Esme smiled wanly and tapped her chin with a polished nail. Jahara looked noble, but slightly bleak. Kaila blinked rapidly. Tez appeared a bit hang dog. Anwar lowered his head. Illarion grunted. Mei looked away from him.
“We met them in desperate circumstances where we needed them, mostly to get revenge,” Valerius said quietly. “Some of us had more noble reasons than others for that revenge.”
He smiled at Jahara, Esme and Tez.
“Oh, don’t include me in the noble club, Valerius. I created my enemy. Literally.” Esme shivered and drew her arms around herself.
“Eldoron let me be the type of man I wished I had been before the mine collapse,” Tez said with a wan smile. “I was not the brave man that stood up to the owners. I was a cur. A bootlicker.”
“No, Tez!” Kaila objected. “You were just afraid! When people are so much stronger than you, it’s all right to be afraid!”
“I didn’t speak up. I didn’t do anything.” Tez patted her hand. “But Eldoron let me change that.”
Jahara spoke quietly then as she paced gracefully, “I hated my father and his friends. I envisioned how I would kill him over and over again. Even as I cried myself to sleep and wished he would love me still and stop what he was doing. But he did not. Zephyra didn’t just let me get my revenge, but like Tez, it helped me become a protector of other people.”
“Raziel let you kill your brother’s murderers,” Anwar said smiling at Valerius, “and then, reluctantly, you accepted that the world needed your leadership, Valerius. So many others--including myself--would have leaped at the opportunity to rule something more than my territory.”
“You’ve done quite well in your territory, Anwar. You wouldn’t have been a bad choice,” Esme said.
“But you are not Valerius,” Mei said tightly. Her arms were crossed over her chest just as tightly. “There is no doubt that Raziel will come back to him. No doubt.”
“It’s not just me, Mei. It’s all of us. No matter how flawed we were or are,” Valerius said.
“So they let us have our revenge and, some of us, think they are better people because of it?” Illarion asked. “That is why they will return?”
“I believe that even our flaws called to them. They saw a longer game. They chose us--for the good in us, and the ill--and they knew what they were getting,” Valerius answered. “Through us, as imperfect vessels as we are, they can do what they believe they should. What their purpose is.”
“I hope you are right, Valerius. I do miss my Scylla. And it is hell getting old.” Esme sniffed and sat down on the couch between Valerius and Illarion. She patted Caden’s still legs. “I’d forgotten then. Now I’ll remember. I won’t take for granted the gifts that Scylla gives me.” Then with a wry smile, she added, “At least for a little while.”
Kaila grinned. “A little while. For sure.”
There was a knock on the doors. Jahara went to them and opened them slightly. Weapons were passed through one at a time. Valerius got up from the couch after gently depositing Caden’s body on the cushions and making sure he was secure and safe. He couldn’t hide how much effort that cost him to leave Caden and walk, but he thought there was a slighter lightness to him. Less pain. He wondered why. He didn’t know why. But he hoped it was because Raziel, Caden and Iolaire were nearer than before. Jahara handed him a weapon. He took the sleek rifle that had a glowing blue stripe down the barrel. He lifted an eyebrow at Jahara.
“Just point and pull the trigger. Even if you can’t hit a barn door on a still night, the laser bolt will hit its mark,” Jahara explained.
“I should take a greater interest in your inventions, Jahara,” Valerius murmured.
“We should definitely get together and compare notes.” Mei was cradling her rifle against her chest and stroking it like she might a lover. “Between my AI research and your weapons… Well, we’ll be able to help Illarion with his problems.
“I handle my own problems.” Illarion grabbed a rifle himself, grunting with every step to get it. “And you will not kill my people.”
“Actually, there’s a stun setting.” Jahara pointed to a switch just above the trigger. “Red is death. Blue is stun.”
Illarion toggled the switch and was going to leave it on red when Valerius put his hand on the barrel. He saw Landry and her brothers looking anxiously at them.
“Blue, Illarion. Remember we don’t want to kill the Horde,” Valerius said. He tipped his head towards the mirror. “Those bodies are just being borrowed.”
Illarion grunted and switched the toggle to blue. Everyone had a weapon. Esme held hers easily, aiming down the site.
“Very nice, Jahara. These remind me of my World War II days,” she sighed.
Tez took the weapon awkwardly and held it with two fingers by the stock. “I am not so good with weapons. I never was.”
“It’ll be just like a video game, Tez.” Kaila said as she, too, awkwardly checked out the gun. “And since it's on stun, it really is like a game. Sort of. A little.”
“Hopefully, we will not have to use them. Is there no way for us to see what is happening on the bridge? Surely, they have quelled the Horde,” Esme said.
Valerius wondered too. There were muffled shouts and cries still so people were still fighting.
