Chapter Seventeen — Part 5

Reaching for my sword, and not finding it, I flew straight at Wastik, catching his blade with the flat of my palms. With a hard twist, I snapped his blade free, and sent it spinning into the Mixedspace void. I pounded him with both my fists. My tiny claws slashing cuts deep into his cheeks, his throat bled openly from a cruel swipe of my hand. Catching a punch and wrapping my legs around his waist, I twisted his arm until his wrist snapped at the joint. Still holding his arm, I pushed away, took aim with my knee and broke a couple of his ribs.

My hand locked around his throat and I hissed at him in anger. “You’ve killed enough.”

He vanished from my grip before I could finish his wretched little life — not even his blood remained behind.

“You’ll not escape me.” I said. “Your cowardice won’t go unpunished.”

Genesis reappeared, unharmed. “Sorry it took me so long to get back. Where’s Wastik?”

“I nearly had him, but he got away.” I flew to Genesis and took him in my arms. His wings were misshapen and missing pieces. “What can I do?”

Genesis smiled at me. “This is an illusion. Wastik could never do me any permanent harm.”

“I heard his conversation with you as I was working on a way to block off the sub-teselar radiation. If what he says is true, then young Jupe’s in serious danger. If the Scandivat world dies, so does Jupe.”

“So Jupe must still be alive.” I looked at him, my eyes wide with terror.

“For now. I’ll see you again. Take care, my friend.”

The last of the Otherspace faded, Genesis vanished from my arms, leaving me alone in sub-teselar Mixedspace. Then the world flashed once, and I found myself on the Persimmon.

“Are you two safe?” I asked, falling to one knee. The Persimmon was in full combat, and obviously damaged. My mind reeled in pain.

Tiffany took me in her arms, ignoring the blood. “We’re not out of trouble just yet. What happened to you?”

“Wastik is doing all this so he can rid himself of the humans on Earth. He hurt the colony; he’s the piece that breaks other pieces. He must be fixed, along with the damage he’s caused.”

Tiffany held me close. “Can’t fix a dark heart.” She wiped the blood from my face with a handkerchief.

I put my head on the crook of her neck, about to cry. “Then I’ll have to kill him.”

Under Kotian’s command, the Persimmon used its plasma cannons to pierce a hole through the colony defenses and fled into undamaged Realspace. We took more abuse in our retreat. The Scandivat, like so many wasps, attacked us from all sides, trying to draw us back to the colony. But Kotian would have nothing of it. I was too injured to take command, so Tiffany helped me to the medical cot and strapped me in.

The Persimmon fought onward, leaving a path of destruction in her wake. I hoped that none of the Hunters would be killed during our escape. As soon as the sub-teselar fields weakened sufficiently to allow it, the Persimmon fled into Otherspace, and I was taken to my quarters and treated for my wounds. I had two pieces of the puzzle — one that didn’t fit, and one that had been shoved into the wrong place, but I still had only a rough idea of what the full picture would be.

Within my stomach was a lump that felt as big as my fist. Memories of the fight flooded my mind, traumatized me, really. Had Wastik stayed, he would have lost, but I was certain he wasn’t using his full power on me. I didn’t want to have to kill anybody, but Wastik wasn’t giving me many alternatives.

Knowing the source of destruction, and knowing what I might have to do to end the suffering, it all made me sick.

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