Kastori Revelations (The Kastori Chronicles Book 1) (26 page)

She kept her eyes on Crystil until the commander nodded, indicating she would not disrupt Erda’s story again.

“Typhos realized how much power he had and waited for the day for someone to help him. At first, that day didn’t come, as we held the trial and made sure he never left the jail. But some of his more zealous followers found out where he was, and they came to break him out.”

“A problem arose, one which we could not anticipate. When he escaped, Typhos’ magical powers allowed him to control the minds of the weak, and he used this to build an army. Those he could not directly control, he mostly won over with passionate, demagogue speeches declaring war on the corrupt and crumbling council. We did what we could to keep an impasse by putting as many blockades as we could. Even his own Kastori were not interested in a civil war, though had they come at any time, we would have lost.”

“For Typhos, however, it wasn’t enough. Frankly, I’m not sure what is enough. Perhaps he is still trying to escape the shadow his parents cast. It’s been years since I sensed his presence here, so who knows what he is attempting to conquer now. In any case, though, he got bored of the standstill and created Calypsius. You can imagine how terrifying this was—we thought we’d reached a quiet stalemate, and then that night the creature annihilates a significant portion of our population. We had to go underground, but even then, people still perished. I feared the extinction of our race had come.”

“You didn’t try and fight it?” Celeste asked.

“We did. The preemptive strike on the first night, however, decimated our ranks. Only by erecting magical barriers at the entrance to the forest and having our lupi fend off the beast were we able to prevent its fire from reaching us.”

“Why not follow Typhos?” Cyrus asked.

“Some did. But they were not going to fight against him. They were going to fight for him. In order to reach their next planet—Monda—they followed him to Mount Ardor.”

“The tall mountain.”

“Yes. The power of a Kastori’s magic is most concentrated at the peak of Mount Ardor. Typhos warped with his allies to Monda. From there… I am sorry for what happened.”

“Why did he not just kill us all instantly?” Crystil asked. “If he’s so powerful as to overwhelm you guys…”

Erda shook her head slowly.

“He probably took a sick pleasure at the slow destruction of your home. Typhos doesn’t have a purpose, at least not one that I have figured out. He doesn’t have a method to his madness. He just wants to watch the universe burn, and he wants to be at the center of it all, the most powerful being that there is, laughing as his followers worship him as a deity and as his enemies scream in his fire. And at this point, I do not believe there is anyone who can stop him. I could not, the council could not, and no one else has risen to the level that he had as a child.”

43

Celeste felt a sense of helplessness for what had happened on Monda. Had her father just lied to her about the war almost ending? Did he underestimate the power that the evil Kastori had? Could Dad even have had any way of knowing their strengths if Typhos had chosen the sadistically slow execution of their world?

Never one to feel much anger, she wanted to hunt Typhos down and kill him herself. She wanted to find him, hold him accountable for the annihilation of her world, and—

“Celeste,” Erda said, but it did not sound like a spoken word. It sounded like it came from inside her head, though it sounded like Erda.

It made Celeste realize murdering Typhos would make her no better. No, if there was any sanity left in the man, or any semblance of the child who could prove to be the savior of the Kastori… should she ever run into him, she had to find a way to unlock it. She had no faith she could do it, but if she came face to face with Typhos, that didn’t mean she couldn’t try.

“As it stands now, what remains of my people tries to get by with our lupi hunting for food and Amira and I changing the water into something we can drink.”

Celeste turned to Crystil.
We can’t just tolerate them. They are the only ones who can keep us alive for the next several years. If Amira or Erda go…

Crystil gave no reaction.

“We can give you our water, but we need your help with Calypsius. The creature is not indestructible. But Typhos clearly gave it healing powers, as every time we saw it a day later, it had healed its wounds. The only way we can defeat it is by killing it in a single battle.”

She stood back up and walked in front of the three humans, so close that she could touch them without fully extending her arm.

“This is where you come in. We believe you have the technology which, combined with our magic, can help bring Calypisus down. Will you help us?” Erda said, and her tone made it clear she did not know which way any of them would go.

“What’s in it for us?” Crystil asked, and Celeste turned, not bothering to hide her appalled face.

“Water, for one,” Erda said, and Celeste was in awe at how calmly Erda handled the brutish soldier. “A promise as chief of the Kastori that my people will never harm you. And furthermore, a promise that should you ever need the help, we will provide it.”

Crystil bit her lip, still not satisfied with the answer.

“We’ll do it,” Cyrus said.

Crystil immediately elbowed him, and said, “A word, Cyrus?”

“Take your time,” Erda said. “We will not hold it against you if you say no. My people will adapt, in time, to living underground.”

But for Celeste, her brother had spoken the truth. No one deserved to live in hiding, and that included the race of people responsible for her father’s death.

44

“You care greatly for him,” Erda said when Cyrus and Crystil had gone out of earshot.

Celeste turned to Erda and, feeling warmth from her, smiled and nodded.

“I really don’t know where I’d be without him, literally and figuratively. He saved me from a poisonous death and has always been my protector and mentor. Well, minus the cocky attitude. I try and be a bit more humble, he tries to be a bit more of a goofball.”

“Yes, I know,” Erda said, a knowing smile on her face. “How were you two as children?”

“Much the same,” Celeste said with a laugh. “He was to be the next emperor after our father resigned or passed away. I chose to study science and all of the disciplines I could. It’s kind of funny, Cyrus is almost too joking for his political ambitions, and I’m too intuitive and gut-trusting for my scientific ambitions. But our father never discouraged us.”

“Your father. What about your mother?”

“My father said she died giving childbirth to me. It was difficult for me, but when my father told me how much of her spirit I had and how great it was to have me around… well, there are times I still feel guilty. But those times aren’t as common as before.”

“Oh, I see,” Erda said.

Outside the tent, the sounds of Crystil and Cyrus arguing reached into the tent. Despite the tension of the moment, Celeste laughed.

“You know this will pass,” Erda said.

“This is how those two get along. Two stubborn, bullheaded people who are convinced the other is either too lazy or too high-strung. They got much better after the last incident.”

“When Cyrus rescued you two?”

“Yes,” Celeste said, confused at how Erda knew.

Erda gently put her hand on Celeste’s, and whatever fears or concerns Celeste had vanished when she looked into Erda’s eyes. Celeste saw the most compassionate and caring set of eyes from a woman she’d ever seen.

“We’ve watched you three ever since you arrived on Anatolus. We saw you collect the samples of a dead lupi—much to the chagrin of Ultimus and Arga.”

“Who?”

“They are the leaders of the lupi. Ultimus is the brown-haired lupi, Arga the gray-colored one. They are our guardians, and they are the ones who protect us.”

Celeste connected the dots in her head—the lupi, the capabilities of the Kastori, this location, and—

“You were the one who pulled off the lupi from us in that cavern a while ago?” Celeste said, at first self-assured in her statement, but turning it into a question when she saw Erda gently shaking her head.

“No, Celeste. I did not order them to pull off of you.”

Celeste felt like something was being unsaid.

“But yes, we’ve watched you and guided you to this cave so that you might find us. We could not protect you from Calypsius, but we could do everything else to guide you here so that we may work together.”

“How?”

“Hiding other caves. Enhancing the visual of the entrance and your memory of the path so that you would know how to easily return here.”

Celeste couldn’t believe it. She’d thought she’d heard voices numerous times, and now, she realized she’d never lost her mind. In fact, it had worked at peak efficiency since their arrival.

The sound of someone stomping outside came, and Celeste laughed.

“Can you use your powers to make them get along?”

“I can use magic, but I can’t make miracles happen,” Erda said, leading to heavy laughter.

45

Cyrus reminded himself to stay calm, listen carefully to Crystil, and not crack any smart jokes. She’d gone into a rage, though he didn’t believe it was fully justified. These Kastori were not the same Kastori who had destroyed his father and his future empire.

But I don’t have the scarring memories that she does. Fought these guys for years, and just now found out it was all a futile battle anyways.

He felt her strong hand grab his arm and hold him in place just as they exited the tent. Annoyed, but with the calming voice in his head, he turned to his red-faced commander.

“You better have a very good reason for choosing to volunteer us,” Crystil said.

Cyrus sighed and looked down at the ground, collecting his thoughts before he looked back into Crystil’s eyes.

“They have the clean water. They have the power of magic. They know this planet better than anyone. We are sitting targets every night on the surface until Calypsius gets bored of toying with us and decides to eat us. We have to trust them.”

“Trust?!?” Crystil said incredulously. “You trust them?? Those are the, the magicologists who ruined Monda and killed my husband, Cyrus. Think long and hard about that before you choose to ‘trust them.’”

“I don’t trust the Kastori as a whole,” Cyrus admitted, though he didn’t say the words with confidence. “But if they wanted to kill us, they would’ve done so by now. Amira had us in a grip and could’ve broken our necks on the spot, but she didn’t. If Erda is as strong as she says she is, she could’ve killed us right then.”

“They probably still will!” Crystil said far louder than Cyrus expected. “I saw what happened on Monda, Cyrus. You just heard about it. But I saw it. I know what death at their hand looks like. It’s not always instant. You heard what Erda said about Typhos. He could’ve killed us at any moment. He just chose the slow death.”

“OK, I get it,” Cyrus said.

Around him, different Kastori stared at them coldly. Cyrus couldn’t blame them, given Crystil’s strong behavior.

“Look, let’s just play this out,” Cyrus said. “When would they kill us?”

“Right after we destroy the monster.”

“Calypsius.”

“Whatever. Calypsius. After we destroy it, these guys will have no use for us and will just toss us to the side.”

“Maybe they will,” Cyrus said. “I can’t say they definitely won’t. But here’s what I can say for sure. Calypsius will destroy us alone, as we have no way of defending ourselves.”

Crystil gulped and her eyes went wide, seemingly with anger, but Cyrus ignored it.

“Maybe the Kastori can’t help us either. Maybe we get to battle, combine forces, and still get wiped out. OK. And maybe we get to battle, we win, and then the Kastori decide to kill us in sacrifice or something strange like that. But guess what? We die in all of those scenarios. There’s only one in which we live, and if I wasn’t ready to die alone, talking to an inanimate skull, I’m sure not ready to die now.”

Crystil relaxed, and the Kastori around them stopped paying attention.

“We won’t live without their help. That, I know. I don’t know that we live with it. But I also don’t know for certain that we die with it, and that’s the best we got.”

Crystil bit her lower lip, grimaced, and smirked.

“Not bad, Cyrus. Who knew the cocky, smart-mouthed Orthran could also make some pretty good sense,” she said. “I don’t trust these guys. I won’t for a long time, even if they let us live. I sometimes don’t even trust you. But you make sense. I need someone to talk objectively with me on these magic—”

“Kastori.”

Cyrus didn’t back down from her glare, and she relented a couple of seconds later.

“Kastori. Because I’ve seen too much.”

“Understood,” Cyrus said as he smirked. “And now you have to give me credit for that.”

Crystil playfully stomped her foot in mock fury, a nice change of pace from the unbridled hatred she had moments ago.