Chronicles of the Invaders 1: Conquest (38 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

T
he door to the governor’s office opened, and Syrene emerged. She barely looked at Syl as she pulled her veil down, masking her face.

“Go to your father,” she said. “Say your goodbyes, for we leave tonight.”

Syl entered the room. Her father was seated at his desk. He looked dazed, but he smiled as she appeared.

“I have to talk to you,” said Syl. “I have to tell you something important.”

“Syl,” he said. He stood and raised his arms to her. She came to him, and he held her tight.

“Syl,” he repeated. “Everything is going to be fine. You understand that, don’t you?”

She looked up at him. His breath smelled spicy yet sickly sweet, like the corrupted air in Dundearg as Gradus had begun to change.

And she knew.

“What was it you wanted to tell me?” said Andrus.

Syl began to cry. She tried to stop the tears, but she could not. She wrapped her arms around her father and buried her face in his chest. She cried and cried until she had no more tears left to shed, until her throat was raw and her body ached. She stepped back from him and knew that she would never allow him to hold her like that again.

“Just that I love you,” she said. “And I’ll always love you, no matter what.”

With that she left him, and went to her room to gather her belongings.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

P
aul and Steven were seated side by side in the Military shuttle. Around them were other young men and women, most of them press-ganged into the service of the Illyri. They were as much hostages as recruits, and most looked frightened. There were others, though, who had clearly joined up willingly, anxious to escape their lives on Earth. Those who knew one another laughed and joked, or spoke too loudly about how hard and tough they were in order to impress the rest, but Paul could detect the tension behind their bravado.

Paul and Steven’s mother had visited them earlier that day. Saying goodbye to her had been the hardest thing either of the boys had ever done. Their parting had shaken Steven badly, and he had spoken little since then, retreating into himself. Paul wasn’t much better, but he kept a brave face for Steven’s sake.

At the back of the shuttle sat a transformed Peris. He wore military green, and the return to his old uniform seemed to have changed him. He was no longer the slightly soft-in-the-middle castle guard of old; he had cast off that identity completely. He seemed at once more relaxed yet more threatening, as though this were his true vocation—to train, to fight—and he was comfortable in this skin. He caught Paul watching him, and gave a single swift nod.

Paul looked away. For reasons best known to himself, Peris had signed on to mentor them, and Paul was not sure how he felt about that, or even if he could entirely trust the tough soldier. His instinct said yes, but the Resistance fighter in him said no. There would come a time when he might have to turn against Peris, for Paul was intent upon returning to Earth,
his
Earth, and freeing it from the Illyri.

The Illyri, and the Others. The true aliens.

He thought of Syl. His fingers tensed against the armrests of his chair. This parting was only temporary. He would not relinquish her to the Sisterhood. They were meant to be together.

Steven startled him from his thoughts by speaking.

“What’s going to happen to us, Paul?” he asked. His voice was very soft, and very frail.

“We’re going to become soldiers,” whispered Paul. “We’re going to learn weapons, and tactics, and the art of war.”

“And then?”

“We’re going to take what we’ve learned and use it to fight the Illyri,” he said. “We’re going to fight, and we’re going to win. . . .”

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

I
n a darkened cellar in Glasgow, far from prying eyes, Meia sat before a mirror and prayed. She could no longer be who she was, not if she was to aid Syl and Ani and discover the truth about the Others. She had injected herself with anesthetic, but what was to come would still be immensely painful, both physically and psychologically. She tried to tell herself that it was not important, that what mattered was what lay within her.

What mattered was her soul.

She took the scalpel from the tray, placed its blade beside her right eye, and slowly began to cut off her face.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

T
he Sisterhood’s shuttle passed through Earth’s atmosphere with a shudder and entered the vastness of space. Syl and Ani stared at the lights of the stars and the lights among the stars, watching as one speck grew bigger and bigger until the lineaments and dimensions of the great ship were revealed. It was the
Balaron
, newly arrived through the wormhole, now waiting to take them to the Marque.

Syl and Ani wore the yellow robes of novices. All their carefully assembled possessions had been taken from them on Syrene’s orders, and they were certain that they would never see them again. Syl had managed to find a moment to whisper to Ani of her suspicions about her father, although Ani seemed to have no such fears about Danis. She had told him nothing, though, just as they had agreed.

The horrors of the day of departure had produced only one bright spark of goodness, one reason for them not to feel entirely alone: Althea had returned, and just as Peris had offered to take Paul and Steven under his wing, so too Althea had announced that wherever Syl went, she would go too. Syrene did not object. Why would she object to Syl’s pathetic, needy nursemaid coming along? Anyway, it was not unusual for the wealthier novices to bring a handmaiden with them to the Marque, and it often made the transition to the life of the Sisterhood less traumatic for all concerned. But Syl had found one more use for Althea on Earth before they left, for Ani had told her all about Althea’s part in her escape from the castle.

“Can you get a message to the Resistance?” Syl had asked, as Althea helped her to pack.

“Yes,” Althea whispered, “if you give it to me now.”

“Tell them to contact Meia,” said Syl. “Tell her not to trust my father.”

And Althea, reluctantly, had passed on the message, even if she did not understand the reason for it.

Now she leaned across the aisle, and together she, Syl, and Ani took in the immensity of the
Balaron
.

Syrene sat at the front of the shuttle, her widow’s clothes already replaced by the red robes of the Sisterhood. The Archmage had not moved or spoken during the voyage. Ani risked a peek at her, and whispered to the others that Syrene’s pupils were constricted, her irises blank. She was meditating, although she herself would have called it “communing.”

Meditate all you like, thought Syl. You think you’ve won, but this is simply the first battle. Just as an infection has spread through the Illyri, just as an unknown threat has anchored itself to the collective spine of my race, so too the Sisterhood is about to be infected by a secret enemy.

And I am that enemy.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Emily Bestler, Judith Curr, Megan Reid, David Brown, and the staff at Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books; Jane Morpeth, Frankie Gray, Samantha Eades, and all at Headline; our agent, Darley Anderson, and his team, particularly Jill Bentley; and Clair Lamb and Madeira James.

Physics of the Future
 by Michio Kaku (Doubleday, 2011) and
The Singularity Is Nea
r by Ray Kurzweil (Viking Penguin, 2006) were among the books that proved particularly useful and thought-provoking during the research and writing of this novel.

And special thanks to Cameron and Alistair for their comments, and their patience.

THE CHARLIE PARKER STORIES

Every Dead Thing

Dark Hollow

The Killing Kind

The White Road

The Reflecting Eye
(Novella in the Nocturnes Collection)

The Black Angel

The Unquiet

The Reapers

The Lovers

The Whisperers

The Burning Soul

The Wrath of Angels

OTHER WORKS

Bad Men

Nocturnes

The Book of Lost Things

The Wanderer in Unknown Realms
(Ebook Novella)

THE SAMUEL JOHNSON STORIES (FOR YOUNG ADULTS)

The Gates

The Infernals

The Creeps

NONFICTION (as editor)

Books to Die For: The World’s Greatest Mystery Writers on The World’s Greatest Mystery Novels
(with Declan Burke)

We hope you enjoyed reading this Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books eBook.

Sign up for our newsletter and receive special offers, access to bonus content, and info on the latest new releases and other great eBooks from Emily Bestler Books/Atria Books and Simon & Schuster.

or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com