The moment the warship was tied up and the brow across, Kira took time only to thank the officers and crew before racing to the pier. Her mother and father stood there, Mari holding a small bundle in her arms. Kira hugged them both before peering at the small face visible amid the wraps. “What’s his name?”
“Andre. After Alain’s father.”
“Oh… that’s wonderful. Jason, look! He’s your brother, too.”
Mari laughed. “Not quite yet.”
Her father spotted Kira’s reaction. “Is there something we should be told?”
“In private,” Kira said. “There are a lot of things I need to tell you. How’s Suka? Is he all right?”
“Of course he is,” Mari said. “The Lancers say he’s a little out of sorts without you around to spoil him, but otherwise your horse is fine.”
The coach ride to their rooms in Pacta wasn’t long, but it felt longer as Kira held Andre and felt her parents’ desire to speak freely as soon as they could.
Once in their rooms, Kira reluctantly surrendered Andre to Mari again. “All right. So… ”
Mari sat down, cradling Andre in her arms and eyeing Kira. “What the blazes happened, Kira? You had a pretty simple, straightforward job to do. Somehow that turned into a prolonged fight with our enemies that involved a lot of unexpected moves on your part. Mind you, I can’t argue with your success. You managed to be unpredictable enough to survive their traps while leading them into your own traps. That was some brilliant planning.”
Kira sat down with Jason, biting her lip. “Please don’t talk about my brilliant plan. That was… Mother, Father, I owe you the truth. I was going insane. I did those things, in part at least, because I was out of my mind at times. If Jason hadn’t been there—and he tried to stop me—but if he hadn’t been there I’d have brilliantly planned myself into several deathtraps.”
She heard the silence that filled the room, and looked up to meet the eyes of her parents. “And it was my fault. It was because of my powers.”
“Kira,” her father said. “Having powers is not your fault.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. It wasn’t having the powers that caused the trouble. It was how I handled them, what I tried to do, how I refused to listen to anyone else, even refused to listen to myself! I nearly lost everything because I was so stubborn and wouldn’t think and wouldn’t listen.”
“You’re using the past tense,” Mari said, her eyes worried. “Are you saying that’s not the case now?”
“It’s not. I’m all right. Father, look at me.”
He came closer, gazing into her eyes. “There is peace where I saw turmoil before you left.”
“Yes. Peace. Jason helped. Just like I thought he would. He saw things I didn’t, and helped me find my path. I needed to walk that path, but without him I wouldn’t have found it. Like how Mother helped you realize that people were real. Father, we need to talk a lot, but what it comes down to is, I needed to accept my powers, and give them… a separate place inside me.”
“We will have to talk,” Alain said. “You seem to have found a new wisdom on your own.”
“I needed a new wisdom because I was the only person like me!” Kira looked down again. “Maxim is dead. For certain this time. I killed him.”
“He didn’t give her any choice,” Jason rushed to say. “Kira couldn’t kill him until he attacked her. And that lightning guy is dead, too.”
“Mage Ivor?” Her father looked to her mother. “You are certain?”
Kira nodded. “I put six shots in him at close range. I was angry. He’d killed Jason.” Mari and Alain stared at her. “He did. Jason’s heart stopped.”
Mari nodded carefully. “So you used HBR on him.”
“Yes, but that didn’t work. I… ”
“She used her Mage powers to get my heart going again,” Jason said.
Her parents were staring again, once more stunned into silence. Alain finally moved, coming to look closely at Jason. “I see what seem to be the faint marks of old injuries I had not seen before.”
“He got burned by the lightning when it hit him,” Kira said. “I fixed that, too. I don’t know how! I trusted my Mage powers and they did it, and I can’t tell you anything about that except maybe they understood what they had to do because I knew HBR and because you’d told me how you did it, Father. Maybe. But it’s like I can’t know how my Mage powers are doing things or I’ll get irrational again.”
“It did not harm you?” Alain asked.
“I was really weak. I had a lot of trouble handling Senior Mechanic Stimon when he showed up—”
“Stimon?” Mari said. “I haven’t heard that name for a long time.”
“Yeah, he said you’d messed up his life. Anyway, I was exhausted after saving Jason. I think… Father, I think it wasn’t as hard on me because Jason didn’t have anything broken or really badly hurt, he just needed his heart started and those burns taken care of, and because there was so much power there. Stars above, Father, you have to go there. Near Vina’s cottage. The amount of power is awesome. It was like… Mother, you know how it feels when you’re around a strong electrical field? Like the hairs on your arms are standing up? It was like that, only with Mage power.”
Mari shook her head. “Stars above, Kira. Is that all? No other heart-stopping news for your father and me? Sorry, that wasn’t a deliberate play on words.”
“Ummm… one other thing. Jason and I need to tell you something.”
“Again?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,” Mari said, “that every time you and Jason are off alone for a while you come back and say you have a big announcement. What is it this time?”
“We’re married.”
Her mother gazed at Kira wordlessly for a moment. “Married?”
“We still need the license and the witnesses, but we said our promises to each other,” Kira said, looking anxiously from her mother to her father. “I turned eighteen while I was gone, remember?”
“Oh.”
“We were in the Great Woods. It was a really beautiful spot, and I wanted to! Because… wow, that’s a really long and embarrassing story. Let’s just say it helped us heal.”
“I see,” Mari said. “In the middle of everything else that was going on, you two found time to get married.”
“Mother, how long did it take you and Father to get married?”
“All I recall,” Alain said, “is that there was no time to explain.”
“See?” Kira said. “And that was while, what, fighting the Great Guilds and assassins and dragons and being a pirate?”
“I was a pirate after we got married.” Mari made a gesture of surrender. “Congratulations. You’re both eighteen, so the decision was yours. Does anyone else know about this?”
“Just Aunt Kath. I had to tell her.”
“Kath?” Mari gave Alain an aggravated look. “They talked to Kath. And then they ran off to the Great Woods to get married. How could Kath do that to us?”
“Mother?” Kira looked from Mari to Alain and back again. “Kath said you’d blame her. Why? She didn’t tell us to do that. Are you angry with us?”
“How can I be angry with you?” her mother said, smiling. “It was your decision to make, and I think it was a very good decision. But really the only ones who have to be happy with the decision are you and Jason. And I think you are.”
Kira grinned. “You wouldn’t believe how happy.”
“Yeah, I would.” Mari looked at Alain, still smiling. “Kira, we’ll keep your marriage secret until the official ceremony can be performed. I guess we’ll have to set that up as soon as we can. I’m glad everything worked out. At least this time you didn’t do anything to reinforce that Mara nonsense.”
“Mara?” Kira hesitated, looking at Jason. “Ummm… well… actually… ”
Her mother gave Kira a flat look, the smile gone. “Ummm well actually what?”
“I did… sort of… maybe?
?? knock down a guy and bite his neck hard so he and his friends would think I was trying to drink his blood and was hunting them in the night.”
Mari’s gaze stayed on her, horrified, but Kira’s mother seemed momentarily unable to speak.
“I didn’t drink it, though!” Kira hastened to add. “I spat the blood out! Didn’t I, Jason?”
“Yes,” Jason said.
“And in my defense, I was a little bit crazy at the time. Wasn’t I, Jason?”
“Yes.”
“And we had to. If I hadn’t done that, we might not have survived that night. Jason said that, didn’t you, Jason?”
“Yes.”
Mari finally managed to speak. “You bit a man’s neck hard enough to draw blood?”
“Yes,” Kira admitted. “It was disgusting. Really. I didn’t enjoy it at all.”
“I’m so happy to hear that. What happened to the man with your teeth marks in his neck?”
“I… don’t know. I think his name was Bern. Wasn’t it, Jason?”
“Yes.”
“Bern of… ?” Mari asked. “Any idea where he might be?”
“He might be dead,” Kira said. “Right, Jason?”
“Yes.”
“I couldn’t make out his accent very well, because he was screaming,” Kira added, “but I think he sounded a bit like someone from around Emden or maybe Ringhmon.”
“He was screaming.” Mari shook her head. “You’re trying to get the rest of my hair to turn white, aren’t you, Kira?”
“Mother, we didn’t have any choice! I don’t want people thinking of me as the daughter of darkness any more than you want them thinking of you as Mara!”
“And yet somehow it ends up happening,” her mother said. “Are there any other little details of your adventure that you haven’t mentioned yet?”
“We should tell them about the other thing,” Jason said to Kira.
“Oh, stars above,” Mari said, “you’re not already expecting, are you?”
“Mother! What is it with you and Aunt Alli and everybody thinking I’m going to get pregnant just like that? Jason and I are not in a rush!”
“You weren’t in a rush to get married, either,” her mother pointed out. “So what is the other thing?”
“We think we have the passwords to get into the buried facility,” Jason said. “All three of them.”
“Nobody tried to attack it while we were gone, did they?” Kira asked.
“Oh, we had a few problems,” Mari said. “Nothing worth mentioning.”
“Father? Why did you give Mother that look?”
“Jason will understand someday if he does not already,” Alain said. “We can reach those weapons without setting off the terrible one?”
“If the passwords we have work,” Jason said, “that door will open safely. It has to. They wanted to be able to access those weapons if they needed them.”
“Then we will prepare to do that as soon as Mari and Andre are safely away—”
“Excuse me?” Kira’s mother said. “We’ll get Andre out of town. Bev’s here. She’ll keep him safe back at our place. But I’m not going anywhere.”
“Perhaps Kira can take Andre. There is no need to risk her further.”
“Excuse me?” Kira said. “Jason has to be here. That means I have to be here.”
Alain glanced at Jason, who made a helpless gesture. “It seems Jason has already learned that battles of will with Kira or her mother rarely result in victory.”
“Sometimes they do,” Jason. “But winning is never fun, and I’m not eager to jump into another.”
Kira’s father nodded. “You are learning wisdom. I will tell the others we have these codes, so we can attempt this without delay. They should already be aware that Kira is back.”
“Yeah,” Kira said, “because of that banner the warship was flying! Mother, when did I get a banner?”
“That was yours? You’ve got a banner?” Mari asked. “Congratulations.”
“I don’t want a banner!”
“Neither did I, dearest. It comes with the territory.”
Chapter Eighteen
Kira stared around the excavation site at the damage done to the doors and walls. “It looks like a war was fought down here. What happened?”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” her father said with a meaningful look at her mother.
“But if Maxim and the people with him had hit us at the same as this,” Mari said, “things might have ended very differently. Your diversion helped a lot.”
Before Kira could ask any more questions, the others began arriving. Mage Asha paused, studying Kira. “There is something different about you, Kira.”
“Nothing worth mentioning,” Kira said.
“How great is the danger?” Queen Sien asked Jason. “You are certain those in the city will not be hurt?”
“As certain as I can be, Your Majesty,” Jason said, eyeing the doors leading through the walls to the exposed surface of the buried facility. “If the passwords we have work, then the door will open. If they don’t work… the door won’t open. The only problem would occur if we enter the passwords and they don’t work and we keep trying. That might trigger some kind of defenses.”
“You know this better than any other,” Sien said. “I’ll trust your judgment.”
“Okay, I need two other people,” Jason said. “Two people who can use the data entry pads on that door.”
“That means Mechanics,” Dav said. “I’m in.”
Kira almost jumped in, but paused, thinking that others deserved the chance. “Uncle Calu?”
He hesitated. “I’m still mainly a theory guy. I’m not that good with understanding equipment. You need the best possible choice. Dav is one. I think Alli or Mari should be the other.”
“I’ll do it,” Alli said. “Her daughterness shouldn’t get to hog all the glory.”
The doors in the protective walls were opened and pulled back, once again revealing the grayish permacrete, the actual door into the facility, and the three panels. “Mechanic Dav,” Jason said, “here’s your code. I’m going to activate the panel in front of you.”
Kira, crowding forward, saw Jason touch parts of the panel, and saw it glow to life.
“They’ve still got power,” Dav said in amazement, shaking his head.
“They’ve probably got a geothermal backup running in there,” Jason said. “See the keyboard on the display? You just touch each word or number on the password in turn. Keep one hand on this other panel above the keyboard while you do that so the equipment knows a real human is entering the data.”
“I can see the keyboard,” Dav said, nodding. “When do I start?”
“Wait until I’ve powered up the other two panels and Master Mechanic Alli and I are ready,” Jason said. “We need to all be doing it at the same time.”
A couple of minutes later, the three of them were poised before their panels. “One hand on the panel above the lighted one,” Jason said, showing the others how he set his palm flat on the surface. “It’ll feel a little warm.”
“It does,” Alli said. Dav nodded.
“Okay.” Jason took a deep breath and looked back at Kira. She smiled at him, and gave him a nod.
He faced the panel again. “Enter your code one character at a time, making sure it’s the right one before you touch it. If you touch the wrong one, press that key marked with a crossed-out circle to delete it so you can enter the right one.” Jason reached for the panel, one finger extended.
Kira watched, nervous, as the three pecked at their panels. She felt the tension in the others watching around her.
“Done,” Alli said.
“Same here,” Dav said.
“I’m ready,” Jason said. “A command saying enter should have lit up on your panels. Touch that.”
They waited, Kira imagining that white light appearing to engulf them all.
Instead, a mechanical thunk sounded from inside the facility. Kira watched
as more deep sounds came, hoping they were the noises of massive locks releasing.
A dark line appeared around the door, more than a lance wide and more than a lance tall, growing larger as the door swung ponderously inward. Beyond, a harsh, strong light flickered into existence to illuminate the inside.
“Good job, Jason,” Dav said, clapping him on the shoulder.
Kira inhaled, hearing everyone else around her doing the same.
“Now what?” Mari asked Jason.
“We go in.” He advanced cautiously. “I don’t see any more barriers. There’s a wide, straight passage heading down.”
The Mechanics all had tool packs with them, though what good those tools would do against the technology inside that facility was questionable. Kira saw Mari, Alli, Dav, and Calu also draw their pistols. She did the same, realizing at the same time that any danger inside that facility would likely be more than any Mechanic weapon known to Dematr could handle.
Her mother knew that, too. “Alain, Asha, have your spells ready. That’s one thing we know the Urth people don’t have defenses against.”
“I should go first,” Jason said, visibly nervous. “I have the best chance of spotting anything that might be trouble.”
Kira lunged forward, past the others. She stopped beside Jason. “All right. Let’s go.”
Jason shook his head at her. “Kira, this is—”
“Jason, we both know how this argument is going to end. Let’s save some time. To always stand beside you, remember?”
He looked around for support, but the others shook their heads, though the other women gave Kira questioning looks over her last statement, clearly wondering why she’d cited promise vows. “Deciding to accompany you is Kira’s prerogative,” Queen Sien said.
Jason pulled out a device that resembled an egg with one side flattened, the flat surface rippling with words and colors. “Doc Sino gave me this. It should detect dangerous gases or radiation so we’ll have enough warning to stay clear.”
“You think they’d use those kinds of traps?” Calu asked.