Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) (17 page)

Jace looked up as Nesham approached both he and Koneru with Naria and Carinna in tow. Both women wore a light cloth over their eyes to shade them from the bright Rovi sun. Seeing that, Jace stared at Naria thoughtfully. Carinna he could understand having a problem with the bright sun. But Naria had supposedly come from Seven and they’d been in the Light Years for the past two cycles. But shaking off his uneasiness, he watched her approach, taking pleasure in her appearance to distract him from his wary thoughts.

She wore the overlarge white blouse and tan trousers again today, her dark boots sturdy and practical on the sandy planet. He loved the way she moved, graceful yet with purpose as her long strides brought her to him. He smiled at her and watched as she parted the cloth to let him see the excitement shining in the violet depths of her eyes.

He frowned, however, at Carinna garbed too lightly for the harsh rays of the Rovi sun. Her sandaled feet must have been burning but she uttered not one word of complaint.

Koneru, seeing the direction of Jace’s gaze and Nesham’s helpless shrug, muttered under his breath, “I’ll find some more appropriate clothing for our Dark Worlder,” before he left.

Jace had been waiting with Koneru in a small town established primarily for alien visitors to Rovi. The streets were teaming with all manner of System inhabitants awaiting their ships’ repairs. Luckily Koneru had found a distant relative for them to work through, an honest and hardworking Rovi with the hands of an artist, or so Koneru said. The ship would be repaired in a few days. In the meantime, since Vembi was too far to shuttle, Koneru had suggested relaxing on Rovi. Not exactly a pleasure world, Shevu of Rovi did at least boast a few entertainment locales and a decent inn where they could spend their nights.

Oddly enough, Jace noticed as he looked around, for all the eclectic mix of patrons busting about the busy sand street, Naria and Carinna clearly stood out as being the most beautiful women around. Jace could feel the interested stares directed their way, no doubt in contemplation of the delicate curves of Carinna’s sparsely clad body.

Jace grinned, noticing the bland expression on Nesham’s face in contrast with the fierce glowing of his eyes. Apparently Nesham had staked a claim over Carinna, whether he admitted it to himself or not.

“Mikhel?” Jace asked.

“Castor will bring him down once he drops the ship off,” Nesham explained as he turned to glare at two hulking men staring at Carinna and Naria.

Jace nodded. He looked up with relief as Koneru left a small building and returned to them carrying some clothing. He handed a dress of a light but dense material and a pair of boots to Carinna, giving both she and Naria dark glasses to wear as well.

“You can change inside,” Koneru motioned to the small shop. As Carinna thanked him and moved towards the shop, Nesham positioned himself near her and watched over her protectively until she returned.

“Good, maybe now we can settle down and relax,” Jace muttered as he watched Carinna return looking much more comfortable. Her skin now lay under the long dress, her feet no longer open to the harsh Rovi sand. She wore dark glasses and smiled as she noted Naria’s approving glance.

“You look much better.” Naria nodded. “That was very nice of Koneru. And thank you for the glasses,” she thanked the Rovi. He shrugged away her gratitude and moved them towards the inn.

Jace watched Naria more than he watched the crowd around them. Though he couldn’t see her eyes through the glasses protecting them, he could see the clear expression of wonder on her face as she stared around her.

He smiled thinking she looked very young at that moment. “You like Rovi?” he asked.

“It’s amazing,” she murmured breathlessly as she watched a pair of Meklens fighting in an alleyway, a group of Rovi children bouncing behind a large gray skinned woman instructing them on what appeared to be a school lecture. Several native Raks, dark skinned and dark haired people from planet Rak, led their Vesh to trade. The Vesh were a hardy species of horse that made Rak a rather appealing planet for traders. The Vesh existed easily on the arid planet of Rak and for that reason were in high demand, able to adapt to any climate.

Jace watched Naria gasp as a Vesh passed her by. “Surely you’ve seen such things on Seven, Naria,” he mused. “Is Rovi really so different?”

Jace had been to Seven several times over the years. And though he admitted that he didn’t want to go back during the Dark Years any time soon, he had seen plenty of travelers and Offworlders on Seven to know that what Naria saw on these street should not have overly surprised her.

“Of course,” she said distractedly. “It’s just that at home I was often working in the library. I didn’t get the chance to observe many of our System peoples outside of the many texts it was my duty to care for.”

Again she mentioned being a librarian, Jace thought. Perhaps she could help him. “Naria, you said you were a librarian, correct?” She nodded. “What can you tell me about the Cazeth?” he asked, not expecting an answer.

The few people that had actually heard of the Cazeth didn’t know much more than the legends. That’s why he’d been so excited to find information on the Cazeth from the Meklens on Pith. Supposedly his contact had had more on the Cazeth than general rumors—he’d had information about their home world.

“What do you want to know?” she asked, her attention still fixed on a pair of haggling merchants and a small blue creature waving six arms at them.

“Everything,” he said firmly, his eyes narrowed when she turned to him suddenly.

“This is very important to you, isn’t it?” she asked, staring at him now instead of the crowds around her. He nodded and she sighed. “Very well. For all you have done for me and… well, for me, I owe you at least that much. Perhaps we can find a place to sit where I can explain what I know?”

“How about the library?” he mentioned as they passed a loud pleasure establishment. He noted Koneru peering at the place with interest before he returned his attention to their small party.

“A library here? Fine,” she answered, her voice sparking with interest. “I’d always wanted to visit a Motherworld library,” she murmured softly.

“Good. Koneru? Get us settled in the inn, four rooms,” he said softly. At Koneru’s stare, he looked askance at the women. “We’re not leaving them untended through the nights.” Koneru grinned as another loud brawl emerged from the pleasure club, only a short stop down from their inn.

“Fine. I’ll take Nesham and Carinna. We’ll wait for Castor and Mikhel as well. Should we wait for you?”

“No. I have Naria helping me on some research I need to do. We’ll be a while. Have Nesham watch Carinna. I’ll meet up with you for our evening meal.”

Koneru nodded and parted with the others heading towards the inn. Jace grabbed Naria’s arm and weaved through the crowded street. He turned down an alleyway and they moved at a slower pace as the loud sounds of the crowd left them.

“So busy,” Naria breathed, her gaze moving over everything. She ran her hands over the solid rock of the narrow alleyways as if in wonder.

“Yes. Shevu is one of the busier towns in Rovi. It caters more towards your everyday pilots and ship-wielders than some other towns. I wouldn’t normally come here but we were getting to the edge of the
SpaceStalker’s
run.”

“You’ve been to Rovi before then?” Naria asked him, her attention again fixated on him. Jace could feel her probing stare through the dark glasses she wore, almost like a caress upon his face.

“Yes. I’ve been everywhere in the System, Naria, even Dark World,” he said with a smile and she grinned back at him, her full lips curved with joy. Jace found himself enjoying their forced time on Rovi. He’d at first been anxious, eager to gather whatever information he could find to further his plans. He didn’t know why but he felt in his heart that time was running short for Mystique. He’d been gone for over a decade but he’d always felt linked to his world in his mind. Now, however, he began having odd flashes of panic, as if Mystique itself called to him for rescue.

“So this is it,” Naria said, bringing him back to the present. She sighed and pushed her glasses up on her head, squinting at the large building before her. Jace pulled her with him, ignoring the jolt of heat touching her brought.

“Come,” he said as they walked up the stairs. “I know a place where we can sit and talk.”

He brought them both past a little blue man sitting in a busy desk in the middle of the entryway.

“He’s an Informa,” Jace told Naria as he noticed her stare. “Not everyone in the System is familiar with them. An Informa has the ability to gather information from a myriad of details the normal human has trouble digesting. Within a minute of meeting you, an Informa knows just about everything about you. And they have an entire library of information up here,” he said tapping at his head.

Naria nodded and gave the Informa one last glance. “Amazing,” she said. “There is so much life here,” she noted, rather oddly he thought.

“Life? Are you telling me that Seven doesn’t have life? Because I’ve been there and during your Light Years it’s just as crowded as Rovi, moreso as the scholars have a field day around Seven’s vast libraries and archives. Tell me, Naria,” Jace asked blandly. “Which library do you work in?”

At that moment Naria spied a table and chairs next to several others holding people talking quietly. She sat and looked up at Jace expectantly. “Now what do you want to know about the Cazeth?” she asked.

Jace saw the evasion for what it was but her words did their job distracting him. “You honestly know about the Cazeth?” he asked, daring to hope.

Naria laughed softly. “Jace, I know my history better than you probably know yourself. I may not be System-wise, but I’ve spent my life studying about other cultures. Some of the Dark World histories are my most well-known.”

“Dark World histories? Are you telling me that the Cazeth are from Dark World?” he asked, intent on her answer. She had removed her glasses and he could see the intelligence shining in her gaze.

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning.” Naria sighed, knowing she had to temper much of what she told him, that Dark World’s history was largely shrouded in mystery. “Though the System has changed Motherworlds throughout the years, the Nearworlds have been surprisingly consistent. There are twelve Nearworld planets, thirteen if you include that mysterious ‘other planet,’” she began, noting his startled look.

“Let’s just say for the sake of argument that there are twelve,” Jace said in an odd voice.

“Right, twelve. Well, it’s been speculated that the Nearworlds have had life much longer than the Motherworlds and that that life began on Dark World. Dark World and Seven, both planets in the far periphery of the system, rarely see the light of the Nearworld suns. So for hundreds of years scholars refuted that life could and did flourish there.

“But lately there’s been a turn-around in thinking, perhaps driven by those escapees from Dark World. For whatever the reason, research has shown that the remnants of such creatures as the Horde and possibly the Cazeth—a people that no one to this day have seen,”
besides the Dark Worlders
, she thought to herself, “originated from Dark World.”

“So you have texts describing this?” Jace asked, his eyes glittering in excitement.

“Well, yes,” Naria said slowly, praying he wouldn’t ask to see them at some point. All the knowledge she shared with him had come from Dark World itself, and no one save the Dark Worlders had access to that information.

“But Jace, let me finish what I know. Many of the worlds in our System are dangerous, but none moreso than Dark World.”

“I believe that,” he murmured, his eyes intent on her face, listening to her words to capture every detail.

“Yes. You see, Dark World is almost its own private system. Having seen some of the creatures residing there, do you have any doubt that if set free in the System, they wouldn’t take over everything? They would bring chaos and a dark taint to everything they would touch,” she said bitterly, thinking how terrible it felt to be a part of such a thing.

“But they cannot leave that world, not without express permission from some higher being, Jace. The Horde disappeared from Dark World thousands of years ago, vanishing to another System altogether. It is believed,” she said, as she realized she spoke too fervently on the subject. “That is to say, modern scholars think that the Horde had escaped Dark World and had been hunted by them ever since. Yet last year they were defeated, were they not?”

“Yes,” Jace said with satisfaction. “By a good friend of mine, actually.”

Naria blinked. “The Mari is your friend?”

“Yes, as is her mate,” he smiled. “Very good people.”

Naria didn’t know what to make of his warm smile. For the first time since she’d met him she saw honest affection and love towards another being. She felt small and petty for wanting that look directed her way. Shaking her head, she returned to her story.

“Well, suffice it to say the Horde is no longer a threat. The Cazeth, on the other hand, might someday prove otherwise.”

“Do you believe they exist?” Jace asked.

“I do,” she said solemnly. Naria had seen the dark beings, creatures not demon or devel, but something much worse, something that the Wern moon had produced. “I believe, though this is all speculation you understand,” she paused and watched him nod impatiently, “that the Cazeth were even dark by Dark World standards. I think that somehow a few Cazeth escaped Dark World’s fifth moon, Wern. Wern is a place no demon or devel looks toward, lest they find madness and chaos their friend.

“The Cazeth, however, thrive on disorder. They sought for a time to take over Dark World, encaging the residents under their control and moving swiftly to overtake the entire System. But, according to the passage I read in one of my books written by an obscure author, a Dark World war raged for years. In time, the powerful Cazeth were beaten down and imprisoned on Lysst, the very moon where all of us had been imprisoned.

“But something went very wrong,” she said with a frown. The Demon Lord prior to her father had been killed in the battle, the Cazeth fleeing, it was thought, to find the Horde. “And the Cazeth escaped. It was believed they found their brethren the Horde and stayed with them for a time. But they didn’t appear last year in the attack on the System, so I can only speculate that they parted and moved elsewhere.”