The Death Bringer, page 1
part #4 of The Tharassas Cycle Series
The Death Bringer
The Tharassas Cycle
Book Three
J. Scott Coatsworth
Copyright © 2024 by J. Scott Coatsworth
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for the purpose of review and/or reference, without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover design copyright © 2024 by Sleepy Fox Studio
sleepyfoxstudio.net
Published by Water Dragon Publishing
waterdragonpublishing.com
ISBN 978-1-962538-62-6 (EPUB)
First Edition
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Also by J. Scott Coatsworth
Liminal Sky: Ariadne Cycle
The Stark Divide • The Rising Tide • The Shoreless Sea
Liminal Sky: Redemption Cycle
Dropnauts
Liminal Sky: Oberon Cycle
Skythane • Lander • Ithani
Liminal Sky: Tharassas Cycle
The Dragon Eater • The Gauntlet Runner • The Hencha Queen • The Death Bringer
Other Sci Fi/Fantasy
The Autumn Lands • Cailleadhama • Firedrake • The Great North • Homecoming • The Last Run • Wonderland
Short Story Collections:
Androids & Aliens • Spells & Stardust Collection • Tangents & Tachyons
Contemporary/Magical Realism
Between the Lines • I Only Want to Be With You • Flames • The River City Chronicles • Slow Thaw
Audiobooks
Cailleadhama • The Autumn Lands • The River City Chronicles • Skythane
I want to thank the authors of the past who helped inspire this story, especially the Science Fiction Grand Dame Anne McCaffrey, whose dragons took me on flights of fancy as a youth that I still have never quite recovered from.
And to Mark, my husband of over three decades, who still believes in me, even if I haven't made my first million dollars yet.
Acknowledgments
I want to acknowledge the fabulous Kelley York at Sleepy Fox studios for the great cover, and the beta readers who made it through all four books: Jamie Lee Moyer, Kristin Masters, and Sue Philips.
And finally, I want to acknowledge Steven Radecki at Water Dragon Publishing, who took a chance on publishing this series after meeting me at BayCon. I am thrilled to be working with Steven and his team!
Prologue
the spore mother shivered.
The progenitor was being … difficult. He had come to her willingly enough, entering the chamber she had prepared for him. His physical transformation was proceeding, and his own cells had willingly acceded to her.
And yet …
Something in his core fought her efforts to restore him.
Maybe fought was the wrong concept. She searched for the one she wanted.
Resisted.
Yes, that was it. Though he had given himself to her, a small core in his mind had solidified, like a chunk of ice that she couldn’t melt. He was an imperfect vessel.
Still, he would have to do. And once he had served his purpose, she could find herself another for Iihil. Perhaps one of those flying beasts her forerunners had fought in that narrow mountain pass. She plucked the word from his mind—verent.
The pain of that defeat still stung, each forerunner’s death a thorn prick of pain in her hearts.
She lingered over the progenitor once more, floating in her amniotic fluid, peaceful as a cheevah in its nest.
Soon he would be ready. He would become her farmer, spreading her seeds throughout the fertile mountains and valleys of this world. And her warrior as well, cutting down any opposition.
Soon it would be time to birth her people to a new world, prepared especially for them.
1
Regroup
he floated, weightless and naked, surrounded by a reddish light and suspended in fluid. Something connected to his mouth and wrapped around his head, like a lover’s embrace.
He used to have a name. He searched his mind for some clue to his identity. I exist, so I must be someone. Or something.
That made sense, but got him no closer to an answer. He blinked. Who am I?
There was no immediate reply.
He lifted his hand. It was encased in metal. The gauntlet. That much he remembered, though it meant nothing to him. Except … it seemed different, somehow. Thinner.
He moved his arms in the liquid, and it sparkled around him where his shifting disturbed it. The metal extended down his wrist and along his forearm, like before, but now it went farther, around his elbow and up his bicep. He touched it with his free hand.
I can feel it. It was as if the metal had become a part of him, his nerves growing through it. He held out his metallic hand and flexed his fingers. What is it?
We call it uurcaa. It’s a sacred metal — it will protect you, and if your host dies, it will collect and save your soul. He could feel the emotions she held back from him. It is the last of its kind from our homeworld. Like us.
He blinked. Then what am I?
You are my son, Iihil. The progenitor, the one who has come before and the first of many more like you. The voice was deep and comforting.
Mother. Warmth infused him at her voice, and an eagerness to please her.
Still, something wasn’t right. He was more than that. He searched his mind, running up against that stubborn blankness. Somewhere beyond it were the answers he needed.
He’d been someone else. Before.
Who was I? Memories of a face — dark hair, intense eyes that nevertheless twinkled at him. Raven.
It came flooding back to him. His mother. His life in Gullton. Training to be a Guard and meeting Raven for the first time. My name is Aik.
He reached for the mask that covered his face. It was suffocating. Something was stuck in his throat, and he coughed hard, trying to force it out, whipping around and causing the liquid around him to flash red in alarm.
Calm yourself. The voice was as thick and heavy as an ix hide, and just as soft and warm.
Aik pushed back. What are you doing to me? I don’t want this! Let me out! He thrashed about, trying to force his way through the suffocating liquid. The metal crept up his shoulder. If it covered all of him, he would be lost.
Calm yourself! It was more insistent this time.
He stiffened as an enforced lethargy settled over him. He lost control of his limbs, falling still in his floating prison. The voice pressed against his mind. You’re safe. Be calm, my little one.
He closed his eyes and thought of Raven, trying to stay fixed on that face. I can’t let myself forget again.
Then the world around him dissolved, and he was swept up in a torrent of memories that weren’t his own.
• • •
“Spin, can you tell us if she’s all right?”
Triya’s voice interrupted his muddled thoughts. He’d been drifting in memories, piecing together what he could about his life before. There were frustrating gaps … years when he couldn’t recall where he’d been or what he’d been doing at the time.
“What?” He regarded Triya through his sensors.
She was frowning, her brow furrowed. “Is she all right?”
Ah, Desla. “One moment.” He ran a sensor over her prone form. “She’s breathing properly. She might have a minor concussion.”
Images of his daughter Sera flickered in and out of his vision. Sera, lying in the cockpit just like that, after the Spin Diver had crashed. Before the explosion that had jettisoned him from his safe place in the downed ship. Had that been what had damaged his memories?
“Thanks, Spin.” She set him down on Desla’s pack.
Or had those memories already been stolen? He’d made a pact with the devil. His life — all of it — for the life of his family.
And Sera was long gone to dust.
Desla was nothing like her. The Temple initiate was light-skinned where Sera had been sepia-toned, with beautiful brown skin and a dazzling smile. Like me.
But she and Desla had the same empathy for others.
Maybe I do have something to stick around for.
• • •
Desla was shaking. Or rather, something was shaking her.
She moaned. “Leave me alone. I don’t want to get up yet.” Her throat was dry, so it came out as more of a croak than an intelligible sentence. The back of her head hurt, too. Surely it’s not time for chores yet.
“Desla, wake up.” Something cool and wet touched her cheek.
Where am I? She blinked, looking up at whoever was washing her face. The person’s features were slow to resolve as her eyes tried to focus. Gray hair in a long braid. Fine lines at the edge of her blue eyes.
“She’s waking up.” That sounded approving, like her mother’s voice.
Not my mother … “Triya?”
“Good. You remember.” Triya put a hand on her forehead. “You feel a little warm, but then we all are. Can you swallow some water?”
She licked her lips and nodded. “Yes please, Mim.”
Triya laughed. “None of that formality, dear. Here.”
A canteen touched her mouth, and she managed a few gulps of water. It was warm but wonderful in her parched mouth and throat. She swallowed and nodded. “Thank you.”
She looked around, trying to get her bearing s. She was in a cavern, dimly lit by a golden glow.
Spin. Did Triya know about the little sphere? Aik had never said if he’d told anyone else. She took a few more sips and then pushed the canteen away weakly. “Enough. For now.” She closed her eyes and tried to remember what had happened to her. She’d been hiking across the northern edge of the Highlands. But she hadn’t been alone. “Where is Aik?” She looked up at Triya. How are you here?
Triya exchanged a glance with someone else outside Desla’s narrow field of vision and shrugged. “We were hoping you could tell us. We found you here, all alone.”
She closed her eyes. What had happened? They’d found this shelter, grateful to be out of the muggy heat and rain. Then Aik … Aik had changed again. “He … left me.” She shuddered, remembering the vacant look in his eyes before he’d shoved her aside.
“Do you feel all right?”
“I … think so. My head hurts.” She reached up to find a gully bird egg on the back of her head.
Triya nodded. “Looks like you took a heavy blow. Did Aik do that to you?”
Her memories trickled back, along with the pain. “No … well, yes. But I think it was an accident. Something’s gotten into his head.”
Triya raised an eyebrow.
“He’s not himself. It has something to do with the gauntlet.” Aik had told her so. She remembered that too. He’d looked so scared. “How are you here?” The thought finally made it from her mind to her lips.
“You didn’t think you could steal two of my urses and get away with it, did you?”
Desla felt the color leave her face. “I’m so sorry. It seemed … necessary at the time.” Aik had been so lost. “We sent them back —”
“Don’t worry about it, girl. I’ll settle with the Temple over it later.” She grimaced. “If there is a later. Right now there are more important things to attend to. Can you sit up?”
“I think so.” She levered herself into an upright position, propping her back against the smooth cavern wall. Her head throbbed, turning her vision red with each beat of her heart. “I don’t suppose you have any fellin root?”
“Of course.” Triya held up a small ceramic mug filled with liquid. “Drink this.”
“Bless you.” She took it gratefully. It was bitter, but she didn’t care. She swallowed it in one long gulp, willing the pain to go away. “And bless Jor’Oss for seeing you here safely.”
Handing the cup back, she glanced at the others, finally making out who they were in the dim light. Of course. Em and Mes.
“Welcome back to the land of the living, Cheese.” Spin’s lights brightened.
“Cheese?” Triya raised an eyebrow.
She sighed. “Long story. So … you two have met?” She noticed Mes and Em gave him a wide berth.
“Aik introduced us — not by his own choice — shortly after we left the Manor House.” She handed Desla a slice of bandy fruit, which she took eagerly. “It was a bit of a shock to Mes and Em here. Quite an amazing little fellow.”
Spin flashed brighter, and Desla smiled.
“Yes, he is.” She bit into it — the fruit was ripe and delicious, the juices dribbling down her chin.
Triya sat back on the hard ground, crossing her legs. “So, tell me about your little journey.”
“What do you know so far?”
“Your friend Spin there has filled in some of details, but I want to hear it all from you. Don’t leave anything out.”
Mes handed Desla a piece of flat bread, which she took eagerly. “I’ll try. I still feel a bit wool headed.”
Triya touched her knee. “We can eat while we talk. You need to get your strength back.”
“I have a few things from the safe house in my pack, and some bandy fruit.”
Triya bit her lip. “Strange that those trees survived … whatever’s happening out there.”
Together they managed a decent — if cold — meal together. Just as well, with the heat. The cavern was a few degrees cooler than it had been outside, but she found herself missing the breeze off the Harkness in the evenings in Gullton.
Triya met her gaze. “So, tell me from the start. What happened with you and Aik?”
“I was just coming out of Tad Merriwether’s room, and I ran into Aik in the hallway …” It spilled out of her, from the embarrassment of being caught in the hallway to the horrors at Isa Steading, and the long trail of refugees.
Triya listened quietly, only occasionally asking a question to clarify one thing or another. It was a strange tale, one Des wouldn’t have believed herself if she hadn’t lived it — gauntlets and talking spheres and nightmarish creatures from who knew where.
But Triya listened attentively, seemingly unsurprised.
When Desla finished, Triya turned to look down the tunnel, in the direction Aik had gone. “All roads lead to Anghar Mor.”
“Seems like it. But what does it all mean?” She had her own thoughts about that, but she wanted to hear Triya’s. Here they were in the belly of the beast, and they were no closer to understanding what was really happening.
Triya tugged on her braid, her expression thoughtful, and Desla glimpsed her likeness to her daughter. “I’ve had a lot of time to go over this in my head. And maybe this sounds crazy, but I think this has all happened before.”
She frowned. “With Aik …?”
Triya shook her head. “No. But I think we’ve landed in the middle of a fight that was going on long before humans arrived here on Tharassas.”
That made a strange kind of sense. “Who’s fighting?”
“All of Tharassas against an alien invader.”
“That’s … crazy.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. Aliens? There are coryx in the Heartland that look just like those domes outside.” She gulped, wondering if those strange houses in Clayton had suddenly awoken and attacked their inhabitants. “And how can a whole planet fight together?”
Triya took a sip of water from her canteen. “I don’t know. I’ve lived a long life and seen and read many things. For instance, back on Old Earth, things were connected but in a very tenuous way. In fact, the whole biosystem collapsed at one point, making the planet all but uninhabitable for a century.”
Old Earth. She blinked. She barely knew the name of humanity’s birthplace. It was more legend than fact these days, though the Temple taught its initiates about it. “I didn’t know that.”
Triya rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Tharassas is … different. Everything really is connected. Intimately and directly. Raven’s story about the inthyms —”
“How they all combined into one?”
Triya nodded. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard something like that. Then there’s the Hencha Queen. She’s linked to the hencha, a collective consciousness.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Everyone knew about the Hencha Queen, and Desla more than most. Silya was her friend, after all.
“Let’s call it the hencha mind.” Triya leaned forward. “What if the hencha mind — the collective entity — isn’t just the hencha?”
That startled her. “What do you mean?”
“What if they’re all connected? Hencha, verent, erphin, inthym, skeret, vrint, cayah, jexyn, urse … even our big, steady aur?” She waved her hand. “All of them.”
It was a revolutionary idea. “Wouldn’t someone have noticed?”
“We’re a historically short-sighted species.”
Mes cut in. “I’ll bet the ce’faine know.”
Triya glared at her as if annoyed that Mes had stolen her thunder. “Yes. They probably do. Did you know each one has a little parasite on their necks?”
“Parasite?” Des asked.
“It’s called an emp. Kind of like a baby inthym, about so big.” She held her finger and thumb about three centimeters apart.
“That sounds … disgusting.” She tried to imagine a strange creature living inside her. She shivered. Imagine how poor Raven must feel with a verent inside!
“You’d think so. But the emp … they let people feel each other’s emotions. And I think they connect them — in a small way — with the world’s consciousness.”
“The hencha mind you mentioned.” It did make a crazy kind of sense.
Triya chuckled. “You’re quick. I knew I liked you.” She handed Desla a canteen. “So here’s what I’ve come up with. This world has spent the better part of four hundred years trying to figure us out. Trying to find a way to bring us into harmony with it. It’s the only way it knows. When Sera arrived on the Spin Diver, the appearance of the Hencha Queen curbed our worst excesses in the Heartland. Later, the emp tamed the ce’faine. And now the verent have enlisted some of us in the Great Fight.”
