Mauled by Destiny [Tales of the Citadel 17] (2 page)

Yali grabbed her hand, heedless of the claws.

“But you have adapted to something that you had no right to expect. You were going to live your life as a farmer. That was it. You would find a nice man, get pregnant and register him at your record’s office. That was going to be your life.” Priina swallowed and took another sip of tea. “I met my father on my last day at home. He was next to my mother when they loaded me on the shuttle.”

“Is that not usual?”

“No. The women own the businesses, and the men run the service industries. He’s a doctor, and I never got his name.” She sighed and squeezed Yali’s hand a little too hard. She let go when her friend winced.

“Can’t you ask your mother?”

“No. It isn’t done. Besides, she is pregnant with another baby right now. She has other things to think about.”

Her mother and sister had gone on with their lives. Her sister now ran the farm, and her mother had one son and another baby on the way. It was Cial tradition to replace a lost child, and her mother was going to continue until she got another daughter.

Two instructors appeared at the door of the dining hall. “Apprentice Priina Jarcor, you are summoned to prove yourself.”

Priina set down the cup and got to her feet. She hugged Yali and turned to follow the instructors who had helped her come to grips with the changes in her body.

The light of day made her smile as they exited the enclosed environment of the Citadel. The wall around it was blissfully familiar, and it had helped her feel more at home than any other feature at her new home. She enjoyed being enclosed.

Once outside the wall and gate, she faced a shuttle and two masculine figures that provided a very dashing image. One of the two hooked her attention. She couldn’t help her blush, he smelled great even from thirty feet away.

The other one smelled fine, even interesting, but he didn’t come close to the man next to him.

The less interesting male came forward. “Thank you, Instructors. Is she prepared?” Priina answered him. “Do you wish me to begin now?”

He smiled. “Please.”

She slipped off her student robes and then peeled off her suit until she was wearing nothing but skin and scars. The instructors backed away, and she let the change wash over her. It took three seconds, but the moment her transformation was complete, she began the running portion of the course.

Her toes dug into the ground and propelled her onward as she went to all fours. Her muscles bunched and extended, revelling in being able to work to their full capacity. Once the running was over, she had to flip chunks of stone end over end.

After that, it was a dexterity test with assembly of a puzzle. It was particularly awkward with her claws, but she managed it and returned to the instructors to shift back and retrieve her clothing.

Slow applause came from the two men who were watching her. The attractive one stepped forward. “May I take a turn?”

She nodded as she slipped into her bodysuit and tugged her robes into place. “Be my guest.” One of the instructors raised her hand and reset the course.

Priina’s mouth opened as he shifted into a form eerily similar to her own transformation. Her skin grew clammy as he moved with the lightning speed she remembered, and her tea rose to the surface as he flicked the stones over with one hand. His claws were almost dainty as he completed the puzzle.

He sprinted back and shifted into his more socially acceptable form inches from her. “I am very glad that you managed to adapt, Cial.”

“I am glad that you stopped your clan member, Lyran.” She licked her lips.

He grinned and inhaled deeply, closing his eyes with pleasure. When he opened them, his gaze was direct. “You remember me then?”

“It would be hard to forget. The details of that night are carved into my flesh.” He nodded. “I regret that I did not get there sooner, but we did not know he was hunting near the wall.”

She smiled brightly. “May I learn your name?”

“Rhanos Garvik of the Tress Clan.” He inclined his head with his hand over his heart.

She followed his example with her fist over her heart instead of an open palm in the Cial tradition.

“Priina Jarcor of the Jarcor farm.” The smug male came forward. “Argen Tapz, pleased to meet you.”

He extended his hand, and the moment she made contact with him, he jerked violently. He hissed and released her. “Well, you pack more of a wallop than Rhanos does. Impressive.” She tilted her head. “I don’t understand.” Rhanos pulled his companion aside and away from Priina. “Argen is a power sensor. It is less useful and more useful than you can imagine. It does make him an excellent recruiter.” Argen chuckled. “Well, you have met the power requirement, but there is an untrained quality about your energy. I believe that working with Rhanos to focus your energy will be a benefit.

But, you do require practice before assignments can be considered.”

“Practice? I thought I was pretty good at it.” Priina frowned.

Rhanos took a step closer to her. “You are very good at it for someone who came to the shift so late. You do need to learn to listen to your instincts.”

Her eyes widened. “I have spent the last six years subverting the instincts that came with this change. Now, you are telling me to simply give in to them?”

Rhanos grinned. “Under supervision. Yes.”

“Supervise this.” She turned and stalked back toward the Citadel gates.

The two instructors allowed her to pass and kept the men from following her. Priina ran into the grounds and halls that she had come to call home and made a beeline straight for her quarters.

She breathed deeply and tried to calm herself as she paced restlessly from one end of her small chamber to the next.

Her senses alerted her to the headmistress of the Thoola Citadel as well as the placement coordinator outside her door. It seemed that her instinct to hide had made a fool of her as well.

T
he two administrators sat her on her bed and surrounded her. Her inner beast wanted to claw at them, but the good little Cial that controlled her held her hands on her lap.

“Priina, it is time for you to leave. You have learned all you can about the change to your system, and it is time to test it in real-life situations.” Wadara Povix, headmistress of Thoola, smiled at her in an encouraging manner.

“What if I don’t want what the men are offering?”

Tarnulishka, the placement officer, laughed.

“That is the story of this school. It started to let the girls work on their own skills away from the distraction offered by the males of their respective species.”

“I mean, what if I don’t want to give into my instincts? Rhanos seems pretty certain that it is what has to happen.” She dug her hands in her hair. “These instincts aren’t even mine!”

Wadara placed her hand on Priina’s arm.

“Calm. If you embrace your instincts, then perhaps, your control will come more naturally.

You won’t be fighting with yourself all the time.” Priina gave her a long, considering look. “You are serious.”

“I am very serious. My species has a history of violent behaviour, and I haven’t killed a student in months.” She winked.

Priina was startled into laughing. “Can I come back if it doesn’t work out?”

Tarnulishka smiled, “You will be reassigned to less of an active position if you cannot adapt to life at Citadel Lowel.”

Priina inhaled sharply, “Then, I suppose I had better pack, that is, of course, provided that they are still waiting for me.”

Wadara snorted. “Oh, they are waiting. Rhanos will not move until you are on that shuttle. His kind is rather stubborn about that sort of thing.”

“His kind?”

“Lyrans. They were seeded on nine different worlds and only thrived on three.” The coordinator smiled. “When they find someone they can partner with, they are very determined.” There was a subtext there that Priina wasn’t sure she wanted to catch, but she got to her feet, grabbed her bag and packed while they watched over her. It was time to crawl through the proverbial wall to see what was on the other side.

It had to end better this time.

* * * *

Her hands shook as she fastened the seat harness. She was really doing it. This was way worse than chasing after stray varek.

Rhanos kept looking back at her with a concerned expression, but she kept her face as straight as she could manage.

He smiled softly. “We are heading to Balen Base for training. The forests and terrain are far more suitable than any other world with a Citadel or Sector Guard base.”

She nodded. “Thank you for the update. Is there anything we can do about me having to get naked before the shift?”

Argen piped up, “I liked that part. You are in excellent shape, young lady.”

Priina blushed as Rhanos snarled at the man piloting the ship.

She stared out the viewport until they cleared the atmosphere of Thoola, and when they were in space, she pulled out her data pad and did some reading.

Education was her favourite part of her time on Thoola. Having the knowledge of thousands of species at her fingertips was intoxicating.

She rifled through the history of the Lyran people and was unsurprised that their history was remarkably similar to that of the Cial. They were a designed race that had been too wild to keep in captivity. They had split into nine colonies and landed on a variety of worlds.

Six of the colonies failed. They collapsed and died out, but three survived and thrived in the wilderness of the worlds that they inhabited. If Rhanos and her sense of smell were telling the truth, he was the beast who had rescued her six years earlier.

There was little to nothing said about the social structure of the species. Though a few of the donor species were listed. Azon, Hickom and Wyoran were in the genes, much as they were in Priina’s own genetic heritage.

She had already looked into the initial design of the Cial. Their sense of personal preservation had made them bad for business, and the Nashthinic designers had been forced to scrap their entire run. Instead of killing them, they dumped Priina’s ancestors on Drevvin fifty years before the Lyrans arrived.

The wall had gone up in two years, after ten percent of the Cial population had been transformed into Lyrans.

She sighed and looked up, her gaze colliding with Rhanos’s. “I am sorry, did you want something?”

He smiled, and she could see him working out what to say. “I was merely wondering how much you knew about your species and mine and what they meant to each other.”

Argen snorted but didn’t comment.

“I am aware that the Cial were prey of a sort.

Many of my people underwent this same transformation before the wall went up.” He frowned. “It was not forced on them, but our young have issues with self-control. When your farmers got between our young and their prey, they became infected. If the Cial were not so adaptable, it would never have been an issue. A few stitches would have seen them fine if they had been almost any other species. Once we knew what you were capable of, there was a rash of kidnappings as brides of fresh bloodlines were taken. As soon as they were infected, there was no possibility of them being returned to your people.”

She nodded. “They would have killed them.

The first days of the change are so hard. They would have killed everyone in their path, not just infecting them.”

He frowned. “Is it so very difficult?” She stared at him in shock. “They had to keep me in a cell with a null. When I did run across the countryside, they had to keep all the domestic animals under guard. Eventually, I gained control but not until after I had caused all manner of difficulty to the school as they attempted to keep the rest of the population safe.”

“On Drevvin, we could have taken you through it, kept you safe.”

She shivered. “That was not an option. If I had seen the one who attacked me, adapting to my new body would have been the last thing on my mind and blood would have been the first thing on my hands.”

He saw something in her expression, and he nodded curtly. “Understandable under the circumstances.”

“I think so. That is one of those instincts that I have so successfully throttled down. I meditate. I concentrate on keeping it under my control at all times. My more savage instincts are closely watched and guarded.”

Argen snickered, “There is nothing wrong with giving into instinct now and then, Priina.” Rhanos scowled at his companion. “I do not like your tone, Argen.”

Argen let out a bark of laughter. “Tough. You will have to listen to my tone the rest of the way to Balen.”

A fleeting smile crossed Priina’s lips as she watched the two men bickering. She tuned them out and went back to reading the history of designed races in the Alliance. It was a far more interesting topic than whatever the men were talking about.

B
alen was beautiful. There was nothing better than a fresh world to whet the appetite.

Priina’s blood hummed with eagerness as she looked at the mountains, forests and rivers of the newly surfaced world.

There was nothing better than a world where she could just disappear into the mist and no one would know where she was.

The Citadel outpost was situated on the barren expanse of a plateau. Argen settled the shuttle on the marked landing area and turned. “Ready or not, here we are.”

He was so chipper, part of Priina wanted to give him a slap, but she put her data pad away, unclipped her harness and got to her feet. Rhanos had his hand extended to help her, but she smiled and walked past him to the storage area where her uniforms and bodysuits were.

She heaved the duffel to her shoulder and followed Argen out of the shuttle and onto Balen.

A woman with chalk-white skin and dark hair was there to greet them. She smiled and multiple colours swirled in her gaze. “Welcome to Balen. I am Zenina-Balen, Avatar of the world beneath your feet.”

“I am Priina Jarcor, apprentice of the Citadel and beast of Drevvin.” She stepped forward, and the Avatar took her hand with a pleasant expression.