The Renegade Psion: Virasana Empire: Sir Yaden, #3

By Beryll Brackhaus and Osiris Brackhaus

"The Emperor cares for each and every one of his subjects."

An out-of-control psion is killing innocents on idyllic Shiraz. On their first outing together as Knight and Squire, Yaden and Ivan are sent to neutralise the threat. But that threat turns out to be a little girl on the run from the Psions Guild, fighting for her life. Naturally, their mission objective changes from 'neutralise' to 'protect at all costs'.

While Yaden tries to figure out exactly what and who they are up against, Colin has to find a bigger home for his growing family even as a powerful, traumatised girl is dropped into his care. Is it just one rogue psion who wants her dead, or is it the entire guild they are up against? In their own way, both Colin and Yaden will have to face powerful guild psions to ensure that their little family survives.

'The Renegade Psion' is a planet-hopping mystery adventure, a found family celebration and book 3 of the Virasana Empire: Sir Yaden series.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osiris Brackhaus
• Release date: Mar 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393237952

Book preview

​Chapter 1 – The Incinerated Inn

Yaden? Have you seen my trousers?

Sleepy and confused, Ivan's voice, coming from the living room, carried more than a hint of annoyance.

Not today, Yaden called back. Have you looked behind the couch?

Yaden heard him grumble and rummage about before Ivan disappeared into the bathroom.

Since Ivan had moved in with them, three weeks ago, the living room had become a constant mess. Yaden's squire slept on the couch and the only space available in which to store his personal belongings was the cupboard in the hallway. So more often than not, he left things lying around. On top of that, Colin kept his study materials stacked next to the couch and Yaden had his Mecha Girl Squad comic books spread out on the coffee table. Only Darios made a point of keeping his belongings in his own room and tried valiantly to tidy up after the lot of them.

A two-person apartment was simply too small for four grown men, each with interests of his own.

Yaden carefully put the cutting board down on what little available space remained on the kitchen counter to peel some apples and lima fruit and chop them up for Darios' breakfast porridge. Most of the workspace was taken up by screw-lid, glass jars of various sizes, all of them filled with doughs and yeast colonies at different stages of development. While Yaden loved the results of Colin's baking, at this stage, the ingredients didn't look very appetising.

A bigger kitchen would have been great, but they were lucky to have one at all. As most residents of Emperor's Island went to the Food Court to eat, the apartments in the Lotus Compound living quarters didn't have kitchens at all beyond a nook to brew some tea. But when they had originally moved in Darios had insisted he needed a proper kitchen to ensure he could provide Yaden with the emergency meals and special diet his accelerated metabolism required.

Yaden arranged the cubed fruit in a pretty bowl and put some flatbreads into the oven to freshen them up along with the last two of the chocolate croissants Colin had baked the night before.

Living space on Emperor's Island was scarce, to begin with. Excepting a few Lotus Knights and the Emperor, everyone who worked on the island lived in the surrounding districts of the capital, Agami, and commuted in each morning. Maybe they should move out themselves, as well? While there was one larger apartment on the island available right now, it came without a kitchen. Which was the one thing they couldn't go without if they wanted to keep Yaden and Ivan adequately fed and Colin wanted to continue his baking career.

Which was another thing Colin was struggling with. He had passed the Lagoona's Bakers Guild journeyman exam with flying colours while Yaden had been away on his mission to Bora Bora. He was now well on his way to taking on the master exam thanks to all the experience he had already accumulated on Leichnam. But as soon as they got married and Colin became a noble, he wouldn't be allowed to stay a member of a guild or run a business of his own. Nobles didn't 'work', particularly not when it came with any kind of regular salary. Guilds had been invented to protect commoners from the nobles, not to have the latter join as members. Colin had pointed out often enough that he didn't have a problem with the consequences of his change in status. But would he be happy baking just for his small family? Wouldn't he feel terribly caged in after a while?

As if conjured up by his thoughts, Colin shuffled into the kitchen and towards the teapot on the table. Wearing only his sleeping shorts, hair mussed from sleep, and eyes half-closed, he looked like the cutest possible version of a Leichnami zombie. Of course, the healthy tan and lack of rot marred the zombie picture severely. At least, once he became a noble, he would never have to go back to getting up in the middle of the night to start doughs. Though he probably would, anyway.

Yaden put a mug into his lover's searching hands and poured some tea before Colin had a chance to burn himself, sleep-addled as he still was.

Colin inhaled the aroma deeply and sighed happily. Thank you, he mumbled and settled on one of the two chairs at their tiny kitchen table.

He sipped his tea while Yaden checked on the flatbreads. Both the flatbreads and the croissants looked ready so he pulled them out. With the ease of everyday routine, he started on food for himself and Ivan, cutting the breads in half and filling them with shrimp pâté, pickled carrots, some lettuce, and lashings of hot sauce.

As he worked, Darios came lumbering into the kitchen, mumbling a gruff 'Morning'. They had to shuffle carefully around each other so the big man could get to the second chair and cram himself into the corner, and, like Colin, he wasn't in a talking mood this early in the morning. Yaden gave him his own mug of tea and let him start eating, which he did slowly and with determination.

By the time Yaden had two plates, each with a dangerously tall stack of bread and stuffings ready, Ivan had emerged from the bathroom, drawn by the smell of food and tea. His eyes lit up when he saw the two croissants and he tried to snatch one, but Yaden batted his hand away.

Nope. We're saving them for Colin, remember?

Oh, right. Ivan cast an apologetic glance at Colin, who looked up from the mug of tea he was nursing with a frown.

What happened to the rest of them?

Yaden and Ivan exchanged a guilty look.

You ate all of them? I made two dozen! How can you ... oh, never mind. Colin poured himself more tea and a mug for Ivan.

They were great, Ivan reported dutifully. The chocolate wasn't as grainy as in the last batch. He loved all of Colin's baked goods as much as Yaden did, but he was much better at providing the constructive criticism Colin demanded. Though that might be because they were still really hot. The chocolate stuck to my tongue like molten metal.

I thought you were immune to heat.

Only if I pay attention.

With a silent eye-roll, Colin turned his attention back to the mug of tea in his hands.

Yaden handed one plate of flatbreads to Ivan, who placed it on top of a pile of sludge-filled, screw-lid jars and remained standing in his corner, leaning against the wall to eat. The much smaller plate with the two surviving croissants he put in front of Colin, who eyed them critically. They are too dark and too flaky, he judged before he took a very cautious bite, so as not to burn his tongue on the melted chocolate as well. Taste is okay. He pulled out his notebook from underneath the stack of cookbooks on the window sill and started taking notes, commenting to himself while he continued eating. Five degrees less, three minutes more, maybe? Definitely enough butter now.

Yaden picked up the first of his own breads and bit into it.

Since he had started training Ivan, his need for large meals fluctuated wildly. Some days, they both burned through vast amounts of energy. Other days, they worked on smaller scales. While fine control was Ivan's greatest challenge, at least there were clear improvements in their combat coordination. Hopefully, they would not hit each other again on their next mission. Yaden still flinched at the memory of the forklift truck on Bora Bora.

In the time since Ivan's arrival, Yaden had only been sent on two small errands, strengthening a coastal dam against an approaching flood and helping on a tunnel construction site, monitoring the mountain above for faults to make sure the tunnel wouldn't collapse after the first minor earthquake.

Don't forget you have to come home right after training today, Darios' voice interrupted his musings. I'll have a snack for the two of you, then you need to head over to the PR team to prepare for tonight.

Yaden groaned. He had tried valiantly to forget that he, Colin, and Ivan were expected to attend the grand premiere of his first official Lotus Knight movie 'Sir Yaden and the Demon of Hagermarsh' tonight. There would be lots of press and important people and he was expected to look good, be charming, give interviews and sign autographs. And watch the movie, of course. The latter he would have enjoyed, curled up with Colin in a tiny cinema in Downtown or, even better, at home on their very own couch. Instead, he would be on display at the famous 'Seven Amsterdams' in Opera, shown off to the public like a prize bull.

But that was part of his job as a Lotus Knight as well, to be propaganda for the Emperor.

Come on, maybe it’ll be fun, Colin said with an encouraging smile, and I'll be right there with you. He took Yaden's hand and pulled him down for a kiss.

Yaden forced a brave smile. I know. It just feels so very odd.

At least you don't have to spend an eternity getting spray painted to cover up your sister's tattoos, Ivan growled from his corner and handed Yaden his empty plate. I'm told the bodymod specialist of the Lotus Pavilion will come back from their seminar this week. Finally!

Did you know they have started looking for an actor to play you in the next movie? Colin asked teasingly.

Ivan's groan echoed Yaden's.

Speaking of your bitch of a sister, Colin turned to Yaden with a frown of his own, any movement on that front? Is she coming after Ivan?

Not that I have heard of. Commander Hamilton is aware of her, but I don't think we are actively monitoring her. If she shows up, we'll deal with her. In a very final way, Yaden added silently to himself, but Colin's expression mirrored his thoughts.

Let's go train, Ivan growled, suddenly, I feel very motivated to blow stuff up.

That's excellent because today we will be working on your fine control again, Yaden's evil smirk was met with an utterly unenthusiastic expression from Ivan.

Oh for fuck's sake... Ivan muttered, but didn't argue in earnest. Let me find my history homework so I can hand it in on the way.

Yaden stuffed the last piece of his flatbread into his mouth. See you tonight, he told Colin and kissed him again. He grabbed a large jar of sausages from the fridge and followed Ivan to the living room.

A couple of minutes later, after they had left the cramped apartment and made their way to the warren of underground facilities below the surface of the Lotus Compound, Ivan eyed the jar of sausages suspiciously. Do I want to know what those are for?

You will grill them. Gently barbecue them with nothing but your fire.

Ivan took a closer look at the jar and his expression turned mournful. Those are the tasty ones we had last weekend, aren't they?

Yaden nodded cheerfully. You'll get to eat all the ones you manage not to incinerate.

You're a fucking bastard.

I like to call it 'proper motivation'.

While the Lotus Compound was short on living space, it had plenty of training rooms. During their first tests of Ivan's abilities, they had managed to wreck three of them. Considering they had been built to withstand Lady Rage's training sessions, that was quite the feat. But unexpectedly, large blasts of near-plasmatic fire were a significant problem, and Yaden had pulled on rock he shouldn't have, almost collapsing the training room into the storage units beneath them.

Now they were both being especially careful, which annoyed Yaden to no end. How were they supposed to improve when they couldn't push against the limits of their powers? They needed a place to train, well away from any inhabited urban areas, somewhere where it didn't matter what they wrecked in the process. In or near Agami, that kind of location was simply not available.

At least now, they had learned to pick one of the largest training rooms so Ivan would have space for a frustrated explosion or two.

Ivan settled in one corner of the room, with the jar of sausages next to him, while Yaden took up a position a few metres away to use the opportunity for some training of his own.

He focused on sensing Ivan's energy flow through him. It was possible for psions to tap into each other's energy and share it, or to channel power to one focal psion who would then be able to create particularly large effects. The entire Psions Guild powered their commercial network of telepathic communication and teleportation that way.

But being the only visceral psion known, Yaden had never had the opportunity to practice this. That was, until he had found Ivan. They would benefit greatly from being able to draw from each other's energy. It would be a vital first step towards being able to create synergisty effects, though Yaden had no idea how that would work, considering the tattoos on his forearms, which masked his own psionics.

And before he could even consider synergisty effects, Yaden had to hone his perception of energy flow in general. It certainly helped that it was fascinating to see Ivan slowly get a grip on his own powers.

As expected, the first few sausages in Ivan's hand ended up as tiny, charred chunks and Yaden was thoroughly impressed by the variety of swear words his new squire commanded. Conjuring immense, searing flames was so much easier for him than creating small ones with precisely regulated heat.

But Ivan was as stubborn as a mule. Eventually, he switched from holding the sausage in his burning hand to holding it with one unlit hand while setting his other hand aflame, and carefully gauging the distance between them.

Yaden was pretty sure it was only a matter of time before Ivan got to enjoy his first properly grilled sausage. The delicious smell of freshly cooked meat already reached him from across the room and he couldn't help but smile as a triumphant grin appeared on Ivan's face. With a slight wave of his hand, Ivan extinguished the tiny, licking flames he had maintained so carefully.

Ha! he exclaimed, and looked over at Yaden expectantly.

Well done!

With obvious relish, Ivan bit into his first sausage. And instantly hissed furiously as it was hotter than he had expected. Always the same. Ivan could not be hurt by his flames, but he could burn his tongue on hot meat like any other man if he didn't pay attention. Just as Yaden would be hurt by a rock dropping on his head, heat and flames Ivan wasn't aware of posed a real danger to him. Plus, should they ever encounter another psion attacking them with fire, Ivan would not only have to suppress those flames, but also the attacker's will, which had brought these fires into existence in the first place.

Unaware of Yaden's thoughts, Ivan was gently blowing on his sausage to cool it down to an edible temperature. Do you want one, too? he asked. I think I am getting the hang of it now.

With a nod, Yaden accepted the generous offer. After all, they both had a lot of training to do.

Ivan managed a second sausage well enough, but his next attempt failed flamboyantly as he was getting too sure of himself, not paying enough attention, and ended up with another blackened piece of meat. After that, his attempts were hit and miss as stubbornness warred with frustration, both of which translated into too much heat and too little control. Eventually, after their lunch break, Ivan was so riled up that Yaden kept him from continuing and instead switched to combat training, with Ivan lobbing fireballs and Yaden deflecting them with slates of rock.

They were in the middle of a calm, concentrated moment as Ivan attempted to focus sufficiently to create something like a welding torch when a loud knock on the door interrupted them.

Startled, Yaden looked at the watch on the wall. It was late afternoon, but not so late that Colin would have to come fetch them. As the sign on the training room door was turned to 'occupied' and no one would enter such a hazard zone uninvited, Yaden called out, Come in!

It was Lieutenant Commander Li Ma who opened the door and poked her head inside, cautiously checking the place as if she expected to walk into a major natural disaster. Considering the place, not an entirely unjustified notion. She was General Hamilton's assistant and training to one day take over his job. One day far in the future, if it were up to her. Despite the fact that she had already served as a Captain in the Imperial Special Forces, she had a hard time dealing with the unfettered chaos and weirdness the Lotus Knights had to deal with on a daily basis.

Sir Yaden? she addressed him without fully coming inside. Commander Hamilton wants to see you immediately. An emergency has come up.

If Ivan had had big, furry ears, he would have perked them up eagerly at this. He looked as though he were ready to bounce up and down with excitement. His first 'real' mission, the one he had been waiting for. Yaden didn't bother asking him if he felt ready. He got to his feet and gestured for Ivan to follow. When the Commander said 'immediately', he meant it.

Together with Li Ma, they made their way a few levels back up, closer to the surface, until they reached the corridor where Commander Hamilton's office was located, beneath the main pavilion. Li Ma ushered them in without knocking and closed the door behind them.

Ah, good, you're here, the Commander grumbled, not looking up from the report he was reading with an annoyed frown. Don't bother sitting down. Here's the deal: A couple of hours ago, a rogue psion attacked the town of Mirabelle, on Shiraz. They sent a messenger to their local baron who in turn passed the problem on to their liege who finally decided to contact us via the Psions Guild. Two buildings have been burned down and we have three confirmed dead with several more injured. You'll be ported right into the town immediately. Find and neutralise the psion before he can do more damage and assist the local authorities in any way you can. Questions?

Erm, Sir ... the PR team expects me to make an appearance at the movie premiere tonight? Yaden was pretty sure of the answer he would get, but he wanted to hear it from the Commander himself.

As expected, Commander Hamilton looked up at them with a deepening frown.

Last time I checked, the PR team was promoting you and not the other way around, he growled. If they have a problem, they better deal with it themselves.

Yes, Sir! Yaden gave the Commander what he hoped would pass as a salute and added a nod to Li Ma.

Dismissed. The Commander turned his attention back to his report and Yaden and Ivan quickly left the office.

On their way up to the main porter platform of the Lotus Compound, Yaden couldn't help but grin as Ivan walked ahead of him. Like Yaden, he was already wearing his iconic outfit plus a t-shirt to cover up his slave tattoos, the only things he wore these days. Who knew when a mission would come along? And when lives were in danger, nobody could wait for them to change into the proper clothes. Ivan reminded Yaden of a hunting dog, eagerly pulling on his leash. And he was right, they had been waiting for a proper mission long enough.

The platform was located in an airy pavilion, with several windows that looked out onto Emperor's Island and Agami Bay. Not so long ago, he had arrived here with Colin in his arms, the hems of their trousers smouldering. How quickly things were moving.

With a smile of reminiscence, Yaden used the short wait to send a message to Colin, letting him know that he very likely wouldn't make it to the premiere. And his apologies. He hadn't looked forward to the event, but sending Colin to face it on his own had never been his plan.

When their teleport to Shiraz was up, they both stepped into the circle on the floor that the official in charge pointed at. A heartbeat later, they stood in the central square of a small, idyllic Shirazan town with cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses. Or rather, it would have been idyllic if two of the buildings on the edge of the square hadn't been reduced to smouldering ruins. Judging by light and temperature, it had to be early morning here, with the sun casting a bright light on tired, soot-covered men and women as they extinguished the last of the flames with buckets of water drawn from the well at the centre of the square.

Holy shit, Ivan muttered next to Yaden.

Yaden nodded. Before he took a step, he allowed his senses to sink deep into the ground, attuning himself to Shiraz. He made it a habit to get a feel for every planet he visited before he did anything else. Unsurprisingly, Shiraz felt warm and welcoming to him, complex, cultivated. It had been the one planet that, famously, had been perfectly habitable to humans right upon discovery and had never needed terraforming. Food, water, and living space were so abundant that it was often called 'the Better Terra'. As the ancestral homeworld of House Grebenstein, it had escaped the fate of becoming the final battleground in the Black-and-White War precisely because of those traits. None of the feuding factions had wanted to risk damaging it, so the final battle had taken place in orbit and on Kalidor, the neighbouring planet and military staging ground for House Grebenstein. After their capitulation, House Ndewane had tried to lay claim to it, but the Empress had awarded it to matriarchal House Cournicova instead.

To Yaden, the planet felt in perfect balance, intricate and utterly stable, and he sensed that mood seeping into his own mind little by little.

Let's see if we can find whoever is in charge here, Yaden suggested. We need a more detailed account of what happened. He walked over to the ruins, Ivan trailing behind him.

They had only taken a few steps when a short,