Demon's Quest (22 page)

I'm glad it's you, instead,
I told him. He ran a hand over my hair.

* * *

"You are allowed to attend under the bereavement clause," the Warden examined Marzi Desh with distaste. She'd kept the last name against her ex-husband's wishes. Marzi was a troublemaker inside the prison—had most of her neighbors in conflict at all times. Even now, she was blinking her beautiful blue eyes at the Warden. He huffed at her pitiful attempts at flirting—his taste ran to males. Of course, she wouldn't know that—Marzi wasn't bright enough to read the signals. She did know how to keep things unsettled around her, however. Warden Brig Andlen pursed his lips at the thought.

"You will have guards around you constantly, you will be cuffed and should you do anything other than what is directed by your attendants, those cuffs will be activated. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do." Marzi's voice was low and sultry as she drew a pattern on her knee suggestively. Brig was thankful she was chained for the interview.

"Spare me—I find it insulting," Brig snapped. "You will have suitable clothing provided, but you will not be allowed to keep it. You will attend the funeral only, and return to the prison upon its conclusion. Do you understand?"

"Yes." Now she was angry and nearly spat the word at Brig.

"Get her out of here," Brig nodded at Marzi's guards.

Marzi called Brig an extremely unkind name as she was escorted to her cell. "There's one on the top floor that sends his greetings," the guard on her left whispered carefully. "He says that the white-haired bitch needs to suffer. He wants you to get close enough." Marzi, who'd done favors for both her guards, smiled.

"I'll owe you," she said sweetly. "Both of you."

"You'll have a heavy coat issued—winter is well-established," the other guard said softly. "You'll find what you need inside a pocket. And we'll expect the usual. Tonight and for the next six moon-turns."

"You'll get that and more," Marzi promised with a smile.

* * *

Former Master Cook Vyn Bralnon paced across his cell. The men's prison was located two floors above that of the women's. He wasn't without resources, and he'd watched every bit of news available, as soon as Aldah Desh accused Reah of killing his father. Aldah was the murderer as it turned out, but Vyn still blamed Reah for his imprisonment. He hated her. Would always hate her. Plus, he had ways of acquiring what he wanted. His mother still lived, and anything she could do for him, she would.

Vyn's mother, Stria, had bribed guards too many times to count, just to get a treat or some bit of contraband inside. This time, however, Vyn had two particular guards bribed—or at least his mother did. Reah Desh would attend Addah's funeral—that had somehow been leaked to the press. Marzi Desh, two floors down in the women's prison, would also attend.

Vyn didn't care what happened to Marzi—he only wanted Reah dead. It would be simple—supply Marzi with a weapon and Reah would die. Rumors abounded inside prison walls, but it was no secret that Marzi hated Reah just as much as Vyn did. Vyn smiled. His plan was perfect. Reah would die, Marzi would likely be killed onsite and since the guards would keep their part in this secret, Vyn would achieve his objective with no repercussion. His mood was nearly gleeful as he flopped onto his narrow bed. Now, if he could just find a way to speed through the next few turns of his sentence, life would be so much better.

* * *

"We'll wait until after the funeral to have our meeting," Lissa sighed. Kiarra had come to give Lissa information regarding the mentally ill Ra'Ak. "Reah took that one down on Tulgalan, thankfully. She needs to hear this, too."

"Yes, she does," Kiarra agreed. "And we must all be more watchful. Invite everyone connected to this, regardless. The more who know, the better we'll be at recognizing the signs."

"Lendill, Norian and Lok have been investigating more of the sites where children disappeared. So far they haven't learned anything new," Lissa said.

"We need a liaison between the ASD, what Gavril has in place and the Saa Thalarr," Kiarra said.

"Plus Wylend's warlocks," Lissa agreed. "You know, Denevik may be interested—Garde says that he's bored, most of the time."

"I'll consult with Pheligar. If he agrees, then we'll approach him," Kiarra nodded.

* * *

"Reah, I realize you may never wear that dress again, but you are beautiful in it." Corolan had a hand at my back as we were escorted into the temple for Addah's funeral. It looked to be a lavish affair. Erland walked ahead of us, Wylend behind with Ry. Cory looked more the part of King of Karathia than Wylend did, and that was by design. Cory was offering himself as a target, allowing Wylend to stand at his side and appear to be a guard.

Teeg was behind Wylend, with all four of the Starr warlocks guarding him and Wylend. Farzi and Nenzi, dressed finely for the occasion and looking quite handsome, walked on either side of Teeg. I pitied anyone who tried to harm the founding member of the Campiaan Alliance. Lok and Lendill had already gone inside; just to make sure all was well inside the temple before we arrived by hover-limo. Edan and Ilvan were walking on either side of Corolan and me—Ilvan would break away and join the family at a prearranged seat, Edan would remain with me.

Love, what do you think they'll find to say about the old bastard?
Teeg's voice was in my head.

I don't know, other than he knew how to cook
, I replied.

Well, there's that
, Teeg agreed thoughtfully.

Tory, Lok and Lendill waited next to our seating area while our company took its seats. Small, complimentary palm-vids were placed on the back of the seat in front of us. By pressing a button, we could pull up information on the deceased, and even record the ceremony or images of guests, if we wanted. Unfortunately, more than a few were trained on us already.

Soft music played while the remaining guests filtered in, escorted by temple acolytes dressed in the accustomed funeral white. Funerals were seldom invitation only, but this had turned into a state affair. Even the Governor of the Realm was there, since Wylend and Teeg had come.

I'd gotten mindspeech from Aurelius earlier—I didn't know exactly where his assignment had taken him, but wherever it was, he'd gotten news of Addah's death. He and I had held a lengthy mental conversation regarding dead parents and lost opportunities.

Once the Governor of the Realm was seated off to the side, the ceremony began. My conversation with Teeg proved to be prophetic—the priest went on at length about Addah's service to his customers and his genius in the kitchen. Very little was said about his extensive family. I glanced across the aisle at Farla and the other wives. Each was sitting on the first row, accompanied by their firstborn sons.

Surprisingly enough, Fes had come with Farla. I'd heard he'd wakened, but I hadn't known that he was fit enough to attend the funeral. His face was pale, but so was Farla's. He looked much like her, with darker hair, though his eyes were Addah's. Farla was in a terrible position—one of her sons was imprisoned for killing her husband. The situation had to be traumatic. I saw her squeezing Fes' hand several times with one of hers as she wiped away tears with the other.

Farla's head rested on Fes' shoulder, too, and he whispered to her now and then while she nodded, wiping more tears away with a kerchief provided by the temple. I held back my sigh of relief when the service was over and we stood when prompted, ready to file out. The family went first, followed by my bunch, in reverse order.

Wide doors at the front of the temple were swung open, allowing daylight to wash over the crowd near the back. We'd almost reached the portal when someone to my left stood. In slow motion I whirled to see who it was, receiving a terrible shock; they'd allowed Marzi to come.

Although she was surrounded by guards and wore shock cuffs, she somehow held a weapon in her hand. One of her guards, moving faster than the others, batted at the hand holding the weapon, which was aimed directly at me. The guard's blow caused Marzi's aim to go wide. Instead of sending the projectile flying at me, it now flew toward Corolan's head.

I may have screamed—I don't remember—all I know is that I moved swiftly enough to leap in front of the warlock, who was too stunned to move. Or perhaps he was moving, as were others around us, it's just that I could and did move so much faster.

As I leapt forward, I felt the bullet hit my neck, effectively deflecting it from Corolan. I heard shouting around me as the front of my beautiful, white gown was splashed with blood. Before everything went black, I recalled in some part of my mind that my carotid artery had likely been hit.

* * *

Marzi's four guards forced her to the temple floor quickly, wrestling the weapon from her hand and employing the shock cuffs. She was shrieking and convulsing while chaos erupted around the King of Karathia, the founding member of the Campiaan Alliance and their combined party. All were struggling to reach Reah, who was bleeding profusely.

"Enough." All were thrown back gently as a huge, blue Larentii appeared in their midst, Reah held in only one arm. His other hand was pressed firmly over the wound in her neck, sealing the wound swiftly with quick thinking and power. His clothing was covered in blood—Reah had been soaked in it. Kifirin appeared as well, shocking all the guests remaining inside the temple.

"Stand back," Kifirin growled. "Who has done this to our small one?" He stepped toward the guards, who still held Marzi on the floor. She stared up at him—he was in his smaller Thifilathi, black scales gleaming, wings half-furled, horns curling about his face and dark eyes angry as they glared at Marzi Desh.

"Save me!" She shouted. "He'll kill me!"

Her words caused Kifirin to breathe a billowing cloud of smoke. Marzi and her guards shrank back. "I won't kill you," Kifirin growled. "From this point forward, however, you will only speak the truth." Kifirin disappeared.

* * *

"Reah? Open your eyes, sweetheart." I heard Teeg's voice from far away. Where was I? My head was stuffed with cotton. There was no pain, but something had gone wrong. I just couldn't recall what it was.

"She's trying to wake—she moved a little." Wylend's voice, sounding hopeful.

"Please tell me she's all right." Radolf fretted.

"Karzac's here—he'd let us know if there's a problem." That was Tory's voice.

"We will give blood if it works for our Reah." Nenzi, now, but what was he saying? What did that mean?

"Young one, her grandfather and her great-aunt have already donated, and we have two more who are compatible and willing to give," Karzac replied to Nenzi's worried statement.

"Karzac?" My eyelids were weighted, I think, it took such an effort to lift them, and they wanted to close again immediately.

"Little girl, stay with us," Karzac brushed gentle fingers down my face. "You've lost much blood; that foul woman hit a major artery. If the Larentii hadn't come, even I wouldn't have been able to save you. You are stable now, so do not fret—we just need to get a bit more blood into you."

"Who?" I was struggling to remember the woman Karzac spoke of.

"Mother." I heard Ilvan's voice but I couldn't see him. Now I remembered. Marzi. Marzi, the one who'd killed my mother had nearly killed me, and probably not for the first time.

"Not for you to worry over at the moment," Karzac was hanging another bag of blood on a pole beside my bed. I didn't know where I was, the ceiling was unfamiliar.

"You are in the house that Gavril purchased for you in Targis," Karzac said softly, connecting the blood bag to a line hooked into my arm. "Rest assured that Marzi Desh is spilling everything she knows, not just to the prison Warden and Norian Keef, but the Governor of the Realm is there as well, and all are asking questions. I'm sure it is an unpleasant experience for her, forced to speak the truth as she is."

"Daddy?" My voice sounded lost, even to my own ears. Did Edan remember his mother? Where were his loyalties now?

"Baby, that woman means nothing to me," Edan knelt by my bed and gripped my fingers in his. "I don't know her, I only know of her."

"Em-pah's here, too, baby." Denevik's face appeared above Edan's.

"We had to hold him back for a while, he wanted to kill a few people," Tory grinned behind my grandfather. "And then Karzac and Jeff took some of his blood, so he's calmed down, now."

"Em-pah, if I'd been able, I might have wanted to kill people too," I said, my eyes closing in weariness.

"Come—we won't talk of such things now," Karzac's fingers were warm against my forehead.

* * *

"Master Cook Vyn, did you think to come before me a second time?" The Governor of the Realm gave his former head cook an angry glare. Vyn was terrified. How had that woman survived to tell the tale? He, the two guards he'd conspired with and his mother were all being questioned. And what was this regarding threats to a visiting dignitary?

"She fired directly at the King of Karathia's party," the Governor growled. "Are you aware of the charges that result from such an act?" Vyn could only shake his head—he had no idea.

"An act against a visiting dignitary is the same as an act against the Governor of the Realm, here or from any other Reth Alliance world. Now do you know?"