Nexus Point

by Jaleta Clegg

Chapter 36

  Time passed. My arms ached. The stone floor chilled me. My teeth chattered. At least I still had my boots. I tried pulling my hands free, but the cuffs were too snug. Visions of fire haunted me. I wondered how long I'd have until Baron Molier tried to barbecue me again.

  The rats crept close, nibbling at my legs. I kicked them away.

  I jumped at shouts in the hallway. I opened my mouth to yell for help, but then thought better of it. Who would come through the door? Probably someone who would shoot me. I shut my mouth. The noise went away.

  I dozed for a while, jerking awake at the occasional men screaming, blasters firing, and swords clanging. Boots pounded past. Smoke hung in the air, growing thicker as time passed. The rats scurried into the walls.

  I was ready to give up hope when the door finally slammed open. I lifted my head, not really caring who had finally come. Dadilan had won. My life would end here, my body buried in its hostile soil.

  "Dace?" Commander Nuto stared.

  "You were expecting perhaps the Emperor?" My voice cracked.

  "Roland said Tayvis was down here. He thought something must have happened to you, since no one's seen you all day." He knelt beside me, keys jangling in his hand.

  "Molier caught us. He's got Tayvis somewhere."

  Nuto tried several keys. "The whole monastery is burning down. It's chaos out there."

  The cuff fell open and my arm dropped free. It hurt horribly.

  He moved to the other side, jabbing the key into the lock. "Roland was babbling some story about Myrln's revenge. I don't think he's entirely sane."

  I laughed. Myrln hadn't been such a dud after all, just a late bloomer.

  Nuto unlocked the other cuff. "There's fighting everywhere." He pulled me to my feet. "Are you finished yet?"

  I bit back the hysterical laughter and nodded.

  "Then we should go while we still can." He let go of me and dashed out the door, shouting to his men.

  I followed him, wobbling unsteadily.

  Men with swords, blasters, and makeshift weapons like table legs chased each other through the smoke. Bodies lay scattered in the halls.

  We ran into a battle around one corner. They quit fighting each other and turned on us. I ran the way we'd just come. I had no weapons; I wasn't about to fight. Nuto and his men stayed.

  I staggered to a stop in a side hall, wheezing on the smoky air.

  A persistent moaning echoed down the hall. I peered through the gloom. Bodies lay scattered on the floor only a few feet away. One still moved feebly. I crept over. I had to find out who it was.

  I wiped blood from the man's face. It was Jerith, my crew member who sold me out to Dysun. He twitched and tried to speak. Blood pooled under his head. He coughed, blood frothing on his lips. His breath rattled once before stopping completely. I'd been mad enough to shoot him myself when I learned about his betrayal. I wasn't angry now; I didn't want to shoot anyone. I wiped the stickiness of his blood from my hands, leaving his body in the hall.

  I wandered through the maze of hallways. I hid from Leran as he thundered past with his own men chasing him. I peeked through a blasted door and saw Clyvus' men fighting Robin's. I ducked away, looking for an escape.

  I came to a dead end, thick with heavy smoke. I coughed, covering my mouth with my hands. Shouts rang out in the hall. I crouched down. Blaster shots arced through the haze.

  Tayvis ducked into the short hall, firing behind him. Blasts of light blew apart the corner. He retreated, bumping into me. He whirled, the blaster raised. He recognized me and lowered it. "I've been taking this entire place apart looking for you. Where in blazes have you been?"

  "Nuto let me out. We got separated in a fight. I thought Molier had you."

  "Had is the right word. He's fighting for his life somewhere in the stables. At least that's the last place I saw him. This place is a madhouse."

  "Who's shooting at you?"

  "I don't have the faintest idea. Do you know the way out?"

  I shook my head.

  Tayvis checked the power pack in his blaster. It couldn't have been very high to judge from the scowl on his face. "You don't happen to have any power packs hidden in your sleeve, do you?"

  "I don't even have sleeves." This struck me as absolutely hilarious. I laughed.

  Tayvis grabbed my arm. "Don't do this. You are not going to go crazy. Not here, not now."

  "Why not?" I said, between giggles that sounded halfway like sobs.

  "Because I need your help, Dace." He cupped my cheek in his hand.

  A panel creaked open over my head. Roland's grin was unmistakable, even through the thick coating of soot and scratches. "Do you perhaps need some assistance? I see you finally found each other. About time, if you ask me."

  "Have you been smoking something, Roland?" I scrambled to my feet.

  "Only Myrln." Roland giggled.

  Tayvis rolled his eyes. "Not two of you."

  We squeezed through the panel into the web of secret passages.

  "Which way is out?" I asked, coughing on the acrid smoke.

  Roland took my hand, leading the way into darkness lit only occasionally by flickering fires. Tayvis shoved the blaster into his waistband and grabbed my other hand.

  A crazy man built the monastery. Tunnels twisted through the whole structure. I was lost after the first set of stairs. Somewhere along the way, wood and cut stone turned to rough stone and sand. The smoke rushed past, rising on fresher air. We climbed steadily.

  The faint glow of daylight ahead lit our way. I stumbled, choking on the smoke. Tayvis caught my arm. He grunted, his face lined in pain, as he hauled me out of the cave. I collapsed on the rocks at the top of the cliffs above the monastery.

  The sun cast long shadows from the west, painting everything red through the smog of the burning monastery. Roland called something over his shoulder about his work not being finished as he rushed away.

  We watched people swarming around the monastery. Flames shot from windows and roofs.

  Tayvis clutched his ribs, his breathing shallow.

  "Enough heroics, Tayvis. You need a medic."

  "I've got an emergency pack hidden on the hill over there. I think Molier broke my ribs that last time he kicked me."

  I tried to remember the medic training classes I'd taken. The Academy prides itself on giving everyone who attends a well-rounded education to prepare them for any eventuality. I don't think anything could have prepared me for Dadilan.

  "What do I do for broken ribs?"

  The sun slid under the horizon like an embarrassed drunk who smashed up the bar.

  "You don't do anything. Just help me get to that pack." He pointed across the valley, right through the thick of the fighting.

  "And then what, Tayvis? Commander Nuto's equipment is smashed beyond repair. Leran and Pardui have hatched a scheme to put them in control of shara on this planet. The Patrol can't touch them if they succeed."

  It was his turn to laugh. He pointed at the inferno below us. "Ouch. It hurts to laugh. I don't think anyone is shipping shara anytime soon. You and Roland seem to have taken care of that quite nicely."

  "So we just hide until they all kill each other?"

  "No, we find the emergency pack. I left a beacon at the top of that hill that will bring the Patrol down in minutes. They're just waiting for me to pull it."

  "Then what are we waiting for?" The thought of Patrol shuttles landing and taking me away was more than I could resist. I stood, holding my hand to Tayvis.

  He needed it to get to his feet. We limped down the overgrown path along the ledge.

  Tayvis snapped anytime I tried to talk to him or help him. He shuffled, arms clutching his ribs.

  We stopped by a stream when it got too dark to see. Tayvis drank without my help, though he winced at each movement. He leaned against a rock when he finished, his breathing tight and shallow.

  "We'll move again when the moon rises," he said through gritted teeth.

 
; "Sounds fair." I shivered. I sat on his uninjured side.

  He put his arm around me, pulling me close. "You're cold," he muttered against my hair.

  "Not as much now."

  We both fell asleep.

  Voices arguing woke me. I huddled next to Tayvis, hoping the voices would stay on the other side of the boulder. The handle of Tayvis' blaster jabbed me. I eased it free of his belt.

  "This is your fault, Dysun," Ricard Blake's cultured voice said from the bushes behind our rock. "I had the elixir. It was in my hands until you blew up the tower and started that fire."

  "You can always talk to a monk." Dysun sounded tired and angry. "Get the recipe from them."

  "You don't understand, you cretin. Only one monk knew the secret and he's dead in that heap of stones. The only book they ever recorded it in is burnt. The elixir is lost. Irrevocably lost!"

  "You know what, Ricard? I don't care. My ship is gone. That idiot, Clyvus, stole it. Half of my crew are dead, the other half have deserted. And I don't think you're ever going to pay me."

  "You haven't earned any pay, you miserable scoundrel!"

  "The deal was ten thousand to get you here, half in advance, half after we returned. You owe me for my ship and my crew."

  "That was not part of the deal. Besides, how am I supposed to pay you anything when you haven't fulfilled your half of the bargain? How am I supposed to return when you don't have a ship to fly?"

  They walked away, still arguing. I lowered the blaster.

  Tayvis tucked it in his belt. "The moon's up," he said after the sound of Blake and Dysun crashing through the bushes had receded in the distance.

  I helped him to his feet. We picked our way across the stream, skirting the edge of the forest. Tayvis moved silently, even with broken ribs in unfamiliar woods at night with clouds covering the moon and blotting out the light. After I'd tripped over a bush for the twentieth time, Tayvis dragged me next to him.

  "Try to be quiet," he breathed in my ear. "There are still a couple hundred madmen in these woods that wouldn't mind killing both of us."

  "I am very much aware of that," I whispered.

  He put his hand over my mouth.

  I shoved it away. "Don't you ever do that again or I will bite you."

  He grinned. "Glad to see you're as fierce as ever. Now try to walk where I do and don't make so much noise." He slithered off into the trees.

  I did my best to follow him.

  The woods ended before we reached the far range of hills. Tayvis stopped in the shadow of the last tree. The monastery burned like a beacon off to our right. The crackle of blaster fire lit the meadows below the monastery. Faint screams drifted on the wind. I shivered.

  Tayvis scanned the slope ahead of us. "Those three bushes there. Do you see them?"

  I squinted where he pointed. I could barely discern three vague blobs. I nodded.

  "We're going to follow the stream next to those bushes around the hill. The pack is next to three boulders just above the stream where it runs through a patch of meadow flowers." He grinned, but pain marked his face.

  "Are you telling me in case you don't make it that far?"

  "I'll make it."

  He started across the meadow towards the bushes. The flash of blaster fire arced from the trees on the far side. Tayvis fell headlong, rolling under a bush. Men broke from cover, searching the meadow. They poked at the bushes.

  I crouched in the shadow of the tree, my heart in my throat.

  "It was the Patrol spy," one insisted.

  "Find him," Leran ordered as he stepped out of the shadows. His voice could have stopped a star cold in its tracks.

  I wanted to melt into the shadows to hide when his companions joined him. Clyvus and Pardui were hard to mistake.

  "We don't need him now." Pardui hung on Clyvus' arm. "The three of us merely take over the government. The Patrol won't interfere. The loss of the monastery is only a setback. The monks are still around."

  "He's dangerous," Leran replied. "He knows too much."

  A man straightened from searching under a bush. "I shot him, I saw it hit. He's dead. Why do we have to spend half the night beating in bushes for his body?"

  I couldn't breathe. Tayvis couldn't be dead. The man lied.

  "He's right, Leran," Clyvus said. "Commander Malcolm Tayvis is dead, or will be before morning. We're wasting time, time that could be spent in much more entertaining pursuits." He lifted Pardui's hand to his lips.

  "What of the girl with him? Dace, she calls herself." Leran folded his arms, glaring at them.

  Clyvus tucked Pardui's hand through his elbow. "Isn't she dead yet? Your Baron Molier isn't much good when a simple girl like that can keep escaping from him."

  "I won't believe she's dead until I see the corpse."

  "Oh, call it off, Leran. I'm tired." Pardui pouted.

  "Enough." Clyvus signaled the men into the woods, then sent Pardui after them, after whispering in her ear. The smuggler stopped Leran in the middle of the meadow. He said something too quiet for me to hear.

  Leran jerked away angrily. "Molier is loyal to me."

  Clyvus laughed. "He's sold out to Commander Nuto and the Patrol. He wants you dead. I heard it myself. He's working with that insufferable Robin person as well."

  "Your sources are wrong."

  "I heard them talking myself. Are you calling me a liar?"

  "No, I'm calling you a cheating, conniving, back-stabbing liar!"

  A bright flash of light split the night. The smell of charred meat drifted on the breeze. Leran toppled over. Clyvus lifted the glowing end of his blaster in the air.

  "I never did trust you," he said to the unmoving body at his feet. He holstered the blaster, sauntering down the hill.

  My stomach heaved. Even though there was nothing to come up, I retched over and over. What Clyvus had just done, so nonchalantly, was more than I could take. I wiped my mouth with my hand.

  Tayvis was out there, I had to find him. I couldn't let him die.

  I crouched low as I ran across the meadow, stopping at each bush. He only hid, I kept repeating to myself. He wasn't hit, just under cover. I had to face the truth. I was in love with him. He couldn't die on me, not like this. When I finally found him, I'd chew him out good for scaring me. I wasn't making much sense, I was too afraid of what I might find.

  I saw a dark shape under a bush, like a body. I leaned close, trying to see through the dark shadows. "Tayvis?"

  He lay too still.

  I leaned over him, my face almost touching his. "You can't be dead. You're just hiding, aren't you?"

  His eyes flickered open.

  I sighed in relief, tugging at his shirt.

  He groaned. His eyes slid shut.

  "Tayvis! We have to go before they find us."

  His hand grabbed mine. "Leave off before you finish the job of killing me," he muttered.

  I let go of his shirt. "Are you all right?" I said, my nose almost touching his.

  "No, I'm not. I've got several broken ribs and a blaster hit in my side and now I've got a crazy woman shaking me around. Get off, Dace."

  "He really did hit you? Where?" I ran my hand along his side.

  He pushed me away and rolled over, groaning. The moonlight revealed an oozing burn on his side.

  "We have to find your kit, Tayvis." Anything to keep him alive. "It's just around the hill."

  I pulled him upright. He staggered. I wished he were smaller. I wrapped my arm around him, under the burn and broken ribs. He draped his arm over my shoulders. We stumbled across the meadow.

  We found his bushes and the stream by falling in them. I let his weight slide off my shoulders. He sat heavily on the stream bank. I scooped a handful of water to drink. I offered him some, but he shook his head. He held his side, his face a mask of pain. I stretched out my shoulder muscles, then hoisted him up again.

  We staggered along the twisting stream bed. Tayvis kept going on sheer force of will. His breathing came ragge
d and shallow. Blood from his burn dripped over my hand. He barely kept to his feet. We had to keep moving. Tayvis' life depended on finding his emergency pack.

  The moon set, but the sky was the color of pearls and gave enough light to keep picking our way along the stream. Tayvis barely kept his feet moving. I wavered under his weight.

  "What was I supposed to look for along the stream?" I gasped as we leaned on a wide tree trunk.

  "A big tree, lots of flowers, three boulders up the hill." He paused for breath between words.

  We leaned on a big tree. A spicy scent rose from the plants crushed under out feet. Three shapes above us on the hill might be boulders.

  "Three boulders like those?" I nudged him.

  He winced and flinched away from my elbow.

  "Up there, Tayvis. Are those the boulders?"

  He squinted up the hill then finally nodded. "The pack is buried about ten feet beyond them, under a bush."

  "Can you make it there?" I knew I couldn't drag him that far. I wasn't sure I could make it there by myself either.

  Tayvis nodded. I pulled his arm over my shoulder. We splashed across the stream.

  We made it to the boulders. I sagged to my knees and let him roll onto the ground. I bent over, gasping for breath. He lay still, barely breathing. I wondered how he had made it this far. His whole side was raw, red flesh. I had to find his pack soon.

  Then what? A nasty little voice in my mind whispered. He would die without medical help. The best I could do was patch him and get help. But where and how? That could come later, I told myself. Right now I had to find his medkit and do what I could. I gathered my strength and went to unbury his pack.