The Two Princesses: Virasana Empire: Sir Yaden, #7

By Beryll Brackhaus and Osiris Brackhaus

Their first mission after the Calarni leads Yaden and Ivan to Goa, tracking down N'Bosoti artefacts. Encounters on the estate of Princess Kumari have implications both personal and political, but most importantly, lead to Yaiciz – right into the machinations of Princess Anya, Ivan's deranged sister.

Facing ancient monsters, an obstinate Vertex, a recalcitrant Duke and a traumatised Goddess, Yaden, Ivan and Colin will need all their courage and personal growth to save the day once again.

 

Written by award-winning authors Beryll and Osiris Brackhaus, 'The Two Princesses' is a riveting space-opera adventure novel about the difference between family and relatives, and the seventh book of the acclaimed 'Sir Yaden' series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osiris Brackhaus
• Release date: Dec 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223392491

Book preview

Prologue – Tutorial Mission

With a delighted screech, Vian dashed off, following the small stone Yaden was hovering back and forth across the beach for him to chase. Watching him kick up the pale sand behind him, his dark blue fur full of sand, Yaden couldn't help but smile.

Things were good on their little island in the sun.

Vian and Siva weren't yet a year old, but they were already much more mobile than a human infant of their age. They moved on hands and knees at a speed that would have turned watching over them into a full time job if they hadn't also been entirely unwilling to move anywhere that didn't have a clear line of sight on one of the adults they trusted – namely Yaden, Colin, Ivan and Darios.

Luckily, neither of them was displaying any kind of psychic talents, yet. With their genetic make-up, anything was in the cards. They had been thoroughly checked at the Lotus Pavilion, but all the most educated experts could say with any certainty was that both were healthy and seemed unimpaired by their half-human, half-Calarni heritage.

Both kids were very aware of their surroundings and quite independent in many ways already, however, they showed no inclination to communicate in any other way than by snarling, purring or screaming. This was also to be expected, at least according to the data that Maki had gathered for them on Calarni children. After extensive analysis, Darios had recently switched to a diet of raw meat and milk for them, both of which they devoured in amazing quantities. Darios was great with the twins, which surprised exactly no one.

While Vian spent most of his waking hours running around at top speed, exerting as much energy as possible, Siva watched. For hours she could sit in one place, carefully observing her chosen subject. Currently, this was a small bird, perched on an outcropping of rock where the beach ended at the cliff. It was cracking sea snails by carefully picking them up in its beak and smashing them against the rock. Siva sat near the rock, almost motionless and watched with rapt attention, her tail quivering ever so slightly.

Yaden found her silent concentration resonating deep within himself, in tune with his own inner calm. Just as Vian's exuberant, squealing joy at life resonated with his knowledge that his family was doing well.

The last couple of months since his return from Calarni Space had been blissfully quiet and he had sorely needed the time to recover. Being surrounded by his family had helped him regain his balance somewhat. He was struggling with the things he had done, with the way he had allowed his rage to dictate his actions, and how he had used his talents in such terribly destructive ways. He and Colin had many long nights of talking ahead of them to fully make him feel like he was in control of himself again. But as long as Colin was there to keep him in check, he wasn't worried. And Ivan, of course, who had done a stellar job in Colin's absence. Things would have gotten so much worse without Ivan.

Mostly, he and Ivan had spent hours upon hours in debriefings with increasingly secret and arcane divisions of the Lotus Pavilion and the Imperial Intelligence Service.

The IIS was primarily interested in learning as much as possible about what kind of threat the Calarni might pose and what they knew about the N'Bosoti. The people interviewing them had quickly grown frustrated with the lack of intel about the N'Bosoti and their unwillingness to see the situation in Calarni Space as any danger to the Virasana Empire. Yaden thought they were being paranoid. Calarni Space would be dealing with the fallout of their recent civil war for a long time to come.

The Lotus Pavilion, however, was delighted with practically every bit of information they were squeezing out of Yaden and Ivan. Every bit had some division of the Lotus Pavilion in blissful ecstasy – tech data, their gathered impressions of the many and very varied races they had encountered, historical data, psions' talents and how they used them, the apparent lack of any sort of theurgy or magic users...

The raw data dump of Database 3 that Ivan had copied before Doctor Hssite could give them a sanitised version was considered a treasure trove.

They were, however, somewhat frustrated with Pebble's crystal jump drive.

They had a vague inkling on how it worked, but no way to replicate it due to an obvious lack of suitable crystals. Yaden was aware that an expedition to the system that had ported them to Calarni Space was in its early planning stages, probably to see whether they could harvest any usable crystals there. But even if they found some, it could be decades before they were able to construct a crystal drive of their own. Considering they had the Mandala web and the Psions Guild for interstellar travel, he didn't really understand the urgency, but he was wise enough not to get into an argument with a bunch of overexcited scientists.

They had arranged for him and Pebble to be ported to all the major systems of the empire so the crystal drive's computer could scan their coordinates and integrate them into its database. By now, they were mostly done and all that remained was to do scans of minor systems when they passed through them via Mandala.

The only Lotus Pavilion division entirely unimpressed was the PR team. Absolutely everything about the Calarni was highly classified, so they couldn't use any of Ivan's and Yaden's adventures in Calarni Space for promotion.

The only positive – as a very grumpy Rajveer Fhad told Yaden – was that they had come back just in time for the premiere of 'Sir Yaden and the Renegade Psion'. This time, they wouldn't escape attending the premiere in person, Rajveer had vowed, and as the PR team leader who was responsible for everything concerning Yaden, he had the final say.

Besides that, there had only been a couple of small missions all over the empire. A mudslide here, some clean-up after an earthquake there, helping to get a spreading wildfire under control... He and Ivan had almost always managed to be home for dinner, which Colin hugely approved of. Spending time with his family felt like a reward for all the hard work.

And he needed that time. Especially the time with Colin. Simply being around his beloved husband grounded him, made him feel like he was in control of himself. When Colin told him that he had done the right things, he believed him. When Colin hugged him and told him everything would be alright, that was enough for him. Colin was the sun he orbited around. With him there, everything was fine.

Last night, he had left the twins with Ivan and Myriam and taken Colin and Darios out to Agami for dinner and to see a movie. The latest Lady Rage flick had been the one they managed to agree on. Afterwards, they had stopped at a small bar for a couple of glasses of wine. A well deserved, adults’ night, Darios had called it, and Colin and Yaden couldn't have agreed more.

Next, he would be making time for Myriam.

Yaden smiled. Hadn't it been only a second ago that she had been a crying bundle in his arms, that day he found her on Shiraz? She had grown up so much. She was almost as tall as him now and would probably be able to look down at him within a year. She was a sixteen-year-old teenager, now – a brilliant, hard-working teenager. She didn't miss any of her scheduled training sessions and all her teachers were full of praise for both her intelligence and diligence. He couldn't have been prouder of her.

Soon, they would have to start thinking in earnest about where to send her for her Annum Nobilis. The thought of barely seeing her for a whole year after they had lost one already was painful even before she had to go. Of course, she would benefit greatly from the experience, and he would never deprive her of it by clinging. It was bad enough that he himself had missed out on the opportunity because his mother had never allowed him to leave Erys.

But right now, there was still some time before they would have to let her go. Enough time for him to fulfil his promise of taking her along on a mission once she was ready. She had a firm grip on her talents now, and she used them with finesse and strategic planning. She didn't have Ivan's level of combat training, but like Yaden, she took regular self-defence classes at the Lotus Pavilion, so she was ready enough.

Yaden had asked Lieutenant Commander Li Ma to let him know when a simple, short mission came up that was suited to her talents. Something easy, but sufficiently relevant so Myriam wouldn't feel babied. So far, there had been nothing, but it was only a matter of time until something fitting would cross the Commander's desk.

With a triumphant roar, Vian tackled the stone he had finally caught up with, drawing Yaden's attention back to his son. Snarling and growling, he rolled around with it, obviously pretending it was some kind of prey. Yaden couldn't help but smile at the sight. Whatever his boy would grow up to be, it would surely be something fierce.

He wondered which part of Vian's heritage he was witnessing. Was this his human side, or his Calarni heritage? Humans were known to be fierce, but considering the Calarni's sharp teeth and claws, the predatory behaviour might come from them, too.

Satisfied with his victory, Vian dropped the stone after a little while and nimbly made his way over to Yaden, where he was sitting on the sand, soaking up sunlight. With a happy little sigh, he crawled into his father's lap, curled up with his face buried in his own tail and started purring faintly.

Whatever he would grow up to be, he would also be loving and kind, Yaden thought, while gently stroking Vian's ears. His children truly were a blessing, each in their own way.

***

It was only a few days later that Yaden received a call from Lieutenant Commander Li Ma, informing him that they had a possible mission for him and Myriam.

It was a small matter that normally, the Lotus Pavilion would have relegated to some other office, but it appeared to be perfectly suited for Myriam's skillset, so Li Ma had offered it to them. After she explained the details to him, he completely agreed. It checked all the boxes, from a moderately threatening combat situation to an opportunity to show off all the theory she was gobbling down, and it even offered some nostalgic value.

Now, he had to find out if his daughter was interested and available. Like most of the time, he found her sitting at the table beneath the old tree, wearing shorts and a bikini top, doing her homework.

While he had never enjoyed studying or homework, Myriam positively thrived on it. She devoured books and data disks with a voracious appetite and didn't seem to have any favourite subject except maths, maybe. The study of psionics, theurgy and magic fascinated her as much as physics, complex engineering and history. If a subject caught her interest, she often jumped down a rabbit hole of related topics and got lost in research for hours, sometimes days. In many fields, she had long surpassed Yaden and Ivan. The Lotus Pavilion Science and Para-mag Divisions kept her supplied with endless brain food, and he didn't mind at all. If his daughter wanted to become a brainiac, he couldn't have been happier. Seeing her thrive like this filled his heart with light.

Hopefully, he would be able to pry her away from her books for an afternoon of zombie hunting.

Hey little dragon, he greeted her, leaning against the table to catch a glimpse of what she was working on. Mind-numbingly long lists of something in a tiny script. He didn't bother puzzling out the letters to find out what exactly it was. How's homework going?

Myriam squinted up at him suspiciously. You look like you want something, Dad.

Yaden grinned at her. Observant as always. Now pretend I don't want something and answer the question.

She snorted with a mix of amusement and annoyance, but played along. It's going well. I'm actually done. This is extra, so I won't have to do it tomorrow. Doctor Al-Murad wants to take another stab at the crystal drive and I want to make sure I will have time to be there.

Al-Murad was one of the few names from the sprawling Science Division of the Lotus Pavilion that he could associate with a person. The cheerful, rotund man reminded him of Doctor Hssite in his exuberant enthusiasm and he kept asking Yaden complex questions about crystals. Most of the time, Yaden didn't know what exactly he was asking, but sometimes, he said something in reply which apparently was the answer Al-Murad had been looking for, so the man kept coming back for more.

Good. Yaden smiled happily. Now, do you remember I promised you would be allowed to go on a mission with me when I thought you were ready?

His daughter nodded with cautious interest in her eyes.

I think you're ready.

Myriam frowned at him, obviously waiting for the catch.

Yaden laughed. So if you have nothing better to do, would you care to join me?

Like, now? Myriam blinked at him in surprise, but her suspicion was rapidly giving way to enthusiasm.

Like, right now.

Of course! Myriam sprang to her feet, changing from nerdy bookworm to eager rookie hero in the blink of an eye. I'll get my pack and put some shoes on!

Grab sturdy boots, Yaden called after her, as she dashed into her cottage, and some more clothes. We're going to Leichnam.

She is too young, Colin said behind Yaden.

When he turned around, he found his husband leaning in the doorway of the kitchen cottage, drying his hands on a kitchen towel. The worried frown on Colin's brow was familiar. It was always there when Yaden left for a mission.

She is sixteen, Yaden corrected gently. She has been old enough for a while now. And it's a harmless zombie hunt.

Colin's frown deepened. My mother was killed by zombies.

With a little sigh, Yaden went over to him. I know, love, he conceded, but Myriam is capable of reducing any zombie to cinders before they get near her. And I will be there as well. She will be safe. Give her your blessing and she will be even safer.

That made Colin huff indignantly. Of course she will have my blessing!

Myriam reappeared, now wearing sturdy combat boots, long pants, shirt and jacket, plus a small rucksack on her back. Probably stuffed with notebooks, Yaden thought somewhat amused. When she noticed Colin, her expression changed from exuberant joy to dismay.

Dad! she exclaimed and hurried over to Colin. I'm old enough to go!

Yaden couldn't stop a chuckle from escaping him, but he quickly recovered under Colin's glare. His husband had the grace to carefully rearrange his face to a benevolent smile before he turned to their daughter.

I have already consented to you going, he informed her gently.

Yes! As quickly as they had appeared, the storm clouds on Myriam's face were gone again. She wrapped Colin in a grateful hug.

Colin stroked her hair and looked at Yaden with a pained smile. 'Be careful,' he mouthed soundlessly. Then he leaned down and kissed his daughter's brow. Go with my blessing and Ynagra's protection, my love.

Thank you, Father, Myriam replied and disentangled herself to give him the proper bow of a warrior honouring a priest.

Then it was Yaden's turn to be kissed, a lot less chastely than their daughter. Try to be home for dinner, eh? Ciel and Shawn are coming over, and you know how often we've had to postpone already, Colin reminded them. We were going to grill that tuna. Would be a shame to let it spoil.

With the busy, conflicting schedules of a Vertex and a Lotus Knight, it was hard to find time to hang out together, even though they lived on neighbouring islands. They hadn't had a chance to catch up in person since Yaden and Ivan's return, so hopefully tonight would work out.

We'll do our best, Yaden promised and then turned to Myriam. Ready?

Absolutely!

Let's go. First stop, Lotus Pavilion.

He mentally called for the Lotus Pavilion operator on duty to let them know they were ready for port. It only took a few seconds, then they were standing on the Pavilion's porter platform among the usual buzz of the place. He stepped off the platform, but didn't leave the room. At Myriam's questioning glance, he gestured to her to wait.

So the PR team can take a few photos of us. He gave her a long-suffering eyeroll, but then smiled and shrugged. A small village on Leichnam has asked for assistance with an unusually resilient zombie infestation centred on their graveyard.

Wow. Must be really bad if Leichnami ask for help from outsiders, Myriam commented. So she had listened to Colin's stories after all. She had grown so much since she had come into their family.

The PR photo team arrived and put them through some ridiculous poses, alternately smiling at the camera like morons or scowling like there was no tomorrow. Yaden and Myriam shared a look of mutual relief when they were finally cleared to leave.

When they stepped onto the porter platform together, he couldn't help but feel a burst of fierce pride for his daughter. As excited as Myriam was, she managed to carry herself with an air of calm professionalism. Her declared plan for her life was to become a Lotus Knight just like her father, but whatever she ended up doing, he had no doubt that she would be awesome.

***

The village they arrived at looked like any other Leichnam village. It was shrouded in thick mist creeping across the ground like a living carpet. The cottages were vague shapes behind a curtain of drizzle, all neatly spaced apart, with tall fieldstone walls between them. Wiry grey moss grew among the uneven cobblestones of the small square they were standing on, the centre of the village.

The planet itself felt like Yaden remembered it, cold and wet beneath his naked feet, but deeper down, warm and cosy and dormant. Today, Leichnam reminded him of a sleeping teenager, entirely unwilling to be woken up by anything and resistant to all disturbances.

There were no records of who the first settlers on Leichnam had been, but historians agreed that they must have been some sort of radical, religious cultists who sought out a place where they would be left alone. They had kept to themselves and when the Shangri-la fell, the planet completely dropped off the radar.

Leichnam had been rediscovered centuries later by forces of House Grebenstein, who of course had claimed the planet as their property without much consideration for the original settlers. The Grebensteins made a valiant effort to get a grip on the hostile population, but in the end, the notorious Leichnami persistence won out. In an unprecedented coup, the locals evicted their Grebenstein rulers and 'invited' House Quetzal to rule them instead.

Naturally, the new owners were equally unwelcome, but at least they stuck to the deal that had gotten them the planet – mutual ignorance. The Quetzal nobles built some well-defended castles and fortresses all over the planet to live in splendour, and in return, as long as the commoners paid their taxes with reasonable reliability, stayed out of their business.

On the downside, this deal also meant that Leichnami commoners were left to fend for themselves, no matter what kind of horrible thing happened to them. Though, honestly, that wasn't a downside in the eyes of most of the locals, so while it was an ugly solution, it worked. Leichnami didn't like outsiders and that didn't just include people from off planet, but also those from the next village or the neighbour across the street.

To no one's surprise, to this day, some of Leichnam's main exports were rebel groups, violent cultists and insane terrorists.

Nice zombie weather, Myriam commented with what Yaden thought of as her scientific scowl. Warm enough, high humidity, perfect fungus conditions. How much farther south are we than Hagermarsh?

About a thousand miles south, so yes, this is classic zombie fungus territory. Yaden nodded. Though fungus infestations normally don't spread as quickly as this one. The report says the infestation is centred at the graveyard. We best have a look there first.

Don't we need to check in with someone? I mean, tell them that we are here to help or something?

You don't talk to a Leichnami, Yaden told her with a grin. You wait until they talk to you.

As if conjured by his words, a figure emerged from the fog on the other side of the square. A non-zombie, judging by the fact that he or she was carrying a lit lantern, raised in one hand.

Who goes there? a raspy, male voice called out.

I am Sir Yaden of the Lotus Knights. The Emperor has received your plea for help and sends me to aid you.

The man shuffled closer and they could make out that he was wearing a huge, grey leather duster and an equally huge, grey, floppy felt hat, dripping with rain. He looked like his image should be next to the article about Leichnami in some encyclopaedia.

The man scoffed incredulously. A Lotus Knight? Here?

The mission brief hadn't said who had called for help, so it was entirely possible that whoever it