Chapter Five
Davor looked around the circle of twelve, seated around a round table of made of ternite rock, the mineral that powered their technology. The meeting room was more of a cavern, deep in the heart of the Abnobian empire.
He had silver hair and very pale skin, but the Abnobian lifespan was so long, he might be an elder statesmen but was by no means elderly. He was head of the council of twelve, the most powerful people in the empire.
Each person who took a seat on the council represented a different branch of Abnobian society.
Ninti, to his right, was head of science and medical.
She had brown skin and tightly braided hair.
She was Davor’s second, to all intents and purposes.
He found her intelligence, as well as her years with him, made her a good companion.
She was responsible for the huge strides they had made in genetic manipulation, building on the work done to improve their own genome, to make them stronger, more intelligent, and more long lived, among many other improvements.
The ancestors of the Drazani guards had been intensely strong farmers when the Abnobians took over their home world.
The Abnobians saw potential in them, and their genome was altered in such a way as to increase their strength while making them more subservient to their masters, so much so that they would die for the Abnobians.
Over a long, long period of time, the Abnobians changed strong farmers to super soldiers at their beck and call.
Ninti was an expert in her field, and she and her team had made amazing strides.
All the council members were experts in their fields.
But Davor had always admired the beautiful Ninti.
Unlike other races they’d encountered, the Abnobians were not heterosexual.
They paired up with anyone who attracted them.
Ninti had been with a person of her own gender for quite a while now, but Davor had never given up hope.
Enough daydreaming. Davor knocked a black ternite globe on the council table, calling them to order. “We sent out a group of bounty hunters, and only two have returned.” He turned to the guard at the door and nodded.
The Drazani opened the door and two men walked in, one tall and confident, and the other shaking with a slight tremor to his body. Maybe it was Davor’s warning of what would happen if they came back empty-handed.
Weakness infuriated him, and this blue-skinned individual was showing it in spades.
The confident dark-skinned man with red eyes was the epitome of cool confidence. Mind you, he was a Derag Due, a vampire, who, like the rest of his people, was supremely confident.
“You did not bring what I wanted,” Davor said.
Cardo, the Derag Due, said, “A wolf came in to help the target, just as we had her cornered. This excuse for a hunter ran off. I had to drag him here with me to face our consequences.”
The blue man finally spoke. “Davor, listen—”
“I always knew it was a bad idea to let you search for her,” Davor said. Then he lifted his hand and brought an invisible pressure down on the terrified man, so he was kneeling. “Supreme Commander of Defence, you may have the honour.”
All Abnobians were tall, seven foot or more, but she was that extra bit taller and muscular, having been bred for war.
“Thank you, Davor.”
“No, please no. I beg you.”
Without any ceremony, Matok, the commander of defence, took a knife with a large red stone on its hilt from its sheath by her side, thrust it into the quivering man’s neck, and severed his spinal cord.
He fell, and blood pooled on the floor. Matok looked at Davor, waiting for a signal to take the vampire’s head next.
“Cardo,” Davor said, “our people and yours have always had a good relationship, but you did fail me. Ninti?”
Davor looked to Ninti to play along, as they’d already agreed. Ninti wore a green badge and green accents on her blue uniform, and a green jewel adorned the hilt of her ceremonial weapon of honour.
“Why don’t we allow Cardo another chance. He didn’t run—he had the courage to come back and face us, dragging that coward with him.”
Davor put his fingers together and then to his lips. “Madam Ninti, you make a good point.”
They had discussed this earlier. Giving Cardo his life, this time, made political sense. Although the Derag Due were far beneath them, they held an uneasy alliance, as they fed on the weak of this realm and were people you could do business with.
“You have another shot at this, Cardo. You may take a team of our Drazani warriors and hunt Camber down. I want that Map Keeper.”
The vampire bowed his head and said, “I will bring this Map Keeper back to you, or you may have my head.”
Davor brought the ball down on the stone table. “Dismissed.”
As everyone was filing out, Davor said, “Ninti, we need to find this Map Keeper. Have you made progress with the plan to control her when we find her?”
“Of course. When we find her, she will comply,” Ninti said.
Davor took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I can always rely on you, madam. I shall keep you no longer from your escheal.”
“You are most gracious, Davor.”
Ninti walked back to the science centre at headquarters. Ninti said to one of her subordinates, “I’m going back to my home now. I’ll be leaving on a mission tomorrow. Let me know if you run into any problems.”
He bowed to her. “Yes, Madam Ninti.”
She walked to the exit of the building, where a transport car was waiting for her. She gazed at the triple moons in the sky and took in a breath of the cool evening air.
Abnobians controlled their own weather systems, but they all preferred cooler air towards the end of their day.
As she stepped up to the car, her escheal appeared from behind her and opened the door.
She was tall with a lanky body that was deceptively strong, bright pink skin, and ridges around her completely hairless head. On her back was strapped an archer’s weapon and a thin, sharp lance.
Ninti got in and waited for Kartog, her escheal, to join her.
“Are we leaving tomorrow, my Goddess?”
“You need not call me that in private,” Ninti said.
An escheal was an Abnobian god’s most trusted servant, and sometimes their sexual partner, but not always.
They knew all the Abnobian gods’ secrets—that their godlike powers were in fact gotten through technology and genetic manipulation.
The price of that knowledge was that the only way they left service was through death.
“No matter whether you believe yourself a god or not, you will always be my Goddess, my love,” Kartog said.
Ninti smiled and stroked her fingers down her deep pink cheek, power glowing from her fingertips, making Kartog groan.
“I do not deserve you, my love,” Ninti said.
That last line could get them both killed. Fortunately, Ninti could soundproof them.
Although they could have sexual relationships, Abnobians were forbidden from loving any other being. They were brought up in a manner that hardened their hearts. Love made weak gods, according to the forefathers and mothers of their race.
Having emotions or empathy or love made making cold, hard decisions harder. But there was another reason the Abnobians were forbidden to love.
Abnobians weren’t made by chance sexual couplings. Genetic material was taken and combined artificially to create the best warriors, the best scientists, the best administrators.
After they were hatched on their birthing planet, they were trained to be cold gods.
Kartog kissed Ninti’s hand tenderly. “You deserve everything, and I am unworthy, but I will forever try to please you.”
They kissed long and deep, Ninti’s bright glowing power emanating from her lips, so it appeared as if they were melting into each other.
Ninti pulled back. “Later, my warrior. We have a great many things to do.”
Kartog gave her a half smile. “If you insist.”
The sun was finally down, and the dark sky had brought the cold air on Oipra. It was welcome at first, but Brogan and Camber soon started to shiver. Brogan would have shifted to wolf for the warmth of her coat, but the silver cuffs didn’t let her.
“You look cold. I’ll make a fire,” Camber said.
“Don’t on my account. I’m fine.”
Camber sighed. “Oh, cut out that ego. You’re shivering, and I am too.” She began to rummage in her bag.
“Won’t the flames attract people to our position?” Brogan said.
“This Earth where you come from must be backward in its technology.”
“Our tech is just fine. At least we don’t have whole planets in servitude,” Brogan grumbled.
Camber pulled out a black oblong device, the size of a remote control. She pressed the side, and a globe of light surrounded them and then became see-through.
“Temperature twenty-five, please.”
The heat enveloped them in their little bubble.
“This is amazing. I like to be warm,” Brogan said.
“Yeah? I thought you big, tough alpha wolves could withstand anything.” Camber smiled.
That smile sent an extra shot of heat through her blood, similar to what happened when they first met and Brogan first inhaled Camber’s scent. But this was different.
Camber rarely smiled, she was always so guarded, so to see a natural smile made Brogan’s heart skip a beat.
“You don’t like me, do you,” Camber said, offering her a drink and some food.
“Why would I like someone who thinks I’m trying to kill them?” Brogan said.
“If you are a bounty hunter, you have lasted longer than any of the others. Maybe Davor has made your backstory really good. Someone who I might trust.”
“Who’s Davor?”
“He is the senior in the Abnobian pantheon of gods. They have a council of twelve who represent each branch of their society. Science, defence, that kind of thing, but of course you might already know that.”
“Of course I do,” Brogan said.
Camber was warming up to her, but she refused to drop her guard.
“I can’t believe they keep this part of the world so hard to live on, and through that door, everything they need is in abundance. It’s nasty and cruel,” Brogan said.
“There were a few rebellions in the past, but the gods left as punishment, so the story goes. Without them, there was no water and no food. It was a dark time.”
“Were the Abnobians always this powerful?” Brogan asked.
“Their power seems to cycle. They were once even more powerful than now. They had a vast empire in this realm, but there were massive rebellions everywhere.”
“Did the empire fall?”
Camber sighed and shook her head. “They were down and wounded, but they have built themselves near where they were. It’s made them more ruthless than ever.”
They both went quiet.
“Is that why they’re chasing you so badly?”
Camber nodded. “If they got hold of me, they would use me to find all the portals, and…”
“And?” Brogan asked softly.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Camber sat back against the rock. She had already said far too much to someone who she didn’t know a thing about. There was something about Brogan that made Camber unburden herself, something that hadn’t happened to her before.
Only Vorka and her fellow guardians were trusted by her. Why was this lone wolf getting past her defences?
“What’s the plan, then?” Brogan asked.
“We’ll leave in another couple of hours. The working day for the miners should be over by then.”
“Why are we going in through the mines?” Brogan asked.
“We can’t go through the main door because it’s guarded day and night. But there’s a concealed entrance into the mines, and a staff corridor to take us to the main hangar and control area. There we’ll either need to stow away on a ship or steal one.”
“That doesn’t sound easy,” Brogan said.
Camber chuckled. “Welcome to my world.”