The Star Masters (Mastery of the Stars Book 6) Page 6

  Scotmax emerged from her hiding place.

  “Edicla?”

  Sevan realised Matthews was using his pseudonym and emerged from his hiding place as well

  “These are my good friends, Scotmax and Edicla. As you can see, we have disguised ourselves as tourists from Herse. I have picked up the Hersean dialect and accent,” she said, demonstrating the accent. “We will go on a tour of the palace and the first opportunity we get, we will slip away and find Ydna and Kcokaep and kill them. Say nothing and don’t get involved unless the circumstances are such that you can assist with the furtherance of our plans.”

  A member of the group approached Matthews.

  “The universe has many dangers,” she said. “Tronqaks, axeds, meteor showers and black holes, but none are more dangerous than the rashness and stubbornness of the inhabitants. Most dangerous of all is the reckless passion of partners.”

  “There are many terrifying examples of the lengths to which partners have gone when possessed by passion,” another member of the group joined in. “Naed knew that her offspring Retnuh could live only as long as a certain piece of jester wintercress was undamaged, but in a rage she burned the jester wintercress and killed him. Dreah caused the death of her begetter by cutting a sacred golden antenna from his head in return for a gift given her by Egnam Ed Nek. The women of Viguliv joined in a secret pact and massacred their partners.”

  “In the end, however,” the first warned. “All these co-beggeters were punished, for right, aided by destiny, always triumphs. Thus, it will happen to Ydna as well. Even now, vengeance brings home at last offspring, to wipe out the stain of life juice shed long ago.”

  *

  Matthews, Sevan and Scotmax joined a tour of the presidential palace. They tried to mingle with the tourists, many of whom seemed to be from Herse.

  “The Presidential Palace,” the tour guide began. “Also known as the New Presidential Palace, was constructed by the first President Man at the beginning of his term. Man was the longest serving President in the Republic’s history and also the first to have been murdered. Some say he started a trend, as the three successive presidents all died violently. This offspring murdered the second President Man, President Chuba was executed for treason and, well, we all know the rumours about, well, anyway, moving on.”

  Matthews, Sevan and Scotmax followed the group through the palace until Matthews saw an opportunity to sneak away towards the private quarters of the palace.

  “What are you doing?” a security guard shouted.

  “We were trying to find you,” said Matthews, without missing a beat. “Our tour guide has been saying bad things about President Ydna.”

  The guard visibly filled with rage.

  “Where is this guide?”

  They led the guard to the group, which was gathered around a gigantic statue.

  “There he is,” said Scotmax loudly. “That is the one who has been saying bad things about President Ydna.”

  “What?” the guide spluttered. “I never…”

  “Come here, you.” said the guard, setting off for the guide, who turned and ran away.

  Scotmax, Sevan and Matthews took advantage of the confusion to slip into a side corridor which Matthews remembered led to the private quarters. After then, his surroundings did not seem so familiar and it became a case of guesswork every time they reached a junction in the corridors. After a while, they reached a dead end with a double door. They went through and found themselves in the great hall, in the presence of Ydna and many attendants and guards.

  “What is the meaning of this intrusion?” Ydna shouted.

  “We are very sorry, President Ydna,” said Matthews in her best Hersean accent. “My companions and I are Hersean merchants, just arrived in the Republic from Herse. On Herse, we encountered Yor, a retired Republic Officer, who asked us to inform the begetters of Matthews that their offspring is dead.”

  “No, that cannot be possible.” Ydna appeared distraught by the news. “Come inside. You must be hungry. Eat with us. I will treat you with the greatest kindness. Once you have eaten, you shall rest. Prepare some rooms for these merchants.”

  Ydna gesticulated towards some slaves. Matthews thought she recognised them from the garden. The slaves rushed away. Then Ydna rose from the table to find Ttam, who she discovered sobbing in a corner.

  “Ttam? Pull yourself together. Tell Kcokaep what has happened. I am sure he would like to know more details of this terrible news. Have him come with his guard. It seems security is so poor at the moment that anyone can wander the corridors.”

  Ttam rushed out of the great hall. In the corridor, she bumped into High Priest Callahan.

  “Where are you going in such a hurry,” he asked before perceiving how upset she was. “Whatever is that matter, Ttam? Please tell me.”

  “President Ydna has sent me to find President Kcokaep because two strangers have arrived and they said that Matthews is dead and Ydna wants Kcokaep to know and to ask them for more details.”

  “That’s terrible Ttam.”

  “And Ydna sits there and pretends to be upset, but she isn’t really, I can tell. I looked after Matthews from the moment she birthed her. I have lived a long time, Callahan, but this is the most difficult news I have had to endure. I bet Kcokaep will be glad to hear the news.”

  “Did Ydna advice that Kcokaep return to the palace with his usual guards?”

  “She did.”

  “Withhold that part of the message so that Kcokaep arrives alone.”

  “Okay, I’m not sure why that is important, but okay.”

  *

  “Where are these merchants?” asked Kcokaep as he entered the great hall. “What is this shocking news they tell of the death of Matthews? It’s probably just a rumour, but not knowing is very painful. It is a sad day if it is true.”

  “I heard the news,” said Callahan. “The merchants are waiting. Ask them the truth.”

  “Where are they? Let me hear it from the vultor’s mouth and ask them where they were when she died or whether they are just spreading baseless rumours.”

  “Their quarters are through there.”

  Kcokaep left toward the travellers’ rooms.

  “Tomos, god of revenge,” Callahan prayed. “Guide this moment, end the house of Kirkland or bring justice. It is the turn of Matthews to act for fate, to take her shot with the hand of Tomos.”

  There was a blast and a life juice curdling scream.

  “What was that?” Callahan shouted. “Who was it?”

  Ttam ran in.

  “Kcokaep is dead! He is dead! Where is Ydna? A maniac has disembowelled Kcokaep and ripped out his hearts. Warn Ydna!”

  Having heard the commotion from the rooms on the opposite side of the great hall, Ydna came in to find out what was going on.

  “What is all this noise? Are you all mad? This is the presidential palace.”

  “The dead have risen to kill the living,” Ttam blurted.

  “I knew it! I didn’t think it was possible, but I knew it. We killed with cunning, now with cunning they are going to kill us. Give me a weapon, oh gods, let this be over.”

  Matthews entered the hall without her disguise.

  “Kcokaep has paid the price, now it’s your turn.”

  “My love, but he was so strong.”

  “Since you loved him, you shall sleep with him, in the worst place.”

  “Matthews, my offspring, don’t point that weapon at me. I raised you.”

  Scotmax and Sevan entered.

  “Scotmax, can someone kill their co-begetter?” Matthews asked. “Is there anything more terrible than that? What can I do?”

  “Remember the words of Tomos, obey the command of the god of revenge. Embrace the enemies of the Republic rather than be false to the words of the gods.”

  “Wise words, spoken at the right moment. Go in there, my co-begetter, I am going to kill you on the corpse of your lover. When both were alive, you preferred him to my b
egetter. Now both are dead, you are stuck with your choice.”

  “I gave you life, Matthews, let me have mine.”

  “In this palace where you stole the life of my begetter.”

  “Don’t blame me, it was fate.”

  “And now I hold this weapon.”

  “My offspring, remember the curse of a creator.”

  “Yes, you gave me life and then made sure it was wretched. A life of misery, bitterness, humiliation and the worse is still to come after I have killed you. This was your gift. You gave me life, then spat me out as a curse.”

  “I tried to protect you. Our friends were your guardians. I arranged it.”

  “I was heir to the presidency. You bartered me away, me and my inheritance.”

  “How? You are mad. What was your price?”

  “That corpse in there.”

  “Your begetter was not faithful, are you forgetting?”

  “He was fighting the Zistreotoveans while you played with your lover.”

  “A partner alone learns desperation.”

  “A partner owes her place and safety to her partner.”

  “Will you murder your own co-begetter?”

  “Me murder you? You have already murdered yourself. I merely hold the weapon as you run into its laser bolt.”

  “Remember the drirkel straalkets that rise from the life juices of a co-begetter.”

  “If I relent, who lives with my begetter’s curse?”

  “This is my dream. Here is the axek that crawled out of me then devoured me.”

  “That was a prophecy, not a dream. Your crime was sacrilege. Your punishment will be sacrilege, the same.”

  “You must know something, Matthews. You are not my only offspring.”

  “I know there was Trebor and Xocliw.”

  “Not just Trebor and Xocliw, but Yrag, Llessur and Enyaw.”

  “Yrag, Llessur and Enyaw? I have no co-begottons of these names.”

  “Ah, but you do, Matthews. Yrag, Llessur and Enyaw are your co-begottons but their begetter is Kcokaep.”

  Matthews pushed Ydna into the room where Kcokaep’s mutilated corpse lay.

  The drama unfolding in front of him had frozen Sevan to the spot. His mind was racing, not just at Matthews’ act of matricide but also because Ydna had birthed three offspring to Kcokaep, with no one noticing. That was truly impressive.

  CHAPTER 8: TREACHERY

  “Oh, Tomos, Matthews has given hope to the Republic,” Callahan prayed. “Judgement was slow for the thief who came from Zistreotov, but in the end his system paid, the population paid. Judgement was slow to disentangle Ydna from Kcokaep. Slow but sure. She that wielded a treacherous weapon has attracted your retribution, Tomos.”

  “Come, Callahan,” said Matthews, returning to the great hall and beckoning the priest to follow her. “See the corpses of my begetter’s murderers, our president, Kirkland. They plundered when they were alive and shared the presidency, each other and the wealth of the Republic. Now they share death. They swore an oath to butcher my begetter. They swore an oath to live and die together. How happy they must be that they have fulfilled all of their oaths. Who will judge me? Let Tomos see, I shall need his witness when I go to trial.”

  “We must mourn the presidents you killed and cry for your victory,” said Callahan. “Their deaths were hard but wrong has a root and this was its flower.”

  “I feel no guilt for killing Kcokaep. He got what was coming to him as an adulterer. But Ydna, who plotted the murder of the begetter of the offspring who has now killed her. So much evil filled her. If she were an axek, she would need no fangs, she would kill at a touch. Is she guilty or innocent? Did you know she had offspring with Kcokaep, three, Yrag, Llessur and Enyaw?”

  “I am sorry, Matthews. Hidden truths can be painful. No-one escapes pain. Sorrows are here or they are on their way.”

  “I am out of control, Callahan. I’m falling towards I don’t know what. I’m just hanging on. It was not a sin to kill my co-beggetter, my beggeter’s life juices polluted her. The gods detested her and commanded me to do it. I would have been guilty if I didn’t do it. I must go to the temple.”

  “You have enacted justice, don’t be so down on yourself. You have liberated the Republic. You should be happy.”

  “Look over there, those creatures with the faces of drirkels, they are coming.”

  “They are Star Masters,” said Callahan. “They come to judge you.”

  “Star Masters aren’t real. They are the decomposition of my co-beggetter’s life juices.”

  “You are confused. It is because the life juices of Ydna and Kcokaep cover you. You must wash.”

  “The drirkels are everywhere.”

  “Yes, Let’s go to the temple, we will wash you. They will follow.”

  Sevan stood transfixed by the drirkels. They were covered in weeping ulcers and wore cloaks stained with their own putrescence.

  “What are they?” he asked. “Strange creatures with drirkel faces yet not drirkels, black like straalkets. Who are they? What are they? Monsters from another galaxy?”

  “Go to the temple,” Scotmax urged as she entered the room. “They are Star Masters.”

  Matthews ran.

  “She’s gone mad,” said Callahan. “We must pray to the gods. Come with me to the temple. The Star Masters will try her there.”

  Sevan and Scotmax followed him.

  At the temple, they found Matthews passed out on the floor. They cleaned her up and laid her down to rest. Then Callahan went to pray in the inner shrine. A moment later, he returned.

  “The Star Masters are sleeping,” said Callahan, sitting down.

  Matthews stirred, Scotmax went to her.

  “Matthews, I am beside you.”

  “Thank you,” Matthews spoke.

  “Be brave.”

  Matthews slipped back into unconsciousness.

  “Wake up! Wake up!” shouted Ydna. “You are forgetting me. Look at my wounds, here and here. That was your homecoming gift. Murdered by my offspring.”

  The drirkel straalkets stirred.

  “Wake up, Matthews. You are having a nightmare.”

  “Sleep cannot overcome these monsters,” said Ydna, pointing to the drirkel straalkets.

  The drirkel straalkets woke.

  “Get out of this place, all of you,” said Matthews to Ydna and the drirkel straalkets.

  Matthews drew her weapon.

  “Out. Out. Out.”

  Callahan, Scotmax and Sevan struggled to relieve her of her weapon.

  “You are to blame, Scotmax,” said Callahan. “For everything that Matthews has done. She obeyed you to kill her co-begetter.”

  “I didn’t tell her to kill her.”

  “She ran to you for protection. You desecrate this temple.”

  “My duty is to be here, with Matthews, until she can face trial with the Star Masters for her crime. But why should she stand trial? She is out of her wits.”

  “Because she killed her co-begetter. The Star Masters must try her for her to become president.”

  “The Star Masters didn’t try Ydna.”

  “When a partner kills her partner, they don’t share the same life juice.”

  “So murdering a partner is not sacrilege? I will stay with Matthews while you force her to stand trial?”

  “It is my responsibility.”

  “I don’t recognise your responsibility.”

  “Scotmax, you may be important on Angetenar but you hold no power here.”

  “Matthews asked me for help. I shall help her. I am going to take her back to Herse where she will be safe.”

  Matthews woke up.

  “Come on, Matthews, I will take you back to Herse.”

  “You can’t go back to Herse,” Callahan protested. “If you do, all this will have been for nothing.”

  “She is not fit to stand trial, let alone become president. I will bring her back once she is better.”

  “If you do,
then nothing will change. Kcokaep’s offspring, Yrag, will become president and the same regime will persist.”

  “I’m sorry, Callahan. Matthews is my priority right now. If we try to replace Yrag in the state she is in, then it will have all been for nothing, anyway.”