The Smuggler's Ascension: The Ties That Died Read online

  The prospect of giving birth to a God was terrifying, Sabine thought, as she watched the Capital City go by outside the windows of her car. Would such a birth hurt? Would she survive a birth like that? Would she ever see her child again once he did become a God? There were so many questions that she didn’t have answers for, and she hated not knowing. Kristof’s irritation at the Su’Vanii had started to bleed over into her thinking, so she pushed the questions from her mind.

  The car entered the Palace grounds and Sabine was glad to be home. She wanted nothing more than to be in the arms of her husband and wife. The thoughts of a long hot bath crept into her thoughts as well and brought a smile to her face as she walked through the corridors with her guards.

  Finally alone, since Anasha and Kristof had not returned yet, Sabine slipped off her shoes and started to run the water for a hot bath. She smiled at thoughts of nights she’d spent in the tub with Anasha or Kristof, or the three of them together even though things got tight with so many people. One particular memory came back to her as the water steamed and she added bubbles to the hot water.

  Anasha had gone through a rather grueling day of training while Kristof had been off world on one of his resistance missions when Sabine had suggested a hot bath. Her blond wife had been eager, and Sabine remembered how she’d practically melted as she lay back against Sabine and relaxed. Sabine had embraced her beautiful wife as they lay together, and Sabine had lightly stroked her skin and massages particularly sore muscles, loving the moans of appreciation that came from Anasha’s lips.

  Sabine made no secret of her love for touching her wife’s body, and she did then freely, the memory sparking her desire as she slipped into the hot bath now, lost in the memory. She remembered running her hands over Anasha’s breasts, marveling as always at their fullness and size, certainly much bigger than her own small, firm breasts. Anasha and Kristof always said they loved Sabine’s just as they were, but it didn’t change Sabine’s desire for something more. So she felt Anasha’s and loved them instead, playfully pinching the woman’s nipples and enjoying how they grew hard beneath her touch.

  Sabine felt her own breasts as the memory washed over her, her desire rising and she wished Anasha or Kristof would come home to her right then. Instead, because she was still alone, she ran her hand over the swell of her belly to let her fingers glide over herself as she remembered doing the same to Anasha that night not so long ago. As now, the heated, steaming water had made them slightly light headed, or perhaps that was their growing desire. All Sabine knew was that as she slid her finger across Anasha’s sex, the woman had cried out in joy.

  Anasha’s response to her touch had thrilled Sabine, made her feel powerful, as she brought forth whimpers and cries of pleasure from this beautiful woman whom she loved. Always with Kristof, Sabine wished to be submissive and have him in control, but with Anasha she loved the thrill of taking charge as much as having Anasha command her. It was a thrilling feeling between the two of them, one that she didn’t feel the same with Kristof, though it wasn’t a bad thing that she didn’t.

  Sabine trembled as her passion overcame her and she let out a cry into the quiet bathroom that echoed off the tiles around her. She smiled as she remembered Anasha’s cries as well and how her love had completely melted against her afterwards.

  Soon the water began to cool, so Sabine rose and grabbed her robe from a nearby hook. The sun was falling, which meant her loves would be home soon. Yet she felt tired all of a sudden, so she wrapped herself in her robe and went to lay on the bed she shared with her loves, her mates, her best friends. Smiling, she fell asleep as the last light of the sun fell through the windows upon her.

  ~Interlude 1~

  Max sat before a diagnostic terminal in the android service center of the palace, as the late hours of the night ticked by. He had come here late so that he could be alone while he tried to analyze everything that had happened recently once it was learned that he now had dreams while being deactivated. The possibility seemed absurd on its face, to Max, because once he was deactivated during charging all of his systems were supposed to be shut down until the recharging unit awakened him.

  When Anasha had been able to awaken him before the charging was complete, Max had regained consciousness slowly. He deeply regretted striking Anasha as the remnants of the dreams lingered. The woman had forgiven him even as she showed great concern for his wellbeing, but Max had not forgiven himself. He had struck someone who had invited him into their life, and his newfound emotions were not handling the blow very well.

  There was no precedent for Max’s situation that he could find. He had overhead the conversation between Anasha, Sabine, and Kristof about the mad androids of the past, but there were no records of it in the Palace archives. The absence of any record was curious, leading Max to wonder if the tales were only rumor and no more. For the moment, however, it did not matter. It was not why he was here.

  The diagnostic computers were currently scanning Max’s systems for anomalies, but so far they had found nothing beyond the greatly enhanced neural pathways of Max’s android mind. Max had already known about that, though, and had hoped the independent computer scan would find something he had not seen.

  Hope. Another new emotion, Max realized. At least it was not a bad emotion.

  “Computer,” Max said aloud. “Begin configuring a delayed activation protocol between system reactivation and motor control function. Protocol will delay mobile ability for sixty seconds after activation and not be allowed to be overridden by myself once installed.”

  The computer’s screen clearly showed Max’s request in progress. The android did not wish to be awoken from a dream and lash out at anyone again. He also did not wish to build the program himself and somehow have a flaw built into it by his new emotions. In this way, Max believed, even if he reactivated following a dream, he would not be able to strike out unexpectedly until the timer had finished, by which time Max believed he would have regained full control of his faculties.

  “Protocol ready,” the computer stated after a few moments. “Do you wish to upload and install?”

  “Yes,” Max said as he watched the computer screen before him.

  Max could feel the rather innocuous program enter into his cerebral matrix and install itself. His system made no move to reject the programming, so Max relaxed at last as he now believed his family would be safe. It was also curious, he thought to himself, this sense of relaxing from a stress that had been felt. He wondered once again how humans managed to function with so many random and seemingly conflicting emotions all of the time.

  ~8~

  Kristof was done being patient. The Su’Vanii had ignore Anasha’s request for an audience for days now, and Kristof was sick of it. His heart told him that they had answers, even if they did not have all of them. The war progressed onward day by day, and he was sick of feeling left in the dark about what to do. The time for patience was done, now he would act.

  Reluctantly, Anasha had given Kristof directions through the Su’Vanii Temple of Visions so that he could find the chamber of the Su’Vanii deep within. She had wanted to go with him, but Kristof did not want her with him if the Su’Tani and the Su’Vanii sought to deny him an audience today. He felt bad that Anasha’s loyalties were being tested today, between the Su’Tani and love, and that she had chosen love once again. Kristof knew that she also sensed the urgency of the situation, though, as Sabine’s pregnancy marched closer to birth day by day.

  The Temple of Vision’s white quartz stone shined in the morning sunlight, while the golden Eye of the Oracle seemed to drink in the morning light and glow from within. Before the entrance way, a troop of Su’Tani guards had drawn up in ranks to bar his entrance. The Elders knew he was coming, as he had expected, and apparently were intent on remaining silent.

  Kristof reached within to touch the power of the Utani’van’Morto, and he used that power to project a shield around himself. The Su’Tani guards also formed a shield w
ith their combined might to deny his passage, but as Kristof’s shield met theirs, the Su’Tani shield separated as if a hot knife had been stabbed into warm bread. The guards tried to bar his passage with crossed staffs as well, but he passed by them just as easily as the shields.

  The temple erupted in alarm as Kristof pressed on with his intention of finding the Su’Vanii. He deeply regretted the turmoil that had broken out because of him, but he also knew the Elders could have avoided all this by simply seeing him as he’d requested. Kristof would not risk the lives of his wives and son to appease the Elders’ stubbornness though.

  Eventually the guards ceased their attempts to stop him, Kristof noticed as he made his way deeper into the temple. Whether they had received a command from the Elders to let him pass, or if some new obstacle lay ahead, he could not tell. In time he found himself in the circular chamber Anasha had described to him.

  Thirteen stone chairs that were built into the walls circled the room at even intervals, while the floor was tiled in a thirteen pointed star. The room was otherwise empty, as Kristof had expected. He used his power to bar the door, and then sank to the floor and folded his legs beneath him while closing his eyes and letting his thoughts drift.

  Again, Kristof felt resistance, and knew this was the Elders final attempt to resist him. Concentrating a bit more forcefully, Kristof’s mind drifted free and he found himself within the vast emptiness of the Void once more. The thirteen pointed star was beneath him, etched out in blue fire, as the luminous figures of the Su’Vanii circled him.

  “Welcome, mate of our dear Anasha,” came a single voice that seemed to come from all of the Elders at once even as their lips remained still.

  “You have a strange way of showing welcome,” Kristof said angrily.

  “We regret that you have come so far for naught,” the voice came again. “We have assisted dear Anasha as far as we are able in this matter. You must return now.”

  Kristof felt a push as the Elders attempted to send him back to the normal world, but he resisted by using the power within, and remained firmly in place. The Elders pushed harder and harder, but he would not be moved.

  “Your actions give evidence to the lie you tell me,” Kristof said coldly. “You know much more than you would speak, and I will not be denied in this. The war between the Phoenix and Death rages on and spills over into the realms of men even as my wife and child stand to suffer for it when her time comes. I have been given this power of the Utani’van’Morto, this God Slayer, and yet been given no clue on what it is or how I am supposed to use it. The Phoenix wishes me to slay Death. Why? What is to become of my son when he is born?”

  The Elders remained silent, and Kristof felt his anger boiling out of control. He looked at these luminous beings who sat around him in their chairs etched in fire, gazed upon their silent and uncaring faces, and let loose the last restraints of his anger.

  The shock apparent on the Elders’ faces as he rose from his place within the star of fire was somewhat satisfying, as was their sudden fear as Kristof crossed to the nearest Elder and grasped him by the throat. Kristof moved his face to within inches of the Elder’s face, his eyes burning with cold fire.

  “I grow tired of your silence,” Kristof said with a growl. “Speak now, before I show you what truly lies beyond the Veil.

  “Please,” came the plaintive whisper of the Elder within his grasp, “Our Mistress has not chosen to share with us the knowledge that you seek. We are but servants of her divine glory.”

  “Who is this Mistress of yours?” Kristof asked, his anger cooling some as he eased his grip on the Elder before him and backed away slightly. “Where might I find her?”

  “We are servants of the Mistress of Knowledge, the Oracle of Visions, the Divine Anza’Tai,” the Elder said, at last surrendering to Kristof’s will.

  “Where is she?” Kristof demanded, making sure the Elder was not holding out on him, though he could feel the man had already told him what little he knew.

  “The Goddess Anza’Tai dwells where she will, and comes to us in her own time and choosing,” the Elder told him. “She has not graced us with the knowledge you seek, and I fear that she will be most wroth with us now for even speaking to you.”

  “I would ask why she wishes to keep me in the dark, but I know you do not know,” Kristof said as he released the Elder while the last of his anger cooled to a bank of embers.

  Kristof then looked about, beyond the edges of the Su’Vanii’s fiery circle, at the vast expanse of the Void around them. There was a sense of the Gods in their various places throughout the universe and time, but Kristof could feel nothing that answered his questions.

  “My apologies, revered Elders, for my forceful demands,” Kristof said at last, returning his attention to the Elders about him. “Know that you have nothing to fear from me, and you shall be under my protection as a Su’Tani warrior, should your Goddess seek reprisals against you. You defended her admirably, you bear no fault in what happened here.”

  Kristof opened his eyes upon the empty chamber of the Su’Vanii and felt his frustration growing at still not having answers. The path to those answers had been found at last, however. All he needed now was to find this Goddess of Knowledge, this Anza’Tai. It was not a name that was familiar to him, so he had to hope that the research Sabine had initiated would turn up more clues.

  Sabine’s idea of searching the old legends had been brilliant, Kristof thought to himself, as he made his way back through the Temple. He took a moment here and there as he went to apologize to the guards he passed. These men and women were not his enemies, he reminded himself, and he would need their help in the future he had no doubt.

  As he exited the Temple, Kristof could feel Anasha’s sigh of relief that he had returned and had not done any lasting harm to his relationship with the Elders, or her relationship with them for that matter. He could also feel Sabine’s relief as well, and sent out his loving thoughts to his two wives.

  “You have created quite the stir today,” came a voice from behind Kristof, and he turned to find Celeste approaching him from the Temple. Kristof took in the sight of the platinum haired woman who had come to them in their time of need, and found her to be a welcome sight. Celeste’s help had been most timely and welcome during the beginning of Sabine’s pregnancy, when the tiny woman had been engulfed of bleak visions of pain, cold, and a vast darkness. It had been through Celeste’s guidance that Anasha had been able to reach the baby’s soul at last and aid the baby in casting out Death’s shadow, which they had learned was the source of Sabine’s episodes.

  “I was never one for patience or politics,” Kristof said with a smile.

  “As I witnessed,” Celeste responded with a smile of her own.

  “Is this just a curtesy call today?” Kristof asked her curiously.

  “Alas, no,” Celeste said after a moment. “I fear that after my touch with Death, I have not been able to see and feel the visions and feelings as I once did. It had been most distressing, and yet I find myself drawn to your cause once more.”

  “I am sorry to hear that you have not fared well,” Kristof told her with his regret in his voice. “Is it Death that has blinded your senses?”

  “Only inconsequentially,” Celeste said in return. “My senses have been blinded, it is true, but I still see the light of your child quite clearly. I am ever drawn to the child, it seems, and so here I am before you today to offer what aid I can.”

  Kristof smiled as he looked upon the woman before him, and at the Temple behind her. Celeste’s words worked through his mind, and he realized that the God his son would be had already chosen his first disciple.

  “I do not believe your Mistress, this Anza’Tai, will be pleased to lose one from her service to the service of my son,” Kristof said with a smile. “As I am sure you know, it is most likely that my son is destined to become a God when this is done.”

  “All will be as it must,” Celeste said simply, “And I must
go where I am called.”

  “Then you will be most welcome with us, Celeste,” Kristof said with a nod.

  Together Kristof and Celeste made their way back to the Palace. He searched the woman with his power within, and found no deceit in her, so he set his mind at ease.

  “What can you tell me of your Mistress?” Kristof asked after some time.

  “I hate to say that the Su’Tani have lost much of what we knew of our origins,” Celeste said eventually. “We have always been guardians, but we no longer remember what it is we once guarded. A darkness lies over our past, as if hiding an uncomfortable truth. Some few of us have attempted to pierce this darkness of knowledge from time to time, but with no success. So we serve as we best can.”

  “The Elders seem to know more,” Kristof objected.

  “Only by fractions, I believe,” Celeste replied sadly. “Our Mistress chooses not to allow us to see beyond the darkness for reasons of her own, and it is not our place to question her divine rule.”

  Silence fell between them as they continued to walk and Kristof pondered all that Celeste had told him. The fact that this Goddess Anza’Tai chose to keep her servants in the dark was interesting. To him, it seemed to indicate some guilty knowledge that the Goddess did not want to be known, and he also felt that this knowledge was central to all that had engulf him and his family’s lives.

  Kristof felt as if the answers were almost on the edge of his mind as he thought about the Phoenix, Death, and the Goddess. They were all connected, he felt, and for just an instant he felt the answer was there on the edge of his mind, and then it was gone again.

  ~9~

  Korvan stormed through the sorry excuse of a palace on New Clovani Prime in search of his sister. News had finally returned of the failed attack on Durani, and he was furious. He wanted Kristof and that little whore of a Queen of his dead, and Karina’s failure was intolerable.