A Call for Brighter Days: Aeriel Trilogy #2
Chapter 25

Simani buried her sifblade into an Aeriel’s throat. A flash of ethereal light from the wound illuminated the grimy, dim chamber.

That brief flash told Ruban everything he needed to know.

They were trapped.

Their unit had been separated from the rest soon after they entered the mines. The two other Hunters on their team lay face-down on the soot-stained floor, their bodies charred and mangled beyond recognition.

And it wasn’t an accident that he and Simani were both still alive.

Ruban kicked the legs out from under his opponent. As the beefy thug fell to his knees, he kneed him in the jaw, breaking more than one bone in the process. Over his crumpling body, Ruban raised his pistol and fired across the chamber.

The guard taking aim at Simani collapsed to the floor, blood welling from the bullet hole in his forehead.

Pulling the sifblade out from the dying Aeriel’s throat, Simani spun.

A flutter of wings near the exit made Ruban’s blood freeze – the only warning before a massive energy shell hurtled through the air towards his partner.

A deafening crash, and Ashwin – Shwaan – had pushed Simani out of the way, taking the brunt of the blast as the shell detonated. His wings outstretched, silver hair loose and whipping around him, he lit up the dim chamber with his very presence.

Clutching the wall she’d been thrown into, Simani scrambled to her feet, eyes wide and glued to Ashwin.

He looked nothing like the guy who’d fixed the plumbing in Ruban’s flat days ago.

Another energy shell swept through the air. Ashwin raised a hand, his fingers aglow. The two shells collided midair, detonating with a roar that sent shudders through the stone walls of the mine.

The remaining lights flickered and went out, casting the underground chamber into darkness.

A brief scuffle followed, and another shell detonated a few feet away from Ruban.

A startled scream – the sound of a blade being unsheathed – and Ruban was sent hurtling through the chamber until he collided with a jagged wall and crumpled to the ground.

When the throbbing in his head subsided and his vision stopped swimming, Ruban looked up to see Janak Nath standing over him, a pistol in his hand and a triumphant smirk on his lips.

Behind him, Simani had been pushed against a wall and was being held down by an Aeriel. Ruban squinted, focusing on the Aeriel’s face. It looked oddly familiar.

His eyes flitted over to Ashwin, who stood a few feet away from Simani, staring dazedly at the Aeriel holding her down.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Ruban blinked and shook his head, pushing himself off the ground.

Kaheen. The Aeriel holding Simani hostage was Kaheen.

And Ashwin was injured. Thin slivers of light spilled from his lacerated wings and abdomen.

Kaheen had attacked him. For some reason, he hadn’t expected her to. But she had. And Ashwin apparently hadn’t anticipated it in time to defend himself.

Ruban had never seen that look of stupefied confusion on his face.

Even a week ago, he’d have paid good money to see Ashwin look like that. To see that ever-present expression of smug omniscience wiped from his face.

Now, it was an agonizing punch to the gut.

“This was a trap,” he whispered, dragging himself up into a sitting position.

Slowly, Janak Nath lowered himself to one knee, his cold sneer intact. “Finally, you understand. For the poster-child of the Hunter Corps, you aren’t very bright, are you? Did you really think I’d let your little foray into Kitenga Hills go unanswered? Unavenged?” His voice rose with every word, building to a shrill crescendo. “You break into my home, kill my people; and you thought you wouldn’t pay for it with every last drop of blood in your veins?”

He brought the butt of his gun down against the side of Ruban’s head, making his vision blur with agony. “Pretty shortsighted, if you ask me.”

“H-how?” Ruban blurted. “How did you–”

“Quite easily, as a matter of fact.” Janak’s lips twisted upwards. “Once I knew the IAW – those goddamned hypocrites – were working with Aeriels, it wasn’t that hard to feed their spies the information we wanted. After all, you’re not the only ones holding sway over Aeriels. Not anymore. The Hunter Corps is obsolete.”

“The IAW ­– what?” Ruban coughed, trying to catch his breath.

“Don’t play innocent with me,” Janak snarled, surging forward to wrap steely fingers around Ruban’s throat.

Ruban gasped, clutching at his opponent’s muscular arms, struggling to breathe. Ashwin stepped forward, agitation flickering in his silver eyes.

Janak held up his free hand, and the sizzle of a nascent energy shell rose from across the chamber. Simani whimpered, forcing Ashwin to stop in his tracks, holding himself back.

“How very touching,” Janak sneered, pressing down harder on Ruban’s throat. “The Aeriel’s worried about you. And to think they threw me out, disgraced and humiliated, for the crime of letting one escape by accident!” He slammed Ruban into the jagged wall behind him, before finally letting him go. “It was Subhas Kinoh’s fault. He was your uncle, wasn’t he?” He laughed, rising to his feet. “A certain irony to it, no?

“He was the one who’d delayed her execution. But they needed a scapegoat, and the darling of the IAW couldn’t play that role, could he? Not days after his wife had just died. Nope, he survived on the sympathy vote. So there had to be another villain. Somebody else had to take the fall for his mistakes.”

Ruban coughed, his breathing quick and shallow. “So you want…what? Revenge against the IAW for throwing you to the wolves instead of my uncle? Because if that’s–”

Janak kicked him in the stomach.

“What I want,” he hissed, leaning down to pull Ruban’s head up by the hair. “Or perhaps what I wanted – when I set up this little rendezvous of ours ­– was to make sure that you and your partner died a slow and painful death, by my hand, for what you did in Kitenga. But now…” His eyes swept across the room to Ashwin. “I think I’ve found what I’ve been looking for all these years. The biggest prize I could ever have hoped for.”

Ruban frowned, his skull burning with pain. “And what’s that?”

“The Aeriel with the two red markings on its wings.” Janak’s tone was dark and gluttonous. “Reivaa’s wings.”

Ruban’s chest constricted, making it hard to form words. “What?” He shook his head. “No, you’re wrong. That’s not Reivaa–”

“Of course it’s not her!” Janak snarled, letting go of Ruban’s hair to slam his fist into the wall above him. “You think I’d be standing here, chatting with you, if Reivaa stood across the room from me?”

A strange combination of rage and grief colored his voice. “All these years – after I lost my job, after Ashfaq died – when I had nothing, I had this. It was all I had…my dream, my purpose. That one day, I’d find her. One day, I’d make her pay for what she did to me, for everything she took from me.”

He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small, metal box. Leaning down far enough to ensure that Ruban could see it, he flicked the box open.

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