I picked one up and threw it for her. She dashed after it, a black and white blur. I looked up and saw Kiran Mrak. He stood less than a foot away, wrapped in a cloak that perfectly mimicked the shrubs around him. The void field interrupted projectiles, but it permitted sound and light. I didn’t hear him. If I had been off my land, he would’ve killed me and I would’ve died never knowing what happened.
He stared at me, his turquoise eyes exquisitely beautiful. I took a step. He took one with me, perfectly mirroring my movements, as if he were a magic reflection, except he moved with the kind of grace I could never accomplish. I still couldn’t hear him.
We walked along the boundary of the void force field.
There was a beauty about the Draziri, an elegance and otherworldly air. When you looked at one, it was like meeting a mystic creature from some legend.
Beast brought the stick back, saw the Draziri, but she couldn’t smell him and I didn’t seem alarmed. I threw the stick again and she bounced off.
“Shi-Tzu-Chi,” Kiran said in his low melodious voice. “Adorable and created to kill.”
“Sometimes things are not as they appear.”
“So I’ve come to realize.” He drew back his hood and tossed his cloak over his shoulder. Underneath he wore a soft gray tunic, bordered with black. A sword rested on his waist. His long white hair spilled down in a perfectly straight waterfall. The lines of his caste shone with silver on his forehead.
“A small woman in an old house on a backwater planet possessing power beyond imagination. It has an almost legendary air. A holy quest from prehistory.”
“Except holy quests usually have a worthy goal and a hero. You’re trying to kill a being that caused you no harm.”
“He’s an abomination,” Kiran said. “He must die.”
“Explain something to me,” I said. “You kill for money.”
“Yes.”
“You also kill for pride and for the challenge of it.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re not a religious man. You don’t kill for the sake of your church. Why the sudden interest in the Hiru?”
“You don’t know me.”
“A devout man wouldn’t have murdered a priest.”
He smiled, revealing even, sharp teeth that didn’t belong in any human’s mouth. “High priest.”
And he called me arrogant.
We strolled some more.
“His name is Sunset,” I said.
Kiran tilted his head to look at me.
“The Hiru you’re trying to kill. He has a name. He has consciousness.”
“You’re naive to think that should make a difference to me. I’ve killed hundreds of beings.”
“You won’t kill this one.”
“I will,” he promised me. “You can’t maintain this force field indefinitely.”
True. A week or so and it would begin to strain the inn. “I can maintain it long enough. Why not go look for an easier target?”
“Because the Hiru are rare. Locating another will take time.”
“You’re short on time?”
“Not me.”
I took a wild stab in the dark. “Someone close to you is dying. Killing the Hiru will redeem you and them.”
He didn’t respond.
Who would he care about enough? Sean and I had gone over the files he brought from Wilmos until we damn near memorized them. Kiran wasn’t married.
“Your lover?”
A slight hint of derision touched his mouth.
“It’s your mother. Mekrikzi.”
Something vicious crossed his eyes. I fought an urge to step back.
“My mother is a remarkable woman,” he said quietly. “She won’t spend a single moment in hell and you’re not fit to sully her name with your filthy mouth.”
That’s just great. Now I had a filthy mouth. Well, if that wasn’t a splash of emotion, I didn’t know what was. “I can understand now why you have no wife.”
“And why is that?”
“We have a term for men like you on our planet.”
“And what that would be?”
“Momma’s boy.”
He smiled again. There was no humor in the smile, just a vicious baring of alien teeth. “Everyone has a weakness. We all have people who are close to us. I will find yours.”
“You should look for my parents,” I suggested. “Tell me what you find.”
The smile faltered slightly. “You have friends. Family.”
“They are all in this inn. Everyone I care about is here.”
“I’ll sift through your life. I’ll find every guest who ever stayed in your inn.”
“Start with the Khanum of the Hope-Crushing Horde and her elite warriors. You should totally pay them a surprise visit and drop some vague threats while you’re at it. They love that sort of thing.”
He stopped. His beautiful face turned savage. “When this is over, I’ll burn your house to the ground, put a slave collar around your neck, and drag you out of here. You’ll suffer for years and when I’ve satisfied myself with every cruelty and perversion my mind can invent, I’ll sell the pitiful wreck that you’ll become to the highest bidder.”
His cloak flared and he vanished into the brush.
I sighed. “Come on, Beast.”
We finished our walk and I came back to the porch. Sean had put together a wicked-looking gun. Caldenia was on her third can of Mello Yello.