The Sinistrati by E. V. Emmons

Author:E. V. Emmons [Emmons, E. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Remnants of lifelong nightmares and antidotes swam in Ares’s head. He was a boy again, walking the scorching sands of Acama, blisters forming on his bare feet. A massive sand wall roared toward the dig city where he and his mother lived. He limped toward their tent as fast as he could move, but the sand swallowed the camp whole before he could save them. He fell to his knees and wept, and the wall took on a familiar and unwelcome face.

“Ranse!” He bellowed and sat upright. His rival’s name left a bitter residue in the back of his throat. He winced under the bright light above him, and when the acrid smell of disinfectant filled his nose, he tasted bile.

Veles lowered the info pad he’d been reading and clacked his tongue. “I must say, I’m quite disappointed, old friend—I’ve sat here, dutifully, for hours and you call his name?”

Ares sighed. “I’m in no mood for your jesting, Veles.”

“Not to worry, the man gives me nightmares as well,” he teased. “It’ll stay our little secret, I promise.”

“Where’s the agent?” Ares demanded. “Farsic—I need to speak with him.”

“I would imagine he’s undergoing debriefing.”

“How did I get here?”

“The agent contacted your ship…informed them of your medical emergency—all the while attempting to treat you himself. Poor lad, I think he feared we’d execute him if you died.”

“You probably would have.”

“Probably,” Veles conceded. “Admiral Vilks made haste and saw to it you were returned to Messio and fortunately for you, I was the one who intercepted his communique. I had my personal physician treat you. If I understand correctly, you ran afoul of the slave broker, Dorgis Nil?”

“How do you know this?”

“Vilks informed me that you sought to challenge him—and I must say, your ruse worked splendidly.”

“As usual, I suspect you know more about this than you rightfully should.”

“Not at all, old friend. The results of your efforts have been all over the news net.”

“I beg your pardon?” Ares snapped.

Veles tapped at his info pad with a flourish of fingers and turned the display to face Ares. The newsreel played clips of various aerial battles over Faine and the liberation of countless slaves from the Fainish camps.

“Congratulations, you’ve managed to instigate an all-out war between the Ethosi and the Fainish slave trade. Both sides are suffering immeasurable casualties. In one fell stroke, you set two enemies of the Archontate against each other. Bravo,” Veles said, applauding softly. “I may need to start keeping an eye on you, my friend.”

Bile burned its way up Ares’s gullet and back down again. “And what of Ranse?”

“This latest coup of yours eclipsed his accusations—and in seeing the clever scenario you arranged, the others are more confident than ever that you’ve always held the Archontate’s best interests at heart.

“Ranse’s proxy and the Treguna incident, I assure you, are ancient history. In fact—and you didn’t hear this from me, but you are to be tapped to launch several campaigns, designed to break the Ethosi once and for all. We’ll drive them into such fits of desperation that they’ll play right into our hands.

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