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  “They’re all panicked because Sapphrite’s broadcasting Vimelia’s location to the galaxy right now,” T’Oli says, and I’m stunned at how calm the Ooblot is. “Going to gather up their things, I bet, and make a run for it. They’ll have to hope the Chorus doesn’t have anything nearby to catch the signal.”

  “How long will they have?” The opportunity to talk about something so pointless and unrelated to what just happened is, somehow, necessary.

  “Depends. You assume nobody gets away, assume that the Chorus has nobody in any neighboring systems, and you’ve got a long time.” T’Oli laughs, then. “But then, you’ve also got us.”

  The shuttle rocks again, and I think I hear T’Oli issue some sort of Ooblot curse, which sounds like a mix between scraping rocks and gnashing teeth.

  “Sorry ‘bout that,” T’Oli says. “Got a little distracted.”

  I decide maybe being quiet till we’re out of danger is a good plan, and when T’Oli mentions that we’ll be leaping in a few moments, I take the hint and go back down. Viera’s still staring silent into a vague distance, so I take a seat and drift.

  I first met Malo when he appeared at the base of my village’s temple to Ignos, our Tier. He tore me away from my family, from the life I’d known every waking day to that point, and declared that I could be one to lead his people. He’d had confidence in me from that very first moment. Believed that I could do great things, and when I’d needed his help, Malo had done what I asked without hesitation.

  Somewhere during those thoughts, T’Oli pops the shuttle into a leap. Like with the others, I’m twisted, turned, folded and frayed, but through it all I keep Malo’s face in focus and run through our memories.

  “Kaishi,” Viera’s voice jars me out of the reverie. “I need you here. Now.”

  I blink. We’d just come out of our leap, and T’Oli hadn’t said anything yet. What did Viera need?

  Around us, the shuttle’s glossy white furniture sits sterile and dull. On the ceiling, around us, the walls have faded to a translucence that gives easy vision to the dark space and sparkling stars surrounding us. I’d call it beautiful if the word could come anywhere near my lips at the moment.

  “Malo didn’t attack Ignos so you could mope,” Viera says, though the red around her eyes says she’s been doing some of her own moping during our journey home.

  “He didn’t need to,” I reply. “Ignos wouldn’t have killed me. Not if I’d gone along with it.”

  “Which wasn’t an option.”

  “Wasn’t it, though? I’d already had a Sevora inside my head. I know how to control them. You both could have escaped.”

  “We wouldn’t have left you,” Viera sighs as she says this. “Because, stupid people that we are, we both agreed to get you back. We swore ourselves to you.”

  “Like you can’t break that oath.”

  “Kaishi, everything’s changed. I don’t know what’s going on anymore. Sometimes I think the only way I’m holding on is precisely because of that oath, so don’t take it away from me.”

  “As if I’m worth protecting anyway.” I glance down at my hands. The ones that couldn’t even save my most cherished friend.

  “Stop it,” Viera’s annoyed now. “No Empress gets to talk like that.”

  She’s right. I know she is. I take a big breath, shudder out the exhale, and look over at those stares. Time to go and see where T’Oli’s taken us.

  “Sorry, Kaishi, but it looks like we’re a little late,” T’Oli cheerfully announces as I join it in the cockpit. “You see all those shapes around your planet?”

  Earth, in its sparkling blue beauty, appears marred by a dozen dark gashes cutting across its surface.

  “Those are Sevora ships. My guess is they took the coordinates off of whatever shuttle you rode to Vimelia.”

  “They can’t have been here too long, though,” I reply. “We didn’t stay on Vimelia more than a few days!”

  “If you’re lucky, that means they’ll only control most of the planet by now,” T’Oli quips. “Anyway, seeing as your home’s a loss, where should we go now? Rackt and some of the others were supposed to have a plan, but they, uh, didn’t look too alive when we left.”

  “We’re not going anywhere.” There isn’t any question of that now. “Take us down, T’Oli. Take me home.”

  “Might not be your home anymore, Kaishi.”

  “Then I’ll take it back.”

  An Excerpt from Creator’s End, The Skyward Saga Book Four

  I back against the wall, the creek running just in front of me, and watch as the Fassoth heads around the pillar, careful to keep its wounded leg off of the ground. I, though, keep my Ooblot spear raised in front of me, ready.

  “You know any way to scare these things?” I ask T’Oli.

  “They’re trainable,” T’Oli says. “If you have the right tools, and catch them young.”

  “Thanks.” I edge along the creek, towards the boneyard and the cavern entrance.

  Not that I think I have any chance of outrunning this thing, but if I can knock it away, make it hesitate, that might be enough to flee.

  The Fassoth, for its part, seems to be content waiting. It paces me, following along the middle of the cavern. At first I wonder what it’s doing, but then I recall the fight with the juar, in Damantum’s Pits. The Fassoth is a predator, I’m it’s prey, and it wants to figure me out.

  Well, it’s not the only one learning.

  When my boot brushes the first bone, I reach down, press away the pain in my side and pick it up with my right hand. I throw it back across the cave, towards the wall near the fur. It clacks off, hits the ground, and sure enough the Fassoth jerks its head back that way.

  I stay perfectly still. Don’t even breathe. And in a second, the Fassoth takes a couple of steps towards the thrown bone.

  I toss another bone. Then a third, without taking another step. When the last one bounces with a hollow clack, the Fassoth can’t resist anymore and it launches towards my trick.

  And now I have it.

  It’s a lumpy, lurching run but it’s the only one I have. T’Oli waves through the air - attached to my left arm - as I scatter bones with every step. With my right, I scoop up and throw one after another, flinging them at random around the cavern.

  Clattering noise from everywhere, and I’m hoping it confuses the beast.

  For a moment I think it’s working. I hear the Fassoth jump after the last bone I throw, hear the beast bounce off of a pillar and see the light change as blue fungus goes flying. But apparently the Fassoth isn’t as easy to fool as I thought - the very next second brings clattering claws racing up behind me.

  “Now!” T’Oli says, its eyestalks peering over my shoulder, behind me.

  I turn, swinging my left arm in a wide slash. T’Oli manages to harden itself into a razor’s edge, and the cut goes right across the front of the Fassoth’s head. The slash leaves a bright red line in the fur, and the Fassoth rears back.

  What it doesn’t do, though, is run.

  Instead it plows forward, even as I get T’Oli oriented so the charge costs the Fassoth another gash. The beast plows into me, pushing me back and knocking me to the ground. The world blurs as my nerves overload at the impact, and I’m thankful, because now I can’t really see as the Fassoth’s toothy foot descends towards my face.

  I feel a cold flash from my left arm. As the Fassoth’s foot crashes in, T’Oli slides in front of it. The Ooblot catches the strike, wrapping itself around the Fassoth’s foot. The creature stops its attack and stumbles back, probably wondering why its front right leg is covered in hard rock.

  My head sits back against the stone floor - I can’t keep it up anymore - as the Fassoth commences to panicked battering, hitting its front leg on the ground, whacking it into the pillars and the walls to try and get T’Oli off.

  I want to help. Want to find some way of rescuing T’Oli. Only I can’t move, and my head’s blowing up with pain.

  So I
do the only thing I can.

  I scream.

  The sound surprises everyone; the Fassoth, who pauses its crazed whacking of the Ooblot to turn towards me, T’Oli, whose rock eyestalks flip my way, and even me, as I didn’t think I had that much air left in my bruised lungs.

  I guess fear can do amazing things.

  T’Oli’s the first to recover, climbing up the Fassoth’s leg. I sit up as the Ooblot makes its way towards the fassoth’s monstrous neck. The beast, though, isn’t fooled and rolls. Bones fly everywhere as the Fassoth wriggles on its back before continuing upright. When the white-furred creature stands again, T’Oli’s nowhere to be seen.

  Stand up, Kaishi. You’re not going to die lying down.

  If you liked this story, please leave a review!

  And if you didn’t, or just want to say hi, please send us comments at www.blackkeybooks.com - we’re always looking for feedback from our readers!

  Also by A.R. Knight

  The Mercenaries Trilogy

  The Metal Man

  Wild Nines

  Dark Ice

  One Shot

  The Riven Trilogy

  Riven

  The Cycle

  Spirit’s End

  The Rakers Saga

  Rakers

  The Skyward Saga

  The Spear

  Oratus

  Starshot

  Mind’s Eye

  Clarity’s Dawn

  Creator’s End

  Humanity Rising

  The Last Cycle

  Discover More Stories

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  Acknowledgments

  This novel is the product of my family and friends refusing to let a dream die. My wife Nicole, for letting me write in the early mornings and making sure I didn’t starve. My brothers and parents for their continual comments, support, and enthusiasm.

  And, of course, you, the reader, for giving me a reason to write.

  About the Author

  A.R. Knight spins stories in a frosty house in Madison, WI, primarily owned by a pair of cats. After getting sucked into the working grind in the economic crash of the 2008, he found himself spending boring meetings soaring through space and going on grand adventures.

  Eventually, spending time with podcasting, screenplays, short stories and other novels, he found a story he could fall into and a cast of characters both entertaining and full of heart.

  The Wild Nines have more adventures to come, along with new plots, settings, and stories in the future. From there, A.R. Knight plans on jumping through to other worlds and finding new stories to tell in the limitless borders of our imagination.

  Thanks, as always, for reading!

  For more information:

  www.adamrknight.com