#sparrow racing | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

imonthemoonitsmadeofcheese · 3 months ago

Text

Of Ghosts and Sparrows

A Festival of the Lost @d2artevents gift for @theavocadojam featuring their OC Kieran!

Link to Ao3 if you prefer to read it there (Ao3 has chapters, Tumblr is all in one post.)

"Kieran," Eris Morn turned from the Lectern of Enchantment to face the approaching Hunter, staring at a point to the left of his face. Kieran had not announced his presence nor told Eris who he was. They were surrounded by other guardians on their way to request bounties from Eris. Yet she moved directly to him without looking at him, as though she sensed who he was with otherworldly awareness.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," she intoned. "I have need of your particular skills."

She turned back to stare above the heads of the other guardians waiting for her attention.

"Please. Go." She waved her hand in a cryptic motion above her Ahamkara bone. "Return another time."

Several of them turned away without a word. One Titan's shoulders slumped. They looked as though they were about to say something and then they transmatted away.

Eris stepped close and clasped Kieran Nor's arm. The grip of her fingers through her glove felt almost like claws.

"This is a matter requiring considerable discretion, and has the potential to involve significant risk. I trust this is still acceptable to you?"

"For you, Eris?" Kieran answered, warmly. "Of course."

Eris sighed deeply in relief. "Come then. Let us begin."

She muttered for a few moments and then a Hive portal appeared in the air before them both. She held out her hand. Kieran took it and they both stepped through.

Kieran was not a nervous, twitchy type, but stepping through a Hive portal with no idea what was on the other side was always a bit of a nerve-wracking experience. It was therefore quite a relief when the other side of the portal turned out to be nothing more ominous than the front of Spider's bar in the last city. Not Kieran's favourite place, but better than a lot of the alternatives.

Eris paused at the threshold, placing her hand in a pocket at her side. She seemed to be considering something and then she nodded, as though agreeing with someone Kieran could not see.

"First, we will need information," she informed Kieran. "An activity which may prove..." Eris sighed and squared her shoulders as though steeling herself for something difficult. "...vexing."

"Nevertheless," she continued, "it must be done. And quickly. I prefer your assistance here more for... emotional support than anything. It would be... problematic... if the Spider were to not survive my inquiries, no matter how pleasurable that outcome might be for so many of us."

"...and if that doesn't convince him," they heard the Spider's voice as they approached. "I have methods of... sweetening the deal, as you might say." He was speaking to someone not physically present via a comms device. "No! No! Nothing so barbaric as that, my friend. Let's just say... it can be beneficial to be cooperative, for the future of ones hatchlings. So much better to be contributing to their education rather than... the alternative." The Eliksni crime boss chortled menacingly.

Eris made a low growling sound in the back of her throat as she walked closer. Kieran let her take the lead.

The Spider's laughter cut off abruptly and he began coughing as Eris approached.

"Eris Morn," he addressed her between coughing. "To what do I owe the... uh... pleasure of your visit?"

Eris stared at a point to the left of the Spider's head. "One of our... mutual associates recently ceased responding to communications with me while in the middle of a mission involving... the acquisition of... an item. An item they previously consulted with you regarding locating. I need to know where he went."

"Ah, I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean." Spider leaned back, clearly amused.

Beneath his helmet, Kieran ground his teeth.

"All of my business dealings are registered with the Vanguard authorities." Spider said with a tone that could only be described as... slimy. "Anything anyone might be doing for me will be recorded in their shipping logs."

Eris stepped closer.

"Interactions with this particular individual would not be recorded in the shipping logs for your... businesses," Eris spoke calmly. "He is a very private person. A... law abiding citizen." She paused briefly so the implication of her words could sink in. "He... pays his taxes."

"Oh! That one! Yes... yes of course... but I am sure you understand... as this is a private citizen, I can't go around discussing his uh... personal business. Especially with a member of the Vanguard special forces, you see. That would be... very uncouth of me, no?" He chortled to himself at his own joke.

Eris stepped closer. Spider's two personal guards stepped closer as well. Eris glared at each one in turn. They both took a step back.

"I am not coming to you as a member of the Vanguard," she continued. "I am coming to you as his friend. He is in need of assistance. The nature of his transactions with you need not be disclosed. Simply his whereabouts."

The Spider coughed again. No. He was laughing. "That one can take care of himself, my dear. And if he somehow doesn't? Ha! We're all a lot better off."

Eris stepped closer.

Spider stopped laughing.

"Look," Spider said quietly, leaning down toward Eris, his voice condescending. He held out an empty three-fingered hand toward her. "Information isn't free, my overly fleshy three-eyed friend. Surely there is... something you can... offer me... for my trouble." The Spider's four eyes looked Eris up and down, his fingertips following his eyes in the air as he chortled to himself.

The temperature of the room dropped by several degrees. Kieran felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Eris leaned even closer to the Spider and placed her free hand in his.

Kieran could not hear the exchange but the Spider tensed and he moved to lean back, away from Eris. Her eyes flashed and the ball of Soulfire in her hand began to rotate.

She gripped the Spider's hand tightly as he tried to pull away, drawing her hand down and forcing him to remain near enough to hear her whispers.

The Spider's four eyes went wide as she continued muttering in his ear. The ghost shell he was holding in another hand fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

Eris' lips continued moving, whispering something only the Spider could hear, her hand beginning to twist his beyond the normal range of motion for an Eliksni wrist.

"He's on the Tangled Shore!" the Spider blurted out, his voice tinged with panic. "I'll send you the coordinates I gave him! Please! Please just leave me alone!"

The Ahamkara bone ceased its rotation. Eris released the Spider's trapped hand and stepped back. "Thank you," she said tersely, finally speaking at a volume everyone else could hear, then she turned to Kieran. "We can leave now."

Kieran looked from Eris to the Spider, breathing heavily and shaking in his chair, visibly cringing away from the three-eyed woman as Eris muttered something in the guttural language of the Hive. Another portal appeared. The guards flinched and backed away from it.

Spider said something in Eliksni as they walked through. Kieran wasn't certain if it was a curse or an appeal to some higher power for protection. It may have been both.

***

The other end of the portal was neither the Moon nor the Tangled Shore. Kieran wasn't sure what he's been expecting, but the Gambit ready room on the Derelict wasn't it.

Eris walked quickly to a door that was always kept sealed during Gambit matches. The door opened immediately upon her approach.

"Whoa." Blinx appeared at Kieran's shoulder. "Is the Drifter going to help us rescue this person too?" the ghost asked.

"The answer to your question is highly dependent upon his level of consciousness and state of injury when we find him." Eris intoned.

"Wait," Blinx asked his eye flickering, "You mean to tell us this rescue operation is *for* the Drifter?"

Eris turned partway down the corridor and stared at the wall. "Is that a problem, little light?"

"No, Eris," Kieran answered. "That's fine. Of course we'll help. We're just not used to the Drifter needing rescuing."

"Nor is he, I suspect. But I am certain he will be grateful for it. Now follow. Time is of the essence."

Eris made her way through the ship with the ease of someone who was completely familiar with it. Strange heaps of unidentifiable junk were piled up in odd assortments, visible through the doorways of various rooms. They walked through a surprisingly clean and well-kept galley area and then past what had to have been a workshop, although from what Kieran could see in the brief parts of it he saw, it was a workspace which seemed to be attempting the violation of every known safety protocol simultaneously.

Moments later they were on the Derelict's small makeshift bridge.

Kieran eyed the kit-bashed controls and clumsily soldered circuitry, noting one panel that was occasionally spitting sparks.

"Can you fly this ship, Eris?" he asked, somewhat concerned.

"It would be madness to try," Eris answered with a wave of her hand. "The Drifter's... modifications are far from standard. However, there is one other individual who knows how to operate this ship."

She reached into her pocket and then withdrew her hand

A strange ghost lay shuddering in her palm. Its badly welded shell twitched as it rose and floated to the controls.

"Is that..." Kieran's voice trailed off as he watched it.

"Yes," Eris answered.

"I've never seen the Drifter's ghost." Kieran told her.

"Most have not. He prefers it that way. However, circumstances are extenuating at the moment and I am certain he would prefer this to the alternative. When I sent my request to you, I noted how highly I valued your competence and your discretion. I will hold you to that." She turned to Blinx. "Both of you."

"Of course, Eris." Blinx said, eyeing the Drifter's ghost from Kieran's shoulder suspiciously.

"Have the Spider's coordinates arrived, little light?" Eris asked the ghost.

It made no sound as it turned to face her, but its red eye-light blinked blue and then red again.

Eris nodded. "Proceed."

The Drifter's ghost hovered over the controls and expanded its shell, rotating slowly.

From this view it was clear to Kieran that the small ghost's shell was amalgamated from the shells of several other ghosts. Something told both Kieran and Blinx that those shells were probably not uninhabited when whatever had been done to the Drifter's ghost had occurred.

The Derelict lurched and made a low grinding noise. Eris watched dispassionately, cradling her glowing orb.

"Is it... supposed to sound like that?" Blinx asked.

"I do not know," Eris intoned.

The Drifter's ghost emitted a single tone and turned to Eris. Its light blinked blue and then red again. It turned back to the controls.

"Apparently, yes." Eris translated.

Engines that sounded like they were about to die began to rev up and then, rattling, the ship began to move. Then it moved faster. And then it moved very fast.

A loud banging erupted from somewhere deep within the vessel. In front of them the Reef came rapidly into view. Moments later they were in a stable position above the Tangled Shore.

"What... powers this thing?" Blinx asked.

"I have no idea," Eris replied. "The Drifter would undoubtedly advise you that you do not wish to know. However, you may ask him when we find him, provided he is in a condition conducive to responding."

The Drifter's misshapen ghost emitted the same tone it had before and flew to a console next to where Eris was standing. A projection of the terrain on the surface appeared with a large red splotch covering over half of it.

"I see," she said solemnly.

"Can the Drifter's ghost lead us to him?" Kieran asked.

"That would be ill-advised." Eris said. "I was entrusted with him for a reason. Both he and I suspect the Drifter is in a darkness zone which would prevent resurrection and... when I lost contact with him, he was not alone. Based upon the partial conversation I heard, I suspect he may have run afoul of some of his... former associates."

"You were talking with him when he lost contact?" Blinx asked.

"Yes."

"No wonder you're worried about him." Kieran said.

"Indeed."

The Drifter's ghost flew back to Eris' open hand. She placed it once more in her pocket.

"Prepare yourself," she intoned. "The transmat is... firing."

***

Kieran materialized just outside of an abandoned building on the Tangled Shore.

"I have mapped out a route which should bring you to the coordinates Spider has provided," Eris spoke through the communicator in his ear. "That will be where he started. It is my hope that we will be able to intuit his route once you arrive."

Kieran nodded and hopped onto his Sparrow.

Eris' path was winding, but uneventful. A few of the turns were quite sharp and there were several jumps, easy enough for someone as good on a Sparrow as Kieran, and very comfortable at the quick but relaxed speeds they were traveling.

"You know," Blinx said after another long but relatively gentle jump over a gap, "With all the jumps and turns and interesting terrain, if it weren't in an active war zone, this would make a fantastic Sparrow Racing track."

Kieran nodded.

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm, little ghost," Eris answered in Kieran's ear, "Please, both of you, remember to keep your wits about you. We do not know what tricks may await you ahead."

Kieran's bright red Sparrow slid to a stop between the wreckage of two Ketches. The door in front of them was sideways from its original configuration and looked like it would lead them to one of the main areas of the larger ship.

"All right, Eris." Blinx said through the comms. "We're at a locked door but I can't seem to get a read on the security protocols for it at all. It must have some really complicated shielding. Nothing's coming up on my scans at all. This might take a while."

"It is open." Eris said. "You can proceed through."

The mechanism panel had a small red light glowing, clearly indicating access was denied.

Kieran and Blinx looked at each other and then Kieran pushed on the door. It swung open soundlessly.

"That's clever," Kieran said with a smile.

"The panel is... fake?" Blinx asked, incredulous.

"The Drifter calls it... security through obscurity..." Eris intoned in his ear. "His tricks are often very banal but... still manage to be remarkably effective at times."

Kieran pulled the door shut as Blinx illuminated the area. They were in a short hallway. The other end was a crumpled mess.

"Are you seeing this, Eris?"

"Yes. Look slightly to the right. Can that panel be moved?"

Kieran lifted up some debris and sure enough, they were greeted by an open air vent.

"We sure do spend an awful lot of time crawling through air vents." Blinx said quietly as Kieran made his way through.

"A common hazard of the profession. I did so as well when I was a guardian."

The other end of the vent had no covering and they were able to crawl out without issue into the wreckage of the ship's bridge.

Long dead Eliksni corpses in various states of crumbling decay lay around them.

"What happened here?" Kieran asked.

"Mutiny," Eris said in their ears. "A betrayal long since past. Move swiftly, Kieran. You are close now. Be wary."

There was a dim light up ahead. As Kieran rounded a corner, he understood why. The top (or rather the side) of the ship was completely gone. Cool light splashed down onto the bones of the gutted Ketch cargo bay from the stars above. Vehicles and crates were strewn around. Some were mostly intact, others were in pieces or simply piles of twisted metal. A hole in the other end of the Ketch opened onto a stretch of hard rock butting up against a sheer cliff face.

"Maybe he went another way?" Blinx asked hopefully.

"No." Eris' voice was gentle but insistent. "Look closely. The Drifter is a creature of obfuscation and guile. It is likely his trail has been obscured by his own hand."

Kieran scanned what was left of the large space and then tensed, his scout rifle in his hands ready to fire. An eerie flicker in the corner of his eye. When he turned to look, it was gone. He shook his head.

"Did you see that?" he asked Blinx.

"See what?"

"For a moment I thought I saw something but now it's gone."

"Marauder?"

"No, it was pale and... almost glowing? Sort of Eliksni-shaped? Never seen anything like it." Kieran walked toward the spot he'd been pointing at and then gave an exasperated sigh.

"What now?" Blinx asked.

Kieran groaned. "If there's one thing I hate, it's improperly parked forklifts."

Kieran pointed at the Eliksni version of a forklift. It was oddly intact and was on a piece of wall which had buckled inward, causing the forklift to be tilted at an odd angle.

"This whole place is trashed and we're concerned about how a forklift is parked?" Blinx asked.

Kieran walked toward it. "Look at this. It can't have fallen that way. Someone parked it like this after the crash. And they parked it on an incline. You do not park forklifts on an incline. They can roll. It's a massive hazard. Whoever did this has no regard for safety." He climbed into the driver's seat with a sigh.

"You're not seriously repositioning it now, are you?" Blinx asked, incredulous.

"It bothers me." Kieran said.

"Hey, that's weird," Blinx said over his shoulder. "Someone's already hotwired it."

Kieran took the exposed wires and tapped them together, starting the vehicle.

A loud and insistent beeping echoed through the wreckage of the ship as Kieran began backing the forklift up.

"What are you doing?" Eris asked through the comms. "This noise will carry far! It will give away your position."

Kieran got out and stepped away from the forklift and examined what it had been parked on top of.

"We found where he went, Eris." Blinx answered, illuminating a gaping hole in the floor.

"Hmmm... Very well. Go swiftly. We do not know what attention you may have attracted from the surrounding area."

Kieran jumped down onto a rock ledge that was barely visible in the darkness below.

***

The hollowed out area beneath the wreckage of the Ketch contained a lot of debris. As they continued through, Kieran asked Eris. "Why haven't the Eliksni salvaged this yet? There's a lot here."

"Fear." Eris answered. "The location, and its history, is known to be cursed. There are stories that any who enter do not leave alive."

"Eris, don't you think we should have known that before coming here?" Blinx' light flickered.

"It is baseless superstition. You have nothing to fear from the ghosts of a past that is not even yours, but be cautious. You are close, now."

Kieran paused, his foot in the air. Then he stepped back.

"What is it?" Blinx asked and then hovered down at knee-height to look. "Oh wow. That's devious. It's a tripwire grenade but the laser has been disabled. It's using an actual tripwire. Pretty much invisible in this light.

"Sounds like Drifter," Kieran said.

"Yes," Eris agreed in his ear.

Kieran stepped over it and Blinx continued to scan the environment as they went.

"Scorch marks." Blinx said, quietly.

"That is to be expected at a crash site," Eris intoned.

"Yes but, these are recent," Kieran said, placing a hand on some blasted metal embedded in the rock. "Still warm. Solar energy."

"And this metal is shattered, as though it were made very cold and brittle just before something impacted it." Blinx added.

"Stasis," Eris said in Kieran's ear.

Kieran nodded.

Moments later they found the bodies. Eight of them. Seven were dressed entirely in black, most had been downed with headshots.

One lay apart from the others, dressed in green clothes with distinctive fur-covered and spiked pauldrons.

"Found him!" Kieran told Eris as he knelt beside the Drifter.

Then Kieran very still as the barrel of an extremely familiar hand cannon pressed up under his chin. He raised both of his hands slowly.

One eye swollen shut, one eye half open, his face a mask of blood. The Drifter looked up at Kieran and brushed his finger lightly on the trigger of Trust. "Who the hell are you?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"We're here to help, Drifter." Blinx said from behind Keiran while keeping a respectful distance. "It's Kieran and Blinx. Do you remember us?"

They were all briefly bathed in a malachite-green glow from somewhere behind them nearby.

"Shiny... Red... Daito cape...Hung Jury... and... my gun. Yeah. Ok." The Drifter's hand relaxed and he pointed the hand cannon away from Kieran. "The hell are you doing out here?"

"I sent them," Eris intoned as she knelt next to Kieran.

"Moondust?" the Drifter's voice creaked. "Izzat you?" He squinted with the one eye he could see through.

"Yes," she answered. "How badly are you hurt?"

"Uh... Pretty bad."

The Drifter's ghost appeared next to Eris and emitted its single tone.

"That won't work here," the Drifter said to his ghost. "Good thing too, or those assholes would'a got back up again too." He pointed to the other bodies nearby.

Eris sat still for a moment, muttering something unintelligible and then sighed deeply.

"It is as I suspected. I was able to track you externally through Kieran in order to make a portal here but it closed immediately behind me. I cannot get a lock on the Derelict from this location to teleport us out. We will need to make our way out on foot until we are clear from whatever is interfering."

Eris began to mutter and scratch something into the ground around them with a sharp stone.

"What are you doing?" Kieran asked.

"Stabilizing him," Eris answered.

"You can heal people with Hive magic?" Blinx asked, in awe.

"No," Eris answered. "Nothing about the Hive is healing. But, this can help to fortify him until we get somewhere where his ghost can use its light."

"You using Hive magic on me again, Moondust?"

"Are you complaining?" Eris asked.

"Nope. Last time was fun."

"Ugh."

He grinned and then looked over to Kieran and Blinx. "I fell off a cliff and she levitated me to keep me from breakin' my neck. Hangin' around a three-eyed witch has its benefits."

"Tsch." Eris made the sound dismissively.

"What happened here?" Kieran asked while Eris worked.

"So... Spider got intel on this place," the Drifter began. "It was hidden by an anomaly and that anomaly went away. No idea why. Didn't ask. Maybe should have. Anyway, there's a thing here that means a lot to some people. Spider sold me the details and I came out to get it. But... I'm guessin' I wasn't the only one Spider sold that info to. Which is something he and I will need to have a little chat about later. Anywho, some old uh... associates of mine apparently either knew what I was after, or knew I was after it."

Eris continued muttering and scratching as the Drifter talked to Kieran.

"They came here but they didn't know where to look," he explained. "We uh... talked a bit... came to an agreement that I'd show 'em where the good stuff was as long as I got the one thing I came for. Then, of course, they didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Which... is only fair since I wasn't planning on holdin' up my end neither. Wasn't expectin' the vengeful ghosts, though."

"Vengeful ghosts?" Blinx asked, looking around, worried.

"Yeah. I dunno where they went but they sure didn't want their stuff plundered. They were weirdly fine with me. But those jerks," he pointed at the bodies, "figured that since the ghosts weren't comin' after me, they must be somehow workin' for me, so they opened fire."

"When you say ghosts. Do you mean like me?" Blinkx asked

"Nope."

"Do you mean Scorn?" Kieran asked.

"Nope. Ghost-ghosts. Dead Eliksni. Spooky shit."

Eris sighed. "You did not see ghosts. I have done what I can, but you are still quite badly injured and it is likely making you delusional."

"I mean yeah, sure, maybe, but this was before the firefight."

"Delusions can affect one's memory of events," Eris told him. "Hold still a moment while I immobilize your leg. It is broken in several places." Stasis filled Eris' hands and she encased the Drifter's left leg in crystal from the ankle to the hip.

"I saw ghosts, Moondust. They were there. I dunno why you think they weren't. You talk to dead people all the time."

"It's quite different."

Kieran and Blinx watched them bicker with quiet amusement.

"Is it? This is like that time you said the pumpkin heads didn't exist... when I saw 'em when I was running tactical on haunted lost sectors."

Eris sighed again. "I said that because the Headless Ones are a myth. They do not exist."

"We havin' this argument again? Right now?" the Drifter asked, almost seeming to draw strength from the opportunity to irritate Eris. "They do exist. I saw 'em. Glint saw 'em. Eido saw 'em. Lots of guardians have seen 'em. Hell, even Immaru saw 'em."

"Immaru's endorsement does not help your case," Eris intoned.

"Kieran?" the Drifter asked, "Surely you've done Haunted Lost Sectors before. You've seen pumpkin heads right? Back me up here."

Before Kieran could answer there was a loud explosion near the entrance to the area they were in under the Ketch.

"Oh hey, that's my tripwire!" the Drifter said cheerfully.

"We are not alone," Eris said ominously. "Do your 'ghost-ghosts' also set off tripwires?"

"Nope."

"We should go," Blinx said quietly.

***

They heard scurrying sounds approaching them. Kieran stood, weapons ready. Several Screebs scuttled over the wreckage near where they'd entered.

Kieran began shooting.

The Screebs exploded in clusters like loud, deadly, bubble wrap, leaving behind splotches of Dark Ether.

"Good thing you brought him," the Drifter said. "He's a great shot."

"I am aware," Eris answered tersely as she helped the Drifter to stand.

Eris and the Drifter hobbled farther into the wreckage under the Ketch as Kieran walked backwards while following them, gunning down Scorn as they approached with his Hung Jury scout rifle.

"Where are they coming from?" Blinx asked. "And why now?"

"They were likely alerted to our presence from the noise made when the forklift was moved," Eris called out over the Drifter's shoulder.

"Hey Drifter," Kieran called back while reloading. "You have a way out of here other than where all the Scorn are piling in?"

"Nope!"

"That's a lot of Scorn," Blinx said, his voice worried. "I don't think we have enough ammunition to shoot our way out."

"Oh great!" Kieran said, gunning down two Raiders and a Ravager as he continued backing up. "Any other ideas?"

"Impossible," Eris said quietly behind him.

"I told you!" the Drifter's voice was weirdly gleeful. "Now do you believe me?"

Kieran glanced back to see what they were talking about and felt his skin crawl. A pale apparition of an Eliksni captain shimmered before them. It floated in the air and raised a ghostly Arc blade, using it to point at a hole in the rock which was partially obscured by a twisted metal door.

Kieran returned his focus to what was in front of him, continuing to fire at the oncoming Scorn. "That a way out?"

"I dunno, hero," the Drifter called back, "but it's better than here. Let's go!"

Eris peered at the ghost while she helped the Drifter limp through the hole.

"Ether tanks!" the Drifter called out once he was through the entrance. "I like it!"

Sure enough, as soon as he'd cleared enough Scorn to turn and run after them through the hole, Kieran saw a pile of Ether tanks just inside what looked like a hallway from the crashed Ketch above them. There was also a ramp leading up to another sideways corridor.

"You know what to do with that, right hotshot?" the Drifter called out from farther ahead.

"Hell yeah," Kieran grinned and, backing into the second doorway. He pulled out his own copy of Trust and fired a Solar round into the Ether tanks.

The explosion rocked the Ketch.

Kieran peeked around the doorway as the smoke cleared. The opening they'd come through was now effectively closed off with wreckage and rubble.

"Why is it assisting us," Eris asked, as she helped the Drifter to follow the Eliksni ghost.

Kieran joined them as the Drifter pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle from his back pocket. "Probably because she knows I'm gettin' this back to where it belongs."

The cloth had a distinctive, yet unfamiliar pattern embroidered on it and it shimmered strangely. The Drifter unfolded it with care. Within it was a necklace, worked out of some metal Kieran could not immediately identify, containing several unknown stones.

"What is it?" Eris asked.

The apparition hovered nearby.

"This... is an Eliksni heirloom," the Drifter explained quietly. "Made in Riis."

"The Eliksni homeland." Kieran said, looking over his shoulder.

"Yup, but even more important is the cloth around it. That's a eggcloth. Now, I don't pretend to know the full significance of this but the reason it's so important is because of whose eggcloth it is."

"His mother," Eris whispered.

"Yup," the Drifter said quietly, nodding at the ghost. The ghost bowed slightly back. The Drifter folded the necklace up in the cloth again carefully.

"But... how does she know?" Eris asked. "Why does she trust us? We are human."

"I have no idea," the Drifter said. "But she knows."

The ghost hovered closer to them and then reached out one of its four hands. One of its three fingers pointed to the Drifter's left wrist.

The Drifter leaned back against what seemed like a wall, but which was actually the floor of the sideways corridor they were standing in, and took his arm off from around Eris' neck. He pulled off his gauntlet and then gave a short laugh, pushing up his sleeve so that Eris, Kieran and Blinx could see.

Around his wrist were several colourful braided strings attached to a flat bead with the house of light symbol carved into it.

"Eido's friendship bracelet?" Eris asked, confusion in her voice..

"Made one for you too, did she?" the Drifter asked her.

"Yes," Eris said, pulling off her own gauntlet and placing her wrist next to the Drifter's, showing a similar braided bracelet with a nearly identical bead in the middle. "The children in the last city taught her how to make them and she tied it on to me herself."

Kieran gave one more glance back toward the caved-in entrance to make sure no more Scorn were approaching before he, too, pulled off the armour from his arm to display a similar trinket wrapped around his own wrist as well.

"Me too."

Eris tilted her head. "But... why does this matter?"

"Well, if I had to guess," the Drifter said, replacing his gauntlet. "Our friendly ghost here is the owner of the necklace, and the eggcloth. Which would make this fine incorporeal lady..."

"Innaks," Eris intoned as she looked upon the ghost. "Eido's grandmother."

"But, isn't Eido adopted?" Blinx asked.

"I don't think that matters to the Eliksni," the Drifter answered. "Pretty sure this is a love thing and an honour thing. And Eido is Mithrax's daughter in every way that counts."

The ghost nodded and then pointed to a doorway with one of its Arc knives. A moment later it flickered out of sight.

"Look, I don't know about you," the Drifter said, "but grandma's two for two at this point, and I'm inclined to believe she's leadin' us outta here."

"I concur," Eris said, lifting his arm over her shoulder so she could help him hobble once more. "Let us proceed."

***

The corridor was crumpled in several places, and they had to squirm through some tight spaces, but eventually they found themselves looking over the entrance that first the Drifter, and then Kieran, had come in by.

Inaaks' ghost had not reappeared.

Kieran's bright red racing sparrow was surrounded by Scorn. As Kieran looked around, he could see that the route he'd taken to get to the wrecked Ketches was likewise occupied with a large number of the rotting reanimated Eliksni.

"They're waiting for us." Blinx said quietly.

"So it seems," Eris intoned.

"Hey Three-Eyes, the Drifter whispered, "Can you portal us out yet?"

Eris shook her head. "No. I suspect the interference I am dealing with will correspond to the edge of the Darkness zone where I was able to transmat Kieran in."

"Right," the Drifter said. "So uh, how many people can that sparrow hold, hero? And can it go fast enough when it's overloaded to get us through that mess?"

"It can go fast enough," Kieran said, his voice smug.

"It'd be pretty tricky to drive through at top speed with three people through all that," the Drifter continued. "You confident you can pull that off?"

Kieran smirked under his helmet.

Blinx sighed. "Yeah. Yeah he is."

Eris' frozen Ahamkara bone ping-ponged off of the six Scorn Lurkers and the Abomination immediately surrounding the Sparrow. The Drifter tossed a Coldsnap grenade to immobilize the rest. Kieran fired Trust from the hip, shattering most of the hostiles as Eris and the Drifter scrambled to move as quickly as the Drifter's broken leg would let them toward Kieran's bright red Sparrow.

"Ooooh," the Drifter said as Eris helped him sit down. "This is a nice ride."

"Appreciate later," Eris said curtly and slid behind him, placing the bulk of her weight against him rather than on the Sparrow seat so that there would be enough room for Kieran.

Kieran squeezed in front just as the Scorn farther away started running toward them. The Sparrow's engine revved and began to purr.

Eris pulled out her Loud Lullaby hand cannon and took out two Screebs in their immediate path.

Kieran's Sparrow began to pick up speed.

As they accelerated past another Scorn Abomination, a jade coin made a loud "ding" as it struck the Abomination's riveted forehead. The large Scorn exploded in a burst of Solar energy, immolating it and everything around it.

"You weren't kiddin' about the speed, kid," the Drifter laughed as they banked hard to the left and slid half-way up a wall. "This is great! Woooo!"

The three of them ducked as Kieran brought them through a set of large pipes half embedded in the ground which, conveniently, gave them cover from everything shooting at them. This ended up being a good move as even more hostiles began to swarm toward them, opening fire.

However, the one thing the Scorn seemed not to have anticipated was someone crazy enough to drive through the twisted winding path out of here at insane speeds, taking turns like a maniac, soaring over gaps with jumps that would have been challenging for one rider to land safely at those speeds, never mind someone carrying two additional people.

"Hooo-ee! I haven't seen driving like this since... ever! If I ever manage to get Sparrow racing shoehorned into Gambit you're gonna clean house, kid!" the Drifter shouted into Kieran's ear as they skidded sideways, drifting past yet another blockade, before making a sharp turn and skimming over a heap of wreckage.

They were almost out of the darkness zone when Eris grunted and slumped against the Drifter.

"Moondust?" The Drifter's voice held a tinge of panic. It was the first time Kieran had ever heard that tone from him.

Kieran opened up the throttle as the Drifter reached back with hands covered in Stasis to freeze Eris Morn to him so she would not fall.

One final leap through the air and they were back where they'd started.

Kieran's Sparrow landed gently, sliding sideways to a clean, perfect stop.

The Drifter's ghost tumbled out of Eris' pocket and opened its twitching shell, scanning her as the Drifter turned in the seat to help Kieran to get Eris off the Sparrow and on the ground.

"Talk to me, Three-Eyes," the Drifter muttered to her as he and Kieran tried to figure out where she had been hit. "Say something."

Eris growled. Then she grabbed the front of his coat tightly in her fist.

"Insufferable," she mumbled through blood stained lips.

The Drifter grinned at Kieran, relief apparent in the one eye that wasn't swollen shut. He looked up at his ghost. "You, ghost! You able to get a signal up to the Derelict from here?"

The Drifter's ghost emitted its single tone in acknowledgement and blinked its light blue.

"Good." He nodded to Kieran. "Transmat Firing!"

***

"Stop coddling me!" Eris snarled at the Drifter two days later as she leaned heavily on the modified Hive Knight femur wrapped in velvet cloth and pierced with osmium nails.

It was a powerful magical artifact, one which she'd used to turn herself into a god. But now, it was serving a more mundane and functional purpose. Giving her stability as she walked with Kieran and the Drifter between the shelves of the recently constructed library of the House of Light in the Eliksni quarter.

"Let me coddle a little, will ya? It's my fault you got shot."

"Yes. It is. It is entirely your fault. And I shall not let you forget it any time soon. Thankfully, Kieran was there."

"Good thing too." the Drifter said, smiling at Kieran. "I was dead-dead without you comin' in to save my sorry ass. I'm grateful." He turned back to Eris. "So let me be grateful, will ya? You're so grumpy!"

"Ugh." Eris growled in frustration.

Kieran, Eris and the Drifter sat down around a table with Eido and Missraks, Scribe and Kell of the House of Light. Blinx hovered near Kieran's shoulder, light occasionally flickering on and off, in eager anticipation.

The Drifter handed Kieran the cloth-wrapped package. "You give it to them," he told Kieran. "You're the only reason this whole caper has a happy ending."

Kieran smiled and turned to the two Eliksni.

"Is that..." Missraks paused, his voice overcome with emotion.

Kieran nodded.

"Please..." the Kell looked upon Kieran with gratitude. "Give it to my daughter."

Eido's hands trembled as she unwrapped the cloth and held both it and the necklace in her three-fingered hands.

"Do you know," she looked up at Kieran with four wide eyes. "Do you know what this means to us? To our house? To me? This is history... a piece of our past believed to be forever lost... this metal, these stones, they are pieces of a world that is gone... this... this is priceless..."

Kieran smiled as Eido hugged him enthusiastically with all four of her arms.

"Happy Festival of the Lost, Crabcakes," the Drifter said from across the table.

"This is so exciting. How did you find this? You must tell me what happened!" Eido said, looking adoringly at all of them, especially Kieran. "I want to know everything!"