Provoked (Space Mage Book 1) Read online

  True. I had to give myself some credit for that, at least.

  But Walter…I had a grudging amount of respect for him. I still wasn't sure what to think about him in total, but the kid had done well.

  "Why did you want her woken up?" I asked.

  "To talk to her, of course. I didn't want you to spare her just so she could sleep in a bed forever," he said, grinning. "She's a sentient creature with a wealth of knowledge to share, and I want to get to know her."

  "She's not a book for you to read."

  "No, and I don't consider her one, either. I consider her an independent being who may or may not choose to share information with me. That's entirely up to her, although I am hoping she'll be amenable."

  I grunted, settling back into the chair. "Have fun."

  "I hope to!" He grinned. "This is so exciting. Well, go on, James. Wake her up."

  James was standing beside her bed, and it looked like he had everything ready to wake her up. He had a syringe plugged into one of the IVs running into her body; he just hadn't squeezed the trigger.

  "Right, yes…" he said, but he still didn't make a move.

  "What are you waiting for?" Walter asked, frowning.

  "I, uh… I'm just thinking about how she reacted last time."

  I snorted. "Not looking forward to a repeat performance?"

  His cheeks flushed. "Would you mind coming over here, Norton? Just to be safe."

  I sighed, dragged my ass out of the chair and stomped over to her bed. I was tired, but my reflexes were as good as ever. I could have been on her in a second if she attacked the squint, even from the chair by the wall. There really wasn't anything to worry about, but if it made the squint hurry up and get the job done, then I'd do as he asked.

  I just wanted her awake so I could get a little shuteye.

  James nodded. "Right, right. Going to wake her up now."

  He squeezed the trigger, and I watched as the translucent liquid made its way down the tube and into her body.

  Nothing happened.

  I looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.

  "Usually, it takes a few minutes," he said, answering the question I hadn't asked.

  I grunted again.

  "Well, I'm going to get out of here," he said.

  While he still can.

  He beat it out of the room as fast as he could without actually running, and Walter came up to take his place.

  "Might not want to stand there, kid."

  "Why not?"

  "That's where the others were standing when she woke up. She might associate you with them and attack."

  "Oh." He took a few steps back. "Yes, I don't want her to associate me with them and form a subconscious negative opinion. That wouldn't help at all."

  "Yeah, just don't get killed, all right?"

  He gulped, looking up at me with a pale face. "You don't really think she'll be that violent again?"

  "I don't know what to think about her. She was violent before. Makes sense she'd be violent again. I only know what I've seen so far."

  He nodded and took another couple of steps back, bumping into one of the machines.

  The woman stirred, a whimpering sound escaping her lips, and her face contorted as if she was in pain. She shook her head, slowly at first, and then more rapidly.

  Without thinking about it, I reached forward and stroked her cheek. "Shh. It’s all right…"

  She quieted, sighing softly. "Mmm…"

  I thought about pulling away from her, but I didn't want her to go back to whatever nightmare had taken hold of her while she was waking up. It only escalated her potential for violence.

  Her eyelids fluttered and then snapped open. For a moment, it was as if she was frozen in place, her pink-purple eyes staring straight ahead, and then she sucked in a breath and slammed a fist into my chest, lurching to a sitting position.

  She was thrashing about wildly, whipping her head this way and that, and I knew it was only a matter of time before she caught sight of Walter and decided he needed to go.

  I caught hold of both her wrists and held them tightly, but damn, the woman was strong, and she yanked me this way and that, her lips curled back in a snarl.

  Her eyes were unfocused, and I knew she couldn't see me.

  She'd calm down if she could see you.

  I didn't know how true that was, but it had worked the last time.

  She snapped her head to the side and hissed. She'd caught sight of Walter.

  Well, fuck. I didn't have a choice now.

  With a grunt, I was on top of her, pinning her arms to the bed with my forearms, my legs on top of hers. I pressed my full body weight into my arms and legs, forcing her to be still.

  She was a light little thing, for all the strength she had, and I hoped I could hold her down.

  She bucked against me, continuing to thrash about, but she seemed to be figuring out that it was futile.

  With another low hiss, she stilled, her eyes blazing as they locked on to my own.

  "Calm the fuck down," I barked. "Nothing's here to hurt you."

  "Should you be on her like that?" Walter whispered from his side of the room.

  "You've seen what she can do with her hands. Do you want a repeat performance?"

  "N-no…"

  "Isssssh kan sssssssik," she hissed, glaring at me.

  "I have no fucking clue what you're talking about, lady, but you need to be still," I snapped, turning my attention back to her.

  Her lips curled back to reveal pointed fangs, and she bucked her hips against me, intent on dislodging me, but finally she stilled.

  I didn't know if she'd actually understood me, or if she'd figured out that I wasn't going anywhere, but I was glad she had given up.

  I should get off her now.

  The thought was dim, coming to me now that I had the time to think. We were both lying there, panting from the effort we'd put out to control one another, and I felt myself becoming more aware of her as a soft body beneath me.

  The way her eyebrows arched, and the snort that came from her, told me she could feel my body reacting to her.

  My cheeks flamed, and I pushed off of her to land on my feet beside the bed.

  Natural reaction. Doesn't mean anything. She shouldn't make such a big deal out of it.

  "Vivassss tak clarssssss," she said, her voice lifting up at the end as if she were asking a question. The look on her face said clearly that she was unimpressed.

  I rolled my eyes, refusing to respond to whatever she was saying.

  "Usssshtak!" She sat up, completely ignoring the sheet that fell off her again, much to my discomfort. But her tone was more urgent this time, which drew my attention more than the fallen sheet did. "Ussshtak! Zvarr kunssssst zzzain!"

  More words I didn't understand. I didn't react this time either. I was getting a little tired of this dance we were doing, where she would say something and I would keep telling her I didn't understand.

  That didn’t sit well with her.

  She snarled, her eyes fucking burning and glowing, and her skin flared a violent blue. She spat something at me in her language, and I got the distinct impression that I'd been insulted.

  But that wasn't the most important thing. I could feel her rage coming off of her, and it was coming dangerously close to triggering mine.

  Clenching my jaw tightly in an effort to keep myself controlled, I turned and stalked out of the room.

  It had to be done, to keep them safe.

  I couldn't risk losing control.

  Xiva

  I gaped at the warrior's retreating back, unable to believe he had left.

  Yes, I had lost my temper, but did he really need to stalk out like that? He'd been rather rude to me as well—and no one had apologized for touching me. He shouldn't have been on top of me like that, though I could almost understand, considering how I'd been behaving.

  I hadn't known where I was. The darkness they kept plunging me into was very disorienting, and
it brought out all kinds of strong emotions that should have been buried.

  Vivoth, forgive me for losing control. It's only because I was so disoriented. I will do better. I will maintain balance.

  I sent the prayer up to the skies, hoping He would hear me and forgive me for my folly.

  That settled, there were quite important matters that needed to be dealt with.

  The warrior, in his arrogance, had ignored my attempts to warn him about Zvarr. I could not believe anyone would think themselves powerful enough to be able to triumph over Zvarr in his current state, but that was the only answer for the warrior's behavior. What else would possess him to ignore my warnings so pointedly and to abandon me shortly thereafter?

  I didn’t know what I had thought of him originally, but I took it all back.

  It must have been a mistake that he had spoken the language of the gods, some error in the system, because he was not worthy.

  I looked around in the hope of finding someone more amenable, and my eyes alighted on another of the creatures. This one was very different from the warrior, with a slighter build and something on his eyes. Oculars?

  He must be a learned man. He would certainly listen to me!

  "You there, come here," I said, beckoning to him. "You seem like the intelligent sort. Surely you will have more sense than the other one."

  He frowned, and for a second I thought he might ignore me too, but he finally came forward, saying something in that harsh, guttural language the others had used.

  I bit my lip but plunged forward. He had done what I asked, so he must understand.

  "You need to take your people away from here. My brother will come out of the ground soon. It is a miracle that he has not done so already, but now that I have risen, he will as well. He will destroy everything he sees. He will kill all of you! You must get out of here!" I pleaded with him, reaching out to take one of his hands. "You must do as I say. I know it sounds strange, as I'm assuming you haven't been here before—Vivoth knows I've never seen a creature like you—but you must heed my words."

  His frown deepened, and he shook his head, then he said something else that I didn't understand. He tapped the back of his head, muttering something in his language, then looked back at me with a helpless expression on his face.

  Gods, this was so frustrating!

  "Come, now! You must listen to me!"

  He only looked more and more confused, and he said something that sounded a little pleading, but it made no sense.

  Biting my lip, I looked down at my lap.

  I have to do it. It's necessary.

  "I'm sorry, truly I am, for invading your privacy like this, but I don't see what else to do," I said, then took a deep breath.

  I reached out with my mind to touch his. I felt pulled away from, and he took his hand from mine. That was to be expected—no one wanted their mind touched, and normally I would never do this, but I had to do something.

  But there was nothing for me to read in there, nothing I could make sense of, anyway.

  It was all that same odd language in there. I could feel his emotions—confusion and excitement—but they didn't tell me anything other than he wasn't understanding me. If he had, he certainly wouldn't have been excited about it.

  Pulling back from his mind, I tried to think of what to do next.

  I was quite stumped, but there had to be a solution here. Solutions were my specialty; I had always been good at finding a different angle to explore, and I knew I would find one now.

  What were the odds that he didn't speak Stimos? Slim, but it was worth a chance.

  I repeated the warning, simplified, in five other languages.

  But none of them seemed to work. He kept staring back at me, and eventually he held up his hands in a fashion that seemed to indicate helplessness.

  Were these creatures all incapable of handling themselves? I couldn't understand why he kept looking at me like that.

  He rested a hip against the bed and lifted a hand to reposition his oculars, then started to talk in his strange language. He kept talking, on and on and on, and some of his words seemed to lift up at the end as if he was asking questions, but I wasn't catching any of it.

  Whatever he was, he didn't know any Eyrusian languages, and I didn't understand how that was possible.

  Actually, now that I had time to think about it, I didn't understand how he was possible, or any of the creatures.

  Surely, I hadn't been under the ground long enough for a new species to evolve. That made no sense. Had Vivoth created new children to replace us? But, no, surely he wouldn't have done that while Zvarr was resting beneath the surface, ready to be awakened for destruction at the first mishap.

  So, if they weren't born on Eyrus, what were they? And where had they come from?

  A giddy thought filled me.

  They came from the stars.

  It had been a childhood dream of mine to see the stars, to go off and discover new worlds. Absolute foolishness, of course; everyone knew that there was nothing out there among the stars. But my heart had always yearned for it, and I had often dreamed that I would be the first Eyrusian to leave our world and find something new out there.

  If they had come from the stars, perhaps they could take me there as well.

  No. Don't be foolish, Xiva. You have responsibilities. You will always have responsibilities that tie you to this world. Zvarr will never let you go.

  That saddened me, but I knew it was true. So long as Zvarr was around in one form or another, I would always have to clean up after him. And he was the most important thing right now—or, rather, figuring out how to get these creatures away from him was.

  I let the creature chatter at me for quite a while, keeping my face a calm mask as I stared back at him.

  He would figure out sooner or later that I didn’t understand him.

  At last, after what felt like several rotations, he faltered. He looked down at the floor, then back up at me, with a shaky smile on his lips.

  "All right, you've had your turn. I suppose that's fair," I said, dragging a hand through my long hair. "But we're not getting anywhere like this."

  He sighed.

  Still not understanding me. I need to give up on that.

  Very slowly, I spoke to him again. "Do you have a device that has a screen?"

  He frowned, the skin above his eyes furrowing together, and he concentrated on my lips.

  I repeated the question, this time gesturing with my hands to depict a square box with another box inside it. It wasn't the best illustration I could think of, but I didn't know what else to do.

  I looked around and spotted a device to my right that stood on long legs and had the tubes that connected to me. On it was a screen with odd markings depicted.

  "Like that, a screen. Screen." I shifted and tapped the screen, then gestured at myself.

  He made a small, confused sound, then dug around in his pocket and pulled out what looked like a handheld vid screen. He held it up and said something that sounded like a question.

  "Yes, yes! Good. Let me see it." I held out my hand, and he gave it to me.

  Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on the machine, reached into my core to find my magic, and pushed it through my body, out of my hands and into the device. It began to glow with the golden hue of my magic, and the screen buzzed to life.

  I turned it so he could see the vision I had called forth. I didn't need to see it; it was playing in my mind.

  Zvarr bursting from the ground with a roar of rage at having been entrapped, a wild look in his eyes as he took in the surrounding area. His flight across the land to find these creatures, and the destruction he would wreak upon them. The deaths, the bloodshed, all of it.

  I watched him as he watched the screen and saw his pink face turn pale.

  Kaidan

  I couldn’t fucking win.

  I got called to the command center all of ten minutes after leaving the med bay, with no explanation as to why,
but I was sure it wasn't going to be anything good.

  The walk there was pretty short, with few people in the tunnels this early in the morning, and they all got out of my way when they saw me coming. On a normal day, I was an imposing man even for a modified soldier, but I was battling with myself to contain the rage. If I wasn't careful, it was going to spill over and I would see red, then they'd have a snapped soldier on their hands.

  I couldn't allow that to happen. They'd get rid of me if it did, and I wouldn't be able to get the answers I so desperately needed.

  So, I was taking nice, deep breaths and forcing myself to calm down.

  It was all that damned alien's fault. I didn't know why I kept feeling what she was feeling, but it was becoming problematic. Pain was one thing, but her anger could be very destructive for me.

  By the time I reached the command center, I was mostly under control. But one look at Anders' face told me that was something I was going to have to keep working on.

  "Sir," I said when I reached him, and stood at attention.

  "At ease, Norton," he said, and I obeyed. "You left the alien unattended."

  I raised an eyebrow. That was what this was about?

  "I know I’ve allowed her to live, but I'm given to understand that you’re the only one who can reason with her, the only one who’s been able to calm her. I don't want her out of your sight for even a second."

  I ground my teeth together. "Forgive me, sir, but she's being reasonable now. She's awake, and she's not attacking anyone. I didn't think it would be a problem. And no one gave me orders to stay with her."

  "Well, consider this you getting those orders. Like I said, I don't want her out of your sight for a second."

  Fucking hell. I chafed at the orders, wanting to tell him to stow it, but I knew that wouldn't do me any good and could end up with me thrown into the brig for a few hours at least.

  Orders are orders, and you follow orders.

  Right. Following orders was my life, and I wasn't about to change any of that just now.

  "You are dismissed—" He broke off abruptly, frowning and looking past me.