The Changeling Game, Chapter 93

93.
The Eaters of Souls

“These are his last moments!”

She couldn’t bring herself to watch. She couldn’t make herself look away.

The entire crowd of Necromongers observed, enrapt, as their Lord Marshal and “the Riddick” battled. It was brutal. Horrible. And inch by inch, Riddick was losing.

And there was nothing Kyra could do except bear witness to his death.

Thinking he died nearly destroyed me… what will really seeing it happen do to me?

There was no answer from the Quasi-Dead. She sensed that their attention was focused on the battle.

Little larva, we heard you, a soft, strange, somehow female voice whispered in her mind. I have come in answer.

Something small, with many legs, was crawling up her calf, hidden by her cloak. It took all of her strength not to flinch or scream. Time seemed to be slowing around her, her heartbeats spreading further and further apart.

Who are you? she asked.

I have no name. My name was stolen long ago by the Demons of the Darkness. Our sister sent me to you. Aud Ree.

Aud Ree? Like Mommy Ree? But all the Ree who could articulate words clearly were at least the size of a cat…

You knew her as Tizzy. As Jack. She has worn so many names. She heard you call and asked me to find you.

The creature had reached her waist and was climbing higher. Suddenly understanding what was needed, Kyra lifted her hood back up.

Thank you, little larva. This will not hurt.

An Apeiros. The thing crawling up her body was one of Tizzy’s Apeiros…

Yes. And we have a claim upon you that precedes, and supersedes, his claim. We must move quickly while he is distracted.

We have to help Riddick, she told the creature as it reached her shoulder. We can’t let him die!

No, we cannot allow his death. Too much depends upon the three of you. In a moment, you will be free again and able to help him. Slender, questing, arachnid legs touched her throat and face.

For an endless instant, she was frozen in place. Paralyzed as if Sebby had stung her. The Apeiros was holding her still as—

Power poured into her, filling every nerve. Power similar to but somehow different from the eldritch energies that had entered her body during her Purification. Those energies broke and dissipated, new strength taking their place. She almost felt human again. Almost…

Another wave of power filled her and she felt her skin warming, the life that had been stolen from her replenishing.

That’s as much as I can give you, the creature whispered, sounding somehow winded. For now. I have not broken their connection to you completely—that would draw their attention back to you—but you are free of their control.

What do I do now? Kyra asked. Her mind and body were her own again. She could feel it. But she had no idea what to do with that power. She was surrounded by enemies.

They do not know you are not one of them. Move to the front. Watch. Await your moment. You will know when one opens.

Would she? How do you know?

We have watched you for years. Listened to you for years.

Why didn’t you say anything? It struck her just how many times she could have used their help.

We were forbidden to speak to you unless you spoke to us first.

Fuck. Of course. She’d thanked Tizzy for doing that, too. It had never occurred to her, later on, that they were waiting for permission to talk to her…

…and, somehow, had managed to reach her in a matter of minutes once she finally called them for help.

If I’d known… They could have saved her from so many things, so many times.

She could have called them when General Toal’s man was following her, when the mercs trapped her, when the mercs sold her, when she was arrested, when Toombs and Logan found her, any time while she was in Crematoria, on the run across the planet’s sur­face…

If the Moribund was the god of the Necromongers, she’d had access to an entire pantheon the whole time, possibly omnipotent beings constrained by a promise that kept them from crossing the threshold of her mind without an invitation. All she’d ever had to do was say one word. Just one. All she’d ever had to do was stop hiding. Invite them in. Trust them… the way Tizzy had always trusted them.

Is she okay?

She is well. Frightened for you. She rescinded her command, but we could not find you until just now. The Moribund’s creatures were hiding you from us.

He made me one of his creatures, too, she told the Apeiros on her shoulder, hiding itself in her hood. It was hard to keep a whimper out of her mental voice.

No longer. You are yourself again.

But who is that? She couldn’t keep a wail out of her mental voice. I thought I knew, but it was a lie! Riddick doesn’t even know me. He never even met me before a few days ago—

And yet he is fighting for your sake now, the creature told her.

No. He’s not. He’s fighting for her. He came for her. She felt, yet again, like an afterthought, a consolation prize. Even the Apeiros itself had come to find her because Tizzy had asked it to. Would any of it, ever, be for her sake?

He knew from the moment he met you that you weren’t the girl he’d protected on the world with three suns.

What…? But he had called her by Jack’s name… once. He’d referenced the things that Jack had experienced. Oh God, he was trying to play along with me to find out what happened to her, wasn’t he?

At first. But remember what else he did. Knowing that you weren’t her.

He’d broken his own rules for her, coming back to rescue her when she couldn’t keep up. He’d fought beside her, linking up with her so that she felt like they were two halves of a single entity as they scythed through Necros to­gether…

And he is here. Now. To rescue you. To rescue Kyra, not Jack. He may not already know you, but he wants to.

It was something of a salve, a reassurance, but she wasn’t sure it would be enough. The Riddick she had been trying to get to know was the man who had rescued her from the New Christy Enclave, teaching and protecting her while they roamed the woods of Canaan Mountain together and took out Red Roger and his marshals for crimes that, she realized, had somehow never happened in her revised memories and yet still demanded requital. That Riddick was a man she had trusted, body and soul, and had known would never betray her or abandon her, even though at the same time, she’d known that he had, that he’d done so when he’d left Jack…

Everything she had given him, done for him and with him, from their first real meeting, had been predicated on a relationship she’d wholeheartedly believed in… and which had never existed.

Without the lies, was anything left to connect them?

He came here for you, Kyra. He is risking death for you. He could have gone anywhere.

I can’t do this as just Kyra, she groaned. I need…

Jack.

Lies or not, she needed the false memories and the cushioning they gave, against trauma after trauma that had her shrinking from contact with any man in the room, possibly even Riddick himself. She needed him to be Red Roger’s destroyer. She needed him to have shepherded her through the darkness and fought off monsters for her. She needed to know that he hadn’t been disappointed by who and what he found in Crematoria, and that the relationship of her dreams was not merely possible but something that had already begun, been interrupted, and was simply about to resume.

She needed the lie. She wasn’t strong enough without it. That was why Tizzy had given it to her to begin with.

Jack had never been dead, she realized, and sure as hell had never been weak. Jack had been her strength. Even if, the whole time, Jack had been someone else.

She has never used the name since she left Tangiers Prime. She would not begrudge you using it.

It’s not the name, Kyra tried to explain. The Quasi-Dead tore me apart. I need the parts of me they took away. Even if they were lies. I need the lies back!

Oh, sweet little larva. Perhaps this is why my kind waits so long to take on names. You are in so many ’verses. In some of them, the stories in your head, that are lies here, are even true. In this ’verse they are not true, and I think they have even been harming you…

It wouldn’t help her. It agreed with the Quasi-Dead and wouldn’t help her!

…but you need the shield, and the strength, they can give you now. I will give them back to you. For now. So you may act without fear or doubt. So you may rescue your rescuer.

Strength, of a new kind, flowed into her. Years-old debilitating agonies faded in an instant, replaced with purpose.

The battle still raged, in slow motion, in front of her. She had drawn close to the front of the crowd as they had spoken. As she watched, the Lord Marshal cracked a metal spear across Riddick’s ribs, snapping the shaft in two and sending Riddick flying, sprawling to the floor by the throne’s steps. Zhylaw—she knew that was his name but didn’t know how—tossed the spear aside and walked over to one of his armored guards, taking another from him.

The broken weapon lay on the floor, discarded and forgotten, near Kyra’s feet. She pulled back her hood as she reached down, aware that the Apeiros was no longer sitting on her shoulder.

The Lord Marshal was choking Riddick, the length of his new spear pressed hard against her beloved’s throat. Their backs were to her as she picked up the discarded shaft from the floor. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the combatants, including the “eyes” of the Quasi-Dead; no one seemed at all aware of her actions.

“You are not the one to bring me down,” Zhylaw snarled at Riddick.

Kyra shifted her spear partway into Elsewhere, its tip all the way into Elsewhere, and thrust forward, bringing everything back once the tip was a few inches deep into the Lord Marshal’s back. I’d have used a teacup if I’d had one handy.

The Lord Marshal cried out in pain, releasing Riddick and staggering forward. Kyra felt a strange, guttural growl escape her throat. This would be the best kill she’d ever made.

Who’s the better killer now? she thought as Riddick lifted his eyes toward her in stunned confusion. She wasn’t sure if he could hear her; he looked dazed. That’s right, baby, Jack B. Badd is ba—

The Lord Marshal turned on her, a growl of his own escaping, and backhanded her with inhuman strength. Her feet left the ground and she felt herself flying back­ward—

Pain blazed through her as something long and sharp slid into her back in three places. She gasped, suddenly struggling to breathe. An undulant wall slammed up against her back.

The pillar. She’d seen it as she’d approached the throne, both times, a twisted structure with curved spikes embedded throughout it. Now she was pinned—literally pinned—to it like a fucking insect.

“Now!” she heard Vaako’s wife shout. “Kill the beast while he’s wounded!”

Fuck. They were going to slaughter Riddick. He wouldn’t stand a chance on his own if more jumped into the fray. She needed to help him.

She had to twist her body, willing it forward with all the telekinesis she could muster, to pull herself off the spikes that had impaled her. But her legs buckled beneath her and she collapsed onto the steps, barely able to even lift her head. The taste of blood filled her mouth.

Riddick was staring at her from across the floor, his expression a mixture of horror and grief.

I thought we’d have more time, she tried to tell him. She’d had so many dreams of what would happen when they reunited, and none of them had come true. I thought I’d get to be yours first…

Kyra had never wanted a man until he’d come into her life. And now she would never get to have one.

Little one, I am so sorry, the Apeiros whispered. Your shell is failing. I do not have enough power left to repair it.

Why did it always call her “little?” It had been small when it had crawled up her, no bigger than Sebby when she and Jack had first rescued her. She closed her eyes, hearing Vaako murmur “forgive me” somewhere nearby, uncertain whether he was talking to her or someone else. It didn’t matter. All that mattered was—

Will Riddick live?

“Noooooooo!” she heard Dame Vaako scream, and for a moment she thought it was her answer.

Yes, sweet Kyra. Riddick will live. And so will you, in time. I promise you.

A moment later, she felt strong arms, a man’s arms, around her, felt her body being turned over. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know who was holding her. She could feel him, feel the bond between them, with every fiber of her being.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered to him, wishing she was strong enough to open her eyes. It was getting harder and harder to speak.

Hold on, he told her silently. Hold on. Don’t die.

She wanted to hold onto something, but she could feel her connection to her own body loosening. It was all she could do to keep her tears of pain and grief from escaping. She had cried far too much already.

I cannot help you stay in your shell, sweet little Kyra, the Apeiros whispered. But I can help you not die.

She could feel its slender legs wrapping around her, not around her body the way Riddick’s arms already were, but around her very essence. Larger than her now, engulfing her… what was it, really?

Above her, Riddick spoke, his voice hesitant and sad. “Are you with me, Kyra?”

Being with him was all she’d ever wanted. Why didn’t he know that? Ever since she was twelve… ever since…

It hurt but she took a deeper breath, opening her eyes. She needed him to know.

“I was always with you,” she tried to say, but all that slipped out was another breathless whisper.

It was me, she tried to remind him, giving up on her voice. It was always me. There by your side in the eclipse, it was me, nobody else, me…

They had been supposed to go on forever. Together. She gathered enough breath to try to speak again. “I was…”

Jack…

Ever since they had met in the forests of Canaan Mountain, ever since he had helped her do battle against the monsters that wanted to destroy her family…

She felt him beside her in those forests, again and yet somehow for the first time, looking around in confusion, seeing her memories and baffled by them. Didn’t he remember, too?

It was real, she tried to tell him. I swear it was all real… it was always me…

Oh, little one, I think I have hurt you all the worse… he came for you as you are now, no one else… She could feel the now-huge Apeiros drawing her out of herself, its grip gentle but firm. Sleep now, Kyra. Dream of your world, the world you and your sister made for you. I will take you to safety.

And, even as she felt herself pull free, she felt something else trying to reach for her, something hungry, heard an echo of monstrous rage as it felt her shell emptying and, cradled in her strange sister’s many arms, she dropped back into a dream of a world with three suns—

Where is it? It was mine! Where is it? Thieving bitch—

Riddick came to himself, gasping.

“Sometimes I fuckin’ hate bein’ right,” he growled.

He’d felt how Lucy had pulled Kyra’s soul out of her body, and it had felt almost exactly like the old Lord Marshal’s attempt to extract his soul.

Lucy! he called out, trying not to let all of his rage bleed into his mental voice. You got some fuckin’ ’splainin’ to do!

I am here, Riddick. What do you need to know?

“When you pulled Kyra’s… five-shape out of her shell… it ain’t the first time you’ve done that, is it?”

No. It is not.

“I want to hear you say when else you’ve done it.”

You know. But if you must hear it, I will say it. It’s how we hunt. It’s how we feed. But we have not fed on her.

“You hunt humans for their souls,” he growled at her.

No.

“No? Then what the fuck—”

Only three of us have escaped the cages created by the Demons of the Darkness, Riddick. The only one of us who has eaten human four-shapes is the Moribund. You know the circumstances of my escape. You named me for them. I owe my existence to Audrey. She is my sister and I would no more eat a human four-shape, or five-shape, than I would eat one of my broodmates. But I hunt elsewhere in the multiverse. There are infinite other kinds of prey.

“That’s why he chased after you, isn’t it? Why he attacked Jack. You stole his meal and he tried to replace it with her.”

Yes.

“That’s what all the killing’s really about, ain’t it? He ain’t just tryin’ to wipe out worlds. He’s feasting.”

He was once the strongest of us, Riddick. We pinned our hopes on his escape. It almost killed him and sapped his strength. For four hundred years he has existed on the verge of death, and all he has had to stave it off are the energies his… vessels… can draw out of the human worlds he conquers. And yet he must give most of it back to keep them, their ships, and their weapons going. Do you know what the real Underverse is, Riddick?

“It’s a fuckin’ lie, that’s what it is.”

No. It’s not the dreamland his vessels have constructed in their minds from human notions of an afterlife. It’s the ’verse where we hatched. The ’verse we were stolen away from. Our nesting ground. Teeming with energies that helped us grow. We were newborns to our six-shapes when we were stolen from that ’verse, cut off from it. We don’t even know where it is. And you know exactly who did this to us, don’t you?

Fuck. “I do. Yeah.”

Perhaps I would like to hear you say it.

Riddick rose from his crouch on the dais. “You want me to say it? Fine. I will. To Jack. C’mon.”

It’s too late for that, Riddick. There was a hint of resignation and regret in her disembodied voice.

Cold jetted through his veins. “What… the fuck… do you mean by that?”

You have been in the Chamber of the Quasi-Dead for more than a day. A great deal has happened. And now it is time for Audrey’s hatching.

“My Lord—?” Lord Vaako asked as Riddick burst through the Chamber’s doors, vaulting over the throne and flinging himself at top speed down the hallway. He didn’t bother looking back.

All he knew was that Jack was in danger. And he was fucking sick of being too late to save the people he loved.