Book 4
Siha: Rise of Rakhana
Part II
Picking up the pouch, Tetonbaum bends to gather the shards he kicked. He sweeps them up with a towel he has taken commission of, and with Quoyle and the others warned away—the yelling and arguing heard by Casnar and Ylyssus outside in the skyrunner—he ensures all are found and carefully tidied back into their containment.
Tetonbaum glances at Kasumi, her ear being tended by one of the agents who apparently has some degree in first aid to humans…Likely why he is on this detail, Tetonbaum thinks…He straightens, looking from Kasumi to the broken wall, …Braith…She barely had to lift a finger and that wall was torn out…
He hopes he will not have to kill her, but the opposite possibility is worse…Any drell or male with a single drop of seed would be blessed to lay with the woman, give her another child or two.
That was Tetonbaum's nightmare…for it meant he would surely have lost Kasumi, if that path were ever to come true.
The alternative…Jenner and Jaspin might not survive…My wife, my dearest Kasumi…His heavy gaze swings back to her and that tussled black braid.
Kasumi looks to him, her ear cleaned with what the agent removed from the pantry, napkins and cleaners he diluted with water from the sink, "…What is it, Teton," her eyes reflect his trouble, "…You have something on your mind…Obviously," she gestures to the missing wall and the mists creeping out on the illuminated grasses below, the dark trail left by Ylyssus as he ran to the front of the cottus to escape with Jaspin and the others.
Tetonbaum grips the pouch tightly, wishing he had not looked into the shard with Casnar and Ylyssus…What have I brought to myself but misery…He would need to be honest—Since leaving Rakhana, he has only been miserable as the rain falling outside the holo-dome.
"Braith and the others," Quoyle interrupts his thinking, "…where'd they go, Soterios."
Tetonbaum drops the pouch after tying its strings to his pant loop, "…What makes you think I would know." He raises his sapphires to Quoyle's dark tints, the drell bending his brow scales.
"Look at her, Tetonbaum—" Quoyle jabs his two joined fingers at Kasumi's face, "…Take a long hard look at this pretty wife of yours," he really wants a bedi right then, the wall, the shot, the biotics, the wild mystery of the evening and the sexual innuendos among himself and the Soterios women, "…You won't cooperate, I can take her in, send her to Alliance custody…They're not so lenient with crooks with sticky fingers…Yes, I know her history…I know why they keep her around…I also know if we twist those dainty little knuckles of hers," Quoyle quickly snatches her wrist—
Tetonbaum takes a threatening step towards him, "…Sered Nerafa," he breathes through the top of his mouth, "…I have been highly mindful of your interest in our ordeal—"
Quoyle breaks the bracelet off her wrist and holds it up, his eye seen through its circlet broken by his force against the clip, "…You have my word as a Drugi, the I'lorie Protectorate, that she will be safe with me," Quoyle sees the sapphires widen slightly, and turns his face to Kasumi, "…Now tell your husband to help me out here—"
"What's a droogee?"
Tetonbaum smiles, "…An old sect of the Terje Tierrea, Kasumi, my wife," he relaxes his thick shoulders, and picks up his torn sash to tie to his belt, "…They are given to one responsibility…To protect all I'lorie, ban'non and legitimate…Are all of them," his gaze passes over the others, and Quoyle nods.
"All but that Roun who got knocked out, by Braith's power…He was going to shoot Casnar."
Tetonbaum gives him a surprised look, "…Kala—"
"I saw who he was aiming at, and we've got him cuffed, we'll get answers out of him, but you've got to tell me what's going on here tonight, Tetonbaum…And by the way, I should be the one calling you Sered from hereon."
Tetonbaum chuckles, "…I would never be comfortable with it."
"Wyrrtun's loose in the den, so get used to it."
Casnar pulls out the tracker inside the skyrunner's bottom dash, then works at closing everything up. He glances at Braith and Ylyssus in the back through the rearview mirror, and only sees Jaspin and his father sleeping.
They had been traveling long enough that his apprehension about the government vessel's being tracked had worked him up into finding a location to stop and search for it…Like he had hoped, the unit sending pings back and forth to the satellite network in orbit about Kahje was found by the CPU of the vessel, under and high behind the dashboard.
He had ripped his skin getting to it, and now had the sweet smell of venom and blood in the air of the cabin.
Casnar closes his fist together and curses, "…Damn everything…" He curses his half-brother, curses the Enmity…Curses his fucking with the whole of it all from the very beginning…
He'd wanted Braith from the moment he'd met her…Beautiful, stupid in that courageous confidence of hers, smart in that sensual flair and a body she knew how to use…Dumb and twisted to get messed up with him…How was he to know she'd be the one to get hooked on his venom? The shards had shown him more…
He couldn't give her up…She would be the mother of his child, Ylyssus's, and two strong roots were to be born from the same womb…
Now we've done it…And something else has sprung…This Mechinist and his Enmity…Why must they have chosen Rakhana of all places!…Why must we be fleeing yet another enemy!
He loves his family, his wife, his sons…Ylyssus in a purely platonic, matrimonial-sharing kind of way…I could never deprive Braith of what or who she wants, not after all she has done to become…to become what she is…
The best thing to do now was to get off-world…He needed to get them to Sybilla…but he couldn't just run inside in his pajamas and Braith in a robe, the twins in their night gowns…
Mithras…I know it's a long shot, but who else can I see who has kids!
Casnar closes the door and checks on the twins, Braith's swollen neck—Damn you, Tetonbaum! He almost sobs at the contusions to his wife's beautiful throat…She needs a doctor…She needs a doctor, but I can't bring her to a hospital…The only other person I can think of is Sapphire…and they live close by the Vitales…Vykka will have clothing they can fit into…Casnar looks at his boys, asleep on Braith and Ylyssus, …It's close to Sybilla—I'll have to take them there…but what if…Shit!
He turns in his seat and kneads the U-handles, "…Qorra Bay holosphere, here we go."
Braith opens her eyes to someone shining a light on her, "…Holy mithras," she hears a gruff voice and smells something similar to…Thane?…Is that Thane's venom I smell?
"Ow, easy," she hisses as the big hands move her.
"She's going to need some muscle relaxant," another voice, soft, femininely and smoother than the first can be heard, "…I have some foam and there's a scanner in the bedroom, come, hurry, I don't want the neighbors to hear and get nosy, Roj."
Roh?…Where are the twins, Braith's power has not attacked anyone, but she starts to consider melding with it in case the children are gone—But what would that do? Where are Ylyssus and—
"Support her head, Casnar—"
"I have her, pass the towel, put it around—"
"After I wrap it under her," Braith feels firm, sure hands lifting her back and spreading some stiff fabric up underneath her shoulders and head, then another firmer, larger pair of hands adjusts her legs, "…On three, Roj, Casnar, and one, two, three," Braith feels herself lifted easily in a makeshift gurney, out from the skyrunner.
"Casnar?"
"Here, baby," his face is brightened briefly by the light of a front door as they pass under an awning, "…Kids are inside already…Ylyssus has them. We're at a friends…Relatives of Kolyat, really…and Thane—"
"Thane's here?" Braith says with a welling dread.
Her memory of their last meeting haunts her, "…No," Casnar says, her view between the sides of the towel and his golden knuckles—she sees the cut on his arm.
"You're bleeding—"
"I scratched my forearm removing the tracking fly from the skyrunner…Sapphire's going to fix it," he looks briefly towards Braith's feet…Braith turns her eyes down and sees in the light of the room they are moving her into—
"Your wife's heavy," the thick patak with dark green colors and slightly reddish undertones says, and Braith realizes this drell looks the most like Thane if he were forty pounds heavier, and well-muscled…An enforcer?…And the next face she sees is yellow and white, a pair of blue eyes not unlike Tetonbaum's, though Tetonbaum's are striking…The drellahna is no less attractive.
She has a worried expression, but grins gently at Braith's eye contact, "…Hello, Braith, my name is Sapphire, this is my husband, Rojelios…Try not to move too much, the damage to your neck is serious."
"You telling the truth when you said you were jumped by a pair of muggers," Rojelios asks Casnar.
Braith keeps her face featureless as Casnar nods, "…I couldn't make it to Sybilla's hospitals, I was worried—"
"I think you're—" At a look from Sapphire, Rojelios closes his mouth, breathes through his nose, and keeps his blunt thoughts to himself.
Casnar looks down at Braith as they lay her on a bed, and Ylyssus is on the floor with the twins, sleeping on blankets and throw pillows, "…See, Braith, everyone's here…" Braith looks at Ylyssus, who nods to her and Casnar, then looks up at the slender drellahna in her night dress taking out a large device from a closet and setting it on the bed beside Braith's head.
"Hold still…This will scan her and show me where the worst of it lay…There," a loud clicking is heard, "…She's a collapsed trachea, I can mend it but it will be uncomfortable…Roj, can you get the medicine bag in the closet…Braith," she looks over her eyes, "…are you comfortable with me putting you out?"
"Not really," Braith whispers. "Do I have to—"
"If we don't do it, a doctor will have to…The structure can collapse further and you won't be able to breathe."
"Casnar," Braith can't raise her voice above a whisper, "…Do they know I'm biotic?"
Casnar and Sapphire look at each other…He nods, "…It's true."
Sapphire and Rojelios share a stare, "…Right then," Sapphire determines and fixes her blue eyes on Braith's grays, "…That explains why you haven't asphyxiated…Casnar, would she be alright with a collar—"
"No collars," Braith croaks out harshly.
Ylyssus and Casnar stare at her.
Sapphire blinks her four pale eyelids a few, "…You know what they are."
Braith ventures a stiff, painful nod, "…I'd rather you just do it without any meds or collars…" She swallows and it's like swallowing fire, "…My power will help…Do what you need to do and I'll deal."
Casnar and Ylyssus cradle the twins in another room, the procedure in the bedroom too dangerous for sleeping children to wake up into…Braith makes no noise to indicate any distress, but what Sapphire explained would have to happen sounded uncomfortable to say the least.
"What is a collar," Ylyssus asks Casnar, rocking Jenner in his arms.
"It's an instrument used on people with biotic powers…It separates the individual from his or her power…Often times for medical purposes…Biotics can kick in if the individual is unconscious and undergoing an operation…The biotics protect them while they are out…"
"Like having an angel watch over them?…"
"Not like that…Think of an involuntary muscle spasm…It's dangerous to Braith as well as Sapphire and Roj." He nods to the other rooms.
"Braith doesn't like collars, does she," Ylyssus says, "…I could hear the pain in her voice."
"We all did," Casnar lifts and clasps his fingers to Jaspin's little ribs, the child fast-tired asleep on his chest and under his tebris, "…There's a good deal we don't know about our wife, Ylyssus."
"Maybe that's what I love about her," he looks down at Jenner's crests, "…She always surprises me…I remember when she fought Yvona Caratoda, double blades," Casnar listens while he tells him of the memorable duel, "…I realized then she was being taught by Cemal…and she was an excellent student…Made me realize, too…" He glances at Casnar, "…I'd have to tell her the truth about myself."
"Braith is all set," Sapphire comes through the doorway, "…She should be fine…I think a day's rest and she will be ready to move—"
"We need to get to Sybilla, into the Archives," Casnar says, "…Can you watch her and the twins—" He falters at her stare.
"Casnar," Sapphire looks from his emeralds to Ylyssus, "…I can't—I have work tomorrow…" She glances at the twins in their arms, "…Roj does, too...
Casnar almost regrets bringing them there…He knows Sapphire could never have children…It had led to an affair, which was why Rojelios almost hit him when he opened the door to find Casnar standing on his wife's threshold at this hour in the early morning…Braith, a human hybridization with morthwyl, not drell, could have children…Two to be sure from different husbands.
It was a punch to the gut…Perhaps Sapphire's professional nature had taken over at the sight of the injury to Braith…Now…
She looks at Casnar, her former lover, "…Tell us what's really going on, Casnar…Ylyssus," her eyes travel to his, "…I know about the dimorph…I just never thought she would be here…with you, Casnar, as both a husband…and a father."