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43: The Informant
"Hmm, this is indeed most interesting." The Malha said, "Red hair you say?"
"Yes, Malha." Celestella replied, her holographic form flickering for just a fraction of a second as she spoke to Aurelia. "The girl also possesses a skin tone very similar to your own – a bit lighter perhaps, but still quite close."
"Can you acquire an image of the girl?" the Malha asked.
"I believe so. Such a thing should not be difficult. She arrived at the palace with the second portion of Desslok's rebels – before the council gathered and banished Deun."
"What of her family? Are any of her kin with her? Siblings – mother, father?" Aurelia narrowed her eyes in thought as she asked.
Celestella thought for a moment, then replied, "Yes... I believe so. There is another woman with her who she calls 'Amah', but she is in appearance as a Gamilon – blue skin and dark hair. The others call the woman 'Dara.'"
Aurelia's eyebrow shot up, "'Dara,' you say? Do any of the others call her anything else? Does she have another name, or a surname?"
Celestella shook her head, "I do not know, but I have heard one man – a 'Garen Krenshaw' call the girl 'Constance,' and once he said her surname was 'Mariposa.'"
The Malha rolled her eyes, "Mariposa," she tsked, "There is no such name." Aurelia tapped her chin for a moment, then said more to herself than to Celestella, "But we shall humor her for now."
"Would you like an image of the girl's mother as well, Malha? It would be easy enough to get." the Jireli asked.
Aurelia thought for a moment, then, deciding she had nothing to lose, said, "Yes... yes, please do. It will be... interesting to see her now."
"'Now,' Malha?"
Aurelia smirked, "Oh, just a figure of speech, Celestella. Please, do send those images as soon as you can."
"Of course, Malha." Celestella's image bowed before Aurelia, "You will have them before the day is out."
"Thank you." Aurelia nodded, "I knew I chose well when I freed you and your sister from that Jirel prison all those years ago. You have been a most loyal servant to me."
"As I will always be, Malha."
"Now go." Aurelia motioned for the young Jireli to leave to fulfill her most recent assignment.
"No, no, no." Constance shook her head at Deror who was trying to put together a starship model. The boy was trying to put the con tower on backwards. She managed to get the piece away from him and make him listen a little more attentively this second time she explained it. "Look, you can't put it on this way or it won't work. It has to go the other way. See?" She showed him again, pointing out the key differences between the front and the back one more time.
"Oh! Okay." the boy laughed, and snatched the piece away from her. Constance thought he would try to put the piece on wrong again just to be funny, but he did it correctly, to Constance's relief.
"You're acting funny, Connie." Deror said as he was in the middle of putting together one of the ship's gun turrets. "What's going on that you're not telling?"
The young woman looked away, caught off guard by the boy's insight – a skill she remembered possessing at his age, but one that had become a bit dulled with years.
Constance sighed, then gave up and spilled her story to Deror, "You promise not to tell anyone else about this?" she said in a low whisper.
Deror nodded enthusiastically,
"Not even your parents?" she looked sideways at him.
"Yep." he said matter-of-factly, "I won't even tell Juji."
"Well, him you can tell, but no one else." Constance chuckled.
"Okay." the boy replied innocently, "So what're you acting so funny about?"
The young woman sighed and let her head drop a bit. She scooted a little closer to Deror as she had been sitting on the other side of the pile of model pieces. The floor suddenly seemed colder than it had just a second ago and the small room seemed to get much bigger than it actually was. The sudden silence felt as though it would collapse in on her.
Finally she said, "I don't know why Amah and Garen aren't talking anymore."
"Oh." Deror said, then furrowed his brow in concentration, "Maaaaybe it's because..." he put his hand on his chin and looked up at the ceiling in his signature "I'm thinking" look. "Because one of them did something that other one didn't like!" he said in triumph.
"Could be." Constance sighed, "If that's the case though I just wish they'd talk about it instead of avoiding each other like they have been since before we left the camp to come to Rapha'owr."
Deror nodded, "Yeah, that would be good. Why do adults always act so strange, Connie?"
"I don't know, neshama*." Constance shook her head, "But I wish I did."
"So who acts weirder," Deror said, "Aba's friend Wolf, or Leader Desslok?"
Constance nearly laughed at the unexpected question – one that she herself might have asked a decade before if she'd known both men at the time. "Well, I don't know. Wolf Frakken just likes to keep to himself a lot – kind of understandable considering his past. But Desslok..." she paused and thought for a moment, "I don't ever really know what he's thinking. I've seen him do some of the most noble things any man ever has," she paused, thinking back through the past years before continuing in a more sober tone, "and then I've seen him do some of the most thoughtless, barbaric things I've ever seen in my life." She looked at the boy she sat with, "He's what's called a 'khidah*,' our Leader is."
"Yeah. That's kinda what I thought you'd say." Deror nodded, "So can we finish this model now?"
Starsha sat across from Masterson in stunned silence.
Talan waited, letting reality sink in for the young queen and hoping that it would not shake her confidence in her deceased parents. After all, she'd obviously never been told the whole story about her childhood and some of the events she clearly couldn't remember.
Finally, after what seemed like a small eternity Starsha spoke.
"I... never even suspected it..." she whispered, "But I see it now... And I remember snippets of something – something I always thought was an old dream, but that I could never forget about."
Masterson nodded, "What was it?"
"It – I think it must have been the night I was taken." she said, finally able to realize the piece of her past that she had never before been able to.
Talan nodded again, "That is a distinct possibility. Do you remember anything specific? Faces, sounds, smells, voices?"
For a moment the woman sat quietly, wracking her brain for the old memories she hadn't been able to access for a long time, "Yes..." she finally said, "There was a man – a Bolar soldier – all I can remember is the hard look on his face. I don't think he was anyone particularly important, but I remember noting that he was Bolar." she stopped again looking for more details, "and I remember being taken onto a ship – a small ship – something like a transport, but more... stealthy... like a covert operations vessel of some sort."
"And after that?" Masterson asked.
Starsha stopped again and thought very hard for another long moment then stared to shake her head, "No... Yes!" her eyes lit up, "Yes, there was one more thing." she groped for the right description of the fuzzy image that had finally come to her mind, "It was... a... woman. Her skin was a bit darker than an Iscandarian's, but she was clearly not Bolar or Cometine – and most assuredly not Gamilon unless she was of heavily mixed heritage."
"Do you remember anything else about her? Any other distinct markings?"
"I think they put me to sleep shortly after that, but I remember that woman's eyes. She came close to me so I got a good look at her face. I remember she spoke softly. I can't remember what she said, but the tone was terrifying to me – dark and evil in a way that I had never experienced before. But as she spoke her eyes seemed to glow... They were... violet."
"Do you remember the color of her hair by any chance?" Masterson asked, grasping for the one detail that would confirm everything he'd ever theorized about Queen Talonka's capture and murder.
"No..." Starsha sighed, deflated, "It was too dark..." then, seeing the look of defeat on Masterson's face she added, "I'm sorry..."
"No, there is no need to apologize, my Queen. You have recounted much important information that was not available to me – or to anyone else before." he paused for a second as a thought came to him, "Would you be able to identify the woman you saw all those years ago if you saw her again?"
"I don't know." Starsha answered honestly, "As you said, it was a while ago." she thought for a moment, then said, "But I would be willing to try."
Masterson's face lit up with hope once again and he withdrew the computer he'd stowed away after his long tale. Activating it again, he quickly opened and displayed a three-dimensional hologram of a woman who appeared to be no older than Queen Kara had been at the time of her death.
"Surely this is an old image." Starsha said, "If this is the same woman who had me taken, wouldn't she be older than this by now?"
"Yes... and no." Masterson said ominously.
Starsha glanced at him in puzzlement.
"She... periodically seems to rejuvenate." he offered, "This is the most recent image we have of this woman – it was compiled just before Leader Desslok's final campaign against his brother." he opened another image and displayed it side-by-side with the other one, "This one is from seventeen years ago – the last time she was seen before my father and a rebel group of his own spotted her during this past year."
"They're nearly identical..." Starsha breathed.
"Indeed." Masterson sighed, "She is... conversant with a number of Hadean* forces... Some of which enable her to do and accomplish things that no ordinary mortal should be capable of."
"She worships Abaddon then." Starsha said, trying to clarify.
"Yes – though she will not put it in those terms." he replied, "She is the one known as the 'Malha Guardiana,' and is the leader of a cult known as the 'Followers of Guardiana.' They are the reason that Desslok was forced into hiding these past many years, and the reason that Leader Deun I was sent to his certain death at the hands of his own son, Deun II."
Starsha took in a sharp breath, horrified that one group of people could cause so much suffering and death. "Let me see her face more closely."
Masterson obliged and soon the Malha's face floated before Starsha, sized to life-life proportions. The Queen looked into the woman's expressionless face, searching it for the guile she had seen as a child.
"Are there images of her from seventeen years ago? Images that would show her and not merely a holographic reconstruction of her?" the Queen asked.
"Perhaps." Masterson nodded, then closed the images and began to dig for an image that Starsha could look at that would give her a better idea of who she was looking at. After a minute or two of searching he found one.
"Here," he said, "it is older than you asked for, but this one was taken during the investigation surrounding her husband's murder over twenty-five years ago."
The image materialized and Starsha instantly gasped and pointed, "That's her!"
Masterson nodded gravely, "Then it is as I and many others have thought since Rea Atid..."
Starsha looked at him for an explanation again.
"Aurelia Guardiana had her own daughter murdered."
"What daughter?" the Queen asked.
Masterson looked the young woman in the eyes and said, "Queen Talonka of Gamilon."
Starsha was speechless, so Masterson continued, "Queen Talonka would not succeed her mother – she refused. Instead, she chose Yeshua and Adonai. Aurelia was furious with her. Then the Malha disappeared for a long time, wreaking havoc on Gamilon without ever showing her face – until she tried to abscond with Talonka's twin sons – Deun and Desslok."
By now Starsha had regained her voice, "But she failed."
"Oh indeed." Masterson nodded, "My own parents, along with the Queen and a very good friend of hers named Eliora saw to it that Aurelia did not succeed."
"But she got her revenge eventually..." Starsha said sadly.
"Perhaps." Masterson said, "And perhaps not. Yes, she succeeded in taking her daughter's life, but in doing so, she spared yours."
"But I have no life here." Starsha said, suddenly quite downcast, "What has her sacrifice meant? My people are gone; I have no real way to impact the universe. I am merely one young woman. What can I ever do that would give Queen Talonka's sacrifice meaning?" her voice trailed off and she hung her head, unshed tears beginning to well up in her eyes.
Masterson smiled, "You ask what you can do, but you forget what you have already done – who you have become. Queen Talonka did not expect you to change the universe. All she would have ever wanted was for you to live as Adonai would have you to. If that means living your life in honorable obscurity, then so be it. If that is Adonai's plan for you, then she would have been happy to know that you did as He wished. But you still have much of your life ahead of you, Queen Starsha of Iscandar. Who can tell what Adonai has in store for any of us?"
Knowing he was completely right the young woman nodded, letting some of her downcast spirit lift.
Both Starsha and Masterson let their conversation lull for a moment as each gathered their thoughts, but as they did so, something else suddenly occurred to Starsha.
Her head shot up,"There's something else I remember, Masterson!" her eyes were wide, her face the picture of haunted memory, "I woke up once during the time I was with the Bolars." she turned her face to look out the far window, "I remember I was laying on something – maybe a bed – in the center of a large, dark room. There was light shining on me – as though they wanted to make sure they watched me while I was asleep – probably to prevent exactly what happened – my waking."
She shook her head, trying to clear away some of the fog that years had thrown over the memory. Then she continued, "I thought about sitting up, but didn't know if they were watching me, so I didn't – at least, not at first. I wondered what had wakened me – besides that whatever they'd given me had worn off. I looked around the dark room. I remember I couldn't really see anything very well since the light they were shining on me kept me from seeing into the darkness.
"Then I saw something – a bit of light – coming towards me out of the blackness. I remember I stayed as still as I could and pretended to still be asleep. Whatever it was that was coming was short – probably my height at the time. I remember thinking that it must be a very very short guard or something like that, who'd come to give me more sedative.
"But then the thing stopped just outside my circle of light. It put out its own light and slowly stepped into my circle. I remember being startled. It wasn't a guard – or anything like that at all. Instead it was two little girls, a little bit younger than me in fact. They looked a lot like Bolars, except one of them had long, pointed ears, and the other one – probably the younger one, had her ears bandaged up – as though she'd had some sort of surgery done on them.
"They looked nice, so I slowly opened my eyes and was about to say 'hello' to them when suddenly the real guard appeared behind them and scared them away. Unfortunately he caught me with my eyes open and put me back to sleep."
"You met two Jireli." Masterson said softly, "If only we could find them, to see what they remember from that encounter..."
"But why can't you?" Starsha asked.
"Because the Guardiana Followers wiped out the entire population of Jirel after Rea Atid..."
"Butchers..." she whispered, letting her tears finally fall, "How could they...?"
"Because nothing, save the Malha and her shêd, is sacred to them." Masterson said soberly. "And all the Malha is concerned about is continuing her line – and worshipping that foul spirit."
"But... if she killed her own daughter..." Suddenly the connections clicked in the queen's mind, "Then wouldn't Leader Desslok be the next heir to Aurelia's position?"
Masterson laughed mirthlessly, "I'm afraid it isn't so simply, my Queen." he said, "Aurelia needs a woman to succeed her."
"Oh... yes, I can see how that could be difficult. It seems as though the Malha has destroyed her own family line then. Unless of course Leader Desslok – or his estranged brother – were to produce a daughter in the years to come."
"That would presumably be Aurelia's only hope," Masterson nodded, "And perhaps that is why she has continued her rejuvenation cycle for so long – in the hopes that one of her grandsons can accomplish what she cannot... If that is her goal, then may Adonai ensure her failure."
"Yes," Starsha agreed, "May He do just that."
"I have the images for you, Malha." Celestella said as she sent the hologram to Aurelia via a secure channel that she only used to communicate with her superior.
"Ah, thank you, Celestella. You have done well." Aurelia approved as she briefly looked at a small version of each of the holograms before turning her gaze back to her servant. "I will contact you with further instructions soon."
"Yes, Malha." Celestella nodded and then vanished, the conversation now over.
Aurelia eagerly opened the first hologram – the image of the girl's mother. She enlarged the image so that it was now life-size and the three-dimensional aspect of the hologram allowed her to walk completely around the image, noting everything she could about the woman.
As Aurelia walked she smirked. The woman's eyes, her hair, her facial structure, they were all just as Aurelia had thought they would be.
The Malha let out a deep, maniacal laugh as she completed her circle around the image, stopping right in front of the woman's face, "So, you've finally come." she said to the lifeless image, "And you've brought the little shêd-spawn with you." she laughed again as she opened the image of Constance and displayed it side-by-side with Dara's image, "She looks much too much like you." Aurelia addressed Dara's image again, "Though she possesses a much better skin-tone than you ever did." she raised an eyebrow at Dara. "Yes," the Malha examined Constance's image from every angle, "Yes, she will do nicely."
* neshama – a term of endearment
* khidah – the idea of an enigma
* Hadean – from Hell; Hellish