Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

“Did she succeed?” he asked.

“She… she comes alone.”

Ruxbane’s fist hit the table before he knew it had formed. Pain stabbed up the side of his hand as its contact echoed through the chamber. The healer and Iselglith stepped back, their eyes wide, their shoulders hunched.

Ruxbane relaxed his fists and took a long breath. His hope for a cure and the raider princess escaped because of his inattentiveness. If he had taken matters into his own hands, he’d have them both. Instead, he’d relied on Iselglith. Ruxbane had made a mistake burdening another Rokkir with his personal problems. He should have done it himself — should have kept it to himself like he always did.

Clacking footsteps sounded from the entrance to the chamber.

“Sir,” Iselglith said.

“I know, Iselglith.” Ruxbane slid his legs over the side of the table and sat up.

Adonna stopped before him, dark wisps of aether clearing scrapes and gashes between her matted, yellow feathers. “They’re gone,” she hissed.

“So I’ve come to understand.”

“I managed to slip out of sight, and attach a tracking device to their ship. It should let us know where they’re going, at least. Not sure why that girl is worth the effort.” She held a device in the air, and Iselglith took it carefully.

Ruxbane held back a scream, a growl — something to stand as a warning toward Iselglith. He’d obviously told Adonna about Tayel before she ran off to apprehend them. Ruxbane didn’t need people like her doubting his decision-making.

“I’m sorry to hear that girl proved too much for you,” he said.

Adonna’s eye twitched. “Me? What about the men who chased after them? Those Igadorian guards were useless .”

“Did any of them see you use dark aether?”

She smiled. “They saw me kill them with it.”

Iselglith let out a half-whimper before clapping a paw down on his snout.

Adonna sneered at him. “ What? It was that or out our entire occupation.”

Ruxbane sighed. The other Igadorian guards would want answers for their fellow guardsmen’s deaths.

“Either way, don’t worry about my powers, worry about the human man and his .”

Ruxbane met her gaze. “Excuse me?”

“There was a human male using dark aether,” she clarified. “He used it through a cyonic limb. Sound familiar?”

Ruxbane’s heart sank. How? How could that man escape and get to Elsha? “Our missing test subject…”

“Indeed,” Adonna said.

If the subject was working with the raider princess, then the Rokkir were in grave danger of being discovered on a massive scale. Ruxbane breathed a little faster, pain flaring across his chest.

“You should lie back down,” the healer said behind him. She touched her hands to his shoulders and pulled gently back.

“Yes,” Adonna said. “Lie down and roll over, Ruxbane. You’re clearly exhausted beyond the ability to lead with sense. How did four teenagers get through the fine wire mesh of your master plan ? ”

Ruxbane rolled his shoulders forward, dislodging the healer’s grip. Heat licked the front of his skull. His breath hitched. Not now. He could not show weakness now. He closed his eyes, breathed deep, and opened them again.

“Attempt to demean my authority again, Adonna, and I will not bother seeking the Exalted’s permission for an execution. With your extensive track record of disobedience, they’d likely commend me for the foresight.”

Adonna’s beak dropped for one second Ruxbane would forever cherish before she snapped it shut again.

“Now,” he continued, “the human male, two girls, and the Argel. Anyone else?”

“No.”

He glared.

“No, sir,” she corrected, a venomous edge in her tone.

“Good. Did you kill any of them?”

Her talons closed tight enough her wings shook. “No, sir.”

At the very least, she succeeded in not killing Tayel.

“Sir, we traced their ship’s slipstream projection,” Iselglith said. “They’re headed to Modnik.”

Impeccable. The princess had not come to Elsha on a whim; Ruxbane should have known better. She knew about the Rokkir, obviously, but how she rallied his test subject, his hope for a cure, and the Argel boy who knew too much was beyond him. But she’d done it. And now the lot of them were going to Modnik, the heart of his operation. The princess’ intrusions had to end.

Iselglith shifted his footing. “Sir?”

“I heard.” Ruxbane squeezed his temples. “Adonna, go to Modnik. Someone else can take over refugee indoctrinations for now.”

“What are my orders on Modnik?” she asked.

“To patrol operations in Cryzoar, and ensure the safety of our kin.”

She cawed. “You’re going to waste a resource like me on babysitting scientists?”

Ruxbane leapt from the table. His fist became a comet in the air, leaking a trail of dark aether as it made impact. Adonna’s beak shattered against his knuckles, and his arm carried through until she was on the ground, gasping for air. He stepped back.

“You’re alive?” he asked. He wiped his fist on his pants.

She scrambled to stand, her breathing audible croaks through her broken maw.

“I guess I am tired,” he said. “I was trying to kill you. But it wouldn’t be hard now. Would it, Adonna?”

She transformed, her feathers and Argelian features evaporating into a cloud of dark aether, leaving her council robes in an unoccupied heap. He’d been close to killing her, then. Reverting to the aether meant she could no longer sustain a body. Purple whips of lightning cracked through her true, cloud-like form, revealing her pain.

“I don’t have time for your insubordination today,” Ruxbane said. “Go to Modnik.”

Adonna’s formless entity shivered, and a dark portal opened under her. She went through, and the portal closed.

Ruxbane stared at the space where the darkness swallowed her. He shook his head free of guilt and grabbed his undershirt from the table. She had to be disciplined. There was no better way with her.

Iselglith hugged his tablet to his chest. “N-now that Adonna has been dealt with, sir, maybe you could rest?”

“I’m going to Modnik, too,” Ruxbane said. He reached for Iselglith’s tablet and pulled the tracking receiver out of the input jack.

“B-but, you haven’t slept in days, and—”

“You really should stay put, Ruxbane.” The healer placed her hand on his shoulder once again.

The woman must have been a new asset from Aloma, to be so thick.

“And what authority are you making this recommendation under?” he demanded.

The healer pulled back her hood, and though in human form, he recognized her eyes. Purple irises — like Jin’s.

“Being the master healer of our forward forces gives me quite a bit of authority, actually,” Jin said.

Ruxbane hadn’t seen her since — oh spirits , no. And now she’d seen him attack Adonna. She knew without a doubt now that he was a monster — that there was nothing left of him from before.

“Jin?” Iselglith reeled. “What are you doing here? Why are you shaped differently?”

“Hi, Iselglith,” she said, smiling. “I’m here to help Ruxbane. Any operational medical reports involving him are flagged and sent to my station. I’m shaped differently than usual because, well.” She met Ruxbane’s eyes just before he was able to look away. “I knew he wouldn’t let me cater to his wounds if he knew who I was.”

Ruxbane pulled his black, form-fitting sweater over his shirt. “Who determined my medical incidents go to you?”

“ Operational medical incidents,” she corrected. “I don’t have access to any self-filed reports, just ones that come in from operatives. In this case, it was Iselglith’s report—”