Book 4
Siha: Rise of Rakhana
Part II
"I cannot give up my wife for her and the twins," Tetonbaum's growl releases, Braith's power flaring as she sees his eyes lock on hers.
"Casnar, Ylyssus—" Parting them from his path, Braith's power knocks Casnar and Ylyssus out of the way to defend against Tetonbaum—His power flips her off her feet, Tetonbaum lunging to land on top of her and snatch her neck in his grip—
"Stop…" Casnar shakes himself off and lifts his gaze from the floor, "…No…Stop, Tetonbaum!"
"He is coming," Tetonbaum's sapphires are winced with madness, "…He is coming for you…You and the twins will go to him…I will not give up her to protect you—"
Braith wrestles with him on the floor, her feet kicking up under him, trying to bring her knees between them for space until he deliberately slams his weight onto her…The lack of oxygen to her lungs is causing her power to panic, only temporarily preventing his hands from crushing her throat…Casnar and Ylyssus grab at his shoulders, hooking their arms under his, ripping the braid and sash as they try to pry him off their wife…Braith, reserving her power so as not to bring harm to Tetonbaum—
Nor her twin infants in the cotovatre behind their heads, "…No!" Tetonbaum snarls.
Braith gasps as his grip releases her bruised neck to take hold of Ylyssus by the shoulder—body coiling like a muscle all its own, he throws Ylyssus bodily over them…Tetonbaum, freed of the th'ane, seeing Braith trying to crawl away and catch her breath, "…Come here—" but Casnar wrenches backwards on his chest and arm…Like a snake, Tetonbaum writhes free and turns towards his half-brother, shoving him off into the kitchen appliances.
Braith claws across the floor, looking at the door to the cotovatre, looking for another way to escape Tetonbaum and help herself—
"Tetonbaum," she croaks out through her throat, his hard, viselike hands gripping her calf and ankle and sliding her back beneath him again…
This time he straddles her waist and latches onto her neck, his face a determined grimace, "…If I kill you first, the connection will only remain with the children, and they will—" Braith's pink, fiery eyes look up into his.
"…You…" She utters one word before his grip clamps, "Ttt…" Tears bead at the corners of her stare as she chokes under his face…Her power is screaming to kill him—Braith pulls in her power, however, fighting resolutely not to be split off from the meld of her mind…But her face is turning a disturbing red tint as Tetonbaum strangles her, air cut off.
Casnar and Ylyssus, back up on their feet, run over, "…Tetonbaum, stop!"
Her purpling lips mouth, …Please, Tetonbaum…don't give in…
Braith's finger incidentally brushes over the scar on his wrist, exposed under his cuff…Tetonbaum glances at it and sees her finger rubbing it…
What is she doing…She's…
( …Her tongue licks at the blood, lips closing around the pucker of my wound I have inflicted on my wrist for her to taste…Her eyes are sightless, but she closes these, drinking from me faithfully… )
"…No," Tetonbaum jerks against Casnar and Ylyssus's efforts to pry his hands off her neck, "…No…Not this…way!…"
( …The paths show us…I am making her my…I am making…love to her… )
The sudden crack of a chair over his shoulders and head causes Tetonbaum to distract from the tide of memories and pathways…He twists towards Casnar, and Ylyssus pulls Braith free from under him, "…Got her, Casnar!"
Braith grabs onto her husband's protective arms as he pulls her up from the floor.
Tetonbaum and Casnar, wrapped up in each other's limbs as the high th'ane carries Casnar up into the air—back down over his back in an impressive Greco-Roman throw, landing Casnar onto (and through) the kitchen table.
The table splits into pieces.
Shards from the pouch scatter and click everywhere, sliding underneath the appliances…
"Don't hit me again…Brother," Tetonbaum kicks the remaining petal-shards away and looks down at Casnar, whose eyes are fluttering as he stares upwards, trying to stop his head from spinning…
Tetonbaum turns back towards Braith and Ylyssus—The front door opens. Braith's capillaried-eyes turn to Kasumi, the others waiting behind her.
"Shepard?…What is—"
"Goto," Braith tries to scream out, "…Tetonbaum!"
As Kasumi enters, she suddenly feels pushed from behind…Quoyle and the others are forcing their way in, drawn by the violence and crashing of bodies and furniture…
Kasumi turns and tries to stop them…Quoyle pushes passed, leaving her in Roun's hands.
"…Hey, let go of me!"
Braith heaves free from Ylyssus's support, throwing out a hand…Her mind snap-melds with her eager power.
…Second wind…
Tetonbaum's eyes start to glow as he steps towards her—
"Braith!…"
Ylyssus's eyes widen…He sees Tetonbaum move with the violence of a trained th'ane—
Roun Kryos aims a gun, "…This one's for you—"
Not today… Braith throws her power through the drells, knocking everyone out of the way as she clears yet another path—
This one for the agent holding onto Kasumi…
Quoyle Nerafa lands on the floor, knocking over the coffee table.
He looks up, notices Roun holding onto Kasumi and aiming a gun over her shoulder, his arm straightening.
Braith sends both gun and drell through the front door, the bullet going wild…The gun has gone off close to Kasumi's ear…
She twists away, her hand covering the right side of her head…"Kasumi!"
Borhaus and the others fumble their own weapons out, two crawling off of the furniture and stumbling hurriedly to look outside the doorway, splintered and loosed of its frame.
Borhaus pulls Kasumi down, her ear bleeding as Quoyle stands and pulls another drell onto his feet…
The cotovatre sounds from behind the door—
The twins' collective cry.
Braith throws Borhaus off Kasumi, wrenching her bodily out of the room—and sending her hard into Tetonbaum's arms.
"…Sorry, Goto," Braith mumbles, collapses…
Ylyssus catches Braith by her arms, "…Braith!"
His hand behind her back as she looks up at him, "…'Lyssus…The door—"
"Braith, what—"
"Ylyssus, the twins!" Casnar points behind him.
Ylyssus looks—The door to the cotovatre has opened and the first of the twins comes through, Jenner's small patak wet with tears as he has been crying from the fright of all the noise and din…In the middle of the kitchen, in front of the broken table and chairs, Tetonbaum holds Kasumi, checking her head and speaking rapidly to her, trying to explain...
Ylyssus passes Braith to Casnar's care and moves to reach the twins, but Jenner dashes passed his hands, to get to his mother on the floor. Ylyssus picks up the bawling Jaspin instead and tries to console him with trills and kisses…"Jenner," Braith opens her eyes at the little voice squalling under her chin, the tiny hands pulling at the fold of her robe, "…'S'okay, baby…" She croaks out hoarsely, collecting the infant into her arm…
"Hold onto—Can you hold onto him, Braith…" Casnar hears her reply yes, and as she puts her arms about Jenner, he lifts both of them and turns…Facing Quoyle and the rest he can see in various states of disarrayment, outside in the light over the front door or in the common room, "…We need to leave…We need to get out of here…"
Quoyle, shaken but composed once again, raises his gun hesitantly, "…You're under arrest…She's assaulted, possibly killed a sworn officer of the—"
"There's no time," Casnar steps back with Jenner and Braith…His face twists to Tetonbaum and Kasumi, a few feet away, "…Break us out of here, Tetonbaum…Braith's too weak since you strangled her," he glances back to the common room, where the drells from the government are learning what has happened to Roun, "…As your sered—as your brother—I command you obey me!"
Braith makes a weak gesture to the wall and windows behind Kasumi and Tetonbaum…
The wall falls away, cables and wires exposing themselves, snapped and twisted. Electricity sparks brightly.
"…I got it…" she says tiredly before rolling her eyes up to Casnar's face. Jenner's little patak is hidden into her robe's silk.
Casnar smiles at her…He turns his face up to Tetonbaum, "…Damn you…You're helping them," he turns and runs out the side of the kitchen, passed the dented appliances, no time to collect the shard pieces but for one he has in his pocket. With Jenner and Braith in his arms, Casnar hops down through the broken wall—with the lightness intrinsic to a drell, and Tetonbaum with Kasumi watch as Ylyssus takes after them, Jaspin clutched in his own arm.
Quoyle holsters his gun and stares at them leaving, Borhaus hunkered down and waiting for his signal. A drell beside him speaks softly into his omni-tool…
At the broken wall, before leaping out into the night's mists, Ylyssus stops to look back at Tetonbaum, and Kasumi.
"Good luck," Tetonbaum says to him, still holding onto his wife, "…I can go no further with you…It is all I can do."
Ylyssus sadly nods, Jaspin staring at his uncle with Kasumi from over his father's shoulder…
Tetonbaum and Kasumi witness Ylyssus's jump out the kitchen, disappearing into the wet fields and the night, Jaspin's little face and rich emerald eyes gone with him…