Telepath

by Jolea M. Harrison

  Dain frowned. “Well it’s still your fault.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m never wrong,” Dain said with a laugh.

  Dynan rolled his eyes, and they settled to cleaning up the mess he made in the galley. Dain spent the entire time ribbing him about it, until Dynan threw a wet rag at him. A minor water battle ensued, making more mess, but they finally managed to get everything tidy again.

  The day grew late, and Dain began to wonder where the guards were, frowning when he saw that they were later than expected. “What is it?” Dynan asked, looking up from the book he read as Dain uncloaked the ship.

  “They should be back by now.” Dain turned to the ramp, opened it, then stepped outside.

  “Maybe it’s a longer walk than they thought. How late are they?”

  “Half hour.”

  Dynan shook his head. “They’ll be coming along any time now. You worry too much.”

  Dain looked back at him, not liking the feel of it, and a chill stole into him. “Maybe I should walk in a bit. See if I can find out what’s keeping them.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t like this. It isn’t right.”

  “What isn’t right? Wait, Dain. You can’t just go off—”

  “I’m going to walk in and see where they are, that’s all. Trent probably went nuts with the supplies. I’m going to hurry him up.”

  “Is it Maralt?”

  “No,” he said. “I don’t think he could have found us so fast. You sit tight. Lock up the ship and cloak her.”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

  “I’ll be careful, and I’ll be back. Stay here.”

  He left the ship, waiting until his brother had the ramp closed, and cloaked the ship. He turned, and moved through the woods toward Trophan. He began to see what might be keeping the guards. The path was full of thick stunted trees and over grown with brambles that clung to his clothes. He saw signs of recent passage, following the track the guards made.

  Dain gave up trying to move quietly through the dense undergrowth, as it proved impossible. He searched in his mind for the source of worry, but couldn’t identify it, questioning whether he might be over-reacting as Dynan thought. He stopped several times, on the verge of turning back, listening for any sign of the guards’ return. There was nothing.

  He stood in a small clearing, undecided and unsure. Part of him wanted to go find out what had happened to Trent and Jode. The other part wanted to turn around and run, but Dain couldn’t leave them, even when he suddenly felt that’s what he should do. Those were the rules they were forced to live by. The guards died so they wouldn’t.

  The path started up again on the other side of the clearing, but Dain didn’t move that way, looking back the way he’d come. They were now nearly an hour late, and he started thinking about what could keep the guards for so long, and fear answered him.

  A twig snapped somewhere off behind him, and he turned sharply, drawing his sword. Other sounds of movement, leaves rustling and crunching underfoot reached him, now from all around as the woods surrounding the clearing came alive with men. Standing just outside the tightening circle, he saw Maralt.

  Terror clamped down around his heart, squeezing the air from his lungs as he turned in a circle, seeing the last route of escape close against him. There had to be twenty men there. He wished he’d listened to Dynan. His next thought was to warn him, tell him to go, get off the planet while he could, but he hesitated, afraid Maralt would know exactly where Dynan was if Dain communicated with him telepathically, and then afraid his brother wouldn’t listen to him.

  He knew he wouldn’t escape. There were too many coming against him. Maralt stepped inside the ring of men, with the same haughty smile. Dain forgot about the dangers closing in behind him, setting his mind on one objective.

  Maralt rolled his eyes as Dain started toward him, running at him in a burst of speed that took him across the clearing in only a few seconds. Maralt nodded to someone off to Dain’s left. He was almost on him, ready to strike when he heard the hum and discharge of a laser rifle set to stun. The stun setting wouldn’t activate his suppression shield.

  The force of it was almost enough to knock him over. The second hit made him dizzy enough that he couldn’t see anything except one face before him. He concentrated on reaching Maralt and watched a moment of worry enter his eyes, and he stepped back, gesturing for the next volley. Really, Dain wished they’d set the thing higher, and that he wasn’t wearing a suppression shield, since he knew he wasn’t going to make it to Maralt. It was easy to remember what sort of torture he was capable of.

  When he opened his eyes, Maralt was standing over him, one foot holding down his sword arm even as a group of men came for him. They hauled him to his feet, twisting his arms sharply behind his back, leaving his sword, emeralds sparkling in the light, on the forest floor.

  “Do you really think this is necessary? Look around you.” Maralt leaned down, picking Dain’s sword up, looking at the jewels in its hilt for a moment before he smiled. “And you’re exactly too late. Were you going to see after your guards, if they could be called that? I assure you they’re quite dead.”

  Dain twisted against the men who held him, violently trying to break free, although he knew it to be a pointless gesture. One of them double-fisted his hands, striking him across the back. Another brought a knee up as Dain doubled, hitting his chest, and knocked the air out of his body. A hand grabbed a fistful of hair, hauling him back up.

  “I see I’m not going to be able to discuss this with you. I’ve wanted to talk to you, about certain options you have, but that sniveling brother of yours was always around. What a weakling he’s turned out to be. I can’t abide him, and—”

  “Kamien, you mean,” Dain said through clenched teeth, and was jerked hard for the trouble. “I can’t either, or you, so why don’t you get on with whatever you intend?”

  “So eager to die, are you?” Maralt smiled, and stepped closer, lowering his voice. “In due time, Your Highness. Tell me, have you warned Dynan yet? Is he aware of your fear? I can feel it, radiating from you in such tremendous waves. And I always thought you were so much braver. Surely Dynan must be aware of your terror.”

  “He’ll get away from here. You think killing me will stop him? It won’t. In the end, you’ll die at his hand. Killing me won’t change anything.”

  “You think not?” Maralt laughed. “You have no idea what I have in mind for you. Really, you don’t want to know.” He produced a dermal injector from a pocket, set it against Dain’s neck while he struggled, and activated it. “Actually, you’ve made it that much easier to net you both. If you had warned him, knowing him for the coward that he is, I’m sure he would have escaped, leaving you here to rot.”

  Maralt stepped closer so that he stood only a few kel away. Dain faced him, meeting the pale stare with contempt, and hatred. “You see, Dain, I know exactly where Dynan is, and I know I can’t get to him onboard your ship, so I intend to lure him out using you. He’ll come. Soon, I should think, when he feels your death coming. This drug; it blocks your ability to communicate with him. You’re trying now, aren’t you? Good. It’s time to be moving things along. When he arrives, you’ll be just enough alive to watch him die.”

  He paused then, eyes narrowing as he took hold of the chain around Dain’s neck and withdrew the crystal ball. A snarl of contempt crossed Maralt’s face and he snapped the chain with a sharp twist. He glanced at the crystal briefly before slinging it to the ground.

  “You won’t need that where you’re going.”

  The men holding him tore open his jacket, careful never to release him completely. Dain fought against them, but he knew he wasn’t going to escape, and terror that Dynan wouldn’t either enveloped him in desperation. He had to warn him, and he couldn’t.

  His shirt was ripped open, and left hanging. Lights exploded in his eyes when one of the men hit him across the back of his head with
the hilt of his sword. His knees buckled, and he struggled against a swirling blackness. Strong hands jerked him back up, holding him still.

  He tried to reach Dynan, but couldn’t concentrate. Images flashed into his mind; Dynan, still onboard the XR-30, stopping abruptly, turning, searching. Dain battled against the dulling effects of the drug, forming a single thought.

  “Run.”

  Maralt moved in, the thing in his hand dripping with some oily substance. Dain kicked at him. Pain ripped at his arms as they were yanked up hard. He was struck again, and stopped by Maralt’s laughter.

  “Now this particular drug,” he said, showing him what he held. In a rush of memory, Dain recognized the talon Dynan had found. A carved handle was attached to it, and it had a hollow point, oozing a thick liquid. “This drug is a fairly fast acting poison. I’m told it’s rather uncomfortable. I think it’ll work slowly enough to suit my needs, but if you’re dead before Dynan arrives, so what? He’s coming now, but then, you couldn’t know that, could you? How does it feel Dain, to be cut off from your brother? Doesn’t it give you a sense of freedom? No? Well, you’ll be free of him soon enough. More importantly, he’ll be free of you.”

  The talon lowered. With deliberate slowness, sadistic pleasure lighting his eyes, Maralt set it against his chest, inserting the honed point, twisting it into flesh. In a single, fluid motion, he dragged the talon down and across from shoulder to waist, flaying open skin.

  Agony and rage blasted through Dain, and he ripped free of the men holding him, lashing out, kicking and punching with lightening speed. Two of them dropped, and he grabbed a sword, killing another who didn’t move away fast enough. He slashed around in the hope that Maralt was still standing there.

  He’d moved, or it looked like he had. Dain suddenly couldn’t tell. His vision blurred, images swirling before him. He staggered as a wave of nausea doubled him over. Dimly, he was aware that Maralt was retreating, his smile sharply clear as he backed away, and disappeared into the woods.

  An aching blackness crept inside him, moving as fast as his blood pumped into every fiber of his body, inescapable, rending flesh, eating tissue and muscle, spreading in slow agonizing pulses. He fell, pain consuming him. The world around him spun crazily out of control, and all he could hear was Maralt’s laughter. He struggled to reach the discarded crystal, and when he had it in hand, concentrated on it to hold back the darkness just a moment longer.

  “Dynan, run.”

  ~*~

  Chapter 15

  Dynan jerked, hands moving reflexively to his chest, searching, looking, and expecting to see blood covering his hands.

  “Dain?”

  Horrifying dread, and the specter of death froze him in place, a terror so complete he thought it might break his mind; a need so urgent to move, and he couldn’t.

  In a rush of realization, Dynan turned the cloaking controls off, moving to strap on his sword, and get the ramp open at the same time, all too slowly. He couldn’t move fast enough. He squeezed out the moment he could, hit the ground stumbling, running, panic seizing control. Tree limbs, twigs, brambles tore at his clothes, ripping them, and skin. With a shock of sudden understanding, he remembered Carryn’s vision. Dynan fell, clawed to his feet again, tearing through the thick wood. He found the path, moving faster, but to him it seemed too slow. He couldn’t get there in time.

  He felt pain spreading outward from the wound, fear chasing him with blinding, vicious tenacity. He ran, and what seemed ages later, burst into a small clearing. “Dain? Oh God no. Dain.” He stumbled, falling to his brother’s side. “No, Dain. Please, no.”

  “Dynan.” He opened his eyes, searching, hand blindly grasping air. “He’s coming...”

  “I’ve got to get you out of here.” He tried to lift him, but Dain stopped him, grimacing in pain.

  “It won’t matter if you do,” He gestured to the wound, shaking his head. His breath came in slow gasps, and he clutched him. “He’s coming. Maralt. You have to get away. Please.”

  “I won’t leave you. I can get you out of here, Dain. No.”

  “Listen to me. Listen.” His voice sank to a whisper. “You can’t let this be in vain. Father, and Shalis. They’ll have died for nothing, and me. You have to live. Run. Please. You have to get away. You have to live.”

  “I can’t.” Tears streamed down his face; grief paralyzing him. “I can’t leave you.”

  “You won’t.” Dain moved his hands together, concentration an obvious effort, and took off his emerald ring. “Take...I’ll be with you. Always.” His breath caught, and he pushed the ring into Dynan’s hand. “Go. He’s coming. Run! Run, Dynan!”

  Dynan looked up sharply, breath stopping as he saw Maralt, and fifteen, twenty men enter the clearing, moving to circle him, even as he knew they’d caged Dain. Mindless anger boiled through him, and he stood, sword sweeping from its sheath. Maralt’s sneering laugh reached him, but it was his brother’s weeping that made him stop. Anger failed him, grief overtaking him as he saw the choice he was being forced to make, and he couldn’t. He couldn’t leave Dain here to die. He would rather die with him than do what he asked.

  “Please,” Dain whispered.

  A scream erupted behind Maralt’s men, a defiant cry of a man raging into battle. Maralt jumped, startled, turning as Trent crashed into their midst, bleeding from a dozen wounds, screaming and slashing at anyone in his way.

  “Dynan, run!” Dain begged him, trying to push himself up, still trying to fight so that he might live. “Run, damn you.” He fell back, staring sightlessly ahead. “Don’t let this be in vain. Please.”

  Dynan backed away as Maralt’s men recovered. They converged on Trent, and hacked him down. His mind screamed, and he turned, staggering. He looked back once, and saw Dain smiling as he collapsed, sagging down against a dead, fallen log. He ran.

  “Live, Dynan. You have to live.”

  Pain swallowed him, and his brother’s voice faded. A black hole ripped open in his mind, filling with death, and emptiness. And he was gone.

  Dynan ran, and Maralt’s men swarmed after him. He ran and they followed, nearing, and he didn’t care if they caught him. Dain was dead, left lying there, left to rot, left to Maralt. A ringing whine filled his mind, pitch rising to a moan, discordant and horrific. He left him.

  Dynan saw the ship through the trees, and stumbled. Two men descended on him instantly. He rolled, hacking at them, stabbing as he staggered up. Another came on, and another, and Dynan fought, retreating to the open ramp. A sword pricked his arm, but he didn’t feel it. Running and fighting, he reached the ship, and was surrounded. A hatred he’d never known filled him, and he killed one, then another, choking for air, wishing for death.

  He clawed his way onboard. A sword thrust to his leg dropped him to the floor, and they tried to come in after him, but he pushed himself up, slamming his fist into the controls, wildly swinging his sword until they fell back, and the ramp lifted, closing them away.

  He stumbled to the flight controls, started the engines, waiting to see if his attackers would try to force the ramp. He stayed, resisting, his mind pulling him back to the clearing, back to Dain. If he lifted off the planet, that would shatter the last refusal to believe.

  “Dain, please don’t leave me. Dain?”

  There wasn’t an answer. For the first time in his life, there wasn’t an answer. The hole spread inside him, emptiness rending his mind. He looked down at his hands, covered in his brother’s blood; his clenched fist opening. He stared down at the ring he held, its color obscured by red, and it seemed he held the sum of Dain’s life there, lying in a green jewel.

  Slowly, his whole body aching from the act of movement, Dynan reached for the controls. The engines roared in response, drowning out the sound of his stuttering breath. Slowly the ship lifted off the ground.

  Dain was dead.

  ~*~

  Chapter 16

  “Think they’ll be happy to see us?” Ralion asked, looking over
at Sheed as the transport settled down inside the landing site in Trophan. The walls rose around them, cutting off the early morning light as the ship descended. Returning from their mission to Cobalt, and with the Ahrelds safely ensconced at the Galar Mansion, Ralion was eager to get back to the field, wishing he could forget the reasons they’d left.

  “Worried Dain might have been serious?”

  “I was thinking more about the guards, Sheed.”

  “They’ll be relieved, if nothing else. Let’s go.”

  The door hissed open while the two men gathered their packs, slinging them over their shoulder to carry. The Port entrance opened before them. They paid the landing fees, walking out into sunlight, growing as the sun rose and welcome.

  “Let’s get a bite to eat at the inn there,” Sheed said. “If we’re going to walk in, I need something more than that snack we had for dinner last night.”

  “Sure. I suppose it’ll be all right to make them wait a little longer for us.”

  “We’ve got all day, Ralion. Carryn’s message said they’d wait until sunset.”

  “And you think Dain will care?”

  Sheed stopped at that. “Right. We’ll make it quick. They’ll be there.”

  They entered the common room of Trophan’s only inn, found a table, and were soon served. They sat, and enjoyed the food, listening to the hum of conversation around them. Ralion soon noticed several people glancing their way, and the looks weren’t friendly. He frowned at that for a moment, about to comment to Sheed when a man approached, coming from the long bar to their right. Ralion saw by his insignia that he was the local Constable.

  “You’re strangers here,” the Constable said, eyeing them in obvious suspicion.

  “Yes, we are,” Ralion answered, keeping his tone even and pleasant, but he was confused by the man’s behavior. “We’re on business; passing through.”

  “Business here? What sort?”

  “No, not here. We’re catching the next transport to Marciena, but we wanted to get some food.” He volunteered his forged identification card along with the transport passes and schedule. The Constable took them, looking everything over carefully.