Cantral The Entra

A pawn for his plans.

"Cantral," Fendan wheezes.

"Shhh, no talking."

"I thought ... we'd ... lost ... everything."

"Me too," I say. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I doubted myself." I glance to Fendan as he opens his mouth. "I said no talking."

We step onto the ice lake and Zafira runs ahead to the ship. A bitter wind slaps me in the face. My stride quickens as the ship enters my line of sight. I step over the threshold and the door snaps closed behind me. Heat blows from vents in the wall and my frozen muscles begin to thaw.

I place Fendan in a unit beside Ramet. Heal fully, my finger hits the button with force, and I sit on a moulded chair, that juts out from the wall. Warmth gives my body life, the pain and cold recede. Zafira sits beside me, her hand finds mine and we watch the units in silence.

As we sit beeps come from the cockpit, messages, requests for contact. Insistent, consistent, but I ignore them, I can't cope with their content. Fendan's face pales to its natural colour, the swelling disappears, and he becomes his beautiful self once more. As a child I loved him so much, as a child he was everything to me but now, anger sits alongside love.

I push aside my tumultuous thoughts on Fendan and focus on Ramet, but my relationship with her is no less confusing. Her face looks peaceful in the incubation unit and only now do I realise how much tension she holds in her jaws. She's never been happy, none of us have. Now Haroc is gone, do we have a chance?

Ramet's unit beeps. The door slides open automatically and Ramet steps out. She kneels before me and threads her arms around my waist. Does this mean she's not angry with me? Or is it euphoria from our victory? Zafira falls into the hug too and we remain like that a few moments. Ramet breaks away first, she stands and approaches the cockpit.

"Haroc's fleet has stopped attacking Oneera," Ramet says, as she reads through messages on the main console. "Apparently, Oneera lowered the forcefield when Fendan's fleet arrived, and they managed to override Haroc's Battle Cruisers with minimal damage."

"Is Oneera okay?" Zafira asks timidly.

"The capital region has taken heavy damage, but Fendan's entra are helping to look for survivors."

Fendan's unit beeps and as the door peels back he steps out beaming. He grabs a screen from a compartment in the wall, his smile fades as he reads and then reappears even wider.

"Shazna has taken Prime, today I have lost many entra, but we have secured the future of the universe." Fendan looks at me and a frown tinges his good mood. "What's wrong? Haroc is dead, isn't he?"

"Yes," I say, my voice flat.

Fendan strides closer, his hands rest on my shoulders. "Today we achieved the impossible, you are allowed to be happy."

"We almost didn't, we almost lost ... he almost killed me."

"But he didn't. You won, you killed him. You have what you always wanted, soon everyone will know your name." Fendan flashes a smile and walks to the door. "Come, show me where he is."

Everyone will know my name, the prospect doesn't feel as inviting as it once did.

I leave warmth but the cold doesn't seem quite so shocking under the midday sun. Our boots hit the ice in unison, and behind, Zafira and Ramet follow. I guide Fendan to the formidable mound, Haroc's lifeless body.

Fendan approaches carefully, as if he doesn't quite believe it. He slips a small screen from his pocket and holds it over Haroc.

"He's dead," Fendan says, as if there was any doubt. "Ramet, help me roll him over."