Nemesis: Book Six (13 page)

M
orena's feet
touched her children softly. She didn't let her aura flare out around her, didn't make any show that she had arrived. Indeed, though she didn't know it, she was about the same distance away from the house as Will had been when he first laid eyes on it. She didn't need binoculars to help her see inside the house, though. The strands got her close enough to understand what was happening around it, and they remembered too. Everything that happened to them.

She saw Will swoop up Rigley. Watched as they snuck into the house, climbing through the window, into the bedroom with the humans. Morena realized she should have killed them, that by not doing so she had put Briten at risk.

Because whatever was happening inside the house now—what the strands couldn't show her—centered around Briten. She didn't hold any doubt about that. It was the smart move, using him to get to her, to try and force her to do their bidding. She didn't know if Will worked with Marks, or if this was some sort of separate mission. Either way, she faced attacks from multiple fronts now. Alone. Junior should be looking to kill the leadership, but until Marks was taken care of, she didn't know if that mattered. Revenge drove that directive—and hate.

"What are you going to do?" she said.

The strands silenced their speech to her, sensing the fear and uncertainty. Not wanting to cause their mother any more stress.

The first thing? Go into the house and destroy anyone who contributed to whatever danger befell Briten. She'd kill them all with prejudice.

They thought they could use Briten against her, to twist her purpose so that he might live. Morena didn't know if that was possible; she refused to think about what she would give up first, her children or her lover. She managed to have them both right now, and she wouldn't let whatever plan lived in that house take one or the other away.

"I'll save him," she said. "I'll save him and I'll save my children."

She looked at the house in the distance, not knowing if she believed herself. Perhaps she stretched too far. Perhaps this was too great for her, and if too great for her, then who could have done it? Her mother, perhaps? Or was Bynimian simply meant to die? Was all of this, everything she and Briten had done, just random traces of light in the never ending darkness of the universe?

Morena looked down, viewing her aura wrapped around her legs.

Either way, she knew what she would do. Whether or not fate played a role in this, Morena was going into that house, and if need be, die saving her husband.

T
he room looked glorious
, truly something fit for a Var. Morena had never seen anything like it, and knowing that it was for her, for her soon to be husband, made her love her mother all that much more. The world was against this marriage, yet here they were, greeting Briten as royalty.

Morena moved through the room, Briten at her side, their arms interlocked, and she introduced him to what felt like an infinite number of Bynums. Surely infinite was too large, but a great many were invited to this ceremony. All of them holding some importance on the planet and needing to have their rings kissed if this marriage were to work.

Morena was okay with it. Not pleased, perhaps, but recognized sacrifice was necessary to get what she wanted.

And plus, she was drunk with love right now. Drunk with happiness at this night.

That same happy drunk, though, made her not see Chilras' approach. What would Morena have done if she saw the Councilwoman? Avoided her? No, of course not, but perhaps she would have been a bit more prepared, or would have prepared Briten better. She didn't see Chilras, though, and as she turned, her arm in Briten's, the Yorn stood in front of them both.

Her eyes found Morena's first, lingering only for a second and saying a thousand words as they did. Chilras moved to Briten, finding his red eyes and holding them with her own.

"This is the husband you've brought from across the galaxy?" she said, not smiling in the slightest.

"I'm Briten, and you must be Chilras?" he said.

"I am," she said. "You've come to marry her?"

"I have."

Chilras nodded. She stared for a few more moments, their silence interrupted only by the conversations around them.

"It was nice meeting you," Chilras said, finally. She didn't look at Morena as she turned and left.

* * *

H
elos felt tired
for the first time that she could remember. The day and night exhausted her, and just as it appeared that the end was in sight, she saw Chilras.

Helos stood on the balcony, listening to the servants cleaning up the party. The guests were gone as well as Morena and Briten. Helos thought herself alone, and hoped to look out into the night for a few minutes before retiring. The party went well, as good of a coming out party as one could hope to have. Helos held no illusions about it, though--while it might make the transition somewhat easier, it certainly wouldn't remove the roadblocks Morena now headed toward.

Helos hadn't seen Chilras at all tonight, wasn't even sure she attended. Now, though, the Yorn stood at the other end of the balcony, facing Helos. She shouldn't be here; protocol was certainly broken with a Councilwoman standing unannounced in a Var's home. What could Helos say to her though, at this point? Leave? You're breaking rules?

Not with Morena marrying Briten, someone of such a different culture it seemed impossible that peace could even exist between the two worlds. No, the Yorn was here because she knew she could be. She knew Helos would say nothing.

"Yes, Chilras?" Helos said, her voice carrying across the balcony with ease. She made no effort to conceal the weariness in her voice. If Chilras wanted to confront her now, then let her know it was in a weakened state.

"What are you doing, Var?" Chilras didn't move and Helos turned slightly so that she faced her instead of the world beyond the balcony.

"I'm preparing for rest," she said.

"Now is not the time to be coy. What are you doing with this choice? You know it's the wrong one, certainly your Knowledge has told you so."

"Do you now know what a Var's Knowledge shows her? I wasn't aware that a position on the Council designated such power?"

Chilras didn't move, neither forward nor backward, and held her eyes on Helos. "You tell me I'm wrong, then. You tell me that you don't see anything in this choice that frightens you."

Helos owed this creature no answer. Her Knowledge was for no one else, such was the reason only Vars attained it. Yet, she couldn't tell Chilras that she saw nothing, or that she saw only happiness. Something dark waited in this marriage, Helos was sure of that. Something that could turn all the good she saw in the two of them tonight, evil.

"Why did you come here?" Helos said.

"Because you need to stop this. It's gone on long enough. The rest of Bynimian sees it as a possibility, but it isn't. It's an abomination. It's going to hurt a lot of Bynums, eventually, and it's up to you to make sure it goes no further."

Helos hadn't probed deep into her Knowledge; she didn't want to. Life would determine the end result, not Helos. Her daughter would have the chance to live her own life, without interference from someone else's Knowledge.

"If you want this to end, Chilras, you know how to do it. But it won't come from me. You can challenge her, if you want. You have that right."

Chilras raised her eyebrows. "You want it to come to that?"

"No. I don't. But I think you do. Regardless, I won't play a role in this."

Chilras nodded, and then left the balcony.

Helos was alone again, even more tired than before. She thought her work was nearly done with this, that she could go back to ruling after tonight. Not anymore. Because tomorrow, or perhaps the next day if Helos was lucky, Chilras would challenge Morena.

* * *

M
orena's
back was against the chair and her eyes staring up at the ceiling. Briten sat across the room and her mother stood in the middle, the only one standing. She separated Briten and Morena, facing her daughter.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Helos said.

"No, nothing."

"She's going to come, Morena. I don't see any other way around it."

"What did she say? Again, word for word," Morena said.

"I'm not going through it again. I told her that if she wanted to stop this, then she would need to challenge you directly. She nodded and then she left."

Helos turned to Briten, but Morena still didn't look up, she just listened.

"What do you think?"

"I don't know the Bynum," Briten said. "I don't truly know what any of this means, but I haven't wanted to interrupt. Challenges on my planet … are probably different than they are here."

"I would imagine so," Helos said.

"What happens if Morena loses?"

"Then she's not fit to be Var. She's not fit to lead."

"That's it?" Briten said.

Morena laughed. "That's it?" she said, mocking her soon to be husband. "That's a pretty big deal, don't you think?"

"It's better than the alternative, in which she kills you. So this isn't a life or death matter?" Briten said. "What happens to Morena if she loses besides not being Var?"

"She'll live, but not well. Most likely she'll exit the chamber incapable of rational thought. Completely insane. She'll be banished," Helos said. "She'll no longer be allowed to live around her species. She will be considered a fraud, someone trying to rule a people she wasn't fit to."

"Banished to where?" Briten said.

"An outpost," Morena spoke up. She stood from her chair and walked to the room's window. "Perhaps five Bynums live there now, perhaps none. They die quickly once they've been banished. It's cold out there; we never built any panels to reflect the core's warmth. If they survive, I don't know how, because we never send anyone out there—not unless they're being banished as well."

"What happens if you don't do it?" Briten said. "If you refuse to take her challenge."

Morena smiled but didn't say anything.

"Just about the same thing," Helos answered for her. "Denying a challenger isn't done. What would happen on your planet if someone denied some kind of challenge?"

"We would put them to death," Briten said.

"And you're sure it's coming?" Morena said, speaking to her mother. It didn't matter what either of them said right now, didn't matter what Briten thought or what her mother wanted her to do.

"Yes," Helos said, silence following her words like darkness does the moon.

Morena would prepare, for however briefly she still had. One wasn't taught this in training to be a Var. If one is challenged, then she should already be prepared—if she is truly meant to be Var.

She would prepare, and wait, and hope.

Because she wasn't giving up Briten. Not now. Not ever.

"Have her come," Morena said. "We shall see who is best."

W
ill saw
her one hundred feet out.

His balls clenched up and sweat popped out across his skin, nearly drenching him in a matter of moments.

He knew her.

He had seen more of her than he ever wanted to. She came into him in a way that shouldn't be possible, in a way that rape victims—man or woman—would never know. What was worse, perhaps, was that she knew him. Knew everything about him, every piece of his mind and body. Whatever he projected to the people inside this house, it wouldn't work with her. She would know what he thought, perhaps even what he planned to do before he did it.

"Shut up," he whispered. His hands gripped the binoculars tight as she walked across the field. He had a job to do, a singular job right now, and it didn't matter what happened in the past. It didn't matter what she knew about him or what she had seen. This mission was no different than any other mission over the past fifty years. In fact, it might be more similar to the recent ones. No crazy technology that he didn't understand. No search and destroy.

He saw his enemy and he knew exactly what he needed to do.

This was like the wars they fought thirty years ago.

"Focus on that. Focus on her and killing her. None of the rest matters."

No one behind him could hear what he said; they didn't see the fear running through him like electricity. That's what they needed right now, to see only his confidence and determination.

He turned around, his back to the window for only a second.

Wren held the weapon exactly where he should, having not moved. The guy had some grit, for sure; Will only hoped he wouldn't lose it when the crucial part started.

The boy was listening a bit; Will didn't know if it was due in part to the kid inside him, or if Will's own words played any part. He didn't care, truthfully. He needed action from Bryan, and nothing else mattered.

The alien sat exactly where he should.

And Rigley?

She had no weapon, purposefully. She wasn't in the living room, but locked away in the back of the house. Will tied some rope around her door knob and the door across the hall, making it so that Rigley couldn't get out. He hoped that would be enough, had to hope, because when he made the decision not to kill her, he was leaving her in this world to possibly fuck everything up.

She wasn't in the living room and that was most important right now. Out of the living room, out of where the action would take place.

Will turned around and looked at his enemy again.

Closer now.

"Get ready," he said.

* * *

M
orena took
the steps one at a time, slow and measured. Her aura spread out now, not wrapping around her as it had in the fields. She was at home here, the only home she had anymore, and she wouldn't hide from anyone inside. They would see her for what she was, what she was born to be, not the insecurity rampaging inside. They came to her domain, bringing their disease and murder with them, and now she would deal with it as Var, as a god for all they were concerned.

The door to the house stood open and Morena stopped a few feet in front of it, letting her aura seep through. She tasted the inside of the house, feeling fear, feeling determination, feeling ... humanity. All the emotions of these creatures seemed to be alive inside this house. Hope, hatred, survival, death.

How similar are we?
she asked no one.

All life stemmed from The Makers and so similarities wove through it all. Yet, this much? Even as Morena's own life was being threatened, she understood why they threatened it. Because they wanted to live as much as she did. Perhaps her attachments focused more on her children than theirs, but it was all tied up into the same need: the need to continue.

This is how your mother would see it. She would see the good in each. There was a time for that leadership, but it's passed. It passed the moment Chilras rejected Briten's proposal.

Morena followed her aura inside, letting go of the thoughts about her mother.

She walked into the foyer, her aura automatically directing her to where the emotions stemmed from—some from the back hallway, but those were Rigley's, a mixture of massive confusion. What Morena wanted sat to her right, in the living room.

Morena turned and looked at the world now being dictated to her. This happened only one other time, and she barely made it out alive. She had an advantage then, her Knowledge finally delivering on its promise. Now, that Knowledge remained silent. And the danger before her was perhaps as great as it had been on Bynimian. Perhaps even greater.

Her husband sat in a chair, strapped down with so many wires and adhesives that she couldn't even see his clothing. His entire body was a wrapping of black, gray, and white, each crisscrossing over the others, confining her husband to the chair. Creating a prisoner out of a King. Even his body, something so different than what he’d been born with, imprisoned his glory.

Two men stood behind him, and Morena knew them both. Will and Wren. The mercenary and Michael's father. Both should be dead but she had let them live. Her mercy created this situation. Her ability to sympathize with these creatures. Now both men held a gun to either side of her husband's head. Inches separated Briten from death, forever.

Morena looked around the rest of the room, her aura doing its job as well.

"Bryan. Where are you?" Morena said.

"He's around," Will said. "You shouldn't concern yourself with him, right now, though. I wouldn't, at least. He's not the one holding weapons to your lover's head."

Morena looked into Briten's eyes for the first time since entering the house. The red blazed back at her, the part of him that said all wasn't lost. It didn't matter who held what to his head, as long as those eyes shone with such fury. He couldn't move, couldn't attack, but he hadn't given up.

"Are you okay?" Morena said.

He nodded, but said nothing.

Morena looked to Will. "We didn't get to spend enough time with each other, William. William Goldfly. That's right? The name you've kept hidden from so many people for so long? I can't say I'm versed in the English language, but something about Goldfly doesn't hold the danger that I think people associate with you, does it?"

"I probably wouldn't concern myself with my name either, if I were you."

Morena walked to her right, toward the front of the house where a window looked out on the yard.

"And if I were you, I wouldn't have shown up here. If I were any of you, I would have gone as far away from this place as I could. What's ridiculous is that both of you have been here before. Bryan too. You knew what you were walking into."

"I'm holding the gun to his head, Morena. You're not holding one to mine."

Morena ignored him, but looked at the strands through the open door. Her aura would protect her from any bullet sent her way, but she knew she wouldn't be quick enough to save Briten from the same. She wouldn't be fast enough to grab both their weapons, she didn't think at least. Wren, yes, but Will? Maybe not, and she wouldn't risk it.

"I was too focused on Kenneth Marks. I realize that now. His arrogance annoyed me. And now look at us, here in ... what would Bryan call it? A Mexican standoff? Yes, I think that's right." She turned from the window. "What is it you want, William Goldfly?"