Kanushin (Starweaver's Tapestry #1)

Chapter 19: Cogs

Kirrik moved with deft swiftness as he summoned his Kanushin and wrapped the vibrant red chain around a glass on the counter. He flicked his wrist sideways, yanking the glass into the Valnaken's pistol. It fired a solar bolt past Kirrik's ear and into the ceiling above, a sizzle ringing from the newly-made scorch mark. The Valneken gave Kirrik a quick and pitiful look of surprise before Kirrik punched it right in the middle eye stalk.

The attack caused the entire room to break out into chaos. The rest of the Valnaken's group rushed forward, chunking tables and chairs aside as they charged toward Kirrik. He counted twelve, maybe thirteen. Lonow, the Ixr bartender he had been catching up with, dropped everything and moved backwards toward the exit. Fights were a common occurrence in Terric's Treasures.

A chair flew across the room and into the group, taking three of the crew out. Imi moved quickly, slinking up behind the others and sweeping a leg across to knock down another two. To Kirrik's surprise, Diah and Zaius jumped into the fray as well. Diah tossed what looked like a trio of purple daggers, sticking one of the assailants into the wall, while Zaius launched himself into a spinning kick into a group of three. Adrenaline flowed through Kirrik. It was one thing to have a partner by his side and another entirely to have a team. He summoned his Kanushin back, stepping forward and smashing it into the chest of two more members. Imi kicked another in the head, leaving the last standing in the middle of the bar. Kirrik shot his chain forward and snaked it around him, constricting it tightly and reeling him in.

"I'm feeling merciful," Kirrik warned, "so tell your friends that if I ever see them again, they'll end up being food for the rockworms. Got it?"

"Got it," the Bachi member uttered before Kirrik whacked him on the side of the head with the butt of his pistol. He crumpled to the floor in an unconscious pile.

Imi, Diah and Zaius made their way over to Kirrik, but he noticed the Kunar had somehow slipped out the door.

"Where's the contact?" Kirrik asked warily.

"He said he wasn't joining us," Imi informed him. "He gave us his data and decided to make use of the distraction, I guess."

Kirrik shook his head. The whole thing sounded like a blatant attempt at a trap. He learned long ago to trust Imi's judgment, however, and she seemed to be okay with it all.

"We need to head to the factory Nox told us about earlier," Diah said. "Balakus told us that the Kunar Regime is using the Reclaiments to work on some kind of secret weapon."

Balakus was a name that sounded familiar to Kirrik, but he couldn't place from where. It didn't seem to ring any bells with Imi, at least not that she showed, so it was most likely from the period before he met her. That time was all a troubling, violent and sometimes passionate blur in his memories. Old emotional wounds that had long scarred over threatened to open up again.

"He also told us about an attack on the High Prime, Kirrik," Zaius added.

Kirrik's attention piqued at the mention of the High Prime. If Balakus was really on their side and wanted to help, then the High Prime would pay good money to whoever stopped an attack on their lives.

'Maybe even enough to retire on,' Kirrik thought. Images of a lone cabin in a green meadow settled in his mind. He subconsciously rubbed the necklace hidden under his shirt. Kirrik had been searching for something as well, and Lonow told him that all signs pointed to Flightline. If it was true and everything went in his favor, he'd never have to hunt again.

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Sky watched with thinly-veiled enjoyment as Nox pressed her wrench down against the bolt holding the Nova's repaired engine bracket. Her hands laid across her lap as she sat cross-legged and observed the young mechanic work. She paid close attention to the way the muscles in Nox's arms rippled as she tightened the bolt further. Nox pulled the wrench off and wiped the sweat off of her brow with a hefty breath. The silence between them had been long and awkward for a while.