Consorts of the red king, p.26
Consorts of the Red King, page 26
“Yes.” The color might be off slightly, but otherwise Jorvik and Van managed to recreate a small aspect of his home.
“Good. What are the crystals made of?” For a moment Stone didn’t look much like the soldier he used to be. Instead, he patted, thumped, and even caressed the crystals like a curious child. “Hey, they’re warm. And soft.”
“They solidify with age. Once they mature they can no longer move and start to harden. I’m not sure what they’re made of. So far we’ve managed to keep Federation scientists away.” For how much longer before his uncle gave away all their secrets?
Stone’s eyes widened as he stroked the glowing crystals. “They’re sentient?”
Now to tell Akiak’s biggest secret. “Yes.”
Van let out a low whistle. “When you said the geneticists combined human DNA with crystals, I had no idea they mixed two living organisms.”
With a nod Stone dropped his hand to his side. “This might give us an advantage. Crystals, depending on their makeup, can interfere with suits’ communications.”
“They cut my communications with the ship when I was there.” Van turned in a circle, wonder painted on his face.
“Good.” Stone gave a curt node. “If you can lure the bulk of the Federation ground forces into the caves, they’ll be cut off from command.”
Jorvik shifted the image to another angle, showing the crystal-covered ceiling. “They’ll still fight, won’t they?” Of course, anyone who’d spent much time exploring the planet would know a million places to hide, so luring the soldiers into the caves and disappearing would be easy, with him as guide.
Stone’s smile held a touch of bitterness. Connell silently rose and wrapped his arm around his mate’s waist. Stone kissed the top of his head and squeezed him tight in a one-armed hug. He didn’t let go. “The soldiers don’t fight by choice. I’m thinking half would desert if they got a better offer.” He looked pointedly at Jorvik. “Make them a better offer.”
A better offer? “What? What are you saying?”
Stone exchanged a long, intense stare with Connell, silent communication crackling between them like static. “The battle is merely the beginning. To truly take back your world and hold it against future invaders, you’ll need your own military. I’m thinking many of those soldiers would rather switch sides than live in servitude their whole lives. And they’ve got extremely long lives.”
“And ships?” Van asked.
Stone clapped him on the shoulder. “Leave the ships to me and Connell.” He turned back to Jorvik. “Now, show me the port.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“Approaching a heavy cruiser,” Tayn reported over the speakers. “Galaxy class, full weapons. Made for distant travel and long sieges. Tricky to maneuver in tight places, no speed to speak of. Built about one hundred years ago.”
Not so sophisticated then. Van wasn’t too familiar with Federation vessels, except for the one he’d stolen, a newer model far superior to the aging hulk in their viewscreen.
Ships had always been Tayn’s area of expertise.
Tayn’s voice faded and Stone’s picked up the account. “Sentient ship, but retrofitted so not exactly efficient. Two operators in total control of the navigation, life support, and other ship functions. One hundred seventeen lifeforms, various species. Twelve gunners, two long range blast arrays.”
“Weaknesses?” The problem with being in his body meant Van couldn’t look at whatever schematics Stone might be conjuring. Like flying blind.
“Badly patched hull breach on deck five. The engines will likely overheat if they try to hyperjump.” This from Stone, who became more talkative when military tactics and ships were involved.
Soldier. Lacking social niceties.
Van could learn to like the guy. Maybe. “How do you know all this?”
Stone chuckled. Until now he’d stayed totally serious and focused to the point of pain for all who watched. “Me and brain ships go way back.”
“Can they see us?” The cruiser grew larger and larger in the viewscreen. Ships built to destroy other ships weren’t made for beauty, and Van spotted only a handful of places where a passenger could get a visual of the Cormorant.
“My friends in the wiring can, but they don’t feel the need to share the information. Crews refer to the pilots as dickless wonders.” Again Stone laughed. “They’ll pay for their lack of respect.”
Eyes glued to the viewscreen, Van sat frozen in his seat, watching the Cormorant slip silently past their first hurdle.
Jorvik stood behind him, close enough to share body heat. Van leaned back, pressing his shoulder against his lover’s abdomen. His lover. Not Jorvik, not the prince or king, but his lover. His and Tayn’s. If he didn’t turn around, he could remember their first night together, the slender hairless body, wide eyes he now knew to have held a touch of desperation.
He wouldn’t look, for he’d see sorrow in those eyes now. The fangs made speaking near impossible, and those claws could accidently rip upholstery if Jorvik wasn’t careful.
Or skin now resembling armor, limiting all their sexual encounters to cyberspace, while Connell and Stone discreetly gave them distance.
Somewhere underneath the genetic mutations Jorvik still lived. Regardless of what he’d said, Van couldn’t kill him when this was over and done. He’d find a way to bring the man back to him.
Restoring Tayn too.
His light at the end of the tunnel, his reason for living, the prize he swore he’d have one day: to stand in the sunlight with Tayn on one side and Jorvik on the other.
Jorvik slathered in ultraviolet repellant and wearing an eye shield, but still.
He’d take them somewhere secure, maybe New Wailea, Connell’s home planet, made safe by a lying beacon, screaming at all passing ships, “Danger! Radiation!”
He’d lie with them on the cliffs overlooking the sea Connell spoke of so fondly.
Make love to them both—in the flesh.
Why not dream big?
His heart ached for such a moment. He’d done a lot of wrong in his life, with few regrets, but two of his biggest were not telling Tayn he loved him years ago, and not doing the same with Jorvik.
Jorvik would see the words as pity now, if he could even comprehend them at all. Sometimes he listened intently, tried to communicate, other times he hissed or howled.
The dietary offerings the nutrition panel prepared for him kept Van out of the kitchen during mealtimes.
May the geneticists who’d created the serum changing Jorvik from sweet man to bloodthirsty beast have all died horribly.
Unable to help himself, needing comfort as much as needing to offer the same, he reached behind him, resting a hand on Jorvik’s waist. Jorvik leaned into the contact.
Slowly, slowly, they advanced on Akiak. What a hair-brained idea. One man, one whatever-the-hell Jorvik was now, and three bodiless consciousnesses against Federation ships, troops, and Jorvik’s asshole uncle.
They’d end their lives fighting. Unlike his folks, who’d been attacked at night and died never knowing what hit them.
The stories Stone told of his time as a soldier, of being ordered to kill children, decimate entire planets, only added to Van’s already raging hatred. Before he’d deserted and met Connell, he’d been known only by a number: Fourteen. Soldier Fourteen. Not even seen as a human being.
Would the brother Tayn didn’t know about be subjected to the same treatment? One more regret added to a growing list: not being able to find the baby ripped from Tayn’s mother, if he even still lived.
Van might not win this battle, but he’d take as many of those sorry bastards with him as possible.
Soon the cruiser faded to a speck on the rear viewer, without a single shot fired. One hurdle down, many more to go. A few unmanned, sentient drones guarded the boundaries of Akiak space, convinced to turn a blind eye by Stone.
What power he wielded, even without a body.
Like Tayn.
How did one say “Fuck the Federation” in cyberspeak?
Not so much as one single challenge, and one hell of a lot of ships telling their crews, “Nothing to see here, folks, move along.”
A bone-rattling plunge through the atmosphere, and the reddish-brown surface of Akiak lay before them, the white and yellow of the mountains no longer appearing to be bones. So beautiful now, where they’d been intimidating before. And about to be deadly.
“You ready, Tayn?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.” The smirk in Tayn’s voice came through loud and clear.
Still, Van asked, “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Van?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t make me take over Jorvik’s body and kick your ass.”
Van gave an all-too-brief smile and pulled in a deep breath. He loved his partner, forever at his back. Gods of all planets willing, he always would be.
Even knowing Tayn could more than handle himself and the Cormorant, Van hated going in blind, piloting the ship from outside rather than from within. Maybe he’d spent too much time in virtual form, more used to the freedom of cyberspace than his own body.
Jorvik inched closer behind him, maybe a little too close. A massive length Van didn’t even want to think about pressed against his side. “Should I be worried?” he asked. He’d seen men lust-filled during battle. Consent mattered little to them.
Jorvik the man wouldn’t hurt him, but he didn’t yet trust the animalistic tendencies brought on by the altering of Jorvik’s genetic code. The changes were too new, too unpredictable.
Van barely deciphered Jorvik’s reply. “Red king created for battle. Excitement.”
While he’d never turn down a chance to be with Jorvik or Tayn, he so did not want to be on the receiving end of a dick as long and hard as his forearm.
Only days of getting used to the slurred, teeth-affected quality of Jorvik’s words, plus a few tweaks to Van’s aural implants, let him understand.
The flashing light on their panel went out, Akiak’s base no longer requesting the Cormorant’s call signs, thanks to Tayn and Stone.
Van let out a relieved sigh and sank deeper into the pilot’s chair. “Secure yourselves. We’re going in.”
He braced, but they managed to put the ship down gently near the old temple where he and Jorvik made their escape. Had they really met only a few weeks ago?
Scavengers feasted on the much-larger pile of half-burned bodies.
Scans of the immediate area showed large concentrations of life signs inside and outside the palace, as well as on a nearby hilltop, which turned out to be a pack of four-footed carnivores with green fur.
What were they… Oh.
Van quickly switched the viewscreen to the temple. Jorvik didn’t need to see two of the beasts fighting over and tearing a body apart in their greed.
Jorvik calmly turned the viewscreen back. “From Southern realms. Their coloring.” Muscles jumped in his jaw. “Stay here, they turn light.”
He squeezed Van’s shoulder. Van winced. “Sorry,” Jorvik said. “Forget.”
Could he return to his original state once the red king served his purpose?
Words. He spoke in words though Van couldn’t make out full sentences. Maybe his recent silences were his way of coping. Or the weird meditation thing he did.
Van posed a question, unsure if he wanted the answer, “What happened to the last red king?”
“After battle, went to hills. Not come back.”
Fuck. “You can’t simply walk away, you know.”
“I know. No heir. No one to carry line.” Jorvik bent and stared into Van’s eyes. “I don’t wish to leave you.”
Shit. Van never considered as king, Jorvik might be compelled to mate with a female of his kind and produce offspring, though he had mentioned his hopes of his father’s mistress giving him a sibling to succeed him. What would become of him and Tayn then? Would Jorvik write them off as a sacrifice to duty? Oh hell. They’d probably be dead soon, making his concern a moot point.
Tayn answered the unasked questions. “He spoke to me about this before. If he’s forever like this, aggressive, a man of war, he will need to be killed for safety’s sake. If he somehow manages to survive, as I’ve told him he will, we’ll depend on you to work as his ambassador, ensure he crosses no lines. He’ll also need help selecting an heir.”
Selecting, not creating. Another nuance of Akiakian culture.
Hearing Jorvik’s plans for their future together, even if he required Tayn to get the words out, shouldn’t have made Van feel so good. Surely Tayn said those things to him to bolster his courage before battle. Whatever the case, Van’s spirits lifted.
Blaster in his back holster, one in his boot, another in his hand—not to mention the contraband explosives he’d strapped into a bandolier across his body—Van exited the ship, keeping low. Jorvik carried nothing but a black stick, topped with a red crystal, like the palace guards carried. “Sure you don’t want something more substantial?” They’d visited lots of worlds and filled nooks and crannies of the ship with slightly, or greatly, illegal items.
Most extremely lethal.
Best to be prepared.
Jorvik hefted the staff. “Sure.”
Behind them the Cormorant’s engines whined, Tayn retreating into the relative safety of orbit.
They rounded the temple with its sagging, crumbling walls, and retraced their steps to the caves they’d escaped from. Van viewed the place with new eyes, not as a shithole world he couldn’t wait to see the last of, but as Jorvik’s home.
In his mind’s eye he imagined a young Jorvik playing among the ruins, or swimming in the shallow pool in the caverns.
He’d grown up so differently from Van and Tayn, likely doted on by his father with a slew of servants at his beck and call.
And yet he wasn’t the spoiled little princeling Van would have expected.
No, Jorvik held to a higher conviction, his people’s happiness and fates more important than his own. Even to the point of sacrificing his own chances for survival.
Not if Van could help it. If he hoped to have a future with his lover, this might be his home too, at least part of the time. First, to live. For survival, he’d fight like hell.
Jorvik didn’t have to duck inside the caves last time they were here, but now squeezed through the cave mouth.
“You gonna be able to fit?” Van rested his free hand on Jorvik’s back.
“No choice.” Jorvik’s smile held pointy teeth. It took Van a few moments to work out what the king said.
Van fought a wince at the image of what those teeth could do to flesh. No, this wasn’t some wild animal. This was his lover. He wrapped his fingers in Jorvik’s hair and pulled him down until their lips met. Trust. He needed to trust, and for Jorvik and Tayn to trust him. He thrust his tongue into Jorvik’s mouth and lost himself in the taste, the same sweetness he’d enjoyed many times before.
Not a single tooth scraped his tongue to the point of pain.
Jorvik carded rough fingers through Van’s hair, longer now than on his first trip to Akiak, pulling away to rest their foreheads together. “Thank you.” Without another word he led the way deeper into the caves, stroking his hand along the wall to ignite the crystals.
The crystals likely interfered with Tayn’s ability to sense them from the ship, making Van rely on ground technology to detect life forms. He ran tentative fingers over the nearest crystals. Spongy. Not hard. Although warm, they didn’t burn him either as he’d suspected of the red crystal in Commander’s pocket.
Except for small rodent-like creatures, one scurrying past with an insect in its mouth, the caves were still and quiet. No humanoid presence.
The closer they got to the surface the faster Jorvik paced, until Van barely kept up with him. Yes, he understood the eagerness, being home.
Van didn’t have a home. No place to go to and recall memories, both good and bad.
They slowed and Jorvik crouched, eye against the wall. He stayed still for several moments, sighing when he stood. “Uncle not there.”
Nothing could be so easy.
Jorvik cocked his head to the side, fires of anger dancing in his eyes. He seemed to grow, muscles bunching, clenching and unclenching his fists. “Won’t kill him quickly. Set example for enemies.”
Without another word he continued trudging upward.
Though the caves appeared to have been deserted for some time, no dust sprinkled the rough-hewn steps, nor marred the surfaces of the multifaceted crystals.
Did dust not exist on this world? Van noticed no dirt and dust during his previous visit, only threads the locals turned into silk.
They kept going, finally stepping out into the glowing green room they’d made their escape from. It too, looked unlived in. Jorvik knelt for a moment and ran his hands over the rumpled bedcovers.
Van didn’t comment on the dark stains on the floor, something he’d noticed but not questioned before, hustling after his mate. His mate. What the hell? He’d gone from being alone to tying himself to two other lives.
Finding a measure of contentment along the way.
If their blood didn’t join the stains on the floor. The walls contained crystals, and ceiling contained crystals, and he stepped closer to a small window to communicate with the ship.
He lifted his wrist, putting the comm unit near his mouth to hiss, “Tayn, check in.”
Laughter bubbled over the unit. “Oh, they are so hating me right now.”
Van rolled his eyes, almost afraid to ask. Almost. “What are you doing?”
“Two Federation gunships blew each other out of the sky before anyone figured out I’d jacked into the controls. They can’t figure out who I am or where I am, and are about to chalk it up to an anomaly. I’ve already picked out my next victims. I am so glad we ran into Stone so he could teach me how to do this.”
Van pictured Tayn’s shit-eating grin. “Don’t have too much fun. Save some for me.”
The hallways were deserted as Van and Jorvik made their way out of Jorvik’s old quarters and to the main stairs.
Creeping in shadows, they followed the stairs down, hitching left at the bottom. Bits of hushed conversation carried from beyond the door. They headed toward the kitchens, where he’d come to Jorvik’s rescue the night they’d met. He’d love for the offensive guard to stumble across their path now. Jorvik would tear his head off with little effort.
