**********
When they reached Celeste's parked Chati, Celeste turned Sartel around and shoved him into the vehicle. His back hit the wing, causing him to grimace in pain. "Now, talk," she said.
Sartel rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine," he said. "Dorange is convinced that you are the spy because you are always leaving at strange times and sometimes you won't come back for days."
Celeste shoved her gun into Sartel's rib cage. "Tell me something I do not know."
Sartel winced as Celeste pushed harder.
"You want to know something you don't know, huh?" questioned Sartel.
"Yes, you fool. What else does Dorange have up his sleeve?"
Sartel smiled and laughed.
"What is so funny?"
"Oh, Dorange has it in his mind that if he can convince your father that you are the spy, your father won't kill you. Rather ? he will force you to marry Dorange. That way he gets the two things that he lusts after the most, you and to be heir to the Gnol throne."
Celeste eased on the pressure with her gun. "So, that is what he has planned. Well, he should know that I would kill him rather than marry him." Celeste then gave Sartel a questioning look.
"What?"
"Last night, I was able to listen in on the conversation Dorange had with my father by placing a small listening device underneath the table. Tell me, Captain ? Dorange mentioned that you failed to deliver the documents to my father that proved a secret rebel force murdered my sister. Why did you not deliver those documents?"
Sartel laughed again.
"What is so funny?"
"Dorange has both your father and you fooled. You know as well as I do that there was never a secret rebel force that killed your sister. Dorange was an abusive and overbearing husband. Your sister knew something that Dorange did not want your father to know. He killed her and made it look like an accident."
Celeste felt her face flush with anger. She jabbed her gun into Sartel's ribs again. "What did she know that Dorange did not want my father to know?"
"You think Dorange would tell me. That supposedly is only something he and your sister knew. But, I'll tell you what ? Your Highness."
"What?"
"Your father won't find out about this conversation, either," Sartel said as an evil smile spread across his face.
Celeste looked down just as Sartel began to raise his right hand. She tried to dodge the deathblow to her heart, but she didn't move fast enough to avoid the blade altogether. Sartel jammed a dagger deep into her left shoulder just below her clavicle. She screamed in pain and fell to her knees.
Celeste looked up at Sartel and raised her gun to shoot. He quickly dove out of the way as the plasma flash from her gun hit the underside of her Chati. Sartel tried to scramble to his feet, but he slipped in the wet snow.
She tried to fire again. However, Sartel noticed her taking aim and threw a side kick right into her injured shoulder. She dropped the gun, grabbed her bloodied shoulder, and fell onto her back, gritting her teeth in pain.
When Celeste opened her eyes, Sartel was standing over her with her gun pointed right between her eyes. "Nice try, Your Highness, but you can't beat me. It looks like you won't be able to warn your rebel friends about the attack."
Celeste grabbed the dagger in her shoulder and began to pull it out, but as she pulled the blade from her shoulder, Sartel placed his foot on the dagger and pressed down. She screamed in pain.
"Don't even think about it, Your Highness! Let's just use this dagger as motivation," Sartel said as he tossed the gun into the snow, straddled Celeste, and grabbed the handle of the dagger with his right hand. Celeste pierced her lips as the pain shot down her arm. She felt the movement of the razor sharp blade cutting away at her clavicle as he moved the dagger slowly back and forth.
"Wha ? aah ? what are you doing?" Celeste asked, struggling to wiggle out from Sartel's straddle.
Sartel, still holding the dagger's handle, leaned in within a centimeter of Celeste's right ear and whispered, "Let's just say that I am going to enjoy this before I kill you." And then, he kissed her ear.
Celeste tried to resist, but she was weak and getting weaker by the minute as blood poured out of her shoulder.
He continued to kiss her on the face and then down her neck. She was repulsed and nearly vomited. The more she struggled, the tighter Sartel's grip became on the dagger. Finally, after a few seconds of struggling, she relaxed. She now knew what she had to do, but the question was - could she?
"That's my girl. Don't fight it."
Celeste ignored his comment and continued to force her body to relax, even though she felt her body shivering from the cold because of the blood loss. She needed all of the energy she could muster now. For years, her father had been teaching her how to do it, but she could only move small objects with her mind. She could never move anything bigger than a small boulder; especially another living Gnol.
Sartel was getting more aggressive. Nevertheless, Celeste forced her body to relax and pictured what she was going to do over and over in her mind. Finally, when she felt like she was ready, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She slowly felt the weight of Sartel's body being lifted from her.
"What are you doing?" Sartel shrieked as he gripped the dagger and pushed it deeper into Celeste's shoulder. Celeste ignored the intolerable pain as she felt the point of the dagger penetrate her shoulder blade and exit her skin on the other side.
There is no pain. There is no pain. Lift him! Lift him! she thought.
Sartel was now an inch above Celeste; then two; then three.
Sartel, however, still had a hold of the dagger and tried to force his body back onto her's, but she held him in place.
Celeste held her right hand up with the palm open and mentally pushed Sartel upwards. Sartel shot up another five feet into the air and pulled the dagger out with his ascent. The pain Celeste felt as the blade exited her shoulder caused her to lose focus. She opened her eyes and saw Sartel beginning to fall back on top of her. His eyes were wild with fear.
Quickly, Celeste pulled her knees to her chest with her feet ready to catch Sartel. She caught him in the abdomen and smelled the stink of his breath as air rushed out from the blow. She shot her legs forward and sent Sartel hurling through the air. She heard the crack of his back when he hit the wing of her Chati.
Celeste rolled over onto her stomach. She could hardly hold back the tears because of the pain. Staggering to her feet, she realized she had made a mistake by turning her back on Sartel. She quickly turned around and saw Sartel charging at her with the dagger raised. She quickly raised her right arm and extended her hand and fingers.
Sartel reached out and tried to grab Celeste's arm, but he was too late. She had regained her focus and lifted him to about ten feet in the air. Sartel wasn't scared this time, however. He instinctively flipped the dagger around, catching the point of the blade between his thumb and index finger and threw it toward her chest.
There wasn't enough time for Celeste to move out of the way. So, paying no heed to the throbbing pain in her left shoulder, she quickly and painfully raised her left arm, while still holding Sartel in place, and mentally caught the dagger. The dagger stopped with the point of the dagger a centimeter into her thick black coat. With a push of her left hand, she mentally withdrew the dagger from her coat, flipped it around, and sent it speeding through the snow-filled air toward the center of Sartel's chest.
Sartel's face was no longer angry. It was now filled with terror as he saw his imminent death fast approaching. He tried to move, twisting his body, circling his legs, and moving his arms frantically in a swimming motion. But his efforts were useless. Celeste held him in place until the dagger penetrated his chest and ripped through his back by the sheer velocity with which she projected it.
With a downward thrust of her arm, Celeste sent Sartel crashing to the ground. She heard the crack of his kneecap as his knee hit a small boulder below.
Celeste dropped to her knees in the snow. Her wound and mental concentration on moving Sartel had exhausted her beyond consciousness. She looked up and noticed that her vision was blurry. Just before her eyes shut and her head hit the cold, wet snow, she thought she saw Sartel's body move.
Worlds Without End: The Mission (Book 1) Page 42