CalledtoPower (3 page)

Her own exposure to Dorium had first occurred when she was a child. He had comforted her as the ship left Saluthic, making a lasting impression on her. His was the first kindness she experienced outside her own close-knit family. The pain of separation had been agonizing, but having one friend in the pretty green man had been a lifeline to her soul.

As a teen and later an adult, Syrella had consulted on any number of Citadel intakes with Dorium. She had sympathy for those who were forced to leave their homes, and she counselled the girls as they flew across the stars toward Thoola. She blushed so often during those communications, she wasn’t sure that Dorium knew her actual skin colour.

Tavya was serving tea to their little group, and when Sy took her seat, the men ranged themselves around the small table in a disturbing upright formation.

“Gentlemen, when the Vexar get here, feel free to be formal, for now, have some tea.” They didn’t move, so she added, “That’s an order.”

Grinning, they took the chairs and settled themselves.

Agoth grinned, showing his sharp white teeth. “We want you to get used to giving us orders. It is imperative that you present as a strong leader. With three Citadel bodyguards, we will be making a strong impression for you.”

Dorium offered her cream for her tea, but she demurred.

They sat around having a pleasant chat, and when the Vexar shuttle landed in front of the Citadel, they were laughing at some very inappropriate jokes regarding species who did not wear clothing and who, in fact, fought anyone who did. Being attacked by nudists was distracting, but it was an easy fight.

The Vexar honour guard was taken aback by the casual nature of their gathering, and Syrella got to her feet to face the captain.

“Captain, welcome to Thoola.”

“Duchess, we are honoured to escort you to Vexa.”

“Thank you, Captain, but is there room for four on your ship?”

He blinked in surprise. “We are only prepared for your arrival.”

Sy nodded as if she expected nothing less. “Thank you, Captain. We will travel in the Citadel ship to Vexa. It is only appropriate as the Citadel has been my home for decades.”

“But…” The captain of the Vexar vessel looked so confused.

Dorium faced the man and inclined his head. “We are the Citadel-assigned guards, and we have responsibility to keep the Duchess of Saluthic alive and well. We will be remaining with her until she orders us to leave.”

The captain spoke quickly with his second in command before he returned to the small gathering. “You will follow us, but we will be with you right up until the moment we touch down. From that point on, we are your escort.”

Dorium grinned at him. “Escort all you like, but we will be with her the entire time.”

Syrella fought the urge to close her eyes. No wonder the males at the Citadel were kept separated from the females during puberty. If there were displays like this, the girls would kill them.

“You two hash this out, and I will speak with the headmistress. Notify me when you have worked it out amongst yourselves.” Sy met Dorium’s gaze, and her smile authorized him to settle matters quickly.

She gathered her skirts and left the tent an instant before the first punch flew. Sy winced and kept walking toward the Citadel.

Wadara walked out of the gates and stepped toward her. “I thought you were leaving.”

Sy shrugged, “So did I, but the boys were having a pissing contest, and I wanted to be as far away as I could while they hashed out who was going to have the honour of my company.”

Wadara’s eyes widened as someone flew out of the tent behind Syrella. Sy refused to look.

“You aren’t even curious to see how things are proceeding?” Wadara winced as she saw something objectionable behind Sy.

“No. I refuse to look. As a personal request, could you have Negina and Weshka come down here? No matter who wins, I want everyone leaving here whole and only a little bit sore.”

Wadara winked. “Of course. They will be down in a moment. I think it will be nice for them to practice on someone other than those of your students who get run over by goats.”

Sy snickered. “I know you wanted me to leave with a bit of dignity, but this seems to be the sort of thing that I have always set off. Nothing goes smoothly around me, and I have decided to embrace it.”

“A healthy attitude. It is one I have held since I began my tenure here.” Wadara grinned.

They began to walk slowly around the courtyard while the sounds of battle died to a soft round of thuds.

When Sy turned to face the tent, her eyes widened at the pile of Vexar imperial household uniforms and their battered contents. “Ouch.”

“The healers are on their way.”

“I had no idea that they had sent a dozen men as escort. I guess one flew out, and the others came running.” Sy was impressed. “They must be desperate to have me in the throne room. I wonder how many other people are up for the dubious honour of the thorn?”

“There will be others?”

“Usually. When I was born, I was over ninetieth in line for the throne. When I entered the Citadel, I was up to sixty-seventh. Vexar nobles like to kill each other.” Sy shrugged.

“Aren’t you worried?” Wadara’s brow was furrowed in a frown.

“No. If this is what I am meant to do, it is what I will do. The emperor I grew up with was a good man, and even though there have been four idiots on that throne since, it is his memory that I carry with me and my parents’ memory that I will honour.”

The two healers came through the doors, and Wadara’s blank expression indicated that she was giving them direction.

Wadara grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. “We are still here if you need anything. Don’t think for one moment that you don’t have a home with people who love you. You are not alone, and you will never be alone as long as the Thoola Citadel survives.”

Sy touched her friend’s hair then her cheek. “Thank you. It means a lot to know that I have friends to back me up.”

“Always and forever, Sy. We are only a thought away. Well, as long as Dorium is with you. You might want to keep him close.” Wadara tried to put an innocent expression on her face and failed miserably.

Sy looked at the tent where her Citadel-trained guards were emerging. Dorium was wiping his hands, and his expression and that of his companions showed that they took no pleasure in the pain they had inflicted. It was a matter of making sure that the imperial guards knew where they stood. It would not be next to Syrella.

Dorium nodded to Syrella, and she gave Wadara a quick hug. “Remind me to thank you for Dorium. As a method of torture, he is the most effective means you have ever cooked up.”

Wadara Povix, Headmistress of the Citadel School Thoola, grinned evilly, showing her sharp canines. “That was my plan. Enjoy him. He is willing to be a constant companion to you if you let him.”

With that perplexing statement in the air, Wadara left her, and Dorium collected her to begin their journey to Vexa. It was time to face the thorn and take the throne.

Chapter Five

Syrella spent the fourteen hours of travel meditating and trying to keep calm. Dorium, Agoth and Perinio occasionally spoke to her, trying to draw her into conversation, but her mood was either detected by one of their senses, or they were just ready to let her focus.

Her first trip to Vexa as a child had been bittersweet. Her mother had not been allowed to meet the emperor. She had been forced to remain on Saluthic while Syrella and her father went to visit as kin of the ruler of nineteen worlds. Clinging to her father’s hand, she had walked in a stiff dress and stiffer shoes and made her curtsey to the man who ruled over billions.

Her father made his bow and the emperor smiled and asked. “Arnos Loesh, Duke of Saluthic, welcome. Who is this charming little one? She glows like dawn.”

Her father inclined his head in respect. “My daughter is named Syrella, after her mother.”

“Syrella, please come up here and speak to me. You are the most welcome addition to my court that I have seen in years.”

Sy looked up at her father, and he nodded encouragingly. With her stiff shoes slipping a little on the stone, she walked up the four steps and curtseyed again.

The Emperor reached out and lifted her up, placing her on his knee in front of the assembled court. “So, Syrella, do you have anything to ask of me?”

She blinked at him for a moment and answered from her heart. “Don’t ask for me and my dad anymore. I want to stay with my mom and so does he.”

He quivered and burst into laughter. “An honest child. Never lose that, Syrella. It is a great and wonderful thing.”

“How can you lose honesty?”

“Ah, that is a very good question. I don’t know. Do you want to know anything else?”

Syrella stood up, balancing on the arm of the big chair that the emperor was seated in. “What is this?”

She touched the spike sticking out behind the man’s head, and her finger felt the poke a moment before her father shouted and the emperor pulled her away. A tiny drop of blood was on her finger, and she frowned, putting her digit in her mouth. “Ow.”

The chair that the emperor sat on started to glow with a pretty pink colour. “Well, look at that.”

She looked around for her daddy, but the guards who stood by the base of the throne were holding him. “Why are they holding my daddy?”

The emperor smiled, “Because he wanted to hold you. Go to him, Syrella, and know that you will always be welcome on Vexa.”

She ran to her father, and he held her close, his tears dampened her hair. She knew one thing at that moment—she and her daddy would never have to return to Vexa.

“Duchess, we are on final approach. Are you ready?” Agoth was near her, his hair was neatly braided in minute strands, and those strands were bound together with a leather band. His deep chestnut skin was a contrast to his bright yellow eyes.

“I am ready. Well, as ready as one can be when facing mind-numbing boredom.” She smiled brightly.

“It seems that you are already prepared for this. What can we look forward to?” Agoth seemed eager.

“Well, we will exit this shuttle, and the Vexar imperial guard should surround us. They will form a block and walk us to the throne room. Oh, that reminds me. I need to change into my formal gown for the thorn ceremony.” She got to her feet. “I will be right back.”

Her luggage was strapped tightly in the back, so she flipped through the three boxes until she located the silver silk gown. Syrella gathered the fabric up and walked into the lav. Changing from semi-formal gown into ball gown in a lav in a shuttle was not an activity for the weak hearted, but by the time she felt the tug of Vexa’s gravity, she was dressed in a strapless gown of silver.

She carefully folded the purple gown and tucked it into her luggage before standing next to the seats holding her guards.

Agoth looked at her. “Have a seat, Duchess. We are entering the Vexar atmosphere.”

She smiled and shook her head, reaching above her for the straps used by fliers who couldn’t manage the seat backs. “Not in this gown I won’t. I am fairly sure that if I crease this gown before I sit on the throne, C’dallia will sense it and Vexa will be under l’nal attack.”

Perinio smirked, his deep blue skin reflecting stars and his bald skull gleaming in the refracted light coming through the window. The tattoos that swirled across his skin were almost invisible until the light struck them just the right way. “You have a l’nal seamstress?”

“She is a master weaver and teaches her art on Thoola. When her last husband…died…she needed a place to call her own. Her daughters are settled with broods of their own, so she wanted to teach the young of other species.”

Agoth took over the controls when Dorium turned to look at her. “Well, her efforts are truly lovely.”

She wanted to say the same, wanted to tell him that her gaze could wander over the shining green of his skin, the black of his hair and the deep brown of his eyes over and over again. The tight bodysuit that the Citadel had provided him and the others were unrelieved black with crimson piping. It made her smile—crimson was her family colour.

“Thank you, Dorium. I will pass your praise on to her.” She glanced down at the gown and had to admit it was stunning. Bands of folded fabric accented the bodice, the remainder was tightly laced from shoulder blades to hips, the wide pleats and gathers of the skirt swirled out and held themselves in a lovely, graceful drape.

“Now, for your briefing. We will land, the atmosphere will be equalized and the imperial guard will arrive to escort us to the throne room. If my guess is correct, two-thirds of those in between the throne and me died while touching the thorn. They may be on display in the throne room, but do not let the corpses faze you. Well, anyway, the guards will lead us there, and they will peel off when we reach the stairs to the throne. I will be announced, and from there, I will walk up the steps to the throne. The deceased emperor may still be in the throne when I reach over him to touch the thorn, but if the throne glows, I will step back, and it will incinerate him so that I can take my seat on the throne. Once the throne is clear, it will change to my colour, and I will be seated. The crowd will applaud politely, and two of you will walk up the steps, the third will remain at the base of the steps.

“One by one, the nobles will come, tell me their names and their titles. That can take a few hours. Once it is done, I will be shown to the imperial chambers, and you will escort me through the halls until I am able get into my rooms and listen to my first councillor tell me what they want me to do the next day. It will be a strange day, and I will appreciate any help that you can offer.”

Dorium asked, “What happens the next day?”

“The official acknowledgement of me as empress. For that, I have another lovely gown by C’dallia. May I ask what talents you have?”

Perinio grinned, “I can remove my markings and use them for attacking.”