Nascent Decay (The Goddess of Decay Book 1) (26 page)

“I can understand that,” she said. “All too well.” Isaar watched her for a long moment before continuing.

“Everything is wrapping up here,” he said looking around. Do you want to ride with us, or do you want Mersi to just give you the base’s coordinates?”

“Have Mersi send me the coordinates, please,” Rhylie said. “I need some time to think about everything.”

“You have the com device now if you need us,” he said.

“Thanks,” she replied.

“Just try not to stay gone for too long, we will have these gravity wells installed in Vorle and Konii in no time,” Isaar said. “Then we will see if we can make a real difference.”

Rhylie kept her com device turned off as she took some time to cruise through the vast emptiness of space. She stayed gone for days. It was the first relaxing thing she had done in a long time.

The depths of the galaxy were peaceful in their eternal silence, and she needed some practice with the gravity well anyway. She was sure everyone had seen the huge dents and holes she’d left all over the walls inside the Siirocian base, but nobody had said anything. It hadn’t hurt, it had just been…embarrassing. It was not something she wanted to go through again.

She had been using the galactic map software that had been installed with the gravity well to visit Mars, now mostly vacant, and other spots in the galaxy she had only heard about. None of the other nebulas were as impressive in person as they had been in the pictures she had seen, or the one above Primiceps. She decided they must have done something there to augment the low light emanating from it. She had considered going to Primiceps and trying to find Vorcia, but she wouldn’t even know where to begin. Even though she had a map of the city in her head, the location of Vorcia’s quarters were unknown.

As she coasted up on the spot where the base was supposed to be, she found it strangely vacant. She switched on her com device.

“Is anyone there?” she asked aloud. She wasn’t exactly sure how it worked to be honest.

“Rhylie!” came Mersi’s voice, shrieking at her. “You’re alive!”

“Yeah, it’s me. The coordinates you gave me must be wrong or something,” Rhylie said.

“No, unfortunately they’re right,” Mersi said sadly. “The Siirocians destroyed our base in retaliation. Isaar thinks there’s a spy.” Rhylie froze, suspended in the vacuum.
Not again
, she thought.
They destroy everything I care about
.

“Is everyone alright?” she asked.

“No,” said Mersi, as though she were holding back. “Sora tried to warn everyone and get us all to abandon the base, but nobody believed her. I’m not even sure Isaar believed her, but she begged him and begged him to leave the base until he gave in. He was just humoring her. I tagged along because, well…Sora is interesting. She’s so…mysterious.”

“Who all survived?” asked Rhylie. In a way, she didn’t want to know. She really didn’t feel well at all.

“Isaar, Reskle…me…” she said slowly. “Vorle and Konii were able to shield up and protect themselves from most of the blast, but it took us forever to find them. And Noura had just left with Quasar’s leaders to help them with the logistics and organization for our next move.”

“Where are you guys at now?” Rhylie asked.

“I’m sending the coordinates,” replied Mersi.

*

When Rhylie located them, they were still in the ship they had left the base in. Mersi jumped up and threw her arms around Rhylie when she walked into the central chamber of the ship. It was weird.

“Rhylie!” she squealed. Rhylie awkwardly freed herself from Mersi.

“That’s enough of that,” she said.

“I’m sorry, we just didn’t know what had happened to you,” Mersi said, acting slightly miffed.

“It’s ok. I just wasn’t expecting it,” Rhylie replied, reaching out to stroke Mersi’s bald head. Mersi smiled. Her eyelids blinked, one after the other. Rhylie looked away quickly.

“We are glad to have you back,” said Isaar as he stood up from the round table in the center of the room. He looked tired. Very tired. His eyes were vacant and listless, and his brow heavily furrowed.

Sora and Reskle sat in two of the other seats. They didn’t really move other than to look over and acknowledge Rhylie. They all looked shell shocked and defeated. Rhylie understood that look very well.

“Please, sit,” Isaar said, motioning to the table. Rhylie nodded in response and took a seat out of courtesy. Mersi plopped down in the seat beside her.

“Where are Vorle and Konii?” she asked.

“They are recovering from the blast,” Isaar responded. “Why?”

“Because we need to begin training together,” she said. Isaar shrugged.

“We just lost everything, Rhylie,” he said quietly. There was something different about his voice. “I…I do not know what to do next, or where to turn. Perhaps I should just give up and live the rest of my life in exile.”
That’s why everyone is acting so weird
, she thought. She hadn’t known Isaar long, but she’d never seen him like this.

“We didn’t have much to begin with,” she said. Isaar sat down heavily, as though the burden of standing was becoming too great for him. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, burying his face in his hands.

“I lost the one person I really loved, Rhylie,” he said in a thick voice. “I lost my homeworld, my parents. I can never show my face in public again. I have lost everything.” Rhylie reached out, putting her hand on Isaar’s forearm.

“So have I,” she said softly. She didn’t know what else to say.

“I should have left you in the Chamber,” Isaar said bitterly. Rhylie recoiled, pulling her hand back as though she’d been bitten. “I should have listened to you and everyone else. I should have just fulfilled the contract and killed you.”

“Maybe you should have,” she said coldly, meticulously. “But you can’t put me back now. And killing me won’t bring back Drasce or anyone else.” Isaar’s shoulders began shaking. Rhylie frowned deeply and put her hands on the table. She could feel a tension headache coming on. “There will be time to mourn the dead once we’ve avenged them,” she said.

Isaar shrugged once without looking up. It was the barest of movements. Everyone was staring at the two of them, wide-eyed. Reskle and Sora seemed to have snapped out of their shock and were looking at her like she was the one with a frog’s head, and not Mersi.

“What would you have us do?” asked Reskle. “We don’t have anything left but this ship and the people on it. I lost my entire laboratory. We lost all of our friends and companions. They were good people, Rhylie.” Rhylie smiled in what she hoped was an encouraging fashion.

“All the more reason not to let them have died in vain. We have all that we need, except for a nice quiet place for us to plan and train,” she said. “Somewhere for us to mourn our losses.” Isaar kept his head down and said nothing.

“I know just the place!” exclaimed Mersi, bouncing in her seat. Rhylie sighed.

Of course she does
, she thought.

“Vorcia obviously knows that you are still alive,” Isaar said as they watched Vorle and Konii burn down makeshift targets from several feet away. He had become detached from the rest of them, remaining locked away in his small room on the ship whenever he could. He hadn’t been eating, and didn’t look like he had been sleeping. He didn’t smell like he had been bathing for that matter, either. Rhylie and everyone else were growing more concerned about him with every passing day.

The small, uninhabited planet Mersi had guided them to was undeveloped and savage. Compared to what she had been through, it was peaceful and tranquil. It felt like a sanctuary to her.

They had chosen some plains on the southern hemisphere to land upon and set up one of the temporary shelters that had been kept on the ship for emergency landings. It seemed to be springtime; there was a freshness to the air that Rhylie had never experienced anywhere else. The signs of renewed life across the plains had a melancholy effect as well; for some reason the budding wildflowers reminded her of the infant that had been taken from her in the Chamber.

There wasn’t a trace of technology on the planet, Mersi had repeatedly assured them. Sora had tried to tell her that even primitive beasts would use rocks to smash open nuts, or sticks to scratch their backs. As long as they couldn’t send a feed to the Siirocians, Rhylie didn’t care what they did with their sticks and nuts.

“How did she find out?” Rhylie asked quietly. Part of her didn’t want to know.

“Someone had to have told her,” Isaar responded in a hushed voice. She could see the worry painted on his face. Suddenly she didn’t feel so safe anymore.

“So you think we that have a spy?” she asked. Isaar nodded.

“Or we did, rather,” he said hopefully, but Rhylie could hear the doubt creeping in. He looked exhausted and haggard, as though sorrow were dragging his facial expressions through mud.

“We really did lose almost everything,” she said. “But these two are coming along just fine.” Rhylie had taught Konii and Vorle how to sheath themselves within a shell of atomorphic skin, but she preferred to feel the wind on her face. It felt good.

“They will never be as powerful as you are,” Isaar said. “Not unless they went full-body morph like you.” Rhylie nodded her head slowly in response, watching them. They could actually do some things better than her, but for the most part the intensity of their abilities was well below hers.

Vorle was a brutal fighter, all power and speed, with no mercy. Konii was light on her feet…or tentacles, whichever she chose to use. She was a finesse fighter, graceful and merciful as well in her fighting style. She dispatched her targets with clean, concise strikes, flowing around them like water while Vorle smashed through them with impunity.

“They’re still pretty damn impressive,” she said. “No sign of Rahve yet, I take it?” Isaar shook his head. Rhylie did not like that at all. Even if he had died in the explosion, they should have found his remains.

“No. We do not know if he shielded or not, but he was blown into deep space like them,” he said, motioning towards Vorle and Konii. “His signal vanished before we could find him. He could still be out in dead space, stranded, dead, we do not know.” A look of deep concern flashed across his face.

“Or the Siirocians could have found him,” Rhylie said.

“Yes,” said Isaar. “They could have.”

“All the more reason to move fast,” she said. Isaar cast a glance in her direction.

“I do not know,” he said. “I still think there was or is a traitor. I do not know how the Siirocians could have found us otherwise.” Rhylie gave him a sidelong look.

“You think that someone with us is the spy?” she asked, her brow furrowed.

“I do not know,” Isaar said. “I would like to think not. But Mersi seems awful interested in you. She is the one that told me about the bounty on you.” Rhylie frowned.

“Is it a lot?” she asked. Isaar chuckled softly.
Better than nothing,
she thought.

“It is triple the bounty I have on me,” he said. “I have to admit, I am a little jealous.” Rhylie rolled her eyes.

“So you think it’s Mersi?” she asked.

“So you think what is Mersi?” a voice piped up from behind them. Rhylie looked over her shoulder to find Mersi standing behind them.

“How long have you been there?” she asked, her eyes narrowing.

“I just got here!” Mersi said, smiling brightly. Rhylie frowned.

“It’s not polite to eavesdrop,” said Rhylie. Mersi frowned.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” she said petulantly. “I just saw you guys out here talking. I didn’t know you were talking about me.” She finished with a pout.

“We were just wondering who was going to come up with our next great plan,” said Isaar, grinning. “Do you have any ideas?” Mersi furrowed her brow.

“I don’t know…” she said. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I could give it a try.” Rhylie shot a look over at Isaar.
Was he crazy?
The thought made her laugh a little.
The blind leading the blind
. Mersi frowned. “You don’t believe I can do it, do you?” Rhylie’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“I didn’t mean-” she tried to say.

“I can come up with a plan,” Mersi said in a hurt tone of voice. “I’ll show you.”

“Mersi, I’m sorry,” Rhylie tried to explain. “I wasn’t smiling at that, it was…” Mersi turned around and left, leaving her holding her words. She sighed.

“Mersi does not remember either of her parents,” Isaar said softly. “I rescued her from a brothel on Biggiri when she was still very young. She was born into slavery, and sold off to the highest bidder as soon as she developed appendages and lost her tail.” He frowned. “Noura is the closest thing to a mother she has had for the last hundred microcycles. And now that she is with Quasar…” Isaar paused as though struggling to speak about it. “Mersi has chosen to remain with me even though she is free to go. So, no, I do not think it is her, but I have been betrayed by friends before.”

“I didn’t know,” Rhylie said sadly.

“We all have our secrets,” Isaar said.

“I should go find her and apologize,” she said.

“Just let her stew for a little while,” Issar offered. “Try to be nicer to her if you can. I know she is a little clingy, but we are the only family she has ever had other than the whores at the brothel.”

“I will,” said Rhylie sadly. “I’ll try to make it up to her somehow.”

“I know you will, Rhylie. You are still a good person,” he said. “Somewhere underneath all that anger and depression and grit,” he finished up with a grin, something that was rare for him lately. She rolled her eyes.

“I’m not the same person I was before. I don’t know what I am anymore,” she said. “I used to be a good person…but that girl is dead. I’ll never be the same again.” Isaar stopped smiling.

“None of us will,” he said.

“So I’ve been keeping in contact with Noura and Quasar,” Mersi finally said after they had walked a few hundred yards away from the ship. Isaar stopped and frowned, his brow knitting.

“I am surprised that they are even willing to continue open communications with us after everything that has occurred,” Isaar said.