Blade of the Lucan: A Memory of Anstractor (3 page)

“Y
ou’re still thinking about the Supreme Leader, aren’t you?” Marika asked as she sat up and rubbed her large, black eyes. Marian smiled, admiring the dark spots that formed a funnel on Marika’s salmon-colored skin. It was one of the many unique features of a Casanian, a defining feature that seemed to replace hair—if she were a human. Most of the races in Anstractor considered them to be beautiful, so it didn’t take much convincing for Marian to share her bed with Marika Tsuno.

“Yeah, I think I’m heart-broken, but I’ll get over it. After all, we have too much to do here for me to wallow in self-pity, thinking about him,” Marian said.

“If Val did that to me I would probably kill him,” Marika said in a tone so sincere that Marian felt a little bit concerned.

“You brought it up as a joke on the ship, but some would call us hypocrites. You know that, right?” Marian said, leaning down so Marika could see she was being serious.

“
Thype
them; we’re just friends. When it comes to Vallen, it’s different. I don’t want to know about him and some
cruta
swapping
sholt
,” Marika said, waving her slender, pink hand dismissively.

Marian sat up and stretched, looking around the room like she always did to make sure everything was still in place. She didn’t know why she was so cautious; Marika had spent most of her adult years stalking and killing targets as a member of the Dead Star Coalition, so if anyone was to try anything, she would be several steps ahead of them every time.

She got up to take a misty cleanse, and stared at her friend to see if she wanted to join her.

“You go ahead, Rhee,” Marika said to her. “I’m going outside to test that lake.”

They were staying in an old abandoned house on the outskirts of Veece, a city that was the capital of Apun, Tyhera. Veece was once Marian’s city to police, back when she was known as Rienne Laren, the so-called Baroness of Blood. Those days she was a tool for the Empire, and it seemed like another lifetime to her.

Rafian, her husband, had come into the galaxy as an outsider. He rose in the ranks as a resistance fighter, and then romanced her away from her position. She felt indebted to him for doing it, and she knew that he had not only saved her life, but her soul.

Back then, she thought they would run away together, live humbly in the hills, raise a few children, and then die happily, having found one another. What happened instead was that he regained his memory and figured out that Luca was merely a mission. He was to return home after rallying the resistance, but he was now married to her, so they went back to Anstractor together.

Marian’s mind went through all of this as she stood inside the steamy mist, letting its microscopic magic remove the toxins and impurities from her body. When the lights on the panel turned from green to blue, she turned off the mist, dressed quickly, and then checked for her las-sword, as if she worried that it would disappear. Its black blade, lined with the strange language of the Geralos, was sticking out from under the bed. She snatched it up and slid it into its sheath, and then placed it with her other belongings.

“Jumping” was still a strange concept to her as a native Lucan; the idea of teleporting from one galaxy to the next was the stuff of dreams, but for a Phaser it was reality. She balanced a jump crystal in her palm, examining it to see if she could decipher its mystic properties. It was a futile exercise at best. She pocketed it quickly and then ran outside to see if she could find Marika.

We must take care not to leave anything here that belongs to Anstractor
, she thought.
If the Felitians were to get our crystals and figure out how to use them … Maker help us
.

Marian was dressed in the peculiar style of the Tyherans in order to blend in, but the floor-length dress and the silken cape got in the way of mobility so it was hard to get used to. She had wrapped her black hair up into a conical top-knot, and the entire disguise felt uncomfortable and impractical. She floated out of the building on soft-soled shoes, and every step made her feel as if she wanted to fall.

Makk had put her in contact with Blu the Deijin, one of Rafian’s old resistance buddies, and one of the last men holding out against Palus Felitious on Tyhera. She was excited to meet him, but nervous at the same time. He had sent them down from the space station with five coins. Each coin was slipped into the palm of the guards doing the checks, and five guards later they were on Tyhera, running up into the mountains towards this house that Makk used as a vacation home.

“Don’t you look the part of the alien queen,” Marika teased as she splashed around inside the lake that sat next to the house. The water was not clear, nor was it a slight green reflective makeup like the lakes of Anstractor; it was a milky brown soup that made Marian turn up her nose.

“That’s disgusting, Marika. Are you sure it’s safe to swim in there? Tyhera has plenty of deadly amphibious predators that love pools like that. You wouldn’t see it coming and—”

“It’s safe; I did all the checks,” Marika interrupted, splashing water up at her for effect. “You act as if I’m some sort of idiot sometimes, Marian. I’m a big girl, you know; been a big girl for quite a number of years now. It’s sweet that you care, but come on.”

Marian looked down past the dry cobblestones that she stood on, and scanned the grass, trees, and rocks that bordered the pool. “It’s freezing out here. How’s the water?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s freezing in here, too, but it’s good for the nerves, good for training. I want to get used to your cold planet. This way, when you need me to kill someone, I’ll be more than ready.”

“Is that a strategy that you and Raf cooked up, or is this more of you
thyping
with me?” Marian asked.

“Old assassin technique, my dear; Rafian has nothing to do with it. Now run along, and go meet with your overly important xenophobic friends. I’ll be here if you need me. Just remember that I’m half a jump away,” Marika said.

~ * ~

The sky was a brilliant shade of orange, with the only blemishes being the dark clouds that played hide and seek with the setting suns of Tyhera. Marian was in awe of its beauty as she stood outside of the Starport, staring up at the sky. She wondered how it was that she had grown up on this planet and neglected to notice just how beautiful everything was.

She looked over the buildings and their unique designs and massive statues, sculpted by the men and women of her grandfather’s age. There was art in every corner, and beauty seemed to be everywhere.

She stood without moving, trying to absorb it all, and after a few minutes had passed, she hailed a glide transport to take her up into the mountains. It was a little under seven years prior when she had been an important person in the city, and Marian hoped nobody would recognize her.

The Phaser training had made her a stronger, more muscular version of the woman that she was, and she no longer wore the bright red mascara that she did when she was Baroness. She hoped this would be enough to keep her hidden, but just in case, she threw a thin veil across her mouth and sat near the rear of the vessel to avoid the crowd.

“Excuse me, Sha’an.” A Felitian soldier spoke to her, using the formal title for royalty to address her. “May I sit with you?”

She nodded at him and moved her hand to her knee so he could see the wedding band on her forefinger.

“Where would a beautiful lady such as yourself be traveling tonight?” he began, but his eyes betrayed his disappointment when he noticed the ring.

“Off to a meeting with friends, dear,” she replied.

“Wonderful!” he exclaimed, a bit too loudly, and then he tipped his hat and sat back down to watch the scenery as they flew up into the countryside.

There were about ten people on the transport, and the cool air brought the scent of perfume to Marian’s nose. She glanced at the men and women sitting peacefully in their seats.
It’s a bit like paradise when all you have to do is turn a blind eye to the dictator that robs your freedoms and tortures his enemies, eh Tyhera?
she thought as she watched them. 
When I kill Palus Felitious, this lull that you find yourselves in will be over. Pampered rich boys playing at soldier like my admirer here will be running in the streets, crying
.

She sat back smiling and played with her ring, trying in vain to keep the sweet memories of her time with Rafian at bay.

“You are my hatch kitten,” he had said to her when he proposed. She thought on the many kisses he had given her beneath the moon of Talula, and the skirmishes he had run off to, leaving her worried and afraid. It was an exciting and romantic life for the two of them, before he’d gotten his memory back. Oh how she missed it more than anything else.

“You know, Sha’an, you look very familiar to me, and I am thinking that you are someone important,” the soldier said after some time had passed. Marian hadn’t seen him staring at her while she was in deep thought, but he was smitten and couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Oh yeah?” she replied. “What makes you say that?”

“I wish I could put my finger on it, but I know your face. Are you married to one of our lords in Veece? Or, wait – you’re a member of the cabinet, aren’t you?”

Marian didn’t know what to think, but she wanted him to stop looking at her and mind his own business. She caressed the knife strapped across her upper thigh and stared back at him, trying to see if he would figure it out.
Raise an alarm and I will gut you right here
, she thought as she looked on, waiting for him to make the next move.

“Pah! Forget it, I have a terrible memory,” he said, and went back to looking out his window to take his mind off her.

Marian threw a crystal over the side into the high grass as her admirer continued to look out at the rolling hills of the Tyheran landscape. She waited a few more miles before taking another one out, then looked to see if anyone was watching before throwing it on the floor and vanishing into the light that it produced.

She was teleported instantly to the location of the first crystal, which was now too far away from the transport for anyone to see. She wondered what her young admirer would say about her disappearance. It would have looked as if she never existed, and since Luca knew nothing of the Phaser’s abilities, the soldier would probably think that his mind was playing tricks on him.

She proceeded to walk towards the area of the mountain that she was told the meeting with Blu would be held. It was the entrance to a cave, and as she walked into the darkness she suddenly heard a growl. She crouched into a fencer’s stance and drew her knife from the sheath on her leg. A large cat bounded towards her with cruel intent and she brought up the knife instinctively, hoping to ward it off.

“Shah, G’toh!” A rough voice spoke, and the animal stopped and sat down, licking a massive paw.

Marian looked around to find the voice and a large Deijen walked out, dressed in formal resistance garb and brandishing a long, brown rifle.

“She wouldn’t have bitten you, Lady Raf. She just likes to play. Don’t you, Nemesis? You just wanted to play with the pretty lady, right?” he asked the cat, who merely stared up at him with large yellow eyes.

The large cat growled and then licked its chops and Marian—seeing that it was a female—walked up to her and patted her on the top of her head.

“Well met, Blu,” she finally said after spending some time to pet and befriend the large cat.

“Long time, Lady Raf,” the Deijin said as he moved his seven-foot frame to stand in front of the tiny woman. He rested his hand her shoulder and Marian moved in and hugged him affectionately, her head barely reaching his chest.

“Where’s the monk?” Blu asked.

“He is unable to be here,” Marian said, looking up at him to read his eyes.

The Deijen looked disappointed. “I was hoping he was with you. We have been holding on for him for many years now. This resistance that he helped to become great has suffered some setbacks, and if anybody could get us back on track, it would be Rafian. Where is my old friend, Lady Raf?”

“I can explain later but he isn’t in this galaxy—”

“That makes no sense,” Blu said, cutting her off. He grabbed her shoulders to hold her in front of him, looking into her twinkling pupils for any trace of mischief.

“It’s the truth, Blu. Do you remember how special Rafian was with the things he was able to do in fights?” she said.

“Who could forget? We still talk about him; those of us that were there. We wish he would come back to us to help. We could use his special talents,” Blu said.

“The skills he has are not of this world, Blu,” she said.

“What do you mean, another world?” the large, cobalt, Deijen asked, his brows knitted into a frown as he held her.

“Another world outside of Luca, another system with its own planets … do you understand?” she asked, and the Deijen nodded, despite the reservations reflected in his long, plain face. “Rafian took me away with him the day he disappeared. He is from a world that has the technology to move across galaxies. But he had to return because his people were dying.”

Blu looked at her intently as he tried to process everything she was telling him. “But WE are his people, Marian. We are the ones he bled with, trained with, and fought with. We are brothers. I watched him grow from a grunt all the way up to being our leader. You mean to tell me that this entire time, Rafian, our Rafian, was an off-worlder?”