“Stay here.” I gave the command and backed away, heading back to Zaya. When I turned to look, Tellison was looking after me, still tears, still smiling, still eager, but staying there, snowflakes cascading onto his clothes. I lifted up Zaya from her seated place, where she was staring up at the snow, her face painted with melted flakes. When we came back around the corner, and moved to leave to the left, Tellison pivoted, watching us go, but stayed in the exact same spot.
Damnit… I grumbled. He was going to stay in that spot until he died… He wouldn’t move from it. He was commanded, by me, to stay there. The mental release hadn’t worked. No one would be able to help him.
I turned back around and looked at him. His eyes lit up and he lifted his hands to his chest, clasped together, like an eager little dog. I gestured at him, telepathically communicating with him, “Come on, Telly, come with us.” He scampered to follow, giant belly jiggling as he came along.
I paused for a long moment, contemplating. We really couldn’t take him along. I looked at his white-washed tear-stained eyes and hugged Zaya to my body where she looked down at the cobblestones, feeling her Will starting to break against my Will that was still telling her to be ready to taste freedom. I didn’t want her running from me. I needed to change that Will I was sending through her consciousness. If she was going to be anything like him, then she might die if she tried to escape from me…
I turned to Telly. “Wait here for thirty minutes. Then go into that police precinct. Tell them you have been mind controlled by a Curan. Tell them you need to wear it off, that you need to be in a cell for one week. That you will need help with all your regular living needs for that time.”
Granted, thirty minutes wasn’t much of a start for myself and Zaya, but if would have to be enough. And if word of me mind-controlling cops got to Blatson, he might be less willing to negotiate, but that was a risk I was willing to take… I might have to duel him, anyway.
I also wouldn’t have time to go to the spaceship and send a message to Axis. I needed to head north right away. Oh well, he trusted me. And if he sent back-up, maybe that was for the best. Things weren’t exactly as expected here.
Tellison kept his sights on the precinct, focus changed from me to his next goal and I held onto Zaya’s shoulders.
“Stay with me, focus on me. You are my friend. We are a team. We need to escape together. We are going North. You are safe with me. Trust me. We need to get to shelter and be safe together. Stay with me.”
Zaya slowly smiled. Maybe even the real Zaya believed it. I hoped so.
I wondered if I had overpowered them with the mind control, if the people of Vailstor were more susceptible to it, or if I had just done it for too long to them. Why was I not able to relinquish Tellison? No matter, I didn’t want Zaya to be brain-fried. I needed to get her to safety, and the safest place for her right now was with me. I would figure out where she needed to go after I helped heal her from her mental fog, which would hopefully not take too long…
She would likely be pissed… Rightfully so… But, I could handle that.
I held her hand and led her onto one of the game trails as heavier chunks of snow began to fall. Now, we just had to go find shelter in the dark redwoods of the Vailstor forest.
Four
Axis
“Any word from Commander Cartari yet?” I asked Bravo Ilisa as I entered the command room.
Ilisa shook her head, fair brown hair shaking loose from her strict ponytail around her moon-shaped face. I frowned. It had been four days. Four days since Cartari had landed on Vailstor and his last communication.
“Better not have gotten caught up with some girl along the way…” I grumbled under my breath. I looked up at the monitors, knowing to anyone looking, it seemed my black eyes might be lasering holes through the screens. My concern would be quite evident, fists clenching at my side, teeth grinding, face a bit flushed. Princess Ceritha was out on one of the scouting vessels, trying to obtain new information about a very skittish, and slightly hostile, pod of dolgons who were still infected with the blue flu. They were particularly averse to being reached by telepathy with the Curans, but Ceritha would convince them, I was sure of it. She was brilliant that way.
Cartari was brilliant, also, and he would surely complete his mission as scheduled, either to get General Blatson to agree to the new deal for the calasis mineral to supply the laser cannons, or we already had a new general, a woman named Truloy, scouted to put in his place. She seemed much more amiable and open to the Curan alliance… And she was second in line, ready to take over if Blatson happened to “have an accident”, or lose in a duel. And Cartari would win any duel that he might engage in, without a doubt. I was counting on his negotiation skills to win the day, first and foremost though. It was one reason I had agreed to send him on this mission, even though he was essentially my right-hand man for all matters of the Bristola Oceans. He really needed a break from the Seawards Special Operations Unit and a break from Command in general. An assassin/emissary mission was a smooth enough transition and interesting engagement for him, but… Had something gone wrong?
“Ilisa, I want you to
