Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) (8 page)

“So you would choose to help this human over the dictates of your father?” With shrewd eyes, he stared deeply into her black gaze. “What are you hiding from me?”

He telekinetically threw her back against the wall, lifting her tired and bruised body before tossing her weakened flesh to the floor. Again and again he threw her against the unforgiving rock walls of the cell.

She drew close to losing consciousness as blood welled from her nose and ears and her brain swelled.

Her father finally relented in his torment. “You will stay here and think about your traitorous thoughts,” he said in disgust. “No true shayna would behave as you have. I’ve seen your intentions, Naria. The prisoner won’t live long enough to help you escape.” He crouched to stare into her eye not swelling shut. “This is your home. There is no escape, not even through death,” he promised. “Heal yourself and think about what you’ve done.”

He stalked out the door, and the lock clicked soon after. The pain overwhelming, she gave in to pitiful tears, glad that no one remained to witness her weakness. She had tried so hard to shield her thoughts, yet he’d learned of her plans to escape. Even worse, he knew of her ability to heal.

Curled into a ball, she sobbed at her miserable existence, knowing that even in death she would not escape. For in Dark World, death was a place given only to those Dark Worlders fortunate enough to earn it.

Jace shared a pain-filled glance with Koneru before looking back down at Castor. Jace had been able to revive Koneru, glad to see that as battered as the Rovi was, he still had the fortitude to survive demon torture.

“He’d been like this for more than a passing. I’m not sure he’ll live,” Koneru said in a low voice.

“The others?”

“Nesham escaped soon after they transferred you out of here. They took Mikhel somewhere, but we haven’t seen him since. I fear the worst.”

Jace hid the fear burrowing inside his heart. He stumbled and sank to the floor, his physical pain warring with his mental fatigue.

“You don’t look too good yourself.” Koneru’s white eyes stared unblinkingly at Jace’s bruised face.

“I’m better off than Castor.”

“Have you any idea what Demise wants with us? The best we could come up with is that he lives for torture. Stars knows we don’t have any real information worth knowing.”

But Jace did. Demise knew Jace held something important deep within his mind. Guilt spiked, but he shoved it aside, convincing himself that nothing he’d tell the demon lord would stop the creature from maiming and killing his crew.

Koneru turned back to Castor, quiet as he watched for signs of consciousness.

Seeing Koneru occupied and knowing he took a risk in doing so, Jace nonetheless closed his eyes and reached out with his mind for some hint of his missing crew’s presence. Instead of the normal variation of color he experienced when mind traveling, Jace saw everything in black.

The bleakness of this dark place oppressed him, not to mention the overwhelming mental activity going on in the prison. Aware his abilities were stunted by fatigue and pain, he decided to try only a little more, not wanting to overtax himself.

Blackness surrounded him, pressing in on all sides. A flash of blue filtered through the thick haze and Jace focused on it, feeling Fenturi energy fleeting in the darkness. The blue light flickered, and Jace watched with apprehension as the blackness around him absorbed the light, almost extinguishing it.

Sensing Mikhel on the verge of death, Jace quickly pulled back into his own body, cursing at the fates that had led to his decision to crash-land on Dark World.

“Jace, are you okay?”

Jace looked up to see Koneru and a bleary-eyed Castor studying him. Relieved that at least two of his crew had pulled through, if momentarily, he nodded. “Sorry, I may have dozed off there.”

“You look like you could do with a longer sleep.” Koneru eyed him critically. “But damn it’s good to see you again. And look, Castor decided to grace us with his presence. About time, you lazy Legionnaire.”

“Go to hell,” Castor grumbled. “It’s ex-Legionnaire.”

“I’m already there,” Koneru answered, earning weak laughter from both Castor and Jace. “At least we’re still alive. I hope Nesham and Mikhel can say the same.”

Jace nodded. He had no idea of Nesham’s state of health or whereabouts. That Nesham had escaped boded well for him. Since Demise hadn’t paraded his escaped prisoner bloodied and bruised in front of his men, Jace held hope that Nesham was still out there somewhere, beyond Demise’s black claws. Of Mikhel, he could only pray that they’d get out in time to save him from the bleak torture draining him even now.

***

Naria caught her breath and focused on her inner senses. Wishing she had some light—her father had even extinguished the weak torchlight from her cell—Naria called forth her healing powers. Searching inside of her body, she readily located the most important source of injury, that to her head.

Uttering a whisper of sound, she began the slow and painful process of healing herself. The rare instances she had used her gift, she’d experimented on injured creatures on Fer needing her assistance. They’d been much easier to heal, using their energy and her own to speed the process. Healing herself would be much more draining since she had only one source of energy to use.

With her brain no longer bruised, she worked on her left eardrum, the crusted blood on her lobe now the only evidence of pain she’d experienced. Looking deeper within, she restored her bruised muscles and sprained ribs.

Her limbs felt restored though exhaustion overtook her. She decided to heal her superficial skin bruises and swollen eyelid after a brief nap.

She awoke to a soft tapping on her cell door. Trying to peer through the blackness around her, Naria had no idea of how long she’d been asleep. She gingerly sat up. She felt tired but no worse for having withstood her father’s wrath. Her face throbbed, but other than that Naria felt almost normal.

“Naria, are you okay?”

Naria rose and walked unsteadily to the door. That had sounded suspiciously like Carinna.

“Hello?” Naria said.

“I’m coming in,” Carinna warned. In the span of a heartbeat, her sister passed through the door in wraith form. Naria’s good eye tracked her sister’s progress, and she wasn’t surprised to see Carinna’s eyes widen.

“By Wern, he really gave you a beating, didn’t he?”

Naria nodded. “Apparently he saw through everything I was doing. I don’t suppose he told you about it?”

“He did. I think more as a warning for me not to entertain any of the same thoughts. I had to come see you.”

“Thanks.” Naria was unable to get the picture of Carinna and the missing Fenturi out of her mind. “I’m surprised you’re not in here with me, not after what
you’ve
done.”

Carinna tried to look innocent, but Naria knew better.

“Don’t try denying it. I saw you with the male by the woods. Luckily for you, my thoughts were fully occupied by Jace when Father caught me and threw me in here.”

“Naria, you’re going to have to trust me. I know, ‘trust’ is a foreign word around here, but you and I have a bond of sorts, don’t we?” At Naria’s nod, Carinna continued, “Then trust I know what I’m doing. I’ve always known how much you wanted to leave this place. I think I may have found a way for you to do so.”

“But why would you help me?” Naria didn’t believe Carinna would help her without some price attached. Though Naria was closer to Carinna than to anyone else, Carinna was still a Dark Worlder.

“Because it suits me to do so, and that’s all the answer you’re going to get. Besides, it’s not as if you have many options at this point. Father is beside himself in a fury and plans to kill the prisoners later this eve. Lordess Xeche thinks it’s more than amusing, as do our half-sisters still toying with the Fenturi.”

Naria winced at mention of her other siblings.

“Once the prisoners are dead, you’re pretty much stuck here for eternity. There’s no way Father will ever let you far from his sight after this.”

Naria was aware that in her haste to escape, she hadn’t given herself enough safeguards. But what did Carinna have to gain by helping her? What did Carinna intend to do?

“Carinna,” she began, only to be interrupted by a scurrying sound in the hall. The commotion pulled her sister away while Naria fought exhaustion. The healing always took a toll, and self-healing even more so.

As she returned to the less than comfortable bench and drifted back to sleep, she thought she heard her sister’s voice joined by a deeper resonance, one not familiar to her at all. Then all thought left as her mind pulled her into oblivion.

PART TWO

ESCAPE FROM DARK WORLD

-5-

System Space

Jace counted his blessings as his ragtag crew, two of them near death and an unconscious Naria, fled Dark World in blessed silence. He didn’t run any lights and floated quietly out of the planet’s atmosphere, expecting at any moment to be pursued and shot down.

All thanks to Nesham and tales of otherworldly help. A ghost? Good Night, but now he’d seen and heard everything. He still had no idea how they’d actually pulled it off, but until he had a moment to do more than worry about being captured again, he’d wait to question Nesham.

He, Koneru, and Nesham remained the only ones able to take charge of the ship and injured bodies aboard. He prayed for their luck to hold.

Luck stayed with them, because they made it outside the atmosphere without detection.

“Thank the Stars,” Koneru said on a relieved breath.

“You said it.” Jace nodded. “With the damage done to the hyperdrive, not to mention the other minor repair items and restoring our armaments, I’d suggest pulling in somewhere for repairs.”

Koneru nodded. “Rovi is our best bet.”

Jace agreed. “Nesham, set course for Rovi.”

“Aye, Jace.” Nesham set course for the Motherworlds.

The three men sat in silence, watching through the vid screen for any sign of pursuit. Once Dark World faded into a speck in the darkness of the NearWorlds, Jace sat back in his chair and tried to rub the tension from his neck.

“Koneru, place Castor and then Mikhel in the med unit. We seem to be out of immediate threat, and those two need medical aid right away.”

The Rovi nodded and left the control room in a hurry. Jace turned to Nesham, waiting for the Fenturi’s attention. Once Nesham finished setting course for Rovi, he set the ship on autopilot and joined Jace by the captain’s chair.

“Tell me all of it.” Jace waited.

Nesham seemed to be gathering his thoughts, and Jace studied his crewman. The sadness that had appeared in Nesham’s eyes as a result of his twin’s death never went away. Nesham seemed perpetually bleak. A stillness hung over the large man as well, the spry energy of his nature subdued. Nesham didn’t appear to have any injuries from his time on Dark World, save a few mottled bruises on his face and arms. For that at least Jace was grateful.

Nesham said, in a deep, throaty voice, “I escaped from our cell before the demon lord could take me away.” Jace felt the hum of Nesham’s suppressed rage, though Nesham controlled it well enough. “I ran as fast as I could and managed to hide while the demons raced by. I don’t know how long I wandered, but eventually I became lost in that maze of a prison.

“I had been about to step out, unknowingly into the waiting arms of Demise and his creatures, when a soft voice stopped me. For the life of me I can’t understand why I listened to her, but I did.”

“Her?”

“It was a female’s voice, a spirit that lingered next to me in the shadows. It was odd, Jace,” Nesham said, his eyes puzzled. “She helped us all escape. I found our ship because eof her and returned with the transformitter to free you. She’s the one who led me to Mikhel and the woman, Naria.”

“Why Naria, I wonder?” Jace had been more than curious when Nesham had arrived at the cell with Naria in tow.

“I don’t know. The spirit only told me I had to take the woman when I left. I didn’t question her, not when she’d been helping me.”

“Right.” Jace’s thoughts turned to the injured on board. “We’ll talk more of this later. For now I need to check on the others. Keep an eye out.”

“Will do.” Nesham nodded.

Jace gingerly stood and limped out of the control room. His ribs hurt more than they had before, the flight from Dark World taking its toll on his battered flesh.

As he walked to the med unit, he thought about their escape. Nesham had arrived at their cell not long after Jace had been thrown in with Castor and Koneru. With the transformitter in hand, Nesham had easily transported the three of them from the cell. He’d also been carrying Naria. Once safely onboard the
SpaceStalker
, Nesham had returned to Lysst to rescue Mikhel.

Though Jace hadn’t understood how Nesham had accomplished such a feat, he’d waited to bombard the man with questions. Now he couldn’t help but wonder about their mysterious helper.

Jace didn’t trust a blasted thing about the planet or its inhabitants. As soon as he saw to the current condition of his men, he’d do a sweep of the ship to make sure they carried nothing foreign from the planet.

He continued to the medical room and entered to find Koneru standing over the med unit. Castor lay as still as death within the narrow, enclosed bed, his body pale but slowly healing as they watched.

“This will not be fast or easy, but he’ll heal,” Koneru said without looking up. “I fear his internal injuries may take more time than Mikhel can afford to wait.”

Jace glanced over at the injured Fenturi. Mikhel looked terrible, his golden skin now a pallid yellow, his face and body covered with scratches, gouges and bite marks. No deep wounds, that Jace could see, but the sick miasma of Mikhel’s psyche really concerned him. When Nesham had returned Mikhel naked and battered, Jace had assumed the worst. He could only imagine what torment the poor man had suffered.

“Set Castor in the unit until he’s well enough to subsist on his own. That belly wound is almost gone. Then put Mikhel inside. He’ll need to be in there longer. Though his wounds appear superficial, it’s his mind I’m worried about.”