Book 5

Siha: Rise of Rakhana

Part III

"Silver and Fire"

Casnar curses in the shaft, trying to catch up with Braith, and likely she with the twins…He can hear Ylyssus and Feron behind him, "…They're coming after us," Feron cries out.

"Sered!"

Ylyssus points to the openings in the shaft ahead, three on the left and two on the right as Casnar glances over his shoulder, "…We go straight!" Casnar cries back and makes a gesture to be construed as such.

Braith is nowhere in sight and neither are the twins, as would be expected, but coming down swiftly behind them are the first of the th'anes, and Tetonbaum is only able to go as fast as the decline and surfaces allow him ahead of the others, Vr'iathe, Crindelann and Brinustilon.

Casnar gets the eye again, and turns his head to look forward, "…How are we going to shake them…" He contemplates stopping against one of the adjoining vents and fighting the th'anes for a weapon, but Tetonbaum would kill him first…Wait, why hasn't he just used his biotics?

Holding onto the collar, Tetonbaum can feel it working, and his power is shut off from him…It is very different to suddenly feel so naked, and as long as he touches the activated contraption, his power will be blind to him and he to it.

What have I done to myself, he thinks, keeping a tight grip on the collar, …Forget Casnar and Ylyssus…Get to Braith and be rid of this weapon!…Better yet, he looks behind him from the three drells ahead, and to Crindelann, ( "…Take this!" ) He tosses the collar to the th'ane's reliable hands, ( "…I can't use my—" )

Just as he says this, he feels his power warn him as they are passing straight through the five other vent junctions, and Braith's power is close by—In fact, she is hiding inside the second vent on the left, "…Kala!"

Braith leaps out at him, her gray eyes replaced by pink fire and her lips in a sneer as both power and she-morthwyl-human drive into Tetonbaum, knocking him into the crossing second vent on their right, her high arm flinging a robust scattering of energy to knock the th'anes behind Tetonbaum into the first set of intersecting vents, effectively scattering everyone pursuing her husbands, Feron, and the twins.

Hurtling into darkness that is fired up by pink and blue light, Braith and Tetonbaum struggle against each other as they hit the walls, one trying to pull out his menjaga while the other restrains him and attempts to reason him out of his murderous intentions.

"Tetonbaum! Stop!"

"I will end all chances of the path I have foreseen, Braith," Tetonbaum's arms become slick with perspiring venom and sweat, his power's efforts to subdue Braith's not enough to accomplish this against the stronger…Braith grits her teeth, holding him at bay from retrieving the menjaga, fighting off his desperate force, ricocheting off metal walls on their way ever downward…

They hit something hard, and Tetonbaum gasps as Braith's elbow lands in his groin with all her weight piling down behind it…He has been trained for blows to the privates, but a biotic mass of frenzied overprotective mother dimorph hitting his vitals after being bounced straight down a pinball chute of prothean alloy metal was not something even Eufemiusz Kiross would have been able to withstand.

Braith collapses under her feet, boots hitting the flooring hard as she rolls after impact and shakingly stands, stumbles and falls…Tetonbaum grips his groin and groans, a tremulous shudder taking him.

"That was painful," both of them say as Tetonbaum looks up…

Braith leans heavily against a canister wall and looks at the perfect sheen of metal, "…Tetonbaum," she turns on her shoulder and slides down, blood left at shoulder height, "…Damn you…"

Tetonbaum tries to make sense of what has just happened through the pain shocking his stomach right then…He looks for his menjaga, which is still in its sheath, but the handle…The handle is coated in blood.

Braith had landed on it, puncturing her upper back through a soft space in the ribs…A miraculous stroke of bad luck and serendipity…Tetonbaum sucks his teeth and hisses out softly, "…It will change everything," he hears her saying as white dances around his eyes, "…It will change everything."

"What…will change," he rasps back after a quick suck of breath, "…everything…You're hardly injured to the point it might be fatal," he pulls out his menjaga, focusing on reigniting his power, shocked out of the connection with his mind from the blow to his jaulses. "I can…change that, Braith…"

Braith looks at him from the wetness in her blazer's shoulder, "…The shard, Tetonbaum…" She sees his intention, and her eyes light with fire, "…We're stuck here, can't you see…My power is stronger than yours…We're at a stalemate," she murmurs, watching him crawl over towards her with the knife out, his sapphires on her chest.

"Stop me then, Braith, I can wait until you are too tired to stay awake…Sleep deprivation is no challenge to me."

"Casnar would never forgive you…After all you've done for us, why turn now just because you're afraid?"

"I'm not afraid…I do not wish to lose Kasumi, I do not wish to become your harem-mate, Supriya—" He is pushed away from reaching her, her own power exhibiting it is still strong enough and able to do so.

Tetonbaum growls and digs his will in, trying to overcome her, "…Why not just give up now…You said it yourself, we are trapped down here in this can of hopelessness…Kasumi will be alive, and your children and husbands will survive for a time before they are captured…More importantly," he grasps the bloody hilt, his sapphires glowing with his own power straining, "…the Mechinist will be unable to achieve your morthwyl mind and consolidate it with his own plans, not only the morthwyl memories, Braith, but your own…You understand now," he pants, trying to reach her, pushing against her force, "…you have information that could betray everyone in this kosme ( galaxy ), and that is what the Enmity wants to deliver to its master…"

"You know this for a fact, Tetonbaum," Braith slides him away again, chagrinned he is so persistent…but that is what makes him good…"How do you know for sure…Let's just play along here and say I believe you…Why not, it is credible, right…Your cloak and dagger buddies tell you that and it only makes you want to kill me more?"

Tetonbaum's sapphires shutter, "…They are not fools—"

"Neither are you…" Braith points to her mind, "…I can see the future, Tetonbaum…Believe me?"

He pauses, and Braith smiles at this hesitation.

"You can?" he asks, "…Only because you are morthwyl."

"I can see and forecast as they could, Tetonbaum…Don't tell Casnar," she holds her finger briefly to her lips, using her other arm, then rests it on the metal floor beside her hip, "…Nothing is set in stone, but I know for a fact that regardless what you attempt to do to change things…Kasumi ends up dying…Want me to tell you how?…I can predict all the possibilities—"

"Enough!" He lunges against her power, straining to reach her, sliding back on his soles and palm as he holds the menjaga towards her, "…I…I need to kill you…I need to…" His eyes suddenly become his true eyes, and Braith no longer feels his power fighting her back.

Tetonbaum sinks his head to the floor, "…Ah, Braith…What have I done?…What have I…done…"

Braith winces, her power still active and engaged with her mind, coiling around her and witnessing Tetonbaum as he breaks down, and confesses in that lonely space with nowhere to go and no one to find them, what he has done to Kasumi in hopes of saving her life…

Braith's eyes start to water, "…Tetonbaum…" She says nothing more, only remit to silence afterwards.

She wakes later with a slow start, her wound aching, and Tetonbaum tending her naked shoulder, her clothes only drawn off or lowered enough to access the injury with a medi-gel he had kept on him in his belt's pouches, "…Relax," he says gently, his voice with a small echo in the dark place, "…I have chosen not to harm you, as you can see," he lets her pull up her shirt over her shoulder and sit up next to him, moving over enough to feel out of arm's reach.

"When…How long was I out?"

Reaching into his own internal memory of time, "…Three hours ago…You went to sleep…I was rather surprised that you did so," his voice carries over to her.

Braith tests her shoulder and winces, then looks at him, his eyes turned down to his lap, "…Thanks for not killing me when you had the chance."

"I thought of it."

"What stopped you…" Braith is wondering why she went out…Perhaps the strain of the fight with him had tired her, but her power had been ready to fight and she'd no inkling…The poison on the knives…The hilt though…

"I wanted to find another way," Tetonbaum is saying in response before she interrupts.

"Tetonbaum, is there poison on the handle of your menjaga?"

He looks at her, "…No, but the handle went through your shoulder, deep enough for the blade to come into contact with your blood stream…Perhaps that is why you went unconscious…You were sleeping deeply," he adds with a thoughtful countenance, distracted by what he recollects.

Braith sighs and tries to raise her arm, managing to lift it forty-five degrees before the pain takes over, "…I should be dead from the poison, right?"

He nods slowly, then looks at her, the sapphires holding back so much, "…Another surprise, Braith…You are not so averse to menjagas as others would be were they stabbed by a backwards blade."

They actually share a chuckle, and Braith looks up at the outlet by which they fell free of, "…Any thinking as to how we can get out of here?"

Tetonbaum looks up, his golden tebris fanning and closing, "…It is quite high and the walls are wide apart."

"Slick too," Braith rubs the back of her head against the interior concavity, "…Maybe if we pressed our backs together, we could pressure walk our way out, but that would require a significant amount of strength and stamina…I'm not sure if you can be par for it."

Tetonbaum smiles, "…Are you challenging me?"

She nods, "…Wouldn't be the first time."

He tilts his head to the side, his eyes considering his half-brother's wife, "…Would you be able to with your shoulder as it is?"

"I've had worse…" She starts to stand, "…I want to get out of here, I'm willing to try."

She sees him rise, "…Back to back then," and Braith turns, "…You're very trusting…even after—"

"You're not going to kill me, Tetonbaum, and even if you plan to, you still need my help getting out of here."

He makes a considering evaluation of her size, "…You and I are two different in body sizes—"

"Didn't stop you from doing the horizontal with Goto, Tetonbaum," she glares at him, "…We're not trying that, we're two biotics with enough fitness between the two of us to try and be creative at getting out of here…You doing this with me or not?"

Tetonbaum turns his shoulder, "…Very well, Braith…My back is offered."

She turns again and takes a step back to touch against him, "…Okay," she presses her back up against his, "…Ready, hook the arms."

They loop each other's arms with their opposites, and Braith compresses her back against his, "…Right foot on the wall," Braith instructs, feeling their bodies shift from the motion, "…On my bringing my left up next, then you wait until I say go ahead."

She feels his sturdiness hold as she sets her left foot onto the wall.

"Tetonbaum," she says, and his body shifts with his final addition of footing to the opposite wall.

"Nice and easy," Braith puffs as they start walking up the sides of the wall with their counter-pressure against each other. Braith engages her power to help, and Tetonbaum does his own, this time not either of them letting their powers distract from their task.

It will be a long way to go before they reach the shaft, and not any easier when they do.