A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 5 : Among the Stars, like Giants. Part 3 : On the Edges of Percepti

'I know,' Timov said.

'And you are still here because...?'

'Someone has to be.'

She looked around. The guards were here. Her men, and Durla's. Anyone Durla had chosen to be here now was obviously very deep in their respective conspiracy. Either that or very skilled.

'Do you want to be ready for them when they arrive?' she asked, indicating the throne.

'No, lady,' he replied. 'Your husband still lives and has not yet abdicated. I am not yet Emperor.'

'It must gall you, Durla. You seek more than anything else to restore us to an era of glory, and merely a handful of days after we set each other on that path, we are attacked and threatened.'

It was one of the very rare occasions she had ever seen true emotion in Durla's face. His eyes sparkled. 'My lady,' he said simply. 'The lower we are, the greater the journey to the top. The greater the challenge, the greater the victory.'

Timov nodded, a chill passing through her. This was a man with no understanding of Centauri life, no knowledge of or care for those who would fall.

A problem for another day.

'Well, then,' she said primly. 'It falls to me.'

She ascended the steps and took the throne. All either of them had to do now was wait.

The Third Image:

Moreil spread his arms wide, basking in the joy of righteous chaos.

'Masters, be pleased!' he cried.

'He is a threat,' said the ever-present Narn voice at his side. 'By G'Quan, listen to me, Moreil!'

He turned from the sight of the battle to look at Mi'Ra. For a moment he was mildly irritated, but then he quashed the emotion. Nothing could destroy this feeling of rapture. The spreading of chaos, the winnowing of the weak. This was what he lived for.

'He knows who I am. He must know of our.... understanding. Moreil! Listen to me, damn you! The Wykhheran fear him!'

'The Wykhheran know no fear in battle, but battle is all they understand. It is all they were created for.' Moreil's eyes closed in near ecstasy. 'The glories of battle.'

'Listen, I don't care how good he is. The danger is in what he knows. Send a Faceless after him and it will be over in seconds. No one can withstand a Faceless.'

Moreil smiled. 'You may be proved wrong, but no. The Faceless were created to destroy the cowards, those who wield the reins of power in secret, behind the masks of illusion. Marrago is not one of those. He is a warrior. He will be dealt with as a warrior.'

'You're being too complacent. Where's his ship? Why haven't they joined us yet?'

'Perhaps he is dead.'

'If this fails, Moreil....'

'Then it will fail because we were too weak, and the failure will make us stronger. What else is this about, if not the strengthening and the purifying of the weak?'

'Vengeance,' she hissed. 'It is about vengeance, and if all you care about is battle, why aren't you down there taking part in it, instead of just watching up here?'

'Ah.' Moreil smiled again. 'I am Z'shailyl, and mine is the power to read the ebb and flow of war. I can sense great warriors and great deeds. Somewhere hidden from mortal eyes, hidden even from the eyes of the Faceless, but not from the eyes of the Z'shailyl....

'Hidden somewhere is....'

His eyes gleamed.

'Death.'

* * *

G'Kar spoke to me often, of a great many things. His love for his people, his dreams for the future, his friends and allies. One topic he rarely touched upon was his involvement in the early wars with the Centauri, of the occupation and rebellion where he first rose to prominence as a soldier, not a prophet.

Many years ago I asked him about those times, and his face grew dark. He would not talk about it then, nor for many years to come, but eventually he did, and I knew then just how much those years weighed upon his mind. Not merely for the friends and family he lost. Not even because they reminded him of Da'Kal.

No, it was because those years reminded him of what he had once been. He had killed Centauri without a thought, without a qualm. He had even gloried in it. The death of a Centauri was something to be celebrated. He regretted bitterly that he had felt that way, just as he regretted the creation of a world that had done that to him and to people like him.

But most of all he regretted the way those years had touched and tainted our entire people. Every Narn who had lived through those years had been marked by them and that taint had corrupted their souls all their lives. He once told me that he hoped that my generation, one of the first born since the liberation, would be able to approach the future unshackled by the old hatreds.

He was not optimistic about that possibility, and, sadly, neither am I. But he tried to bring it about until the day he died. Indeed, it was that never-ending dream that caused his death. He tried, always, and so shall I.

L'Neer of Narn, Learning at the Prophet's Feet .

* * *

He could hear the screams and smell the smoke in the air. Around him hundreds of his people huddled close together, united by fear. Above them, Centauri ships were tearing the city apart. Na'Killamars had been suspected — albeit justly — of harbouring a resistance cell, and the Centauri had tired of fighting the resistance on their own terms.

Da'Kal held herself close to him, and he could smell her fear. He knew as well as she did that this bunker would not hold forever. Once the softening-up of the surface was complete, the Centauri would send in their ground troops and they would find this place. Once they did....

Da'Kal kissed him, powerfully and forcefully. 'Never leave me,' she whispered with a fierce passion. 'We will always be together.'

G'Kar kissed her back. 'Always,' he replied, his eyes blazing. The Centauri would come, and he would be ready for them. He would fight them. No longer would he be their slave.

And nor would Da'Kal.

The bombing stopped, and a heavy, thick silence fell over the dark room. Then a Narn coughed and the silence was broken, but for that one moment it had seemed infinitely oppressive and commanding.

The Centauri had stopped. Had they given up and gone home?

Another blast ripped through the air and the wall of the bunker shuddered.

Or had they found what they were looking for?

G'Kar rose to his feet as the wall was forced inwards. Chinks of sunlight appeared. Silhouetted there was a tall figure, holding a plasma weapon in his hands.

A tall figure.... but she was not holding anything. And the light was a door opening, not the bunker wall being ripped apart.

And he was alone.

And he was older.

And he did not have a sword.

G'Kar blinked against the tide of memory and shielded his face from the light. The present returned to bury the past, but he had a feeling it was still the past, merely made-over and redecorated in new colours.

'G'Kar,' said a voice, filled with passion and pathos and sorrow. 'G'Kar.'

'Da'Kal,' he sighed. 'Oh, Da'Kal, what have you done?'

* * *