Broken Vision (19 page)

"We'd know that. Our scanners show only five sentients aboard their vessel."

"Then maybe they obtained critical information," Drakal offered.

"Why are they still here? They haven't requested departure clearance. They're just sitting
there."

"Waiting for something."

"Alerik, where's Maegan?" Sharm inquired.

Outside the habitat, a soft green mist was beginning to obscure the valley floor. Two
squems scampered along the balcony rail, oblivious to the problems of the human world.

"I locked her in the safe room with Makiee," he said absently. "Probably should let her
out."

A muffled snort came from one of the men behind him.

"Bargain with her," he heard Drakal mutter. "Release her when she gives up some
information on this place."

"Not a bad idea," Sharm said quietly beside him.

"I don't think any of us have the patience to outwait her." An urgency was rising in him as
something poked and prodded in his brain.

"Sagar's crystals!" The sick realization exploded like a laserblast, and he turned with a
violence that made Sharm jump back. He didn't bother with the comm, but strode across the room
and down the hall to the safe room.

"Check her tracker signal," he snapped over his shoulder. It took tremendous effort to
focus on the code sequence he had programmed to lock down the safe room. When the door
opened, the sight of Makiee, all alone, playing with a holovid, validated his fears and almost sent
him to his knees with rage and an inexplicable pounding grief.

"Tracker's dead," Sharm said. "It's either been blocked or disabled."

He nodded unsurprised, drew a ragged breath and focused on the Bogasill. "Where is
she?"

Makiee cowered in his chair like a cornered carnet. He glanced wild-eyed from Alerik to
Sharm. The holovid game revolved forgotten in front of him. His hands dug into the arms of the
chair and he looked like he could bolt except there was nowhere to go.

Fearful for Maegan, Alerik had no patience. He descended on the boy prepared to choke
the answer out of him until Sharm's quiet warning brought him up short.

Through a red haze, he forced himself to step aside and let Sharm approach Makiee. "No
one's going to hurt you. Just tell us where she is," he said.

Garbled noises came from the boy.

"Do it again," Sharm commanded.

Makiee almost fell out of his chair in his hurry. He knocked the holovid aside and, with a
wary eye on Alerik, stumbled over to the room's control panel, which was open, its face
removed.

Alerik forced his fisted hands behind his back and made himself stand at ease, legs spread,
as Makiee fumbled and fiddled with the panel's interior. After nanonans, he threw up his hands and
mumbled something to Sharm.

"He let her into the bathing chamber," Sharm snapped at Corenna and Drakal.

Corenna and Drakal had only been gone a nan when Makiee exclaimed in triumph and a
door behind Alerik slid open. It was too much to expect, of course, that she would be there.

As Alerik stepped into the room, Corenna and Drakal burst in through the door leading to
Maegan's sleeping chamber. "Not here," he tossed back at Sharm.

More questions from Sharm. More mumbles from Makiee.

"He says she made him the close the safe room door immediately."

"And did he?" Alerik prowled the perimeter studying every architectural feature that could
yield a clue. If Maegan had left the habitat, this was the room from which she'd done it. But he was
fairly certain the room had only one outside wall, which was made of opaque plexi. Nothing about
it suggested a hidden portal.

"He did, but he was curious so he opened it again."

Alerik stopped in his tracks and pivoted. Sharm and the Bogasill stood together at the door,
the boy slightly behind the commander. He narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Her life may be at stake
here. I want everything you saw, everything you heard, everything you smelled. Everything."

Makiee looked like he was about to expire from fear, but then he rallied. He threw his
shoulders back and moved forward. "I-it wasn't much." He sidled past Alerik and tapped on a
section of solid wall. "It looked like there was some sort of exit here. It was only a nanonan.
Maegan was already gone. I can't be sure."

"It's all we have. Get the platscanners in here," he snapped at Corenna and Drakal. "Maybe
this time they'll do some good against Morgon and his slieking technology. I also want a report on
the priests. Makiee, over here now. Start looking. There has to be something that controls the
portal."

Enthusiasm restored at being given a task, Makiee hurried to comply.

"What's bothering you?" Sharm asked quietly, as they watched the Bogasill run his hands
along the base of the wall. It wasn't where Alerik would have begun to look.

"Yes, she's gone again, but I get the feeling you think there's a connection between her
disappearance and the priests?"

"I don't know." Alerik turned aside. Makiee, although intent on his task, was likely
listening to everything they said. Alerik just didn't know that he could trust him. When it came to
Maegan, he was finding it hard to trust anyone.

"My gut is telling me something is very wrong here. Why did they go back to their ship so
abruptly? Why did they come here in the first place? I'm guessing they have what they were
looking for. Or something comparable."

"Maegan would do everything in her power to keep those children away from them,"
Sharm said. "It was her own decision to leave that safe room. You can't assume there's a connection
between her and the priests' activities."

"You just said it yourself. 'Everything in her power.' To the point of sacrifice?"

"You're not thinking logically, Alerik. What would that accomplish? The priests want the
children, not her."

"They know she was involved in their abduction. And she knows they know. She might
have given herself up to allow Morgon more time to get the children to safety."

He turned back to check on Makiee and scowled. The boy was attacking the wall in an
inefficient, random pattern.

"Assuming Morgon even has the children, that still doesn't make sense," Sharm muttered at
his side. "Give Maegan more credit-- Balls of Sortor!"

The section of wall Makiee had been exploring suddenly slid open.

Makiee yelped and jumped back. "I didn't do that."

"You disappoint me, Makiee." Out of the dimly lit aperture stepped a tall figure dressed in
dark brown from neck to feet. "You should have worked out the mechanism easily enough, or were
you procrastinating? Torn loyalties, hmm?" He inclined his head. "Governor. Commander."

Alerik stepped forward. The brew of emotion threatening to erupt was barely under
control. "Morgon Trion? Or is it Commander Tiege?"

"Whichever pleases you, sir. I claim both names."

"And how many others?" Alerik said through gritted teeth. "Where is my wife?"

Margaine Confluence:/Fourth Rising
Pallas Four

The stygian darkness she could bear. It was the bone-invading cold that was intolerable. It
made her body shudder and her teeth hammer together. Her body, still fragile, had no defense
against it.

Maegan hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees, where at least some of the
captured warmth from her breath eased the icy prickles of pain in her face.

She was terrified. She'd been brought to the Taragon vessel, that much she knew. What she
didn't know was whether the vessel still rode at dock on Pallas Four or had departed. If it was still
on Pallas Four, she at least had a chance. Because once they took her away, she had no doubt her
life was forfeit.

There were thirteen priests, she was certain. More than the Mariltar technology had
identified. They were somehow able to shield themselves and move undetected.

They'd discovered her bracelet immediately and had seemed to recognize it for what it was.
Whatever they had done to it with that odd zap of electrical current had ensured the bracelet no
longer gave off tiny warm vibrations against her wrist. She was certain the signal had been
destroyed.

Alerik wouldn't be able to find her.

She wondered, with despair, if he even knew she was missing. Or really cared.

He had to regret the marriage partnership. She was the antithesis of everything he valued,
everything for which he existed. Why would a Mariltar heir take her, a known troublemaker, for his
bonded mate? She couldn't make sense of it.

And yet... Their physical bonding had been the most amazing experience of her life. He
had been so tender, so intently focused on her and her needs, so passionate, so caring. For that too
brief, exquisite moment in time, he had made her feel cherished, even...loved.

In this dark, icy place, she could touch three walls by stretching out her hand. She'd tried to
locate the fourth and couldn't. She decided she didn't want to know what lay in that impenetrable
void.

There was no way to judge the passing of time. Her thoughts pulled her into warm, loving
fantasies where she and Alerik put aside their differences and created a family together, only to jerk
her away and batter her against painfully sharp spears of skepticism, doubt and mistrust.

When a beam of light illuminated the darkness, she was convinced at first she dreamed or
hallucinated. Stiff from cold, she managed to lift her head. It was no dream. Something large
moved to partially block the beam of light. A rough exclamation carried a note of disgust. Dim
lumens sprang to existence and slowly, slowly the room began to warm.

"I apologize." The figure knelt before her and spread a soft, warm heaviness over her
shoulders. Life-giving heat blanketed her aching limbs. "This is unacceptable treatment. I will
register a protest with our council." The universal language flowed in beautiful, soft cadence from
him. There was no trace of the heavy accent she had heard from her other abductors.

The man tilted his head and she had her first full look at him as the hood of his robe
slithered off his bald head.

An odd sensation gripped her. Something was off. Her memory, sluggish from the cold,
wouldn't respond to the nudge.

He had one of the most beautiful faces she had ever seen. Sharm Foster's handsomeness
seemed ordinary by comparison. High cheekbones, chiseled lips, everything in perfect proportion.
But it was his eyes--liquid, midnight, extraordinary eyes--that compelled, drew her, made her forget
where she was and why she was there.

She swayed forward. He gave a gentle smile.

Then suddenly her mind was her own again. Dazed, she tried to assimilate what had just
happened, but couldn't focus. His gaze roamed her face, then her body. Everywhere it touched, it
warmed. Her uncontrollable shudders stopped. Cold-induced aches vanished. Her terror evaporated.
This man would keep her safe.

He smiled again and held out his hand. Without hesitation, she put hers into it. A tiny jolt
of intense pain seared through the veins in her body, but was gone before she really registered it.
He glanced down at the hand he held and a curious stillness came over him. She thought she heard
a hiss.

The sapphire brand across her three fingers glowed jewel-bright in the low light. The man
seemed fascinated by it. He rotated her hand to the side, turned it over and rubbed his thumb over
the mark. When he raised his head, she had to bite back an exclamation. His eyes were fathomless,
dark, blank, empty, yet strangely beautiful and compelling.

"Alerik Mariltar's bonded mate," he said, his voice low and warm. "How surprising. Your
name?"

Without thought she spoke. "Maegan Shale."

"Morgon's niece."

He made the statement as if he already knew and was just reinforcing the knowledge. Her
relationship to Alerik had been more of a surprise.

Alarms were sounding in her head. Why was she answering his questions? At some deep
level, her instinct screamed at her to be cautious, but the answers came readily anyway. She didn't
seem to have a choice.

"Do you know my husband and my uncle?" She stumbled over husband, but he gave no
sign he noticed.

"I'm acquainted with both. I am Nargune, Clan of the Merula. Come." Still grasping her
hand, he pulled her to her feet. "This is no place for the wife of a Mariltar heir."

He led her into the wide corridor of the star vessel. It was deserted, nor did they encounter
another being as they walked for some distance in the dim light. There were no visible portals in the
walls. She had no clue as to the vessel's location.

Without warning, Nargune stopped and turned to face a blank wall. A portion of it slid
soundlessly aside. He ushered her onto a narrow lift tube. Lift tubes were designed to move fast,
but she was still unprepared for the rapid descent.

Her stomach heaved. A hand closed around her arm as the door opened again and instantly
her nausea disappeared. They stepped into a circular room filled with warmth and light. Eight
Taragon priests were engaged in various tasks around the room. The dome that covered the space
was not transparent but an opaque, luminous orange. Not a single priest glanced in their direction as
Nargune guided her almost half way around the room and through yet another door that opened
with their approach.

The lack of attention paid her was surreal. It was as if she didn't exist, as if it didn't matter
in the least that she had been removed from the dark, icy cell in which two of them had placed her.
The room into which Nargune led her was far different, certainly an anomaly on a working class
star vessel.

"Do let me know," he murmured, his voice smooth and rich with warmth, "if there is
anything you need." He released her arm and gave a brief bow of his head. "I must leave you to
attend to other duties, but I will return as soon as I am able. My apologies again for your earlier
treatment."

Left alone in the room, Maegan marveled at walls covered with opulent, deep crimson
fabric, an enormous sleeping platform suspended in mid-air and a sleek comm console that looked
complex and more sophisticated than any Mariltar technology.