“Alec?” she asked hesitantly.
He smiled and sketched a shallow bow. “Cassi.” She swallowed and quickly looked away. Even without the drug making her stupid, that still sounded nice. There is something wrong with me, she thought desperately. Fear, stupid. You are going mad with fear. She latched onto that thought as strongly as a drowning person grabbing a life-preserver. No one had to know that she was drawing at straws and cobbling an explanation together. And it wasn’t entirely a lie. She and her friends were bound to their chairs in a tiny, stone-walled room that was devoid of anything else. If that wasn’t grounds for being terrified out of one’s mind, she didn’t know what was.
And I find one of our captors attractive … Cassiana groaned mentally. “Why have you done this to us?” Samkara, ever the brave one, demanded.
Alec shrugged. “It was the only way to get you here.”
“WHY?”
“You are the guests of honor,” he replied simply. The uneasiness from earlier added itself to the mix tumbling about Cassiana’s tummy. She knew that whatever they were the guests of honor to, it was neither good nor healthy.
“What the hell does that mean?” Tressarah grumbled.
“Explaining will ruin the surprise,” Alec said simply. It didn’t make Cassiana feel any better.
“We’ll act surprised,” Tressarah assured him.
Alec laughed and shook his head ruefully. “You wouldn’t be able to. I will not ruin this for you. After all, you will only experience it once …” He turned away to speak to someone beyond their sight. After a moment, he nodded and turned back to them. “Excuse me, ladies, but I must go and assist with the preparations.” And he turned to leave ‑ with the candle.
“Leave the candle,” Cassiana cried. He turned back to her, an eyebrow raised. “Please. Leave the candle,” she repeated. Don’t plunge us into the dark again. Her eyes were wide, she knew. She didn’t care. She begged him for the minor mercy a little light would bring. Pled for it.
“It won’t hurt anything, I suppose.” She almost blessed him as he bent and set the candle on the floor.
“Thank you,” she whispered, as he left. The heavy wood door clanged shut with finality. “We can’t stay here,” Cassiana said after a few tense moments in which she had heard receding footsteps.
“That’s a given,” Sandkara agreed. “Just how do you suggest we escape, though? My ropes tighten every time I struggle.”
“Mine too,” Breeanna muttered.
“Struggling won’t do us any good,” Tressarah said. “The knots are meant to tighten. What we need is either someone to untie us or something sharp to cut us free. Both need someone who isn’t bound.”
Samkara snorted. “I don’t think that man and his fellows will do either till they are ready for us,” she said, as though afraid voicing Alec’s name would bring him back.
They subsided into a tense, helpless silence. Cassiana knew they had justification to lose hope. This was the worse waking nightmare she could have ever imagined. But with the little candle there she couldn’t lose hope. She could feel the lump of her multi-tool she always had with her in her pocket. They hadn’t been searched, but she still couldn’t get to it. Unless …
All right, Cassi, you know you can shrink and grow candle flames — can you move them? she wondered. Focusing on the little flame pushed everything of her situation away. The tiny cell, the course ropes, her equally bound friends — it all faded. Only the miniscule tongue of flame existed. She fed it so it would be stronger. Then she pulled on it — and it almost went out.
She ceased pulling on it and went back to feeding it. Maybe if I pull it and feed it at the same time? Trying that idea caused the flame to lengthen and lean toward her. It stretched longer and longer …
“What the hell!?” Tressarah swore.
… and she lost it. The flame snapped back to its wick and guttered for a second. Like it was laughing at her. Cassiana shot a look at Tressarah. “I was trying something.”
“That was you?!” Tressarah exclaimed with bug eyes.”
Cassiana flushed with embarrassment with all three of her friends staring at her. She felt horribly exposed.
“I don’t know how you did that, but do you think it will work?” Samkara asked.
“I was hoping to burn the ropes, but I need quiet to do it,” Cassiana explained. Tressarah flushed and nodded quickly.
Bree tilted her head in thought. “You were, somehow, giving it more energy, right?” she asked. Cassiana nodded. “Instead of pulling the flame, why don’t you just focus on the ropes and feed a tiny spot of energy until it combusts?” she suggested.
“I’ve never tried something like that,” Cassiana admitted, “but it’s worth a shot.” She focused on the rope pinning her right arm to the armrest. She fed the rope at the knot the energy like she did to the flame. It took longer for anything to happen, but so does a cold stack in a fireplace. Eventually the rope heated and tiny streamers of smoke drifted up. Gasping in excitement, Cassiana redoubled her efforts. The rope blackened. Then in a whoosh it flared up. She immediately reversed tactics and absorbed the energy so the flame wouldn’t catch her clothes and skin. It was still uncomfortable, though. The knot collapsed into ash and Cassiana pulled her arm free. “Yes,” she whispered triumphantly, but still wary of drawing unwanted attention. Apparently thinking along the same lines, the other three cheered just as quietly. Cassiana fumbled for her multi-tool.
Flicking out the knife, she set to work on the ropes binding her other arm. Though still tough, cutting the hemp was much easier than burning it. Once all her limbs were free, she hurried to the others and cut them loose.
“That was awesome,” Tressarah declared, giving her a fierce hug. “You’ll have to teach me how to do that.” Cassiana’s eyes widened at the implications of that.
Samkara groaned. “After we get out of here.”
“Right,” Tressarah said, letting Cassiana step away. “How are we going to do that?” she asked, as Cassiana straightened her clothes.
“Only one way out,” Breeanna replied, with a nod to the door.
“There’s no telling what’s on the other side of that,” Tressarah said.
“Whatever it is, they won’t be expecting us free,” Samkara said. “I’m more worried the door might be locked.”
“I didn’t hear it click,” Cassiana offered and Sam nodded.
“Here’s for hoping.” And the redhead pushed the door. It wasn’t locked, but she did need assistance to open it. Their captors must have assumed the ropes would be enough to hold their prisoners because there was no one guarding the door. All the girls could see was a long stone corridor that ran by their former prison at a slant. Occasional lights provided muted illumination.
“Which way?” Tressarah asked.
“Up,” Breeanna voted and Cassiana nodded in agreement. The uneasiness had increased each time she looked downward. It lessoned the way Bree suggested. Deciding that they were in agreement, Cassiana led the way. Stress had them wound so tight, it was amazing none of them snapped. They did jump, though, at every perceived sound. Cassiana didn’t know about the others, but she held her breath every time they passed a door. There were a few of those.
They were passing the ninth door when all of them wrinkled their noses. “What is that?” Breeanna asked softly.
“Shush! Someone’s coming,” Samkara warned in an urgent whisper.
“In here.” Tressarah ran back to the door they had just passed. They slipped into the room before the footsteps got too close.
Tressarah’s earlier words about not knowing what lay beyond a door haunted Cassiana’s thoughts as she struggled not to gag. Her body didn’t care about who might hear her outside. It was too busy trying to decide whether to retch or not. Breeanna was having the same trouble that she was. “We should have tried to find another door,” she muttered weakly.
“I grant you the smell is horrible,” Tressarah began, but didn’t get to finish. Breea
nna had jerked her around so she could see what occupied the room. Samkara hissed at them to be quiet — then gagged, too. Tressarah’s hands flew to her mouth to stifle her cries of terror.
In the dimly lit room was a nightmare that just shouldn’t exist. Somehow they had tripped into a horror flicks’ prop room … except Cassiana didn’t think those props stank like this. Corpses were piled on top of each other all about the room. All of them were in various states of decay. Many were emaciated. Most looked like some animal had startled to dine on them.
“Oh kay, we go now,” Tressarah gasped. All of them agreed with that thought. And if they ran into someone they were just going to have to run like hell. No one voiced it, but that would have been redundant. They knew it already. The door couldn’t open fast enough for their liking. Luck was with them because the hall was empty. Tressarah closed the door on the rotting horrors and they were off. Caution was lost as they fled. Panic scorched all thought from their minds.
Which will get us caught, a warning whispered, pulling Cassiana up short. “Guys, slow down,” she cautioned. She fitted action to words, but the others weren’t having it.
Not wanting to be left behind, Cassiana jogged after them. That was when she saw daylight ahead. They all picked up speed then. The daylight flickered and Cassiana realized that someone had walked in front of the exit. Slowing slightly till they got closer, she saw only one guard there. The four of us could take him, especially in this state, she reasoned. Samkara and Tressarah apparently were thinking similar thoughts because they rushed him first. Breeanna right after. And that was when Cassiana saw that the guard was Alec. For some reason that freaked her out more than it should have. He was still only one man — who wasn’t surprised to see them. Nor could they get past him. Trying to knock him down didn’t work either. It was ridiculous — as fast as Samkara and Tressarah were, he was faster. Many pounding footsteps told Cassiana that it wasn’t going to be just four against one soon. It was going to four against an even more unfair number. “Run,” she shouted.
Company arrived and Alec was still keeping them on this side of freedom. He then moved too far to one side, pushing Breeanna toward one of the newcomers and Cassiana saw her chance. She slipped past him and raced for daylight. Her flight for freedom was jarred to a halt by a fist in her shirt. Seams tore, but it slowed her enough for a strong arm to snake around her waist and pull her against an unwelcomed, hard warm torso. The other arm abandoned its fistful of shirt to pin her arms to her sides. Cassiana tried to kick her assailant, but he squeezed the breath from her. Vision going dim, Cassiana’s struggles died. The stranglehold loosened till she could drag in a breath.
Warm air tickled her ear in a hauntingly familiar fashion. “Did you like my hint?” Alec whispered in her ear. Cassiana frowned. He didn’t mean — did he? She shuddered. She didn’t get the chance to figure out if she wanted clarification or not. He was already turning back to the darkness and the others. “It is horrible form to run out on a ceremony that honors you,” He scolded them. Without saying another word, Alec carried Cassiana away from freedom. Her friends and their captors followed. A helpless tear slid down her cheek. They had been so close …
Chapter 20 – A Hidden Station
Betrayer
Prime World Felania
Felania System
Movement Space
The social experiment was doing better than Betrayer had dreamed it would. The people of Felania depended upon balance. Even their race’s propagation depended upon it. Yes, many races believed that they also depended upon balance, but who were they kidding? They did better if male and female numbers were roughly even, true. But the Felanians had an equal number of males and females. If a girl was born one year, then they knew that a boy had also been born. Their race had always been that way. It was how it had discovered to survive.
They would be the easiest race to destroy because all one had to do was wipe out most of one gender and the race fell apart. It was so easy that Betrayer found it much more entertaining to keep them around. But he did have to twist things. And those few whispered seeds had flourished. He was in awe of the beauty of it. And it spread the seeds for future entertainments. Once Betrayer got bored of the current status quo, he could easily convince the other side to change things.
He rubbed his hands together in glee. Oh, yes. Never ending fun.
But now, he felt a strong desire to visit the old homestead. It had been a long time and he was feeling somewhat nostalgic.
***
Rylynn
Prime World Iceron
Iceron System
Shadow Space
“Is there anyone left on the moons?” I asked, gazing out the view screen. The gas giant Iceron was like a fat lord squatting amongst its servant moons. According to what I had learned in the Academy’s Prime World class and what I had since read, the original settlers had deemed the giant too hostile to attempt living on. So they chose the moons instead. A few were large enough to have atmospheres of their own. Even the ones that didn’t were of interest because of the minerals they contained. The main planet, though, held no such interests. Its hostile storms and lack of needed resources relegated it to scenery. Even with advances in technology, it remained ignored by the Citizenry.
It made an excellent place to build a secret base to spy from.
“I’m not getting any life signs,” Lassie said, answering my question. I sent up a quick prayer that the people had fled instead of becoming a Soul Shadow’s dinner. “Not even from the planet,” she added.
“You wouldn’t,” Aunt Sylvia said. My aunt sat rigid in her chair. We all were on the alert, but this had been her prison for over a year. “Why do you think no one noticed his base before? Betrayer shielded it from bio-scans.” And that was part of the reason that Betrayer scared me. He was smart.
“So we still don’t know what kind of welcome we could be receiving …” Marius muttered.
“Now that we’re here, how do you suggest that we find the base?” I asked my aunt.
She pulled out a memory crystal. “The shuttles were programed with the coordinates.”
Westley accepted the crystal. A thoughtful frown touched his brow. “For a guy who was so paranoid as to block bio-signs, that seems like security breach just waiting to happen.”
Aunt Sylvie smiled, but it was a grim smile. “If a shuttle somehow got into the wrong hands, anyone who wasn’t on Betrayer’s staff was either terminated or turned into a Pet.” The disgust behind the word made me ache for her.
“So what will keep us from those fates?” Lassie inquired.
“Because we know what’s waiting for us at those coordinates.”
“Not really, we don’t,” Jason pointed out. “We don’t know if Betrayer is there or not. We don’t have a clue if his ‘staff’ is aware of us and is just waiting for us to get close enough to shoot us into itty-bitty pieces.”
“Oh, they wouldn’t shoot at us. If they miss, someone would notice the bolt and that would go against Betrayer’s laws. Cruel punishment is awarded to whoever was stupid enough to reveal the station to the outside world. If I hadn’t left the station after transmitting my warning … well, it’s a good thing that I did,” she said with a shiver. After a moment, she lifted her chin. “No, they’ll wait for us to come to them. Our fight would be wherever we dock.”
“Lovely. I always did like a challenge,” I said. I got a few looks for that statement. I grinned and I admit, it might have been a touch feral. “Please proceed, Westley. Let’s see what is awaiting us. Mykio, prepare what you think we’ll need, if you would.” Mykio shared my smile and left to make preparations as the ship dove into the roiling ice blue clouds of Iceron.
Guided by the memory crystal, the Secret slid through the turbulent air. Maybe ‘slid’ is the wrong word, I thought clutching my chair’s armrests as the ship felt like it dropped. The hull groaned when it hit a furious up-draft that felt more like we hit solid ground.
“Hold on
,” Westley warned, just as another twist of air ground us to the side. “Damn! There has got to be a way …” he trailed off as the Secret was punched by another gust that nearly sent us spinning. You have no idea how glad I was that we weren’t in a shuttle. I don’t think there would have been any semblance of control then. I did not want to know what would have happened to a little ship getting struck by the bolt of lightning that slithered over the Secret’s shield. The Spectrals flickered a little brighter and I guessed they had just snacked on the jagged spiders dancing on the shield of my ship.
“Ooh! Why did we let him drive?” I heard Lassie sob.
“I see it now,” Westley said. Either he hadn’t heard Lassie or didn’t care. “Thanks, Cath,” he said with a nod to the phoenix Spectral perched on the back of his chair. The golden bird didn’t seem bothered by the rough ride. None of the Spectrals looked bothered.
“What do you see?” Marius asked.
“”The wind pattern. Things should be smoother now,” he replied. Except for the occasional shutter, the Secret’s flight became less harrowing. Westley glanced back at Lassie. “This is why you all let me drive,” he said with a grin.
Lassie rolled her eyes.
WE ARE CLOSE, Kylesst said, his head rising from his coil around my chair. A swirl of cloud fell away and exposed the large station. Shaped like a top, the station spun slowly amidst the chaos around it. Nature didn’t seem to like it much. It hurled spears of lightning at it, one after another. But the bolts did nothing to the serenity of the suspended top.
“I thought it would have been smaller …” Lassie muttered. I had to agree with her. The station before us was easily half the size of the Imperial Station. That had been the size of a large city. This was like a large town. And it had never been found. Even with a transmission, that must have drawn some attention. The Zar’daken’s arrival had probably seen to it that the search stopped and the advance of the Soul Shadows had made sure it was the last thing anyone ever considered picking back up. The storm we had just flown through had also made the search hazardous and without a Spectral to guide the pilot … I wondered if there had been any casualties. And with no destination in mind …
Defender of the Empire: Chaos Page 16