Van Laven Chronicles (31 page)

CHAPTER 58

“Nooooo!” Vaush screamed as she looked over the edge at Comron’s lifeless form. His limbs were twisted and blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Suddenly something snapped inside Vaush. She felt a strange force pulsing through her, revving up her latent aggression and hostility like an engine set to full throttle. She barely saw the astonished faces as she cut through the remaining guards, leaving fallen bodies in her wake. She raced down two flights of the marble staircase before her desperation compelled her to leap over the bannister and drop down beside him.

Her hands trembled wildly as she realized her horrible premonition was coming to pass. She touched his face gingerly. “Comron, Comron, tell me what to do.”

His breathing was labored and pained. “You…” he coughed, spitting up blood.

“Oh, Comron,” she cried, wiping the blood from his mouth.

“You’ve got to go,” he managed. His eyes darted about the room. “Where are they?”

She looked up. Though she heard blast-fire and shouting, no one had followed her down. The burly guard lay with his neck at a right angle, having broken it in the fall.

“Something’s happening up there to distract them.” She turned her attention back to him. “I’ve got to get you to a physician,” she said, putting her arm around his back to lift him, but he cried out in agony, then went silent and his eyelids fell shut.

“Com.” She checked his neck for a pulse, it was faint but still there. “Comron, you can fight harder than this!” She cradled his head in her arms. “You said you’d never leave me.”

The sound of an explosion thundered through the air, shaking the foundation. It sounded like a war zone out there. But her focus remained fixed upon Comron.

“Comron, stay with me!” She stroked his blood soaked hair. “I can’t do this without you.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Damn you, fight!”

His eyes flickered open, but the deep intensity was gone, only a hollowness remained. “Vaush, you must go back to Nacum and remain there until the Murkudahl contact you.”

“You’re coming with me.” She tried lifting him once more.

“Arahhh!” He strained and grimaced in anguish. “No…back is broken…can’t move.”

Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest. She couldn’t lose him, not like this. “Then I’ll go for help. I’ll find a physician to treat you!”

He started to speak, but began coughing up more blood.

“Oh, my God,” she wailed, “Comron, hold on. I’m going to get help.” She looked around, having not the slightest idea of where she could obtain it. “I…I’ll surrender myself in exchange for them sparing you.” She started to stand.

“No!” he said with such command that she remained put. “They will kill you. Do as I say.” His face twisted in pain. “Go now! Wait for the Murkudahl and…protect Nethic if you can.”

The tears spilled from her eyes. “Don’t ask me to do that. I can’t leave you,” she cried, gripping his shoulders. “Better that I die by your side than to…” her voice broke.

His own eyes glistened as he tried touching her face. “I’m…so sorry…don’t want…to leave you.” He closed his eyes and tears streamed down the side of his face.

Vaush slid in close, lying next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. They had taken everything from her—her family, her home and now the man she had come to love more than life itself. “Then we leave this world together,” she said, clasping his hand.

He was having more difficulty breathing. His lips moved, uttering words of profound love with his last breath. His expression went blank as his life force slipped away. She clung to him, crying aloud begging him to stay. It felt as if her heart would be wrenched from her. Clutching her chest in anguish, she suddenly felt the vial hanging from the chain about her neck.

The second dose of Murkudahl Essence!

Another explosion rocked the building. Ignoring it, she snapped the vial from the chain.

“You’re going to take the Essence too,” she said as she removed the seal. Tilting his head up, she opened his mouth and poured in some of the blue liquid. She closed his mouth. “Swallow it!” she ordered as he lay there unconscious. “Damn you, swallow it!”

He coughed a mixture of the Essence and blood. She opened his mouth again and poured the remainder of the essence into it. “You’ve got to keep it down, you’ve got to try!” she commanded vehemently. She thought she saw his neck muscles contract slightly. “Good.” She smiled faintly. “It’s going to help you, I know it.” She stroked his face. “We didn’t come this far to end like this.”

The war raged on outside, but she lay next to him, her head upon his shoulder. She didn’t really care what happened next. This world wasn’t worth fighting for if this burning light was extinguished. This was all that mattered, not Novoxos, not saving the Empire.

But she noticed that the rise and fall of Comron’s chest had stopped all together. She felt his neck for a pulse again; there was none. His eyes were open, but he stared vacantly at the ceiling.

An awful dread fell over Vaush. “Comron!” she called, desperately placing her hand on his motionless heart. “Comron!” she wailed as she pounded his heart with her fist. She leaned over and breathed into his mouth. Still no response. Again she pounded his heart in desperation and breathed. This can’t be happening. I won’t let it. She lost track of how many times she repeated the process.

Suddenly there was loud shouting and more gunfire as the men began descending the staircase. “They’ve come to kill me, my love. Let me die in your arms.” She moved his limp arm around her and laid her head on his chest and braced herself for the blast-fire.

“Your Grace, please come with us. We’re here to take you to Novoxos.”

Vaush couldn’t believe her ears. She turned to look at them. Both men were heavily armored and their faces were hidden behind their helmet visors. “What did you say?”

“We’ve been sent here to escort you to Novoxos,” said the taller one. “Now please, Your Grace, there’s no time to delay.” The soldier reached for her arm.

Vaush recoiled and clung to Comron. “No, first you must help him.”

One look at Comron was enough for them to draw their conclusion. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid it’s too late for your friend.”

“Help him!” Vaush yelled and grabbed the closest one, yanking him down next to Comron. To the other she barked, “Bring medical supplies. Go!”

The first soldier futilely examined Comron’s lifeless body, as if that would be the only way to appease her. He looked at her with solemn eyes. “He…he is dead, my lady.”

“No, he’s not!” she screamed. “There is still time. You can save him.”

Just then, more gunfire rang out from above. “We’ve got company!” announced the shorter soldier. “Yaeger, there’s no time for hand holding!”

Yaeger grabbed Vaush by the arm. “We must go now.”

“No.” She jerked away. “He’s not dead. He can’t be,” she cried, clinging to Comron’s lifeless body.

“He’s dead!” yelled the other soldier.

“Lepkin, enough!” snapped Yaeger before turning back to Vaush. “Please, Your Grace, he’s beyond mortal tending. But we have our orders to deliver you to Novoxos.” He firmly grasped her arms, pulling her up with him.

“I’m not going anywhere without him. Either he comes with us or—” she grabbed her neck where she felt the sharp sting and saw Yaeger withdraw his hand. “You son of…” her words slurred and her legs suddenly felt like limp noodles. Yaeger caught her before she hit the floor.

“Sorry, but there’s no time to argue,” Yaeger said as he hoisted her into his arms.

Too weak to offer any resistance, Vaush could only watch in a daze as they carried her toward the door.

“Swan 1 is about to fly. Lay down some cover,” Lepkin said into his shoulder com unit as they headed back toward the garage stairwell.

An eruption of gunfire assaulted Vaush’s ears as they were forced to run into the fray. After a few tense moments of dodging between vehicles, the soldiers dashed into their tank with Vaush in tow.

“Go, go!” Yaeger ordered, as he carried Vaush over to a bench where he laid her down. “All units fall back. I repeat, all units fall back.” He spoke into his com-set as he pulled the harness belts to secure Vaush. “Swan 1 is in the nest. All units rendezvous at south command.”

The tank rumbled into motion, plowing through anything that stood in its way. The fog was beginning to lift from Vaush’s head and she felt her strength returning along with her grief and rage. Yaeger stood nearby as he spoke to one of his men.

“What kind of monster are you? How could you just leave him there? How—” her voice was choked off by her grief. Comron had given all he had to save her. He deserved better than to die that way in ignominy. She should’ve remained at his side come what may.

“I’m very sorry for your grief,” Yaeger said. “I wish that there was something we could’ve done for him. But now, getting you to Novoxos—”

“Fuck Novoxos!” she railed. “My life just ended back there. The rest of the world can go straight to hell!” Tears burned her eyes and streamed down her face. The anger surged powerfully through her and she couldn’t hold back even when the other soldiers entered the cabin to see what the commotion was about. “Why didn’t you come sooner? Comron did everything in his power to keep me alive. He gave his life for me and now you want to sweep in at the last minute to take me to Novoxos? No, you tell whoever sent you that the mission failed. It’s over, stop this tank and let me out!”

Yaeger removed his helmet and placed it on a hook. His gray eyes were compassionate and his face kind. She despised him all the more for it.

“That’s not going to happen,” Yaeger said calmly, but firmly. “We have our orders, my lady.”

She approached him, her expression as cutting as her tone. “Who gave you these orders?”

“Someone who has a personal interest in seeing you enthroned,” Yaeger replied. “But he reserved the right to make his own introduction.”

“If he had any personal interest in me he would have known how important that man was to me. When he let him die, he destroyed everything.” She glared at him and felt the burning desire to unleash holy terror on them. Let the Murkudahl come and do what they may. Comron was gone, nothing else mattered. As if that thought had the power to drain her of life she collapsed onto the bench. “He’s gone. I can’t feel him anymore,” she clutched her stomach, doubling over. “Oh God, I can’t feel him anymore. I can’t feel him,” she cried out repeatedly.

Alarmed, Yaeger went to her. “Please, let me give you something to help you—”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!!” she roared. Her hazel eyes livid and wet with tears. “I should be with him. An eternity is what we promised. I should go be with him!”

Completely at a loss as to how to deal with this volatile situation, Yaeger motioned to his men to pull back and leave Vaush to her profound grief.

“We have our orders,” Yaeger said to his men, then glanced back at Vaush and lowered his voice. “Damn it, I wish he’d warned us.”

CHAPTER 59

“He’s coming to,” came the gruff unfamiliar voice.

“Perfect timing. The Duke will be here in a few minutes.”

Upon recognizing the second voice, Comron’s eyes fluttered open. Count Recaban stared back at him with blank violet eyes. A bright light shone over his shoulder. There was sterile feel to the room, though the smell of stale mint and rubber permeated it, and there were several comp-screens all lifeless and covered in a thick film of dust.

A medical facility!
Had Vaush managed to bargain for his life with her own? Was she already dead? He groaned in his anguish, unwilling to accept that reality that his restored health had come at such a horrific price. When he struggled to sit up he discovered that he was securely bound to a lounging chair.

“We don’t have much time, so I’m only going to ask you this once,” Recaban said, placing a hand on the headrest of Comron’s chair. “The men who made off with the girl, who were they working for?”

Vaush was alive and on the run! The thought filled him with such a delirious degree of joy he began to wonder if Recaban had injected him with some sort of psychotropic drug to make him talk. But what of the identity of these men who’d made off with her? It had to be the ally the Murkudahl had spoken of.

A high-pitched buzzing noise caught his attention. He turned to Recaban and saw the gleaming medical device in his hand. “I made a deal to hand you over to your father alive, but that doesn’t mean I can’t make you beg for death first.”

“I don’t know anything, Recaban,” Comron answered tersely, wondering why Vaush would go with these strangers and leave him to Recaban’s mercy. He remembered lying critically injured and dying, Vaush had been weeping profusely and insisting she’d rather die than leave him.
So where are you now?

As frustration mounted, he tested the restraints and sensed that if he tried hard enough he could break free. Then he would go in search of answers to the questions threatening to drive him mad.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you’ve caused me?” Recaban asked in a clipped tone.

Assuming it was a rhetorical question Comron remained silent, gauging his time to test his theory concerning the restraints. Recaban touched the control panel and Comron’s chair slowly began to rise to an upright position. He observed for the first time that all of his scars appeared to have been healed, his skin had a healthy, radiant glow. Again he considered the dire straits he’d been in after the fall and that he now felt better than he ever had in his life. What had they done to him? The equipment in the room obviously hadn’t been touched in years and even the best of medical care wouldn’t have left him in such remarkable condition so soon after treatment. Such a rapid recovery was medically impossible!

“Of course you do.” Recaban paced before him. “You sat in on all the meetings where the plans were being formulated. You heard all the negotiations, all the favors being called in to accomplish this colossal task.” He stopped in front of Comron, glaring at him. “The whole time, you had your own agenda, your own plans. Didn’t you?” he snapped.

Comron quickly appraised the man and instinctively knew he had nothing to fear from him. Recaban’s emotions were palpable, his disposition clearly belied his fear, anger and desperation. He needed Comron alive and well to recoup his losses. No, he wouldn’t harm a hair on Comron’s head.

“Did you hire them directly? Are you collaborating with a world from the hinterlands?”

When Comron made no answer, Recaban’s mouth twisted sardonically. “Whatever the case, they obviously had no more use for you. I couldn’t believe it when my men told me they found the great Prince of Nethic lying in a trash heap, abandoned like a bad habit.” The thought seemed to amuse him immensely. “Please tell me you didn’t turn traitor for love. It’s just too ironic, not to mention pathetic.”

Again Comron’s emotions churned and the question tormented him. Why did Vaush leave him? Surely, she was taken by force. There could be no other explanation. Now anger surged through him. Who were these men and what were their intentions with his wife? A vein throbbed at his temple and he gritted his teeth as a strange energy flowed through him.

“Ah, seems I’ve touched a nerve there.” Recaban forced a laugh. “All your duplicity for nothing. And now that Thalonius knows what you’ve done, Nethic will pay dearly for your foolish gamble.”

“When will my father arrive?” he asked, thrusting aside Recaban’s taunts and focusing on the fact that Vaush was still out there alive eluding all the traps set for her. Was she well on her way to Novoxos? Did she even know he was still alive?

Glancing at his chronometer, Recaban replied, “I expect him any moment now.”

“Whatever Crausin is offering you, I will double it.”

Recaban scoffed. “You can’t offer what you don’t have.”

“You crave your place amongst the aristocracy. What better way than to earn the good graces of the new Empress?”

Recaban laughed again. “She’s never going to reach Novoxos. She’s merely bought herself some time.”

But Comron could hear the doubt in his voice and see it in his eyes. “She’s eluded capture for days and now there is a new powerful player on the scene who means to see her on the throne. This is the pivotal moment, Recaban, when you decide if you will be the recipient of her gratitude or her ill-will.”

Recaban frowned condescendingly. “Did you miss the part where she abandoned you in favor of her powerful new friends? The only thing I’ll earn by freeing you is your father’s retribution. No, I’m handing you over to the Duke.”

“Think about it, Recaban,” Comron said, endeavoring to keep the impatience out of his voice. “My back was broken in a fall, that’s the condition in which they’d found me. In the midst of a heavy battle, I would have been nothing but dead-weight to them. They obviously made a tactical decision and forced Vaush to go with them.”

“And then what?” he laughed scornfully. “The gods reached down and graced you with a miraculous healing?”

Comron realized that in light of his sterling condition, the assertion would seem ludicrous. Even he had difficulty believing it.

Recaban snickered. “What really happened? Did they dope you with something and then make off with the girl while you were out? Face it, Van Laven, their plans for her simply don’t involve
you.
You’re lucky they didn’t kill you.”

Perhaps they would have if they believed he was still alive. Regardless, he could see that there would be no convincing Recaban of the truth. And what was the truth? How had his back been repaired? It was as if some strange alien technology far beyond their comprehension had been used on him to—

The Murkudahl!
Vaush said they’d been following them the whole time and they’d given her the Essence. Was it possible they’d administered some to him as well?

His heart began to pound wildly and his thoughts began to race. Why would they help him? He’d shown himself to be no friend of the Murkudahl the way Vaush had. They’d never interfered to help them before. He closed his eyes and thought back to his final moments with Vaush. She had been shouting at him, ordering him to do something. He remembered a strong sweet-salty taste in his mouth, then…

His eyes went wide. It was Vaush, not the Murkudahl, who had given him the Essence. She must have had more of it, or maybe she’d given him some of her blood. It was the only explanation that made any sense. But what happened afterward? Why was he here in Recaban’s custody and Vaush gone? She had to have been taken against her will. He had to find her!

Time alone was what he needed now to work himself free of the bindings. “Recaban, I don’t intend to tell you a damned thing and you’re not about to start torturing it out of me with my father due here any second. So do us both a favor and find some other way to amuse yourself until he gets here.”

Recaban’s mouth turned down and he spoke in a mocking tone, “Oh, look at you, still regarding me as the shite you scrape off the bottom of your boots. You need to understand that the
only
reason you’re still breathing is because your father, the pompous ass, paid an exorbitant price for your pathetic life. I’m the one who holds the power here, not you.”

“And yet you still manage to carry yourself like the miserable little dung rat you’ve always been,” Comron said cavalierly. “Now do as I say and
leave me
.”

When Recaban raised his hand to strike, Comron lifted his chin in defiance. “Do your worst you putrid bag of shite.”

They both turned at the sound of the door opening. One of Recaban’s men popped his head in and motioned to him. Recaban spoke to him for a moment then cast a baleful look at Comron. “Your father is here to take you home. But know this…our business is not over, not by a long shot.”