Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (11 page)

forgotten merchandise. Something was burning nearby and the tainted smell in the air

made it hard to breathe.

Tara kept her face down and focused on the ground as she allowed Darius to guide

her. Suddenly she came to a dead halt causing Darius to lose his grip on her hand. He

turned quickly to look at her.

“Look.” She pointed to the ground. Someone had drawn a circle with a tear shape

drawn in the middle. The symbol of the Blood Circle Clan.

Tara looked up, first at Darius’ face, then at the buildings surrounding them. There

was no one in sight. She absently fingered the necklace Darius had given her a long

time ago, knowing it matched the symbol on the ground. The circle was drawn outside

a closed door. Tara took her foot and quickly wiped the evidence away.

“Come on,” she said, reaching for the handle.

The heavy stone door opened slowly into a dark room. Once inside, the two closed

the door. Tara reached inside her cloak and fumbled through the pockets of her clothing

until she found the small beam she’d brought with her from the trailer. Pulling it out,

she flipped the switch and a dull bluish light illuminated the room.

In the corner, surrounded by many candles, stood the dog-woman.

* * * * *

Darius had seen her in dreams after Tara had disappeared in the southern

continent. The dreams had stopped after he’d raped Tasha. He’d never seen her in

person and was stunned. The old woman looked up and smiled, but her eyes didn’t

appear to see them.

She seemed smaller and more fragile than in his dreams. He had seen her as a

vibrant old woman, with a calm demeanor that soothed him when he had experienced

her presence. But now, as he faced her for the first time, Darius felt nothing calming

about this person. She appeared disconnected with them somehow, and he admitted a

small amount of disappointment that she wasn’t the spirit of peace and reassurance that

his dreams had conjured.

“Come children, beg forgiveness from Crator.” She opened her arms to them and

bowed her head.

“Beg forgiveness for what?” Darius stood tall and his voice sounded cool.

“For your greed, child.” The old woman didn’t look up.

Tara stepped closer to the old woman. Something was odd. The candles

surrounding her didn’t appear to let off any light. “Why were we greedy?” She watched

the old woman warily.

“Child, you have come here to steal a weapon. Crator knows that.”

Tara studied the old woman. Her head was lowered and she appeared to be looking

down at something. Tara saw nothing but the ground. The old woman wore the same

clothes she had on the day she died. Her hands appeared to be doing something but

there was nothing in them.

“No one is here to steal a weapon,” Darius barked. “Gothman doesn’t need a

coward’s weapon!”

The old woman didn’t speak. In fact, she didn’t move. Tara looked closely at her,

then placed her hand on Darius’ arm, instinctively trying to make him read her

thoughts. Something was wrong here. The old woman still hadn’t moved.

“Come, kneel and tell Crator your sins.” The dog-woman spoke without focusing

on either of them, but kept her gaze on some unknown object on the ground.

“What have we done wrong?” Tara asked.

“You know what you’ve done wrong,” the old woman said.

Tara realized the woman’s mouth hadn’t moved. She knelt and Darius stood firmly

behind her. Surreptitiously, she picked up some small pebbles and tossed them at the

dog-woman. The pebbles brushed against the dog-woman, and sparks appeared as the

small rocks disappeared into nothingness.

Tara jumped back quickly and pulled her laser.

“Why did you do that?” The dog-woman lifted her head and looked at Tara with

her unseeing eyes. Her mouth moved this time, but it didn’t match the words that came

out. “Crator didn’t like that.”

“Crator knows why we’re really here.” Tara pointed the laser at the dog-woman.

“You need to come tell Crator why you’re here. He wants to hear you confess.”

“Crator has nothing to do with this,” Tara said and shot the dog-woman. The laser

hit her in the chest. She didn’t move. The laser went through her, filling the room with

sparks, and hit the wall behind her. The old woman remained positioned as she had

before.

Tara backed up; her beam now attached to the top of her laser. She scanned the

entire room with the laser. Darius pulled his weapon as well.

“That’s not the dog-woman,” she whispered to him. “Something is very wrong

here.”

At that moment, light flooded the room. The dog-woman and all her candles

disappeared. Another door banged open.

Tara and Darius didn’t hesitate. Firing their lasers simultaneously, they blanketed

the entrance with fire. Anyone on the other side would not be able to see them until

they stepped into the line of fire.

Darius set his laser to automatic fire and pulled an Eliminator from underneath his

robe.

Tara was shocked that he’d brought it. At this particular moment, however, she was

also elated. He manipulated the Eliminator until he held it comfortably in one hand.

Tara reached over to take his laser from him, which he willingly gave up. She covered

him, holding both lasers at the door, firing at will.

Darius leapt to the center of the floor, landing on his belly. He aimed the Eliminator

straight into the open doorway and fired.

A huge explosion followed. Screams and echoed cries filled the small room. Tara

moved over Darius, to cover him if necessary. The two of them looked down a long

hallway as the ball of fire from the Eliminator rolled toward an unknown destination.

They strained to see through the falling rock, raised dust, and smoke, but couldn’t

determine how many people were in the passage, though they realized many bodies

were falling, appearing as shadows through the thick haze of smoke. Some fell into the

room.

An entire army had been sent to capture them, using the guise of the dog-woman as

a trap.

“Let’s go!” Darius grabbed Tara and bolted toward the door leading to the street.

Their chances for escape were minimal. Both of them knew that. They ran down the

street, this time in the direction of the entrance into the large cavern, with the city of

Korth on fire around them.

One glance over their shoulders told them a large number of soldiers chased them.

More soldiers appeared in front, forcing them to a stop.

They were surrounded.

Men and women in dark brown uniforms, stood attentive with long black pistols

pointed at the two foreigners.

“I shouldn’t be so surprised by this demonstration of your abilities,” a tall robed

man spoke as he moved through the soldiers to stand within ten feet of Darius and

Tara. “Your reputations precede you.”

An equally tall woman came up from behind the man. Her pale skin looked like

death as the hood of her cape hung around her face. She walked into the circle of

guards and stood before Darius and Tara.

“I’ll admit it’s an honor to have captured you. For a second, it appeared we

wouldn’t be able to do it.” The woman smiled a toothy smile as if she had just

pleasantly introduced herself. “Get them out of here,” she said, still smiling.

Chapter Seven

A half-dozen guards surrounded Darius and Tara and took their weapons, before

forcing them back the way they’d come.

Tara looked around as their small procession marched down the street. Piles of

rubble stood where buildings once had been. The air smelled of burnt rubber, possibly

electrical fires, and smoke from the explosions. The stench clogged her senses.

Tara studied the piles of rock and small fires that so recently had been a functioning

city. The citizens of Korth seemed to have disappeared, or at least watched in hiding.

The streets were barren except for the horde of soldiers escorting their captives.

A hallway similar to the one Tara and Darius had left in rubble appeared at the end

of the street. Tara wondered how many of these lit hallways disappeared into the rocks.

Two guards led them into it while the remaining troops marched behind them. Tara

could only assume the man and woman in charge brought up the rear.

Her sore arm had been nudged repeatedly by the guard’s pistols. Her ribs had been

poked one too many times as well. The pain made her irritable, and she began resenting

her captors for the way they treated her. Whoever these people were, they treated her

like a criminal, and although she and Darius had arrived here incognito, they had

committed no crime she knew of.

Finally, the end of the hallway appeared. Two immense white doors opened. They

walked into a large room, also white from the tile on the floor to the smooth stone walls.

The ceiling soared at least twelve feet above them and consisted of white panels, hiding

the fact they were in a cave.

Attached to the ceiling panels, large yellow bulbs filled the room with bright,

artificial sunlight. Tara could feel their warmth.

Each of the four walls had a white-framed door in its middle. The double doors

swung closed behind them, and she stared at the three closed doors in front of them.

Several guards searched Tara and Darius one more time for any hidden weapons,

and Tara felt a wave of relief when the laser inserted in her right boot was overlooked.

To be held captive without knowing her charges, or who her captors were was one

thing, but to be rendered unarmed would have been more than Tara could have

handled at the moment. Her body ached, she felt like a common criminal, and she

needed what little security her one hidden weapon provided her.

Tara watched as a door opened. The four guards forced them through the doorway

and down a long flight of stairs to another large room, similar to the one they’d left.

Tara began to feel disoriented as they traveled through this mazelike underground

structure. Even though her body distracted her with aches and pains, she struggled to

focus on every turn and hallway; so, hopefully, they could get out of there, if escape

became an option.

“In there,” one of the guards mumbled, and pointed as a door to their right slid