‘Of course, sir. Has the traitor been located yet?’
‘No one matching her description has been found on the second floor. They’re still checking.’
‘But she could be in that room.’
Nikolas nodded, a smile on his lips. ‘It’s possible. I did say to eliminate everyone in there.’
‘Consider it done,’ Maya said, turning on her heel.
~~~
‘It’s this door.’ The words, in English, came through the door. Someone had arrived to back up the soldier left to guard the meeting room’s one exit. Whoever they were, they either did not reply or did so sufficiently softly that their voice did not carry.
Nava tensed, ready for what she was sure was likely to come, but there was only silence for several seconds. Nothing happened. No one pounded on the door. No one shot at the door. No one blew the door apart with explosives. There was just silence and waiting.
A wave of something passed through the room, invisible but definitely having an effect. Rochester, Fawn, and Kyle keeled over, falling to the ground. Kyle was as pale as a sheet, Rochester curled immediately into a foetal position and lay there trembling, and Fawn just sat there, staring into space. Melissa let out a shriek of panicked terror, dropped to her knees, and began to retch up what was left of her breakfast. Darius did much the same but without the screaming.
Then Maya appeared, standing in the middle of the long table which took up the centre of the room. She was dressed in grey, camouflage-patterned fatigues with a row of four ammunition cases strapped across her stomach and a pistol at her right side. In her hands was a rifle, not one of the assault rifles Rochester had described, but a modern one with a spell-assistance component mounted over a standard weapon. She spoke immediately, her weapon scanning around as she turned. ‘Where are you, bitch?! Traitor! Where–’
Nava moved, jumping up onto the table to close the distance, but Mitsuko and Courtney had pushed the Terror spell aside and were still in the game. Mitsuko threw out a Slice spell without pausing to aim. Maya ducked out of its way, a plane of energy appearing to slide the blade of quintessence aside – a Shield spell. Courtney went with Concussive Force, but again, Maya twisted out of the path of the spell and, dropping her rifle to hang on its sling, she twisted and swung her leg up for a strike at Nava’s head. Nava caught the swinging leg.
‘You were never that great at unarmed combat, sister,’ Nava said. She was in close now and Mitsuko and Courtney hung back, not wishing to accidentally hit Nava. Well, there was the danger and the surprise. Sister?
Maya attempted to break free of the hold, but Nava had too firm a grasp. ‘Traitor! You were never my sister! I am Death’s Handmaiden!’
‘You’re a reject,’ Nava said softly. ‘They told me you were dead. Let’s not make them liars.’
‘You–’ Maya’s voice cut off suddenly. Her eyes widened and the leg she was standing on gave out under her. Nava let her fall onto the table where she lay, staring up at the ceiling. Unmoving. Dead. Killed in an instant by something unseen and unknown.
Silence fell. Silence aside from the continued sound of Melissa and Darius violently retching. They had run out of stomach contents and were dry-heaving, unable to stop the visceral reaction to Maya’s Terror spell.
Mitsuko broke free of the non-magical spell holding her as Nava got down onto one knee beside Maya. ‘Is she dead?’ Mitsuko asked.
Reaching out, Nava closed Maya’s eyes. ‘Yes. Her heart stopped. You could probably get it started, but if you did, I’d just have to kill her again. So… please don’t.’
‘S-sister?’
Nava did not reply. She moved to the edge of the table and climbed off, not looking at either Mitsuko or Courtney.
‘Nava,’ Courtney began. ‘Who is–’
‘Tell them.’ Fawn struggled to her feet, blinking away whatever horror had caused her to fall.
‘First Lieutenant?’ Nava asked, turning to face the ASF officer.
‘Tell them,’ Fawn repeated. ‘All of it, Specialist. They’re just going to speculate and keep poking at it now. It’s better they hear it all and know why they have to keep it quiet. I’ll take responsibility.’
Nava straightened her back and nodded. ‘Very well. But we’ll wait for everyone to come around, if you don’t mind. I don’t want to have to do this twice.’
~~~
‘About twenty years ago, the Redwing Faction began a project they called “Death’s Handmaiden.”’
Everyone was sitting around the table while Nava told her story. They had moved Maya’s body to the end of the room, away from the door and themselves. There had been nothing to cover her with, but she had been laid out with a degree of solemnity. The room was quiet, aside from the sound of Nava’s voice. But not for long.
‘That’s what the girl said,’ Courtney broke in. ‘“I am Death’s Handmaiden.” That’s what she meant?’
‘This will go fast if you leave questions to the end,’ Nava said. Courtney frowned, but she said nothing more. ‘Death’s Handmaiden was meant to give the faction a decisive lead in sorcery. A lethal decisive lead. They were aiming to produce sorceresses capable of killing anyone the faction deemed to be a target. Sorceresses, because it was thought easier to ensure the expression of the right genes if two X chromosomes were used. They spent four years getting their hands on genetic material from all over the known galaxy. DNA from the most powerful and skilled magicians they could find, inside the Clan Worlds and beyond. Equipment too. I understand they got some of it from Beherbergen, but a lot was sourced outside the Alliance, where the restrictions on genetic engineering are far less prohibitive.’
Nava paused. Her eyes were fixed on the table and she did not look up. ‘I came out of the incubator about six months after they gave up trying to find better DNA.’ There was a little gasp from Melissa, even if everyone had
