aunt’s surgery, who reported that her condition was stable, and most likely she was going to survive. Kendra let out a long, deep sigh of relief. Losing her aunt was too terrifying to even consider. Her uncle grilled him for more details, but Kendra was already distracted.

  So if the Bruche family has enemies, and they are after my aunt, will they try again? Since she’s going to be OK?

  Maybe. I don’t know. The man who attacked her had the strongest focus of personal hatred I’ve felt from a human in a v
ery long time.

  You could feel him? How is that possible? I was stuck inside in the ballroom. When you blocked me, were you able to leave? Kendra asked, half hoping and half fearing to hear the answer. Had Dina finally figured out a way to separate herself from Kendra?

  Physically I was still tied to you. But I can connect—resonate, I guess—with my twinspark in a way that I cannot with any other isithunzi, at least if I am in close enough proximity. Ulyssa was shadowing the man who attacked your aunt, so I got a pretty clear picture of him. His entire existence was directed at making your aunt suffer for some reason.

  What about Tiran?

  Dina hesitated. Kendra could tell she was holding something back. It was as if Dina was bricking another wall between them.

  What about Tiran? she repeated.

  Still no answer.

  Kendra gave up in disgust. She turned to her uncle instead, hoping to get some of her questions answered at last.

  “Uncle Casey, is Laeren Bruche Tiran’s real father?” she asked, a little nervously. If this was a great secret, would he be angry at her for asking about it?

  “Yes,” he said. He didn’t sound angry—rather, he sounded wearier than ever. “She doesn’t remember him. He died before she was two years old. I married your aunt when Tiran was six, but Tiran had already been living with me for a year before that, after her grandmother was killed in the revolution. I’ve loved her just like she was my own.”

  It was the same story Tiran had told her, excluding the tiny details that Aunt Andie was her biological mother and her biological father was a revolutionary icon. Just a small omission, Kendra thought wryly. I’m sure Tiran didn’t mean to lie to me.

  Just like you don’t mean to lie to her when you fail to mention my existence, reminded Dina reasonably. Kendra ignored her, focusing on Uncle Casey again.

  “I know she loves you a lot too, Uncle Casey,” Kendra offered. Her voice dropped. “It breaks her heart when you have to go away.” She thought about how much Tiran moped every time Uncle Casey left the planet. Tiran clearly loved her adoptive father fiercely.

  “Most people don’t have any idea,” her uncle continued. “Tiran goes by my last name, not her real father’s. Of course, she doesn’t look anything like me, but most people just assumed we adopted a local child.” He laughed shortly, sounding anything but happy about it. “We thought it best if the name Bruche was never associated with the family.”

  The Bruche family has enemies, Kendra thought, echoing Dina’s words.

  “But why?” She picked at one of the sequins that was coming loose on her ball gown, hoping she sounded innocently curious. “Everyone at school talks of the whole Bruche family with awe and respect.”

  “It was just safer that way,” her uncle said, his eyes sliding away from her face.

  Great. Another person who didn’t want to tell her the truth. She dredged through her memories of the conversation she overheard earlier.

  “So somebody knows then that Aunt Andie is Sirra Bruche?”

  Who are these enemies exactly? Dina added silently. I couldn’t get that detail from Ulyssa.

  “Somebody told the leader of the Brotherhood,” her uncle explained reluctantly. Kendra sucked in a worried breath. The Brotherhood? The terrorists who kept attacking the city?

  “Let’s just put it like this,” he continued. “The leader of the Brotherhood right now is Othar Eshude, and Eshude has a special hatred for the Bruche family.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s a long story. I’ll tell you some other time.”

  Kendra swallowed her frustration. Wasn’t anyone going to tell her what was going on? No answers from her uncle, and nothing from Dina either. No matter, she decided at last. When the guards brought Tiran to the hospital, Kendra would grill her directly. Now that Kendra knew her big secret, surely her cousin would tell her everything.

  ♦

  The gentle shake startled Kendra awake. “It’s nearly time to go, Kendra honey.” She rubbed at her eyes and peered at her exhausted uncle. Stifling a yawn, she straightened her back and then rubbed at the painful crick in her neck.

  How long have I been asleep this time?

  A couple of hours. Your uncle has been making plans to fake your aunt’s death, Dina said.

  Really?

  Best way to keep another assassin from coming after her again.

  That makes sense, if he can pull it off.

  I think his plan is pretty good. He already sent out a public announcement that she died during the surgery. The doctor confirmed it. They are sending her straight to Zenith in her medical capsule on a private ship, with just you and Tiran to accompany her. Dina still sounded worried, though.

  What’s wrong?

  Before Dina could answer, the door swung open and smacked into the wall of the waiting room, sending a chunk of plaster to the floor. Her uncle’s aide bolted in, his eyes wild.

  “Ambassador,” he gasped, “your daughter is missing! The security at the International Complex can’t find her anywhere. I don’t know if the Palace Guard even took her home last night.”

  Kendra shot to her feet and winced as her tingling legs nearly buckled underneath her.

  “Tiran?” Uncle Casey sounded completely bewildered. “How can Tiran be missing at a time like this? Where would she possibly go?”

  Dina! The panic started to well up in Kendra’s chest. Had something happened to Tiran? What are you not telling me?

  Her uncle seemed to be going into shock. He was still standing motionless, staring at his aide as if he must have misheard Mr. Granger’s words.

  “What do you want me to do?” Mr. Granger asked worriedly.

  Dina! Kendra screeched.

  She left with Markus, Dina said finally. That’s all I know. And the man who attacked your aunt was gloating about it. It was part of his plan.

  Why didn’t you say anything? Kendra was furious. We could have started looking for her hours ago!

  And what would you have told your uncle? What are you going to tell him now?

  “I think she might have left with Markus,” Kendra blurted out loud. Both her uncle and his aide turned to face her. Mr. Granger’s mouth dropped open. Uncle Casey’s brow furrowed.

  “Markus the librarian?” he said. “But he was reassigned to Madrigal. Not to mention that he wouldn’t have been at the Palace tonight. He would never have been invited to the inaugural ball.”

  “Well . . .” Kendra squirmed uncomfortably. “Tiran requested him as her guest, and he was cleared by security.”

  There was an awkward silence. Her uncle’s eyes narrowed, and his lips pressed into a line.

  “So he was there at the ball tonight?”

  “Yes.” Her voice dropped to a whisper. She hadn’t exactly seen him, but . . .

  He was there, Dina confirmed again.

  “And you saw Tiran leave with him and you didn’t say anything?” Her uncle’s face was growing red, but he still kept his voice tightly controlled.

  “No, I didn’t see her, but if she’s missing, then it makes the most sense that she went with Markus. She’s a little infatuated with him,” she explained in a rush. Kendra’s gut twisted. Tiran was going to kill her for betraying her confidence. But if Tiran was in danger, what did it matter anymore? Tiran could hate her forever if only she were OK.

  “Steven?” Uncle Casey turned away, but not before Kendra caught the flare of disappointment in his eyes. She writhed in shame. Suddenly helping Tiran sneak around with the librarian behind her parents’ backs felt like an immature, risky thing to do.

  Mr. Granger already had a small device that he was tapping into. “What is his name?”

  “Markus something . . .”

  “Stoer,” Kendra supplied timidly. Both men glanced briefly her way again.

  “He was recent
ly working as a librarian in the university library. Complex Security has the standard dossier; you should be able to pull it and find out where he lives,” her uncle continued briskly. “It’s important that we find her before anyone else does.”

  Mr. Granger tapped silently for a few moments and then raised his worried eyes again.

  “What if she isn’t there? Will you delay the launch?”

  Uncle Casey ran his hands through his hair.

  “We can’t, or we’ll miss our jaunt window. The ship has to leave in one hour—whether or not Tiran is on board.”

  17. Sneaking Away

  Kendra hadn’t realized that they would have to sneak out of the hospital. But her uncle quietly explained as they left the waiting room that a large crowd of reporters and curious onlookers were gathered outside the main entrance, hoping to intercept them as they left. A contingent of CPF soldiers had set up a cordon around the building; it was the only reason they weren’t bothered in the waiting room during the night.

  At the far end of the hallway, a hospital guard was waiting for them. He led them furtively into the empty receiving bay where a plain delivery transport waited. Mr. Granger opened the door and waved Kendra in. She slid onto the hard bench seat, staring at the long boxy object draped with a white sheet.