The Light-Field (26 page)

Lucian was not looking as hurt, now that he had a clearer understanding of what had gone down before he'd met up with Taren in this time line.

‘Those negotiations are at a vital stage right now,' Taren further enlightened him. ‘Chief Ronan has already been taken out of the game on Maladaan, and if Khalid takes out my father on Sermetica, that bill of rights will have
no hope
. Every planet will again turn against those with the Powers and we'll all be outlaws again.'

‘Looks like we are spending our wedding night with your ex-nemesis and ex-boyfriend, preventing the president of Sermetica from being abducted.' Lucian would have laughed, had it not been so typical.

Taren raised both brows apologetically. ‘I told you, once you were plugged in there was no tuning out.'

‘I'm not complaining.' Lucian grinned. ‘I'm just grateful to not be standing on the outside of your life and wondering why.'

‘Well,
in
you certainly are.' Taren kissed him, thankful for his understanding. ‘I believe we've been handed a golden opportunity here, so we need to move quickly.'

‘Golden opportunity?' Lucian could think of many things to call this instance, but that wasn't one of them.

‘Trust me,' she urged, rising to take a shower and hopefully regain her sensibilities in the wake of her psychic episode and way too much champagne.

 

This would be their final showdown, but the grand old duchess did not feel betrayed by her imminent murder — she felt empowered!

Khalid was not a man with a choice in how he treated others; he was the product of a vile act and was not empowered by any higher intelligence. To come from an unnatural force that derived its being from a base desire to destroy all women and ultimately all creation, meant Khalid knew and wanted only the worse for everyone — bar himself. The man was soulless, and as he was never meant to be, he could only exist in the universal scheme for as long as the souls of the tortured men of Dead Man Downs chose to serve him.

Maiara was not privy to the ancient Phemorian dark magic that had kept Chironjivi's body alive and kicking for so many more centuries than usual. But what she did know was that the revenge-filled captain needed fear to sustain his earthly body and supernatural power. Without Khalid to bring him victims, Chironjivi would finally perish, as he should have done over a thousand years ago! He would then join the mass of tortured souls at Dead Man Downs and all the fear in the United Systems would not bring the ousted Prince of Phemoria back to life. Once Chironjivi's unnatural earthly body was gone, he could not spawn any more offspring.

Dressed in her best for the occasion, Maiara was seated in her regular chair by the window, facing out toward her favourite view. Her unnatural demise would be the signal to the Timekeeper that Khalid was about to make his move on Anselm, and in that knowledge she
was content. As the duchess considered all that would come to pass beyond her death, a satisfied smile crossed her face.

‘Dear Nanny Mai,' Khalid announced his arrival. ‘You were expecting me?'

For once, the sound of his voice didn't make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end — she didn't fear him anymore. ‘Of course.' She turned her eyes his way, knowing her calm and a lack of bodyguards was making her guest nervous.

‘I was expecting a bit of a fight, to be honest.' He sounded a little disappointed about that.

Maiara grinned at this. ‘I'm sure you'll get one … but not from me.'

‘You
are
going to tell me who is running these light freaks and who stole my captive?' He took a seat on the coffee table facing her, and the duchess's tray of morning tea toppled onto the floor.

‘I'll give you a name,' she teased. ‘Zagriata.'

Khalid forced a grin, but he was not amused. ‘So, who is posing as this children's fairytale character?'

Maiara chuckled, delighted. ‘I love how naïve you are.'

‘Listen, bitch.' Khalid drew a blade, and stood over her. ‘Don't fuck with me today,' he warned, pinning her back in her chair with his psychokinetic skill, which was far stronger than hers these days. ‘Tell me his name!'

‘The Zagriata is not a man,' she explained. ‘It is a
force.
You won't find it and you can't stop it … but it
can find
and
will stop
you.'

‘
Fucking lie!
Your bedtime stories don't scare me! Do you think I am just pissing around here?' He slashed the knife across her chest and blood began to flow from the cut and onto the fabric of her majestic green gown.

The pain was momentary, and she knew the key to ending this quickly was to incite his anger. Anger was but one step from disempowerment and if he killed her quickly, all the better! For he would learn nothing, no matter how long he chose to draw out this execution — which was exactly what this was. Khalid would not
openly show his power to anyone that he was not about to kill. ‘Slice away, Khalid, do your
worst.
It won't change the fact that what I am telling you is the
truth
… by the House of Vidor,
I swear it
.'

She wasn't fearful and Khalid clearly wasn't happy about that. He leered over her and slashed her with his blade a few more times, dissatisfaction and hatred all over his face, as she only smiled. ‘I'll bring down every last one of them … starting with you.'

He plunged the dagger into her body and released her from being pinned to her chair, as he pulled his blade back out again. The shocking pain was so welcome and almost instantly turned her lower body completely numb; she had told him nothing and her job was complete. ‘My release …' She found the strength to grab Khalid and pull him close. ‘… marks the beginning of the end for you, and your beastly father.'

Khalid cast her off and, falling back into her chair, it felt as if her body just kept falling into a deep abyss.

‘
Silly old crone!
'

Her hearing was the last sense to fade — Khalid's last words to her echoed down the dark tunnel that had erupted between her consciousness and the physical body she was leaving behind. Still, she couldn't have cared less about his opinion, nor did she remember who he was, or even who she was. All she knew was that she felt liberated, as she turned to face the light that would lead her back to the source of her soul group, bound for evolution in yet another grand universal scheme.

 

Maiara's chirpy defiance had had the desired effect; Khalid was on the warpath when he arrived at Dead Man Downs.

‘Everyone cowers in my presence!' If he couldn't incite fear in an old, frail woman, then what hope did he have of making Anselm crack? ‘I want Anselm's head on a pole!' Khalid clutched his bloodied blade as he confronted his father.

‘Is that Maiara's blood?' Chironjivi took the knife from Khalid and licked it clean. ‘Yuk …' He spat. ‘Fearless.'

‘You decrepit fossil …' Khalid retrieved the knife and threatened his father with it.
‘Focus!
' He cast the blade aside. ‘We need a plan of attack!'

‘I can use remote vision to telepathically command my crew to aid you in Anselm's abduct —'

‘And what if one of those light fucks turns up?' Khalid challenged their usual combat strategy. ‘You
can't
see
them
remotely! They could white you out entirely and I'd be on my own!'

‘Did the nasty old lady give you a bad fright?' his father teased and Khalid was incensed by the suggestion.

‘The point
is
… I didn't give her a fright!' Khalid exclaimed. ‘
I need more power!
'

Chironjivi was evasive and dismissive at first. ‘You have agents to assist —'

‘No,
no one
is to know it was me.' Khalid refused to use even his own sleeper agents for this mission. ‘And the best way to ensure no one knows of my involvement, is to keep it in the family.'

‘There is something we could try,' his father suggested sheepishly. ‘In order to seed you in your Phemorian witch of a mother, I left my form and joined with the queen's official suitor at the vital moment and here you are.'

‘Have your soul inside my body with me?' Khalid guessed where this was leading and he found the idea repulsive. ‘Dream on, you old pervert!'

‘My co-occupation would temporarily infuse you with my Powers and give you direct control of my crew.' His father dangled a carrot that was very much to Khalid's liking.

‘What's the catch?' He knew there had to be one, or Chironjivi would have pulled this ace from the bag long before now.

‘We have only minutes to complete the task … this body will die if unoccupied for more than ten minutes, and then I shall be stuck in your body with you.'

Khalid did not fancy that idea much, but maybe that was just what his father wanted — a young, working body. ‘Why not leave one of your crew behind to sustain your bag of bones?'

‘As subservient as these souls are to me,' Chironjivi was proud of this, ‘they have all grown selfish, restless and ruthless! Given a taste of physical form again — even a form so foul as this — there's not one among them who would be able to give it up. They must all accompany us.'

‘And how do I know that you're not just trying to make off with a younger, fitter body?' Khalid challenged the twist of fate that seemed too good to be true.

‘Because these souls made their oath to this body,' the captain informed, ‘and once I give it up, I give up control of my crew. If another of the crew were to claim this body, they would get control of the crew.'

‘And if the body is destroyed altogether, what then?' Khalid wondered.

‘The crew would be free to serve whomever they choose, or not … but we would all be trapped here with no means to operate or effect the physical world outside of this crash site.' Chironjivi feared that most of all: no more bloodletting, no more revenge. He knew Khalid would cease to bring victims for them to mutilate, taunt and play with once there was no just cause to do so. Khalid only killed for social or political advancement, and considered murder an unnecessary risk otherwise.

Khalid was satisfied and so gave the nod. ‘Time to screw the leader of the known worlds.' He reached for his discarded blade and willed it back into his possession.

 

Finally, Jabez had a day at home in the private sector to relax and recuperate by the pool. The twins were out shopping and he was happily sipping juice as he read through proposals on his portable work station. The president could not have been more content, until a request for a transfer came through on his communicator from Taren.

‘I told her …' He hesitated to agree, until a second message arrived stating that the transfer was of the utmost urgency. ‘Damn it,' he mumbled, as he typed a reply to give her the go ahead and kissed his peaceful morning goodbye — he knew this was not a social call.

When Taren appeared beside him, she unexpectedly hugged him tight. ‘Father, thank the universe.' She kissed his cheek.

‘Have I done something right that I'm not aware of?' Anselm made jest of her uncharacteristic affection.

‘Yes, you're not dead.' She sniffled back her tears of relief and, before her father could question her shocking statement, she said, ‘Have you received word of the dowager duchess's murder yet?'

‘What?' Anselm's alarmed doubled. ‘No, I —'

‘Mr President! Mr President!' The panicked cries of Anselm's private security secretary echoed through to the pool house from inside.

‘Here it comes,' Taren advised apologetically and rendered herself invisible before Tyra entered to inform Anselm of the sad news.

As upsetting as the report was, Anselm was eager to hear Taren out and so asked to be left alone for a moment.

Tyra understood perfectly and expressed her deep condolences before returning to her office to handle the incoming calls of sympathy and media queries on his behalf.

‘You had a premonition?' he figured and Taren appeared once again.

‘Yes,' she confirmed. ‘And in it, Maiara told me that her death would be my cue that Khalid was coming for you.'

‘He would never dare —' Anselm couldn't take her seriously.

‘With you and Ronan out of the way, Khalid can turn the entire United Systems against the psychic bill and we'll have nowhere but Phemoria to hide,' she said quickly and Anselm began taking her more seriously. ‘But what Khalid doesn't know is that as long as you hold your Juju next to your skin, his power will have no effect on you.'

‘Well, if I put the stone to my skin now, Khalid won't find me at all,' Anselm reasoned.

‘But we want him to find you,' Taren said with a smile.

‘We do?' Anselm was intrigued by her mischievous tone as she nodded.

‘If he cannot find you, he will suspect you of being one of us, and we don't want that,' she reasoned.

‘And once he finds me? What then? If this in anyway involves having you and Khalid in the same room, I want no part in it! I've worked too long to —'

‘Father, please,' Taren interrupted him. ‘Maiara reminded me of one weapon we have that Khalid will never have, and I fully intend to use it. He won't even know I'm here.'

 

Taren returned to her unit on Frujia after briefing her father, to find her co-conspirators in a bit of a flap.

She had called in Jazmay and Yasper to assist with her father's protection, but Lucian and Yasper were not very comfortable about making each other's acquaintance — despite the fact that Yasper was happily married to Jazmay, and Lucian to Taren.

‘Thank goodness,' Lucian explained quietly upon her return, ‘there's someone at the door. I was going to answer it, but —'