Empress Game: The Empress Game Trilogy Book 1 (6 page)

I made a deal with Malkor. I fight in the Empress Game and he takes us wherever we want to go afterward, no questions asked.

::And you trust this imperial to keep his end of the bargain?::

That was the question, now, wasn’t it?

Corinth stumbled again, falling to his knees in the watery channel. His shin connected with something hard and the pain shot straight through Kayla.

Enough of this, Corinth. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. You are an Ordochian prince, and you have skills that go beyond the physical. Come here.
Without waiting for him to comply she bent and lifted him up. Stars, but he was thin. She should have done more physical training with him. Vayne had begged her to teach him some of her hand-to-hand combat arts, and had prided himself on his limited but hard-earned physical strength. Corinth preferred to exercise his mind almost exclusively, like most male Wyrds. She should have—

::It’s not your fault, Kayla, stop blaming yourself for everything.::

She set Corinth on his feet long enough to turn around and hike him onto her back.
Hang on.

His arms closed about her neck and his legs looped over her hips like a human backpack. Thankfulness seeped into her from their mental link as he settled himself.

Around her the team kept moving, but Malkor took one look over his shoulder and dropped back beside her. “Let me carry him.”

“No.”

“I understand that you’re protective, but he’s going to get heavy real quick.”

“I’ll be fine.” Kayla continued to walk. Corinth’s added weight upset her center of balance and made her sink farther into the muck with each step.

Malkor walked beside her in silence. She glanced at him when Corinth’s attention split and partly focused on Malkor. There was a note of concern on Malkor’s face.

“I won’t slow you down,” she said.

::He doesn’t believe you.::

Thank you, Corinth, I can see that.

“Let me know if you need me to take him,” Malkor said. His gaze dropped from her eyes to the
ashk
that covered the rest of her face for a second.

::What does he mean you kissed him?!::

Corinth Reinumon, get out of his head this instant.

::Kayla—::

Now.

Just what she needed, a thirteen-year-old boy dabbling in the mind of a man like Malkor. Corinth’s curiosity seeped into her.

I refuse to discuss this with you.

::You’re no fun.::

Kayla shifted his weight higher on her back and settled in for a long hike.

* * *

Corinth’s weight rivaled that of a fully loaded hoverpack on her back, and each step was a small triumph over her tired body. When they finally hit the grassy outskirts that marked the edge of the swamp, she gratefully set Corinth on his feet. She steadied him when his numbed legs didn’t want to hold his weight.

The hike through the swamp, her second in the last eight hours, on top of a night spent in the pit, wiped her out. They walked on a few hundred yards toward two strange depressions in the landscape, and it wasn’t until they reached the flattened-out sections of grass that Kayla realized what she was looking at: the landing spots of cloaked ships. The inside of a ship revealed itself from the air when the outer hatch opened. Another of Malkor’s team jumped out.

“’Bout time, boss. Ardin’s been comming every fifteen minutes for way too long.” His gaze shifted from Malkor to Kayla. “This our girl?”

His too curious look had her resting a hand on one of her daggers.

“This is not
our girl
, this is Shadow Panthe, who will be working with us for the next few weeks.” Malkor turned toward her. “Shadow, this is Gio. You have my permission to hurt him if he gives you any trouble.”

Gio grinned.

“Just, don’t kill him,” Malkor said. “He’s somewhat useful to me.” He called to the rest of his team. “Load up.”

The cloaks of the hidden ships dropped, revealing two sleek interatmosphere shuttles. It had been years since she’d seen any advanced imperial space vehicles, but she was certain the empire hadn’t achieved this level of sophistication on their own. The shuttle design, though imperialized, still had a basic Wyrd feel that Kayla recognized, even if no one else did.

No doubt this was Dolan’s influence.

“Tell me you stole these,” she said to Malkor, as he hefted Corinth’s bag into the closest shuttle.

From the look on his face, he’d expected some sort of question. “No.”

“Who do you work for?” She put a hand on Corinth’s shoulder, a signal to be ready. He tensed at her motion.

Malkor eyed her hand, not missing her intent. “We’re working with a princess who wants to win the Game, no one else.”

Few people had access to shuttles such as this, and all of them were men she’d need to avoid. The IDC and imperial military sprang to mind, as they’d arrived on Ordoch in this vessel’s predecessor. Rigging the Empress Game, though? What motive would either have for that? Kayla considered her options. Alone, she might have made a break for it, but she couldn’t run with Corinth in tow. He couldn’t sprint past the people loosely guarding them and even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace.

Say they did manage to escape Malkor and his team, what then? With Dolan searching Altair Tri no place could be considered safe. Like it or not, Malkor was still their best bet for survival. She helped Corinth into the nearest shuttle and climbed in after him.

K
ayla’s fears about the breadth of Malkor’s influence were confirmed when the shuttle approached a luxury-class starcruiser that could only house a high-ranking member of the empire.

Damn. Now we’re into it.

Still, being in space again, seeing the stars and escaping the oppressive atmosphere of Altair Tri, lightened her heart. They were infinitely closer to Wyrd Space once off the ground.

The shuttles docked with precision and Malkor ushered them into the starcruiser. Malkor’s people peeled off, heading in different directions until only Corinth and Kayla followed him through the passageways. They entered a dead-end wing that contained living quarters of some sort, based on the evenly spaced door pattern.

“I only had one room readied.”

“We’ll share.” Corinth seemed asleep on his feet and Kayla felt scarcely far behind.

Malkor placed his index finger on the scanner beside the door and the panels hissed open. The room surpassed the hovel they’d left behind in every detail, and it had a bed large enough for the two of them to sleep comfortably. The room was efficient and uncluttered, with most of the storage and furnishing units built into the walls. Two chairs created a sitting area to the right of the door and a console that appeared to become a desk when pulled out took up a large section of one wall.

What drew her attention, though, and what Corinth had already drifted toward as she’d studied the room, was the window port revealing a blaze of stars. Corinth’s chin barely reached the sill but he drank in the sight.

Malkor motioned for her to join him in the hall. She glanced at the doors in this wing as she followed, counting quickly.

Eight. A well-trained team of eight people, a luxury-class starcruiser, shuttles at the top level of imperial tech…

She pitched her voice low, hoping it wouldn’t carry to Corinth. “You’re IDC, aren’t you?” He must be the leader of an IDC octet. “When were you going to mention that?”

“Would you have agreed to work for me if you knew?”

She shook her head. “Given the choice I would never help the IDC achieve a goal, no matter how insignificant.”

“You’re helping me right now.”

“I had a choice?” She stepped closer to Malkor, until she was less than arm’s length away. “Tell me that if I had refused you when you came to the swamp you would have let me walk away. Tell me that it was my choice to be here.”

Seconds passed with no response from Malkor. He stared at her, his lips pursed as if ready to speak the words, but they didn’t come.

“I thought not.”

“You are perfect for the mission,” he offered finally, half compliment, half apology.

“And what the IDC wants…”

“Hey,” he said, taking a half-step forward so they were toe to toe. “You’re making a fortune on this deal, don’t act like you’re a victim.”

“Yeah? Then where’re my credits? So far I’ve got nothing but a promise from you.”

“I’ll give you half now, half when this is over. Deal?”

“Done.”

“Done.” He grinned as if he had trapped her into something. “Just give me your iden chip and I’ll transfer the credits to you.”

Tricky bastard. She grinned right back, with about as much friendliness. “I’ll take the down payment in quad cubes, I don’t mind carrying around that money.”

“I
will
find out who you are.” The certainty in his voice worried her. With the resources of the IDC at his disposal, how long could she keep her secret? And once he found out, what would happen to her and Corinth?

“Don’t waste your time. I’m a pit whore from the slum side, that’s all.”

Before he could reply, a woman’s voice interrupted from the open end of their wing.

“Malkor? What is going on?”

He stared at Kayla one last second before stepping back and turning his attention to the newcomer. “Princess Isonde.” He inclined his head in greeting. “May I present Shadow Panthe? She has agreed to work with us.”

Kayla shook off the worry about her identity, there was nothing she could do at the moment. Instead, she assessed the woman she’d be impersonating at the Empress Game. Isonde was tall and slender, nearly as tall as Kayla herself, and statuesque, with her auburn hair coiled neatly atop her head. She wore flowing white pants and a matching knee-length tunic, made from a material finer than anything Kayla had seen in the last five years. Slippers covered her feet. Considering the morning hour it was possible she had come straight from bed, though she looked as neat as a row of neuro-circuits.

Her gaze swept Kayla from head to toe. Pale blue eyes seemed to miss nothing, making Kayla acutely aware of her shabby clothing, the mud stains knee-high on her legs and the stink of the swamp clinging to her.

The princess did not offer a greeting and Kayla felt disinclined to be friendly. Malkor cleared his throat in the awkward silence that followed, drawing Isonde’s attention once more.

“A word, Agent Rua, if you please.”

Malkor didn’t exactly hop at Isonde’s request, but he did as she asked without hesitation. They shifted out of the octet’s wing and into the main hall, though still within Kayla’s earshot. Isonde didn’t seem to care. Malkor, at least, kept his voice low.

“What have you done?” Isonde asked. “Why did you bring her here?”

“It wasn’t my call, you know Ardin demanded it.”

“He asked that you find someone to fight for me, but a pit whore, Malkor? A pit whore? For the love of— What were you thinking?”

“I was
thinking
that if you and Ardin want this insane scheme of yours to work, you need the best fighter. Shadow Panthe can win.”

“I thought we agreed that one of the female IDC agents would work better.”

“No,” Malkor said definitively. “I’ll not ask them to jeopardize their careers and their lives by being involved.”

Did being a pit whore make her that expendable, that inconsequential? Where was the concern for her career, her life? And who did they think would look after Corinth if this entire fiasco went supernova?

“Besides,” he continued, “Ardin wanted Shadow specifically.”

“Only because you recommended her.”

“The Empress Game is less than a month away now. Who else do you expect to find in time?”

Isonde glanced at her then, clearly unconcerned that she was listening. “Someone more respectable, at least. Damnit, Malkor, she’s sleeping in the room right next to yours.”

Did the woman think her a threat to Malkor’s life or his chilly sheets? Maybe both.

Malkor sighed. “It’s late. Or early, rather. Either way, it’s been a long night and we all need to rest. I know you’re stressed about the whole thing.” He placed a hand on Isonde’s arm in a familiar gesture and Kayla felt an odd dip in her stomach. Five years of loneliness, loss and homesickness hit her all at once. “Trust me,” Malkor was saying, but Kayla couldn’t watch the two of them together any longer.

She ducked inside the room she shared with Corinth. All her family in the universe stood at the viewport, soaking in the stars. Her whole world. She crossed the room and joined him.

* * *

Kayla came to consciousness like a bear waking from hibernation. Despite the strange environs and the uncertainty of her future, she’d just had her best rest in five years. The viewport showed the green-pink wash of a hyperspace stream as the starcruiser sped toward Falanar.

Her body told her it was late afternoon. The chronometer embedded in the wall indicated it was morning in the palace on the imperial homeworld. Her head declared it time for more information. Any plan to rig the Empress Game would require delicate maneuvering, thorough planning and more luck than she liked to depend on. Best learn all the details now.

She grabbed a clean outfit from her bag and headed to the bathroom. As she enjoyed the rippling sensation of the sonic shower she kept one thought in mind—that was the last time she’d have to settle for smelling like swamp fungus.

She dressed quickly, checking the mirror to make sure the shower hadn’t stripped away too much of the oily black dye that hid her blue hair. She wrapped a clean
ashk
around her face, pulling the top edge up to just below her eyes. The garment was common on the slum side of Altair Tri. What once had felt odd and restrictive now felt like a shield. When she exited the bathroom, Corinth still lay sleeping on the bed, one hand fisted in the plush covers as if to keep someone from stealing them. At least he slept peacefully. Kayla couldn’t be certain how long it would last, but she was glad of it. Her
il’haar
needed the rest.

She moved to the touch panel on the wall that controlled the doors’ lock features. Advanced by imperial design, relatively rudimentary to a Wyrd. She pried the faceplate off with one of her kris, exposing the delicate interface beneath. She’d need finer tools than the point of her dagger to recalibrate the ID priority code, but Kayla never left home without such tools. One never knew where one might be required to break out of—or into—on any given day on the slum side.