Children of Zanar 1: The Zanari Inheritance Read online

  ~~~

  ‘Someone shot at you!’ Kaya gasped.

  Thea gave her a frown and unhooked a grenade from her belt. ‘Really? Well, that is shocking.’ She primed the grenade and tossed it out into the hall before closing the door. A second or two later, smoke began to creep in under the door.

  ‘We’re not going out that way?’

  ‘We’ll take the back door.’ Thea went to the window and used her sword to shatter the glass.

  ‘But it’s bar– Oh, yeah, you’ve got a magic sword.’

  ‘If I get time to use it. The smoke may persuade them to hold back for a bit, but…’ She swung, carving through one of the bars near the bottom. A second swing cut a second bar, then she stopped and moved back to the door, taking another grenade out as she did so. ‘Maybe a little more discouragement.’ Opening the door, she threw the grenade, this time tossing it far further down the corridor to the right. Then she slammed the door shut and went back to the window.

  Nothing happened as Thea cut through a third bar, then a fourth. Then there was a dull thud and the building shook. Plaster drifted down from the ceiling to land in Kaya’s hair and her eyes widened. ‘What was that?’ Kaya asked.

  Thea swung at another bar. ‘Jinny. She has no subtlety at all.’

  ~~~

  Jay felt the shudder of something explosive detonating, and it felt a lot like it had gone off inside the building. Whatever Garaka had said, it was time to take a hand in things. Or maybe to find a way off the island. He grabbed a jacket and headed out into the corridor.

  Things were, if anything, too quiet after the explosion, but there was smoke at the bottom of the stairs, and there was Garaka Monteagle, holding a rifle and staring down the corridor which ran along the back of the building. The corridor, Jay imagined, that had Kaya’s room on it.

  Jay edged up to the corner and looked around. There seemed to be no immediate danger, given that the merc was just standing there, but there had been danger. The three bodies, charred bodies, lying on the floor indicated that.

  ‘It had to be a plasma grenade,’ Garaka said. ‘I’ve never seen one that powerful, but it had to be.’

  ‘Where’s Kaya?’ Jay asked.

  ‘I only got away because I spotted it and dived behind the wall.’

  ‘Kaya?’ Jay repeated. ‘Where–’

  ‘She’s in the room halfway down. There’s someone else there with her. Black hair.’

  ‘Thea,’ Jay growled. ‘How the diyou did they find us?’

  ‘Don’t know. Don’t care. That girl is more trouble than she’s worth. If I could actually get to any of my people, I’d tell them to let her go.’

  ‘Well, I’m not letting her go,’ Jay said. He pulled his shotgun from its holster and marched off down the corridor, into the smoke.

  There was a door near the centre of the cloud which looked like it had been hit with needler rounds and Jay stopped at it, his hand on the knob. Taking a deep breath in the smoke seemed like a stupid idea, and his eyes were starting to water. He twisted and rammed through, his gun coming up as soon as the door was clear of it…

  And there was no one in the room. He looked around quickly, his gun moving where his head went, until his eyes fell on the window. The bars had been cut through and then bent outward. Thea and Kaya were gone.

  ~~~

  We’re clear, Jin, Thea thought at her friend. I’ve got Kaya. Withdraw and meet us at the boat.

  Will do, Jinny replied quickly. I had to kill Xaviran. Just so you know.

  Garaka’s not going to be pleased about that. Okay. If you had to.

  He didn’t give me a lot of choice. See you in a bit.

  ‘You’re looking pensive,’ Kaya said. She was doing her best to keep up with Thea as they moved through the brush, but it was not that easy.

  ‘Jinny had to kill Garaka Monteagle’s father. I was sort of hoping they might just give up once we’d got out, but I suspect we won’t get so lucky.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Yes. Let’s push on. It’s not far to the beach.’

  ‘You said something about a yacht?’

  ‘Yes, but we’ll be getting to it by alternative water transport.’

  Kaya kept quiet for a minute while they hurried through the thick brush, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. ‘What kind of alternative– Oh.’ They pushed out onto a white-sand beach, and she saw the two-man aquasled resting on the shoreline.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Thea said, flashing her a grin. ‘It’s quite safe. All you have to do is hang on. I’ll do the driving.’

  ‘Don’t those things go underwater?’

  ‘Hang on, and breathe through the mask then.’

  ‘And get soaked through,’ Kaya pointed out.

  Thea shrugged. ‘Well, we’ll get you some new clothes when we get to the boat. And maybe burn that jumpsuit. You can always stay with the mercenaries, if you prefer.’

  Kaya hurried toward the sled. ‘Show me the mask and the handholds.’

  Part Four: Home Is Where You Choose To Be

  Sister Clementina, Giltanish Prime, 11/2/483 BCC.

  A girl Kaya did not recognise helped her up onto the aft deck of the yacht before Thea piloted the sled to the bay amidships to be winched back into its housing. The dark-skinned, dark-haired girl was wearing an open shirt over a bikini, but she also had the same sort of silver necklace chain around her neck that Sienna wore, aside from it having a black gem instead of a red one. She had a nice smile, calming, confident.

  ‘Hello, Sora Trevorny, I am Nirayla. If you’ll come with me, I took the liberty of fabbing you something to wear since Thea suggested you might wish to get out of… that. You can change in your cabin.’

  ‘Uh, thanks,’ Kaya replied. ‘Is there a shower in there too?’

  Nirayla’s smile switched up a notch. ‘Of course.’

  The cabins were not as luxurious as the ones on the Oracle, but you could tell this was a pleasure boat of some sort. The cabin had a double bed larger than the one Kaya’s parents had shared and an en-suite shower room. It was all tastefully decorated in smooth panelling in a beige shade which, Kaya suspected, tended not to show dirt, was easy to clean, but still looked good.

  Kaya abandoned her clothes as soon as the door was shut on the shower room and dived under the water as fast as she was able.

  ‘There are towels on the rail,’ Nirayla called through the door, ‘and your dress is on the bed. I shall leave you to get dressed.’

  And, suddenly, all of the solitude of the last few days hit Kaya right between the eyes. ‘Nirayla!’

  ‘Yes, Sora Trevorny?’

  ‘Uh, would you stay? I… won’t know where to go when I leave here.’

  There was a tiny pause which indicated that Nirayla recognised an excuse when she heard one. ‘Of course, Sora Trevorny.’

  ‘Call me Kaya, please. How come you’re with Thea and the others?’

  ‘They came to the chapter house looking for assistance in rescuing you. I know how to pilot a yacht and I know the waters. And Sister Sienna has been most helpful in furthering my training.’

  ‘Yeah, she’s pretty good at– Wait, Sister Sienna?’

  ‘Sister Advisor Sienna, yes. You… didn’t know that?’

  Kaya rubbed shampoo into her hair and frowned. ‘I don’t even know what that means.’

  ‘You’ve never heard of the Lanthanari Sisterhood? Sister Sienna said she was training you.’

  ‘In telepathy, yes. You’ll have to forgive me. I come from a little colony no one really goes near. I’d never seen much of the culture outside our planet before I went to Abertine, and I wasn’t there long enough to take too much in.’

  ‘Oh. I’d assumed… Well, that will teach me to assume. The Sisterhood is quite an ancient order. More a philosophy than a religion. It’s open only to women who have psi talent. We are taught strength and confidence, and that the ultimate test of our self-worth lies in the ability to subjugate one’s will to anot
her without losing ourselves. I’m but a novice, still in training, but Sienna and Thea are Sister Advisors, and that marks them out as true mistresses of the teachings of our founder, Marienna Lanthanar. Only Sister Marienna and her closest advisors rank higher than a Sister Advisor.’

  Kaya washed the soap from her hair while she digested that. ‘Thea’s one too?’ she asked upon emerging.

  ‘Yes. Well, I think it’s a little complicated. Sister Sienna has something of a special relationship with… Um. You should ask them. Anyway, I’m glad we were able to help you. Sister Thea, in particular, seemed very determined to find you.’

  That was nice to know. Thea had been particularly keen on finding her… Well, Kaya was the first new zanari in a long time and Thea had that whole ‘protector of the species’ thing going. Of course she would want to see Kaya safe. That was it, right? That was all it was?

  ~~~

  Kaya was a little uncomfortable in the dress Nirayla had fabricated for her. Not knowing the correct size, Nirayla had opted for something with a bit of adjustment: a tight-fitting wrap-around garment in cream with a flower-print design on the front. The top was a little low-cut and the hemline a little high for Kaya, especially since she currently had nothing to wear under it. She felt like a child dressing up in her big sister’s dating dress, and the fact that Nirayla had said she looked lovely in it had not really helped.

  And then Kaya climbed into the solarium and was suddenly wrapped in a half-naked Jinny.

  ‘It’s so good to have you back,’ Jinny bubbled, still hugging her. ‘I was worried about you. We were all worried about you. Even Nirayla, and she’s never met you. Until now, obviously. She’s met you now. Did they hurt you? If they did, I’ll go back and–’

  ‘Let the girl breathe, Jin,’ Thea said. She was smiling, but in the calm way she usually seemed to do everything. There was no indication of a ‘special interest’ in getting Kaya back. ‘Are you hurt at all?’ Thea asked when Jinny had let go, pouting. ‘I didn’t ask because, frankly, we needed to get out of there and you seemed to be ambulatory. We can’t do too much until we get back to the Oracle, but we may have something to help, if needed.’

  Kaya gave a shrug. ‘My back’s still stiff, but I spent… some time in the ship’s medical bay. I think they took care of most of the injuries then.’

  Jinny’s eyes narrowed. ‘Injuries? You’re going to tell me all about all of it so I can work out who to shoot.’

  ‘I’d like to hear about it as well,’ Thea said. ‘If you feel like you’re up to it.’

  ‘My body clock is all over the place,’ Kaya replied. ‘Now’s as good a time as any, until I get tired anyway.’

  Nirayla brought coffee, which Kaya realised she had had none of for quite a while and relished, and they all sat around the solarium to hear Kaya’s story. She gave it as best she could, though she still could not remember what had happened on the rooftop on Teladish, just reported what Jay had said, and there were a lot of blanks due to the sensory deprivation and drugs. Jinny asked questions, but Thea and Sienna just listened until Kaya was done and Jinny was scowling.

  ‘I’m gonna shoot Colder right in the moshonka with a plasma round,’ Jinny growled.

  ‘Not for me,’ Kaya responded. ‘I don’t want anyone else dying because of me.’

  ‘We may have to do something about him,’ Thea said. ‘He knows too much.’ She frowned. ‘He knows too much for it to have all come from his time with us. His treatment of you seems like there’s a personal element to it. Anyway, if we can’t kill him, we may have to take other measures.’ She glanced at Sienna, who frowned but nodded. ‘For now, however, let’s see about getting safely back to the Sword. Nirayla?’

  ‘We’re underway,’ Nirayla replied. She glanced out at the daylight now streaming in the windows of the solarium. ‘It’ll take us almost a week to get back to Ammendine. The AI predicts that we’ll get into port not long after midday on the seventh day. That’s local time, obviously.’

  ‘How long are the days on this world?’ Kaya asked.

  ‘Twenty-one hours. And about nineteen minutes.’

  ‘That’s not so bad. I might get my brain back on something like a normal rhythm.’

  ‘You’ll have time to,’ Thea said. ‘We’re just a couple of Lanthanari Sisters out for a cruise with some crew’ – she indicated Jinny – ‘and a couple of novices.’

  ‘A couple of novices?’ Kaya and Nirayla said in near unison.

  Thea smirked. ‘Yes. We’ll program the nanofab to make the chain in a bit. And we’d better get Kaya’s measurements for it. She’s going to need a bikini for sunbathing on the deck.’

  ~~~

  It took less than an hour for the nanofabricator on the boat to fashion Kaya a chain just like Nirayla’s and a bikini which, while considerably fuller than the ones the other girls were wearing, still felt a little brief to Kaya. Which, she decided, was silly since they were all girls together.

  There was a little ceremony in the sun on the aft deck where Sienna hung the chain around Kaya’s neck after asking whether she accepted it willingly and with knowledge of the responsibility it symbolised. Kaya agreed, even though she had absolutely no idea what the responsibilities were and felt a little strange going through all this in a bikini. But it was not real anyway. She was not really joining the Sisterhood. Was she?

  And then there had been her first duty as a Sister: lie in the sun and relax because, according to Sienna and Thea, she looked like she needed the rest. Apparently she did, because she nodded off after half an hour or so, listening to Sienna giving Nirayla meditation lessons.

  When her eyes flicked open, some time later, she was surprised to find that she could see, that she was not gagged, that she could move her arms freely…

  ‘Bad dreams?’ Thea was lying on a lounger beside her. Sienna and Nirayla were nowhere to be seen.

  ‘Uh, maybe,’ Kaya replied. ‘How long was I asleep?’

  ‘Bit less than an hour. Want to talk about it?’

  Kaya pushed herself upright, blinking in the sun. ‘I’m not really sure what “it” is. I think… I think I was holding it all in while I was with them and now…’

  ‘Now you can relax, all the anxiety is coming out?’

  ‘That. I can’t believe Jay just wanted me for… for whatever it was he wanted me for. Money? Power? I don’t see why I mean any of that to him.’

  ‘Hm. He was your first, wasn’t he?’

  ‘My first? My– Oh.’ Kaya felt her cheeks reach ignition point in no time at all. ‘You know about that?’

  ‘There were signs.’

  ‘I think he just did it so I’d trust him more. It made it easier when he drugged me.’

  Thea gave a small smile. ‘I think there was at least a degree of lust involved, Kaya.’

  ‘Oh, I don’t think he really–’

  ‘Stop. Underselling. Yourself. It’s entirely unbefitting in a Sister, even a novice.’

  Kaya spotted a chance to divert the conversation and went for it. ‘I don’t know what that means. Not really. I’m not really a novice anyway, I mean–’

  ‘Technically,’ Thea interrupted, ‘you accepted the chain from a Sister Advisor, so you are a novice member of the Sisterhood.’

  ‘Uh, oh.’

  ‘Actually, I think it would do you some good. You need some training in believing in yourself.’

  ‘Oh. But you’re not a Sister, are you? I haven’t seen you wearing that chain until today.’

  Thea picked up the length of silver chain which had replaced her usual necklace again, twisting the jewel in her fingers. ‘I’m a sort of honorary member. If you were to look on the rolls, you’d find me listed as a Sister Advisor, but I don’t actively practise and I was given the position without all the usual rigmarole it requires. We… did a favour for their founder after Zanar fell. Sienna got her title the hard way. The Sisterhood is older than most people believe. It was founded on Ganisha Prime, one of the worlds of the Zanar
Protectorate.’

  ‘Isn’t that where Sienna comes from?’

  ‘Yes. Anyway, whether you choose to, um, resign your commission, so to speak, when we’re done here is up to you. Sienna won’t hold it against you. But you might want to think on it. She’ll be quite willing to teach you about them if you want.’

  Kaya frowned. ‘Okay, well, if someone can explain to me what it is I’m supposed to do as a novice, I guess I’ll work from there.’

  ‘That can be arranged,’ Thea replied with a smirk in her voice. ‘One duty is to serve Sienna and me, so why don’t you go down to the galley and get us some cold drinks.’ She lay back on the lounger with a sigh and closed her eyes. ‘I’ll be right here, working hard on my tan.’

  12/2/483.

  She slept fitfully, Sienna’s voice said into Thea’s mind. She needs help. She blames herself for our need to rescue her. She feels guilty for falling under Colder’s control.

  Thea watched across the galley as Kaya helped Nirayla with breakfast. The girl was trying to appear bright, but her eyes were puffy and she paused frequently as though trying to remember what she was doing.

  Under his control? Thea asked. Or is it more that she let him get close and he betrayed her?

  Sienna sat back in her chair and folded her arms under her breasts. Kaya tries her best to be practical and strong. She grew up on a farm. She believes she should be pragmatic. She believes she should take life seriously, take her responsibilities seriously. That’s one reason she’s a little uncomfortable with that chain around her neck: she has responsibilities she does not understand.

  I said you could teach her what they are.

  And I will. However, not my point. Underneath it all, Kaya is something of a romantic. She was sure that her first time with a man would be an incredible, meaningful experience.

  And it turns out the man just wanted in her panties so he could kidnap her.

  Precisely. Her need for romance remains, however. I believe it would help her to have a relationship with more meaning. And I can’t do it since she’s my student.

  Thea flashed Sienna a hard look across the table. I am not being rebound girl!