A Warrior's Sacrifice (4 page)

To do so now, however, was not only to challenge Corwin's right to lead, but to simultaneously challenge the Oniban. That sort of action would have negative and dire consequences for her and her family. Phae forced her hand away from her sword.

"No … sir. I do not challenge the Oniban's decision." She looked away, broad shoulders bunching as her anger throbbed. The conversations at the tram station resumed, though everyone present kept a hopeful eye on the four Maharatha that were not fit to be together.

"Fine," Corwin said. "Since the Oniban gave us a
suggestion
, I'll follow it." The tram rolled to a stop, doors hissing as they opened. It was busier this time, and the Void followed protocol and stood aside to let the passengers — Warrior Caste first, then Scientist, then Support — disembark. Those Warriors who knew Corwin threw glares his way.

When the four Maharatha stepped onto the crowded tram, a hole formed, each of the lower castes pushing those below to the side to make way. Corwin did not suppress a sneer. The Maharatha arranged themselves so they could continue their conversation.

"So?" asked Phae once they were settled and the tram was underway.

Corwin shrugged. "I've been in the city a long time but never a part of it. I don't know where to go," he glanced at his three compatriots, "especially any place that would welcome us."

Kai snorted but didn't say anything.

Phae scoffed. "We are Maharatha. There is no place that would turn us away."

"All right then. Take us there," Corwin said.

"Okay, I will. It is a bar that my family frequents. They'll know me, we won't have any trouble."

They exited the tram three stops later. This section of the city was unknown to Corwin. He'd never had the occasion — or the want — to visit. This was where the old Wei families dwelled, where entire buildings or blocks housed all the members of a single Drengin Family. Even in such an august section of the city, the buildings were the same as elsewhere: drab, gray boxes topped with a dome.

The Maharatha were out of place, four black-clad figures with red trim amongst a sea of olive green. They were given a wide berth.

Phae strode forward, head up, chest puffed out, wide shoulders squared. She was on her home turf, one of the few who'd "made it," returned for the support and adulation of an entire subcaste. She loved it, soaking up the jealous looks and mandatory acts of obeisance.

At the bar door, they each typed their passcode and entered. The décor was Republic standard: booths along the outer walls and tables scattered throughout the space in between. Several half walls placed before the entrance could hold drinks or provide cover against invasion. A short bar stood near the back next to an emergency exit. The place smelled like stale beer, sweat, and protein cubes.

The bar was silent, conversations halted mid word, beer or sporks frozen in place between table and mouth. Phae stepped into the silence, eyes half closed, a smile on her face. "As you were," she said.

Animation returned to the room, though it was subdued as the Wei, wary of the sudden and unwarranted High Caste attention, pretended to go back to whatever they were doing. It was not at all uncommon for High Castes to wander into a Low Caste bar to cause trouble, and the bar's denizens guarded themselves against the Maharathas' intentions.

Phae strode to a table nearest the bar. The Wei at the table, all second-tier officers, stood, bowed, and moved elsewhere. Phae puffed up bigger, pulled out a seat, and sat down.

Kai followed Phae, bending his knees and slouching to hide his true size and stature. It was useless, though, for no matter what he did, he couldn't hide his mass.

Chahal and Corwin sat down as well, Chahal wearing a nervous smile, Corwin a frown. He wasn't pleased at his situation. He'd never visited a bar, not even as he climbed through the castes. He had nothing to celebrate. Besides, this room didn't have enough exits, and from the angry looks thrown about the room, things might get said and challenges issued. That was
not
how Corwin wanted to spend what might be his last evening on Earth.

Phae turned in her seat towards the bar. Scrawled on the plasteel wall above the tender's head was a list of the food and beverages available. It was all standard fare, unfiltered beer and grain liquor, protein and greens prepared in a handful of different yet unimaginative ways.

Phae raised her hand and snapped her fingers. "Hey! Tender! Three beers."

Corwin's frown deepened. Phae was showing off. In the Republic, where everything was tracked, logged, collated, and then compared against a daily quota, requisitioning three beers in a single order would get you flagged — unless you were Maharatha.

She turned back to her Voidmates, smiling. No one spoke.

The tender arrived in moments, set the beer down in the center of the table, and then ran off to fill another order. Phae grabbed one and took a long pull, smacking her lips.

Chahal and Kai glanced at Corwin with questions in their eyes. "Go ahead," he said as he made a small gesture with his hand. They both reached out at the same time for the remaining drinks.

Phae caught Kai's wrist before he reached the beer. "I reqed this for
Humans,
not Variants." There was the soft sound of a sword loosening in its sheath from under the table. Phae's sword hand was out of sight.

Kai returned Phae's glare. Tense Sahktriya mounted, gathering like a storm. Phae was big for a Maharatha, but Kai made her look svelte; he could have snatched her up off her feet if he wanted. Instead he nodded and forced himself to relax. "Forgive me," he said, twisting his arm free. "I forgot my place."

"Don't you forget again." She looked at Corwin and brought her missing hand up to join the other. "Well? You going to drink it?"

Corwin picked it up and took a swig. It was tangy, tart, with an aftertaste of yeast and a bite of alcohol. He extended the mug to Kai without taking his eyes from Phae. Chahal leaned back in her chair, watching the exchange with wide eyes over the rim of her mug.

"He needs to know his place, Corwin," Phae said.

"He already does."

Kai reached for the mug. Phae growled.

"You got something to say to me?" Corwin wasn't sure why he was doing this, sticking his neck out for some Variant he didn't really know. It was the wrong move for someone who wanted to keep out of sight. Already he dyzued the judging eyes boring into the back of his head from the other patrons.

Phae too became aware of the eyes that judged her for challenging a superior officer. "Fine," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "I don't care. But you can req the next round."

The overt hostility diffused after that, though iciness clung to their table: Corwin uninterested in conversing; Kai too afraid to offend; Chahal unwilling to start a conversation. Phae didn't care if they spoke or not. She enjoyed her stardom, nodding at familiar faces, stretching so the Maharatha symbol sewn onto her uniform flashed around the room. But something changed. The strutting ended and her grin fell, giving way to a set jaw and tense shoulders.

Phae's Voidmates noticed the change and followed her gaze. At the bar's entrance, a woman stood surveying the gathered patrons with a scowl. Her olive uniform was pressed and clean, her black hair graying. Gold bars on her shoulders and medals attached to her lapels were evidence of her skill and prowess as a soldier and leader. Her scanning eyes alighted on Phae, and the woman's glower darkened.

The woman approached. Phae stiffened. The stranger arrived at the table and bowed low, first to Corwin, then to Chahal. Kai she greeted with a tilt of her head. Phae she didn't greet at all, instead leaning down until her face was centimeters away from the female Maharatha's. "What are you doing here, Daughter." It was not a question.

"Hello to you too, Mother," Phae said, trying to shrug off the palpable animosity. "I'm drinking a beer." She tried her best to meet her mother's eyes, but few children of any age can withstand a mother's glare.

"What are you doing in a Wei bar?" Phae's mother grabbed Phae by the hair on the back of her head. It looked like it was not the first time she'd used this technique.

Phae blanched. "I just wanted to come back to the family bar," she said.

"You wanted to come back to
show off
." She shook Phae's head. "
Think,
you stupid girl. You are
Maharatha
, and yet you taint yourself and our Family by wandering around a Wei bar. While you're in here preening, you do nothing but earn the Family jendr. You should know your place, and it is not here." She let go, stood, and straightened her uniform. "You give us all dreng with your presence," she said, bowing to the table and backing away.

The three Voidmates exchanged glances then looked at Phae. She'd slid so far down into her chair that her arms, which she'd crossed over her chest, weren't visible above the edge of the table. The pride that had buoyed her for so long had evaporated, and now she was deflated, defeated.

'Phae the Accident'. They'd called her that to her face and behind her back in the crèches. Given her parents' heritages, she'd been expected to test into the Teyma caste; Tercio was a long shot. Like so many others in the Republic, she'd been dropped into the crèche and then forgotten, ignored even on those few occasions during holidays when a parent might have the desire and time to visit their child. She'd been alone in the crèche system for almost fourteen years when she'd tested into the Tercio caste.

Then they'd paid attention. Two years later, when she'd tested into the Maharatha, they'd been ecstatic. But they'd never wanted her as a person, only her genes and her dreng and what those things did for Family Lieng.

"I," Phae's voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. "I'm bored of this place. When you're finished, we should move on to another bar." She looked around. "Maybe one more deserving of our caste. I — I forgot how slummy this place is."

Chahal and Kai quaffed their beers with a few quick swallows. Phae finished hers as well, but it was a mechanical action more than anything else — her eyes and mind were somewhere else. They left the bar without another word and walked in silence back to the tram station.

"Where are we going now?" Kai asked as they stepped into the tram car. Chahal shrugged. Phae stared at the floor. "Corwin?"

"I'm going it alone from here," he said.

"What? But the Oniban said —" Chahal said.

"I remember. We fulfilled her suggestion." Corwin glanced at Phae. "Really helped us bond."

"Well, what should
we
do then?" Chahal called through the doors as Corwin stepped out.

"I command you on the battlefield, but what you do with your personal time is your own affair." The doors slid closed and cut off Chahal's reply. Corwin turned, adjusted his uniform, and walked off into the perpetual twilight.

CHAPTER FIVE

Corwin arrived at the briefing room a few minutes early. His Voidmates were present, sitting in the plasteel chairs facing the holoprojector that whirred at the front of the room. Corwin sat on the end next to Phae. It didn't look like what happened the night before had stuck with her; the sneer was back, along with the anger that simmered behind her eyes.

"Where do you think they'll put us?" Kai asked, leaning forward to look down the row.

"Does it matter?" Phae asked. "We're the sword arm of the Oniban herself. Whatever she needs, we'll do it."

Chahal crossed her arms and looked down at the floor. She nodded once, white ribbon bouncing along with her hair. She glanced at Corwin. "I know where they'll put us." Beyond that, she wouldn't say more.

"Thank you for coming, sirs and ma'ams," the moderator said, entering the room with a datapad tucked under one arm. He was old, an elder, yet had the brisk walk and straight back of a military man, his Wei physique not yet deteriorated.

The Oniwabanshu was the highest-tier managerial caste, and they presided over the other three major castes: Warrior, Scientist, and Support. They issued the passcodes and collated passcode information; they ran the factories and the mines and the logistics of the Republic's war machine. They told the Scientist subcaste what to research and the Media subcaste what news to make and movies to film.

The caste was staffed by the most Drengin of the lower castes, and seeing as they took their orders from the Oniban herself, their word was law. The lowest ranked member of the Oniwabanshu outranked the other three major castes, even this man who had been Wei, three subcastes below the Maharatha. They controlled everything, and one was wise to show them their due respect.

The four Maharatha returned the greeting with seated bows.

He tapped at his datapad. "Orders from the Oniban herself." The Maharathas' coms chimed as they updated. "Basic search and destroy." He flicked his datapad at the holoprojector, and it sprang to life, casting a map of Nor and Soumerica onto the wall, the Republic-controlled lands in green, the enemy's in red.

Almost all of Mezico was Republic territory, their control extending halfway down through Soumerica. Green stretched from one coast of Normerica to the other and northward up the western coast. A large swath of enemy red reached down from the frozen tundra and went as far as the southern tip of Lake Michigan.