Lunar Showdown 4:
Ephah Yerah
Tycho glared at the Lunar Blade. He also would have sworn that the Blade
glared back. "Look, we've tried
negotiation." Which was true. The last few days had seen many dialogues between
Luna and Aristarchus fail. There was no
talking to the man; Aristarchus said he had the stronger claim to the Lunar
Throne, and that was final. All facts
to the contrary, all threats, all promises fell on deaf ears. "We have to attack, we have to... Darius, I'm talking to a sword."
Darius, Tycho's bodyguard, second, and
closest friend decided not to answer him.
The Lunatac prince continued. "I'm talking to a sword! And if the thing could talk back, it would
be making 'tut-tut' noises. Arrgh!"
"Why not just get rid of it, or give
it away?"
"How do you think I got the
damned thing?" Tycho snapped.
"I wouldn't wish this thing and its infernal whispering on my worst
enemy. Unfortunately, my worst
enemy saw fit to give it to me."
* * *
The one who walked invisibly through the Goliath
walked right into Aristarchus' room and sat across the table from the Moonking,
all without notice. He found
Aristarchus and his fears endlessly amusing, but had quite frankly run out of
use for the man. Nothing more could be
learned on the Goliath. He would
have moved on to Tycho, but Luna stood in the way.
Rather, Luna's great white guardian.
Luna, he said to
himself. Now there's a
thought. How easy would she be
to control? Poor little thing, so alone,
with no one she can trust but her bodyguard.
Now if only something would happen to that bodyguard... Unfortunately, though Aristarchus could be
easily controlled, he could do nothing from where he was. He needed Tycho. Tycho had the Lunar Blade, after all, and it was the Lunar Blade
that drove once-stable Aristarchus to the point of constant paranoia. Of course, he had urged Aristarchus to delve
deeply into the Blade's secrets...
But, in the end, Aristarchus was only a
man, with a man's mind. It couldn't
hold all the information gleaned from the ancient weapon, thus when he tried to
pull the information from the Moonking's thoughts, all he got were disjointed
fragments and feelings. Perhaps those
fragments made sense in context, but they made no sense to the invisible one: Issakwas...
the Damned of the Damned... the Temple of Ice... where is the voice of the
Sixth Moon?.. the dreams of Yerith... the Little Ones warned us of the
whispering Hastanath... living weapons, deep in the earth... the Phantom of
Truth... we are made in Yerith's image, but what image was he made in?..
Alzorra... they came invisibly...
He tried once to use the sword himself, but it had sent a charge through
his hand. Apparently, the thing was
attuned to the royalty.
Which is why he had Aristarchus, then a
mere unknown, send Tycho the Lunar Blade.
Tycho's grandfather had been a sandweller. Perhaps Tycho's mind would be stronger, and from there the
invisible one could draw the secrets.
But he had to get to Tycho first.
But what if... what if he were to
go without his spells and illusions woven around him? What if none could detect his deception because there was no
deception to detect? The invisible one
laughed aloud at the sheer simplicity of his plans, and the laughter
went unnoticed by the Moonking.
He would still need a background story,
one that could get him close to Tycho and the Lunar Blade. That shouldn't be a problem, not for such a
skilled storyteller as he.
* * *
Luna decided that if there was going to be
a war, she was darn well going to stack the odds in her favour. If she could. Which is why the Skytomb now found itself en route to the Dark
Moon. Eight years ago, the Fifth Moon
had shut itself off from the Empire, answering no communications and allowing
no ships to come near.
The crew for this particular little jaunt
were Luna, Amok, Alluro, Chilla, Psychro, Red-Eye, Tug-Mug, and Darius. Alluro and Tug-Mug to watch the engines,
Psychro to fly the thing, Chilla for her tactical skills, and Red-Eye in case
the darklings wanted to speak with one of their own. Darius was along because Tycho ordered him. Mystan would have come along, but Luna told
him to stay back with Tycho.
"We'll reach orbit in about five
minutes," Psychro reported.
"No sign of any opposition,"
added Red-Eye. Then, "Wait... The scanners show nothing, but I see a
shimmer, like the illusion of heat..."
The shimmer fired. Chilla traced where the blast came from and
fired right back. The darkling ship's
cloak flickered, but re-asserted itself.
Meanwhile, Luna had opened communications. "Dark Moon ship, cease fire! I am Princess Luna of th... Ack!" The second volley from the darklings rocked the Skytomb badly
enough to knock Luna from her saddle.
Darius caught her on the second bounce, and put her back.
The comm unit crackled and the accent of
the Dark Moon filtered over. "We
will cease fire when you withdraw or are destroyed." With that, they fired again.
Chilla's next shot missed, but then, she
was shooting blind. Psychro was cycling
through the various scanner filters, trying to find something to see past the
cloak. After the fourth blast slammed
into Skytomb, Red-Eye hit the comm unit in frustration and shouted, "Cease
fire, dammit! We're trying to
help!"
The words seemed to have an effect. Communications still open, a guttural female
voice yelled, "Darkoniel! You
heard the man; cease fire!"
"But..."
Somehow the captain's voice became more
threatening. "Do
it!" The darkling ship's
weapons powered down. The cloak also
dropped, revealing a black ship. Then
in slightly more civilized tones, the captain said, "We apologize for our
unfriendly welcome. Follow us and we
will take you somewhere we can talk."
* * *
Skytomb's main elevator opened into
darkness, the only light coming from the Skytomb itself. It was just enough for those without
darkling eyes to sense movement just beyond the light. The effect was - quite deliberately -
unnerving. Most of the Skytomb crew
looked wherever they thought they saw something move. Luna and Chilla instead followed the direction Red-Eye was
looking.
From the shadows, the captain of the
darkling ship spoke. "But perhaps
we are being rude. Lights!"
The lighting was, of course, dim, but it
served its purpose. Skytomb seemed to
be sitting in a large hangar with several other ships. A bit of mist swirled around their feet; it
likely seeped in when the hangar doors were open. Several male darklings stood around, though no sign of the
female.
Her voice was again heard. "Welcome, then, Princess Luna and
others." The darklings stepped
aside, and seemingly from nowhere the captain appeared. Though a dark blue cloak covered her
features, the newcomer was quite obviously female. Unlike the males of their breed, female darklings tended to be
small and slim. She took off her
hood. "And, of course, welcome,
father."
The weird looks given to him by Tug-Mug
and Psychro went unnoticed.
"Shade," said Red-Eye, smiling his weird, toothless smile.
"Nightshade," the captain
corrected, a sudden flash behind her eyes.
"I am Nightshade."
Then her right eye twitched, and she ran up to Red-Eye for a hug. When next she spoke her voice was much
lighter, though only Red-Eye ( and Tug-Mug and Psychro who were right there )
could hear her. "I'm sorry,
father. She's been getting
str..." <Twitch.> "But I'm sure there is much business to
be discussed," said Nightshade in her guttural voice, stepping away from
her father.
Luna shot Red-Eye a look that said I
want explanations and I want them as soon as possible or there'll be Amok to
pay. Aloud to Nightshade she said,
"How much of the current political situation do you know?"
"The fate of the Moons is no concern
of mine, though I know of the struggle between Aristarchus and Tycho."
"I," said Luna, "am the
true Moonqueen. Tycho knows and is on
my side. Aristarchus denies my claim,
though his is illegitimate. The only
way I can get my throne is by force.
Right now our armies are even.
If you add your strength to our own, perhaps Aristarchus would surrender
rather than fight."
Nightshade started to answer, but her eye
twitched again. "Just a
minute," she said softly.
"There's something I need to deal with." With that, she disappeared into the
shadows. Luna shot a questioning look
at a guard, who shrugged.
In a dark corner of the hangar, in a dark
corner of her mind, Shade and Nightshade argued. ::You heard her. She's
the true Queen. What do we
care? We do not need the Empire. If we help, we might be able to stop a
war. Let the fools kill
themselves. Then the Empire will belong
to us. But what about my
father? What about him? He abandoned us. He did not!
There must be a reason why he didn't come back until now! Fine.
Go talk with the offworlders. I
can wait.:: With that, Nightshade
sullenly withdrew to go sulk in a corner of Shade's mind.
Shade took herself from the shadows and
walked back to the group. "I will
listen to your arguments, Princess Luna.
But on the condition that I may first speak with my father. We have much to catch up on."
* * *
"Stay... in... bed!"
"No.
There's something big going on and I should be out there!"
"Psikaris!" yelled Lura,
the nurse, "Talk to your pig-headed boyfriend!"
Psikaris blushed. Having attention drawn to her always made
her nervous, getting yelled at made her anxious, and having Cameo referred to
as her boyfriend wasn't true. Sort of. Maybe...
Well, it wasn't official.
However, under the nurse's stern gaze, Psikaris did as she was
told. "Cameo, you can't get up
yet. My powers may have saved you from
getting killed, but you were still hurt badly.
You can barely stand, let alone do anything."
"I don't need to stand. I'm a pilot," he reminded her.
Lura made a noise of exasperation. "Would you like me to list off your
injuries again, Cameo? Just because
your fever broke and you aren't bleeding all over the landscape doesn't mean
you're well."
"I'm well enough!" Cameo
protested. "Tycho's going to need
every ship we've got! I can't just lie
around here!.."
Psikaris looked from Lura to Cameo in
desperation. The nurse seemed almost at
the breaking point, and it didn't look like Cameo was going to listen to either
of them. Before she could talk herself
out of it, she leaned down and nuzzled at his neck. "Cameo," she purred, trailing her fingers up his side,
"Your job is dangerous enough without you being injured. I'm not going to let you go until I'm sure
you'll come back. So you get some rest,
and I'll come back to check on you later." Then she kissed him lightly on the cheek, and left the room.
The nurse followed a couple minutes later,
in much better spirits. "He's
staying put. I never pegged you for the
'devious womanly charms' type."
Psikaris used her shapeshifting abilities
to cover her blush. "I learned
that trick from the girlfriend of one of our old test pilots."
* * *
The invisible one easily gained access to
Tycho's base. It was only the guardian
he feared; Tycho's regular guards were of no concern. To his surprise and delight, he learned that Luna and her ride
were out. Which left Tycho unguarded. Tycho's odd bodyguard was gone as well ( the
invisible one wasn't certain of the abilities of the changeling ), replaced by
Luna's telekinetic aide. As if
telekinesis was any sort of defence against a master hypnotist!
He supposed he could practice being
visible ( he wasn't used to it after three years ), but decided against
it. First, not having anyone know who
you really are had many advantages.
Moreover, he rather enjoyed being invisible, plus the guardian was not
back yet.
Tycho looked up when the door opened, but
immediately forgot the occurrence and went back to his book. At his side, if it used sound, the Lunar
Blade would have made a mildly contemptuous sniff. The invisible one pulled a chair over to sit in front of the
Lunatac prince. Tycho forgot when the
chair moved, and assumed that Mystan had left it there from when the two had
been talking earlier.
Leaning forward, resting his chin in his
hands and his elbows on his knees, the invisible one smiled and said, "The
Lunar Blade holds many secrets. Much
knowledge could be gained if one knew how."
The Lunatac prince set down his book and
drew the Lunar Blade, resting it across his knees. It was an ancient weapon, somehow tied to his race. Much as he hated it, he was curious about
it. Was it created with its voice? If so, whose? Or did it gain one later?
How?
"The sword has many voices."
But the sword had many voices. Sometimes they all talked at once, depending
on how dire the situation was. He
couldn't usually make out the words, though the feelings came through clearly.
"You can read the minds of
others. What happens if you try to read
your own mind?" The invisible one
had learned through experimentation ( at Aristarchus' expense ) that the way to
cast one's mind into the sword's consciousness was to try to read one's own
mind.
I wonder what would happen if I tried to
read my own mind, Tycho thought, but shook it aside. What a silly idea. He already knew what he was thinking.
The invisible one scowled. Had Tycho no curiosity, no thrill of
discovery? Too practical, this one. Perhaps his suggestion was too weak. "Tycho, I order you..."
Tycho jumped back ( such as he could from
where he was sitting, and almost sliced his hand ) when the Blade flared. It had done that once before, when an
assassin almost killed him last year.
Instantly he was on his feet, sword at the ready. "I know you're here," he said,
though he wasn't at all sure.
"Show yourself."
The invisible one gave Tycho a hateful
glare from where he was standing. He
had jumped back to avoid getting slashed, not that the prince had noticed. Things were not going the way he wanted them
to. The blasted sword recognized
him. He tricked it once ( he had
tricked everyone ), three years ago, but now it again knew he
lived. Well then, he would just have to
work through Luna. Maybe he could
arrange an 'accident' on the Fifth Moon for the guardian. With that, he turned on his heel and stomped
out.
Again, Tycho didn't register the door
opening or closing. The mental pressure
that the Lunar Blade put out, akin to an adrenalin rush, faded. Why was it acting up? And why was that chair lying on the
ground? Tycho looked at the sword
curiously before re-sheathing it. He
was certain - just for a second - that he had seen the reflection of a psi-race
man in the metal of the blade.
* * *
As soon as the door closed behind them,
Shade collapsed into a miserable heap on a chair. "I... I can hardly control her any more!" she sobbed.
Red-Eye patted his daughter on the back,
trying to comfort her as best he could.
Which wasn't much. Nightshade
was a highly personal demon.
Shade curled against him, still
crying. "All of this, the Dark
Moon closing itself off from the Empire, it's her fault. This is the first time in years that I've
been able to control her and be myself." She sniffled a bit.
"I'm sorry. I really
am. When mother died..."
When mother died. Red-Eye had been dreading to ask about his
wife, given that anything could have happened in the time he was gone. He was hoping she would still be around, even
if she remarried... death was just so final... Unconsciously, he held his daughter a little tighter.
"I'm sorry," she said
again. "I shouldn't have
said..."
"No.
No, I would have had to find out sometime. When?.." Red-Eye
couldn't bring himself to finish the question.
"Long, long ago. Maybe four-hundred years after you
left. She... she was just tired,"
Shade explained. Red-Eye understood. The demon yerin, Lunatacs, were
immortal unless killed. Or they lost
the will to live. "That's... that's
when Nightshade got stronger. I was too
busy grieving and Nightshade used my distraction to get a better hold on
me." Which was mostly true. Nightshade had also used the opportunity to
invent all sorts of stories about how Dusk Twilight secretly feared her
daughter, and saw death as the only escape.
Shade decided, for the sake of her sanity, to ignore the voice.
Letting Shade cry herself out, Red-Eye was
reminded why he hated Nightshade so much.
But he couldn't do anything about his daughter's alternate
personality. Nightshade was a part of
Shade, whether he liked it or not.
Instead he tried to concentrate on the fact that he found his daughter
again. She was only four years old when
he left, but he knew Nightshade's strangely guttural voice anywhere.
After a while, Shade asked, "What
happened to you?"
"Long story," said Red-Eye,
"Though I wasn't conscious for most of it. A sorcerer trapped myself and the Skytomb crew in lava. We were only released a couple years
ago."
Shade actually smiled. "I knew you didn't abandon us on
purpose. Nightshade tried to convince
me otherwise, but you know how she is."
* * *
The invisible one had a few problems
reaching the Dark Moon. Like, the fact
that his power had its limits and he had to get very close to the
darkling ship before he could convince them of his legitimacy. After that, it was a cinch.
He did have one advantage over the
guardian, though. Even though he
couldn't thrall him, he could sense him.
And as long as he stayed out of sight, the guardian would not know of
his presence. Perfect.
From the minds of the darklings, he gained
the name and face of their leader. A
woman named Shade Twilight. A bit of an
erratic personality, but nothing he couldn't handle. Thus sure in his plan, he went to wait outside the room where
Shade and her father were talking.
Normally he'd just barge in, but he respected his fellow Lunatac enough
not to play voyeur on personal affairs.
After a time, the door opened and the two
darklings emerged. "It's been good
seeing you again, father," said Shade.
"Tell the princess I'll talk to her soon. I have to rearrange my schedule first."
"I'll tell her," said the
father. "I've missed
you." After a few more words of
parting, the father walked off down the hall, leaving Shade alone. With a smile, the invisible one made his
opening move. "Shade," he
said, pouring his hypnotic abilities, unheard to the ear, spoken straight to
the mind. "Shade, I must warn
you..."
Shade's right eye twitched.
The invisible one reeled back as if
struck, biting back a scream as the psychic equivalent of fingernails scraped
across the chalkboard of his mind. It
was only his mental training that kept him from fleeing down the hall in stark,
unreasoning panic. She scents
me... It scents me. Dear gods, I was warned... "For there be divers sorts of death -
some wherein the body remaineth; and some where it vanisheth quite away with
the spirit... In one kind of death the spirit also dieth,.. but after a season
is raised up again in that place where the body did decay..." Mercifully, he blacked out after that,
collapsing to the metal deck plates.
Even unconscious, though, his invisibility field held. At least, so long as no one was actually
looking for him.
Shade's eye twitched again, and she shook
her head in confusion. Nightshade had
done something, had manifested powerfully, for a minute. But she could see no reason for it.
Though she could have sworn there had been
a man in the corridor...
* * *
"What the hells is with your
daughter, Red-Eye?"
Red-Eye, though not fond of it, was used
to that question. Not usually in
language that strong, but it was still the same. "She's possessed by a wraith, Luna."
The term went right by Luna, Alluro, and
Tug-Mug. However, Darius gasped,
Psychro raised an eyebrow, and Chilla hissed, "Then why did you let her
live?"
"Explain what a wraith is,
first," said Alluro.
"Very rare, thank Yerith," said
Red-Eye. "They're creatures of
mist that take over corporeal bodies.
Shade was an odd case; she was possessed before she was even born. Either that gave her the ability to
resist... Nightshade, or she just has an extremely strong will. Since Shade could resist, we let her
live. Also, usually the wraith can
leave at any time, which kills the host.
However, Nightshade is bound to Shade, so when Shade dies, Nightshade
might also. Because of this,
Nightshade... protects her at times, will manifest and try to get Shade out of
trouble."
Luna sighed, pinching the bridge of her
nose. "So I have to try to
convince a bitter Dark Moon mist-monster that helping us is in her best
interest. I'm guessing that weird,
rough voice we first heard is Nightshade talking."
"Yes."
"Oh, goody..."
* * *
As Luna predicted, things did not go well
with Nightshade. Shade was more than
agreeable to Luna's plans, but Nightshade took over almost immediately. "We have no use for the other
Moons. We want no part of the
Empire. We are our own Empire."
"The strength of the Lunatacs is our
diversity," Luna explained.
"What one cannot do, another can.
The Dark Moon cannot make it in the universe alone."
"We don't need the universe. We have the Moon."
"Have you no interest in expansion?"
Nightshade glared at Luna. "None."
"Listen, you," snapped Luna,
bristling, "Change, adapt, or die.
It is the way of life. Otherwise
you'll just stagnate in your little kingdom.
Do you even understand leadership?"
"Well enough to keep the Empire out
of my business for eight years."
"The Darkling Fleet might be able to
end this war before it starts."
"I protect the interests of the
darklings alone."
Were she sitting at the table, Luna would
have slammed her tiny fist on it.
"Who died and put you in charge!?"
"I don't know, but I killed him
anyway!"
Still stewing, Luna composed herself,
sulking in her saddle. "If
Aristarchus wins, you know it won't be long before he's knocking on your
door."
"Same goes for you, Princess."
* * *
"We're leaving."
"So soon? Ah, well, I'm winning anyway."
"Are not."
Luna gave Psychro and Tug-Mug a dirty
look. "That... woman is
completely unreasonable. We'll have to
take on Aristarchus with just the Ice Fleet." The ice hybrid and the graviton put away their cards and returned
to their stations.
"Luna." The Lunatac princess turned to glower at
Red-Eye. "I wonder if I could stay
behind. I might be able to convince
her..."
She considered that. Leaving the darkling behind might prove more
advantageous than keeping him around.
"Fine." And I don't
blame you for wanting to skip out on this stupid war. Red-Eye left, and the Skytomb returned to
Tycho's Ice Moon base.
* * *
Cameo opened his eyes when the door to his
room opened. "'Karis?" he
asked, expectantly.
"'Chro."
The icewalker squinted, annoyed, at the
newcomer. "Look, if this is about
your sister..."
"It is," said Psychro,
straddling the chair next to the bed.
He bristled at first, but noticed that
Psychro's tone wasn't as belligerent as it usually was. "What about her?"
"What do you think of her?"
Cameo smiled at that. Not because of the question, but for the
images it invoked. "She's sweet
and kind and gentle and trusting. Every
time I see her, I just want to take her into my arms and shelter her from the
world. When she smiles, it feels like
it's done for my benefit alone. She's
the most wonderful, beautiful, intelligent woman I've ever met and I love her,
I love her, I love her. Happy?"
The ice hybrid smiled slightly at Cameo's
fervent declaration. "You seem
sincere enough. Does she know all
this?"
"Whenever I tell her, she blushes and
tries to change the subject," he sighed.
Psychro chuckled slightly at that. "It means she likes you and isn't
getting all obsessive. Which probably
means she trusts you. Which is a good
sign in my books."
"What would be a bad sign?"
Psychro sighed. "That's what I came here to warn you about..."
* * *
In the corridor outside Shade's room in
the underground complex on the Fifth Moon, the invisible one awakened. He had a few bruises, either from collapsing
or from people tripping over him. But
he was still in the hall rather than the brig, so apparently he wasn't
discovered.
He wondered what he was doing on the
floor. Something knocked him out... but
what? His last memory was of trying to
thrall the darkling Shade...
He pushed back a wave of nausea as his
memory clicked in. Nothing specific,
though, a blessing for which he was unreasonably grateful. Just a feeling of nastiness, like sticking
his hand in a bucket of nygahna worms.
It was important, somehow, but he didn't want to remember why.
Instead, he focused on his quest. His senses told him that Luna and her crew
had left... no, the one stayed.
Red-Eye, Shade's father. Would
he know Luna's next move, or perhaps explain what he came up against in Shade's
mind?..
War.
Luna was going to take on Aristarchus.
It would tear the Empire apart.
And what good would a dead Empire be to the invisible one? Red-Eye stayed back to convince his daughter
to lend her Fleet to Luna's cause... no, he must convince... Nightshade? A schizophrenic? The mind of one insane drove him out?
Wraith.
Red-Eye calls this... Nightshade a wraith. Why didn't that sound right? He forced the thought away before he could
remember. 'Wraith' would do. The wraith was living in the mind of
Shade. Shade would do as Luna asked,
but the wraith would not. Could the
presence of her father help Shade keep control?
Or, perhaps, could the invisible one lend
his aid?
He shuddered at the thought, having no
wish to touch the alien mind of the wraith again. The creature was strong, stronger than even him. But if he merely touched the mind of Shade,
added his will to her own, could they hold the wraith back? Or would it attack again, as it did before
and drive him out?
* * *
Luna steered Amok into Tycho's conference
room, Darius in tow. Tycho and Mystan
were already there. "Well?"
"The darklings will not help
us," Luna said heavily.
"Tycho, we are at war."
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