Collision: The Battle for Darracia - Book 2 (The Darracia Saga) (15 page)

The motion slowed, the ship still bouncing, her
stomach rushing up to meet her gullet. Zayden was ominously quiet. The rocking slowed, and Denita unbuckled herself to check on Zayden. Fumbling with his latch, she tried to lift it, but it was stuck fast. On her knees, she pounded with her fists, but it was immovable.

She felt a hot hand touch her shoulder and she screamed, turning to see a wizened creature curiously looking at her. Naked from the waist up, she was wrinkled and red, with star-shaped eyes examining her.

“Bobbien help?” she asked in a musical voice.

Denita opened her mouth, but no sounds came out.

The odd creature looked in the backseat and spied the injured Darracian. “Oh my, Zayden. What have you done to yourself?” Bobbien climbed onto the craft, making it feel even more unstable. She considered Denita’s white face. “Don’t look down, dearie. It’s a long trip.”

Denita turned to gaze at the drop, swallowing compulsively.

“I told you not to look down,” Bobbien admonished. “Help me.”

Her long, red fingers were able to loosen the glass hatch, and she watched slack jawed as the old woman pulled Zayden from the wreckage with unbelievable strength.

“Come!” She held out a hand to the younger girl. “Follow me. I fix him, no?”

Denita reached out and let this alien creature guide her to safety.

Chapter 25

Seren hustled V’sair into the knee-deep water to board the skiff sent out to them. They climbed in, and V’sair turned to the Quyroo. “Not two days ago, you saved my life.”

“I had to. I was being watched. Bobbien was right behind me.”

“I don’t understand…” V’sair said quietly.

“There is nothing to understand. As long as you are king, the most I can hope is to serve you, rise to some inconsequential post in the army. Lothen made me a better offer.”

“But he is Plantan…”

“So are you,” Seren responded, then looked to the red stone city floating in the clouds above them.

Seren pushed V’sair none too gently as they boarded the painted Plantan vessel. It bobbed in the unsteady water, and V’sair reached out to hold a rail. Seren
shoved him hard in the shoulder, directing him to Lothen’s quarters. Inside, Staf stood next to Lothen, a dark-eyed woman next to him. The room was icy cold; V’sair shivered in spite of himself. Lothen drank from a clear goblet—a small red fish swam inside. V’sair heard faint mewing, but could not find its source.

“So, now you have both my mother and me. What do you want, ransom? Crystals?” V’sair asked.

Staf stepped forward. “Your reign is finally over. You and that Planta whore can orbit the planet for the rest of your miserable lives. Now Darracia will have justice.”

“You will never rule Darracia. Ozre will stop you,” V’sair replied defiantly.

Lothen eased his lanky frame from his chair, taking his goblet with him. He walked close to V’sair, towering over him. He raised his glass with a salute, and V’sair watched in horror as he downed a small humanoid creature.

“Delicious…would you like some?” Lothen asked with his basilisk stare. “You are Plantan—you might like it.”

“Half-Plantan,” V’sair said distastefully. “I prefer Darracian customs.”

“You are a rare mixture, a regular ambassador for all species.” Lothen walked around the room. “Your mother is Plantan, your father Darracian, you love a Quyroo.” He stopped and grabbed V’sair by his chin. “I know everything about you, nephew; you sip from every flower taking only what you want. Do you have gills, V’sair?”

“No,” V’sair answered curtly. “This is no business of yours.”

Lothen grabbed his hand. “No gills, no webs between your fingers, yet you are shaped like us.” He pulled the sleeve up his arm roughly to examine the bluish skin.

V’sair pulled away. “I am Darracian in body and
anima. If this is your idea of what makes a Planta, I am happy to say the only thing I have in common with you is my mother. Where is she?” he demanded.

“She is no longer your concern.”

“If you have harmed her, I will kill you.”

Lothen laughed. Staf shifted from one foot to the other impatiently. “Kill him and get it over with.”

Lothen ignored him, walking over to consider V’sair again.

“I just want to know if you are more Plantan than Darracian.” His uncle circled him, watching the younger man. He touched the white braid, and V’sair defiantly pulled away. “You are not in a position to be arrogant. Try it,” Lothen commanded as he brought another goblet with a fish swimming frantically around in a circle. V’sair realized the mewing sound was coming from its frightened mouth.

His uncle held the glass to his lips, forcing V’sair to drink. “Try it, V’sair. You might like it and us. Try it and we can talk about a proposition,” his oily voice wheedled. V’sair looked away, his eyes scanning the portholes at his ruined forests.

“What!” Staf interrupted. “You didn’t say anything about this!”

“I don’t remember that I have to report to you. Meanwhile, I see two kings here, not three.”

Staf stalked over to him, his face very close to Lothen. “This was not our deal.”

Lothen touched the older man’s neck and replied, “Don’t let me call on Geva.” He turned to Seren. “Take them out of here and lock them up.”

Seren paused, looking at both men. Lothen laughed, reaching out to touch the Quyroo on the shoulder. “Oh, don’t worry, Seren, both the Desa and Tulani are yours.”

Seren grabbed Staf, and another guard used his gun
to push them out the door.

“Come sit by me, nephew.” Lothen eyed his sister’s son with interest. “They say you are the new Darracia, why?”

V’sair looked out the ports of the room. “What does it matter now that you will destroy it?”

“I have no need to do that. I merely need a new place to make my home.”

“You came with Nuen.”

“He is a graphen addict, oh yes. He is far gone and useless. We could do great things together.”

“Your Geva and the Elements will not coexist together. They are fundamentally different.”

“Yes, V’sair you are right.” He spun and shouted to the room, “Do you hear that, Geva? You can’t coexist with Darracia’s precious Elements. What do you think of that!”

The air rippled around them, almost gelling. V’sair
felt the oxygen being sucked out of his lungs. A small whirlpool started over Lothen’s head, filling the room with rushing air. It swirled around the room, caressing him with its slimy heat, then narrowed to a long, thin stream to fly out the window. Once outside, it grew into a huge black cloud, filling the sky to skirt through the buildings. It looked like a living thing, expanding and contracting, covering whole areas, obliterating the skyline, and taking a leisurely route to the volcano. The giant mass settled on the beach. V’sair watched his soldiers look up as it blanketed them like a black blizzard. There were muffled shouts, followed by blood-curdling screams, and then a stillness that screamed louder than sound.

The dense thing lifted, leaving the beach strewn with bodies, their gray faces bleached white and bloodless. V’sair gripped the back of a chair, then turned to his uncle. “You are despicable, pure evil.”

Lothen bowed his head, a smirk on his lips, as if V’sair had bestowed a compliment. “Thank you. I do
try my best.”

V’sair turned to attack, and Lothen froze him with his next sentence. “Try it and Geva will smother your city in the clouds. Oh, look, she engages with your Ozre.”

They turned to see fire spitting from the roof of Aqin, the sky darkening with the ash spewing out of its cone. The vaporous being moved aggressively toward the volcano, and V’sair watched in astonishment as it expanded to cover the entirety of the huge mountain. The atmosphere clouded with sulfuric fumes, while a battle raged behind the screen of the entity that cocooned the majestic volcano. An explosion rent the air, rocks flying, huge plumes of fire, and for a minute V’sair felt the relief of knowing Ozre had overcome the enemy. A second explosion, followed by the racket of thousands of rocks hitting the walls of the volcano, reverberated the air, echoing back at them. Lothen laughed like a wild thing. “You think Ozre will triumph over Geva? Watch, V’sair, and understand you never stood a
chance.”

The sky slowly cleared to reveal Aqin hollowed out, broken like a weak tooth, reduced to a great pile of rubble. Shaken to his knees, V’sair sank onto a chair, turned to his uncle, and said in the barest whisper, “Do what you want to me, but leave the people alone.”

Lothen threw back his head, roaring with laughter that shook the very rafters of the ship.

“I will not help you,” V’sair told Lothen in a low voice.

“Then you will die.” Lothen walked out of the silent room.

Naje waited until they stepped out of an elevator before she flicked two graphen packets behind her, shoving Staf before her so they wouldn’t get caught in the explosion. Seren flew backward into the lift, the wind knocked out of him, losing consciousness
when a guard fell on top of him. Staf stumbled, and Naje grabbed his hand, but not before relieving a dead guard of his firearms.

She threw one to Staf, who deftly caught it. “I will not use this!”

“Oh, grow up!” she shouted back. Turning, she fired on three Plantans running toward them, their guns drawn. “Let’s get off this ship.”

“I will not run. I was promised the throne.”

“Lothen’s forked tongue talks two ways. We have to get out of here!”

They ran to the pod level, squeezing into the tiny escape vehicle, and Naje ejected them out of their enemies’ clutches and into the unknown.

Chapter 26

Bobbien covered the young Darracian’s eye with the sap of the Caylet tree, but held little hope. He was awake, but not speaking. She liked the girl and her devotion, but the hulking young man was shriveling up. She had no time for his self-pity.

Bobbien had set up a base of sorts under the low-hanging trees of the Eastern Province. They were surrounded by the muddy quicksand, and if a body didn’t know their way, they would be swallowed by one of the many sinkholes and end up roasting in the thermal springs underneath. She glanced up sadly at the ruined face of Aqin. So many dead, so many, she thought sadly. This was indeed a dark day for Darracia and its people. Soon, the Quyroo would find her and she would help them. They would be rebels, for she knew V’sair was gone. Perhaps this one, Drakko’s other son, would lead them to victory. When he woke up to stop feeling sorry for himself and realized he could do everything he needed to
without his sight, he would be their savior. Yes, Bobbien thought, he would lead up to victory against the advancing evil.

Reminda looked out the tiny pod window and watched the stars speed by. She was no longer shackled; she didn’t need to be. She was a prisoner, programed to land in Bina where she would be destined to live on the cliffs, her name forgotten, only a number to identify her when death claimed her. Her only comfort was that then and only then she would be joined to Drakko forever. She only hoped it would not be too long.

Staf and Naje flew toward a new unknown, homeless, friendless, and without any idea of how or when they would come back. But the one thing they both knew with certainty was they would return to destroy Lothen and take the throne.