Khari'na Made (Muse Book 1)

by Jean Winter

  “I will wait,” Kade muttered and nodded toward a hall. “In the council room, I presume?”

  “Aye, sir.”

  But as Kade turned to leave, the timid soldier added, “But, I am afraid the meeting just got started—”

  Bloody moons! Could this get any worse? Kade turned the corner and didn't hear anymore.

  Upon arriving before the council room doors, it got worse. There was a sentry standing guard outside, and he didn't look the type to let a flustered, out-of-uniform, rather disheveled, retired soldier interrupt his superior officer's meeting. An uncomfortably hard bench nearby became Kade's only friend, the bare brick wall across from him, his interminable torture.

  Minutes.

  More minutes.

  Kade asked himself for the hundredth time if he was sure about what he was doing. Just a month ago he was relaxing in a bar with his best friend like they did every few weeks, laughing and arguing about sports, politics, and women. His business was finally beginning to flourish. He was making plans to build a new house and perhaps start hiring on some full-time help to ease his burden. He was even thinking of expanding the business after that. Things were just fine. Things were looking pretty good, as a matter of fact!

  Now he was stuck waiting, hungry, stressed, the future of his living in disarray, sitting in a cold, lonely hall until someone came along with whom he could beg, bargain, or bribe to allow him access to a renegade woman who refused to surrender to her love for him because of a stupid, religious hang-up.

  You are blooming crazy!

  You must protect her.

  Aaaarrggh!

  Eventually, Kade flopped to his back and closed his eyes. The bricks in the wall weren't going anywhere. Not one of the two hundred and eighteen he had already counted.

  God o' Lyra, if you are there, and if you care a lick about what she has already endured for you, you will do something to help me out here. And you had better watch over her until I can get to her or, so help me, I will curse your name forever …

  “J'Kor, what on Geniven's good earth are you doing here?”

  Kade's eyes flew open to the face of Colonel Thyks hovering over him. It didn't look happy. Good grief! He must have dozed off! Kade scrambled to get up and stand at proper attention. A glance at his watch made his mind reel. He had been waiting there for over two and a half hours! “I need to speak with you, sir, please. About a certain woman that was brought in today.”

  Thyks' brows knit together into one irritated line. Then he turned to his colleagues and politely excused himself from walking them out. Kade didn't dare move a muscle as goodbyes were exchanged and the small pack of high ranking authority left, the guard trailing after them.

  When Thyks finally turned back to him, all Kade got was a scouring glance and a, “Go home, Kade. You are no' supposed to be here.” Colonel Thyks turned on his heel and marched away.

  “Sir!” Kade said, following him down the hall. “Please! Hear me out. She should never have been arrested. I have reason to believe the whole proceeding was rigged. You know how crooked Malig'ahnt is!”

  Suddenly, Thyks was on him, hissing quietly, “I advise you to maintain better control o' your mouth, soldier. You canno' go around shooting it off like that against one o' Caldreen's most powerful citizens … even if what you say may be true.”

  “Sorry, sir.” Moons, he had better calm down! “I am just very worried about her. She does no' deserve a punishment from him. I fear for her life.”

  The colonel rubbed at his thick jaw. “I have heard about the verdict. Serpahn is no' allowed to kill her, you know. And she will be returned to you tomorrow.” Then his head cocked to one side. “How did you escape house arrest, by the way?”

  Kade ignored the question. “But we both know Serpahn is no' one to follow the rules, sir. And if he does no' kill her, I can guarantee you she will wish he had by the time he is done with her. Please, sir.” Here came the begging part. “She is very special.”

  “Aye, I know,” Thyks agreed dryly. “I have two soldiers in the infirmary today attesting to that fact.” And he started heading toward the reception area again.

  “What?” Kade kept following.

  “She brought two o' my men to the ground this afternoon when they tried to load her into Malig'ahnt's carriage. What a public embarrassment that was.”

  “He has already taken her?” Kade's stomach jumped into his throat.

  An at-ease signal was given to the nervous private behind the reception desk as they passed by. “Aye. A few hours ago, I think.” Thyks was handed a stack of papers.

  A few hours! Kade began to feel sick. Then his feet slowed. “He took her to his home. That is where she is now!” he realized, and spun for the main doors.

  “Just where do you think you are going?” the burly, veteran demanded.

  Kade only gave the colonel a brisk nod and continued on his way … until armed guards loomed suddenly before him, barring the door. Kade swore softly. Reluctantly, he turned back to his commanding officer whose face was glowing red.

  “In my office, now!”

  Before Kade knew it, he was back in the colonel's office, being thrust into the same seat he had used a matter of days ago under friendlier circumstances. The door slammed behind him.

  “Now, tell me that you were going to go straight home, undo whatever you did to those poor saps who were supposed to be watching you, and kindly let them finish their job until morning!” Colonel Thyks stomped to his desk and glowered over it at Kade. “Because if I think for a second that you might be planning to sneak over to the Malig'ahnt estate and do something stupid, I will feel obligated, for your own safety, to detain you here behind bars! It is done! The ruling has been made, and anything you do to the contrary is strictly illegal.”

  Kade lifted his chin. “All right. For the record, I am going straight home.”

  “And off the record?” It came out as a growl.

  Blast it all, Kade couldn't bring himself to lie directly to his commanding officer. He had known Thyks a long time. The man was gruff, but honorable. Bloody whor'! Now it was time to bargain.

  “Sir, I canno' sit by and do nothing. … I love her. To ask me to go home would be like asking me to stop breathing, and if you would just turn your head for a night, I—” Kade had to take a deep breath before going on, “I will come back.”

  Thyks' chair creaked as the man's weight slowly settled upon it. “You will come back, meaning …”

  “I will take another commission. I will come back full-time like you have been wanting.”

  The bushy mustache got stroked in thoughtful consideration. “What about your business? Your home? You would have to move back here to be closer.”

  “Not an issue,” Kade replied vaguely.

  Raised eyebrows were the only hint of the colonel's total surprise as leaned back, clasping thick fingers over his belly.

  “Please, sir,” Kade implored again. “Malig'ahnt is an evil man. You know this. I canno' let him get away with this—no' with her.”

  Seconds passed. Thick lips were pursed together. Then Thyks said, “You must no' kill anyone. And as for any backlash you may receive afterward, Kade, you are on your own. The law is on his side.”

  “Understood.”

  Then Colonel Thyks laughed shortly. “The Mother only knows how in the world you will be able to get yourself in and out o' a fortress such as that, anyway.”

  “Er, aye,” Kade agreed. Honestly, his strategy so far had not gotten any more ingenious than some kind of one-man, testosterone-filled, under cover of darkness, it's a good day to die, night raid. He had to come up with something a little more intelligent than that.

  “Colonel, I have one thing I do need to request as an addendum to our deal.” A warning grimace appeared, but Kade went on anyway. “What do you have in the way o' fast-acting, ciliademoxide darts fitted for the L-7, these days?”

  All the wiry, red facial hair didn't quite stop the tiniest of grins from sho
wing. “Kade, that would be stealing—”

  “No' if you take it out o' my first month's pay upon returning. I used to have full access to the pharmacy, remember. And did your wife no' tell me, at one point, how fond you were o' lamb chops?” Evidently, the bribing part had arrived. “I would be happy to send some fresh cuts your way.”

  There was a little chuckle. “How many CMD's do you think you will need?”

  Minutes later, Kade's satchel was bulging as he ducked into an empty office with a wire receiver. One problematic detail conquered—about ten more to go.

  Sal picked up shortly.

  “So, what have you found out?” Kade demanded. He was acutely aware of the passing time.

  “Well, no' much, unfortunately. Khari'na are loaned commodities from the government. Rhubee says that the IA committee's decision is binding. All the signatures are there. Now, there would be something we could manipulate if it was confirmed that she was carrying your baby, but I think it is a little too late to try to take that route.”

  Blast those implants! It would be such a different story if she were a free woman, or even just a simple slave.

  The invention of implantation changed forever how the government was able to subdue “unruly” subjects. The nation's leaders relished the control it offered and the lawmakers in subsequent years only strengthened the government's hold on them. The people of Caldreen were becoming more and more reliant on implanted labor and what the work farms produced for their subsistence. The government itself was greatly supported by the auctions. Any kind of uprising or interruption to the smooth functioning of those industries would be fiscally disastrous. Consequently, Kade could understand the reluctance of the politicians to grant any kind of rights to the “special laborers.”

  “Blast,” he muttered.

  “I feel for you, brother,” Sal said. “Gone are the romantic days o' old when a man just took the woman he wanted and defended his right to her by wit or brawn, eh?”

  A sudden thought struck Kade—his first inkling of a ray of light in this tempestuous battle with the law. “Sal, you are a genius!”

  “O' course, I am.” Sal's voice crackled over the wire and the distance between them. “But care to tell me why you find me so remarkable at this moment?”

  “We just need to get me in there so I can find her—” Kade said, still thinking.

  “Wait,” Sal interrupted. “There? We?”

  “Aye, mate. The Malig'ahnt mansion. The two o' us. Keep up, will you?” The thinking continued. “It was quite a while ago, but I have been to the estate a couple times. I think I remember the lay o' the land. We could climb over the south wall—”

  “Oy! Kade!” Sal interposed. “Let me get this straight. Have you just volunteered me to drop everything and rush up to the evil lair o' one Serpahn Malig'ahnt to risk life and beautiful limb in an illegal two-man raid to rescue a Perc?”

  “Er, aye.”

  “… Well okay, brother, I was just clarifying. This is all rather sudden, you know.”

  Relief flooded through Kade. “Sorry Sal, I just found out that he has already had her there for a few hours and I am going crazy with worry.”

  “I can meet you south o' the estate in a little over two hours.”

  Two more hours! “Sal, please be as fast as you possibly can,” Kade entreated. “Oh, and bring Murzinda.”

  “… Murzinda? Really? Can I?”

  The sudden enthusiasm prompted a grin. “Aye, brother. We are going to need her tonight.”

  “I will be there in an hour and a half.” Click.

  Outside, Kade hailed a taxi and jumped in. The really hard part would be once he was inside the mansion. He had no idea in what part of that huge place to look first! He supposed he could coerce a servant, but that risked bringing attention to himself. Malig'ahnt surely had men inside as well as out, too. Kade had the driver drop him at a crossroad to walk the last quarter mile.

  The homes on the city's east side, the most protected side, were the grandest of the grand. The D'Pendul's themselves were only a half mile farther. The Malig'ahnt estate, in fact, stretched all the way down to the High Lord's. They were neighbors, with only a street running between their bordering walls.

  With the last of dusk fading into night, it wasn't hard to climb the estate wall unnoticed at the south end that held the utility gardens and small animal pens. Unlike nearly everyone else in the city, Malig'ahnt Senior was content to keep up a certain level of self-sufficiency—for “emergency” purposes, it was rumored. This side had the most concealing outbuildings, sounds, and smells that would help Kade sneak up to the house undetected. The rest of the land surrounding the mansion was a lot of open, manicured lawn with trees and shrubs only bordering the perimeter walls. It made for easier surveillance of approaching visitors. Or trespassers.

  Kade walked just inside the treeline to observe the comings and goings of the sentries. He was rather distressed to note the guard dogs—great, thickly-furred beasts with huge, deep heads—that probably weighed as much as he did. Maybe even more.

  However, had come prepared: essence of ferngree. The very aromatic plant interfered with a dog's sensitive olfactory glands. The really good tracking breeds were not fooled for long by it, but for the average, muscle-bound attack dog, it usually worked like a charm. Kade brought the vial out from his satchel and poured just a little into the palm of his hand to rub into his exposed skin. Then he lightly splashed some more onto his clothes.

  How grateful he was for his service background. Kade would never have attempted anything like this otherwise. As it was, he had a few favorite tricks he had picked up during his time, tricks of a little more subtle flavor than the usual big gun and hulky protective clothing most soldiers preferred.

  Malig'ahnt's sentries appeared quite on the ball, unfortunately. Like clockwork they scanned their areas, steadily moving to avoid fatigue and boredom and crossing each other's paths so that a set of eyes was always on every section of the grounds. Their cell-powered radio talkies allowed them to check in with each other every fifteen minutes, each man had his own mech torch to shine around, and of course, each one was armed.

  Once, during his silent round, Kade was startled by a rustling in the trees overhead. It seemed to follow him for several yards, but he soon determined that it was just some small, nocturnal animal watching him out of curiosity. Eventually, it gave one little screech and buzzed away and Kade caught its silhouette for a second in the moonlight between tree limbs. One of those tsarsets—inquisitive, little omnivores, prone to collecting small, shiny objects in their belly pouches.

  Eventually Kade made it back out the south wall to wait for Sal. If the man was going to make it here as quickly as he claimed, it would be soon according to Kade's watch. How his best friend could possibly travel that fast he did not know, but Sal didn't often make boasts he could not back up. And this time, Kade was rooting for the boast. He sidled up against a dark corner of the wall and waited impatiently.

  He had resorted to running through old tactical drill scenarios he and Sal had been required to train for one week a year (Sal always found a way to cheat his way through) when a repetitive drone met Kade's ears. It grew and grew until a light cut through the darkness a ways down the road. Kade stepped away from the wall and it all stopped. He held his breath. The soft, ghostly whistle of a sugarpip pod soon echoed up the empty, stone-walled street, and Kade smiled.

  Sal had made it.

  CHAPTER 23

  Lyra screamed again as the hard, metal buckle of Malig'ahnt's belt opened up more raw flesh across her bared back. She was naked on her knees, facing the wall, wrists cuffed to the towel bar above her head.

  “Thank you—my lord,” she managed between gasps. Please, God! Let me die now!

  Another lash of the belt whipped across her ribs and Lyra cried out again.

  “Thank you, my lord,” she choked once more.

  Lyra had lost count after the first ten strikes. After about twenty, i
t all started to blur into one huge, searing pain, anyway. They came again and again in slow but steady rhythm. If Lyra didn't offer her thanks quickly enough, Malig'ahnt would send her into twitching convulsions with her tracker's clinching button. If she tried to say anything other than, “Thank you, my lord,” she got the button again.

  At first, reciting to herself scripture verses or hymn lyrics in between lashings had helped dull the pain, but she was past that now. Nothing worked. All Lyra had was the dread of his next strike and the knowledge that no one was coming to save her.

  Oh God, where are you?

  Malig'ahnt wound up again and a small knock sounded on the lavatory door. He paused.

  “Enter,” he said, just a little out of breath from the steady exertion.

  “Dinner in fifteen, my lord,” the voice of Mrs. Trewz announced solemnly.

  Malig'ahnt took a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe his brow. “Good, I am hungry.” The belt was tossed to the side and he unlocked Lyra's cuffs from the bar. “Get her dressed, Mrs. Trewz, then bring her to me in the dining hall.”

  The clink of the cuffs became muffled in the confines of Malig'ahnt's back pocket and Lyra slumped to the floor

  “Aye, my lord.”

  Face pressed against the cool tiles, Lyra heaved gulping sobs. She had always thought childbirth was pretty painful, but this was much, much worse. The voice of Mrs. Trewz lilted dimly toward her.

  “Lie on these, miss, and I will clean you up before we get you dressed.”

  A large towel was spread beside her on the floor and Lyra dragged herself over it. The biting sensation of antiseptic liquid drizzling into the open sores riddling her back followed. Lyra bit her teeth together, hissing through the pain. Her fingers dug into the soft, thick fibers below.

  Breathe in.

  Breathe out.

  Finally, the burning began to recede. “Thank you, Mrs. Trewz,” she whispered.

  “Just rest for a few minutes, miss. I will be right back.” Then Mrs. Trewz's padding footsteps with the slight crick in one knee went out the door.