Sky Lord by Rowan Erlking (popular e readers TXT) 📖

fair-haired and about five of them, bragging among themselves about how they were the lords of a place they referred to as space—that black emptiness above their world that was filled with stars. Tia listened, as the memory recalled their jibes and their toasts, and even their arguments. Two of the men were rivals, bitterly angry behind their happy façades. Her memory reflected one of those men who wanted more than anything to be the best pilot of space.

Then the memory reeled. She saw images of dog fighting among the people in space. Several different worlds spun around in her mind. One was their home world, not her world. Another was a strange alien planet that she did not recognize. There were more that she saw, all indications of the vast intergalactic empire in space.

Tia then saw her world, the continents of Greater Gull and Minor Gull spinning around in a Pangea with the wide ocean full of islands shrouded in white fluffy clouds. In her memory the charge to the space pilots rang hard. No one was allowed to land on that world. It was too mysterious to attempt. It was full of monsters and mystical forces not unlike the pagan concept of magic. All these thoughts puzzled her until she found herself staring at Jonis’s face.

“They landed on our world, didn’t they?” she asked, breathless.

Jonis nodded. “Yes. Our people all come from the same place.”

Now she understood. He was not from the island, but his people were from out of their own atmosphere, the same place the Sky Lord came from.

“Then the Sky Lord is…?” She looked up at him expectantly.

He nodded. “My ancestor’s rival. If you dig into the memories enough, you will know how they came to be here.”

And she did know. It came automatically now, as if Jonis’s memories were hers. His ancestor had been in a fight with hers. His ship had been struck, sideswiped by his rival’s ship. His ancestor crashed down in the far west, wounded. At the point of death, a local farmer found him and tried to help. But the moment his ancestor had touched the farmer he accidentally absorbed his body, becoming him. He was the beginning of the Cordrils.

Tia stared at Jonis. “He killed that man.”

Jonis nodded frankly. “Yes, he did. Though he had not realized he had that ability until that moment.”

But Tia shook her head at him. “But that means your ancestors are demons, like mine.” She closed her eyes. “I am not half demon, but a demon hybrid.”

He sighed. “You are only half demon. Our ancestors were not demons, but men with a gift.”

“A gift?” She nearly jumped to her feet. Jonis pulled her back down, looking around for any military personnel. “How is the killing touch a gift?”

He slapped a hand on her mouth, hissing near her ear. “I know you are upset right now, but listen to the memories you took from me. Know what I know.”

Her breathing eased somewhat. Dejected at the idea of understanding such brutal acts, Tia attempted to hear him just the same.

“Our gift is the transfer of memory and thought,” he said. “As a people, all we needed to do was touch someone to let them know exactly what we were thinking. This solved a great many problems. Caused some too. Can you see it in your mind now? We had no idea that coming to this world would also enable us to suck life from others, but obviously our superiors did. Why else was it forbidden?”

The memories flooded over her. Yes, she saw that now. This man was groping to live, and he had inadvertently taken another man’s life to do so. It was not unlike her ability to borrow a life. She wondered if she just never tried to steal that life entirely. She was sure now that she could kill with her hands, if she let herself.

“Now you understand,” Jonis said.

She did. Many of her questions were answered. Only two remained.

“So you hunt my kind because of this memory. It is a vendetta,” she said.

Jonis blinked at her. “It was that way in the past, yes. But today, no. I have two reasons for tracking you.”

His memory flashed in her mind. She knew his reasons now. Tia saw him smile at her as she recalled them, uttering aloud. “You want to know how come the Sky Children are so different from the Cordrils. We don’t entirely absorb the ones we touch. We leave a body. Your kind doesn’t. So you want to go to the Demon Island with me to find out.”

He nodded. “And the other?”

Tia blushed, staring down at her knees. The other reason was more involved. Her heart thundered in her chest. Memories of his father, and from his father passed on to him rushed through her. His father was a desperate man who could not convince a woman to be his wife. All the women feared him, knowing he was a Cordril from his blue eyes, which always remained regardless of his form. So, in his old age and in desperation, he found a man who had a wife he believed suitable for himself. He followed the man into a field and absorbed his entire body, becoming him completely. When he, as that man, returned to the wife, his eyes glowing bright blue, he lied, saying he had a brush with a Cordril but got away. That woman was Jonis’s mother. When he was born with blue eyes, she knew that it was not her husband that had been with her but the Cordril that killed him. In a fit of despair, she committed suicide.

The memory was horrific. Tia recoiled, thinking nothing but sadness for the poor woman and her real husband. But the memory went on, showing how the village drove Jonis and his father out. It showed how and when his father transferred all his memories to him, all the way back to the day his ancestor crashed on their world. Not long after, his father died. Jonis was left alone, taken in only by a merciful man who had hopes to use him to forestall a demon infestation. That man had been killed by a Cordril, and Jonis was sent to the military to become a soldier for the Brein Amon army. She saw his internal conflict, dealing with demons and the corrupt politics of the nation. Now he was a wandering hunter in search of the answer to the conflict between his people and the Sky Lord’s.

Then the thought occurred to him, passing on to her. What if he ended that conflict himself? Truly gifted and therefore dangerous Sky Children were rare. When he had heard about Tia’s discovery in Calcumum he thought that maybe he could bring an end to it forever. But then, on that day when he saw her crossing the field, more difficult to catch than anyone he had ever encountered—and that really was saying something with all the years of experience he had demon hunting—she impressed him. She had tenacity and intelligence regardless of living most of her life as a slave. She was beautiful besides, as well as humble. His heart beat hard just watching her struggle for freedom, and for the first time in his life he wanted to give it to her. He loved her.

 

Chapter Sixteen: The Boat

 

 

 

                                     

 

Tia’s heart jumped. She blushed to her ears. Quick memories of things he had done to make sure no one hurt her, including letting that dog go in the capitol without being seen, washed over her. Even now he sat beside her, not because he wanted to seduced her and manipulate her, but because he was concerned for her.

Her breathing went shallow. “Why me?”

Jonis lowered his head in a blush. “Why not? Every other woman is afraid of me. And I won’t do what my father did.” He then lifted his head with a twinkle in his eye. “Besides, wouldn’t you like to see what kind of child would come from a Cordril and a Sky Child? Maybe we will look at the pure form of what our ancestors were. They weren’t like the humans around here.”

That was true. Tia had wondered since going through his ancient memories what it would be like to meet another of their source blood. Memories were, after all, imperfect, colored by attitudes and ideas.

But the silent proposal Jonis offered was still too early for Tia. She looked him in the eye to assess what kind of life she would have paired up with a creature that had only just hunted her. He was strong and willful. That she knew from what she had absorbed some of his personality. But he was also clever, one who looked ahead to possibilities. But, being male, his drives and physical desires overwhelmed her, and Tia knew she was not ready for any such thing.

She peered through the cracks of the broken down fence. The sun was rising high now, somehow the morning spent.

“So, do you plan on continuing this journey?” Jonis asked.

Tia looked back at him and nodded. “Your question is the same as mine. I want to know why we are so different, now that I know why we are alike. That, and I really want to know where I can go from here.”

He lowered his eyes, nodding. “I figured you’d feel that way. But this step of the journey will be tricky, because, you see, I am being watched. The soldiers haven’t a clue where I am right now, but their spy network will catch up with us soon.”

She nodded, recalling his memories of the soldiers the Patriarch sent to trail him. “So we have to sneak on a ship, or steal one.”

“That’s the idea,” Jonis said grinning broader at her. He patted her shoulder, standing up, “I am so glad I don’t have to explain things so much anymore. With me in your head, I don’t think there will be any more confusion.”

Tia smirked, looking up at him. “Oh? How so? Just because I now know how you think doesn’t mean I agree with you.”

He extended a hand, taking hers and lifting Tia to her feet. “Yes, but the probability of us arguing over a misunderstanding are practically nil now, now that you know I am not going to hurt you.”

That was true. His touch made a shiver run up her arm, but she didn’t mind it. It reminded her at once of Marla’s hugs. It was gentle and not brutish. But then he always had been more kind than harsh. Now that she could see into his head, she knew that he had not been guarding her to keep her from escaping out in that village, but keeping the other demons from attacking her. Even in the city he stayed close by, not to keep an eye on her—the demon chain did its work well—but to make sure the other bounty hunter did not attempt to manhandle her. Even at the capital, though he would not defy the Patriarch publicly, he tried everything in his power to spoil the man’s designs towards her. Jumping ahead of the military, freeing her from the pirates…and now he had a plan to take them to