Crystal Fire (37 page)

"My parents?" Ferox smirked. "Ah, so at last you care. It warms my heart, this sudden interest, this"

"Cut the barsa dung, Ferox. Just tell me!"

The blond man's expression hardened. "And tell you I will. My mother was of no consequence, save for her glorious beauty," he began, "a simple serving woman in the House Ardane. But she was also a woman who longed for better things. As beautiful women are wont to do, she used her body to obtain her desires and seduced a young lord. I was the fruit of their love."

"Go on," Brace growled.

"There's little more to tell. The young lord kept my mother as his mistress until he was compelled to life mate with his betrothed, then he set my mother aside. Though he never came to my mother after that, nor claimed me as his son, he always saw to our support. At least until I was nine cycles old. Then the payments stopped."

Brace stared up at him in silence, knowing there would be more.

"No curiosity, Ardane, about why my father suddenly stopped supporting us? No concern over the fate of a fatherless boy and his impoverished mother?"

"Somehow I don't doubt you'll tell me anyway."

Ferox chuckled. "Ah, you know me all too well. Of course, I'll tell you. You
need
to know."

He licked his lips like some predator considering its prey, savoring the moment to come. "The payments stopped because my father left on a military mission. When he returned, he was mad."

The color drained from Brace's face.

"I see you're finally catching on, Ardane."

"No." Brace shook his head fiercely. "Itit can't be. I would have known, someone would've told me!"

"Told you what?" Ferox prodded softly. "That your father had shamed himself with a serving woman? That you had a bastard brother? That, by all rights,
I
came first, should have been the heir?"

He threw back his head and howled with laughter. "You're such a stupid, trusting fool! There was never concern for love or fairness in any of this. House Ardane wanted a purer, nobler bloodline than my mother could ever produce. So they inbred our father to a third cousin, in the process inadvertently strengthening the Crystal powers in you and Teran, while I received only the diluted leavings."

Ferox's handsome features twisted into a look of pure hatred. "So, do you finally understand? Begin to comprehend the enmity between us, and most especially for Teran? He took it allmy inheritance, the full Crystal powers, the Academy honors, and, finally, my mother's love . . .

"Yes, even my mother's love . . ." His voice faded, then it rose in volume and intensity. "But I'll soon have my revenge upon Teran. And you'll help me,
brother dear
or die!"

"Be damned!" Brace snarled, his mind whirling with this newest, most unnerving turn of events. "Blood or no, you ceased to be any kin to me when you turned against us all. I told you before. I won't help you!"

"Now, now, brother dear," Ferox chided mockingly. "Don't let your jealousy blind you. As long as Teran lives, you're little better than I. Help me with the Knowing Crystal and I swear there'll be a place for you in my kingdom."

"And you're a greater fool than I," Brace cried, "if you think the Crystal will ever allow itself to be controlled. Just as you used it to manipulate me, it has surely used
you
in the same manner. In the end, who do you think is
really
in commandyou or the Knowing Crystal?" "Liar! Madman!" Ferox spat, his face purpling with rage. "
I
control the Crystal. Never doubt that. It can be no other way. Itit's my destiny!"

"Is it, Ferox?" Brace countered softly. "Then why do you need me?"

Ferox trembled violently, fighting to master himself. "Your powers are stronger than you realize," he finally forced himself to reply. "That's why the stone is so determined to destroy you; you're its greatest threat. But together, our combined abilities will be enough to vanquish it, to become its ultimate master. So make your choice, dearest brother. Either join with me and key it to my bidding, or be driven mad like our father."

"As mad as
you
already are?"

Disbelief flitted across Ferox's face, then his handsome features hardened with resolve. "So you've made your choice, have you?"

He began to open the geode box. "Well, I've yet to turn mad," he said grimly, "but you will certainly soon be. And when your mind is finally gone, I'll still rework it to my bidding and make you my abject slave. How will you like that, brother dear? Hmmm?"

Brace barely heard him. His eyes were riveted on the box, his big body already trembling in anticipation of the torment to come. Twice this nocte Ferox had turned the Crystal upon him. And each time the agony had nearly driven Brace over the edge. He didn't think he could withstand another encounter. The lid opened fully and a blinding light flooded the chamber. Brace cried out, arching backward at the first onslaught of mental joining. With all his strength, he attempted to block the Crystal's psychic probing, but its attack was like fingers clawing their way through his defenses, inexorably gouging into his mind.

He was spent, ground away to exhaustion by his endless battle with the Knowing Crystal, the demands of the quest, his battered, wounded body. And now, by this newest, most horrible of revelations that his half-brother was the Imperium's vilest criminal! Gods, would the tragedies of his family never cease?

It was all too much. He hadn't any more to give. Yet still Brace girded himself, loath to surrender without one final struggle. The stone would win, would take his sanity at last, but he would fight it all the way.

The mental fingers ripped through his skull, his brain, then melted into a black, burning liquid to inundate his nerves. The fluid oozed into every screaming fiber until Brace jerked helplessly in a numbed, dreamlike horror. His mind bellowed, twisted in despair against his utter helplessness. His mouth opened, his face contorted in frozen agony, and choking sounds tore out of him.

And all the while Ferox chuckled softly. ''Had enough yet, brother? It's your last chance."

Gods, the pain was tearing him to pieces! Brace doubled over as the ooze reached his gut, twisting it into knot after agonizing knot. He retched, then dry-heaved, gagging so badly he thought he'd die from lack of air. Then Brace caught his breath, gasping and sobbing. Tears coursed down his face.

Ferox kicked him squarely in his injured right shoulder. Sharp, fresh pain rocketed through Brace and he nearly passed out. He fell, sprawling at Ferox's feet. Fingers entwined in his hair and his head was jerked back.

"Fool!"

Through swollen, bleary eyes, Brace stared up into a pitiless face, a face suddenly so like his own. His brother, he thought through a pain-reddened haze. Gods,
his brother!

Ferox squatted before him, the shining stone in his hand. "Stupid, stubborn fool."

A sense of déjà vu swept through Brace. He had heard those same words before, in a similarly painful situation, that sol his jailer Mardoc had last tortured him.

The irony of the moment mocked him cruelly. He'd escaped that last time only to find himself once again a captive, teetering precariously on the brink of madness. Had it been the Knowing Crystal even then that had beckoned him in that prison cell?

It didn't matter. There was nothing left to fight with.

Before, the battle had been to preserve his honor, his prideand to survive. But none of that was of consequence in light of this awful, reckless, doomed quest. His pride and honor were gone, drowned in his defeated tears, beaten out of his twisted, tormented mind and body. And survival'? Gods, all he wanted was to die, to end the agony at last!

The madness called to him . . . haunting, seductive. Brace moved toward it with desperate abandon. Then something stayed him. A memory, faint but lovely, of a woman . . . his love.

Marissa
 . . .

From someplace outside her mind Marissa heard his call. A fierce joy surged through her.

Brace. I am coming. I am here, my love
.

With all the power within her, Marissa strove to join with him, willing Brace all the strength of her body, all the force of her love. She felt him hesitate, waver, then his resolve harden.

Marissa turned to Rodac. "It's time," she whispered. "We've got to rescue Brace now or we may lose him forever."

The Simian nodded and unslung his blaster, signaling for Marissa to do the same.
Try to take out as large a group of men as you can with one blast. It will be our first and only opportunity for the element of surprise. Then, while I see to the others, try to get to Brace as fast as possible. Finish Ferox. It's the only way to save Brace
.

Finish Ferox
.

The words had a wonderful ring. Marissa nodded grimly. Her finger moved to the firing mechanism on her blaster.

In those last moments as they waited for Ferox's men to move into the most advantageous groupings for maximum use of the blasters, time slowed for Marissa. Everything faded save the scene of the two men in the center of the circle.

Two brothers. One blond and strikingly handsome, clever and ambitious. And the other, equally talented and darkly attractive. But in their souls as stark a contrast as there ever was.

Despite the tragedy of his illegitimate birth, so much had been given Feroxhis great abilities, his physical attributes. Yet he'd allowed one terrible loss to poison him until he'd squandered everything. Brace's life had taken a similar course of familial betrayal when his uncle had turned against him and Teran. Yet, though he'd had to struggle against overwhelming adversity time and again, he'd never lost that shining essence that made him the man he was.

A good man. A strong yet gentle man. A man of courage and integrity. A man who'd had to choose between right and wrong, and who had always made the more difficult but better choice . . .

The movement of the guards called Marissa back to the reality of the moment. Her concentration sharpened. With a low grunt Rodac fired. A split secundae later, Marissa's finger clamped down on her own blaster's firing mechanism.

Pandemonium filled the cave as they methodically dispatched two large groupings of Ferox's men. Bursts of blue light exploded about the chamber as their opponents found their own weapons and returned fire. Three guards toppled over, seared by Rodac's weapon's superheated blast. Marissa managed to finish off two more, then ducked barely in time to avoid being scorched alive herself.

Momentarily her eyes sought Brace. Ferox had dragged him over to a small alcove where both were safely out of the line of fire. The Knowing Crystal still clenched in his hand, Ferox hovered over Brace's writhing body. He seemed determined to complete the task of driving Brace mad before making good his escape. There would be no rival for the Crystal left behind this time.

More guards rushing in from the outside diverted her attention. There was no choice, Marissa thought, forcing herself back into the fray. For a time longer, Brace would have to hang on as best he could.

"I'll take care of them," she shouted, motioning to the men entering the cave. "You finish the ones in here."

Rodac nodded and concentrated on the guards already in the chamber. And, one by one, Marissa blasted down the new arrivals.

Gradually the cacophony lessened as the battle drew to a close. Leaving Rodac to elim- inate the remaining combatants, Marissa slipped down to the floor and around toward the alcove that held Ferox and Brace. Seemingly aware the battle had not gone in his favor, Ferox had moved to the more expedient act of strangling Brace. The still glowing Crystal lay beside him, now in its open box.

Marissa considered finishing Ferox with the blaster but feared hitting Brace as well. Slinging the weapon over her shoulder, she pulled her dagger out of its sheath and worked her way over to the two men.

With his hands tied behind his back, Brace could do little to resist the choking grip about his neck. He bucked and twisted to free himself, but his waning strength, combined with the Crystal's continued mental hammering, soon left him incapable of further resistance. The life ebbed from his body and a roiling mist darkened his vision.

Gods, he was dying! he thought in despair. Dying at the hands of his own brother! Dying with the Knowing Crystal lying so close he could have reached out and touched it. So close at lastand he could do nothing!

Utter anguish filled him, anguish and a terrible fear of what was to come. What would happen to the Imperium, to Teran and Alia, to Marissa? Whatever still lay ahead, he had to be there to fight it with them! He
had
to.

With a strangled cry Brace heaved up and threw himself into Ferox. It was enough to knock the criminal aside. Ferox's grip about Brace's throat loosened. Brace jerked away.

In that instant Marissa reached them, flinging herself onto Ferox's back. Her dagger slipped around to the front of his throat and she slashed. Thrown off balance, Ferox fell back into her and the blade left only a superficial cut.

Bellowing in rage and pain, Ferox twisted about in Marissa's grasp. He shoved the full weight of his big body into her. She tumbled backwards, her blade hand slamming into the rocks as she fell.

The dagger flew out of her grasp, and Ferox caught it. Her head hit the ground, the impact hard and jarring. Marissa saw stars and frantically fought past them, struggling back to full awareness.

Ferox stood there, the geode box clutched to his chest, staring up at the brilliant stone now hovering above him. His expression was intent and horror-strickenas if the Crystal were speaking to him. The blood drained from his face. He shook his head slowly, his lips moving.

"No," he whispered piteously. "Please, Mother. No!"

With a wild cry Ferox grabbed at the stone, capturing it and shoving it quickly into its container. Then he ran, panicked and unthinking, straight toward the cave's entrance.

Straight toward Rodac.

In that awful instant Marissa saw the blond man raise her dagger as he barreled directly at the Simian. She leaped to her feet as Rodac lifted his blaster in a threatening motion. Ferox, crazed with fear and haunting memories, didn't see, didn't hesitatedidn't stop.