Pride x Familiar (64 page)

But it was clear that Caelum had the advantage.
After all, he was the Meister of a Rho-Khan, one of four of the
most powerful Warlords in existence.

Through pain addled eyes and mind, I regarded
him as I gradually raised my body inch by inch off the ground.

He’s operating it so easily, neutralizing the
Avienda’s barrier-fields and levitators-fields. It can’t even aim
its quantum reaction cannons at him.

How was this possible?

It must be the Regalia inside his body. It’s
allowing him to use the Ravana’s power as though it’s second nature
to him.

But I saw the strain on his face as he
concentrated on immobilizing the Avienda.

“Stay down,” he yelled down at the Avienda’s
Meister.

I heard Fallon groan out a reply.

“Let…me…go…bastard….”

“Not going to happen,” he retorted, then glanced
at me. “I can keep her down, but I can’t help you.”

I gained my knees, and reached out a trembling
hand to him. “Caelum, come with us.”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Caelum, please come with us. Bring Simone too.
The two of you belong together.”

“I’ll decide who I belong with—damn it, I told
you to stay down. Keep this up and I’ll tear of your
wing-vanes.”

“Bastard…you’re…helping her.”

“Yes. But only this once.” He faced me again.
“Celica, the next time we meet we’ll be enemies.”

I shook my head. “Caelum, it doesn’t have to be
this way.”

“Yes, it does. I can’t forgive Crimson Crescent.
They took away our parents, and now they took away my sister.” He
gave me a dark, chilling look. “One day, I will make them pay.”

I swayed on my knees.

I had expected this, yet I’d hoped against
it.

I closed my eyes, and hung my head.

Every movement I made was agony, but little by
little my body was healing and the pain was gradually ebbing
away.

Then I became aware of deeper thrum in the air,
one that wasn’t caused by the barrier-fields reacting against each
other.

Opening my eyes, I painfully raised my head and
looked up.

Induran
hovered a few hundred feet above
me, its midnight black trident body a welcome sight for my beaten
eyes.

Lowering my head, I looked at Caelum.

He hadn’t eased up on the Avienda one iota.

I cleared my throat, and yelled across to him.
“You will always be my brother. You will always be my family.”

His eyes narrowed noticeably, but he said
nothing.

Instead, he gave me a firm nod.

I was barely able to rise to my feet. I was
barely able to remain standing. Yet, I raised a hand toward the
starship.

Induran
began to descend, putting
pressure on the ground with its enormous levitator-fields. That
extra pressure served to keep Avienda down, but once again I found
myself on my hands and knees.

Fallon cursed wildly. “Damn you. Damn you.
You’re my prey. You’ll die by my hand.”

“Shut up!” Caelum yelled, refusing to give her
an inch of respite. “I warned you—I’ll tear off your
wing-vanes.”

I felt as though grabbed by an invisible
hand.

Swiftly I was hoisted off my feet, and the
parkland receded below me as
Induran
whisked me into the
sky.

My eyes met Caelum’s and stayed with him until I
was swallowed up by the starship.

I prayed it wouldn’t be the last time I ever
laid eyes on him.

When the hatch closed below me, my body
shuddered and I collapsed on the airlock’s floor.

I surrendered to pain and exhaustion.

I surrendered to the tears that rushed out of my
heart.

Once again, I’d left him behind.

#

(Caelum)

I watched my sister disappear into the Crimson
Crescent starship.

The vessel rose a thousand feet higher, before
opening up a trans-space breach.

The habitat shook as though in the throes of a
violent earthquake.

With as much commotion as its entrance, the
black starship slipped into the breach between the realms of
real-space and trans-space. Moments after it vanished into the
swirling pool of midnight-blue light, the breach sealed in its
wake. There was one final tremor, one last shockwave that bloomed
through the air, and then it was gone.

Strained, overly-taxed power systems failed
within the habitat, throwing it into acute darkness. They had
barely held the first time the breach occurred. The second breach
had overwhelmed them.

It was many seconds later before the faintest of
amber emergency lights began dotting the habitat’s rock
ceiling.

I looked up at the slowly spreading rows and
columns of amber lights, wondering when I’d ever seen such a
scene.

I shrugged and turned my attention to the
Warlord struggling under me.

Releasing the barrier-field I’d used to force it
down, I willed Ravana to jump back.

The Avienda wearily gained its sharp, angular
feet.

Warlords weren’t designed to run or walk. They
could do so, but they were rather ungainly when they moved about on
the ground.

In contrast, they could hover, float, drift and
execute numerous complicated maneuvers a mere foot off the ground.
They could do so with the fluid grace of an ice-skater on an ice
rink.

But their true domains were the sky and the
vacuum of space.

That was where they ruled supreme, because
Warlords were made to fly.

That being said, they made excellent swimmers,
able to dive thousands of feet below an ocean’s surface.

All this I understood and knew from
him
.

My predecessor.

My ancestor.

The Rho-Khan Ravana’s first Meister.

Kallum Kampfer.

I stared at the Avienda, watching it sway
unsteadily like a boxer who’d been forced to endure twelve rounds
in the ring against a punishing opponent.

Its Meister glared at me – a girl probably
around my age. Pretty, with black hair that fell over her shoulders
and back. Very pretty, and very
big
where it counted.

And also quite angry.

I could almost picture it radiating from her in
shimmering heat waves.

Her voice was hard and unyielding. “You—you’re
her brother. You’re that traitor’s brother.” She pointed a finger
at me using her own hand, and not the Avienda’s. “They’ll burn you
for what you did. They’ll burn you for helping her escape.”

I shrugged, and the Ravana imitated my move.
“Maybe they will. Maybe they won’t. Either way it’s not your
concern.”

Gathering up the Rho-Khan’s power, I darted
forward, crossing the distance to her in less than a heartbeat.
Extending the Ravana’s left arm, I pierced the Avienda’s nearly
depleted barrier field, and wrapped my clawed hand around the
Meister’s torso. It happened so fast that even though she was
probably over-clocked, the girl failed to respond to my charge.

I squeezed her body, and saw fresh pain bloom
across her face.

I smiled at her. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.
Not yet.”

“Bastard—let me go—aggh!”

She cried out as Ravana’s claws dug into her
flank.

I eased my grip on her, and she relaxed slightly
after a few moments. She was fighting against the pain while
scowling poisoned daggers at me.

I asked her, “Is that better?”

Her scowl grew worse, but there was fear in her
eyes.

I dropped my smile. “Now, before the Enforcers
arrive to take me away, I want to ask you one question.”

Still scowling at me, she laughed derisively
through her nose since her teeth were clenched together.

I gave her body a squeeze and she stopped
laughing.

I was surprised by how cold I sounded. “Where is
the other one?”

A frown intruded upon her hateful scowl.
“Wh—what other one?”

“The one who betrayed me.”

For a long moment, the girl gave me no response
other than to deepen her frown.

I sighed and shook my head. “Let me refresh your
memory. Four Rho-Khans, eight Seer-Khans. Two Seer-Khans were
assigned to each Rho-Khan to act as their personal guard or field
commanders.”

I leaned forward and gave her body another
squeeze.

“Do you remember now? I’m sure you do since you
possess the Regalia inside your body…just like I do.”

Her eyes widened slowly. “You…you have his
memories?”

I nodded. “And if I have his memories, you have
hers.”

The girl shook her head faintly, her scowl
losing a little of its strength. “I don’t know. I don’t know where
it is.”

“Do you know anything at all about it?”

“No.”

A third squeeze, more forceful than the last.
“Try answering that again.”

She gasped out loudly through clenched teeth. “I
don’t know where it is. I don’t know if it’s been found.”

“You’d better not be lying to me.”

“I’m not lying. I’ve been looking for it
too.”

I blinked in surprise. “Why? Why would you be
looking for it?”

“Because I’m just like you! I want to know why
she betrayed the both of us!”

I regarded her for a long quiet moment, then
eased my grip on her. “I was right. You do have Fatina’s memories
inside your head.”

The girl sucked in air painfully. “I have the
memories stored in her Regalia. I remember whatever it allows me to
remember.”

Everything it allows her to remember?

The Regalia was regulating her interaction with
Fatina’s memories?

Why would this girl say that, and how would she
know if that was indeed what the Regalia was doing?

I frowned in thought and decided to release
her.

Once I did, I stepped Ravana back a few
meters.

She watched me warily while rubbing her body
tenderly, especially her injured left flank that was caked in dried
blood. Her voice was laced with distrust and suspicion, yet her
question was honest enough.

“You have Kallum’s memories? You weren’t lying
about that?”

I nodded. “Yes, I have his memories, and a lot
more.”

She stopped massaging her injured flank. “Even
if the Warlord has been found, someone has to bond with its Regalia
in order to access the memories.”

“I know.”

“We have to wait for a descendent of that
bloodline to be found. We have to wait for that Seer-Khan to be
found. Then the two have to be brought together.”

“I said, I know that.”

“What are you going to do when that
happens?”

I planted my hands on my hips. “The same thing
you’re going to do.” I took a deep breath. “I’m going to ask her
why she betrayed me.”

Ravana sensed movement – an inter-Island troop
carrier was flying our way.

I concentrated and willed Ravana back into its
Pocket Space where its sarcophagus awaited it. My feet touched
ground, and the mist surrounding me quickly dispersed though the
bone chilling cold remained for a long while afterwards.

The Avienda’s pilot regarded me silently. A few
moments later she followed suit, and the Avienda withdrew into its
own Pocket Space, adding to the cold already in the air.

I took that to mean she understood there was no
more reason to fight.

We stared at each other in silence, and I felt
the minute drag by.

Eventually, the troop carrier flew overhead and
deposited a squad of armor-skin wearing soldiers onto the parkland
clearing. But the men landed quite some distance away. I guessed
the carrier pilot was concerned about landing too close to us
Warlord Meisters. A dozen men were joined by another dozen.
Cautiously the two squads approached us.

I put my hands behind my head, then dropped to
my knees as a sign of surrender.

Before the soldiers could form a perimeter
around us, the Avienda’s Meister broke the silence between us.

“Fallon. My name is Fallon Acacia afil
Avenir.”

I nodded weakly. “Caelum Desanto afil
Lanfear.”

Yes, that was the right name to give her.

That was still who I was.

Caelum Rafael Desanto, second born of Samuel and
Chantal Desanto.

Younger brother to Celica Marisol Desanto.

The girl planted her hands on her hips. Her
wounded flank made her reconsider, so she dropped her arms to her
sides. But she favored me with a smile that reminded me of a hungry
wolf. It was a smile that Kallum remembered too. “You hurt me. I
won’t forgive you for that—ever.”

I replied honestly, without hesitation. “You
hurt my sister. I won’t forgive you either.”

Her next words surprised me, spoken heavy with
nostalgia. “We had some good times together…the three of us…didn’t
we?”

I swallowed and chose not comment.

So she remembered those times.

She remembered serving as my left hand, with
Merkala’s Meister as my right hand.

Fallon gave me a despairing look. “If only—if
only she’d never come into your life. Then it would have been the
three of us forever.”

When the soldiers forced me to the ground with a
hard shove, I made no effort to fight back.

Her words stole my strength.

I allowed the men to secure my arms and legs
with plasti-steel bindings.

I allowed them to take me away.

I searched for the words to make Fallon
understand that those days I spent with Lisanna were the happiest
of my life.

Perhaps you’ve guessed it by now, but our
society is matriarchal.

The far majority of positions of power are held
by women.

The Primatriarchs that lead the Prides are all
women.

The heads of all the prominent families are all
women.

The question you ask is why?

It’s because the Symbiote is passed along from
mother to child during pregnancy.

That is not to say that a male parent doesn’t
contribute to the child. After all, they supply a measure of
genetic material to the offspring.