Crystal Warrior: Through All Eternity (Atlantean Crystal Saga Book 1) (43 page)

There was a brief knock at the door and Difleer entered.

‘Here’s a bath for the wee kapi,’ she said, placing a tub of water on the floor. ‘Is she not a wee treasure?’

Gynevra put the unhappy thoughts aside and focused on the precious orphaned scrap.

‘She sure is, Diffie, and she sure needs a bath!’

‘This big kapi needs a bath too,’ Taur rumbled. ‘The War Council are dining with us tonight. I’ll be back shortly.’

Gynevra squeezed his hand briefly and said, ‘Thank you. I love her already.’

When Taur returned Gynevra was gently stroking the sleeping cub. He stood beside her, looking down at the animal but it was obvious his thoughts were elsewhere.

‘We have news from Poseidonia.’

Her heartbeat sped up. This was the opening she needed. But she wasn’t ready! Would she ever feel ready? Gynevra raised anxious eyes to Taur who’d crossed to the windows to gaze out into the gathering dark.

‘What’s been happening there?’

‘They're still having earth jolts though the skies are clearing so they’re getting more sun. The Generals themselves came up with the idea of planting the Military Zodia in crops and even sanctioned slaughtering some of the horses. There's not a loaker, kanzuc or cadogonad to be bought or hired and every merchant ship leaving the port is crammed with Paggi and wealthy Moera who can afford to pay the exorbitant prices the captains are demanding to carry them to somewhere more stable. Ahron’s got to keep his navy militantly occupied or they'll sail off and not come back. Hence the attack on Fyr Heceuda.’

Gynevra shuddered. Poseidonia versus Nyalda was like brother versus brother.

‘What is being done to prepare for the arrival of the Poseidonian ships?’

‘We'll lay nets across the harbor mouth to catch them like whales in a fish-net.’

‘Won't they just break through?’

‘Commander Gabon is a marine warfare genius. He's invented a net with buoyant tentacles to foul the ships’ turbines. They’ll be sitting ducks.’

‘How many ships in the Poseidonian navy?’

‘Five troop carriers, five hand-to-hand battleships, one command kanzuc, and a supply ship.’

‘And we have?’

‘Two regular battleships. But we don't need a supply ship or a troop carrier so we're converting those for battle as well. That gives us four hand-to-hand battleships and a command kanzuc. They might have more timber on the water but we have the nets. It won't matter how many of them there are.’

Gynevra stared blindly down at the cub, asleep with its head on its paws. This was her opportunity to talk to Taur about programming the powerhouse. She could put it off no longer and deep inside, her heart was aching. Only last night she’d felt certain of his love and now she must walk a path that could tear this precious commodity from her grasp.

Needing to close the physical distance between them, she rose to stand beside him at the window. As always her skin tingled with awareness of his presence, and the fresh-bathed scent of him filled her with the longing to touch. Carefully she clasped her hands on the window ledge.

‘Why don't you program the powerhouse to create an energy field across the harbor mouth to keep them out?’

‘To deter ships that carry their own force-field-penetrators would take all the energy-capability of Nyalda's powerhouse which would leave the people without household power. We could only sustain that for a day or two. The Poseidonians would know they'd only have to sit us out.’

Gynevra wiped her hands slowly down her sides and nodded.

‘I can program the power-house to fire a single turbine-crippling bolt of energy at each ship as it passes.’

Swallowing hard to keep her heart from leaping into her throat, she looked up at Taur. A slow grin had transformed the scowling warrior's visage into that of a devastatingly handsome pirate. Her heartbeat tripped.

‘We'd better have you with us in council,’ he said, eyes gleaming with appreciation. ‘How come you know so much about the capabilities of powerhouses?’

Gynevra gripped the window-ledge to withstand the wave of energy sweeping through her from head to toe. Compounded of every negative emotion she'd ever felt, it almost took her feet out from under her and she couldn't have said where grief left off and guilt began. Or whether all had coalesced into the crippling fear that if she answered his question, this moment would be the last time she'd see that smile just for her. She didn’t want to admit any of it to this man who gave every impression of esteeming her somewhere only slightly below the Goddess. Such esteem had been a scarce commodity in her life outside the Temple and, as she’d known he would, he was asking her to utter the words that would destroy it, to spew out the ugly, cankerous secret that ate at her very soul.

Her silence was so long, her body so still, Taur couldn't fail to notice. Pulling her round to face him, he scanned the pale cheeks and downcast eyes for several seconds before drawing her into his arms.

‘Fyr Trephyr,’ he murmured against her hair.

Gynevra squeezed her eyes shut but forgot about her mind.

‘I read you, Gyn'a,’ he said huskily. ‘Your mind seethes with negatives and amongst it all I hear the name Kah. How did that wily old buzzard draw you into his infernal cabal?’

Her legs gelled again and she clung to his strength. He’d only to tune into her mind to know every detail of her involvement with the Star Quest! Against any other she was inviolate but it was as if she shared the same mind with Taur.

‘Talk to me of it, alara. You have an alarming propensity to think yourself of pivotal importance in the scheme of all things. I can understand that reaction in regard to Electra's prophecy, but not to the Star Quest. Those who perpetrated that diabolic plan were conscienceless varlets who deserved to die and most of them did.’ The harsh fervor in his voice made Gynevra tremble. ‘It's obvious to me that if you'd been willingly involved you would also be dead. Tell me.’

When she remained silent, he shook her gently and rasped, ‘Speak of it! Cleanse your soul of the poison!’

He knew her too well. How often must she come to the brink of the abyss wherein lay the rest of her life without him? Following close on the thought came a leaden calm, a sense of inevitability. He could read the knowledge from her mind—or she could tell him.

Dragging in a ragged breath, she moved out of his embrace and turned back to the window, her gaze roving over city and harbor. Voice catching occasionally and eyes burning with tears she refused to let fall, she began, ‘Crystals in all their forms have been my study-major at all levels.’

Taur leant against the wall, folded his arms and gazed at her. But she kept her eyes trained on the distant city lights. If she looked at him she could never tell what must be told. She drew in another long breath to calm herself and turning her mind back to her time in Trephysia, continued.

‘Kah understood the strength of the emerald vibration in balancing the crystal energy during programming. I guess he cozened me. Some would say he bribed me. The Goddess knows, I made him pay high uson for my services.’

‘What did you do with it?’ Taur asked.

Gynevra turned a fulminating glare on him. ‘Bribed Archinus Darlen. I’d done with performing on the altar!’

The dark green of his eyes softened.

‘Even with me?’

There was no turning away from his gaze, any more than she could hide the pain that assailed her heart at his words.

‘If I could've been sure—but I wouldn't risk Gotham winning Rafid again.’

Taur wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Rocking her gently, he said, ‘I can understand that.—And Kah?’

Gynevra pressed her cheek against his chest and let the memories flow. Suddenly it was easy to share them with this man who knew her heart as no other did. Whatever the future held she would never forget how it felt to be held thus.

‘Old Kah tricked me. He took me down to the cliff caverns beneath Meranil where they stored twelve of the biggest crystals I've ever seen. They hadn't been programmed and their cries were piteous. He knew I'd hear them and be unable to refuse their need. It would normally take four high priests or priestesses or a very highly evolved elder-priestess to balance the massive energy involved but Kah couldn't risk too many people knowing what he was up to and I think he'd used up all the elder-priestesses. My emerald vibration is capable of balancing vast reservoirs of energy and so he needed only me. There was also talk of the creation of a massive space crystal, which would make the twelve look like babies. I never saw it. But I knew they'd started creating it. I began to be suspicious of the true purpose of the Star Quest—for even though he coded it, I’d receive snippets of the program. So I consciously attuned to the program frequency and had my worst fears confirmed. Exciting people with the idea of the Star Quest was just a huge hoax. Go' was planning to hold the nation to ransom and steal King Ahron's throne.’

‘Go' wouldn't—’ Taur began.

Gynevra looked up into eyes dark with disbelief.

‘Ta’a, he would,’ she said flatly. ‘Did you see him after you came for—for our contract?’

Taur slowly shook his head.

‘You must know what advanced fuaba addiction does. He was dangerously volatile, without the added stress of becoming infertile—and impotent.’

‘Impotent!’

Gynevra just nodded.

‘One can see why he'd lose his mind!’

She drew in a shuddering breath.

‘I couldn't just ignore what I knew. If he'd been allowed to continue manufacturing that crystal he'd have held the power to destroy the whole country. I knew I couldn't leave that power under the control of a sick mind. I thought King Ahron would destroy Gotham. Instead he destroyed the whole province—,’ her voice dropped to a whisper, ‘—and our son.’

Taur laid his cheek against her hair and said huskily, ‘There's naught to be gained by whipping yourself over it, Golden One. T'was Ahron's decision.’

With a violent push she broke free of his embrace and looked up at him, arms flung wide in despair.

‘
I
told the King what the crystals were being programmed for.
I'm
responsible for giving him the information which caused him to destroy all of Trephysia, all those innocent people—our baby.’

Tears spilled and burned their way down her cheeks but she couldn't move to wipe them away. She couldn't move at all. She could only gaze in utter desperation at the beloved face, which would now regard her with hatred and contempt.

‘I know.’

She felt sick. Worse, she felt faint. What had he said?

‘Gyn'a, I know you told Ahron about the crystal.’ His arms came round her again and folded her close to his chest. ‘The whole issue was debated and discussed at the Vambon. He and I nearly came to blows over it. I was lucky to get out of that with my skin intact. Ahron doesn't like being challenged and he certainly isn't used to being told he's wrong.’

Breath shuddered into her lungs and Gynevra squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart was a mangled mess of fear and hope.

‘Anyone who had that information would've had to do what you did. If you hadn't, the devastation to Atlantis would've been far greater. All blame lies squarely with your light-sire whose greed for power and fear of usurpation over-rode any sense or consideration he might've had. He's a King who's lost sight of his sacred mission and wallows only in his opulence and power. Threaten either and he turns rabid. He's long since forgotten his sacred duty to his people. And if that's treasonous then add it to my list of crimes.’

He'd become more and more impassioned as he spoke. Pausing to let the tension flow out of his body, he caressed her damp cheek then continued.

‘It was never your fault, alara. It's possible to un-create an unwanted crystal. The method is almost never used, of course. It takes a lot of time and money. While all of those considerations would've carried considerable weight with Ahron, nothing could outweigh the advantages of destroying it and thereby killing all those who plotted against him. He saw it as a masterstroke. Sorry, alara,’ he grimaced wryly down at her. ‘I know he's your light-sire but—I knew it wasn’t safe to leave you in Fyr Poseidyr. Sooner or later he’d have become paranoid about what you knew. I believe his mind to be in little better state than Go’s obviously was.’

He swore harshly and gazed out over the city in brooding silence.

Gynevra leant back a little in his embrace and slid her hands up his chest and neck to cup the harsh lines of his jaw.

‘I hate that he’s my light-sire—just as I thought you would hate me for killing our son,’ she whispered, eyes tearing and lips trembling.

‘As you hate yourself?’ he asked gently. ‘Don't, Gyn'a. He was never to be ‘our son’. He would've been King of that accursed place, had he lived. And who knows? Maybe he was saved from a fate worse than death. Who knows what that place may have become in time.—And, my Golden One, I could never hate you, whatever you did.’

The shadows of evening wreathed the Castle with mystery when at last they changed for dinner. Broodingly he watched as she tidied her hair and bathed her face in witch-hazel water, then asked, ‘So you could program the powerhouse to cripple Ahron's ships?’