“Me neither,” Serah said. “Unless the Sorceress-Queen is kind enough to drop us off. Which I don’t see happening.”
“So, you’ll help, too?” Lucian asked.
Her eyes softened, and there was something in her face that seemed to feel pity for him. From that one look, he already knew her answer.
“Well, someone has to stop you from doing something stupid. And you’ve done plenty of stupid so far.”
“Thanks a lot.”
“But, to your credit, you’ve also saved my ass a bunch of times, which is more than I expected from a soft-bellied Earth boy.”
Cleon grunted, and drooled a bit.
“Is that a yes?” Serah asked.
Cleon moved his head and would have lost control if not for Fergus holding him up.
“He’ll let us know tomorrow,” Serah said. “I have to say, all this sounds so far-fetched and impossible. Just to go over it one more time, your plan depends on getting the Orb of Psionics in the first place and trusting that the Queen isn’t just using you to get to it. All that rot about prophecy and you being the Chosen is just a distraction. Anyone can claim prophecy, it doesn’t prove anything. She needs you compliant for as long as it takes for her to get the Orb.”
Lucian had to admit that was a likely outcome, even if his gut said that the Queen had plans for him that went beyond the Orb of Psionics. “That’s why we need to figure out a way to grab it before her.”
“What way?” Fergus asked. “We’re going on her airship, surrounded by her Mage-Knights and hoplites.”
“I don’t know,” Lucian said. “I’m just laying out what needs to happen.”
“And then there’s Vera,” Serah continuing her previous line of thought. “Assuming you do get the Orb, you’d still need to contact her. And we don’t even know if the Orb of Psionics is capable of that, as powerful as it surely is. I’ve only used Psionics to communicate across a rift or at most two, so it’s hard to imagine anything farther than that.”
“I have a reason to think it is powerful enough,” Lucian said. “Back on Volsung, I almost drowned during one of my Trials.”
“Wow,” Serah said. “You really weren’t a good student, were you?”
He ignored that observation. “I heard Vera’s voice underwater, speaking to me. At the time, she was lightyears away. If she could do that without the Orb, then I could probably do the same thing with it.”
She nodded. “Okay, assuming all that, then yeah, it becomes more likely. But then she would have to have her own spaceship. Nothing flies to Psyche aside from prison barges. The space around it is restricted to League warden stations and vessels. If she had her own ship, what was she doing on that interstellar liner in the first place?”
That was a good question to which Lucian didn’t have an answer. “Putting it that way, yeah, it all does sound far-fetched. And then on top of that, she would need to find a way through the blockade.”
“The only other option we have is the one we laid out before,” Serah said. “My vote is to use the Queen. Get to the Orb first . . . and then use it on her before she can hurt us.”
“But that guarantees a fight,” Lucian said.
She scoffed. “You are falling for her ploys. Lucian, she’s just using you. You said you wanted our help, right? Well, this is me helping you, and saying for the millionth time: don’t trust her.”
“So, you just want to gamble everything?” Lucian asked. “Go for the Orb and attack her with it, even if I don’t know what the rotting hell I’m doing?”
“It’s a chance! We’d be fools not to take it.”
“In case you forgot, the Orb of Binding isn’t helping me,” Lucian said. “What if the Orb of Psionics is the same way? I doubt I’d know how to even use it on her. I would die, and then that’s two Orbs for her. Are you saying you want that to happen?”
Fergus frowned. “This isn’t helping. We’re on the same team. Remember what I said a few days ago? If we can’t work together, then we’ve already failed.”
“I don’t want to fight, either,” Lucian said. “But you have to admit, my training is severely lacking.”
“You’ll have us,” Serah said. “You’re acting like this is your fight alone. We’ve already signed on, remember? Sure, maybe the four of us can’t hold our own against the Queen. But if you can ward us all, Lucian, and do so with the power of the Orb, she can’t Psionically control us. That’s the reason she has her power, the reason no one has been able to overthrow her. If anyone openly rebels, she just turns them into a puppet. Now, no one challenges her.”
“You’re right,” Lucian said. “I guess it’s possible, but if you’re counting on the Orbs to come through, all I’m saying is not to expect it. We almost died falling down that shaft in the Darkrift. The Orb didn’t want to work. Whatever we were doing down there, we weren’t on the right path. The Queen said as soon as I started doing what the Orb wants me to do, it’ll start working again.”
“Let me guess. What she wants to do just so happens to be what the Orb wants you to do? That’s convenient.”
“What if she’s right?”
The others had no answer for him. He wished they did. It would make things so much easier.
“There’s too much at stake to risk our lives and two Orbs,” Lucian said. “We’re at a severe disadvantage and don’t have enough information.”
“If you don’t risk something, you can’t gain anything,” Serah said. “You have to be bold, Lucian. What other chance will we have?”
“I can wait until I become stronger.”
“But by then, the Sorceress-Queen will have you fully convinced she has the right of it. You’ll be completely turned against us.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.
