“I take it Levain was a Hemid?” I said.

  “Indeed. Please, make yourselves comfortable,” she invited, motioning to nearby furniture.

  I joined Tyler and Alyssa on a low couch, sinking into its purple cushions. Matt settled gingerly on the edge of an adjacent armchair, refusing to completely relax and settle in. I couldn’t blame him, but I also didn’t want to risk upsetting the princess or her bodyguards. I could only hope his defensive perch wouldn’t be seen as a slight.

  Goloran snapped her fingers, and her guards peeled away, taking posts near the elevator. She seated herself gracefully, regarding us with that same expression of mirth and malice. “Now then, let us begin by negotiating your payment. Will ten-thousand quark suffice?”

  “To be honest, I don’t know,” Matt replied. “Our familiarity with the value of a quark is admittedly limited.”

  “Of course,” Goloran said, smiling. “Ten thousand is enough to stay at this establishment for nearly a month. Or, it will pay for transport for four from Cacitrum to a number of systems. It is a fair price. Though, now that I think of it, you aren’t the same person I saw in the spaceport.” She pointed at Matt. “I’ll pay you twenty-thousand if you’ll explain what happened to the other male, and how you came to replace him.”

  “How about fifty-thousand, and we’ll answer any question you have,” Matt said.

  Goloran ran thin fingers across her chin. “Perhaps you’re getting the better of me, but you have a deal. Do you have a paystick?”

  Matt reached into his pocket, retrieving the stick the pawn shop bot had given him, and waving it at the princess.

  “Kloth, if you will,” she said.

  One of the grithyaks left his post, approaching Matt with a small device. Without warning, he snatched the stick from Matt’s hand and placed one end in the device before looking at Goloran.

  “Fifty-thousand,” she told him. He tapped on the device before handing the stick back to Matt and returning to his guard position. “Congratulations. That should ease your transition to life in Warexia.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Ally said. “We don’t intend to transition to life in Warexia. We want to get out of here as soon as possible. We want to go home.”

  “And where is home, female?” Goloran asked.

  “My name is Alyssa.” She directed her finger toward each of us. “That’s Tyler, Noah, and Matt. We’re from Earth. Does that mean anything to you?”

  “I’ve heard of Earth before, from Levain,” she replied. “He had a theory that much of the life in Warexia originated from there. I did not subscribe to that theory.”

  “Why not? You said yourself that your kind is human-adjacent,” I said. “Humans are from Earth.”

  “I do not subscribe to that theory, either. You are obviously human. But if you are from Earth, then perhaps it was the Warden who delivered you there.”

  “I doubt that,” Tyler scoffed.

  “Did you know Levain had the means to travel to Earth?” I asked, eager to change the subject before he and Goloran started arguing about humankind’s origins.

  “He never mentioned that to me. Interesting.”

  “What was your business with Levain?” Matt asked.

  “What was yours?” she replied.

  “The Warden sent us there to deliver a message to Levain.”

  “What kind of message?”

  “He told us to have Levain order his bodyguard to remove his helmet."

  “Jaffie? Whatever for.”

  “He was on Earth a few weeks back,” I said. “He ran a red light and hit the car I was riding in with my parents. I survived. They didn’t. Then he ran off like the coward he was.” I absolutely refused to lose my composure in front of the princess. I actually surprised myself with how smoothly the explanation came out.

  To her credit, Goloran looked horrified. “Jaffie killed your parents? And so you killed him, I assume.”

  “Sort of,” I answered, casting a warning glance toward Tee. I didn’t want to drag the Aleal into this conversation if I could avoid it.

  “Did you kill Levain as well?”

  “No. The meeting happened to coincide with the raid on Levain's headquarters. We think the Warden instigated it, but he would neither confirm nor deny his involvement. In any case, we barely escaped with our lives."

  “I do believe the Warden had a hand in delivering Jaffie to you. That tracks well with his personality. But I don’t think he sent Zariv. Tell me, did you encounter any yellow and red painted bots between the spaceport and Levain?”

  “Yeah, they ambushed us on the way. I think they wanted to capture us, rather than kill us.”

  “Because very few people ask for Levain so openly. No one outside of this room knows that I’ve ever met him in person. You painted a target on your back.”

  “We didn’t know,” Ally said.

  “No, you certainly didn’t. I imagine you know very little about Warexia.”

  “That’s an understatement,” Tyler agreed. “Ever since we came out of the void, everything’s been so…chaotic.”

  “That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Chaos clings to the Warden like a shroud. Wherever he goes, it follows. How did you get into the void?”

  I hesitated to answer, looking to Matt.

  “I paid well for your openness and honesty,” Goloran reminded us.

  “The other man you saw at the spaceport,” Matt said. “Ben.”

  “He’s a wizard,” Tyler said.

  “He can channel chaos energy,” Matt explained.

  Goloran’s eyebrow went up. “On his own?”

  “Yeah. It’s pretty amazing, I know. We were attacked by a starship in Earth’s orbit, so he opened a rift to the void to escape. But we weren’t supposed to come out in Warexia.”

  “From the way you say it, I take it that it’s uncommon to be attacked by starships on Earth?”

  “Earth doesn’t have many spaceships, and none of them have guns.”

  “That we know of,” Tyler corrected. “I bet the Chinese have some hidden laser beams or something on their satellites.”

  “Could the ship that attacked you be connected to the Warden or Levain?”

  “I don’t know,” Matt said. “I suppose it’s possible. But would the Warden go through that much trouble to lead Noah here? Just so he could confront Jaffie?”

  “I can’t rule it out, but it does seem like a stretch.”

  “What can you tell us about the Warden? We already know about his ships, and the Prall, and that the Oron think he’s a god, but Levain wasn’t convinced. I don’t think you believe that either.”

  “I do not,” Goloran agreed. “Of course, the Warden is part of Warexia’s history. According to that history, he is the oldest entity in the galaxy, and is responsible for seeding many of the planets with life.”

  “You don’t sound like you believe that,” Matt said.

  “All I will say is that history is written by the victors. There is no way to confirm or deny the truth of the past. But to believe that is to believe he is too powerful to ever be denied. I do not like the idea of a single being having so much control over me.”

  “Neither do I,” Matt agreed.

  “We’re not alone in that. The Warden is loved by many of Warexia’s life forms, but he is also despised by many. Their fear prevents them from stating it boldly.”

  “But you aren’t afraid,” Ally pointed out.

  “I refuse to live my life that way. And the Warden rarely attacks those who defy him. He finds us too entertaining.” She smiled sardonically.

  “Has anyone ever tried to kill him?” Tyler asked.

  “Of course. Obviously, all have failed. Levain confided that he had proof someone destroyed one of Levain’s ships. He claimed one of his salvage teams found the wreckage. I can’t verify the truth of that claim, but he had a reputation for honesty.”

  “An honest crime boss?” Tee said.

  “Not all of his interests were rooted in illicit activity. He possessed a wide range of pursuits. Are you certain he’s dead?”

  “The last I saw of him, he was a smoldering pile of lard on the floor of his office,” I said.

  Goloran nodded. “A shame. We were in the midst of negotiating a contract to begin importing service robots to Gothus. I much preferred Levain to Zariv, but I suppose I have little choice now.”

  “You might want to rethink bringing in more robots,” Tyler said. “From what I’ve seen of Portus, having robots doing everything kind of sucks.”

  The comment drew a laugh from the princess. “Indeed. Unfortunately, the Gothori population is dwindling. We require the robots to fulfill tasks that we cannot fill.”

  “There must be someone else in Warexia who builds bots besides Zariv,” I said. “We don’t like him very much.”

  “There are, but none so close to Gothus. The costs would be beyond reason.”

  “Do you know anything about how Levain might have reached Earth?” Matt asked, his focus razor-sharp toward learning the answers we really needed. “He mentioned a thing called a rift engine. Have you ever heard of that?”

  “No. Its function seems obvious. But I don’t believe such a thing exists.”

  “Yet you know channeling chaos energy is impressive. How?”

  “There are legends among the Gothori about shamans who could harness the hidden power of the universe to do incredible things. To be aware of the Void is to be aware of that energy, whatever name it is given. The intriguing part is that Warexia is barren of chaos energy, and has been for many millennia.”

  “Not completely barren,” I said. “Ben can still channel it in small amounts.”

  Her eyebrows went up again. “Really? Where is this Ben of yours? I would very much like to meet him.”

  “He’s dead,” Matt lied before anyone else could answer. “He didn’t make it out of the meeting with Levain. That’s why I’m here instead. Otherwise, I would have been on our ship.”

  “And where is your ship now?” she asked. “How did you make it vanish into thin air? I imagine it would take more than a small amount of chaos energy to send it to another dimension or make it invisible or some other trick.”

  “It’s somewhere safe,” Matt replied.

  “Nice try. I paid for the truth.”

  Matt bit his lip, knowing he couldn’t avoid the reveal. Before he could answer, the elevator emitted a soft tone, indicating the food had arrived.

  Goloran’s bodyguards shifted to ready positions as the cab doors opened. A parade of robots bearing covered trays emitting far more enticing aromas than the slop we’d suffered at the cafe spilled out of it as if it were a clown car. My mouth watered as they crossed behind me to a long table, where they began arranging the dishes. One bent to remove platter lids, revealing golden bread, generous strips of what looked like bacon, and a heaping pile of exotic pastries.

  "Oh, sweet manna from heaven!" Tyler cried, hopping to his feet to sample the spread.

  “I suppose we can continue our conversation once your bellies are full,” Goloran said, rising to join him. We followed her lead, getting to our feet and approaching the table.

  The first wave of robots departed without a word, their task complete. My gaze followed them absently before jerking back to the five that had remained to serve. They circled the table, each with one hand on the still-closed lids of the trays, their other hand positioned near the lids, leaving them in an awkward lean.

  Maybe it was the hours spent gaming, maybe it was my generally wary disposition, or maybe the Warden had granted me a boon after all—whatever the reason—cold certainty convinced me the remaining bots were up to no good.

  “Get down!” I shouted, only moments before the bots raised their trays to reveal compact guns resting inside.

  I dove for cover behind the couch as pulses of energy lit up the room. The lethal barrage chewed divots in the furniture where we’d been sitting moments ago. “Bastards!” Tyler bellowed, taking the princess with him as he rolled under the table. Alyssa shrieked, plastering herself alongside me with palms clamped over her ears. We huddled together under fire while chaos erupted all around us.

  Matt was the only one not to immediately take cover. Instead, he lunged at the nearest bot, grabbed its wrist and forced its gun aside. The bot moved quickly, grabbing him by the throat and tossing him effortlessly across the room.

  He might have been done for if the grithyak hadn’t sprung into action, charging the robots with reckless abandon. Two of them went down before they could get near the bots, chewed up by the energy blasts.

  I reached for my blaster, knowing making it out of this alive meant defeating the robots. Strangely, my mind remained relatively calm despite the energy bolts flashing across the room at us. I credited my composure to Matt’s training and his reaction to the robot threat.

  “Rocket punch!” Tyler cried from under the table. His fist smashed one of the bots in the leg, dislocating its joint and bringing the robot to the floor. A grithyak pounced on it, slashing its faceless head, its sharp claws tearing through metal and wiring. Sparks and smoke erupted from it before it fell over from the waist, whirring to a stop.

  “Come on, Ally…we need to help,” I said, drawing my blaster and urging her to draw hers. We shifted from the floor, leaning on the torn-up sofa and taking aim at the robot right in front of me. I barely missed one of Goloran’s grithyak when it stepped in front of me, taking a shot that was meant for me. When it fell, I quickly replaced it with a barrage, peppering the robot with apparently ineffective energy blasts.

  “Kill shot!” Ally cried, firing a single round that went into the blank face of my target exactly where she had called it. The blast breached the machine’s alloy, a spew of smoke pouring from the hole as it collapsed heavily to the carpet.

  “How the hell did you do that?” I said, turning my attention to her. She looked as shocked as I must have.

  “I don’t know. I just pointed and pulled the trigger.”

  A grithyak yelped as a bot threw it over our heads. It slammed into a cabinet behind us, the impact smashing the piece of furniture and breaking the werewolf’s neck. It slumped, motionless amidst the debris while the bot took aim at me.

  Before it could fire, Ally again called out, “Kill shot!” and loosed another, single round that hit it spot on. “Smoked him!” she deadpanned as the robot collapsed in a heap.

  “You got the Warden’s second boon,” I cried.

  “I did?” she replied before smiling. “I did!” She turned her gun to her side, nearly hitting me in the face with the back of her outstretched hand. “Kill shot!” Without looking, she fired a single round at the bot targeting Matt, blowing out the back of its head. “Whooo!” she shouted as it toppled over face first, its mangled head smoking and spewing sparks.

  Turning toward the remaining bot, I watched as Princess Goloran leaped to her feet and shoved a glowing dagger into its chest. Dragging the blade downward, she sliced through its alloy like a hot knife through butter. It fell inoperable with much less drama than Ally’s three kills.

  Just like that, it was over. All of the bots lay smoldering on the carpet, along with all of Goloran’s bodyguards save Kloth. The remaining grithyak hunched over the nearest of his dead brethren, mewling softly.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Ally said, eyes fixed on the dead werewolf. She turned her pale face away, hand over her mouth to help hold back the bile threatening to rush up her throat. I put my hand on her back, offering support. The violence had left me queasy, too.

  Tyler crawled out from beneath the table, rising to his feet. Matt moved from the cover he had found behind an armchair. “Either someone knows who and where we are, your Highness,” he said to Goloran. “Or someone wants you as dead as they want us.”

  “Welcome to the club,” Tyler added.

  CHAPTER 9

  “They came for you,” Goloran insisted. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. Levain is dead, and Zariv knows I will need to bring my business to him. He would only harm himself by killing me.”

  “What if the Warden told him to do it?” I asked.

  “That isn’t the Warden’s style. Only outsiders are brought directly into his web of intrigue and games. His entertainment.” She made a disgusted face at his idea of fun. “There must be more to this. These bots were undoubtedly programmed by Zariv. If he wants you dead, he must believe you sided with Levain, and that makes you an ongoing threat.”

  “No offense, your Highness,” Tyler said. “But it looks to me like only your bodyguards are dead.”

  Kloth’s pained gaze whipped toward Tyler. “They died protecting you, human.” He uttered the last word like a curse.

  “We can take care of ourselves,” Tyler answered, holding up his rocket fist.

  “Did you see me?” Ally asked. “I head-shot three of them.”

  “You were awesome,” Tyler agreed.

  “There’s nothing awesome about people trying to kill us,” Matt said. “Or about the deaths of four allies.”

  “No, you’re right,” Ally agreed, lowering her reddening face away from him before turning to Kloth. “I’m sorry for your losses. Really.”

  Kloth nodded, accepting her apology.

  “What do we do now?” I asked.

  “We aren’t safe here,” Goloran replied. “I will return to my ship to wait for clearance to launch. If Zariv is targeting me, he will find it much more difficult to approach my shuttle than he did ambushing me in my hotel room. If you are indeed the targets, then I have no cause for concern.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Tyler said. His eyes danced to the spread of food, and he reached for one of the sweet-smelling alien pastries.

  “Tee, seriously?” Matt said.

  “I’m still hungry, man,” he replied before guiding the pastry into his mouth.

  “It may be poisoned,” Goloran stated. Immediately, Tyler spat out his bite and threw the rest of the croissant across the room.

  “You can’t ditch us yet,” I said to the princess. “You haven’t told us anything about Warexia, and hardly anything about the Warden.”