Court of Nightfall
Read Court of Nightfall Online
Authors: Karpov Kinrade
KARPOV KINRADE
Copyright © 2014 Karpov Kinrade
Cover Art Copyright © 2014 Karpov Kinrade
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Published by Daring Books
Edited by Anne Chaconas
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Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.
For Patti Larsen
To all of our epic adventures
And a huge thanks to all our betas: Rebecca, Cindyk, Amy, Patti, Nicole, Gemma, Michele, Beth Ann, Amanda, Tracy. You are our Super Secret Agents of EPICNESS!
And to the Marketing Ninja herself, Anne Chaconas, for her marketing, editing, moral support and overall epicness.
CHAPTER 10 – The Shadow of Rome
CHAPTER 11 – A Teutonic Knight
CHAPTER 14 – The Last Nephilim
CHAPTER 17 – Trust Amongst Rebels
The soldiers reached me. They aimed their guns and fired before I could even turn around.
I thought I couldn't feel more pain. That I'd maxed out the human capacity to endure.
I was wrong.
The bullet of fire entered my body and moved through me, leaving a trail of burning agony in its wake.
I slumped over the crystal box, my blood seeping out of me, staining the opaque quartz.
Red. Scarlet. Evie whispered the color of my own name into my ear as I slowly died.
My last vision was of scarlet blood—still just grey to me—spreading into the cracks, into the intricate carvings that decorated the encasement. It almost seemed to glow, and I smiled and closed my eyes as the crystal shattered and darkness took me.
Shades of Grey
I've spent my life in shades of grey. It wasn't until I died that my world filled with color.
But that day I still lived in black and white, and my future, my dream of becoming a pilot, rested in my ability to see past my two-toned world and into the nuances of shades that would help me pass this test.
I stood in the middle of the airfield in Helena, Montana, surrounded by airplanes, some taxying, some grounded, all of them beautiful. I longed to be in the cockpit of one of them, to feel the power and thrill of controlling a 300,000 pound metal tube with wings amongst the clouds.
Dr. Crayton stood beside me, his glasses perched on the end of his nose, clipboard in hand, as we waited for the controller in the air traffic control tower to flash the first light from the light guns.
I would have to identify which lights were green and which were red. If I passed, I'd get an exemption for my color-blindness and would be allowed to start flight training.
If I failed, my dreams would end.
I wouldn't fail.
I'd been dreaming of flying since I was a child, since the first time I went up in a Cessna with my dad. It was love at first flight, and I haven't looked back.
When my parents realized I was color blind, they tried to dissuade me from this career path, but I refused to budge. When my parents told my doctor the severity, and rarity, of my condition, he insisted it would be a waste of time. I insisted we try.
Somehow, someway, I would fly.
Dr. Crayton, the FA Medical Examiner responsible for issuing me a Second Class Medical Certificate—something I needed before I could train for my pilot's license—texted someone on his phone and then looked up at me. "Miss Night, are you ready to begin?"
I took a deep breath, reining in my nerves, and nodded. I could do this. I'd tried to make a case that these restrictions were outdated rules from a bygone era that lacked the technology of today. I had my e-Glass, and Evie—the most advanced artificial intelligence. She guided me through this colored world I lived in grey by telling me what I was seeing. I'd never be a danger or risk to passengers. But they persisted, convinced that I had to navigate the sky without the aid of AI, just in case we ever lost it. But we were as likely to lose the ability to fly, so I failed to see the sense in this. Still, I'd been training without Evie for weeks to pass this one test. I was ready. I nodded and focused my sight on the horizon.
"Very well," he sighed, a resigned look of smug knowing on his face.
I wanted to kick his kneecaps but that wouldn't help me get his stamp of approval. Instead, I closed my eyes, controlled my breathing, and let my body relax. I imagined a world of color, a world denied to me since birth, and I willed the lights in the sky to tell me their secrets, to give to me their truth so that I could see beyond the grey.
When the first light flashed from the tower, I hesitated. Red or green? Red or green?
Dr. Crayton cleared his throat. "Red or green, Scarlett?"
Oh the irony that my name would represent such a vibrant color I could never see. "Red," I said, sure that the shades I saw hinted at what I'd learned to be red.
The next light gun flashed. Red. Then green. That one was different. I was sure of it. Red again. Three more greens. We continued this way for an eternity that was likely not more than twenty minutes. The heat from our warm Montana summer beat down on me. Sweat pooled under my arms. I ignored it and stayed focused.
Finally, he texted someone, then clasped his pen to the clipboard. "Very well. We're finished. I'll message you with your results, once I've spoken to the Controller."
"Can you give me any hint as to whether I did okay?" I wasn't above begging to stop this pain in my gut as my future hung in the balance of his decision.
"I'm afraid not." For the first time, his brown eyes softened and he almost smiled. "I'll let you know soon, though."
As I walked across the airfield alone, I couldn't decide if his change of tone was good, or very, very bad.
***
The Helena Airport is small. Really small. Which is why I was glad I lived close enough to hang out there regularly. My dad rented a hangar here for his Cessna, though he kept a second plane at our house as well, and being the homeschooled geek that I was, I spent most days in the hangar with him, learning about ground control, pre-flight check-lists, airplane maintenance and flying.
I pulled my e-Glass from my pocket and slipped the small device around my ear. It turned on and Evie's voice spoke in a clipped British accent. "Hello, Scarlett. How did your test go?"
"No idea. Any chance you can hack into their system and get my results for me?"
"The hacking skills you've programmed me with are likely sufficient. I can try if you would like."
Tempting. So very tempting. But likely they would find out, and it could jeopardize everything. I'd just have to wait. I didn't have the most current e-Glass, so I couldn't give Evie the upgrade to do untraceable hacking. In fact, mine was several models old. Nearly outdated. But I'd made some of my own modifications. To the point that it could do more than any on the market today.
I didn't see my parents anywhere, but Jax came out of the small office carrying two cups of coffee. He smiled big, his dark eyes ("They are brown," said Evie) locked on mine as he walked toward me. My heart did a little happy dance, and I accepted the coffee he handed me.
"How'd it go?" he asked.
"I don't know," I said between sips. "Okay, I guess?"
Jax had recently gotten his pilot's license but didn't have the money for his own plane. Since he'd been my one and only friend since I was a toddler, and his dad had been close to my parents before he died, it hadn't been hard to talk my dad into letting Jax work for him in exchange for time in the sky. He had to log in his hours in order to become a flight instructor and then go commercial—though in truth we both wanted to pursue a military career with the United Front Initiative: international travel, a chance to work with the best of the best flying around the world, protecting and defending the innocent from the cockpit of a fighter plane. The dream for us both.
He tousled my hair. "I'm sure you aced it. I've never seen you fail at anything you set your mind to."
I appreciated his confidence, but my own plummeted as I second-guessed every choice I'd made. "Have you seen my parents?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.
"They're inside. They're really nervous about the test."
"Or maybe the apocalypse has come and we just don't know it yet. My dad's probably mentally checking the stock in our bunker to make sure we have enough canned beef stew or something."
Jax laughed and tossed an arm over my shoulder as we walked toward the office. Oh if only that gesture meant to him what it meant to me. Even the touch of his fingers against my bare shoulders sent chills through my body, but he and I were squarely in the friend zone. He'd seen me in diapers, after all. I'm afraid there's no recovering from that.
"Your dad is just looking out for you and your mom. And the entire neighborhood. It'll be handy when the zombies come."
I rolled my eyes. "So handy." Though, to be fair, having a bunker and being prepared for the worst had become pretty commonplace since the Nephilim War. To the point that there were reality shows based on it. My parents seemed downright moderate compared to some of the apocalypse nuts out there.
As we entered the office, I saw my mom finishing up a call on her e-Glass. She flipped it back over her ear as my dad pulled her onto his lap. "Do you have a moment, Mrs. Night?"
She grinned at him, in that private way they had. "A moment for what, good sir? My time is valuable."
He pulled her closer and caressed her face with his hand. "A moment for me to look upon the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
She ran her hand through his dark hair, smiling. "For that, I suppose I can indulge you." She leaned in and kissed him as I approached.
When she saw me, she laughed and pulled away. "Promise me, Scarlett, you will find a man as loving as your father."
I didn't often admit this, but I secretly enjoyed how crazy in love my parents were. But then I remembered Jax and willed my blood not to rush to my face. He'd seen and heard it all and his impish grin wasn't helping the situation.
My dad came up to me, arms outstretched for a hug. "How'd it go, Star?" My dad had an easy manner about him. His accounting clients loved it, and animals seemed drawn to it, always showing up at our front door waiting for the food they knew he'd leave. It wasn't hard to see why, and it wasn't just that he was a handsome man with dark hair and warm brown eyes. It was his smile, his kindness, the way he set everyone around him at ease with his authentic charm.
"Hard to tell," I said, stepping away so my mom could get her hug, too.
His smile didn't waver at my own uncertainty. "Well, no matter what," he said, "you'll find a way to fly."
My mom hugged me next, her face still soft and glowy from flirting with my dad. "I'm proud of you no matter what. I know you think I don’t support you in this, but I do, honey. I just want you to be happy doing something you love. That's all I've ever wanted."
"I know, mom," I said. My mom was a computer genius, but instead of pursuing a high tech career, she went into teaching. She was always doing after school tutoring for kids who needed help. Each year she ran a food drive and donated her hand-made jewelry for charity fundraisers. She said she had a tough start as a kid and wanted to give back. I learned all my computer skills from her.
She and my dad made a handsome couple standing together. Him tall, dark and rugged, her petite, pale like me, with fair hair and blue eyes.
Jax pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to me. "I got you this gift. As a good luck charm."
I took the small silver bag from him and opened it, my heart fluttering in my chest. Inside was a silver pin of wings with an 'N' in the middle. My initial! I looked up into his handsome face, my heart full of unexpressed emotion. "These are pilot wings," I said.
"Whatever happened today, you're a pilot, Scarlett, born and bred. You deserve your wings."
He took the pin from me and attached it to my tank top.
I hugged him hard and whispered into his ear. "Thank you." He understood more than anyone what this meant to me.
"Let's go celebrate," my mom said, breaking up our moment in true parental style. "What are you kids in the mood for? Pizza? Greek? Thai?"
Jax shoved his hands into his pocket and shifted on his feet. "I was actually hoping I could borrow Scarlett for a bit. I… uh… made a mess of something on my computer."
My mom and I both laughed as my dad looked on sympathetically.
"I see this coffee wasn't just a gesture of good will. Did you get a virus again?" I asked.
He smiled lopsidedly. "Maybe."
"Let's take a look," I said, sitting down.
"I'll take Scarlett out for dinner after, if that's okay?"
I couldn't tell if he was asking me or my parents, but they smiled knowingly at each other and waved goodbye, holding hands as they walked away.
When Jax passed me his laptop, I saw the computer screen and sighed.
He grinned sheepishly at me. "I was trying to update my website and… "
"And somehow deleted the entire thing?"
"Can you fix it? I think it was hacked."
"Of course I can."
I spent the next few hours sorting out HTML coding and hacking into Jax's site. Sure enough, he'd been hit with a pretty nasty bug. It took me awhile, but I sorted through the mess, restored his content and placed stronger firewalls to prevent this from happening again.
My mom was the one who got me hooked on computers as a kid. I could barely walk, but I was already learning to type. By the time I was twelve I fancied myself the world's best hacker.
One night, I used my fledgling skills to find a video my parents wouldn't let me see, something they were watching but had turned off when I came in.
So, I hid in my room, door closed, and played it. A man, handcuffed, was being escorted down a street by another man dressed in red. People were gathered around, gawking.
I heard someone twist the handle on my door, and I clicked my e-Glass to shut down the video before they came in.
"What were you just watching?" my mom asked.
I shrugged, playing it cool. "Just something I found on an online channel. It's—"
She sat down next to me on my bed. "Scarlett? Are you lying right now?"
I debated whether to keep lying, but my mom would know. She always knew. "Yes," I said, shoulders slumping.
She smiled gently. "Then let's try again. What were you just watching?"
"The news reel you wouldn't let me see. I hacked the news network."
I glanced up at her to gauge her level of mad, but she was suppressing a grin. "Why?"