Circumstellar (15 page)

“Because, Ingrid
Fairheit,” she began, looking at me through that intense pink, “it’s what your father would have wanted.”

“H
ow do you know what my father would have wanted?”

“Because I used to serve him.
I was one of his protectors.”

I gave the woman a skeptical look. My father died a little over fifteen years ago. She couldn’t be more than a few year old than me
at most
. So unless my old man was into using babies as shields, there was no way she could have known him. Then again, what did I know? If nothing else proved consistent in my life, it was that I was constantly in the dark about everything. Far be it for me to call her a liar.

“But why give this to me now?”  I hesitated. “Aren’t you people trying to collect them and destroy the world?”

The girl shifted between her feet for a few moments, a thoughtful look on her face. Her lips moved, though no words loud enough to hear came out. And here I thought I was the only one that talked to myself. After concluding her personal debate, she looked around and waved at Loxley and me.

“Come with me,” she said.

“Why should we trust you?” Loxley countered, glaring at the stranger. “How do we know this isn’t some kind of – ”

“Ambush?” the girl supplied. “There was ample opportunity for that a few minutes ago. If I didn’t do it then, what makes you think I’m going to do it now?”

Loxley remained quiet, mistrust still evident in her posture. I didn’t really know if this was a trap, but somehow, I didn’t get that impression from this woman. What she said was true; if she’d wanted to jump us with her chain gang, it would have been all too easy.

“Believe it or not, I’m not exactly in the position to come up with such a force,” she continued. “I have a site not far from here I’m using while staying in this world. What I have to tell you is a long story, and I, for one, would like to rest in more comfortable settings while telling it.”

I watched her move through the foliage out of sight. Looking back at Loxley, I saw she still wasn’t convinced of the Ankida’s motives. I glanced around the dark forest. Well, looks like a potential trap beats standing around in the wilderness. Shrugging my shoulders, I glanced back at Loxley before walking after the girl. Sitting down sounded good right about now. The sound of leaves crunching behind me indicated that Loxley might have thought so as well. Or perhaps she was just trying to ensure I didn’t get myself killed. Either way worked for me.

We followed after the red-head for about twenty minutes. I was about to ask her to clarify her definition of “not far” when we reached a small, secluded campsite. I remembered Loxley telling me we were close to some campgrounds. I wondered how this woman had found the site and claimed it for her own – hopefully by nonviolent methods. A few logs and abandoned camping gear lay spread out around a tiny fire pit. It was there I found the most telltale sign of a foreign visitor. Instead of bright orange, the flame was dusky pink, flitting with red tips. The light it gave off was dim and much easier on my eyes than a traditional flame. I eyed the fire warily before taking a seat on one of the logs. Loxley joined me, and the woman sat on one a few feet away, stretching out her legs.

“That’s so much better.”

Ignoring her comment, I couldn’t help but ask, “How did you make the pink fire?”

She didn’t move her head, but her eyes turned towards me, looking at me from the corner of her vision. A mischievous smile lit her features and her cheeks dimpled. “You don’t know much about us, do you?”

“Sorry about that,” I scoffed. “My dad kicked it when I was a baby, and everyone else took a secret oath to never talk about it. It’s amazing I’ve found out as much as I have.”

“That’s not what he would have wanted,” she replied.

“Yeah, well, that’s what happens when you die. You don’t exactly get a say in what happens to the people you abandoned.” Bitterness filled me. Who gave him permission to go off and get himself killed l
ike that, leaving me and mom to deal with the pain and shame of having a cursed child. If he’d been alive, he could have protected us. He could have protected her.

“My
Lugal
died to save you and your mother,” she shot at me in anger. “You aren’t doing a good job of showing respect for that.”

“And you didn’t do a good job protecting him, did you?” I fired back. The moment I glared at her, I was instantly filled with regret. Her features twisted in shock and sadness, and she lowered her gaze to the ground.

“I’m aware of that,” she whispered mournfully.

“I’m sorry,” I said, genuinely meaning it this time. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry, um . . .”

“Emba,” she said, looking up. “My name is Emba.”

“I’m sorry,
Emba.” I repeated, getting a feel for the strange new name. “It wasn’t your fault he died. I already know it was mine.”

“No,” she disagreed. “It was
hers
.”

“Her?”

“A woman of great power and equally great scorn –
Lady Aureliel
,” Emba growled out the name like it was a nasty curse.

“A Lady?”
I heard Loxley mutter to herself. The words stirred something in me, and I couldn’t help but feel this wasn’t the first time I’d heard about this
Lady
. The unpleasant memories of my attackers flitted to me, and I struggled to recall what they talked about. Didn’t they mention something about some woman? And then, there was also that
stuff
in the attic. I grimaced at the recollection, but pushed through my aunt’s words.
What was it again . . . Father and the Lady?

“She has something to do with my father,” I said out loud.
“Like she was angry with him or something.”

“Angry isn’t exactly the word I would have used,”
Emba said, “but that is what happened. Now she seeks to obtain all of the keystones and open the Gate to the Human World. She wants to kill the humans and reclaim this land for her own.”

“How many keystones does she have?” Loxley asked, the seriousness of the situation setting in. Loxley may not have been entirely comfortable huddled around a campfire with an
Ankida, but this was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up to obtain vital information.

“Two. Or she did have two.”
Emba grinned, a mischievous air lighting her expression. “Before I managed to sneak in and steal this one. After having her
Anbar
use it to retrieve the Orion Key, she became careless. She still has the Orion Keystone, and before I left I heard rumors she’s managed to get her hands on – ”

“
Lesia,” I interrupted. How could I have gotten so complacent? While we were here telling ghost stories, Lesia was still being held captive by those goons. We were wasting valuable time. Lesia’s time. “Give me the stone,” I commanded. This was an urgent situation, and I didn’t have time for this. “I need to go to the Ankida World and save Lesia.”

Emba
looked at me, her face a mask. “No.”

“Wrong answer,” I glowered, shooting to my feet. “You said it was mine. Give it to me.”

“And then what? You burst into Aureliel’s throne room and get taken down by her guards?” Emba tossed at me. “No, you’re far too valuable for me to let you throw your life away.”

I glared at her, looking for any type of weak spot or opening. Nobody was perfectly on guard all the time. There had to be some kind of – oh, who was I kidding? I wouldn’t be able to see an opening if it came up and knocked my teeth out. Why couldn’t
Meissa have found me a couple of years ago?

“Fine,” I ground out. “Then I’ll just go and find another keystone.” I turned and made my way to the edge of the campsite. Back to the darkness and wilderness . . . and bugs.

“It’s pointless,” I heard Emba call from behind me. “You only have a connection to the Therion Stone. Finding the others will be almost impossible. She knows it’s true.” Emba indicated over to Loxley, who could only nod in solemn agreement.

“Well, it’s better than just sitting around here doing nothing!” I argued. “I’m going to rescue
Lesia, and I’ll do it with or without your help!”

“I accept.”

“What did you say?” I rounded on her, my anger, like always, slowing down my brain.

“I’ll help you,” she replied.

“Well . . . well, good,” I stammered, crashing from my roid rage. “Good. Okay then.”

“But not right now.”

“
What?
”

Emba
looked at me with a serious expression. “It’s exactly what Aureliel is expecting. She’ll have her guards on full alert, especially since she knows I’ve taken the Therion Stone. All I’m asking is that we wait a few hours for things to calm down before we make our move.”

I opened my mouth, but Loxley cut me off. “She’s right,” she agreed, reluctance in her voice. “It will also give us a chance to rest up and regain our energy.”

It was a peculiar thing, having logic thrown at you. I wanted to argue so bad I could feel the words bouncing around my tongue. Unfortunately, it was two against one. Two smart, strategic, veteran fighters against one novice.

“Okay,” I resigned. “We’ll wait a few hours, but
only
a few. After that, I’m busting heads and taking the keystone.”

“No one could tell him what to do, either.”
Emba sighed, a nostalgic look on her face.

“Huh?”

“Oh, nothing.” She smiled at me. “Just reminiscing about the past.”

I
f real camping was anywhere as tense as this atmosphere, I never wanted to go. Emba sat in silence, her eyes glued to the strange fire, but her mind lost in a sea of personal revere. Loxley was equally quiet, concentrating on sharpening her arrow tips. She tried to appear relaxed, but I could tell from the stiffness of her movements that being here was making her uneasy. She had been trained to kill Ankida, after all.

Then there was me. It’s not like I was acting like this was a vacation or anything, but I was definitely the most unconcerned person in the immediate area – a real twist considering I was the one determined to shortly embark on a suicide mission to save my friend. Perhaps it was my previous detachment to this hidden world that made me so accepting of this bizarre arrangement, or perhaps I was the most blindingly trustful person around.
Either way, it provided me with a means to reach Lesia, and that was all that matter to me right now. My thoughts were cut off when, in a sudden jerk of movement, Loxley stood up and slung her quiver over her shoulder.

“I’m going to patrol the area,” she announced. “I don’t want any more unexpected
guests
.”

I nodded and watched as she slipped into the brush. Hopefully, securing the perimeter would take some of the edge off.
Or something. That’s what I hoped, anyway. I had no clue what fighters do to calm their nerves.

“How surprising,” I heard
Emba comment.

I turned my head and raised my eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“When I came to this world, I already knew about you. To find another part
Ki
child was unexpected,” Emba replied, glancing at where Loxley had disappeared. “Maybe our great ancestors’ will lives even now.”

With a curious stare, I looked at her.
Our great ancestors, huh? Not according to what I knew.

“
Meissa told me,” I started, “that nobody knows where the Ankida came from. She said they just showed up a couple of thousand years ago and started attacking humans for a city.”

“Is that so? Well, it doesn’t surprise me that
their kind
only knows half of the story,” she snorted in distain. “Our great ancestors came to this Earth much longer ago than that.”

“Wait,” I stopped her. “They
came
?”

“Yes. Our great ancestors, the great
Anunnaki
, came to this Earth,” she explained, looking up at the night sky, “from the stars.”

“You’re
shitting me.” The look Emba gave me indicated that particular phrase didn’t exist in her peculiar accented vocabulary. “There’s no way.
Aliens
? I mean, I was totally expecting some kind of mutation or evolution, or hell, maybe, and this is a strong maybe, some kind of magic thing. But come on! Extraterrestrials?”

“
Extrarelials?”

“Extraterrestrials!
People from space! You’re telling me we come from space!” Was I really the only one that saw something wrong with this picture? Did these Ankida people really think their ancestors were aliens?

“Is that really so hard to believe?”
Emba asked in a tone that made me pause. Why did I get the feeling I had been through this before? Someone telling me something so absurd it was too wonderful for me to believe. “Your eyes pierce through the dark, Ingrid.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked, becoming exhausted of this game. Didn’t anyone realize it was kinder to leave me in reality – where there was no room for silly hopes, and dreams are always
dashed. “What does seeing in the dark have to do with anything?”

“Tell me, Ingrid, what could be darker than the outer sky?” I stared at her, stunned for a moment. “Your eyes are the stars that light up the spaces the sun cannot reach.”

It didn’t make sense. Well, it kind of made sense, but just a little. About as much as a tale of warriors connected to a meteorite, I suppose. A smile crept onto my lips, and I sighed dramatically. “Between Meissa’s cosmic warriors and your stellar granddaddies, I may start going to sci-fi conventions.”

Emba
frowned at me. “What does this
sci-fi
mean?”

“It means that everything revolves around the stars.” I grinned.
“Everything in my world.”

“That is the
Ankida way. You seem to have come to some sort of revelation.”

“More like resignation, but it’s fine for now. I’ve found it’s pointless to argue with you believ
ers. Anyway, what happened next?” I asked, thinking back to the previous topic. I was surprised to find myself really interested in the Anunnaki. “The Anunnaki came to Earth.”

Emba
shifted into a more comfortable position and returned to her story. “Our great ancestors soon discovered they could no longer return to the stars, so they searched for life and discovered a human civilization. The humans were in awe. Never before had they seen such magnificent beings. For many years, Anunnaki and Human lived harmoniously, sharing knowledge and even producing offspring – a union of sky and earth they called
Ankida
.”

“But that means,” I jumped in, this new information sinking in, “that the
Ankida are descended from humans as well.”

“It is ironic,”
Emba replied, “but true. We are the children of two worlds. Eventually, the land where our ancestors lived was invaded by another tribe of humans. Life on Earth had made the
Anunnaki
weaken considerably, and their brittle bodies could not withstand the attack. They tried to beg the invaders to spare their children, but it was in vain. While the Ankida had eyes and forms more human-like than their parents, the foreigners still considered them demons cursing the land. The children fled and searched desperately for a new home. Cast out from place to place, they eventually became nomads, wandering in the Earth’s shadows for thousands and thousands of years. With time, they came to resent humans and the societies they build – something they could only yearn for.”

I gazed at the dirt below me, shadows flicking upon it in the pink light. I didn’t say anything. After all, what was there to say? Among the things I expected to feel for the
Ankida, sympathy wasn’t one of them. Was this really the way this whole war had started in the first place? Fear, rejection, resentment, and jealousy: was that really what people were made of? It had nearly torn the world apart once, and now, it was threatening to happen once more. Starting with us. With Lesia.

Snap!
I whipped my head to the side, startled by the sudden noise. When Loxley emerged from the tree line, I very nearly went over and hugged her, glad to see she had made it back safe, and secretly, glad for the distraction from my thoughts.

“You picked a pretty good spot. This site is a fair distance away from the rest,” Loxley said, looking at
Emba with intense focus.

“Yes, I thought it would be best to keep as far away from humans as possible,”
Emba said, her face innocent but her voice tinged with mirth.

“It’s definitely far enough to avoid detection,” Loxley replied, “and to keep others isolated from help.”

“I never thought of it that way,” Emba responded, laughing.

“And that’s how you should keep it,” I jumped in, taking advantage of the situation to change gears. “Loxley, we’re E.T.’s, but that’s not important right now,” I swiftly added at her stare. “We’ve sat here long enough. I’m ready to go get
Lesia.”

Emba
shook her head. “I don’t think that’s – ”

“I agree,” Loxley backed me up, shaking off my previous comment and getting to business. “We need to go before they’ve had time to organize a plan and get the location of the Gate. I’ll take the keystone by force if I have to.” I nodded in agreement.

Emba looked between the two of us. I watched her lips twitch as though she was muttering to herself again. After a few moments, she threw her arms up in defeat.

“It’s seems I don’t have much of a choice.” She smiled wistfully. She brought her hand to the front of her cloak, and with a sharp fling of her arm, tore the material right off. I gawked like a seagull at the sight that greeted me. A dazzling display of black and red armor shone back at me. Red metal forged in the shape of flames created a breast plate, shoulder pads, and
tasset. Underneath the metal, Emba wore some type of shiny black material that created a sort of body suit that ended in a short skirt. On her arms, she sported armlets of the same flame shaped metal that extended from her wrists to her elbows. Completing the outfit were her matching leg guards and boots that spanned the distance from her feet to the edge of the skirt. The light from the nearby fire danced across the dark metal, breathing life into the solid flames and making them burn.

“
Woah.”

“Are you ready to go?”
Emba asked, bringing the Therion Stone over to where Loxley and I stood. “This isn’t going to be some easy retrieval. You may have to fight for your lives.”

I looked at Loxley, and she gave me a firm nod. “There’s no way I’m backing down now.
Lesia needs me.”

“I knew you wouldn’t scare easily,”
Emba said. “Grab onto my arms tightly.” Loxley and I moved forwards, each grabbing one of Emba’s arms as she clutched the stone. “Whatever happens, don’t let go, or you might get thrown off somewhere.”

“Thrown off?” I whispered to myself.

“To
Kigal
!” Emba yelled out.

Never in my lift had I thought I would get to experience what it’s like inside a vacuum cleaner bag. A swirl of dust hit me in the face, and it was all I could do to keep my hands glued to
Emba’s arm. By the time I tried to hold my breath in a futile effort to protect my lungs from clogging, my feet hit something hard and I crashed to the floor. I let out a hacking cough, waving my arms to clear the dust cloud. The sound of someone else struggling to breathe caught my ears.
I guess that means I didn’t get thrown off.
Once some of the material settled, I looked down and discovered I was no longer on the now familiar dirt of the forest. Below me lay a smooth, stone walkway illuminated by a distant light.

“Where are we
Emba?” I managed to croak out around my coughing.

“We’ve made it to
Kigal
,” she replied smugly. “Right in
her
tower.”