Seeds of Inheritance by Aimee Kuzenski

Author:Aimee Kuzenski [Kuzenski, Aimee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aimee Kuzenski
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Eighteen

A friend may turn into an enemy at any time.

~ Serhan Karanlik

Thankfully, the rebel shuttle swayed less in the vacuum between Foss-Karan and its moon than it had in any layer of the atmosphere on the ride out. Evrim clung tight to the fleshy straps over her chest, hoping she wasn’t bruising the thing. The switch to floral technology had brought elvish society stability, predictability, and levels of control impossible with faunal equipment. Those who had magical aptitude - the mages and engineers, the Orders of Eye and Fist - they could grow an oak into a shiptree, convince it to seed true, and link it to the palacetree network to send it hurtling between star systems.

This strange hollow bird thing named Tresha, on the other hand, had opinions and drives of her own, and only the skill and affection of its rider kept it on task. Evrim barely trusted Mirza as it was. She found it even more difficult to trust his mount. And the term might better be ‘host’ than rider. They were all inside the stinky beast, like parasites. It was enough to send shudders up her spine.

Hypatia’s face was avid, though. The lines of worry and stress in the corner of eye and mouth had faded almost to invisibility under the onslaught of her instant and complete fascination with the animal they rode in. Listening to the rapid fire question and answer and counter question between Hypatia and Mirza, seeing Hypatia’s hands stroke the thin feathers on the walls, her head craning to see rib structure or bulging muscle or even a ragged scar that traced perpendicular to the ribcage that Mirza called a battle line, Evrim swallowed her irritation as much as she could. It warmed her heart to see Hypatia lit up that way.

The birdship shuddered as they hit the moon’s thin atmosphere, and the body tensed and rippled.

“What’s going on?” Evrim struggled against the implacable straps, fingers aching for the hilt of a knife. “Did we take a hit?”

Mirza chuckled. “Not quite.”

The flesh of the wall clenched under her scrabbling fingers, then there was an immediately familiar biological release of foul-smelling gas. Evrim gagged, clasping her hands over her nose and mouth.

“Tresha is just equalizing pressure.” He was laughing in earnest now, uncaring of the stench flooding the close confines of the shuttle. Basir had a fold of their robe pressed over their face, but their eyes sparkled.

Gagging, Evrim choked out, “Oh fuck both of you with your damn stinky bird’s innards.”

“That doesn’t even make any sense.” Basir rolled their eyes and turned their attention back to the ship bird.

Evrim coughed. “It does to me, and if I have a say about it, I’ll get to demonstrate.”

Hypatia laughed behind her own hand, and though the air didn’t clear, the tension had eased. Evrim scowled dramatically, then winced. Her head still ached with root-rot. She needed to find a medic on the base, or she’d end up curled in a corner.

The birdship didn’t land like a transport seed, in a gentle guided whoosh that slowed evenly to a stop.

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