The Woman of the Void (The Kota Series) Page 3

  Hearing in her mother’s tone that there was no point in arguing, Vedanleé got up and walked to the fire. Taking a breath, she tried to focus as she stretched out her hand.

  “Avari. Revnog. Dashni.”

  Please, she thought.

  Suddenly, above the fire, a dark patch of darkness spiraled into existence. It hung as if a portion of reality had been widened to reveal a realm of nothingness. The air of the small hut dropped to freezing, and the fire wavered as if recoiling from the unreality of the void.

  “Well done.” Vedin came to stand beside her.

  Mouth open, Vedanleé glanced at her mother and returned her gaze to the void.

  Vedin told her, “Quickly now. Reach into the void and connect your gift to its power.”

  Taking a deep breath, Vedanleé paused.

  Once I do this, there’s no turning back, she thought.

  She felt the usual coolness run through her body as she summoned her gift, and she reached out her hand to the void. Immediately, the power in her recognized the power in the darkness. She felt her outstretched hand grow cool, and then she drew the power from the void into herself in a great gust. She felt it rush through her body like a prolonged chill. She felt the magic bonding with her own. It was so strong. She tried to pull her hand back, but she was frozen in place. She gasped with cold and saw a puff of air escape her mouth despite the fire burning right in front of her. She screamed.

  Suddenly, the void collapsed on itself. Her hand dropped to her side. Her body shivering, she nearly fell over.

  Vedin caught her and sat her carefully on the floor. “Veda? Are you okay?”

  Vedanleé sat on the floor a moment and caught her breath.

  I feel…different, she thought. Stronger. Oh, that feels wonderful, once it settles down.

  She nodded to her mother and looked at her hand that had stretched to the void. It looked fine, though she’d been sure she’d find frostbite. Then she turned and hugged her mother, tears returning.

  The yacht glided through the waves as it led the cargo boat along the shore. Vedanleé stood on deck, swaying with the movement, and faced the only home she’d ever known. Her back was to Thurston where she heard him talking with his men about their return to the Mainland-Euro. She didn’t want to think about any of that just yet, and she watched the stony shoreline and mountains slide by. The village fell out of sight as the yacht rounded a bend.

  Then the yacht approached the strip of shore where she’d found the skeleton. Glancing back to make sure no one was watching, she focused her gift and stretched her hand toward the beach. Quietly, she whispered a spell for the void to show her the past of this place.

  “Kanata. Havenic. Lomoni.”

  A wide hole of void spiraled into existence over the shore. An instant later, the scene changed to reveal a different time of day and a small village boat pulled ashore where there’d been no boat a moment ago in reality.

  Vedanleé held back a gasp as she watched the scene play out.

  A squad of Dominion soldiers held six village men at gunpoint. A few soldiers took the men’s axes and chopped their boat apart before shoving it back into the water. It drifted for a short distance before sinking beneath the waves. Then the whole squad turned its attention to the villagers. One soldier pulled out a machete. Another un-holstered a rifle from his back and unceremoniously shot Halvar. The other villagers flinched, and immediately the soldiers fired and dropped the whole group. But the soldiers didn’t stop there. The one with the machete stepped forward, grabbed a man’s arm, and hacked it off with the machete. Another soldier pulled out a knife and sawed into another man’s leg.

  Vedanleé couldn’t watch any more, and she reached her arm and spoke the words to release the spell. Immediately, the scene flashed back to normal.

  “Everything okay?”

  She jumped and turned to see Thurston standing behind her. His questioning expression didn’t suggest that he’d seen anything out of the ordinary, so she tried to calm down.

  “Just saying my goodbyes to this land,” she lied quickly.

  “Ah. It’s a lovely place. I imagine you’ll miss it.” He came to stand beside her at the rail and looked out over the water. “I’m well-versed in our people’s history and lore. It’s always been a favorite hobby of mine to read our old stories. And there’s clearly something to it all now that I’ve seen this place. My forefathers from the beginning understood that something special runs in our people’s blood. You women’s magic in particular has always fascinated me.” He turned to look at her. “As I promised, with me, you’ll be able to learn more about your abilities than you ever would’ve here. There’s a completely different world outside the little bubble my grandmother created.”

  Vedanleé took a breath of ocean air and forced a smile. “I look forward to seeing it. It’s an honor to be chosen. Thank you, Lord High Commander.”

  “Call me Thurston.” He smiled back at her and changed the conversation to plans for her quarters at his Mainland-Euro mansion.

  3

  Three years ago

  Her designer boots clicked on the concrete of the Dominion facility’s hall. It was cold this far underground, even if it was sweltering hot in the Southern Continent jungles above. Her lab coat was enough to block out the chill of the subterranean base, but Vedanleé suspected her eyes would never adjust to the halogen lights.

  She pushed open the lab door and immediately saw the familiar wall of computer monitors. A counter with controls lined this wall. Two techs sat monitoring the screens and adjusting controls, and they only glanced up as she entered. Without a word, she walked around their station to reach the large, open, main room of the lab.

  Here, a handful of techs worked at various stations. They acknowledged her presence but kept at their work.

  The lab’s main attraction lay in the center of the room. A giant ring of metal curved from its floor base to a connecting base in the ceiling. Every foot along the ring held a scanner, recorder, and an electron pulse device.

  Most important was what stretched across the expanse of the open metal ring – a dark, cold portal into the void.

  Vedanleé came to stand before her creation and marvel once again at the beauty of it.

  She’d experimented for years here in this lab, which had been a gift from the Lord High Commander upon the birth of their twin sons. Her control over the void came easily now. She alone was able to open such portals, and she knew from countless interviews that she was the only one who felt connected to the dark magic inside the void. She felt its pull at all times. She sensed it calling to her, like it was begging for her to use it, let it out.

  It’s taken me over a decade, she thought, but I’ve finally done it. I can feel it – this portal is strong enough to stay open and let me cross through. And I know right where I’m going to make it take me. If I can get to the village and make another one there, maybe I can take my people somewhere Thurston can never find them.

  She’d never been allowed to contact the village, let alone return home. But she prayed to every god she knew that her people were still safe.

  I put off getting pregnant as long as I could, she thought, but the boys are eight now. That’s a long time since Thurston’s had no more need of the clan. Have I taken too long?

  Disrupting her thoughts, Carlos walked over to join her with a clipboard. Carlos was a little older than her twenty-seven years, well-built, with dark hair and tanned skin. He’d been the head researcher at this facility before Vedanleé arrived, and he’d stayed on as her partner to handle the more technical details while she experimented with her arts. Carlos was also, she suspected, here to babysit and spy on her for Thurston.

  But he’s not so bad, she thought. Not bad on the eyes, either. He’s the closest thing I have to a friend, really.

  “It’s been stable since you left last night.” Carlos stood beside her to admire the void. “We’ve monitored all readings, but nothing’s changed.” He motioned to the
sensors around the metal ring.

  “I want to try today,” she told him. It wasn’t a request.

  He looked down at her with a raised eyebrow. “I still don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “We’ve tried your probes,” she countered. “They never came back, and we didn’t get any readings off of them. I need to cross through. Not you. Not one of the techs. It has to be me. It’s the only way we’ll ever find out what’s in there. I’m telling you, this is beyond all your pretty little science, Carlos.”

  He smiled with amusement and shook his head. “Spoken like a true witch.”

  Vedanleé shrugged without argument and looked back at the hole of dark nothingness.

  It was true that Thurston had opened her eyes to the scientific and technological wonders of the world outside the Kota village. Her life had very much changed, and she’d adjusted to all her new knowledge. She knew their scientific terms for things – space dimension, DuoPorts, portals. Apparently the space dimension was what her people had always considered the realm of the void. The DuoPorts were two ancient, permanently open portals into the space dimension, and they held fiery lights like a giant flame.

  Everything Vedanleé had learned was quite amazing. But, even Carlos had to admit that there were elements to the space dimension that couldn’t be explained by science. There was something more to it. Something deeper. Something that called to her as a part of the magic she’d known while a quaint villager in the north.

  Carlos sighed. “Besides, you know he won’t let you. It’s too risky.”

  Vedanleé tried to hide her frustration.

  Thurston isn’t particularly concerned about my safety, she thought. That’s not why he thinks using the portal is too risky. He couldn’t care less what happens to me. Not anymore.

  She tried not to think on this. She’d always known the point of their arrangement was to produce a Dominion heir. When she’d borne twins, Thurston had seemed especially pleased with her. But that was the end of any affection between them. She’d performed her main duty. Ever since, Thurston had had her working to control the power of the void.

  But he doesn’t trust me, she thought. Maybe he knows why I want to cross the void so badly…

  Vedanleé sighed. “So who’s it going to be?” She already suspected the answer.

  Carlos tried to downplay his excitement. “Me.”

  “When?”

  “In about twenty minutes. I have a few things to go over with the techs.” Carlos frowned and pretended to be focused on his clipboard. He lowered his voice. “Thurston wants to talk to you beforehand. Why don’t you go to our office and send him a transmission while I get things ready here?”

  She didn’t like his frown. “Carlos, did he say something to you?”

  Carlos kept his voice low and acted like they were talking about whatever was on his clipboard. “No. He’s just been… I don’t know.” He blushed suddenly and said in a rush, “He accused us of sleeping together last time we spoke.”

  Vedanleé’s eyes widened at this. “What? How could he think…” She looked at the dark portal to avoid looking at him. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to talk some sense into him.”

  Carlos glanced at her briefly, but then he nodded and turned to give orders to the techs.

  Confused into silence, Vedanleé headed out of the lab. She had to speak with Thurston. She’d always managed to calm him down before, but he’d been increasingly paranoid lately.

  Entering the windowless office, she walked to her desk across from Carlos’s far messier station. She sat, palm-scanned the desktop to activate the controls, and tapped in Thurston’s number at the Capitol House on the Northern Continent. A screen rose from the desktop, and she smoothed back her tied, long, blond locks as she waited for him to answer.

  Thurston’s attractive but tense face appeared onscreen. “Veda. Nice to hear from you.”

  As if you didn’t order me to call, she thought.

  She smiled. “Hello. How are the boys?”

  He held up a finger as if remembering something, and then he called off-screen. “Come say hello to your mother, Cruelthor.”

  Vedanleé tried not to grimace at the nickname he’d given their eldest son. As Kota tradition dictated, the boys had been named to reflect her own name. But Thurston had been bitter about this, which was understandable considering Dominion tyrants’ names were erased from memory so as to solidify the rule of their heirs once they came to power.

  Most things about you should be erased from memory once our sons rule, thought Vedanleé.

  She forgot about this and smiled when an eight-year-old boy came onscreen. “Hi, Vidar! You’re getting so big!”

  “Hi, mom,” said the boy with a wave. “When are you coming home?”

  “Soon, I hope.” She looked at Thurston. “Where’s Vale?”

  “Sleeping. It’s quite late here.”

  She frowned, suspecting favoritism towards his eldest was more likely the reason Thurston had chosen Vidar.

  Thurston tapped the boy’s shoulder and motioned for him to leave. “I thought you might like to see at least one of them. You know, in case you need a reminder of what you’ve left back home.” His meaning was perfectly clear as his face went cold.

  She thought fast. “I’d like to come back and see all of you soon. I miss them. And you.” She tried to mean this.

  Thurston’s eye twitched. He didn’t look well. “Yes, I think you’ll be coming home very soon. I’m not sure these experiments of yours are safe. Speaking of which, you should probably get back to the lab. Carlos might need you.” With that, he flicked off the transmitter without even saying goodbye.

  Vedanleé had a bad feeling. Rising from her chair, she shut down the desktop and hurried for the door. Again, her designer heels clacked down the hall as she hurried back to the lab.

  What is wrong with him? she thought. He ignores me for months, insists that the boys stay with him, and now he’s jealous? He’s losing it. Would he…do something?

  Entering the lab, she walked around the computer station to see Carlos standing in an airtight suit in front of the dark portal. The techs stood at their assigned stations, ready to examine whatever data Carlos’s suit sent back once he entered.

  The dark power of the void pulled on Vedanleé, but she stopped in the middle of the room lest she be tempted to run past Carlos and enter herself. She couldn’t disobey Thurston’s orders. Not now.

  Carlos looked back at her. Through his suit’s visor, his eyes met hers with a look of excitement. “I can feel the freeze through my suit. Hope you can control this thing.”

  She smiled at him. “I’ll be right here.”

  He faced the hole of darkness before him. “Okay, everyone. Stay sharp.”

  Vedanleé shuffled and bit her lip. Everyone in the lab waited.

  Then, Carlos took a step forward into the dark portal. Then another step. It was harder to see him now as the darkness clouded around him. He took another step and disappeared into the black entirely.

  His voice projected over the lab’s speaker system. “It’s like I’m floating. There’s no ground. I’m not sure I’m even in…dimensions. What kind of readings-”

  A loud grinding noise of metal on metal made Vedanleé jump back. She looked over and saw a tech had done something to the generators controlling the metal ring, and the intensified power seemed more than the ring could control. Sparks flew from the electron pulse devices around the ring. Then the sensors malfunctioned and blinked offline. She turned to ask what was happening but saw two more techs switching off the ring’s recorders.

  “Hey, what are you doing?”

  “Ahhh!” Carlos screamed inside the portal.

  Vedanleé looked at the void and squinted to see him through the darkness. Carlos was trying to run back through the void to enter the lab. However, jolts of electricity from the ring now flashed across the portal’s gigantic opening.

  Oh, no, she thought. He’s going to be killed
if he tries coming out through that!

  “It’s tearing me apart!” Carlos screamed over the speakers.

  Vedanleé felt the truth of this. The power of the void reached her in a blast of cold. The void was furiously reacting to the disruption caused by the metallic ring. It wanted to close. It was going to close. And Carlos was trapped inside.

  He’s in nothingness, she thought. The DuoPorts might look into some sort of light dimension, but my portals are pure void. If he’s trapped in there…

  She reached out her hand and tried to control the void. “Numisti! Numisti harada avinos!”

  A blood-curdling scream rang out over the speakers.

  Vedanleé lost control, and the power of the void hit her like a wave of pressure. She fell to the floor. The void spiralled and sucked in electric jolts from the ring. Then the whole portal collapsed on itself and disappeared. The ring continued to spark, but now only the wall remained behind the open circle.

  “Carlos!” Vedanleé scrambled off the floor.

  Hands grabbed her by the arms, and she was dragged back. She looked at the men holding her and saw two techs.

  “You have to let me go! I might be able to help him!”

  Another tech walked up to her. He looked afraid of everything that had just happened, but he also looked in charge of this rebellion. “We’re just following orders, ma’am.”

  “Orders?” She froze.

  He nodded. “From the Lord High Commander, ma’am. He ordered us to...do this.”

  Oh, god, she thought.

  “Take her to the plane.”

  She fought back again. “The plane? Where are you sending me?”

  The tech frowned, then turned to walk away. “Get her to the plane. Thurston expects her back in the Capital by dawn.”

  The men holding her began to pull her away.

  “Wait!” she begged. “Wait!”

  Hours later, she sat in her bedroom at the Capitol House. She’d always hated this room. The ancient décor was leftover from a lavish world long-forgotten.