Page 19

19

On Silver Sands

RIV

W ith élisa’s permission, the group began packing and closing her house.

She changed into a fresh jumpsuit, and she and Killen passed all their essentials to Riv, who packed them into Glimmer.

élisa’s coolness toward Riv lingered, keeping to herself as she focused on stowing away her belongings.

A wall had come up between them.

He caught fleeting glimpses of fear in her eyes and posture as they prepped to leave her home. Her gaze often followed Killen, clouded with concern.

Riv tried comforting her by pulling her close into an embrace, but she shook her head and pulled away.

She’d walked this road alone for so long that he wondered if it was too late for her to let him in after so many years of doing it tough on her own.

He reminded himself she needed space, so Riv stepped back, waiting until she made peace with the situation and him.

The Riders secured the property, adding Sable tech shields around it. ‘No one will get through those,’ Riv assured his woman, who shot him a nervous glance.

Glimmer took a quick trip to offload the dzo livestock to a monastery, a short hop away.

On return, Mirage’s bots went to town, cleaning the now smelly hold before the Riders packed Killen and his mother’s bags inside the sleek gunship.

They were ready for lift-off within hours, the entire party traveling on Glimmer to rendezvous with the Phantasm.

Once beside the behemoth battle cruiser, Noab Hakim, who was recovering well, was transferred from Glimmer to Phantasm’s medbay, where the Sable Riders’ team of medics took over his treatment.

Meanwhile, inside Riv’s ship, the Rider ushered Killen and élisa into its bridge, exchanging an amused glance with his woman. ‘Care to revisit your brief captain-ship of my boat?’

She rolled her eyes at him but gave him a faint touch on his arm, which he took as a sign of her thawing. She settled into the XO’s seat with a smile while she strapped in behind him.

Glimmer parted ways with the Sable Group’s mega cruiser in minutes and flew due south of Devansi.

Zane announced from the helm. ‘People, we’re headed to the nebula’s touch point on Devansi. The Phantasm will remain cloaked in orbit to give us cover. Once we arrive, the landing team will descend to the surface and assess the situation up close. Are we all clear?’

‘Clear,’ the crew intoned.

When the secure seat sign went off, Killen rose, wandering the bridge, his shrouded eyes somehow taking in his new environment. He roamed the consoles, touching screens and surfaces, feeling his way around the gunship.

Zane leaned over to Riv, his eyes on the young man exploring the Phantasm. He’s off the charts.

Riv nodded, his eyes also tracking his son’s progress. That he is. I feel like I’ve got years to catch up on and eons on top of that to understand everything he is.

He’s got some unusual psi energy.

‘How so?’

It’s more acute and different, somewhat extending into the spiritual and divine.

Riv pursed his lips. ’Twas what he shared with me. The stone on his forehead represents the third eye of intuition and intellect. According to the Katánē, when something is seen in a royal’s mind’s eye or a dream, it is also seen by hawkstone. The hawkstone’s purpose is to enhance the powers of this third eye. This allows the wearer to interpret the world in a truthful, unbiased manner, as well as forsake their ego and get rid of their false labels.

Damn.

What’s even more interesting is that my meta DNA enhances his abilities.

Zane shook his head. His depths are unfathomable. I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of him.

Riv grinned, his mirth laced with pride. He’s like a lion in lambskin. He has the purest of hearts, like his mother. However, I sense in battle, although untrained, he’d tear the enemy apart, split them open like soft fruit, and pick at their bones.

As Riv spoke, Killen looked up, his sightless eyes aiming straight at him, a playful smile on his face.

Zane hid a laugh with a cough. I believe he caught every word.

Killen gave a mock bow.

Riv laughed out loud. Damn, son, you could fokk us up if you so decided.

Killen’s mind-voice floated into their neural network. Not a clue what you’re talking about, Father. I was taught never to eavesdrop.

Bullshit, Riv guffawed. It seems you need training in the art of covert listening. Your poker face also needs some work. A father-to-son skills transfer needs to kick in.

Bring it on,’ Killen said with a raised brow.

I foresee a couple of kapo sessions in our future, Killen—the best place to learn how to poker-face and lunge at the same time.

Kapo?

Zane and Riv exchanged a glance.

You’ve got your work cut out, brother. The sapphire-eyed Rider grinned, clapping a hand on Riv’s shoulder.

éLISA

élisa gazed at her man, who stood by Zane, deep in discussion about their coming mission.

Ki’Remi drew élisa’s attention away from her reverie.

He called out to both her and her son.

When Killen reached his mother’s side, the taciturn Rider handed them two small boxes. Inside were two chrome circles edged with a luminous hi-tech lining.

‘These dampeners are designed to combat the Ka’SH?rd effect on your physiology. Place them on your temples to filter and reduce the impact of any psionic waves emitted. They’ll inhibit the effect up to ninety per cent, even more.’

‘ Sante ,’ élisa told Ki’Remi, taking the box. ‘Your thoughtfulness touches me.’

The Rider shrugged with a slight smile. ‘Don’t thank me. Thank Riv. He gave me the brief.’

élisa’s eyes misted over as she slid her gaze to her man.

Her mounting concern for Killen fell somewhat. While prepping for this jaunt south, she’d studied the Riders up close. She’d taken in the wonder of their monstrous battleship, their evident firepower and organization.

They were no longer the lads she’d dallied with on Eden II; they were now formidable operators, and her confidence in their promise to keep Killen safe firmed in just a few hours.

She felt a stab of guilt for doubting Riv. She needed to make amends, so she waited until he was done with Zane before approaching him.

She found him at the quieter end of the bridge, in a nook created for a calm tete-a-tete, far from prying eyes.

He stood at the vast viewport, gazing outside as the place she’d called home for many years receded from sight.

Riv started when she wrapped her arms behind him to pull him close.

He turned around, his face splitting into a smile. ‘You OK, my angel?’

His eyes probed her lilac ones, searching hers to sense where she sat on their earlier cooling off.

She gave him a soft look. ‘I adore you so, Riv; it’s difficult to be angry with you for too long. I can’t bear to waste another second being upset with you.’

‘My sweet love,’ was all Riv could say, leaning forward to kiss her.

She shared her lips before pulling back to serve him a rueful look. ‘That said, I apologize for my stroppy attitude earlier, my Sableman. It’s hard to leave what I’m familiar with and trust in a future I can’t envision yet. It was unfair of me not to trust in you.’

His face softened, his arms banding around her. ‘I understand. If you want to, we’ll come back, my heart. That I can promise you.’

‘I’m not sure we will. I’m not sure I now want to return, given that it holds so many dark memories.’

‘Just hold on, love. Once we get through this trial, we can make the best memories together.’

élisa fell into his arms, her eyes wet with tears. Each day with him now was a gift, and overwhelmed with emotion, she reached up to him.

He lowered his lips to hers, and as Glimmer ascended to the skies, they lost themselves in a passionate embrace filled with promise and hope.

RIV

The sand shifted as six silhouettes cloaked in stealth suits landed on a lake’s thick, stark-white surface, which had been long dried up by the intense sun rays and was now captive to a raging nebula.

Zane shared a quick direction. ‘Keep all comms to our HUDs. élisa and Killen, if your helmets fail, your dampeners will still allow you to listen to our comms and neural conversations. Everyone, follow me.’

Killen and élisa hovered alongside Xion and Ki’Remi for cover while Riv acted as rear guard.

He stared with interest at the edge of the dried lake they’d landed beside, studded with a series of stainless-steel statues featuring strange, ghoulish creatures.

As they made their way closer to the phenomenon, twisting down to the salt surface, the sand below them shifted into a startling color range, from dusky mauve to bright pink.

The unfamiliar salt pan was devoid of vegetation and life.

Apart from clusters of shrouded silhouettes in tan and white cloaks. They floated just above the ground, caught in a bizarre, circular dance around the nebula’s base.

Xion exclaimed, breaking the silence. ‘What the freakin’ hell?’

‘I recognize the monks of Devansi alongside a few foreigners,’ Killen replied. ‘They’ve been worshiping the entity for weeks now.’

The group approached the swaying monks with care.

‘No weapons yet,’ Zane cautioned. ‘Besides, I can deal with any attack if it comes.’

Riv glanced at élisa, who’d drifted close to him at the rear of the advancing party.

‘You OK?’ he asked her via the HUD network.

She turned and gave him a look through the transparent plex of her helmet. ‘I’m coping. And the dampeners Ki’Remi provided are working so well, there’s no negative effect.’

He called out to his son, who was tracking ahead and keen to get into the action. ‘Killen?’

‘Same.’

The young man’s voice was husky, distracted, his attention fixed on the phalanx of robed monks.

The floating clerics moved, arms interlinked, their heads thrust back, eyes aimed at the finger of the nebula that churned over the salt pan.

The group threaded between the floating priests, studying the unusual gathering as they worked their way through the hordes until they reached the centre.

Killen cleared his voice. ‘It’s like they’re in worship. I can sense a strong link between their souls to the nebula, a tether of sorts.’

Zane whistled under his breath. ‘Their minds are also fixed on the nebula, locked into it.’

‘They’re in an induced trance,’ Ki’Remi declared.

‘It’s bizarre,’ Xion added.

Killen raised a hand. ‘Their energy lock is intensified by a monk standing at the circle’s centre. He’s overloading them with emotions and sensations and, in turn, drawing all their psi power.’

Everyone followed his pointing finger to where a single silhouette was suspended above all the other monks.

Swirling around its form was a billowing cloak, and its face was obscured by a rapidly alternating virtual visage.

Under a half-melted mask, his face was a mottled, scarred landscape, glitching as it cycled through multiple facades.

His dark vortex eyes were pointed at the nebula.

The Riders exchanged glances.

‘We meet Ankis again.’ Zane muttered into their HUDs.

‘Who is he to you?’ élisa ventured.

Zane flinched. ‘That shall soon be confirmed. We have suspicions, but what I’m about to do will stop this madness and uncover what we came for.’

The Rider stepped forward towards the hovering figure.

The hot wind churning from the nebula whipped his robe around. Revealing a silhouette covered in a suit made of dull strings of black gems, phasing in and out of different body shapes.

‘He is redirecting the monks’ energy flow into the entity.’ Zane’s voice tightened with tension.

‘Why?’ Xion asked.

Zane’s voice was laced with concern. ’It’s like he’s trying to force it open. It’s fighting back. The energy loop their fight is causing is growing and could crack open this plain and cause a significant gravitational incident. One that could tilt this planet out of its axis. He needs to be stopped. Now.’

‘I know some of these kinais ,’ Zane murmured, nodding towards a cluster of dark-robed monks closer to the centre. ‘The infamous Ordo Secondo, sponsors of Ankis’ madness.’

As he spoke, one of the clerics phased out of their trance.

‘Hey!’

He called out to the party, floating to the ground and rushing the group, pulling a photon rifle from his robes.

‘Well, well, if it isn’t Cadrin?’

The monk skidded to a stop at Zane’s call.

‘Who are you?’

Zane retracted his helmet. ‘Remember me?’

The cleric jolted, his face convulsing into a sneer. ‘Oh fokk no, you will not hinder us again.’

The whine of the monk’s rifle sounded as he prepared to fire.

‘You don’t want to do that,’ Zane warned.

Cadrin shook his head. ‘But I must protect the quickening at all costs. We’re so close.’

‘Close to what?’

‘To commune with the Shard. What we’ve always wanted.’

‘Commune? How about controlling it so you can unleash your twisted philosophies on Pegasi?’ Zane told the disbelieving monk. ‘Problem is we don’t agree with your pastime.’

Cadrin laughed a maniacal sound that Riv curled his lip at.

Then the monk lifted his weapon and fired.

Even before his laser left the barrel, his weapon disintegrated.

‘Watch out for falling objects,’ Zane warned.

He spread his arms and pushed out.

Riv stared at his fellow Rider as he felt a massive energy wave emanating from Zane.

It rushed over the monks in a trance.

Cadrin fell to the ground, knocked out and unconscious.

élisa gave a small scream as the entire host of clustered monks fell to the ground in a wave, crumpling into oblivion.

‘Gnarly,’ Xion commented, nodding his approval.

Zane jerked his chin. ‘I hope they enjoy sweet slumber. Looks like they needed it. They’ll be out for a few hours.’

‘I need to learn that trick,’ Killen commented, his white milky gaze panning over the scene. As if parsing over the souls of the sleeping monks laid out on the multi-colored salt pan.

‘ Nada! ’

They whipped around at the cry.

To the sight of Ankis struggling to his feet, his shattered, glitching face a canvas of fury.

He staggered towards Zane, his broken, mangled body lurching. ‘How dare you? How fokkin ’ dare you?’

To Riv’s surprise, Zane ran forward, and as Ankis flailed and fell, the Rider caught him.

Riv raced to Zane’s side, heart pounding.

‘What the hell, brother? That man is freakin’ dangerous.’

Zane held a hand up. I know what I’m doing. There’s something you need to know. It’s a fact that all the Riders found out while you were away. Ankis is not who you think he is.’

‘Who the hell is he?’ Riv growled.

Zane looked up at him. ‘Brace yourself, brother.’

By this time, the rest of his companions had drawn close to the trio.

élisa placed a hand on Riv’s arm, and he wrapped it around her waist, pulling her to his side.

Riv darted his eyes to the other Riders, gazing at Ankis with great concern. ‘What the freak is going on? Will someone tell me?’

Ki’Remi drew to his side. ‘We believe he’s someone we know very well. We need to let Zane do his thing to confirm it.’

The figure in Zane’s arms was spasming. ‘The monks’ psi energy was the only thing keeping him upright,’ Ki’Remi observed.

Zane bobbed his head. ‘It would seem so.’

‘Now let’s see whether I can make this work.’

He placed his hands over Ankis’ broken body, over two sections. One was on his chest, and the other was on the side of his mask, where Riv, peering closer, spotted what looked to be a black spinel gem.

Both were caught in a glitching kinetic reaction that spurred his spasms in a wild frequency.

Zane opened his eyes and let his psionic vision extend into the sky. Wild blue arcs shot out of them, and he tipped his head further back as the lightning-like bolts reached into the air, searching an unseen realm.

‘What are you doing?’ élisa asked.

Zane turned to her. ‘I’m interrupting the uncontrolled oscillations of his form. By disrupting the vibrations and pausing them at a molecular level. Something I picked up from a Ccyth jewel master, if you can believe it.’

His hands vibrated against Ankis’ body, blurring from view until it slumped in shock into unconsciousness.

Xion huffed, part in shock. ‘Lights off, sucker kinai punched out.’

‘Wiped for sure,’ Riv murmured.

‘Here we go,’ Zane growled.

The oscillations slowed, and a single face began to form under the twisted mask. His body, too, began to reform as Zane’s hands came into focus.

‘Damn, it’s what I thought.’

With a sigh, the Rider sat back and lifted his hands away, revealing a silhouette that elicited a wave of shock among the Riders.

Most astounded was Riv, who almost slumped to his knees with a cry before faltering towards the slack form.

Killen held his distressed mother back as the Riders surged to the form’s side.

Riv snarled, inconsolable. ‘ Nada . It can’t be.’

He got to the side of the unconscious man’s face and touched his forehead. ‘How?’ the silver-haired Rider cried, looking up at Zane.

His brother twisted his lips in regret. ‘I’m not sure. I’ve only had disparate puzzle pieces, most of which I discovered when speaking with the Eden Shard.’

Riv froze, his silver eyes fixated with sadness on the senseless figure.

Disturbed by his anguish, élisa blurted out. ‘Who is he? Will someone tell us?’