“Baran found something.”
Nineteen
Kira — Pirate Vessel
Kirastartledawake.
She lay there for a minute, getting her bearings.The dull metal grates above her came into focus, reminding her that she’d fallen asleep in the cargo bay of the pirate ship they’d appropriated.
With no crew quarters to speak of—except one rancid room that none of their group had been willing to enter and that Kira was pretty sure had belonged to the ship’s former captain—they’d taken turns sleeping on the empty pallets in the cargo bay.
“Bad dream?”Raider asked.
He sat on a crate next to her pallet, examining the book Kira had fallen asleep reading.Something on the page caught his eye.He brought the book closer to his face, studying the words with a squint.
Kira threw an arm over her eyes, ignoring him.She didn’t want to talk about her dreams.
“To date—there has only been one person to survive the slaying of an Osiri.Evander the Insane.”Raider raised an eyebrow.“That’s quite the moniker.”He continued reading.“All others perished soon after their encounter.Evander, alone, survived for a short time before taking his own life.He was said to have been plagued by terrible visions prior to his death.Some believe it drove him to madness.”
Raider’s voice trailed off as he continued reading the rest of the passage she’d finished translating last night.
Kira removed her arm from her face, instead using it as a makeshift pillow.Considering how tired she still was, she must not have slept long.
No surprise there.Rest had been in short supply the last few days.
Raider snapped the book closed.“Interesting stuff.Who gave it to you?”
“Jarek thought I’d benefit from a crash course in the soul bound.He must have included that by mistake.”
Kira suspected the inquisitor had known exactly what he was doing when he put that book in the stack.He’d wanted her to read about those Tuann who’d managed to slay an Osiri.Whether to put doubts in her head or as a genuine attempt at help, she didn’t know.
Personally, she suspected it was the former, but that might be the cynic in her.
Raider found the other book Kira had brought along.The one she’d discarded in frustration shortly after she’d started translating it using the program Jin had written for her a few months back.He picked it up, flipping to the page with the translation she’d stuck in it.
“In the vast majority of cases, the soul bound descend into madness immediately upon having their soul ripped from their body and bound to a machine.However, there have been rare instances where they have survived the initial transition with their sanity intact.”
Raider stopped, his forehead wrinkling.“I thought the reason the inquisitors wanted Jin dead was because all of the soul bound are insane.This makes it sound like that’s not exactly the case.”
“Keep reading.”
Raider looked back down at the page.“Resist the temptation to harbor foolish hope, however.They are monsters.Abominations whose souls scream out for the mercy of death.If anything, their reason makes them that much more dangerous.Their influence on others is an insidious thing while their condition deprives them of any true sense of morality or empathy.They are capricious and cruel, lashing out much like a child might when they don’t get their way.”
Raider looked at Kira over the page.“Sounds familiar.”
“Jin only pretends to be rash.”
Most of the time anyway.
And while he could be capricious, he was never cruel.
Except to their enemies.
And sometimes Raider.
“The Osiri cannot control them,” Raider read.“They’ve lost several armies to a soul bound’s tantrum.Untold numbers of Tuann have fallen to their wrath.Our existence appears to be of particular irritation to them, and in their madness, they target us before all others.
“Despite that, the Osiri’s obsession with the soul bound continues unabated.I do not understand why and have suggested the council investigate further.I doubt they will listen.The exodus is to begin soon.I know not whether I will survive the coming days.For that reason, I am leaving this record so that future generations may know the danger of the soul bound.Should you encounter their kind—destroy with extreme prejudice.They cannot be allowed to exist while we still breathe.”
