Close Contact (23 page)

We fell silent as we ate, and I eyed the stasis boxes lining the shelves. I knew the Sumantti wasn’t there, but I really needed to check just to be sure. It would the height of irony if we were locked up with the stone the entire time and didn’t know.

I popped the last bite into my mouth, dusted the crumbs off my hands and stood. When I moved to the boxes, Peri went with me, strutting along the shelves, chortling at each box I touched.

Of course, the stone wasn’t there. I’d just checked the last one when Peri let out a warning squawk and faced the door.

We all spun, weapons at the ready as a muffled yell sounded, followed by the thud of a body hitting the floor. Everything went silent, and then the mechanism on the door began to turn.

With a final click, the door swung open. Durtran stood in the opening, out of breath and covered in dirt. With a short bow, he grinned at Reynard. “Commander, you do pick the damnedest places to hide. Don’t you think it’s time you returned to duty?”

“D
urtran!” Reynard strode forward and embraced the man, carefully avoiding the bloody sword in his hand. “I never thought I’d be so happy to see your ugly face.” He stepped back, gesturing at the sword. “You had trouble getting here?”

“There were two guards at the entrance of the passage. They objected to my presence.” He paused. “You know about Politaus?”

Solemnly, the commander nodded. “Echo told me. How did it happen? I assigned four men to stay with him at all times. They should have stopped any attempt on his life.”

“Their bodies were found outside his room, necks broken as though they were taken by surprise. The king must have heard or sensed something, because he rose from his bed and started toward the door. His body was found just inside the entrance, dressed in his sleeping robe, Echo’s knife embedded in his chest.”

Reynard hung his head for a moment, fist clenched, then looked up. “Where is Braxus?”

“I’m not sure. He was in the throne room but has since vanished. We think he’s in his quarters, but he isn’t answering our requests for entry. He could be almost anywhere.”

My body tensed at his words. “Gentlemen, I hate to interrupt, but if Braxus has sequestered himself, we’re running out of time.” I turned to Durtran. “How did you get down here so fast? I wasn’t expecting you to make it for another forty-five minutes at least.”

“Hallis. I had to leave him in charge, which required an explanation of why I was abandoning my post. Luckily, he’s familiar with all the passages. His mother is one of the cooks, and he was raised with the other boys here in the castle. They looked at exploring the dark hallways as an adventure. He told me where the entrance to these lower levels is located.”

“Good. That means Strand won’t have any idea we’re free. Let’s get going.” Peri jumped to my shoulder as we collected the lamps, clutching the fabric of my shirt and vibrating with anticipation as we walked out of our prison.

We went to the end of the hall and stepped over the bodies of the two guards Durtran had dispatched. From their clothing, neither were native Madreans, I noted. For a moment, I was disappointed they didn’t have blasters, but for Durtran’s sake, it was a good thing they didn’t.

“Which way?” I asked him now.

He pointed the way we’d been heading when we stopped to check out the hall. “There. We need to stay in this main passage.”

“Lead the way.”

“Do we need to continue searching for the girls?” Reynard asked as we jogged down the hall, our boots echoing on the stone floor. Durtran was in front of us, Bim behind.

“No. If Braxus is preparing to use the crystal, they’ve been removed from the room where they were held. We’d only be wasting time. Better to concentrate on finding him and Strand.”

“Wouldn’t it save time if you used your ability to locate them?”

“It might, if I were familiar with every room in the castle. Or even on Madrea, for that matter, since they may have gone to another building. So, I could check on them in my dream state, but unless they are in a place I’ve visited, I still won’t know how to find them.”

“I see what you mean.” He frowned. “We’ll have to look in all the obvious places. Braxus isn’t capable of traveling very far, so I doubt they’ve left the castle.”

“You know Braxus. Where’s the most likely place for him to be?”

“Normally, he confines himself to his living quarters or the book depository, which is just next to his rooms. Only rarely does he appear in public places.”

“Then we should start there.”

In front, Durtran slowed. “The stairs are just ahead. They’re dirty, narrow and steep. We’ll have to go single file, so watch your step. They let out on the level directly under the castle. From there, it’s not far to another set of stairs that come out in a storage room near the kitchens.”

Silently we went up the stairs, holding our lamps high to illuminate the treacherous steps. Durtran was right, the dirt was thick and choking here, puffing into the air with each movement we made. I drew in a relieved breath of clean oxygen as soon as we stepped out into a small room.

There was only one entrance and we followed Durtran through it, turning left when we were clear. He headed straight to another room and waited until we were all with him. “Almost there. I should warn you, if we meet any of the troops there may be trouble. Braxus has declared you both fugitives, although I now know he isn’t expecting you to be captured.”

“No, he isn’t. They wanted us to die in that room. He just needed someone to blame so suspicion wouldn’t fall on him. I imagine after some time passed and no one found us, he’d say we escaped on my ship.”

I thought for a second. “Reynard, Bim, put your weapons away,” I told them, sheathing my own knife. “If we run into anyone, Durtran can say he’s captured us and is taking us to Braxus.”

“No offense to Durtran,” Reynard said. “But none of my soldiers will believe he overpowered the three of us.”

I shrugged. “So we turned ourselves in after we got lost in the underground passages. I’d rather give it a shot than have to kill men who are only doing what they’ve been ordered to do.”

The commander gave a curt nod and slid his sword back into its scabbard as Bim did the same with his axe. “As would I. Let’s see if it works.” He gestured and Durtran turned into the room.

Again, we followed Durtran and stepped out of a small storage room just outside the kitchen. Two weepy-eyed women gaped at the commander, then dipped in a curtsey before walking into the kitchen.

I watched them go, concerned they might sound an alarm, but both simply went to work cooking and ignored us.

“Lillith?” I subvocalized hesitantly, wondering if I would be able to contact the ship now.

“Echo! I heard what you told Marcus and was on the verge of coming to free you myself.”

A wave of relief swept over me at her voice. “I handled it. But I need to know Marcus is safe.”

“He is. Lowden’s men freed them. They’re locked inside the Terpsichore holding off the rest of the troops. And two Federation destroyers have arrived. They’re in orbit around Madrea. If Strand tries to take off, they’ll have him.”

“Excellent. Now I have work to do. Which way to Braxus’s quarters?” I asked Reynard.

“This way.” Reynard took off at a fast, quiet run. “It’s on the other side of the castle.”

We were halfway down the carpeted expanse when I felt the first trickle of power. It slammed into me with the force of a meteor and sent me staggering to my knees. Above my head, Peri circled frantically, screaming in anger as her eyes went blood red.

“Echo!” Reynard dropped down beside me, fear lining his face, but I couldn’t move, couldn’t react to his concern yet.

Holy Zin! They were releasing the Sumantti. But the action was hesitant, like someone had opened the stasis box a crack and then slammed it closed again.

For freedom to be so close, only to have it wrenched away, was more than the crystal could stand. I sensed her rage growing, felt her struggling to free herself. And she was too fragging close to figuring out the stasis field. If they didn’t release her, she would explode out on her own. Either way would be disastrous.

Peri darted back and forth in agitation as I clutched the commander’s arm. “They’re releasing the crystal. We have to hurry.”

He stood and pulled me to my feet, supporting me until I found my balance, while Durtran shifted restlessly in front of us, his gaze constantly scanning the hall for danger. Bim had loosened his axe and moved up to stand on my other side, but even he looked worried.

“How much farther?” I gasped.

“If we run, not long,” Reynard told me. “The end of the hall, turn right, and it’s four doors down.”

Peri took off, zooming down the hall so fast you could barely see her wings moving, then hovered and chattered encouragement as we chased after her.

We were almost at the end of the corridor when three soldiers stepped out of a room directly into our path. Reynard’s sword was in his hand in a blur of movement, but Durtran didn’t give him a chance to use it.

“To me!” he yelled.

Immediately the men came to attention, drew their weapons and fell in with our group, no questions asked. As one, we thundered around the corner.

I’d barely taken two steps when the full blast of an enraged Sumantti hit me. Grinding my teeth together, I forced myself onward even as I instinctively pulled out the Imadei and closed my fist around it.

No!
I sent.
Don’t do this. I’m almost there. I can help you
.

She shoved me away so hard it nearly took my head off, and I closed my eyes in reaction to the pain. Instead of slowing, Bim took my left arm on one side and Reynard took the right. Together, they hustled me toward a door that I could feel bending outward from the power filling the room. Somewhere nearby, I could hear Peri’s frantic calls and they made enough of an impression that I opened my eyes again to look for her.

She hovered just this side of the door, beating the men in front of me with her wings as she tried to drive them back.

“Stop!” I screamed, catching the same thing she’d picked up on. The group ground to a halt a split second before the wooden door exploded into a million splinters.

Power poured from the opening, sweeping Strand’s men into the hall ahead of it. Around us, the stone walls of the castle trembled and shook, cracks forming that looked like twisted trees.

The shouts of the men were muffled by the roar of displaced air as they engaged Strand’s contingent in battle just beyond the tornadic surges of power that pounded the far wall. Peri joined them, diving to attack, and then soaring back to the ceiling, wings spread, riding the gusts of energy like they were there for her benefit.

I saw Reynard engage two men at once, his sword flashing with effortless grace. At his back, Bim wielded his axe
with more power than technique. Part of me wanted to assist in the battle, but there was no time. I had to get inside that room.

Doing my best to ignore the fight, I put one foot in front of the other, leaning into the gale emitted by the Sumantti. It took all my strength to move through the surging power, and I knew I’d never make it to the enraged crystal in time to stop it from destroying the solar system.

Use the Imadei!

The voice that sounded in my mind had a doubled quality, as though two people were speaking with one voice, but it was a voice I recognized.

Kiera?

Use the Imadei!
Her voice came again, transmitted by the Mother Stone.
Hurry! We’ll feed you all the power we can.

I don’t know how!

There was a sudden twisting sensation inside my head as if a final link had clicked into place.

Now!
Kiera’s voice was so loud and frantic I could barely grasp the words.
Before it’s too late!

Pushing aside my terror, I reached for the small crystal with my mind in a way I’d never done before, and I felt a brief lull in the maelstrom. More determined now, I delved deeper into the stone, mentally pulled it around me like a cloak.

Abruptly, I could move again, even though I could see that both the storm and the battle still raged around me. It was as if I were enclosed in a thin black crystalline bubble of stillness that protected me from the Daughter Stone’s power. And all throughout the crystal I could sense the DNA of psynaviats, the alien creatures that inhabited it.

Good.
Kiera’s voice was marginally calmer.
Go to the Daughter Stone and put your hands on her.

Easily now, I moved forward, went through the door into Braxus’s quarters, then stopped to get my bearings.

Gaia stood in the center of the room, her hands clamped bloodlessly to the Sumantti, her face a rictus of pain. She seemed to glow with an unnatural black light as her long red-gold hair whipped around her.

But I could see that her pain-glazed eyes were locked on Losif Strand. He stood across the room, one hand buried in Banca’s hair to pull her head back, a knife to her exposed throat.

When he saw me, he grinned and tightened his grip, but if he spoke, I didn’t hear him. I was suddenly too focused on Banca to pay attention to the man holding her.

For the first time, the child’s face was showing emotion. But it wasn’t the fear you’d expect. No, her face was suffused with intense pleasure. Like a child in a candy store, there was no mistaking her glee.

Paying no attention to the knife at her throat, she laughed and clapped her hands before reaching out for the Sumantti.

And slowly, the Sumantti’s cataclysmic power reversed direction, seemingly against its will, the beams fluctuating wildly as its focus narrowed and aimed right at the child Strand held. And instead of disintegrating, she drank it in at an astonishing rate and reached for more.

Holy Zin. The child was some kind of psychic vampire.

I felt more than heard Gaia scream. It yanked me out of my shock, and I gathered the force of the Imadei, prepared to launch a defense against the Sumantti that would save not only the girl, but Madrea.

But before I could act, Braxus hobbled toward the crystal, his bent body mostly hidden by his loose robe. With one twisted hand he reached toward Gaia. “Heal me!” he screeched. “It is my right to rule!”

“Naw!” It was Banca who shrieked in denial, as if she had no intention of sharing the Sumantti’s power. She made a slapping motion with one hand. Even though she hit noth
ing but air, Braxus was lifted and shaken like an empty sack before he was flung against a wall. He slid lifelessly to the floor and lay still.

But her motion had yanked the knife Strand held away from her throat and pushed him to the side. He stumbled and went down while the thin line of blood left on Banca’s throat closed up and vanished as if she’d never been cut.

With a look of distaste aimed at the girl he’d held hostage, Strand scrabbled backward away from her, his knuckles white on the knife hilt he still grasped defensively.

Okay, enough was enough. I couldn’t wait any longer.

As soon as I moved toward Gaia, Banca’s attention refocused on me. She stood frozen in place, her face twisted with rage as she batted at me from across the room. But unlike Braxus, I was prepared for her move and I had the Imadei to protect me.