Chapter 24: Defeat the Contract

"I am Rivuk, Third Prince of the Nobillo," he announced. "Which of my soldiers am I addressing?"

"Kelon," the voice hissed. "What brings you to the forests, your grace?"

"I might ask the same of you," Rivuk said, lightly. His mind was focused on the scout. He could kill him with a thought, but he didn't want to if the soldier was one of his. He had to be certain.

"I came here under the orders of my prince," Kelon answered.

"I gave no such orders." Rivuk felt the unease in the pit of his stomach. Kelon's next words would decide his actions.

"You are not my prince."

Boz!

Something swooped at him. A Silverwing! He rolled. There it was, just above him! He split it in two. It was enough time for the scout to grab his knife and attack. Rivuk repelled him, sending him back twenty feet before the Child's wings were able to stop him. Rivuk dove into the canopy of the forest.

Kelon followed after him.

That was a stupid move. He should have just flown away, Rivuk thought. I have the perfect excuse for my actions in him. Seeking to discover if my soldiers are acting without my orders is certainly enough of a reason to be in the forest at night.

Rivuk folded his wings in close as he burst through the top of a tree. Seconds later, Kelon followed. The prince stopped in midair. Rivuk held out his hand like he was holding a toy. He tightened his grasp on the imaginary object. Kelon cried out in pain as his body contorted.

"I'm sorry, I don't need you to talk and I can't have your screams drawing attention to me." One swift motion of his fingers and Kelon's knife shot through his larynx. "You really should have run. I would have let you go. But, since you're here, I have some questions I really need answered."

Kelon's wide mouth with its needle-sharp teeth hung open in a silent scream as Rivuk tore apart his mind. "Now, I'll do you the favor Boz denied my wife," Rivuk said. "You remember her. In your memories, I saw you tell him she was in Elihim's courtyard, alone." And with that, Kelon's head snapped to a strange angle with a loud crack. Rivuk released his grip and Kelon's body crashed through the canopy, landing with a dull thud somewhere below.

He mentally scanned for more Children of the Immortal. It was difficult to get a good read with all the wildlife below. He'd have to be more careful.

He felt them, in the forest below. Four of them. Bonat. A scouting party. They'd spotted him. Might as well make this easy for them. He dove down into the nearest clearing and waited.

Harpoons flew at him from above. He brushed them away. "I'm only here to talk," he announced.

"How do we know that?" a voice hissed.

"If I wasn't, you'd be dead."

A Bonat woman leapt from the trees in front of him. Her build was athletic, wiry, with a slight swagger in her carriage. Her white hair was longer on the top and cropped short on the sides. She ran her fingers through it, brushing it to the side so the longer part just grazed the tip of her pointed ear. He recognized her from Lindsay's memories.

Rivuk bowed. "Nol, Corsar of the Eastern Camp, I am Rivuk-"

"I know who you are." She raised a brow. "We all do. Why are you here?"

"I have come to hold conference with the Bona Serat Corsar. I request an escort."

"Damn, I hate when he's right. Now I'm going to have to catch a loosa."

Rivuk's brow furrowed. "A loosa?"

"Yeah, a fat stupid animal with big tusks." Nol said, taking his arm, still clearly irritated. "Come on, he's been expecting you."

It was almost an hour's walk to the camp. When they arrived, Nol took him to the familiar entrance of Sirix's tent. "This one's here to see the Bona Serat Corsar," she said.

The guards stifled laughs. Nol rolled her eyes and dragged him through.

"Sirix, someone to see you." She tossed Rivuk in.

Sirix looked up from his desk. "Ah, I see you owe me a loosa."

Nol regarded Rivuk bitterly. "You couldn't have waited one day?"

"Nol, call a council," Sirix said, returning to his papers.

"Do you want me to get Veralosa?"

"Will he try to kill the prince?"

"I mean, maybe. He did cost him his hand."

Sirix frowned. "Ask him. If he doesn't think he can control himself, just Donil."

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Give you two a chance to talk." Nol jogged out of the tent.

Rivuk knelt in uncomfortable silence for some minutes before Sirix shuffled his papers, hitting them on the desk, and looked up at him.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Sirix said.

Rivuk stood and took a seat in one of the high-backed chairs at the septagonal table. He remembered it from Lindsay's memories, too. He hooked his wings over the back of the chair. It was quite uncomfortable, but he didn't want to ask for any special accommodations given why he was here.

Sirix stood, in his hand he held a black box with a clear front. He hit it against his other hand as he strolled forward. "Interesting piece of technology you've come up with. At first, I thought they might be explosives. Obviously, that wasn't the case. A test, perhaps, to see if they worked?" The box turned on.

Rivuk could hear his own grunts beneath Lindsay's screams. He looked at Sirix's stern countenance. "You must accept my apologies. It was my brother who did this. Please believe me, Lindsay would never betray you. She betrayed me before she would betray you. I never meant-"

"Yeah, get it Earth Girl," Nol cheered from the door.

"I think she was louder with Sirix," a very large, muscular Bonat man with a wide grin said. "I mean, you could hear her all the way across the camp." Rivuk recognized him as Veralosa.

Sirix's stern countenance broke into a smile. He dropped the box in front of Rivuk. "At least I know you took good care of her."

"Really good care of her," Veralosa said.

"Multiple times," Nol added.

Rivuk was shocked. He searched for words. "You aren't angry?"

"Why should we be?" a beautiful Bonat woman said from the door.

Rivuk's jaw dropped. He'd made love to her in memories, but they were nothing compared to reality. Donil was stunning. Or maybe it was just Lindsay's residual feelings within him that made his mind suddenly turn to puddy at those starry blue eyes. "By the Immortal, she loves you," he blurted out.

Donil's cheeks whitened.

Oh Hell. She was even more beautiful when she blushed.

Sirix chuckled. He placed a glass of purple liquid in front of him loudly enough to tear his eyes away from her. "Psychic link?"

Rivuk downed the glass quickly. "Yeah."

Nol burst out laughing, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, she's not interested in men."

"I'm not sure that'll be of much help," Rivuk said.

"Alright, that's enough." Sirix said, clapping his hands. "Everyone, have a seat. The third prince has come a long way to visit us, we should at least give him the chance to speak. Of course, if we want him to do that, Donil, you might want to cover yourself with a tarp or something."

The others laughed, even Donil. He remembered that laugh. No, that wasn't him. Those were her memories. He took another gulp of juice.

They all sat. It was strange to be so familiar with them and yet to never have met them in his life. Nol rocking back in her chair seemed an old familiar sight and yet he knew he'd never seen it before. Or the way Veralosa dwarfed his chair. Veralosa. He'd cost him his forearm, and now the man was sitting across from him making jokes at his expense.

"I apologize for your arm," he said, bowing his head.

Veralosa looked at him in surprise. "What? Me? Could've been worse. I'm still alive and I got you as good as you got me. Plus this new arm's got a built in atlatl." He showed a long groove in the underside that ended suddenly at his wrist. "Did you get a scar?"

"Yes," Rivuk said.

"Ha! I scarred a Nobillo prince! First Bonat to ever strike a prince."

"No. My uncle, Adir, was killed by a Bonat."

"No, he wasn't." Sirix said, his mien suddenly serious.

"What do you mean?"

"I saw it, myself," Sirix said. "He was killed by one of his own men. They stabbed him in the back during the gas attack. Knowing your own power, do you honestly think we stood a chance against a prince?"

"You're certain of this?"

Sirix stood and went to his shelf, pulling out small roll of rough, woven fabric, tied with vine. He placed it in front of Rivuk. "See for yourself, this is what they pulled out of him."

Rivuk undid the knots and unrolled the fabric to reveal a rose gold knife with a cruel, curved blade. "This is the crest of the royal family," he said, pointing to the symbol on the hilt. "But why?"

Sirix shrugged. "You'd know better than me. But that's not why you're here, is it?"

"No. These recordings, my brother was hoping to use them to convince you Lindsay had betrayed you, to make you reveal your positions. Now I see I needn't have worried. But she's been through so much for you, she gave up everything to protect you."

"She betrayed you."

Rivuk gazed into the purple liquid. "Yes, she betrayed me for you. I couldn't bear to see her branded a traitor by you for it."

"Well, that was a stupid plan," Sirix said, bluntly.

"Sex is hardly sedition," Donil added.

Sirix sat, tenting his fingers before his face and eyeing Rivuk through them. "I told her she could be with you, multiple times. And she was. But I don't hear her screaming out our locations or how she hates us. It's not evidence of anything except that you had sex, and she had a good time."

"So you're not upset?"

"There's no reason to be upset," Donil said. "She's perfectly allowed to have other sexual partners. Sirix does and I could choose to if I wanted. Though it did make me miss her, terribly, to see it."

"Don't doubt me," Sirix said, his index finger pressed onto the table. "I may not be upset about this but I want you to bring my wife back. I don't know what arrangements you want to make or what she wants to do between us, but I want her home. Your brother clearly means her harm."

Sirix had no idea, Rivuk thought, the harm Boz had already tried to do.

"Can you honestly tell me she's safer there?" Sirix asked.

Rivuk swallowed hard. "No."

Sirix leaned over so his gold rimmed indigo eyes peered into Rivuk's. "Then bring her home."

"Please," Donil added in a voice so tender he couldn't imagine refusing.

Suddenly, four partners didn't seem that bad. It would be much easier to raise two children between five adults. By Jericho! The baby! They didn't know! Even if he wanted to, he couldn't move her now. It wasn't safe with her so far along. He'd have to tell them.

"There's one more thing" Rivuk said, taking a deep breath. "Lindsay's pregnant."

"So, she's going to give birth to a Child of the Immortal," Sirix said, solemnly. All mirth escaped his features.

"Not necessarily. While it's true we do create Children of the Immortal by using human genetic material, there hasn't been a true cross in over five hundred lanc. We don't know what will actually happen." Rivuk swallowed hard and added. "That is, if I'm the father.

"You might not be?"

"Oh yeah!" Nol said. "That's my girl!"

"She and my hest, Carak, are lovers. The child might be his." Rivuk said.

Sirix tilted his head slightly. "I don't see how that changes things..."

"Carak..." Rivuk chose his words carefully. "Carak is a Child of the Immortal."

Nol swore. Donil gasped.

Rivuk continued, "If it is any consolation, I believe he loves her and the baby more than life, itself. I have no doubt he would die for them. He wouldn't let anyone do them harm, not even me, were I so inclined. She could not be better tended."

"And what are her feelings for this... Carak?" Sirix asked, eyes narrowed.

"The same. I believe she might kill me to save him. She loves me, I know that, as she does you and Donil, but the way they love each other is different. Like they want nothing else in the world. In retrospect, I should have seen it far earlier, but I never even considered the possibility."

Sirix sighed. "Leave it to my Indsayee to find the beauty in a monster."

"So what will happen?" Donil asked. "If the baby is his?"

"I don't know," Rivuk answered. "It's never happened before. There's never been a recorded birth from a human and a Child of the Immortal."

"No shock there," Nol said.

"Well, they're a cross-breed themselves," Donil said. "So the baby might be more human. How far along is she? Have they been able to tell anything?"

"Four iuna. It has wings, but so far it's been hard to discover much beyond that. Our technology isn't exactly designed for human physiology. They carry their babies surprisingly deep inside."

Sirix's voice was gruff when he spoke. "We can take care of her and the baby, if you bring them here."

Rivuk shook his head. "Even if I thought it was safe to move her, she'd never go without Carak."

"You know this?"

"I know her feelings, yes. Intimately."

Donil and Sirix exchanged a meaningful look. "Then we'll take him in, too. They'll be under our protection."

"I won't move her until the baby is born." How would he even do that? It was no matter, there would be time enough to figure it out. He needed a back-up plan in case... in case things became too dangerous. There was nothing the plan would gain from her death. The palace would simply cover it up. More rumors, conjectures, but, in the end, the protests would cease and life would return to normal. If she were on the run, at least it would be a narrative the people could root for.

"Fine." Sirix said. "But what about these boxes? I can't help but feel there's a threat involved here. If they've discovered a way to counter the magnetic fields..."

"I'll look into it, but know it's not coming from me. May I take the knife?"

"I don't want it."

"Thank you." He sheathed it in his belt. He bowed low. "It has been an honor, I hope to meet you all again someday, under better circumstances."

Sirix took Rivuk's forearm and guided him up. "May we meet again in peace," he said.