35) For I Will Contend Even With His Pestilent Scythe

Come on, my Queen,
There's sap in 't yet. The next time I do fight
I'll make Death love me, for I will contend
Even with his pestilent scythe.
-Antony and Cleopatra, William Shakespeare

The Commanders were all discussing various methods of attack and how what had served in the past could be used against this new enemy the Lord Marshall had found for them when the door to the council chambers opened.

Riddick looked up from where he was sitting. He'd been getting clarification on some of the more obscure points from whatever Commander was in charge of that area while the rest of them argued or discussed. He'd say one thing for them, give them something to sink their teeth into and they were off and running.

He had lost a few of them though. Toal had dragged himself out, presumably to recuperate or die in peace. He'd sent Bract and Reko out, one to find a servant to bring them a meal and the other to bring an example of the latest weaponry they'd been working on. They were talking about making some sort of weapon out of Lensors and he wasn't sure it was a great idea. He wanted to see the specs before he committed himself to the idea or nixed it. At the moment he was leaning towards nixing it, simply because letting this insane army have yet another weapon in their arsenal rubbed him the wrong way.

So when the door opened he looked up expecting to see one of the two Commanders he'd sent out.

The person in the door way was much smaller, with a smear of blood over one cheek like war paint. Dog stood beside her and Dame Vaako just behind her. Her scent was triumphant and irritated both and he nearly smirked. He'd bet any amount of money the stupider of the two Commanders had come across Kitten and challenged her. But would the rest of them realize that made her a Commander? You keep what you kill.

Kitten didn't wait to be invited in. She simply walked into the room, nodded to him and put the poll axe she was carrying on one shoulder down on the table, the spine blade beside it. Riddick stood and picked up the spine blade. "Kitten. You been playing without me?"

"Bract didn't seem particularly enamored of my presence here." She shrugged, "He appeared to feel I needed to learn my place."

"I take it you put him in his?" Riddick grinned, "You know that makes you a Commander? You keep what you kill."

Her answering smile was wicked, "I thought as much."

"Be good to have a different perspective," He nodded keeping half an eye on the Commanders and their reactions. "And it isn't as if you couldn't kick collective ass if you wanted."

She looked at the gathered Commanders, "Bract died because he tried to put me in what he considered my proper place. A mark of the Necros on my neck, gowned and hobbled like one of your women. Useless. Does anyone else here feel the same way? He wasn't a very good fighter, more of a warm up really." She grinned at Riddick and he couldn't help smirking back, "Maybe we could spar while they debate the matter?"

"How'd you want it?" Riddick chuckled, "The room's big enough. Ain't like I couldn't use the exercise. This place is tā mā de boring."

"Shivs," Kitten replied promptly. She knew he wasn't as good with a sword or axe as she was and neither of them wanted to expose that weakness to the Necros. He was getting better, his natural instincts for weaponry gave him an edge and he always managed to hold his own. But he'd rather the Commanders not get any ideas of testing him out. "Time limit? So we aren't playing all day?" Kitten's gaze slid over to the cortex screens and one of her eyebrows went up in question.

"Let's try a quarter hour," Riddick set the limit well before the two of them would get tired. Tired could make them vulnerable and he wasn't having that on an enemy ship. He answered her unspoken question with a smirk. "Figured if they wanted to fight so bad they could try Reavers. Not like they don't need killing," Riddick told her. "And it ain't like we've got the time to go ship to ship and clean them out."

"Could be fun though," Kitten returned with a mischievous smile.

Riddick laughed, "Yeah, that could be. I'm up for it if you are." He looked over at the gathered Commanders who weren't doing a very good job of concealing their interest in the conversation. "How 'bout it? You want to board a Reaver ship and take on all comers?"

"Is that the…wisest use of our resources my Lord?" Vaako inquired smoothly. Vaako always had been smart. Crafty and cautious. It was why he'd stayed alive so long despite his ambitious wife's prodding.

Her smile was pure evil as she screwed with the Necros just as she'd screwed with the Mercs on Not Furya. "If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing. And, if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order."

Riddick folded his arms, "They think they could counter the Reavers if they can figure out how to predict them."

Kitten giggled and shook her head, "Let us spar while they try to figure out a way to counter insanity." She looked at the other Commanders, "Can let you in on a secret. There is no counter. The sane can never understand madness. They are made of rage and madness and hunger. There is nothing else left in them. All sanity and softness burned out when they inhaled the Pax."

He always enjoyed sparring with Kitten. She was smaller than he was, not as strong, though he'd noticed she was getting stronger since his accidental blood transfusion. Maybe she was finally healthy enough that her body was building muscle rather than healing the damage done by more than a year of near starvation. Or maybe Furyan blood did more than give her a fever and dreams of Shirah.

He was still stronger, but Kitten was a touch faster, not to mention damn graceful, and since she made no secret that she'd Read him of any plan he might make for a fight they were both forced to rely on muscle memory and instinct. Now they were both conscious of the watching Necro Commanders and the need to put on an impressive show.

That in itself wasn't hard. He and Kitten rarely pulled their punches, save when one of them had been injured. Since she'd chosen shivs he had to be careful because she had a very sneaky habit of getting inside his guard. The woman just might know more than he did about how to kill people. They'd definitely give the Necro Commanders quite a show. It couldn't fail to be impressive when two of the deadliest people in the 'Verse decided to fight each other.

So now the two of them fought, dodged, spun, swung and evaded each other's blows, both of them grinning the entire time. Kitten landed a slice on his upper arm while the tip of his shiv glanced her hip. "We're fragile creatures," She murmured, "It takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin."

"You and me, we ain't that fragile though are we," He smirked back and dodged as she came at him. His returning blow gave her a shove and she simple spun away, rolling over his back and coming up on his opposite side to slice at him again. Every time they fought he was amazed and aroused all over again at how deadly and gorgeous she was. Sexiest thing in the 'Verse was Kitten with a blade.

"Furyan's aren't fragile," She agreed with a grin and dove to the side to avoid another blow, popping up again like a jack in the box to leap on his back and try to put a blade to his throat. Throwing her off only served to add momentum to her graceful flip to her feet and she laughed. "We have reached the quarter hour mark. Still haven't killed each other."

"Yeah," He grinned and pulled her close, kissing her hungrily. "Good exercise though."

River wrapped a towel around her hair, drying it as much as possible before wrapping another around her body and padding out into the bedroom of the suite. She'd showered as quickly as she could so he could have his turn. Much as Riddick had wanted to shower with her, they'd both decided one of them would guard while the other showered. He was impatient to be alone with her, without distractions, and had nearly fucked her right in the council chambers. The only thing that had stopped him was the idea of the Commanders seeing her naked. Bad enough that Vaako already had. The memory alone was enough to make him see red.

He was sweeping the room for listening devices again and held up two more to show her before crushing them under his boot. "I'm tempted to say don't bother getting dressed to sleep. Both of us would hear anyone who tried to come in."

River nodded, "Very tempting." She looked at the bed and smiled when she heard his thoughts about what he wanted to do with her in it. "How long last time before the attempts on your life began?"

He considered as he began to strip off his sweaty clothing. "Took at least a few weeks. But they didn't know me, or that I had no intention of taking their stupid oath." He checked the wardrobe for clothing and pulled a few things out before continuing. "This time around, I'm acting the part a bit more, but I think we've only got a day or two at the most."

River nodded, "They're going to spend the night evaluating your potential and if they'll have to take steps." She grinned and moved towards the wardrobe as he headed for the shower. "You did stymie them a bit with the Reavers. They don't know what to make of that."

"That was the point," Riddick called. "They're going to be debating if I'm serious or not and if they can actually take the Reavers."

"Deliberately implied there are more Reavers than there are," River looked through the wardrobe. "They think there are as many as their fleet."

"Could be there are," Riddick was scrubbing himself carelessly, his mind on getting her into bed. "You know damn well the entire fleet couldn't have followed Serenity back to hit the Alliance. That many and they'd have hit the planet so hard Universe's building wouldn't even be standing. Choke point or no. Plus all the ships couldn't have been floating around Miranda. Not with all the attacks you'd heard about."

"True. But doubt there are more than there are Necros, event taking into consideration their method of contagion," River told him as she evaluated the clothing the Necros had provided for her, making a disgusted noise. There were many different styles but all of them were gowns that didn't allow for much movement. There were a few things that looked as if they were meant to be worn under the gowns, she would have called them leggings or tights, but they were all made out of some sort of hide and laced up the sides or had cut outs that made them otherwise impractical. Some of them might be enjoyable to wear for Riddick if she wasn't leaving their own boat.

"What's wrong?" He rinsed quickly and climbed out of the shower, absently drying himself off as he entered the bedroom and saw where she was looking, "Oh. Yeah. Doubt you'll find anything useful in there."

"Taking a shirt from yours," River said decisively and pulled a pair of the cut-out leggings out of her wardrobe. "Undergarments seem to be workable." She looked over at him and he grinned at her, moving towards her with an unmistakable gleam in his eyes.

She had a hard time thinking when Riddick touched her. Her big man really enjoyed that she went brainless with his caresses and he liked to see it happen as often as possible. He'd proven that over and over again and the last couple hours were no exception. She couldn't help the sigh of contentment as he curled around her protectively.

"Been thinkin'," Riddick murmured, his body warming hers as the air cooled her skin.

"Oh?" River nearly laughed but she didn't have the energy. "That's what you call it?" He'd managed to exhaust her, and himself, at least temporarily. She hadn't realized just how quickly his desires would ignite knowing she'd killed a Commander. The sight of her with blood streaking her cheek, carrying Bract's weapons, had sent instant lust through him and he'd spent the rest of the afternoon in council fantasizing about having her right on the table.

"Little witch," He chuckled and kissed her temple. "No, before, when the Commanders were arguing, before you came in."

"Hmm?" She tried to focus on something other than sex. "What about?"

"Got to thinkin', there's gotta be some way other than getting killed to pass along being Lord Marshall. There'd be constant infighting and attempts on the Lord Marshall's life if that was the only way. The fleet would be a lot less organized, and they are organized beyond belief, like machines nearly," Riddick said quietly. "Think you could take a look in the library? Maybe the archives?"

"Hmm… she will," River nodded. "I can download the entire library to my cortex. Necro cortexes are very…primitive compared to mine. They seem to be of the opinion that if it works why bother with innovation or upgrades. Unless it's weaponry. Then full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes. They're curiously stagnant. No intuitive leaps or imaginative thought."

"Dame Vaako'll probably offer to escort you around again," Riddick was petting her hair absently. Dog finished his meal and climbed onto the bed on her other side. She could feel him curling up and resting his head on her legs.

"She thinks of ways to use us to her advantage," River told him as she considered the woman. Dame Vaako reminded her of nothing so much as a serpent. "Her ambition knows no bounds."

"Yeah, she hasn't changed," Riddick agreed grimly. "She's been pushing Vaako to do something ever since Zhylaw was Lord Marshall."

"Does he confide in her? Trust her?" River wondered.

"She's his wife, so I'd say he does, to a point," Riddick kissed her again. "Don't know how much though. They're both faithful but she tends to bend the rules more than he does." His hands slid down her back, "You need to get some sleep. Or I'll end up keeping you up all night."

"Hmm…" She sighed. "Wouldn't mind, but we don't know how early someone will wake us."

Riddick chuckled, "Too soon I'll bet." She could hear the smile in his voice, "My pretty little genius witch. Go to sleep before I give into my urges and pull you on top of me. Nothing prettier than watching you."

"He is insatiable," River giggled and obediently closed her eyes. "Sleep…and he can wake me in the morning however he likes."

"You can count on that," Riddick chuckled.

Riddick watched as Kitten began to dress, using some of the Necromonger underthings and a shirt from his wardrobe. With as many fights as they'd gotten in the last few weeks both of them had been forced to make do with Necro clothing. That first night had been the last they'd dared to sleep without armor. He'd lost another couple of Commanders, Scalp Taker among them. At this point he thought of it as Darwinism. As a result their clothes were bloodied and needed mending, but the body armor was proving to be worth its weight in platinum. Kitten had adapted her wardrobe somewhat, wearing his larger shirts like tunics and paired with some sort of leggings from her wardrobe, sexy things that laced up the sides, or had different cutouts along her legs. Her appeal was in no way diminished by the combat boots she pulled on or the weapons she'd hidden. Her body armor was under the shirt and her hair had been braided back tightly into its usual knot at the base of her neck. "Likely some other idiots'll try for you today."

"For you too," She told him. "Some of your Commanders aren't the most patient."

"We should reach Blue Sun today. I told 'em that unless they can deal with Reavers they aren't worth my time and I won't take their oath," Riddick nodded. "Let them prove they're worthy of me. They don't want to fight the Reavers, means they're afraid. And if they're afraid then they've broken their faith. That gives them a whole new set of problems to work on. We set course for Miranda, and that'll take us right up against the Reaver fleet. And we'll see just how well they do against Reavers."

"If the fleet attacks the Reavers, any Reaver ships will come screaming at them, regardless of where they are," Kitten was remembering something, he could tell from the tilt of her head and the tone of her voice. "They… They're not quite a hive mind. But they always feel connected in some way. I don't know what it is. A thread of madness or a connected frequency on their ships maybe?"

"That could be handy, make sure we get all of them before we sail on out of the system," Riddick mused. She nodded as she slid shivs into her wrist sheaths, rolling her neck and he smiled as he recalled sucking the love bite into her throat. Her collar barely hid the mark. He'd woken her up before the knock on the door with breakfast had come, his mouth between her thighs and she'd come before she was completely awake. She'd almost begged for him to fuck her; her voice had been so sweet…

"Riddick," Kitten's voice drew him out of his thoughts and he grinned at her. She was blushing again, he couldn't get enough of that. "He is…growing distracted."

"Yeah. Well you're pretty distracting," He leered at her and chuckled when she blushed again. "You heading to the library again?"

"Hmm…nearly done downloading it to my cortex, so I can research here if I want," Kitten nodded as she finished hiding shivs about her clothing. "Keep Dog with you today I think. Show them he isn't my bodyguard."

"I don't much like that," Riddick frowned.

"I must be able to walk alone, or they will see it as weakness," She reminded them. "Besides, the other Commanders haven't met Dog and they should."

Dog had perked up as they'd spoken about him and Riddick nodded, "All right." He looked at Dog, "With me." Dog scrambled up eagerly and Riddick resigned himself to calming the animal down before he did anything else. Kitten smiled and pressed her lips to his cheek before she headed for the door. "You come find me if you have any trouble," He ordered.

Her reaction was an amused smirk reminding him that he might be Lord Marshall but to her he was simply Riddick. Her bàng jiār. And he was in charge of her as much as Dog would be in charge of a cat. Then she was out the door and he looked at Dog. "Yeah, I'd say we just got put in our place. Cats and women. They do what they want when they want. Dogs and Men, we just gotta deal with it."

River sighed as her cortex worked. She'd selected another history to read while her cortex downloaded the Necro library. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the Necro cortexes and their less than advanced tech it was taking quite some time, she'd spent nearly every day in the library. As a result she'd become well versed in the Necromonger history. There were two bright spots, one, she'd managed to avoid Dame Vaako's escort today at least. And two, she thought she'd found the solution to Riddick's succession problem. There hadn't been many Lord Marshalls in the Necro history to begin with. But most of them had chosen their successor, though the chosen had only advanced to the rank of Lord Marshall upon their predecessor's death.

There had only been six before Riddick, and only the death of Kryll was very obviously suspicious, and she suspected, that since his successor was Zhylaw, that he'd been the only one killed before 'due time'. Apparently the 'succession' document had been found by Zhylaw at Kryll's side. But any questions raised had been quickly put down as blasphemous and the offending questioners killed. The history was at least interesting even if the Necromonger dogma seemed a bit misguided. If life wasn't the natural state of the 'verse how had it gone on for so long? Why was it so persistent? Why did so many cling to it?

The cortex chimed softly, and she smiled in relief, checking her data to certain sure everything had transferred without corrupting the files. A quick diagnostic scanned the drive without issues and she quickly packed everything up. If she hurried she might be able to get back to the suite without running into Dame Vaako.

She drew strange looks as she strode down the hallways, her pace quicker than the rest of the Necromongers. Unfortunately, she had not managed to completely avoid Dame Vaako, as the woman slowly slinked towards her in yet another tightly revealing dress.

"Lady Riddick," Dame Vaako greeted her. "I was sorry to have missed you this morning."

River barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes, "You didn't miss much. I've been in the library again, studying Necromonger history. It's…interesting. I didn't realize that most of the Lord Marshall's named their successors."

"Yes," Dame Vaako nodded. "Lord Marshall Kryll committed ritual suicide but fortunately left a document naming Lord Marshall Zhylaw as his heir. Lord Marshall Riddick is the first to have taken the position by violence."

The Reader nodded noncommittally, "Being new to the role, he mentioned to me that Commander Vaako was quite helpful to him." Dame Vaako looked pleased at the compliment to her husband and River continued quietly, "You must be a great support to your husband."

"I do what I am able," The Necro woman nodded. "His burdens are many."

"He's been a Commander for some time," River murmured. "Riddick mentioned that Vaako knew of Furya and had experience with Furyans. Had you ever met any besides Riddick and myself?"

"I have not," Dame Vaako's mind flew towards thoughts of an Elemental and prophecy. That a young Furyan male would kill Zhylaw before 'due time'. The reason behind Zhylaw's destruction of Furya. Her reasons for wanting Zhylaw dead and Vaako in his place. There could be no fear if he had faith. And killing the Furyans proved that Zhylaw feared.

"But you know of the prophecy," River remarked and Dame Vaako gave her a look that might have been surprise. "I suppose that was why Zhylaw tried to kill every Furyan he could find." She glanced at Dame Vaako, "In your histories, I haven't yet found if that campaign was during his reign as Lord Marshall or before, under Kryll's reign."

"It was during Lord Marshall Kryll's reign," The woman turned slightly, guiding River to another part of the Necropolis. "I believe this will be of interest to you my Lady. You haven't experienced the Greater Quasi Dead as of yet."

River tilted her head, recalling Riddick's distaste for the near dead Necromongers. Distaste was a mild word for the revulsion he felt, "I have not." She looked at the woman, "If I recall correctly they're the Necromonger psychics." Riddick hated the Greater Quasi Dead even more than he'd hated Zhylaw. The first few months they'd partnered he'd been constantly surprised that when she Read him it didn't hurt. When she'd done the deep Reads of his psyche he'd still been braced for discomfort similar to what he'd experienced with the Greater Quasi Dead. Even the echo of the pain they'd inflicted had shocked her with its intensity.

"They are much more than that," Dame Vaako led her into a chamber with a small dais surrounded by five elaborate sarcophagi. "If you'll stand on the dais?"

River looked at her thoughtfully and Read that the woman didn't expect her to survive this. It had killed others. Riddick was the only one who had resisted and survived the brain bleeds that resistance caused. "Well, this will prove interesting," She remarked and set her cortex down nearby. "The more you resist them, the greater the damage will be." Dame Vaako looked shocked to hear her own words and cadence falling from River's lips and River smirked, "I do hope you'll have an explanation ready for the Lord Marshall. Afterwards." Riddick's memories had shown that he was forced to his knees, the knife in his hand snapped to the floor so she supposed there was some sort of magnetic designed to hold people in place, with the metal in their clothing or armor perhaps. Keeping that in mind she removed the metal weapons from her person, grateful that Riddick had carved other shivs for her out of bone. The armor would have to remain, and she'd keep in mind the need to brace against it.

Dame Vaako retreated slightly as River took her place on the dais, crouching easily with her fingertips resting on the metal. "A new one…" A female voice spoke, a faint echoing tone that shivered through the air. "You've brought us a new one."

River opened her mind and closed her eyes. These minds were different, filled with curiosity, the need to know everything, but they were faded and cold inside. Prickling and alien, powerful but fragile and brittle. "Interesting breeder," A male voice whispered.

The whispers rose around her as she opened her mind wide, Dame Vaako was asking questions, "Who are her people? Is she Furyan?"

"Making entry," The male voice echoed through her mind and River grinned fiercely. The dais was a weight pulling her down, but nothing could hold her mind. "She is of the Alliance… River Tam. Kitten. The Riddick's woman."

"Is she Furyan?" Dame Vaako's voice demanded an answer.

"Furyan…" The voices mused, "We find Furyan blood. Furyan energy."

"What is she?" The Necro woman asked. "Tell me."

"Genius," Another voice declared.

"Slave," A female voice stated.

"Warrior."

The voices were rising, a whining pitch as they tried to push further into River's mind and met the thoughts of a psychic whose will hadn't been stolen by the mark of the Necromongers.

"The Girl."

"Subject."

"Dancer."

"Loony."

"Mèi mei."

"Friend."

"Lover."

"Bàng jiār."

"Albatross."

"Assassin."

"Reader."

"Seer."

"Partner."

"Witch."

"Furyan!"

The voices rose to screams as River pushed back, invading their minds, Reading them, everything they'd ever seen and heard, all the minds they had left bleeding or broken. They would destroy themselves, seeking their desperate knowledge. She would give them knowledge. The ocean of the 'verse's thoughts and feelings, the rage of the Reavers, love, fear, joy, greed… all human emotions and thoughts flooded through her and into them. She could feel the pain being inflicted upon them, their shrieks as their brains began to bleed, resistance growing until they began to hemorrhage just as they'd once done to Riddick.

"I can kill you with my brain," She murmured and pushed harder, forcing them to hear everything. The shrieks rose until the noise was ungodly, five minds deprived of nourishment and focused on the external forced to look inward as she Read them. They couldn't stop Reading her. Between the onslaught of what she heard and her own mind pressing back to theirs they would go insane. Unlike her, they didn't know how to open their minds so being Read didn't hurt. To be fair, she doubted many would, Riddick hadn't.

Abilities like hers shouldn't cause pain. Shouldn't even be noticed or what good was a Reader? But they were Necromongers, half dead, foreign to the living and they'd gone further down that path than most others. They were as far from her as Riddick was from Vaako. Death couldn't become life. Of course resistance would create brain bleeds. Of course their invasion of a 'breeder' mind would cause pain.

They'd hurt him. They would have hurt her. They'd killed or injured so many without caring for anything except the next mind and the commands they followed. No conscience, no concern. But they had hurt her Riddick, the man she loved beyond anything. Hurt him and would have killed him without care.

She stood as the pressure of their minds trying to fight hers ceased and looked at them. All five veiled faces were slack, blood trickling from their nostrils and eyes and she smiled in satisfaction. "I can kill you with my brain." She told the dead bodies coldly and looked at Dame Vaako, "As I said, I hope you have an explanation for the Lord Marshall." She pulled her weapons back on and picked up her satchel leaving the woman gaping after her. At the door she paused, a familiar mind teasing at her brain, the feeling of her lover's presence, and she turned, half expecting to see him leaning against one of the room's walls. "Riddick?" But he wasn't there, of course. He couldn't have been. She'd felt him all the same, but he wasn't there.

Setting that mystery aside for the moment she strode out of the room.

Author's Note: Sooo… 'I can kill you with my brain' not precisely an idle threat. I had the idea that Riddick wants to push the Necromongers out of their comfort zone and what better way than to make them deal with the Reavers. And because the Necromongers move at their own pace…they've been with the fleet for a while.

One small warning…this is the last…'happy' chapter. Riddick… well. He's Riddick. And he's flawed. So is River. And they still have some things to deal with.

Chinese Translations:

tā mā de (fucking)

bàng jiār (lover / partner)

Mèi mei (little sister)