Chapter 19
Nineteen
Kira — Pirate Vessel
Kira startled awake.
She lay there for a minute, getting her bearings. The dull metal grates above her came into focus, reminding her that she’d fallen asleep in the cargo bay of the pirate ship they’d appropriated.
With no crew quarters to speak of—except one rancid room that none of their group had been willing to enter and that Kira was pretty sure had belonged to the ship’s former captain—they’d taken turns sleeping on the empty pallets in the cargo bay.
“Bad dream?” Raider asked.
He sat on a crate next to her pallet, examining the book Kira had fallen asleep reading. Something on the page caught his eye. He brought the book closer to his face, studying the words with a squint.
Kira threw an arm over her eyes, ignoring him. She didn’t want to talk about her dreams.
“To date—there has only been one person to survive the slaying of an Osiri. Evander the Insane.” Raider raised an eyebrow.
“That’s quite the moniker.” He continued reading.
“All others perished soon after their encounter. Evander, alone, survived for a short time before taking his own life. He was said to have been plagued by terrible visions prior to his death. Some believe it drove him to madness.”
Raider’s voice trailed off as he continued reading the rest of the passage she’d finished translating last night.
Kira removed her arm from her face, instead using it as a makeshift pillow. Considering how tired she still was, she must not have slept long.
No surprise there. Rest had been in short supply the last few days.
Raider snapped the book closed. “Interesting stuff. Who gave it to you?”
“Jarek thought I’d benefit from a crash course in the soul bound. He must have included that by mistake.”
Kira suspected the inquisitor had known exactly what he was doing when he put that book in the stack. He’d wanted her to read about those Tuann who’d managed to slay an Osiri. Whether to put doubts in her head or as a genuine attempt at help, she didn’t know.
Personally, she suspected it was the former, but that might be the cynic in her.
Raider found the other book Kira had brought along. The one she’d discarded in frustration shortly after she’d started translating it using the program Jin had written for her a few months back. He picked it up, flipping to the page with the translation she’d stuck in it.
“In the vast majority of cases, the soul bound descend into madness immediately upon having their soul ripped from their body and bound to a machine. However, there have been rare instances where they have survived the initial transition with their sanity intact.”
Raider stopped, his forehead wrinkling. “I thought the reason the inquisitors wanted Jin dead was because all of the soul bound are insane. This makes it sound like that’s not exactly the case.”
“Keep reading.”
Raider looked back down at the page. “Resist the temptation to harbor foolish hope, however. They are monsters. Abominations whose souls scream out for the mercy of death. If anything, their reason makes them that much more dangerous. Their influence on others is an insidious thing while their condition deprives them of any true sense of morality or empathy. They are capricious and cruel, lashing out much like a child might when they don’t get their way. ”
Raider looked at Kira over the page. “Sounds familiar.”
“Jin only pretends to be rash.”
Most of the time anyway.
And while he could be capricious, he was never cruel.
Except to their enemies.
And sometimes Raider.
“The Osiri cannot control them,” Raider read. “They’ve lost several armies to a soul bound’s tantrum. Untold numbers of Tuann have fallen to their wrath. Our existence appears to be of particular irritation to them, and in their madness, they target us before all others.
“Despite that, the Osiri’s obsession with the soul bound continues unabated.
I do not understand why and have suggested the council investigate further.
I doubt they will listen. The exodus is to begin soon.
I know not whether I will survive the coming days.
For that reason, I am leaving this record so that future generations may know the danger of the soul bound.
Should you encounter their kind—destroy with extreme prejudice.
They cannot be allowed to exist while we still breathe. ”
Raider’s voice trailed off as he flipped to the next page, scanning it before moving on. He skimmed several more pages before flipping the book closed and throwing it aside as he had the last one.
“You know that book is thousands of years old,” Kira pointed out.
“Trash is trash, no matter the age.”
“Some would argue that the incidents the writer references are plenty of reason for caution.”
“Bullshit,” Raider scoffed. “A rampage? That’s the reason they wrote off the soul bound? How many rampages have you and I gone on?”
True.
Though their rampages never resulted in a body count of millions.
“I’m willing to bet those soul bound had damn good reason for their so called ‘tantrums’. To me, it sounds more like the ones lacking in empathy were the Tuann. Not the soul bound.” At Kira’s silence, Raider focused on her with a scowl. “Don’t tell me you’re actually buying into this crap.”
“No.”
That answer seemed to pacify Raider a little. “Why did he even give this to you?”
“I imagine he’s hoping it will sway me to his side.”
“Idiot,” Raider snorted. “He really has no idea.”
“He really doesn’t,” Kira agreed.
Nothing had changed her mind regarding Jin or how far she was willing to go to protect him.
Maybe Jarek was right and Jin would eventually go mad from the pressure of having his soul ripped from his body and moved between containers, but he wasn’t mad yet.
Until that day, Kira would treat him the way she always had.
With respect and care. Not to mention a heaping dash of good ole’ fashioned sibling love.
Raider rested his elbows on his knees. “Now about these nightmares you’re having.”
“Who said I’m having nightmares?”
“You sweated through your shirt,” Raider pointed out.
“I’m fine.”
“Kira—”
“I said I’m fine,” she flared.
“You’re not the only one having them,” Raider announced. “I talked to Finn. He is too.”
“He is?”
Raider nodded.
“What about you and Elena?”
“Ours seem to be more garden variety fare. All normal given what we went through. I dream of being too late. Hers revolves around her mother and what the Osiri planned to do with her.”
“That makes sense,” Kira mused, her gaze turning inward. “Finn, Pallas and I were the only ones directly involved with the Osiri’s death.”
By that point, Raider had already dived into the water after Elena. Their distance and proximity to the lu-ong down there might explain why they weren’t as affected.
“I knew it. You are having nightmares.”
Kira sent him a narrow eyed look. “Why are you here bugging me?”
Raider sat up, extending his legs out in front of him and crossing them at the ankle. “Jin threatened to space me if I kept hovering.”
“And you figured I wouldn’t?”
That was a bold misconception.
“Oh, I knew you would. But at least with you, I won’t feel bad defending myself. He might not be an actual child, but he looks like one. It makes it difficult to exert my full force.”
Kira didn’t envy Raider the consequences if Jin ever realized that fact in their ongoing feud. The two might act like brothers, but neither one would give up an advantage over the other. Not when it was just there, ripe for the plucking.
Finn lightly knocked on the open hatch to announce his presence.
“You’re having nightmares?” Kira demanded as soon as he ducked inside.
Finn looked at Raider. “That was supposed to be a secret.”
Raider tipped his head at Kira with zero remorse. “She’s having them too.”
Finn glanced at Kira in curiosity.
Raider grabbed the book and flipped to the relevant passage before handing it off to Finn. “Read for yourself.”
The oshota scanned the page. “This would appear to suggest that the Osiri we killed isn’t dead.”
“Not fully anyway,” Kira agreed.
Some part of him had managed to survive. A scrap of his ego or will that had then somehow attached itself to their psyches. She suspected it was that piece of him that was torturing them now.
If true, it would suggest a commonality between the Osiri, the lu-ong, and the Mea’Ave. A shared ancestor perhaps?
“Is Pallas suffering from these nightmares as well?” Finn asked.
“That’ll be the first question I’ll ask when I see him next.”
Kira didn’t know if he would answer, but it was worth a try.
“Why are you in here?” Raider asked.
Finn handed the book back to him. “Jin wanted me to let you know that we’re six hours out.”
Kira sat up and dropped her feet to the floor. “Finally.” The sooner they were off this rust bucket, the better. “Any news from Roake?”
She didn’t have high expectations. The ship’s communications array wasn’t powerful enough to stretch across solar systems. Much less the vast distance to Ta Sa’Riel.
However, the satellites on the station were.
Finn shook his head. “Jin says we’re not close enough. But he has our message cued up and ready to go for the moment we are.”
“What about Talon?” Kira asked.
He should be in this sector of space already.
“He sent me a message saying that he was following up on a lead but was vague regarding the details.”
“Is that normal behavior for him?”
Finn nodded. “He would wish to be cautious should his communication be intercepted.”
“You picked a good one,” Raider drawled. “His paranoia is a match for yours.”
“I didn’t pick him.”
Finn smirked. “No, he chose you.”
“What are Bez and the others up to?” Kira asked.
“Bez is sparring with Maksym in the hallway.”
“How’s he doing?” Raider asked.
“Holding his own.”
Raider pursed his lips and looked at the hatchway as if he wished he was out there to witness it. “Impressive.”