Virgin (36 page)

Despair and disillusionment crept into her psyche, tormenting her mind and ravaging her soul. As she sank into the depths—not of water, but of mind—she felt the sting of tears as she gazed at the night sky. Stars twinkled above her as though smiling at her fears and sorrows. They had no compassion, no feeling, and were certainly no help.

At the height of her despair, her eyes were drawn to five brilliant stars forming a straight line across the heavens. Instinctively, her hand crept to the stone around her neck, seeking comfort. As her fist closed around its solid form, she realized that these were planets, not stars. The Great Alignment had begun. The time for her to act was now—not tomorrow or next week, but this very moment. Still clutching the stone, her other hand reached up, as though attempting to touch the shining orbs. Their light sent her strength, enveloping her with a profound sense of inner peace, and all of her fears sank into nothingness.

“I will not fail you,” she whispered as Dax’s face swam into view. “I will not fail.”

***

Dax couldn’t believe he’d found her. Despite the coolness of the night, she was warm, beautiful, and incredibly alive. Dragging her into his embrace, he clutched her to his chest, kissing her as never before.

Joss had been so certain of this outcome, but the delays from evading ship after ship had altered their course, driving Dax to near insanity. Though they hadn’t been attacked, Dax would have fought a thousand Aquerei ships to reach her. There could be no greater joy than holding her in his arms, no greater loss than to be denied a life spent at her side, and no greater love than the love they felt for each other.

“Promise me you’ll never do that again,” he whispered against her cheek.

“I can’t,” she replied. “It was
glorious
. Dax, you have no idea… you can’t possibly imagine…”

Dax felt his heart sink to the depths of the ocean and beyond. “I knew it. Now that I’ve finally found you, I’m losing you to this world.”

Her voice was steady and firm. “No. You’ll never lose me. Don’t even think it. The alignment has already begun. The planets are calling to me. I’m not just a forgotten grain of sand in the middle of a vast universe anymore. I’m part of it now, never to be alone again and never to be parted from you.” Her voice sank to a whisper as she reached up to caress his cheek. Dax felt her fingertips, petal soft upon his skin, infusing every fiber of his being with her love. “What we do now, we do together.”

“Then let’s do it.” Dax scooped her up in his arms and stood as Threldigan tucked his cape around her, shielding her from evil. Dax could hear the sounds of battle: the clash of weapons, the whine of pulse rifles, and the sizzling pop of laser fire. There was no time to waste. The city was under siege, and lives were being lost. Determination filled him, sending him onward into the night.

Armed to the teeth, the others formed a phalanx around him, Waroun taking point along with Rolst and the rest of the Aquerei men. Joss and Threldigan flanked him, while Quinn and the two Kitnocks brought up the rear.

“I can walk,” Ava protested. “Put me down.”

Dax was loath to let her out of his arms for any reason. “No, save your strength. You may need it later on.” Speed was desirable, but stealth more important to their mission. He glanced at Joss. The Aquerei was clearly terrified but didn’t falter. Perhaps he was tougher than he seemed. “We need a good story if someone stops us for questioning. It’s your job to come up with one.”

Joss nodded. “The temple is a place to take the sick for healing or the dying for cleansing of the spirit. We may not be the only supplicants trying to get through, but it will still be difficult.” He gestured toward the rocky peak above them. “The temple is at the top of that cliff.”

“It looks like a good place to die right now,” Diokut said. Dax tended to agree.

Following the path, they rounded the base of the cliff where a horrific sight met their eyes. The street was wide, both sides lined with graceful statues. It should have been a place of beauty, but bodies of the dead and dying littered their path while others attempted to drag the wounded to safety. Further on, the front lines were engaged in a fierce battle for control.

“We’ll never make it through that,” Teke whispered.

“Yes, we will.” Threldigan reached into his bag and tossed out a handful of decoys. Fearsome monsters sprouted from the seeds he’d sown, sending the combatants on both sides fleeing for cover. Dax and the others rushed forward through the gap created in the ranks as their Aquerei vanguard began firing, cutting through what remained of the resistance. Though Dax knew that each of their weapons was set to stun, watching men fall ahead of them was still tragic.

“Has the whole world gone mad?” Joss shouted. “At this rate, everyone will be dead by the time the alignment is over!”

“Which is why we need to hurry,” Dax said, his long strides carrying him ahead of the others, despite his extra burden.

Opening the front lines had allowed others to follow them through the gap before the defenders could close ranks. Threldigan tossed out another of his gadgets, sending a wall of black smoke billowing up behind them to discourage any pursuit.

One of their Aquerei vanguards fell. Waroun sent several wide pulse blasts into the shadowy street beyond, clearing the road ahead. The street curved upward around the towering crag, providing little cover as they progressed. Dax hadn’t been able to understand why there should be a fight when the stone was presumed lost, but then the horror of realization struck him: The Opps were attempting to destroy the temple.

Their only hope was that the Unities could hold out until they reached the summit, but they couldn’t hold out indefinitely, and none of the defenders knew they were coming. At some point, hemmed in by the Opps, the Unities would either surrender or do something desperate.

As the stone pavement exploded in front of them, it became apparent that the moment of desperation had arrived.

Chapter 23

Waroun wiped the dust from his face. “Holy shit! That was close!”

The bomb might have cleared their path of enemies, but the rubble it left behind was difficult to negotiate. Reluctantly, Dax put Ava down, and together they picked their way through the debris.

Teke stunned yet another of the Aquerei who were now swarming up the road. “How the hell do they know who they’re fighting against? I
still
can’t tell the difference!”

Threldigan tossed another handful of gadgets as they all turned and fired. “I can’t either. Don’t trust
anybody
!”

Masses of Aquerei fell as they sent more stun blasts into the hoard and Threldigan’s illusions drove them back. This time, it appeared that a troop of fearsome Darconian warriors were advancing down the mountain.

“We’ve got to keep moving!” Dax yelled, pulling Ava onward. Protected as she was by Threldigan’s cape, she was barely visible; if he let go of her hand, he knew he’d never find her again. As they rounded the next bend, another explosion ripped through the street, knocking them both to the ground.

Dax pulled her to her feet. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” she gasped. “But there isn’t going to be anything left for us to save if they keep that up.”

“I just wish they’d set those things off
behind
us rather than in front of us,” Waroun complained. “It’s starting to get on my nerves.”

“Too bad we can’t tell
them
that,” Joss said with a gesture toward the temple.

They could see it now, glowing high above them in the darkness, its graceful columns seeming to sprout from the rock, converging to form a vaulted roof. In structure, it reminded Dax of a temple from Earth’s ancient Greece, but there the resemblance ended, for the Temple of the Aquina was made not of marble or sandstone, but of a clear, crystalline rock that had been carved from the very heart of the peak. The steps leading up to it were crowded with defenders. Dax could see sparks from the clash of blades as well as the explosive flashes of projectile weapons as they fired upon the Opps, who had already broken through to storm the sacred place.

Ava stared bleakly at the masses of defenders. “How will we ever get past them?”

“We have to reach them first,” Dax said. “After that, it might be worth trying to talk our way in, but our best bet is to join the fight against the Opps and then work our way toward the temple.”

“We could show them the stone,” Ava suggested.

“Yes, but if we do that too soon and any of the Opps see it…” He stopped there, knowing that he didn’t have to finish that statement. The stone would make them the target of the fiercest fighting yet.

Waroun threw a scathing glance at Joss. “Too bad we don’t have any notorious freedom fighters among us. You know, someone the Unities would recognize immediately as being on their side?”

Joss winced, but this seemed to give Threldigan an idea. “What about it, Joss? Is there anything that would ‘magically’ get us through?”

Joss shook his head. “Not unless you could make Ava look like a sea goddess.”

Threldigan grinned. “I believe that could be arranged.”

“Or something so incredible that would distract everyone for a few minutes,” Dax said. “Just long enough for us to get past them—and preferably get them all to look up at the sky.”

“Got just the thing,” Threldigan said.

In spite of the gravity of the situation, Dax laughed out loud. “Trust you to have the answer, Threld! Even in the middle of a battle!”

“With a magician around, our odds definitely improve,” Teke said with a nod. “And I, for one, would love to have the odds on our side—for once.”

“We’ve still got to get closer, though,” Dax said. “As pissed as they all are, nothing will distract them for long.”

Ava shook her head. “I still don’t understand how any ‘oracle’ can stop this madness. I mean, what could it possibly say that would change anything?” She was looking at Joss, who merely shrugged.

“Well, it better be good or we’re all in trouble,” Waroun said roundly. “It was hard enough to get this far. I don’t relish the idea of fighting our way back down this road.”

Dax didn’t say it aloud, but when Ava’s eyes met his, he knew she was thinking the same thing. They might not live long enough to do it—any of them.

Ava was already moving on. Dax had to admire her courage. Whether she felt an affinity for this world or not, she was still the bravest woman he’d ever known—even more than Jack.

Jack…
Dax sighed as he marched onward. If he died without siring any offspring, Jack would be
so
put out with him. Ever since she’d found Cat, the survival of the Zetithian race had become the main thrust of Jack’s life and should have been his. Dax understood her now. He wanted children—lots of them—and he wanted Ava to be their mother.

He took Ava’s hand as they flitted from shadow to shadow along the roadside. The place was eerily beautiful by night; in the daytime, it would have been breathtaking. Huge monoliths carved with sea creatures lined the road as they neared the summit. Statue after statue reared up around them, each one chiseled from the living rock.

Another explosion split the night, illuminating the swarm of Opps attacking the line of defenders below. Somehow, the gap had been closed, cutting off their pursuit.

As they rounded the next turn, Dax could see that the Opps probably didn’t need reinforcements to achieve victory. The defense was already weakening. They could now tell which side was which—the Opps were trying to reach the temple, while the Unities were pushing them back—but the fighting was intense. Whatever Threldigan had left in his bag of tricks had better be good.

Dax darted behind a statue of a mermaid, one of the last that formed a semicircle below the foundation of the temple. Her crown was crumbling and her trident had lost a prong, but she still looked regal. Motioning for the others to get behind him, he peered over the mermaid’s upswept tail at the battle raging above.

The final approach was narrow and steep. The road curved slightly to the left of their position before taking a right turn, culminating in a flight of steps leading up to the entrance. The long side of the rectangular temple was directly above them, but it was cut off from their position by a steep boulder-covered slope that would have taken hours to climb through, if they could have done it at all.

Joss moved up to stand beside Dax. “For there to be so much carnage in such a sacred place…” He shook his head, shuddering. “I wish my eyes had never seen it.”

Dax ignored this. “Is there another entrance?”

Joss shook his head. “The western portal is the only way in. The northern face is another rocky field such as this, and below the eastern end is a sheer drop to the sea. I suppose it could be scaled, but without the proper equipment, you’d be a fool to attempt it.”

Dax let out a bark of laughter. “We’re already a pack of fools. What’s one more foolish blunder?”

“I could climb it,” Waroun said.

Dax eyed his first mate with newfound respect. “With those sucker-fingers of yours, I bet you could.”