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The smug smile disappears from his visage, because there is an abundance of meaning and intent in my words. They are not idle threats. I am on the verge of killing him myself, in this very moment, while he stands in my home taking advantage of my hospitality.
If I were to kill him, I would take Zain’s place in prison. My life would be over, as his would be. It would serve nothing, solve nothing, but suddenly the ancient part of my being is activated. The old warrior roars. My ancestors demand blood, and restitution.
He sees death in my eyes and takes a few sensible steps backward.
I am not done speaking.
“If war is what you want with me, Phenix, war is what you will have. I have forgiven you at every turn. I have allowed you to continue to exist where my brothers would have preferred you in the ground. And now you come to me, in my home, and you effectively beg for death. Is that what you want? Are you tired of life?”
“You are emotional,” Phenix says. “This is why I came to tell you in person. The council would not look kindly on one of your Voros tantrums. Your father…”
I snarl and dart forward. Kahn steps between us, saving Phenix from a set of tusk wounds.
“Please leave,” Kahn reiterates.
Kahn is the calmest of all of us, the most sensible. I am glad he has come to cool the situation down. Then I realize he is holding an axe. Where did he get that from?
Phenix looks at the pair of us and decides to push his luck that little bit further.
“You boys are not the men your father was…”
“It’s like you actually want me to hit you with this axe,” Kahn observes. “And it’s almost as though you don’t think I haven’t thought of a thousand different ways to kill you, and a thousand more ways to make it look like an accident.”
“Bold, bald threats from two boys who should know better than to imagine I have come here unobserved. Keep your temper, children.”
With that, Phenix takes his leave. He has undoubtedly bested us on every level, and letting him walk out of my home alive feels like a humiliation almost too deep to bear.
I am sure his family knows where he is. Our conversation has probably been recorded through some device in his clothing, because he is the sort of creature who would do that. I am certain, now I think about it, that our home is likely surrounded by armed guards, a small militia ready to take everything from us in one bloodbath.
Yet again, we have been played like instruments, dull ones, like drums. Phenix now probably has fresh evidence of contemporary death threats from our house. If anything happens to him, suspicion will fall directly upon us, and ruin will surely follow.
“What is wrong with us?” Kahn asks the question when we are certain Phenix has finally departed. “We go to absolute pieces around that man.”
“There’s nothing wrong with us. Nothing besides the fact we have allowed evil to walk this world for too long, and we have made the mistake of confronting it directly when it always moves in shadow. We have tried peace. It is time we did what we should have done three years ago.”
“And what is that?”
“First, we are going to break Zain out of prison.”
“We’re… what?” Kahn looks completely taken aback.
“We’re going to break Zain out of prison. I see no reason why our brother should continue to languish in the so-called justice of this clearly corrupt state. If Phenix has the council in his pocket, then all semblance of fairness is gone. Their decision was in our favor yesterday, and today he claims to have all he wished for, in addition to having destroyed our own efforts. We are at war, Kahn. We have tried to avoid the fact, but we cannot any longer. Phenix is going to destroy us if we let him, and I refuse to let that happen.”
“Hell, yeah!”
I turn around to see Jennifer standing on the stairs behind me. She has put some clothes on from the collection of pet outfits I keep. She’s chosen a black bustier and matching leather pants and boots. It was an outfit conceived of by Zain before he went to prison, and never put into production as most of our species prefers their pets to look a little softer. Combined with her naturally rebellious demeanor, it is a striking ensemble.
“How did you…”
“Your cratesreallysuck,” she reminds me.
So much for having broken her to my will yesterday. It seems as though her forced orgasmic submission was only short term in nature. I find myself quite unconcerned by this revelation. I am glad, in fact.
Kahn does not share my pleasure.
“She should be contained,” Kahn says. “And so should Zain. The last thing we need now are reckless rebels causing chaos.”
“I disagree. I think that is exactly what we need. The council has turned. They may have turned a long time ago. Who knows how deep the corruption runs? Our father’s death was not honorable. He was set on in a place he should have been safe, outnumbered, and left to die from wounds inflicted by cowards who have never been caught. How is that possible in a civilization of justice?”
