The Nameless Storm by Novae Caelum

Author:Novae Caelum
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robot Dinosaur Press

26

THE RUNE

Do the Kidaa have a rune for ‘fear’? Or ‘hope’ or ‘love’? Are we the only beings in this universe that feel any of these things?

DR. BLINN MENDOZA IN THE DOCUVID SERIES WHO ELSE IS OUT THERE? (AND ARE THEY FRIENDLY?)

Maja stared down at the rune. Did he know what it meant?

No. How could he? He’d never had time to study the runes.

Rhys would know.

“Maja!”

He drew a sharp breath, turned around to see Zhang with her teeth bared, walking on her bad ankle toward him.

Oh, no.

He ran back to her, and she fell into his support, wobbling them both before they steadied.

He heard the sound of engines now and looked up to see aircars, or maybe a large airvan and a shuttle, hurtling toward them. From the direction of Racha? Yes, he thought.

The shuttle slowed and made a vertical landing nearby in the field, not over the rune. The airvan circled uncertainly, and the terrain wasn’t the best for landing a city vehicle, but it settled down a little crookedly beside the shuttle.

The shuttle’s hatch opened, disgorging Racha Guard in combat armor and people in medic’s blues.

“Captain Zhang? Ser Keralan?”

A person ran over to them, fit and femme, and from the tabs on her collar, she was a major and used she/her pronouns. No, not Racha Guard. This was a response from Hestia’s scant military reserves.

“Are you hurt?” the major asked.

“Her ankle is broken,” Maja said. “I don’t know my own injuries. I don’t think anything’s broken.”

But he still hadn’t had time to thoroughly check. And his eyes kept straying back to the rune.

A rune.

How? How had there been a Kidaa attack here, the farthest they’d ever come into Valoran space? Hestia was even farther from the border than Valon. And here, right here, mere meters from where he’d been?

How was that even possible?

It wasn’t a coincidence. A large and very loud part of his mind was screaming that this wasn’t a coincidence.

“Ser Keralan, please, come to the shuttle. We’re evac’ing you to Sinnat Atran base. You’ll be safe there.”

Maja blinked, disoriented. What?

He’d zoned out.

They’d removed Zhang to a hover stretcher, and a medic was checking her while another pushed the stretcher toward the shuttle.

He blinked again at the major. “It was a Kidaa attack.”

From the tightening around her mouth, she knew that. Of course they would have checked the satellite feeds.

“Ser, my job is to get you to safety⁠—”

“I need to talk to the admiral of the system⁠—”

“Ser, please. Please come with me to the shuttle⁠—”

She reached for him, and he stepped back out of reach. “No, I need to talk to—I’m—I’m⁠—”

He couldn’t say he was the Seritarchus, because he wasn’t. Or that he was Maja. That would be the greatest disaster, with Iata holding the rulership as Homaj on Valon. He couldn’t say he was Iata, either, because he’d still have to explain his not being Iata. He’d have to tell her that bloodservants could Change, and he knew nothing about her.

So. He’d have to go with her to the base and find a way there to speak to the general in command.

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