“Well now, count. The end has come at last,” he said, a hoarse voice flowing from him. “Your end, that is. Even inside this, you must be able to see out. You might even know where we are—the closest place to the sun!”
“You said you’re Kima, didn’t you,” said a voice from the coffin. “This is a strange place you’ve brought me. Warping space has been accomplished through scientific means, but there haven’t been many cases of individuals with that ability. Who the hell are youi1”
“Someone close to the grand duke," Kima replied, looking up at the heavens. “Next, I’m going to move just your coffin. Even you, the great Count Braujou, will be hard pressed to survive out in broad daylight. You would do well to prepare to meet your maker.” “You think someone like you could manage that?”
“Have you forgotten how I had no problem bringing you here from your car? Now you’ll see just what I can do.”
Kima put his right hand against the coffin. It was a grave gesture that called to mind some kind of solemn religious ceremony. A second passed, then two—the entire coffin grew indistinct, as if it were in a fog; it shook, and then the massive form within it became clearly visible. The figure began to tremble a bit. It was a bizarre quaking as if he were having a nightmare, or else concentrating to an extreme degree. And then the outline of the coffin, which had become a mist, once again regained its shape and solidity. The figure was back within it as well.
“You son of a bitch!” Kima shouted, and he also trembled from head to toe.
The coffin that had just regained its shape lost it once more. Once it vanished, the count sleeping within it would be exposed to the sunlight and rot away horribly. But it stopped disappearing. Again it returned to its old shape—then faded away.
“I win,” the sweat-covered Kima whispered.
Now reduced to a pale shadow, the figure in the coffin let out a deep groan as he covered his face. Kima’s malicious grin grew
particularly broad. A single needle had just penetrated him through the top of the head and back out at the bridge of his nose. Before even loosing a cry of agony, Kima grabbed hold of the needle. The needle disappeared, leaving only the wound. A tiny bead of blood rose from it, but then even that vanished.
“You were the only one who ever moved through space warps, weren’t you?”
Kima turned to where the voice had come from behind him. His mouth fell open, declaring his incredible shock.
“Ah!” Kima gasped, and then after a while, he groaned, “You’re . . . Milord . . . you . . . are . . .”
In the end, his voice just died.
Did this fiend know D? Apparently D was also familiar with him. And that was obviously why he’d appeared on this summit so suddenly for reasons unknown.
“Do you remember me?” D asked.
“How could I . . . ever forget? You . . . milord . . . But you . . . couldn’t possibly . . .”
“He looks like his heart’s about to jump out of his throat,” said a voice from D’s left hand, which hung easily by his side. It was impressed. And stunned.
“Kima, I have a message for your present master. Tell him I’ll see him soon.”
The crimson figure trembled. “Then ... you intend ... to let me live? It can’t be . .
“Go!"
At this command, Kima’s body grew smoky and dim. A silvery flash ran through it at an angle, and there was a sharp ching!
Releasing the hilt of the sword he’d returned to its scabbard, D went over to the enormous coffin.
“Are you okay?"
“Of course,” said the count. “There was no need for you to come out here and interfere. I could’ve skewered the likes of that assassin.”
Saying nothing, D turned to walk away.
“Wait,” the count called out in a slightly agitated manner. “Do you intend to just leave me here?”
“Can you move it yourself?” D asked as he headed down the slope. “Regrettably, this coffin isn’t equipped with a means of transport.” “Then you’ll just have to wait there until the sun goes down.” “And you don’t plan on doing anything to help me?”
“I’m in a hurry.”
D went down the mound of stone. After all signs of him and his footsteps had faded, a voice from the coffin grumbled, “That savage. But to make someone like that, a freak who can warp space and take control of my computer, take flight without offering any resistance at all is really something. He’s a true monster. A pair of monsters they are ... and they seem to know each other. What in the world is he?”
D had stopped the car at the foot of the rocky mountain. He’d also given Sue strict orders not to venture outside. But there was no sign of her anywhere.
“What the hell is all this?” the Hunter’s left hand said with disgust, and rightfully so. They suspected Kima, but anyone that afraid of D didn’t seem likely to come back there.
“Will the computer take instructions from Sue?” D asked.
“No, sir.”
“Let’s check,” D said, placing his left hand on top of the computer’s central control unit.
It was about two seconds later that the left hand announced that the girl actually hadn’t given any orders. Still against the machine, it continued, “That means someone other than Kima can give the computer commands.”
“How about the cameras?” the Hunter inquired.
There was silence for a moment.
“Oh, they’re working. Let’s have a look at them.”
Perhaps the left hand’s power was greater when it was connected to D, because the device that should’ve been accessible only by the count replayed for them in the blink of an eye a holographic image of the figure who’d opened the car door and gone off with Sue.
“But that’s...” the tiny mouth in the palm of the left hand began before dropping open in astonishment.
“Matt, where are we going?” Sue asked, but her brother just went deeper into the forest, never once letting go of her right hand. He seemed to want to get away from the count’s vehicle, D, and everyone else as quickly as he could—and that clearly was the case, Sue decided, watching her brother with wide-open eyes. She knew the reason why.
Her brother had the look of a man possessed. His features were frozen, and he walked with a mechanical stride. Sue had automatically turned her gaze to his throat and found no mark from the Nobility’s fangs there, but the girl could tell at first glance that Matthew was under a spell. That was why she hadn’t opened the door. And yet, her brother had come in. Sue became certain of her fears. Still, the girl didn’t really offer any resistance as she was pulled out of the car.
“It’s too dangerous to stay here. Run off with me.”
As Matthew whispered to her in a monotone, Sue listened sadly but came quickly to a decision. She wasn’t scared even if her brother was possessed.
“Matt,” Sue called to him again, fighting him a bit.
Her brother halted with unexpected ease.
“Where are we going?” Sue asked in a gentle tone.
“To the grand duke.”
Though she understood what Matthew said when he looked back at her, it inspired no terror. It was just as she’d thought. And, if Matthew was also as she imagined . . .
“Mr. D will be coming after us soon.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Matthew said with a nod. “That’s why I’m taking you to this special machine. I was able to come back here
thanks to a person who’s got a similar power. He built it to do the same thing a long, long time ago, and it’s buried near here. Originally it was thousands of miles away, but the machine malfunctioned and wound up transporting itself here.”
“And you’ll use it to send me to that Noble?”
“That’s the plan,” Matthew replied, slapping his hands together loudly. “The grand duke’s a great man. He has power enough to rule the whole world. When he was exiled out among the stars, he took his whole domain with him in his ship. That’s why now, he lives in a wonderful kin
gdom just like he used to. We were wrong. We shouldn’t fight the fate that great man has given us. If he says he wants our heads, we should stick out our necks. If he desires our blood—” “Quit it!” Sue cried out, her voice quavering.
Matthew pointed straight ahead, saying, “The person who changed me was named Kima. Kima said he has the power to see his own fate. That’s probably why he told me where to find the warp transporter. It’s over there, Sue.”
From a heavy stand of trees and bushes, a number of objects that appeared to be stone statues fifteen to twenty feet tall poked out at odd angles.
“He told me how to use it. Let’s go to the land of the grand duke.” Matthew turned around. She didn’t mind his bloodshot eyes, and she could even accept the way he foamed at the mouth. But his expression ... As he stared at her with a look on his face that said he’d completely given himself over to madness, she didn’t recognize him anymore.
He’s not my brother. These words pounded in Sue’s chest as she brought her right hand around to the back of her belt. Stuck through it was a rough tree branch—a stake that Sue had personally honed to a sharp point. As she threw herself toward Matthew’s chest, she braced the stake by her hip. Matthew’s shudders were transmitted through every inch of Sue’s body. Though she let go of the stake right away, her fingers were caught up in the sensation and she couldn’t free them easily.
“Matt,” Sue said, her eyes full of tears.
She’d stabbed her own brother. That was an unforgivable act, but it wasn’t on account of this that Sue shed these tears. She understood now why she hated Matthew, and it didn’t bother her. Her brother had tried to violate her—and that horrifying fact dissolved any bond of kinship they might’ve had. Just as Matthew had sought to defile her with a passion, so Sue had been all too happy to drive that wooden stake into her brother’s chest.
“Sue . . .”
She heard him say her name into her ear. Coming together, the two of them stood as if in an embrace.
“Matt... I’m sorry,” Sue said, a fiery tear coursing down her cheek.
“So you . . . had to get back at me . . . did you?”
“What?”
“I remember now, Sue . . . Before I came here ... I’d just killed you.”
“Matt?” Sue wanted to look at her brother’s face, but she couldn’t move. Matthew’s arms held her tight, as if she were a treasure.
“So that would make this... your revenge ... You’re ... not Sue.”
His sister didn’t know what to say to that.
The hands that held her tight gradually slid up her back and to her shoulders.
“And if you’re not Sue ... then there was no point... in bringing you with me.”
From her shoulders, he went for her neck. Sue gasped as her breath was choked from her. Her field of view was promptly locked in darkness.
The light returned. Her head seemed about to split, but all the blackness that filled it retreated. Oxygen suddenly flowed back into her lungs, and Sue coughed violently as she fell back on the ground.
“Let go of me,” she heard Matthew say. She sensed fighting nearby.
A figure in a white dress had caught hold of both Matthew’s wrists from behind and was trying to pin him down. Over his shoulder, a lovely face was visible. And she also noticed Sue. Her beautiful features made an alluring grin.
“Oh, you remember me, do you?”
Sue nodded.
The fiendish diva Callas. This was the same siren who’d taken D’s arrow through the throat, and now her complexion was a good deal paler as she broke into a satisfied smile.
CHAPTER 6
I
Not knowing what to do or say, Sue simply watched as the battle ended. Perhaps piqued by the obstinately struggling Matthew, Callas brought away her right hand, and then, as Matthew tried to twist around and slip free of her other hand, she delivered a vicious knee to his solar plexus. Violence of this sort was unexpected from such a lithe beauty, but she sent Matthew tumbling forward with an explosion of breath. Carrying Matthew’s body easily over one shoulder, Callas walked over to Sue with powerful strides. Bending over, she grabbed Sue by the shoulder. A numbing pain struck the girl all the way to the bone. Sue bent backward.
Seeing Sue get to her feet, Callas grinned, until she realized Sue’s second stake had pierced her abdomen. Staggering, Callas stared at the girl. Her eyes burned with a shadowy fire.
Frightened in her heart of hearts, Sue turned and ran right back the way she’d come.
She got the feeling she could hear pursuing footsteps behind her. No matter how fast or how far she ran, the sound stayed with her. Time and again she nearly fell from fatigue and shortness of
breath, and finally she did tumble forward. But her body stopped halfway to the ground. A powerful arm and broad chest had caught her.
Looking up at her savior’s face with eyes near death, Sue groaned, “D!”
And with that she fainted.
A chill spread through the girl from her forehead, and she quickly awakened.
Taking his left hand from her brow, D inquired, “What happened?”
“My brother was possessed by this person named Kima, and he led me away. I stabbed him. And then Callas came . . .”
She didn’t mention that her brother had nearly strangled her to death.
Just as she finished talking, D stuck his left hand out in front of himself. There was a flash of light. Sheathing his sword again, D used his right hand to take hold of his left, which came off cleanly at the wrist.
“You’re a slave driver,” the Hunter’s left hand cursed as it was set down at Sue’s feet.
“It’ll take you back,” was all D told the girl before running off in the direction from which she’d come.
Soon after the girl and the hand returned to the car, D came back as well. He was alone.
“What about my brother?” Sue asked.
No matter what happened, the gorgeous young man’s demeanor remained as icy as ever. It was impossible for anyone else to guess what he would do or what he might accomplish.
“He wasn’t there.”
“What?”
“There was no sign of him. But there were traces of a spatial warp.” “Oh! That would have to be—” Sue began, going on to explain the situation in detail.
“So, they were transported, machine and all? Where’d they go?” the left hand murmured.
“There’s only one place they could be,” D replied.
“Yeah, Valcua’s land. What’ll we do?”
“I entered a contract to protect these children. We’re going into Valcua’s domain.”
“How about the girl?”
“She’ll accompany us.”
“Wouldn’t she be better off at the fortress?”
“I injured Kima, but he’s not dead. You think the fortress could stop him?”
“You’d just have to beef up the defensive systems.”
“That’d take too long. Keep in mind that every second might count in rescuing Matthew from his fate.”
“So, you plan to just head out there? Strike out into Valcua’s domain?” The left hand must’ve posed that question without thinking. It quickly fell silent.
D turned to Sue. Although he hadn’t asked her anything, she grew flustered. He stared at her with those bottomless dark eyes. Getting the feeling he peered into the very depths of her mind, Sue became frightened.
“You have some bruising on your throat. In the shape of a man’s fingers,” D said. “Will you go with us?”
A terrifying spectacle came back to her. The expression her brother had worn as he squeezed her neck. Closing her eyes, Sue said, “I never wanna see that again. That face!”
She put her hands over her eyes. And she remained like that for a few seconds. Then she took her hands away, looked up, and said, “But I stabbed my brother. I suppose that makes us even. Bring me along with you.”
“Your brother is a real mess—but it’s decided, then,
” the left hand remarked, sounding weary.
“She’s shown great courage,” Count Braujou said, having held his peace until now. There was a ring of admiration to his words.
For the next five days, the group traveled nonstop. There was no sign of Seurat, Callas, or even the newest assassin, Kima, but of course nothing further was seen of Matthew, either.
“We are entering the northern Frontier sectors,” the lovely female voice informed them on the evening of the sixth day.
As he gazed at the panoramic hologram projected in the room, the count was the first to say, “This is quite a sight.”
After that, he fell silent.
No trace remained of the northern Frontier the world had known. What lay there was a flat black plain utterly devoid of grass and trees. In the twilight, the surface of the plain had a metallic gleam, and it also had an unearthly air that seemed to chill the very winds that blew across it. While looking out toward the horizon where not a glimpse, not a trace of any living creature could be seen, a person might feel a tremendous despair and sensation of loss and would probably collapse on the spot.
Lightning flashed in the distance.
“Before the northern Frontier came to be as we know it, it used to be Valcua’s kingdom, didn’t it?” the left hand said.
“That’s right,” Braujou replied. He was seated in an enormous chair. Sitting beside him on a chair intended for guests was Sue. D remained standing.
“He completely remodeled the northern Frontier,” the count continued. “After he was exiled, this territory was a wasteland for as far as the eye could see. Rumor had it he’d picked up his kingdom and put it in his pocket. And it looks like that was indeed the case.”
“Do you know what the lay of the land was five thousand years ago?” D inquired.
The count thumped his chest. A sound like a gong being struck echoed through the room, causing Sue to stiffen. “Leave it to me. My mind hasn’t gone on me. I’ve also fed the maps into my computer.”
Tyrant's Stars: Parts Three and Four Page 10