Preda's Voice (Guardians of Vaka Book 1) (23 page)

55

P
reda was relieved when the council meeting ended. The
Feria
would be descending toward the green planet within the next few hours, and she wanted to watch as the ship hurtled into Vaka’s atmosphere. Will had tried to advise against it—especially after the episode she had just had in the control room after seeing Vaka for the first time. Preda knew her reaction was not motion sickness, though, and she insisted on watching.

She and Fiver shared a seat in the back of the control room for the descent. She was told it was the same one Will had strapped her into when they left Earth, but Preda had no memory of that. It was chaos in the room now, and Vaka filled the entire screen in front of her as they drew ever closer.

Amidst the pandemonium, everyone’s actions were perfectly coordinated like in a well-rehearsed dance. It was mesmerizing to watch. Suddenly a countdown began at the corner of the wall, and soon the people in the room stopped moving and strapped themselves in.

Before long the ship was flying through the outer layers of the atmosphere toward the green planet. The rumbling around Preda grew deafening. Clouds were visible before disappearing behind a curtain of smoke and flames as the outer layers of the ship seemed to catch fire. Once through the atmosphere, the
Feria
abruptly halted in a jerking motion. The smoke slowly dissipated.

Preda gasped, and Fiver jumped down off her lap. She fumbled with her straps. She was unable to peel her eyes away from the screen in front of her. The sparkling green oceanic vastness opened before them, and it was unlike anything she had ever imagined.

Huge plants could be seen sprouting out of the ocean itself. Their enormous root systems were visible beneath the crystal clear water. Currents could be seen driving waves in seemingly random directions. Swaths of ocean flowed in currents toward the ship and ran parallel to pieces that flowed in the opposite direction. The swirling currents created beautiful patterns in the water.

A flock of flat-headed, white-winged creatures wheeled away from the now slowly moving
Feria
. To Preda they looked like birds, but they were smooth with no feathers. Their wings spread outward like enormous, thin, white bat wings. One of them opened its jaws to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth before flying away to rejoin the others. The sky itself had a slight purple tinge to it, though it was perfectly clear. As the ship continued to move, a city could be seen on the horizon.

Preda was holding on to a railing in front of her, and she saw Will looking at her out of the corner of her eye while she drank it in. When they neared the shining metallic city in the distance, she could discern that stilts supported the entire monstrous habitat.

The city sat at least a hundred feet above the waterline on hundreds of these stilts. Evenly spaced towers, taller than anything handcrafted Preda had ever seen, surrounded the island’s perimeter. When the
Feria
passed between two of these towers, Preda could see a faint glimmer in the air dissipate.

“That’s an electrical field surrounding the city,” Will said quietly next to her.

He pointed to the crew members furiously entering codes on the consoles before them. Preda nodded in understanding.

She looked down as far as the screen would let her and saw that tiny vehicles moved suspended on cables throughout the city. Preda could not see any roads—only cables. Occasionally a free-flying vehicle wove in and out of the cable traffic. The towers rose so high, she couldn’t see the bottoms or tops of them as the
Feria
passed between.

“The city has had to build upward,” Will said. “After the Vozia family was attacked, expansion outward became prohibited, to maintain the electrical field.”

Preda considered how afraid they must have been, for the city to choose to stop all lateral growth. The thought was staggering. She tried to imagine how a Soundless ambush could possibly have occurred on such a scale. Preda would have to remember to learn the details of that invasion in full once off the ship.

The
Feria
wove between two tall buildings juxtaposed diagonally, interrupting her thoughts. The vision on the other side of those buildings stole the breath out of Preda’s lungs. The word “palace” was not an accurate description for what stood before her. The entire structure was a spiraling and twisting briar patch of red stone, a work of art that sat on the very edge of the city with the purple sun rising behind it.

“The entire building is carved from one piece of Vakan stone,” Will said. “Stone on our planet is a rare thing, Preda. It has to be dredged up from the bedrock of the ocean floor. This place was built generations ago under one of the greatest Vozian rulers to ever live. They named it Hakkan. Translated to English, it means ‘Heart Stone.’” Will hesitated slightly before continuing. “Part of it was destroyed the night you left Vaka. Its hollow space serves as a reminder. We have not attempted to repair it or to rebuild.”

Preda could see that space as the
Feria
banked around the other side of Hakkan. A large hollow space existed in the middle of the intertwining red stone. The ground there was stark white in contrast. Preda looked at Will and said, “It should be a garden.”

Will looked at her with a sad expression. “The ground there won’t grow anything. We have tried to replace the ground with new soil, and still nothing will take root. Whatever is there turns white and dies.”

Preda looked at the space and knew why. Her parents’ deaths had left a scar in the Heart Stone.

56

A
n enormous crowd had gathered outside the gates of Hakkan and were waiting for the doors of the
Feria
to open again. Most of the crew and occupants had already left the ship. Those few left now stood together before the doors and waited to set foot on the planet.

Laney stood next to Jim with Preda and Will at the front of their group. Tamron and Al had left earlier with Macera Vank. They were serving as her personal honor guard. It was befitting the Earth proverb to keep one’s enemies closer. Ukra stood off to the side. She was her usual obsequious self and practically genuflected at every turn. Laney shook her head and ignored her. She concentrated on Preda’s back in front of her.

Laney had just spent the better part of an hour with Preda in her rooms. They had gone over every piece of clothing in Preda’s not inconsiderable wardrobe to find something suitable for this occasion. Preda had thrown out practically every fancy gown in there. She had said they should all be given to someone else. Laney had sighed in frustration, and they had finally settled on a shimmering, flowing green gown. It wasn’t fancy enough for Laney, but it still seemed too much for Preda’s comfort.

Looking at the Vozia now, Laney realized the dress was actually perfect. It matched her shining green eyes exactly. Preda was standing with her long black hair drawn back in a loose tie, and her back was perfectly straight. The only thing not regal about her in this moment was the black one-eared alley cat she had insisted upon carrying with her.

Laney smiled when she thought about the potential Vakan reaction to the furry alien creature. Little did they know that Laney herself was an alien. She was the first human to set foot on Vaka since they had originally been brought over ages before. She thought about that and felt her stomach turn in knots. Jim seemed to sense her discomfort and squeezed her hand reassuringly.

Artem had said she would be more than fine to breathe the air, but it did nothing to diminish the nervousness she felt when the doors started to open and let Vakan air into the ship. Artem had told her the air was very similar in composition to Earth’s. The percentage of oxygen was 32 percent, which was more than the 21 percent enjoyed on Earth. Laney still felt herself tremble when she took her first deep breath. She smiled slightly as she realized the air tasted sweet. It smelled like the ocean—only sharper. There was no salt.

They stepped forward and saw the crowd open up before them seemingly without end. It extended well into the city, and a deafening roar greeted them. Laney could feel it in her bones. Jim fidgeted nervously next to her, and Ukra was wringing her hands. Preda and her watchdog, however, looked as if they were made of stone as they stepped calmly out into the light.

Preda’s dress caught in the wind, and just how perfect it was for this moment once again struck Laney. No one for miles could mistake the green-eyed Vozia—even from a great distance. The group walked out onto the ground in front of Hakkan, and Preda stood with her arms out and eyes closed. She breathed deeply. Fiver had clambered onto her shoulder. The cheering crowd only grew louder. The entire city’s foundation rumbled beneath their feet.

After what seemed like minutes, Preda finally opened her eyes and threw her hand in the air for silence. The response was immediate. It felt to Laney as if the entire planet stood still with bated breath and waited to hear what Preda would say.

They had spoken just before leaving, and she had asked Preda what she was going to say to address the crowd. Preda had shaken her head. Even the Vozia hadn’t known what she was going to say. Tamron had told them it didn’t need to be much. The official coronation ceremony would be the following day. He had then mumbled about having to teach Preda the words to the song and walked away.

Laney watched now in a silence that made this moment feel like suspended animation. Even the wind died down, and Preda lowered her arms. Then she did something unexpected. She started to hum a lullaby. It was soft at first, but then her voice broke through it. It was the song Laney had been told Preda had been humming when she had walked into the caves of Deception Island. It was her coronation song.

No one had taught her the words. They were Vakan words, but Preda knew them all the same. Her voice was flawless as she poured her entire being into the song. Laney felt her vision blur at the edges. There was only that song with its haunting melody, and it filled her entire being. The words were simple and meant only one thing. She was binding her life to the Vakan people—her life for theirs.

57

T
amron Kait stood next to Macera Vank and watched as Preda started to sing. The
Feria
was swirling next to her as if it was drinking in radiation. His throat felt tight as he listened to the words no one had taught her. He knew that wasn’t true, though. Preda’s mother had sung those words to her as an infant. He wondered how she could possibly remember them.

Tamron wasn’t the only Vakan in the crowd overcome with emotion. Nearly everyone listening was moved to tears by the time Preda had finished—everyone except Macera Vank. She watched Preda with hatred in her eyes. The woman had still been careful not to speak in front of them, but Tamron suspected she still had her tongue.

His suspicions were confirmed when Preda finished. Macera started screaming. “Lies!” she yelled in a voice hoarse from lack of use.

Tamron wrapped her in his arms and pulled Macera away from the crowd before it could turn on her in the form of a mob.

“The Vozia lies!” she continued to rant. “She will manipulate you. She will manipulate all of you!”

Macera kicked and screamed to get free of Tamron’s grip. Tamron had just managed to subdue her when the crowd around him rushed forward on top of them. Al fought them off with one arm, but Macera slipped from Tamron’s grasp. She and the rest of the Vank contingent ran for cover. Tamron growled as he threw more than one spectator aside and tried to pursue Macera in vain. It was too late. She had bolted toward the inner city and was already lost in its shadows.

He looked up at Preda in time to see his son ushering her into Hakkan. The other three followed closely on his heels. His Kait soldiers closed the gates behind them. At least they were safe. He assessed his surroundings and saw the rest of the crowd was moving slowly but reluctantly back toward the city.

Tamron gave the signal for his remaining soldiers to move out toward the city as well. They were to report back to him on any word of Macera’s whereabouts but take no action. He then moved back toward Hakkan and found Percin Vank just as he was getting into a cable car.

“I expect you’ll let us know if she shows up at your house,” Tamron said to him before Percin could shut the door. It was not a request.

Percin nodded seriously. “Of course, Tamron. I’ll see you tomorrow at the coronation.”

Tamron exchanged a glance with Al, and the two moved toward Hakkan to check on the palace’s internal situation. He was eager to evaluate and inspect the Kait soldiers who had been left behind to hold the fort.

Tamron kept his face stern as he inspected the barracks and security detail. He felt a deep swell of pride as he looked them over, but they could never know that. Al could tell them what good jobs they had been doing later. It was Tamron’s job to never be satisfied.

The palace soldiers had lined up outside the barracks in the training yard along the side of Hakkan. These soldiers had been chosen specifically to guard the palace in Tamron’s absence. It was still a particularly high-risk location for attack, even when there wasn’t a Vozia residing in it. The soldiers had been outfitted in licre since Tamron had been gone.

He flicked at the metal plating on the shoulder of one particularly nervous Landi. Tamron thought he remembered this boy as being especially promising—for a Landi. It looked as if he had filled out since then. Tamron tried to keep the smile off his face when he noted the boy was still quivering in his boots.

Once at the end of the rows of men and women, Tamron turned to Al and proclaimed, “They still need work.”

With that he left Al to order them to clean up and report back to their active guard posts. He immediately moved to report to the supplies depot. The first order of business was to get suited with one of those licre-laced uniforms. The second was to find Preda. She should be recovered enough to go over the details of what she would say tomorrow. There would be no more surprises from that girl if Tamron could help it.