Found (47 page)

“And yet you ssstill come running back the
moment I call,” the AllFather taunted.

“I came back for her—for my mother.” Xairn
could hear the sounds of battle as the AllFather’s guards clashed
with the Kindred warriors but he had eyes only for the foot of the
throne. There stood the cage, just as it had in his dream. Also as
it had been in his dream, the cage was covered by a black cloth.
“And to stop you from ever getting to Lauren,” he added, meeting
his father’s burning gaze.

“What makes you think I have any interessst
in your little female?” the AllFather hissed.

“You’re still trying to fulfill the
prophecy,” Xairn said, still climbing as he spoke. He was nearly to
the top step now, nearly to the cage… “You even took girls who
looked like her, but they couldn’t fulfill your purpose.”

“On the contrary, my errant ssson, they
fulfilled my purpose nicely—sssince my purpose was only to make you
think
I wasss ssstill interested in Lauren.”

Xairn frowned. “If you don’t want Lauren,
then who do you want?”

“
You.”
The AllFather’s eyes suddenly
went pitch black, the red bleeding out of his irises to be replaced
by a dark void. “You, my ssson! It is
you
that I want.”

Xairn was taken aback by the wave of pure
evil he felt pouring from his father’s empty eyes. “But…why?”

“You ssshall sssee. But by then it will be
too late.”

The AllFather began to laugh and the vast,
dark room seemed to swim around Xairn. The green etched throne,
glowing with poisonous runes, the black covered cage, the AllFather
himself laughing coldly, were suddenly a strange swirl of color and
confusion.

Suddenly Xairn felt as though a cold fist was
gripping his heart. “No!” he tried to cry out but the word came out
as a whisper. He heard Baird and Deep both shouting his name from
the foot of the broad staircase but he couldn’t see them—couldn’t
see anything but his father’s strange, black-on-black eyes.

And then the draining sensation began.

“I knew ssshe would bring you to the peak of
your power,” the AllFather hissed, his arms outstretched as he
absorbed Xairn’s life force. “I knew ssshe would caussse you to
mature and come into your own. And now your power will be
mine
—I will live forever when I have drained you, my
ssson.”

Xairn tried to answer but he was weak, so
very weak… He could feel his will to live, to fight, draining away
with every passing second. His fading strength seemed to delight
his father.

“You’re ssstronger than I ever dared to dream
you would be,” he hissed. “Even with that ridiculousss human DNA
grafted to your own, you ssstill have powersss beyond measure. But
now the human part of you will be your downfall.”

“What?” Xairn whispered. He was on his knees
now, the cryo-knife dangling uselessly from one limp hand.
“What…what do you mean?”

“It holdsss you back but ssstill you cherish
it.” The AllFather laughed. “Still you cannot let it go.”

Suddenly, Xairn realized his father was
right. The human DNA
was
holding him back—restraining him
from using his power completely. In order to defeat the AllFather
he would have to release it, would have to allow his Scourge DNA to
come to the forefront and supplant it.

But if I do that, I’ll never be able to be
with Lauren again. It’s all that keeps my Scourge impulses in
check—the only reason I’m able to be with her without hurting
her,
he thought desperately.
Better to keep it, hang on to
what little humanity I have, than revert to my former self and come
back to her a ravening, lustful monster.

Then he lifted his head and saw that the
black cloth covering the cage had blown partially away. A small,
feminine hand was clutching one of the bars of the cage and from
its depths, he thought he saw a familiar pair of green eyes.

Mother!
Determination suddenly surged
through him. He hadn’t come here to die, to allow his father to
suck him dry and leave a lifeless husk behind. He was here to save
her
—the female whose face he had only seen in dreams. The
one who had given birth to him and had him torn from her arms. The
mother he had always longed to know was just a few feet away, being
held in the AllFather’s cruel iron cage. He must not let her
die!

Summoning all the natural Scourge rage that
lay within him, just below the surface of his psyche, Xairn stopped
the power flowing out of him. Then, with a strength born of
desperation, he snapped the fragile chain of human DNA within
himself, allowing the floodgates of his true identity to surge
forward.

Immediately his eyes burned and he was
flooded with power. With it came cruelty, possessiveness, and a
lust he knew he would never be able to control.
A monster,
he thought as the Scourge impulses rushed through his body like a
wildfire, devouring all that was good.
I am truly a monster
now.
He looked down at his hand, holding the cryo-knife. No
longer was his skin a smooth, even tan. It had reverted to its
natural color of pale, pearlescent gray. Xairn knew without looking
that his eyes had gone back to their normal red-on-black as well.
He was Scourge again—through and through. There were other things
to worry about at the present, however. Such as what to do to his
father.

“Xairn?” The AllFather was looking at him
uncertainly. “My ssson? How have you changed?”

“I told you before that I am your son no
longer.” Xairn heard the coldness in his own voice as he got to his
feet. He raised the cryo-knife. “You have only yourself to blame
for that.”

“
Ssstop!”
The AllFather’s
voice crackled with authority and Xairn felt him put out a tendril
of power, but it had no effect on him. Instinctively, he grabbed
the power, reaching out with a part of himself he had never known
he possessed until now. The part was like a greedy, hungry hand. It
pushed out from the center of his chest and grasped for life—any
life—to feed its monstrous appetite. Once it latched on to the
power coming from the AllFather, it began to grow, to suck in his
energy and life force.

“How do you like it, Father?” Xairn asked
coldly, as he felt the force inside him begin to grow, even as his
father’s power diminished. “How does it feel to be the one who is
drained?”

“No!” The AllFather’s eyes were red-on-black
again but instead of crimson, his irises were a pale, rusty red.
They looked faded somehow and his already pale skin began to grow
ashen.

Because of me,
Xairn thought coldly.
Because I’m draining him, killing him.
The thought didn’t
cause any pain or remorse. The more power he drew from his father,
the less he felt. The less he cared. And the more he wanted.

“Ssstop!” the AllFather wheezed, sinking to
his knees. “It was a test, don’t you sssee? Only a test, my ssson.
And you have passed it. You are fit to rule with me, by my ssside.
Please…no…” He fell over, onto his side, his mouth open in
soundless screams but still Xairn drained him. Still the hungry
hand grasped for more…

“My son, stop!”

At first Xairn thought it was some trick his
father was playing but the voice he heard now was soft and feminine
and there was no hissing in its tone.

“Stop,” the voice cried again. “Do not take
any more of his essence into yourself. Inhaling his evil will taint
your soul!”

Looking up, he saw a feminine face pressed to
the bars of the cage. It was the same face he remembered seeing
over and over again in the visions his father had shown him. The
sight of it—of
her
—nearly stopped his heart. It had begun to
feel like a fist of solid ice in his chest but now it throbbed
painfully inside him, as if to say that it wasn’t quite frozen
yet.

“Mother?” he asked, stepping around the
fallen body of the AllFather. “Is it you?
Really
you?”

“Oh Xairn. My baby.” She pressed her face to
the bars of the cage and reached out to him with both arms.

Xairn came to her slowly, walking on legs
that felt like dry sticks.
Mother…my mother…
Strangely, she
looked exactly as he had seen her in the visions. Her long
brownish-black hair wasn’t streaked with grey and her face was
unlined—untouched by age.

“Mother,” he whispered again, falling to his
knees beside her and taking her outstretched hands. “How…why…I
thought you were dead. Why did I never see you? Where did he keep
you?”

“Your father held me in stasis—never aging,
never changing. He has a stasis tube in one of the emergency life
pods—that was where he kept me.” Her eyes were bright with tears.
“He wanted my pain to remain fresh—the pain of losing you. Oh
Xairn, my baby, to me it was only yesterday that you were torn from
my arms. And now you’re a fully grown male. I can hardly believe
it.”

“Mother…” Suddenly he could stand to see her
caged no longer. “Hold on,” he said, looking for the lock. “I’ll
get you out of here. I’ve come to take you home.”

“Oh Xairn…” She let out a half sob as he
found the locking mechanism and plunged the cryo-knife into it. The
lock froze and shattered into a thousand pieces. Headless of the
shrapnel, Xairn dragged open the door to the cage. “Come out.”

“My son. How I have longed to hold you just
once more.” Stiffly, she made her way out of the cramped confines
and fell into his arms. Xairn pulled her close at once, crushing
her to him, pressing his face to her hair and breathing her in.

“Mother,” he whispered. “All my life I have
longed for you.”

“I’m sorry. So sorry.” She sobbed against him
and Xairn tried to hold her more gently. She felt fragile in his
arms, as though she might break into a thousand pieces like the
lock had.

He took a deep breath and tried to calm the
painful throbbing of his heart. Not frozen now—his mother’s love
had melted it completely. “It’s all right now,” he whispered. “I’ll
take you someplace safe. You’ll never have to worry about anything
again. I’ll provide for you, care for you—”

“No, my son.” Her voice sounded strange in
his ears and he pulled back to look at her.

“Why not?”

“I won’t live that long. Look.” She indicated
her face and Xairn saw to his horror that her formerly smooth skin
was now lined with wrinkles. As he watched, more lines encroached,
etching themselves into her lovely features, turning her old and
haggard. Streaks of silver grew in her hair and her hands grew
withered and gnarled.

“Gods!” he exclaimed, panicked. “What’s
wrong? What’s happening to you?”

“The cage I was placed in was a stasis
holder.” Her voice sounded scratchy and high, the voice of an old
woman. “When I came out of it, my artificial youth was compromised.
The years are catching up to me now—three years for every one I was
in stasis. It is a deadly process—one I’m not strong enough to
withstand, I fear.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xairn’s felt hot
tears spring to his eyes. “Why didn’t you stay in the cage? I never
should have broken the lock!”

“I wanted you to.” She raised a withered hand
and brushed his cheek. “I wanted to hold you in my arms one more
time before I died. I love you, my darling. Love you so much.
Please forgive my absence from your life.”

“You couldn’t help it,” Xairn whispered, his
voice breaking as the tears came faster. “I could never…never blame
you.”

“Thank you, my son. I love you.” She smiled
at him and even though her face was withered and old, he thought
her smile was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Tell me
this at least—do you have someone to love you? Someone to care for
you?”

Xairn thought of Lauren. Of how he would
never be able to go back to her now that his Scourge nature had
reasserted itself. “Yes,” he whispered hoarsely. “There is a girl I
love. She’s kind and beautiful. I…I think you would like her.”

“I’m so glad.” His mother sighed tiredly. “So
glad that you’re not alone. That you have someone to love you.” She
shook her head feebly. “I must go now. Promise not to take any more
of your father’s power—it leads only to corruption and evil.”

“I…I promise,” Xairn whispered. “Mother,
please don’t go. Don’t…don’t die.”

But it was too late. Slowly her green eyes
closed and her chest rose and fell once more. Looking at her, Xairn
knew it would never rise again. She was gone.

“Mother!” Throwing back his head, he howled
his grief to the universe. Dead, she was dead! He had found her at
last only to lose her forever. It seemed so unfair, so
wrong.
He wanted to kill, wanted to die, wanted to dive into
the blackness of space and let the airless vacuum take him so he
wouldn’t have to feel the unbearable pain of her loss.

Suddenly he heard a soft sound at his
feet.

“Ssso, you have freed her at last.” The
AllFather was watching him from faded red eyes but Xairn thought he
looked stronger than he had a few minutes ago. Was his power
returning?

Doesn’t matter if it is,
Xairn
thought, turning a murderous gaze on his father.
I can fix
that.
He felt the greedy, grasping fist rise inside him once
more, ready to take, ready to inhale his father’s power and leave
him a dry, desiccated corpse at the foot of his own throne.

But then he remembered the soft voice of his
mother.
“Inhaling his evil will taint your soul!”
she’d
said.

“That’sss right, it will.” The AllFather
chuckled weakly, his eyes glowing brighter as he read Xairn’s
thoughts. “Ssso you cannot take my life. I know you, my ssson—you
will not go against your mother’sss dying wish.”

“No, I won’t.” Tenderly, Xairn laid his
mother’s body on the ground and turned to face his father who had
somehow gotten to his feet.

“I knew it.” The AllFather’s hissing laughter
filled the air. “Knew you were too weak to truly challenge me.”