“As compared to…?”

  “Taking the power for yourself, letting it overcome you, and trying to take over the universe.”

  “Shit.” I coughed, not liking the way the air had transitioned to a smell like burning metal. It was a familiar scent, one I’d smelled very recently. But where?

  When she sniffed, crouched, and turned to me with wide eyes, I realized the smell meant more than simply an irritation of the nostrils.

  “What is it?”

  “More… darkness, but—shit, down!”

  She threw herself to the ground. I followed a moment later as darkness shot out overhead. It took form, and out stepped Maji.

  “We’re in my realm, now,” Maji said, laughing.

  A roar erupted out of Hinru and she pushed out with a purple blast that caused the darkness to fold in on itself and Maji, taking him with it. The man was gone, Hinru shouting for me to stay close as she ran for the edge of the lava field. Each step threatened to upend me, but I did my best, glad for the inherent power in my Citadel armor, and even more so for the recent upgrades. My training at the temple certainly helped as well, as I recalled sessions where we’d had to go leaping along wet logs and stones.

  The darkness returned, but only as a blotch in the sky, moving along with us, and Maji’s face jutted out, hand reaching. When Hinru pushed back, though, he pulled his hand away as if she’d burned him, before vanishing again.

  And again he returned, this time behind us, sending a series of dark shots at my back. I sensed them through him before they hit, though, and let the slippery stone take me. My landing hurt but I was safe. Hinru spun in a wave of gold clothes, purple taking on a hint of gold light as it met Maji this time.

  She gripped the air, and he started to choke.

  “You can’t run from us all,” Maji said, casting aside her grip. The strain in his eyes and the bulging vein in his forehead told me he was struggling not to be pushed away again. “As much as you’ve tried to fight what I am, the power I hold—”

  “Fuck,” I muttered, realization washing over me. “It was you…?”

  They both turned to me, Maji’s eyes narrowing.

  “What was him?” Hinru asked between clenched teeth.

  “That attack on you, your mother… by your own brother.” I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”

  “No…” She turned to him with eyes full of sorrow. “Even then?”

  “Little sis, you didn’t know?” Maji laughed, actually laughed! He vanished, only to appear above us, still laughing, then to our left as over and over Hinru pushed him away and he returned. Finally, he thrust out and shouted, bursting out of the darkness and appearing at her side, hand gripping her throat. “Of course it was me! They said you were so fucking special. Well, look at you now! How special are you?”

  “She has friends now, at least,” I said, sensing a crippling sorrow coming from Hinru. At the same moment, I shot, but the darkness that appeared to absorb my shot wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was the way Maji grinned and motioned to the sky.

  “So do I,” he said, and ships appeared far above, some sending in pursuing fighters while other supers materialized.

  “Damn you,” Hinru said, snapping out of her stupor.

  My eyes scoured the area for any sign of my team even as the horrible realization hit that they had failed to find us before the enemy. An emotional push came from Hinru and I turned in time to see a subtle nod. Go time. I pushed out at Maji with my emotional power, doing everything I could to cripple him, while Hinru broke his grip and thrust forward with both arms. The gold cloak formed blades that cut through him, covered in blood as they emerged from his back.

  For a moment, I thought we had him. But he smiled, laughed, and said, “We’ll see, little sis… we’ll see,” before vanishing in a swirl of darkness.

  “On me,” Hinru said and reached for my hand. I took it. The two of us leaped across the rocks as incoming ships and supers converged on our location, shots already hitting nearby. We hadn’t gone more than fifty feet when I realized we were charging right into a ravine.

  “I hope you have a plan,” I shouted, but didn’t stop as long as she didn’t.

  “Not get killed, for one,” she replied, picking up speed. “And… JUMP!”

  We did. As we went over the side, my life flashing before my eyes, a force seemed to grab us, pulling us down and to the side, and we went rolling into an opening in the rocks halfway down.

  I rolled across the rocks, slammed my shoulder into one, and lay there panting, knowing the enemy would come through the cave opening at any minute. Instead, a hand grabbed me, dragged me aside, and the supers and fighters went past the opening as if it weren’t there at all.

  “Speak, friend, or die,” a croaky voice commanded.

  “What… who?” I muttered, trying to push myself up, only to be hit across the face before I could see the figure. Everything went dark, and then I was out.

  111

  My eyes opened to see another one of those symbols we had seen carved into the stone before. The square with overlapping lines on a backdrop of thick granite, black and white swirling patterns formed naturally in the rock. I took the carving to be the sign of the Hermites, which meant we were either in the cult area or nearby.

  I sat up with a start, realizing what must have happened. As far as I knew, we had taken sanctuary in a cave that belonged to the cult, and now they had taken us prisoner. Maybe?

  Except that, glancing around, there was no sign of them. There was no sign of anybody, even Hinru. My mind tried to process this, a splitting headache slowly receding, and finally I picked up something—emotions, agitation and worry, not far off.

  Careful not to alert them to my presence, I slinked along the cave. The darkness made it clear that I was farther in than we had been when we first entered, but a dim light shone on the upper rocks from ahead. A purple light, I realized, and then saw Hinru. She was talking heatedly, though in whispers, with a man who I couldn’t see since he had his back to me.

  “Next time, check with me first,” she said.

  “For the third fucking time, I had no way of knowing he was with you,” the man countered. “Fuck, I thought he was one of the Hermites and had captured you. At least, until I saw his face and realized what had happened. I was just looking out, but I’ll be more careful next time.”

  “Looking out like a fucktwad. Next time you hit one of my friends, I hit you. Got it? And you won’t like me hitting you, I promise that.”

  The man hesitated, his aura telling me that he was intimidated by her. Maybe someone who had worked with her in her capacity as one of the four Reapers, I guessed.

  She sighed, a hand on his arm. “Listen, I get it, and appreciate you coming for me. Trust me when I say, though, that the plan is in action.”

  “You vanished so fast, I had to be sure you were really coming here. And when you didn’t show at first…”

  “He’s vital to the operation. Let’s hope you didn’t fuck it up.” At that, her eyes darted past him toward me, but at the same time, he pulled her aside as a beam of light from the other side shone out.

  I cursed under my breath, moving to the side to ensure whoever held that light wouldn’t spot me. Three Hermite soldiers, I assumed, based on the wavy-line tattoos on their arms and necks, moved toward us, calling out for us to show ourselves.

  They were moving my way, when a noise drew their attention and Hinru stood in the darkness.

  “You don’t belong,” one of the men said.

  “I’m here for sanctuary,” Hinru declared, standing tall. “You know me as Avanguerre, but maybe once knew me as Hinru of Accordan. Sanctuary, for me and my servant.”

  A long pause followed, then hissing back and forth between the Hermite soldiers as they whispered to each other. Finally, the taller of the two grunted and motioned with his sword for them to follow.

  As she was led away, Hinru glanced my way and held up a hand for me to stay back. Subtle, quick, so that her captors didn’t notice. For some reason, she didn’t want me following, yet. It wasn’t until the man with her stood to follow them and glanced back that I realized who it was. No follower of hers that I knew of, but Midnight! The man from the bar at the Citadel. If my memory served me correctly, he worked with Arthur, so what was this about? I wanted to charge over and demand answers, but opted for the more prudent route of waiting and getting to them when I could without giving myself up completely.

  The soldiers disappeared, their light bouncing on the cave walls for a little before fading away entirely. I went into action mode. Stealing through the darkness, it was like I was back in the temple, all of my training kicking in as I kept quiet, out of sight.

  I followed them down, over a stone bridge that crossed an underground river. Apparently, the water under the frozen lakes above was moving, or maybe this was some other source? When they paused to shout at Hinru, I wondered why she wasn’t attacking. Surely she could take these assholes, and Midnight was high up in the super tiers. The only explanation that could possibly make sense was that they were following Hadrian’s orders, which meant I shouldn’t intervene unless there was trouble. She had indicated for me to hang back, after all.

  Since we were stalled, I took the opportunity to check out my stats and skills. It had been a while, and honestly, I hadn’t been paying nearly enough attention to it. My stats were upgraded, but I took a moment to apply more boosts to performed skills, including one that would allow me to attack on the mental level more than I had ever before. Not much explanation, but I was sure it would come into play before too long.

  Feeling this could be of some use, I swiped away the screen and saw that the others were moving again. We moved lower and lower, until we were in a large cavern. Stone stairs led around the walls on the sides I could make out and dim lights came from an underground lake. A massive temple rose from the lake’s center, carved out of stone, it seemed, and had statues of terrifying creatures on either side. The statues rose to about ten times the size of me, I guessed from this distance.

  The three soldiers didn’t head for the temple, though. Instead, they approached a series of stone-cut buildings to the left, where a glowing ball highlighted three rows of people bowing in prayer.

  All of that was out of the norm for anywhere in Oram or its neighboring systems—to my knowledge, anyway—but it was what I saw next that threw me for a loop. A handful of monks stood on an upper deck, observing. While hard to make out the details in the dim light, I had no doubt they were like me—from the Temple of Domrem.

  What they were doing there, I couldn’t begin to fathom. I stared, dumbfounded, hiding in the entryway through which I had come, heart thudding. So much so, that I was almost too late in realizing that another thudding had started behind me, coming my way through the tunnel. Drums and chanting. It was only the mass of overwhelming emotional joy that gave me warning, piquing my ears, and allowed me the opportunity to dart to the side and find a room of supplies to hide in. I took a vantage point behind several barrels and watched the worshippers move with tall banners, their drums and glowing fists giving the procession a very surreal feel.

  “Halt!” one of the monks above shouted, and the effect was instant. No sound other than the echoing of the last drum, no movement. “What do we have here?”

  “Avanguerre, of the Gold Reapers,” one of the soldiers said, bowing. “She requested sanctuary.”

  “Is that so?”

  At a wave of the monk’s hand, Hinru stepped forward, even bowed slightly. “I have news, and an offer.”

  “Go on.”

  “Master Shen is dead. He will not be able to help you open the gateway.”

  Silence, accompanied by growing tension, doubt, and fear.

  “How do you know…” The monk cleared his throat, clearly trying to regain composure. “Master Shen is inbound. We’ve been told, but how you are privy to such inform—”

  “We intercepted communications and led you to believe he is, because there’s another way.” Hinru stepped forward, and the soldiers with her did nothing to stop her advancement. “We have someone who can open the gate, we believe.”

  The monks took a moment to confer, then turned back to her. The main one spoke again. His voice seemed familiar to me. “This man at your side?”

  “Not him. Another—a former monk from your temple, and the man who defeated Master Shen.”

  I frowned, not liking the anxiety building up in my chest or the fact that she knew so much about me and my past. At the moment, it seemed like she was going to feed me to the sharks. What was I going to do, fight my way out of there?

  “I fail to understand your motive here, Avanguerre,” the monk said. “Explain.”

  “Hinru, if you please,” she replied, and gasps filled the room. Apparently, they were familiar with this name as well, and it carried more weight for them than the other. I discovered why, when she continued speaking. “My relatives were on the losing side of a war, once upon a time, and landed on this planet in retreat, forming the Hermitic Order. The rest, you know. I am here not to say they were right or that I believe in what you are doing, but that I’ve come to understand it is not bullshit, and that there is an incredible power on the other side of that gate. I don’t ask that you stop what you’re doing, but that you approach your objective with caution and consideration.”

  “Is that… so.”

  The monk was clearly impressed, as was I. This woman who had been a leader of the Gold Reapers all those years was a descendant of a founder of the Cult of Hermite! I’d gotten into it this time. Well, not ‘into it,’ but… into an interesting situation.

  “There was a hiccup in my plans,” she continued, “and I was discovered. As we speak, the majority of the Gold Reapers and any other hunters they can afford to pay are on their way here, to try and take me out. Let them have me, that’s easy. Sure. But then… you don’t have your man.”

  She was using me. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

  “What you’re offering is a trade,” the monk said. “We protect you, and in return you bring us the one who defeated Master Shen, the one who will open the gate?”

  “I will.”

  112

  In life, as in death, I planned on being my own master. Someone else bartering with me as leverage… not on my watch.

  “I have yet to hear what’s in this for me,” I said, stepping out of hiding.

  The monk from above vanished, a split-second later appearing in front of me with hand on my throat, but not squeezing. My hands were ready to draw my pistol or arc baton, but a nice thing about being an empath is being able to tell if someone means trouble.

  As soon as the monk clearly saw my face, his emotions told me I didn’t need weapons.

  “Student Faldron,” he said, releasing his grip.

  “Master Richter.”

  “I don’t underst…” He turned back to Hinru. “This man is the one? I’m sorry, but… no. He was a student at the temple but couldn’t hack it. Left after only the early stages to go off and become a mercenary.”

  “Bounty hunter,” I corrected him, earning a flash of annoyance in his eyes.

  “He defeated Master Shen in combat,” Hinru said. Taking my hand, she stared into my eyes, emotions pleading with me as if her eyes weren’t doing it enough. She leaned close with her voice lowered. “We need this.”

  “We need them?” I hissed. “How do I know you aren’t part of the cult, using Hadrian’s name to try and get me to do wrong? I’ve been led down that path before.”

  “How? Because, Ezra, I give you full access. Check my emotions. See if there’s any ill-will, any part of me that is lying.”

  I frowned, knowing it was true. However this ended, I knew she at least believed what she was saying. With a deep breath, I nodded. For her, because I believed in Hadrian, and had to take the leap of faith, here.

  “I’ll do it,” I said, turning back to the monks, then to the Hermites. “I’ll attempt to open the gate.”

  Master Richter nodded, the others looking his way. He stepped over to me, close enough to be uncomfortable.

  “Are you certain?” he asked, but without waiting for a response, kept talking. “This is incredibly dangerous, and we’re all relying on you.” He indicated the temple and then started to walk, clearly expecting me to follow. “It’s no secret, the way you left us. So, for me to say that putting my trust in you is a letdown is quite the understatement.”

  “Maybe you should do it.”

  He didn’t even miss a beat but kept walking, ignoring my comment. He knew he wasn’t strong enough, clearly.

  “The power of this planet lies in the purple mist,” he explained, “which takes form in the waters. When the locals call on it, the frozen lakes thaw and take form. In a way, this power works with the darkness—when not in use, the darkness keeps it at bay. They go hand-in-hand.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Indeed. What you must do—and why you might have a shot at this compared to me—is use your inner core as you were taught, focus as if pulling the darkness out, almost as if mentally asking it to move aside. It is the empath part of you that sets you apart, though, as you’ll have to gauge the energy coming out of the gate in order to properly manage the situation. We believe you can then communicate with the planet’s power, and if there’s enough of it, open the portal.”

  “So you want me to… talk… to the darkness. And mist?”

  He nodded, finally stopping on the stone bridge, glancing back, and then taking a step away. “You may begin.”

  Had I not trained at the temple as long as I had, none of this would have made sense. As it was, though, the notion that physical training went hand-in-hand with mental training made complete sense to me. I also understood the idea that, if I had defeated Master Shen, it must have been with power greater than or at least equal to his, on all levels.

  In that regard, it made sense that they would expect me to be able to do this. The only problem was that I genuinely had no idea what the fuck I was supposed to do. Reach out and touch the darkness with my mental fingers? I frowned, eyed him, and at his nod, stepped forward.