Shattered Soul (26 page)

Tonight she’d finally, fatally, agonizingly realized that she was truly a warrior of The Overlord. He controlled her, his dark malevolence filled her. She was his to command. She was helpless in his power. He’d proven it and even as she’d maybe, possibly, been able to try and fight him, she couldn’t deny the darkness that filled her, that called out to Fredrico. A darkness that could have only come from the hellish depths from where Phemar had called it.

The hellish darkness that dwelled within her and within Fredrico.

The hellish darkness she could never allow to touch the Lawful Sector, her sister warriors. Her blood sister.

Running one hand through her hair, she twisted a length around her palm and looked unseeingly at it. She’d been told, the woman in blue had told her, Phemar had told her, The Overlord had told her, Fredrico had told her. Everyone had told her she had a destiny and it was in The Overlord’s command. Yet somehow, deep in the far recesses of her mind, she’d not really believed it, had rebelled outwardly and been punished.

Oddly, though, it wasn’t the Overlord’s punishment that had brought her to stark awareness. That had scared the shit out of her, true, but the one thing that had wrenched the truth from deep inside herself and shoved it so ruthless into her face, was her wrestling episode with Fredrico.

His passion had been dark and deadly and ruthless, and her passion had been just as dark, revelling in his ruthlessness, in the feeling of being overpowered, being dominated... Being wild and out of control, lost in lust and sex. Well, almost sex, it hadn’t gotten that far before Fredrico had released her and stalked away.

She’d never liked being dominated, she’d always been in control, been the one to say yes or no. Always been the stronger one.

The darkness inside her had killed something soft and brought to the surface something a little more savage.

Silence filled the fortress beyond. Not even the hounds howled and nothing sobbed or shrieked. Even the rain stopped abruptly. It was an almost deathly silence.

It suited her mood just fine.

Opening the window, she swung her legs out over the window sill and slid over and down to stand on the balcony. The scent of rain hung heavy in the air and the breeze was chill.

It was the first time she’d been out on the balcony and she looked over the stone balustrade down into the darkness below. No fires dotted the ground, no light. It was almost black.

“Not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you?”

Rani’s whipped around to the right and found herself looking at the adjacent balcony. A figure leaned against the wall, the light from the window Com whipped a beyond picking out his white shirt, but it couldn’t pick out the darkness of his skin.

“Veknor.” She relaxed only slightly.

Veknor, the ebony pirate who was Fredrico’s friend and a total mystery to Rani. This man had never said much to her, he’d simply been there on the edges of the dark things that happened to her, and now here he was on an adjacent balcony in the damp night.

Troubled times.” His voice was deep, soothing, a lull in the hush.

“You mean The Darknen?” Moodily she studied what she could see of him.

“I mean a lot of things.”

Tired of cryptic answers, she leaned her shoulder against the wall and looked at him. “What do you want, Veknor?”

“What do any of us want?”

“I never really knew you before but I’m starting to really dislike you now.”

His laugh was soft. “Such a shame, warrior, for I quite like you.”

That did surprise her.

Laughter fled Veknor as suddenly as it had come. “But I love Fredrico like kin. He is my closest friend, and my brother in all ways but blood.”

“How nice.”

“Just so you know.”

“I know now.”

The silence that fell between them was heavy and she could swear she felt Veknor’s eyes piercing her skin. Refusing to give in to her uneasiness, she kept looking at him.

“We’re all in this together,” Veknor stated quietly. “Not one of us can walk away. Work with us, Rani, not against us. Embrace what you have to and survive.”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“Fight against him enough and The Overlord will kill you.”

“I thought that was Fredrico’s job.”

“It is.”

“If this is your idea of a pep talk, Veknor, I have to inform you that you’re bloody poor at it.”

“I don’t do pep talks, warrior, I state facts.”

“Your facts are a bit late. I already know them.”

“But do you accept them?” His voice was quiet, steady, without infliction of any kind.

Her reply was just as steady. “Yes.”

There was sudden denseness to the darkness, a fleeting black sheet, and suddenly Veknor was there, so close she could feel the warmth of his body, taller than her, staring down at her, and she was too frozen in shock to do anything but stare back up at him. How had he done it? How had he spanned the distance between the balconies in a split second, how could he be taller than her, how could he be suddenly right above her? But he was there, his dark gaze boring into her, piercing through into her very brain, searching and seeking. And then he released her.

Rani staggered, her hand sweeping in front of her, and there was nothing but the usual darkness of the night.

Veknor was where he’d been seconds ago, standing on his balcony and looking across at her, his white shirt a beacon in the night. “Good,” he said quietly before he turned and walked back into his room.

Staring at the empty balcony, Rani felt her heart thundering.
What the hell had just ha Cl h>

Was no one in this fortress as they seemed?

~ * ~

The Darknen

Hot lava boiled up from the cracks in the ground, and the cold rain from above hit it, causing steam to rise and hiss in the air. A mountain in the distance crumbled as something rose from it. Winged creatures gathered around on the walls of the bleak fortress.

The Darknen strode down the hallway, his bare feet making no sound on the stone floor. A two-headed creature with saliva dripping from its fanged mouth scurried along the wall, its claws leaving gouges in the rock.

The door of the chamber ahead slid open and the Darknen entered. His gaze went to the crystal on the pedestal, and he saw that it was shaking.

“Why so agitated?” He smoothed his hand over the cold, clear surface.

The black swirls inside roiled dangerously.

“Are you impatient?” His fingertips caressing the globe. “Soon, my pretty, soon you can unleash that power, and we’ll destroy The Overlord and all his minions. It will be my time, our time, and we will rule, and you can unleash that power on all my enemies. Patience.”

The globe actually shuddered, little cracks splintering along the shining surface, and tendrils of black escaped to twine upwards.

So much power, so much destruction! It thrilled him, called to him, and The Darknen laughed. But now was not the time. Not yet. He ran his hands along the cracks, and it sealed.

“So very soon,” he promised. Picking up the globe, he took it over to the window and held it up. “Soon you will be free, and it will all be ours.”

The blackness in the globe pulsed, little threads of red running through it, and the crystal bulged outwards as frustrated power pressed against the cursed surface.

And The Darknen laughed.

In the distance, his newest nightmare roared and from the depths of the broken mountain it made its lumbering way to its master’s fortress.

~ * ~

Inner Sanctum of the Outlaw Sector

Overlord’s Fortress

Leaning back against the wall of the cavernous room, Fredrico watched Rani holding the yellow statue in her hand. Phemar was talking to her, his gesturing hand sending little bits of rotten flesh falling to the floor. Little shadows snaked along the floor and rapidly devoured the flesh.

As he watched, one thin shadow started to twine up around Rani’s boot, but suddenly it hesitated and started retreating, sliding back to disappear into one of the cracks between the stone paving the floor.

Interesting.

He studied her. He’d left his room that morning and had come face-to-face with Rani as she’d closed her own door. She’d looked at him coolly and waited. Nothing showed on her beautiful face. Her rich wealth of hair had been braided back into a thick rope that fell down her back to her waist.

Without acknowledging what had passed between them the previous evening, Fredrico had silently led her down to the cavernous room where Phemar await C Phwleed them.

The silence between them hadn’t been an easy one but neither of them had broken it. What could they really say to one another, anyway?

Now he watched broodingly as Phemar showed her several statues. It was more than obvious that Rani wasn’t keen on handling the innocent looking objects, but she didn’t argue with the dark mystic.

“She is learning.” Veknor leaned against the wall beside him.

“She needs to,” he replied.

“If she wishes to survive, yes.”

“She’ll survive if I have to break her in half to do it.”

“Strange choice of words.”

“She’s not an easy woman.”

Veknor smiled slightly.

Fredrico slid a glance towards his friend. “What?”

“I’ve not seen you this animated in a long time.”

“Animated isn’t the word for it.” Folding his arms across his chest, he watched Rani study the statue.

“Then what is the word?”

“How about, mind your business?”

Veknor laughed softly.

Fredrico stiffened slightly. “Here we go.”

The statue in Rani’s hand shattered and the beast that broke from it reared up, maw wide, an ear-shattering shriek spilling from it.

Rani went into typical fighting mode, leaping back and snatching for the laser at her thigh. Phemar halted her with one outstretched arm, his hissing orders audible across the room. Rani straightened slowly, looking up at the rearing beast, but she didn’t release her hold on the butt of the laser.

Fredrico watched intently as she reluctantly obeyed Phemar’s hissing demand. She raised one arm, holding her hand palm up. He could see her recoil slightly as the darkness dove at her and wound around her arm, nestling its suddenly elongated head in her palm. It nuzzled her, stroking its stretching cheek along her skin.

Oh yes, he knew exactly what that felt like.

Rani swore and shook her hand vigorously.

Yep, his memory was spot on.

The beast wrapped tighter around her arm, refusing to let go its grip on her. Lovingly, it wound itself higher up her arm.

She grabbed at it with her other hand, but immediately it wrapped its tail around her wrist, holding her prisoner.

Phemar stood back, giving instructions in his hissing, breathy voice. When he flung out one hand, a spatter of putrid flesh arced out and landed on the beast. It arched up almost in a parody of ecstasy.

Veknor relaxed, his face expressionless, but Fredrico knew he watched just as intently.

The beast turned its head, the elongation flattening and enlarging so that it became a squashed, dripping face of a squat beast again. It snaked back up itself, heading for Rani’s face.

Rani slammed it down on the table but it continued upwards.

Phemar snapped something at her and she snapped something back. Over the rising roar of the fire Fredrico couldn’t make out their words, but he knew Phemar was telling her what to do. It seemed like the warrior wasn’t able to follow his directions or even under Cor hestand them.

The head of the beast was halfway up her arm, its tongue snaking out, and the atmosphere in the room changed, becoming heavy, laden with intent. The tongue flickered out and then in one smooth move the beast dipped its head and ran its tongue along the bare flesh of Rani’s arm where it showed between its coils.

Even though he knew it was a test, Fredrico tensed. If Rani didn’t escape this beast, if she didn’t stop it, who knew how far Phemar would push it? And he hated what Phemar was doing, because he recognized now the dark mystic’s intent.

“He’s finding her trigger,” Veknor murmured.

Going by the revulsion and fury in Rani’s eyes, Fredrico was pretty sure Phemar knew exactly what her trigger was and he was using it now to push her.

As that black tongue licked along her flesh, Rani swore profoundly. She slammed the winding, black length against the table once more and then at a sharp word from Phemar, she threw her arms upwards and stared at the snaking, licking, loathsome beast on her arms.

It lifted its head, its face becoming more human to look at, though its eyes were bright orange, its tongue black, and sharp teeth glittered with demonic silver in its mouth.

And then it dove for her face.

In that second Fredrico felt her confusion, felt the darkness in her well up, but she didn’t know how to focus it and it splintered.

The demonic beast was going to pour into her throat.

One split second of thought and his darkness welled up and snapped across the room to shield Rani. The demonic beast hit the shield and shattered, blackness spearing out in shards to disappear in the air.

Phemar and Rani both spun to face him, Rani’s mouth agape in surprise. He couldn’t see Phemar’s face but he could sense the fury.

Rani might have been surprised and Phemar furious, but Fredrico couldn’t even begin to think what he himself felt. Shocked for intercepting the demonic snake, most definitely.

“What is the meaning of that?” Phemar snarled. “Fredrico, you dare to interfere in my training?”

Hiding his inner shock, Fredrico looked coolly back at him. “She didn’t understand your directions.”

“Some lessons are best learned harshly!”

“She needs to learn how to control the darkness inside her before being tested like that.”

“You dare to question me? You dare to question my techniques?” A huge, black, blurry shadow reared up behind Phemar.

It looked like his pets had picked up on the dark mystic’s annoyance.

“Of course not,” Fredrico replied, knowing he trod dangerous ground.