The sound of his horror-stricken voice filled the room. Sheed came in and stood with Ralion by the door. Carryn moved to sit on the edge of the bed, and concentrated, trying to reach Dynan, trying to give him some hope, some reason to stop the destructive path he sought. What she found inside the Prince’s mind was a whirling vortex of terror and pain.
Carryn was swept up into it, control failing her completely as pain struck her. She struggled against it, then made herself relax, knowing if she attempted to force her will against Dynan in any way, she would fail to reach him, and likely kill him in the process.
Carryn stumbled suddenly, falling and landing hard on her knees. She was in the clearing in the middle of dense forest. Fear and dread filled her, and she saw Dynan on his knees, repulsed by what lay before him; Dain, unrecognizable except his face, his body mutilated, torn open, and Maralt’s voice taunted him with how he had run, and left his brother to rot. Carryn realized this was different from what she’d seen before, and suddenly Maralt was there, real, and he attacked with lightning speed.
Dynan tripped, falling in his terror to get away, exactly as he’d struggled in his nightmare to escape, and leave his brother, except Dain had still been alive. Somehow, Maralt had found his way inside the vision, altering it to his purpose. For how long, Carryn thought, horrified that she hadn’t realized it, so convinced that Dynan was trying to kill himself.
Dynan screamed as Maralt grabbed him, hauling him up, his hands locking around his throat. Carryn lurched forward, scrambling over a tree stump. Maralt became aware of her, and abruptly vanished. With equal suddenness Carryn was pushed away, tossed, and forced out.
“Carryn?” Geneal stood next to her, reaching to hold her as she doubled. “Carryn, what’s—”
“It’s Maralt. He’s found Dynan,” she gasped through gritted teeth. The Medic room swam crazily as pain descended on her. “Maralt is trying to kill him.”
Dynan gasped then, his body jerking, hands rising again. Carryn took him, leaning over him, and concentrated. A black wall struck her mind. Rending pain followed, and she fought to hold her concentration. She was pulled again, taken in, and she fell. The clearing opened around her, the smell of death permeating the air. She saw Dynan stumbling back again, and Maralt on top of him. Carryn ran, too late as Maralt struck. This time, Maralt grabbed Dynan, and they disappeared together.
“No!” she screamed, and found herself back in the Medic room. She didn’t wait, concentrating again.
***
Geneal watched as Carryn sagged, then struggle to recover. The monitor on her indicated she fought against terrible pain, the indices rising rapidly to the point beyond endurance. Her heart instantly showed the strain.
Maralt. The name sent a bolt of fear through her as she watched Carryn’s desperate struggle. Carryn’s brother. Responsible for so much of the anguish in their lives. Ambrose, Shalis, Dain, and in a moment, if she did nothing, Carryn and Dynan would join that list of the dead.
Frazier looked to her, fear plainly visible in his eyes. Ralion and Sheed stood uncertain, their frustration at not being able to do anything showing starkly in their faces. Dynan gasped again, breath choking, sightless eyes staring ahead. Carryn sat beside him, head bowed, and trembling from the effort it took to keep pain from overwhelming her.
“You’ve got to change course,” Geneal said. “You’ve got to change course now.”
Frazier moved to the companel, activating a link to navigation, and their position appeared on the screen. “Helm, change course to point zero two one. Engage.”
The helmsman repeated the order, and as the ship altered course, Dynan moaned, gasping for air. Carryn’s reaction mirrored his. Geneal knew there wasn’t anything she could do to stop Dynan from dying, but there was something she could do for Carryn. She prepared an injection of Anethinol to break her concentration.
Carryn moaned. “No Geneal,” she said. “Not yet.”
She stopped, startled by her voice. “Frazier, it’s working.”
“The Destroyer has changed course to follow,” Frazier said as Carryn turned back to Dynan. “Geneal, I don’t think we can get away.”
“We need to do something to break Maralt’s concentration,” she said. “Distance is the only thing I know that will stop him.”
“We can’t out-run that ship.”
“Then stop,” Ralion said, moving to Dynan’s side across from Carryn. “Stop the ship, wait for the Destroyer, then go right back into sublight.”
“If we can get back to sublight with an engagor beam locking us down.” Frazier closed his eyes briefly. He touched the companel again, this time on a ship wide band. “All hands, this is Lieutenant Commander Frazier Cordon, battle stations. All hands, battle stations. Launch all attack crews on my command only.”
The monitors over Dynan’s bed sounded a warning. He lay shivering, mouth working, air hissing in and out. His heart rate plummeted.
“All hands report battle stations,” Allie said over the companel.
“Acknowledged. Trevan, I need your two best pilots and gunners on the XR-30. Launch on my command only.”
“Understood,” Trevan responded.
“Helm, all stop.”
~*~
Chapter 24
Carryn crashed into Maralt, dragging him away from Dynan. They fell, arms tangled, thrashing across the floor of the Marleen barn. Maralt hit her, and squirmed away, kicking. Carryn clung to him, clawing after him as he tried to reach Dynan again. He lay on the dirt floor, huddled and almost spent, shaking from what he’d endured.
“Dynan, move!”
Maralt twisted, viciously striking Carryn with his fist, and she fought off the blackness that rushed in at her. The swirling edges of unconsciousness pulled her, dragging her away as Maralt slipped from her grasp. She heard Dynan screaming her name. The Medic room emerged around her for a moment. She saw Geneal standing over her, a dermal injector poised to touch her.
“No Geneal,” she said, nauseating pain coursing through her. “Not yet.”
“Frazier!” Geneal called out, “it’s working.”
Carryn fought back to Dynan, mired in terror, battling the horrifying agony that racked her body.
Maralt crouched over the Prince, his face a leering grin. Carryn lunged at him, but Maralt rose, twisting Dynan’s arm behind his back in one motion, and met the attack with a sweeping blow that sent Carryn sprawling across the floor of the barn. She slammed into a stall door and lay stunned, overwhelmed by the immense strength her brother possessed. She couldn’t move, suddenly paralyzed, and wished in the next instant that she couldn’t see.
“Haven’t you learned by now, Carryn, that you are destined to fail at every turn?” Maralt turned on Dynan again. He hauled him away another pace, dropping him roughly. Dynan moaned, fingers digging into hay and dirt. Carryn realized he was trying to crawl away. Maralt laughed, and crouched down again. He jerked him over onto his back, then up by a fistful of shirt, his body limp, but his eyes aware and filled with terror. Maralt ran his hand over his brow, fingers gliding through his hair. His fist clenched, and he pulled Dynan’s head back slowly.
“Would you like to know how I killed your father? How the great Ambrose Telaerin begged for mercy?”
Dynan’s eyes widened, drawn to Maralt’s. He tried backing away, but Maralt held him firmly. Grief, mingled with abhorrence, twisted Dynan’s features while Maralt smiled, leaning close.
“Are you ready, Prince?” he whispered.
Carryn watched in growing horror, struggling to get up, crippled by pain as she pressed her hands into the straw and dirt of the barn floor. With just the tip of his finger, Maralt tore two holes in Dynan’s neck. His hand came away dripping with a luminous substance that Carryn realized instantly was the life force that kept Dynan alive. Maralt’s breath elevated in anticipation as he raised a welling bead to his lips, and his eyes rolled closed. He took the drop, greedily licking the fluid off his fingers.
Carryn wa
tched in helpless revulsion while Maralt leaned, open mouth lowering to latch onto Dynan’s neck. His body jerked, shuddering in quick spasms, twisting. His legs curled reflexively, mouth opening to scream in strangled silence, eyes rolling back in pain. Maralt moaned, holding him. Dynan’s back arched, and Maralt rose with him.
“You have no idea what this is like,” he said. “I can show you, Carryn. Join me.”
Maralt looked at her, drawing in more energy while Dynan quivered, gasping soundlessly in his arms. Suddenly Carryn felt engulfing power flood through her, immensely compelling, and it filled her. Horror came in its wake, so intensely divergent she thought it might split her mind, ceasing her existence in that instant. Power surged inside her, rending thought in torturous agony.
“You’re not my brother, you sick bastard. Stop!” She tried to rise, but couldn’t, pounding her fists on the ground. Reduced to inching forward in excruciating increments, she crawled.
Maralt laughed, smiling insidiously as he returned to drink, eyes rolling in ecstasy. He settled to the ground cradling Dynan, and ran his hand down his shirt, ripping the light material open to the waist. He peeled away the cloth, and his fingers roved over his body. Slight coiling sparks crackled in response, probing from fingertips into skin. A low guttural moan joined with the sound of his breath, elevated, and craving more.
“Time to die, Your Highness.”
Dynan shook in spasms with each breath, measured by the extraction of his life’s vitality as it was drained from his body. His head lolled to one side, and Carryn met his gaze, so desperately urgent, begging for help she couldn’t give. His fingers clawed the dirt as he reached for her.
His movements frenzied, nostrils pinched from the fast intake of breath, Maralt spread his hand above Dynan’s heart, caressing him with a finger that suddenly sliced down into skin. Dynan jerked, eyes widened in sudden, terrified realization.
A space of darkness opened behind them, spreading outward rapidly to reveal an altar of black stone set in the center of a circle of pillars. Coiling tendrils circuited the entire shelf, raised and waiting. Maralt paused, his face lit with an ecstatic, mad smile as he looked into the chasm.
Carryn understood what Maralt meant to do. He wouldn’t be satisfied with killing Dynan. He intended to condemn his soul. He meant to open the Gates and cause the very thing they’d been taught all their lives to guard against. Carryn wondered, horrified, if Dain Telaerin wasn’t already there. The portal that stood open before her led to the Gates and to the demon.
Carryn staggered, fell, and clawed her way up to her feet. Brutal pain erupted through her body when she moved. Screaming, she drove herself into Maralt and ripped him away from Dynan even as his hand slipped beneath skin.
The force of momentum carried them away. For an instant, they were all three separated. In that moment Carryn heard the helm responding to the all stop command.
The portal snapped closed and Maralt jerked around. As he was dragged away, he reached for Dynan, his fingers sliding down his arm to clutch his wrist. Carryn scrambled after them, grabbed Dynan, and hauled him back. Maralt grabbed him by the leg, trying to hold on. With his last strength, Dynan kicked him in the face, forcing him off. A snarling howl echoed through the barn as Maralt vanished.
“Dynan,” Carryn said, feeling herself being pushed out, terrified that if she couldn’t manage to stay, Maralt would return. “Come back. You have to...” The Medic room spun around her. Voices swept by as she struggled to hold off the tidal wave of black that barreled toward her. “Dynan, open your eyes. Come back,” she whispered, each sound sending bolts of pain through her. “Come back, please. You’ve got to wake up, or Maralt will finish what he started. Wake up!”
She shook him, and almost blacked out. Dynan’s eyes flew open, and he gasped. Carryn reached for him, but the dark came in, took her away and she fell.
***
“Set sublight speed, course point zero three eight. Engage!” Frazier commanded.
“Star Destroyer at sector three nine,” Boral said from the bridge through the companel.
“Course set, engaging sublight engines.”
Dynan’s hands flew to his chest, searching, then to his neck, scrambling backward in the bed until he couldn’t move anymore. He trembled violently as Ralion gathered him into his arms, while Geneal struggled with Carryn. Sheed got over to help and they eased her down to the floor.
“Change course to zero two nine. Engage,” Frazier said, watching, unsure what he could do if Dynan succumbed again.
“Course changed.”
“Maintain battle stations. We may have to do that again.” He stared up at the ceiling. “The Gods help us if we do. Geneal?”
“I don’t know, Frazier,” she said tersely, rising to examine Dynan, talking to him, assuring him while he shook in Ralion’s arms that he would be all right.
Frazier ordered another course change. “How long before the Destroyer goes to sublight?”
“They already have,” Boral said. “We’re being tracked.”
Dynan moaned, cowering against Ralion.
“Prepare to change course to zero seven three. Helm, all stop.”
“Answering all stop. Standing by to change course.”
For a few tense moments, they waited. In the space of that instant, Frazier felt the weight of responsibility for all the lives onboard the XR-9 pressing down on him. He folded his arms, trying to stop himself from shaking.
“Star Destroyer at zero two nine,” Boral said, his voice breaking.
“Engage,” Frazier said, watching Dynan’s panic grow.
“Course changed to zero seven three.”
At Geneal’s feet, Carryn groaned, then struggled to rise. Sheed leaned down and helped her up. Geneal turned, preparing to administer to her, but Carryn stopped her again, reaching to Dynan. “Come with me,” she said softly, then took his outstretched hand.
~*~
Chapter 25
Dynan collapsed the moment he opened his mind, joining with her. Carryn felt his terror and repugnance at what Maralt had done to him. He staggered under an acute weakness that sapped strength, and a grief so stark, Carryn didn’t think it could be endured. She held him, shaking and unable to stand, moving with him from one place to the next in rapid succession. She was aware of Maralt’s thought, searching for them, trying to pierce the barrier Carryn erected around them. Her own fear, heightened by pain, slowed her, making it difficult to maintain the concentration needed to keep her brother away.
Carryn felt his presence then, and shrank back, tightening her grip around Dynan. Desperation entered her mind. She felt they wouldn’t escape, and the moment Maralt found them, they’d all be returned to the barn, into her brother’s malignant grasp.
Carryn stopped at the foot of a tall grass-covered hill when the edges began to fray. Beams encroached. An angled roof fingered upward. Smells filtered through, pulling her closer. Carryn turned, driven by fear to seek the one place she knew Maralt wouldn’t dare follow, fighting down the flash of uncertainty that she wouldn’t find it from so great a distance, and an equal fear she’d be rejected.
A room of light flashed into being, insubstantial to the point she couldn’t determine if it was the right place. She felt Maralt standing behind her. A man appeared, robed wholly in thick white robes, his expression questioning, and stern.
“Help me.”
Maralt reached for her, then recoiled sharply at the sight of the man, growling as he withdrew. Carryn opened her eyes, shaking in relief, and sank to her knees, holding Dynan as she faced her old master, who regarded her with what she saw as disapproval.
“Why have you brought him here?”
Carryn looked down at Dynan. “We had no where else to go.”
“This is forbidden. You made your choice.”
“Please. If I go back, he’ll die. Maralt will take him. Allow me to leave him here, protected, with you.”
“Show me.”
Dynan moaned, str
uggling feebly against her. Carryn could feel his fear mounting as she prepared to obey. She closed her eyes as aged fingers touched her forehead. Instantly the horror of the barn crashed through them both. Dynan stiffened, his fingers clutching sharply as memory was extracted. Carryn held him as he slumped, looking down into his still face, his expression frozen in dread. He seemed so fragile, and evanescent.
The fingers dropped from her. “He’s opened a portal.”
Carryn held Dynan out to him, shaking. “Please, help him.”
“He will be cared for, but know this, he’ll not be allowed to return again without crossing over. Will you make this choice for him?”
“I have to.” Carryn nodded, and thin, brittle arms that didn’t look to have such strength in them took Dynan.
“You have much to do. Go.”
Carryn wanted to collapse, but knew that wouldn’t be looked on tolerantly. She hesitated then, bowing her head. “I barely made it here.” She glanced up and was met by a frown.
“And you questioned me when I advised you not to leave us. Your training is incomplete. Now you see the results. If I refuse you, and I should, you’ll be lost.”
Carryn waited silently, certain if she spoke she’d be denied and sent to find her own way back to herself. One hand rose to touch her while the other cradled Dynan as easily as holding an infant.
“You must face the consequences, later.”
“I understand.”
Another weary frown greeted her. “Not likely.”
Fingertips brushed her face.
***
Frazier leaned against the wall, too afraid to feel relief that Carryn and Dynan were safe from Maralt. None of them were safe from the Destroyer. “Trevan, anything you can do to make us go faster would be really good right now.”
“I’ve got it. This may be a little rough.”
“Do it.”
Telepath Page 25