Below my position on the tower, the locals scuttled about, chanting drivel about blessings and curses to the uninspired beat on their drums. The massacred lay strung over their shoulders: cousins, brothers, one of their kids, who knows.
But at least they got what's important. I broke open my pistol, glancing into the blood licked chamber and down the barrel. This universe trades much for blood.
"Oi, Gina."
"What is it?"
My boots clunked against the deck as I turned to face the ladder. One of the sailors, Bren. A muscled man with skin as white as parched paper and the illusion we had a rapport going.
"Aye. Not a rise from you for that?"
"You'd have to try quite a lot harder than to call me by name, Bren."
"You is fancy folk. From Central though, isn't you?"
My lips twisted. Bren dipped his head into a bow.
"Only joking, Warden. Only joking."
At least the man knew when not to push it. But just before I could ask him to get on with whatever he was here for, he spoke.
"I was sent to pass something along. Mistress' calling for you from the bridge."
I looked over my shoulder to the ship hanging in the air above the locals' festivities, hot red steam spilling from the thrusters.
Nothing that woman wanted could be good. Probably plotting some way to squeeze something from me while pretending it's all for my own good. My voice slipped out with a sigh.
"Orders received, Bren."
The man winked and shot a wave before disappearing down the ladder. Flicking my pistol to lock the barrel, I paused. Vibrations tremored through the thick hide of my gloves.
"Yeah, I know. You're not the only one, you greedy hunk of metal."
I swung onto the rickety ladder where Bren had vanished. Splinters caught leather, making me wonder how the sailor had slid down it with bare hands. A few rungs closer to the ground, air thickened with the desperate coppery tang and filth the locals coughed up with their frantic dancing.
Nonetheless, after my feet touched the ground, I turned and forced a smile. Habit.
Frozen awe painted the faces nearby. Scanning them, I noted again that there wasn't much to harvest from this lot, stringy muscles quivering under thin skin. They were barely clothed, squares of rough hide cut and sewn from small creatures probably ekeing out a living as bleak as their predators. But if it led us out of this back-end galaxy, so be it.
Belatedly, the locals dropped to the ground, one husk that was once a body rolling into my path. I stepped over it.
Passing through the crowd as I headed to the landing pods, more bowed and scraped, spraying droplets of blood from the unspent carcasses slung over their shoulders. A drop landed. It stuck to my cheek before running down. I wiped it away, but my hand recoiled.
"For fuck's sake."
A splinter from my glove had embedded itself in the soft flesh under my eye. I slipped off a glove to pick it loose with my nails, flicking it away in displeasure.
Curious locals poked their heads up briefly, but returned to the floor when their eyes met mine. A scowl slipped out, so I focused on the ship's towering fuel cannisters ahead. If the Mistress caught me disparaging the locals, I'd be in shit.
But my attention ended up pulled to the right. A few paces away, streams of red glow siphoned from the sacrifices floated through the air before being condensed inside the conversion artifact. My eyes fixed on the glistening liquid in the central chamber, locked up by crystal. I bit my lip, forcing myself to look away as the insatiable hunger gnawed.
Ten mages formed a line before the crowd, channeling the blood towards the artifact.
I didn't lament rising past the rank of Initiate. Sweat formed on their forehead, slipping down their cheeks and into the collars of their robes. But at least they were topped up, which was more than I could say for myself.
Skirting the ritual site, I spotted Mads shooing locals away from one side of the tanks, the heat from the sun warping her figure like a mirage. I dipped my head when her widened eyes met mine. She cocked her head, so I pointed up to the ship and shrugged.
I turned my attention to the outer casing of one of the landing pods, punching numbers into the keypad. The screen lit up, blue light shimmering onto the edge of my glove as the glass door slid open.
Positioning myself inside, I clicked closed the harnesses before reaching a finger over to the haemolog. Mana pooled in the depths of my heart before I manipulated it to my fingertips. Prickles pulsed through my veins, sending a thrill into every cell. But the shudder from my holster reminded me I didn't have much blood left to waste.
I fed the smallest stream I could to get the thing moving. Tithe paid, and feeling like a half-downed strawberry milkshake, straw stuck up my throat in place of my trachea, the door sealed shut, humming with infused magical power.
But with so little spared, the ride up to the ship was slow. Five minutes spent as the lucky recipient of this dustball's musty air accompanying me through to altitude. Stepping out into the landing bay was a godsend. I could almost feel the grit float off, to be sliced and filtered in the ship's atmospheric controllers.
In the bay, a crowd of sailors were at work, loading the pittance of additional resources we'd scavenged from the populace. Two sailors whistled as I passed, summoning a pointed frown—Bren had been enough sailor for one day.
At least the walk through the air-conditioned corridors got me feeling somewhat more human. I reached the bridge.
As I entered, the Mistress came into view, face buried in a screenplate. But she snapped up soon enough, features emerging as if let free from hell the moment the rivulets of her black hair were brushed behind her ear.
"Warden. Excellent. I have an assignment for you."
I knew it. But I feigned surprise.
"An assignment—here?"
She smiled. Astoundingly beautiful, plumping her pink cheek into a dimple centimetres from deep red lips. But again, still hellish.
"I'm unsure why that would be a surprise, but yes. Scanning the data drummed up something odd."
I groaned, eliciting a bark of laughter from the Mistress before she spoke.
"Blood doesn't come free, you're aware."
"I know."
"Good girl. Now, look here."
She cast a map of the planet onto the hoverscreen. Dirt, dirt and more dirt—but a fingerpainted heart circled a sector a few miles off the ritual location. My eyes lingered on the marked location.
"What's there?"
Bright green eyes snapped to mine, the uncanny tilt to her lips stretching further up as she spoke.
"Alix. I suspected something was off the moment the tribute came in so lackluster."
I pinched my nose between a furrowed brow. Alix were a beast we couldn't even harvest from, now she wanted to wring me out of every drop.
"Do I have to?"
The Mistress' expression hardened, a nostril flaring. I nodded quickly. Her smile returned like a lie, crinkles forming on the edges of her eyes.
"Take ten with you—enough for a full coven of Alix, wouldn't you say?"
I flinched, crossing my arms as I parsed the information. Alix choosing this barren planet was odd enough, let alone–
"As many as that?"
"I'm not certain, of course. The resonance was strong enough, but resources are low already, without running a full pulse scan."
"Oh, that's why neucomms are down."
She smirked.
"Yes. We can harvest the crew in a pinch, but I hate carrying things around myself."
"Can't we just take more from the planet?"
Her head tilted, eyes narrowing. I waved a hand, hoping to dispel what I knew would come, but I got the lecture anyway.
"This is one of the only tribute planets on the 12-4 interway. Over-harvesting would limit this line to supercraft. You need to look at the big picture. If I die someday, you'll be the one taking over."
Observing her glowing complexion coupled with what I knew of her magic, I reckoned I'd be the first ceremoniously jettisoned in a skimp foil sack. Not to mention she had me doing the run arounds on-planet, while she stayed here, fully air-conditioned and UV shielded. But envy wasn't worth ending up splattered into a red crepe on the bridge floor.
"Sure, I'll get on it."
Locking in the coordinates, I headed out, that creepy motherly look following me all the way to the door.