Crimson Rain

by Jaye Roycraft

  Rayn’s response was a string of obscenities, souvenirs of his journeys to many different worlds.

  “Rayn, listen. I know you’re frustrated, but heed my words. Finding Dina is not going to be easy, and I daresay we’ll be stymied and opposed more often than not. I know you’re a man of deep feelings. They do you credit, but from this point on, they’ll only destroy you unless you can suppress them. Entirely.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. Dina’s not your bond-mate.”

  “No, she isn’t, and maybe it’s a good thing, because if both of us were as emotional as you are, our mission would fail for sure.”

  Rayn’s locked his gaze with that of his cousin, and for a moment neither man spoke.

  Rayn, I’m speaking to you not as Cyonne’s bond-mate, or even as a friend, but as your soul-counselor. Can you accept that?

  Rayn took a deep breath. Yes.

  Good. There’s only one desire you need keep—the desire to see your Dina again. That is your only goal. There can be nothing else. Put aside your pride, your beliefs, your memories of the past, your expectations for the future, and every other thing in your life that governs your thoughts, your actions, your waking, and your dreaming. Because there is only one thing that can rule you, and that must be your determination to reach your one goal. Do you understand me?

  Yes.

  Can you do it?

  I will do it.

  Sage put a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Good. While I transport up to the dock, I want you to go back to Port Authority and find out what happened to the Palladia and its captain. Where they are now and any other information you can get regarding the incident. And don’t forget to lose that D’anthara arrogance. Beg for the information if you have to. Remember your goal. I’ll meet you back at the port after I shuttle back down. All right?”

  He nodded and thought of his brother, Ryol. He’d have to be like Ryol now—cold, controlled, and focused. The irony wasn’t lost on Rayn.

  THE TWO MEN met again at dusk in the small visitor’s room at the port, Cyonne having gone home earlier.

  “Well, cousin, what news?” began Sage.

  Rayn had wrung every detail about the raid from the port officials. He’d done his best to emulate his brother’s demeanor, and it had worked. Apparently being a cold bastard had its uses. “The Palladia was diverted back to Glacia. The raiders took only a portion of the total cargo, but they took the valuable part—Dina and a shipment of exodite. Captain Bhrenth apparently felt that making a fresh run was preferable to continuing on to B’harata with a near-worthless payload.”

  “What about Dina?”

  Rayn sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “She was taken aboard the Tisiphone without incident. Which, knowing her, I find hard to believe.”

  “Most likely she had no choice but to comply. What of the raiders themselves? Anything?”

  “There were two of them. The leader, this so-called Captain Kylariz, is described as tall and imposing, with blond hair and a scarred face. The second man is younger, with darker hair and blue eyes. Most likely both are Glacian. From the description of Kylariz, it would be reasonable to assume he’s a seasoned raider, not a youngster scoring his first take-down. I think it’s a good bet we’ll be able to get more on him without too much trouble.”

  Sage nodded. “Good. I didn’t get too much from my two friends, but at this point, any information helps. Although the Recon isn’t allowed into Synergic space, they have run-ins all the time in the Grid with pirates who have been all over the galaxy. One of the pilots I talked to remembers hearing a reference to a raider called ‘Phoenix’ who was notorious along the Synergic frontier. He couldn’t recall any other details, but at least it reinforces our belief that Kylariz has been in the business a while and should be well-known in the raider community.”

  “What’s next?”

  “We go home. I could use some of the spiced stew and steamed fruit bread Cyonne promised to make.”

  Several minutes later, Rayn sat in Sage’s air car and watched the pattern of light and dark shift as the vehicle left the central dome and sped through the curving connecting tunnel. The strands of light from the tunnel lamps led them onward, and Rayn let the mesmerizing brightness, like an artery of bright blood steadily pulsing before him, dull his mind.

  Sage was right. If he thought about what had happened in any way but cold detachment, he’d go crazy. But there was one thing he knew for sure. Whether or not he ever found Dina, whether she was dead or alive, whether or not it was by the hand of this Captain Kylariz, the bastard would pay with his life.

  Rayn had fought and killed the dens Gyn T’halamar on Exodus, not because he held anything against the man, not because of a personal vendetta, but because it was necessary for Dina’s sake. The betrayal of a countryman had always been hard for Rayn to swallow. But this was no countryman. This was a creature who would abduct a woman for profit. No, Rayn would have absolutely no qualms about ridding the galaxy of this animal.

  Kylariz was a dead man.

  Chapter Seven

  Alecto

  KYL AND DINA traveled in silence, speaking only when necessary, but the quiet, far from companionable, was like a palatable heaviness in the air, the presage to a storm. Once in a while their eyes met, and on those occasions the tension seemed to crackle in the air like static electricity. Kyl ordered camp to be made long before the sun had rolled very far on the horizon. It took neither a genius nor a mind probe to tell he was in pain. Dina had no trouble spotting either the fresh blood on his shirt or the frequency with which he moved his hands to his ribs. Surprisingly, he didn’t object when she offered to clean the wound and change the bandage.

  She was as gentle as she could be, but even so, caught more than one wince on the handsome face as Kyl stared at the heavens. The fresh bandage in place, she sat back on her haunches and idly admired the muscular torso, but this time she noticed with new wonder the numerous scars. There was a jagged scar on his right forearm, a long scar on his left side, and a small puckered mark on his left shoulder. She traced the scar on his side with her fingertips, and he turned his head to look at her. The angled light illuminated his face, giving the pale skin the illusion of a healthy glow and warming the gray eyes to gold.

  Their illusory honey color made her think of Rayn, and she stared deep into Kyl’s eyes, transfixed, the golden mirage drawing her closer until she felt immersed. But there the familiarity ended. These weren’t Rayn’s eyes, so full of emotion, but ghost eyes that mystified her. His gaze shifted, and Dina took a deep breath, suddenly aware of the rise and fall of his chest and that of her own. She concentrated on controlling her breathing and stupidly realized her pulse was racing. She quickly got up and moved away from him, embarrassed.

  “I know you don’t pay any attention to my suggestions, but you really should keep abed for a day or two to let that wound heal properly,” she said.

  “Dina . . .”

  She closed her eyes and shuddered with a violence that had nothing to do with the chill of the dying summer. Someone else had spoken her name that way, light years away, someone she would probably never see again. She turned her face away from the man who had just now had made her name sound like the song of a soft wind played on the branches of the trees. When she opened her eyes, the tears escaped and ran silently down her cheeks.

  She wouldn’t let Kyl see her weakness. She left him and ran down a slope of grass and shrubs, to where a pool of water nested, silent as her tears. She sat next to the pool, hugged her knees with her arms, and looked up at the heavens, at the countless stars hidden by the bleached sky.

  Rayn, where are you? She projected as far and forcefully as she could. She knew it was hopeless, but she did it anyway. Rayn, please hear me, wherever you are. Find me, please. I need you . . . She felt no answer in the air, not that she had expe
cted to. It was as if the universe had swallowed her plea, sending it to a dark place where no energy would ever receive it.

  When she returned to the camp, she lay down as far from him as possible, and without a word exchanged, waited for the savior of sleep to release her, if only for a few hours, from her pain.

  Dina slept poorly, yet when she finally woke, she was surprised to see from the sun’s position that it was well into the new day. She looked at Kyl, at first alarmed, but the gentle rise and fall of his chest reassured her, and she decided to let him sleep. She went down to the pool to wash, and when she returned, he was on his feet.

  “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “I’ll live,” came the terse reply as he passed her on his way to the pool.

  She sighed. Why do I bother? She started gathering her things together, resigned to another day of tedium and reticence.

  When he returned, he glanced at her pack.

  “You can relax. We’ll spend one more day here. I won’t be much good in another fight until I heal.”

  She nodded, hiding a small smile. It had been her suggestion the night before, but if it made him feel better to make it sound like his idea, so be it. True to his word, he rested that day, and while he did, she sat close by him and the rupter rifle and kept an eye out for danger.

  He awoke after a few hours, and after refreshing himself with a makeshift bath and a light meal, he asked her for a story. His request caught her off guard, and she had to think for a moment. Encouraged by his interest, she wanted to talk to him, but she couldn’t bear to tell him about her stay on Exodus and Rayn, and she dared not mention anything about her ability. That left a relatively lonely and uneventful upbringing, tedious months in the academy, and a few years working for the IIB, mostly on Glacia. Since he already knew she’d been an IIB agent, she saw no harm in elaborating on her profession.

  Ex-profession, she amended, then winced with the sadness of the thought. It had been more than a career—it had been a mind-set, a way of life. She still couldn’t believe it was over. What had she done to her life? She had never before regretted the choices she’d made, but she couldn’t seem to shake the strange mood that colored her thoughts now, and her feelings spilled over into her words to Kyl.

  “Oh, I had colleagues in the Spacer Unit who hunted raiders like you, but my assignments weren’t so exciting. They were limited to on-planet investigations, usually when local officials were stymied by a case. I worked fraud cases, felony theft, sometimes homicide. Those were the most interesting, but even so, nothing that wouldn’t bore somebody like you.”

  “Somebody like me? You mean a raider? You weren’t in the ISD, but if our paths had crossed, you would have taken me in without a second thought.” It was more a statement than a question.

  She nodded, admitting the truth. “I did what I had to do, much as I expect you do. I never felt sorry for anyone I apprehended. They all opted for the life they led. Their own actions determined their fate, not me. My favorite line was always that of the criminal who accused me of ruining his life.”

  “You must think me a criminal of the worse kind. A raider who’d take a living soul as cargo.”

  She sat quietly, unable to shake her head in denial, but just as incapable of nodding her agreement. Once upon a time, not so very long ago, she would have agreed without question. What had happened to change her mind?

  Rayn. Rayn had happened, and he had quite effectively shattered the mirror of her world. Once everything had been clear to her, and she had trusted every reflection to be a true image, but Rayn had forced her to see with new eyes—eyes that found that not everything was as it seemed. How could she ever explain her feeling to Kyl? She decided not to respond to his comment.

  “I’m not very good at reciting stories. Tell me one of yours, please.”

  “Tomorrow we travel. It’s best we both get plenty of sleep.” The voice that had held her so close only moments before now seemed far away.

  Dina nodded and, gathering up her blankets, moved a few bars away to make her bed for the night. She drifted off, but was startled into wakefulness by the sounds of Kyl thrashing about, held tightly in the clutch of a nightmare only he understood. He mumbled entreaties, begging for that which only he knew. Dina scrabbled out of her blankets and tried to grab his arms, but he flung her aside easily. She tried again, calling his name.

  “Kyl, listen to me! Wake up, Kyl! It’s just a dream. Wake up!” She tried throwing the commands to his mind, but her words didn’t have the power to bridge the gap between the physical world and the far off nether world which gripped his mind like a trap its prey.

  She tried to lock onto his mind, but she needed the physical contact first, and he wouldn’t stop pushing her away. Finally, in desperation, she sat astride him, hanging on for dear life, and mentally commanded him to wake up. He did, at last. The thrashing subsided, and his eyes opened, but they were glazed and unfocused. His lips parted, and he panted like a wild animal, seemingly unaware of her presence on top of him.

  She touched his face, brushing the damp strands of hair from his eyes. “It was just a dream. It’s over now. You’re safe. Kyl . . . talk to me, please.”

  “Get off me,” he rasped, his voice so low and harsh that Dina barely heard it.

  “No. Not until you talk to me.” She wanted to reach this man, but had no idea how to. She had tried everything she could think of.

  “Get . . . off. You don’t know what you’re doing.” The words escaped slowly between teeth clenched in a snarl. He grabbed her arms and stripped her off, but she scuttled back to him and held on tighter than before.

  “Kyl, please . . .”

  With a hoarse moan, he snagged a fistful of her hair and pulled her face down to his, but his mouth hesitated, finally burrowing instead in the heat of her neck.

  This wasn’t what she’d wanted. She’d wanted him to release his nightmare. She’d wanted him to awaken to reality. But apparently he’d taken her “please” as an invitation for physical intimacy.

  His lips drew on her warm skin, moving from below her ear to the hollow of her throat, searching, until her life’s blood pulsed against his mouth. She pushed against him with her hands. “No—” she rasped, but further words were cut off as his lips found hers. His kiss wasn’t cruel, but full of a passion his previous cold demeanor had belied.

  Her arms had no strength against him, and the sensations of the kiss quickly sucked her thoughts away. She felt like she was drowning, and when his mouth finally liberated hers, she gasped for air.

  “Kyl, no.” She mouthed the words, but had no breath to make them audible. He rolled her over and tugged at the various layers of clothing, showing skill and practice in removing the outermost garments, but losing patience and control with her shirt and undergarment, finally tearing the material in frustration. The ripping sound seem to give him pause, and he hesitated, his head bowed before her, his mouth a breath away from the well between her breasts.

  “Dina . . .”

  The sound of her name gave her pause as well. What had happened? This voice wasn’t Rayn’s. This wasn’t the man who loved her. This was a raider who had abducted her and kept her in restraints. A hard man she understood no better than a stranger. He didn’t love her, and she couldn’t love him.

  She squirmed out from under him, clutching at her discarded garments as he raised his head. Glistening eyes peered at her through damp strands of hair that hung over his forehead.

  “Isn’t that what you wanted?” he whispered hoarsely.

  “No. Is it what you wanted?” Her voice felt small, but she knew it was loud enough for him to hear.

  He turned and rested on his back, his chest heaving, and ran his hands through his hair, pushing the sweaty strands off his face. He gave her no answer. Finally he got up and went outside. She didn’t see him again for
hours.

  He’s alone with his demons, she thought, as I am with mine. But why did it have to be that way? She didn’t cry again, but lay for a long while as if stunned. She used her old trick of clearing her mind of emotion, but found no relaxation and no peace until the sleep of exhaustion finally claimed her.

  The following day he acted as he had every other morning—cold, distant, and limiting his conversation only to what was necessary for the journey. He made no mention of what had happened between them. The day dragged, and Dina had nothing to occupy her but her thoughts. I’d give anything to know what he’s thinking, she thought. Did he hate her more than ever? Or was what had happened of no consequence to him at all? No, she thought. She didn’t believe that. He wasn’t an unfeeling wild animal. She would stake her life on it. She sent out a narrow mind probe and touched the surface of his mind. There, like debris floating on the surface of a lake, she felt his unwanted feelings, shame, regret, and a feeling of loss, but when she tried to move the probe beneath the surface, a dart of pain shot at her from the depths of his mind.

  How could he do that? She knew he wasn’t a dens, like Rayn, but perhaps he was of a race similar to the dens, with mental powers she knew nothing about. He had a Glacian name, but that meant nothing. Rayn had used a false name for years. Perhaps Kyl was from a world totally unknown to her. It would explain the strange accent. In any case, one thing was clear. He didn’t want her close to him.

  Her mind turned to Rayn, and the guilt, held in abeyance during the day, now threatened to engulf her. How had it happened so easily? How had she ended up nearly naked with a man she barely knew? She’d resisted, but had she tried hard enough? When Kyl had kissed her, she hadn’t pulled away. Hadn’t been able to pull away. She’d only been trying to connect with him any way she could. Had even that been wrong? In light of the aftermath, it all felt like a betrayal. She sighed. She would have to accept what she had done, without excuses or regrets, or it would eat at her without end.