Destiny (5 page)

“The good Knight-Captain cannot hear your cries, sweet Princess.” Seeing the stricken look on Lúthien’s face, the monster’s guffawing laughter filled her ears once more. “Oh, I’m sure somewhere the real Knight-Captain is trapped inside watching helplessly as his body betrays him, unable to do anything to stop himself from following my orders.” Lúthien watched in horror as the beast reached into the pouch at its waist. Carefully it pulled out a green glowing crystal shard between two of its long sharp claws cackling evilly.

“This, little Princess is what makes them mine.” Before Lúthien could react, the creature stepped forward in one smooth motion. Grabbing her by the throat with its long clawed hand, the monster lifted her into the air in one smooth motion.

Choking for breath, Lúthien beat her small fists against the beast’s muscular wrists as its long tongue licked the side of her face. In a low guttural purr the creature spoke tauntingly into her ear. “I’m going to enjoy ripping the flesh from your bones as you scream your pretty little head off.”

“Aaarrrggguuusss tooo meee!”

Hearing the screeching war cry echo throughout the room, Lúthien did the first thing that came to mind. Reaching for to the magic that she’d worked with her entire life, Lúthien grabbed the creature’s massive wrist with her small hands. Focusing her will, she gasped out a word of command with her last breath.

“Rafmagns Hendur!”

Chapter
Six

Location Earth / Larissa Evans:

At first, they had all thought Thera had erupted once again, but slowly they came to the realization that the flaring discharge of crackling energy shooting out of the hole in the lava dome was not a new volcanic eruption, but something entirely different. The massive electrical discharge lasted for almost an hour and instantly shorted out every electronic device in the area.

For an eruption, normal emergency evacuation procedures dictated the Triumph pulling away from the island to a safe distance off the coast of Santorini, but with their current situation, that had proven to be impossible. Every electrical device on the ship was completely dead. Even the emergency lights were non-operational.

When Larissa had first found Sean MacRory, the Captain was bellowing at the top of his lungs at his Chief Engineer, Kane McDougal. At first, she thought the two men were going to come to blows over the dead ship, but Tony of all people suddenly diffused the argument. Oblivious to the danger, the young man interrupted Captain MacRory’s explosive tirade as they approached with a question that shocked the older men out of their tense standoff.

“What happened to all the lights on the island?”

Looking around, they all suddenly realized nothing had power. Not the capital city of Fira on the ridge above the lagoon, not the other cities that sat on the rim of the lagoon, not even the three cruise ships docked at the nearby port of Athinias. Even the battery of Larissa’s CX Swiss Army Dive Watch had completely lost its charge, and it was supposed to self-charge from her body’s natural motions. Everything around them was pitch-black except for the bright fountain of lightning shooting out of the Nea Kameni lava dome.

It wasn’t until an hour after the unnatural discharge had run its course that the crew, under the direction of Chief Engineer McDougal, were able to get the generators back online. The renovated World War Two cargo ship still had hand cranks in the engine room to manually recharge the batteries, which the Chief put to good use. They had been installed during World War Two to help ships recover after U-boat attacks. Unbelievably enough, even though they hadn’t been used for over half of a century, they were still fully functional.

Once the ships engines were back online, they were able to get the massive diesel generators that powered the Titan XI’s systems running once again. Initially, the plan had been to recover their equipment and fall back to a safe distance before making a decision on how to proceed, but once their systems came back online, everything changed. Tony was in the process of carefully strapping himself back into the Titan XI’s control harness when Sharon loud exclamation threw everything into chaos.

“What the bloody hell is going on?” Furiously, Sharon began clattering away at her system’s keyboard as she yelled over her shoulder. “Sara, I need you to take a thermal reading from your terminal, NOW!”

Stopping in mid-tear down, Sara looked up in surprise. “I thought we were breaking down?”

Ignoring the question, Sharon turned back to her screen as Larissa came up behind Sharon’s station a second later. Scanning the data on the terminal before her, Larissa’s face froze in shock. The thermal reading of the volcano was now the same ambient temperature of the surrounding rock. Her mind whirling, Larissa looked up from the screen to see the rest of the team’s questioning looks. Considering the implications of the data, she came to a decision.

“We’re not breaking down people! Sara, I need those thermal reading now. Glenn, tell Captain MacRory that there has been a change of plans. We are not pulling out. I want the ship’s crew to set up a base camp at the lip of the lava dome here. Larry, I want you to get on the horn with Satellite Imaging Corporation. I need to speak with John Jones now.” Seeing the stunned looks on her team’s faces, Larissa slammed her open palm on the table in front of her with a loud smack. “Get moving now people, we have work to do!”

“Holy crap!” Tony’s exclamation cut Larissa off in midstride as she whipped around in surprise. During the entire time she’d been working with the young man, this was the first time she’d ever heard him swear. “Nara you’ve got to see this!”

Annoyed, she nodded for George Nordic to put Tony’s display on the main screen in the tiny control room as everyone on the team paused what they were doing to take a look. The screen momentarily darkened as Tony repositioned the robotic arm so that the light lit up more of the dark chamber, but a second later the fisheye camera lens was back in position. As light splayed out across the massive chamber, there was a low gasp throughout the control room as everyone’s eyes locked onto the large curved horns reflecting from the bull shaped heads on the humanoid shaped bodies far below. All of them recognized the inhuman creatures immediately. Minotaurs of legend perfectly preserved in what appeared to be a semi-clear quartz-like crystalline substance for all these centuries.

The Minotaurs were still frozen in place, locked in some titanic battle that must have started over three thousand years ago. In amazement, Larissa’s voice broke the stunned silence of the control room. “Bloody hell, we just hit the jackpot!”

Chapter
Seven

Location Irlendria / Startüm Ironwolf:

Starfire’s first thought was to wonder why she felt so hot. It was as if she were burning up from the inside out. Her second thought was to wonder why she couldn’t breathe. Weakly lifting her head, she realized what was wrong.

Why would Momma leave her lying face down in the snow? Feeling light headed, Starfire sat on her knees bewildered. Her whole body felt terribly wrong. Looking down at her hairless arms and five fingered hands, she froze as the memories of the last twenty-four hours suddenly came flooding back to her. Tears streamed down her face as she remembered everything. The Pack slaughtered by demons. The sickening sounds of her littermates smashed to death against the rocks of Winter Heart. Mother hiding them under her ruined body as she slowly bled to death in the deep snow under the dead demon. The sadness was almost too much to bear!

For a second, Starfire felt like her heart must explode from the pain as she rose to her feet crying out in anguish, when her sister’s cry for help snapped her out of the feverish haze clouding her mind. Looking around quickly, Starfire’s eyes followed the gouge in the snow next to her all the way to the edge of the cliff where her sister hung precariously.

Running to the icy ledge, Starfire kneeled to help her sister when she heard the sounds of combat behind her. Whipping around, Starfire froze as she saw Startüm throw himself at the mass of Scourge charging onto the plateau after them.

The urgency in Startüm’s mind-speak brought her thoughts into crystal clear focus. Crawling to the cliff’s very edge, Starfire’s matted silver hair whipped about her face in the blowing wind as she reached out for her sister. Hanging over the side as far as she dared, Starfire wrapped her small hands under her sister’s thick furry shoulders.

Using all of her new form’s strength she tried to pull her sister up to safety, but Frostbrand was simply too heavy. Her twin sister’s transformation had turned her into a Werewolf. Their peoples’ largest most powerful fighting form, while Starfire had only managed her people’s weaker humanoid shape.

Crying out in rage, Starfire felt an unbelievable fury welling up inside of her as the magic inside of her responded to her need. Suddenly, overwhelming power flowed through her veins as the ice beneath her began to crack. This time, when Starfire reached for her sister, she easily pulled her up the cliff’s ledge without hesitation as power thrummed through her small frame. Quickly, she carried her sister back onto the plateau just as the entire icy ridge broke free. With a loud crack, the ice plummeted to the Otso River far below.

Turning around with her sister still held in her arms, Starfire screamed as Startüm went down under a screeching gray wave of Scourge. With every swing of his glowing blue blades, Starfire saw him slaughter the terrible creatures by the dozen as bloody pieces of Scourge flew through the air in every direction, but it wasn’t enough.

From the bond that they now shared, Starfire knew Startüm was at the end of his energy reserves. Being a Paladin of Ukko meant that he could heal his injuries almost instantly, but that was only as long as he had the power to do so. Through their link, she could feel the terrible agony Startüm suffered fighting for their lives as if it were her very own. It felt as if she was repeatedly being torn apart. As more and more of the foul beasts charged onto the plateau, she knew it was only a matter of time before they killed him. There were just too many.

Crying out in fury, Starfire felt the magic of her birthright responded to her need as something exploded deep within her breast. As raw power poured into her veins, she felt the hair on her head begin to burn like fire as flames rose from her clenched fists. Letting her sister slide to the snow at her feet, Starfire screamed at the top of her lungs.

“LEAVE HIM ALONE!”

Throwing her head back, Starfire howled as fire poured out of her eyes and mouth as she released all of her magic in one massive burst. The fiery blast swept out from her in a devastating wave of searing fire. Crossing the plateau, it incinerated everything in its path, before slamming to a stop against the side of the mountain with an earthshaking impact as Starfire collapsed to the ground.

Chapter
Eight

Location Irlendria / Nessa Manitou:

With a start, Nessa jerked wide awake on the grass mats of her wigwam. Her head still ached from last night’s souljourn, but for the first time since her brother’s death, she felt the terrible anguish of his passing bearable. Rolling to her hooves, she almost collapsed from the sudden movement. Splaying out her four legs, Nessa brace herself as she doubled over weakly.

Breathing heavy Nessa held her reeling head. It seemed to take forever, but slowly the ground stopped spinning. Looking down at herself, she was shocked to see how gaunt she’d become. The outline of her ribs stood out starkly under her skin, while her greater torso was emaciated from lack of food. No wonder she felt so light headed.

Slowly the memories of that fateful day came back to her. Nessa had collapsed in front of her father when the Wakinyan had first delivered the ‘Death Message’ of her brother’s passing. The horrendous torment of her brother’s final moments had made her delirious with grief, but the nightly visits of the Wakinyan had nearly destroyed her mind.

Several days later when her brother’s severely mutilated body had been brought back by the Raven’s Tribe still alive, Nessa’s father and Uzila, the Tribe’s Shaman, tried to console her with the good news, but their words had only driven her into a distraught frenzy. Weeks later when her brother came to visit almost fully healed, she’d attacked him without hesitation to the shock of her father and his guards. They had to forcibly restrain her to stop her from killing him.

Nessa’s stomach suddenly growled painfully as the smell of food came to her over the stench of her unwashed body. Near the entrance, she saw the grains and dried meats that had been left for her to regain her strength. Staggering with each step, she managed to cross the wigwam before collapsing in front of the open clay jars.

Feverishly, Nessa began stuffing food into her mouth with both hands. At first, the hunger cramps were unbearable, and Nessa thought she would puke, but slowly her stomachs settled down as she ate. Before she knew it, she had finished both jars as she collapsed onto her side in a comatose stupor.

Nessa’s mind floated as she stared at the skin covered entrance. She had to warn her father of the evil lurking within their midst, but her body wouldn’t move. As her eyes grew heavy, Nessa suddenly realized what was wrong. The food had benn drugged!

“There … there now my little one, I can see you’re doing much better.” Glassy-eyed, Nessa tried to focus on the face leaning over her, but she couldn’t move her head. “Rest my dear. You’ve been gone from us for quite some time.” After several moments, Nessa recognized the Tribe’s shaman’s wrinkled face leaning over her. Gently Uzila’s callused hands began washing the stench from Nessa’s skin as her craggy voice spoke on.

“For a time my dear, I worried that you had left us for good.” Seeing Nessa straining to speak, the old shaman clucked her tongue reproachfully. “The Alttash’s Tears I laced your food with is healing you nicely, but it requires all of your body’s energy reserves to work its magic.”

Hearing the old shaman’s words, Nessa froze in shock. Alttash’s Tears were extremely poisonous and grew throughout the plains. The Tribes used the roots as a last judgment. Legend had it that Alttash’s Tears were given to the Tribes as a gift from the Luonnotar, a gift that could only be consumed by Luonnotar’s chosen.

For a chosen, Alttash’s Tears accelerated the healing process and restored the body, but for anyone else. It was a quick and horribly painful death. Seeing the look of fear on Nessa’s face, Uzila cackled loudly before turning serious once again.

“Yes little one, it had come to that. When your father left for Mount Airy to ask Luonnotar to spare your life, Tolnik wasted no time in speaking to the council. As the only present representative of the family, he demanded that you be put out of your misery.” Thoughtfully, the old shaman began braiding Nessa’s long blond hair. “The council would not say no since they know the young buck will be Chief someday.”

“Cowards, the lot of them!” Spitting on the ground, Uzila swore vehemently. “I told them Wakinyan was visiting you nightly, and this was the domain of Luonnotar, but the fools would hear nothing of it.” Uzila voice cackled even louder. “But old Uzila showed them, didn’t she. I demanded that you be given Alttash’s Tears and let Luonnotar decide your fate. Now that put the whole Tribe in an uproar.”

Nessa’s eyes began to grow heavy once again as the old shaman stroked her forehead. “You can tell me when you next awake, but for now little one, you are in Luonnotar’s hands.” Gathering her legs underneath her sagging hindquarters, the old shaman pushed herself to her hooves using her staff as a brace. Muttering to herself thoughtfully, Uzila took her leave. “I must watch Tolnik. There is something wrong with that young buck.”

Again, Nessa strained to get the words of warning out, but her body betrayed her. Already it was shutting down as she was forced into the healing sleep of the chosen. Looking back over her shoulder, the old shaman spoke once more before the tent flap fell into place behind her.

“Hush now little one. You can explain to me what Wakinyan revealed when you awaken.”

Vision fading, Nessa felt sleep overtake her once more.