Prime Imperative (The Prime Chronicles Book 3) (35 page)

“And so, Tenar plotted and planned.” Bria caught at Lorinda’s blouse as the older woman stumbled. “Careful, mother-kin…He punished Ilar for stealing you away by striking at the people Ilar was raised to protect. And Tenar’s machinations helped tip the Prime people close to extinction.”

“Damn good revenge,” Mel said. “But crazy.”

“Ilar suspected a conspiracy, but couldn’t prove anything,” Lorinda gasped out and placed a hand on the wall as she quickly descended the stairs.

“So, he shoved the joinder with the Alliance down the Elder Council’s throats and forced the traitor’s hand.” Mel hummed her approval. “My
gemat
’s father is one smart man.”

Bria’s heart pounded, and she gasped raggedly. The pace Mel set was wicked, but in Bria’s head a clock counted down at light speed as she sensed evil was in hot pursuit.

Lorinda, who looked exhausted, muttered “right” and “left” as they ran through narrow hallways, always heading downward.

Finally, they stopped at a closed door. All three of them took the time to catch their breath and listen for the sounds of pursuit. The men chasing them weren’t close enough to hear yet, but she and Mel exchanged worried looks. Impending danger hung thickly in the air.

“Are my sons getting closer?” Lorinda asked.

“Yes.” Bria’s breath hitched. “They just exited a dark pit of hell, Iolyn’s words, and are launching small boats to get across some rapids to get to the waterfall. Does that sound right?”

“From what I recall, yes,” Lorinda sighed out the word and leaned against the wall as if her legs could no longer hold her upright. “That’s where I’m taking us. To the cave behind the waterfall. Beyond that door is a natural cave which leads to several man-made tunnels, one of which will connect to a natural tunnel that ends in the cave behind the waterfall.”

“Okay.” Mel opened a door, stopped, and held up a hand to halt them. “No lights, dammit. Somewhere, Tenar has to have some lanterns.”

They backtracked and began searching along the lower level corridor.

“I found some,” Lorinda called from one of the small rooms they’d passed. “Watch…”

Lorinda’s words were cut off.

“Come back, girls, or I’ll kill her.” Tenar’s voice echoed off the stone walls of the narrow hallway. Then he yelled, “You, stupid bitch…you bit me!”

Good for Lorinda
. Bria looked at Mel and lifted one of her many knives, then mimed throwing. Mel nodded.

“He’s alone.” Lorinda screamed, then uttered a cry of such pain that Bria felt it to her bones.

Something fierce rose inside Bria, powered from the deep well of her battle-mate energy. Bria growled. She ran back and skidded to a halt. Tenar had his arm around Lorinda’s throat. She tore at his forearm with her nails. Her eyes bulged.

“Tenar,” Mel yelled as she came abreast of Bria.

The big Prime sneered. “You come any closer, I’ll break her neck.”

Bria had a shot. Not an easy one, but it might be enough of a distraction for him to let Lorinda go so Mel could get in and finish him off. Tenar was a head taller than Lorinda, plus he’d shifted her head to the side in preparation to break her neck.

Mel looked at Bria and nodded, then moved to attract Tenar’s attention. “Tenar, let Lorinda go.”

Bria tuned out Mel and Tenar’s exchange, took a deep breath, and focused on her target—Tenar’s thick neck. With Iolyn’s silent encouragement, she raised her arm, and with both her and her warrior-
gemat
’s strength behind it, she threw. The point entered Tenar’s throat and slid through his neck like a hot knife through butter.

As Tenar grabbed the blade and staggered back. The gargling sounds he made had her stomach clenching. He expelled a whistling sigh…and then nothing.

Lorinda had fallen to the ground. Her hands were at her throat. Her harsh, wheezing breaths were painful to hear.

Mel went to Tenar. Bria ran to help Lorinda.

The older woman gasped for every breath, a look of panic in her eyes.

“Just take slow, small breaths, mother-kin.” Bria gently massaged Lorinda’s abused throat muscles as she checked to see if the trachea was intact. “There you go. You don’t look so blue anymore.”

Lorinda lifted a trembling hand and patted Bria’s arm and whispered through her abused throat, “Thank you for my life, darling girl.”

Mel knelt next to them and used the edge of her tunic to wipe the tears and blood off Lorinda’s cheek. “He’s dead.” She looked at Bria. “You okay?

Bria nodded. Or she’d be okay once her knees stopped shaking, her stomach calmed down, and she could forget the garbled death sounds Tenar had made. She’d never get comfortable with taking a life, battle-mate or not. The aftermath was a killer.

It was necessary.
A phantasmal touch soothed her shoulders and neck while a small spurt of masculine-feeling energy reinforced her knees and calmed her stomach. The sounds, well, there was nothing he could do to erase that memory.
I’ll work on that later,
peata
. In our bed.

Mel examined her closely as if she could read Bria’s mind, then shook her head. “No, you’re not…but you will be. Also, remind me to never, ever, piss you off when you have something sharp in your hand.” Then she added, “I just let Wulf know his mother’s fine, Tenar is dead, and we’re safe in the basement.”

“Yes, I just received instructions to stay the hell put. They’re gonna blow the front gate and take out all the unfriendlies. Iolyn doesn’t want me to get my butt blown up before he has a chance to spank it.” Bria gasped then turned red as she looked at her mother-kin. “Oh, Lorinda…”

Lorinda winked. Her voice still husky and strained, she said, “Ilar…the same. Lovely, isn’t it?…Alpha-male posturing when…”

“When they’d sooner stab themselves in the heart than hurt us,” Mel finished. She patted Lorinda’s shoulder. “Rest your voice. Just breathe.”

The three of them smiled at one another, but the smiles quickly died away as they heard a voice echo down the hallway. “Those bitches have to be down here somewhere, Jotak. We’ll find them. The old cook said there was an escape tunnel. We sure can’t go out the front. The whole damn Alliance Military stationed in this area looks to be out there.”

Bria, Mel, and Lorinda didn’t linger. They picked up the two lanterns Lorinda had found and ran quickly and quietly for the cave beyond the door.

Iolyn…Jotak…his friends…after us. Going into the tunnels.

We’ve turned back. We’re close to the waterfall. We’ll find you. Just stay open to me. Do not engage them.

Not my plan. Hurry.

We are.

Chapter 23

Lorinda led the way into the cave.

“Stop a second, mother-kin,” Mel said. “Bria and I need to see if we can jam the door from this side. Slow them down a bit.”

Lorinda nodded, her face an eerie mask in the light from the lantern.

Bria waved the lantern she held around and didn’t see anything they could shove in front of the door. “How, Mel?”

Mel held up a laser pistol. “I took it off Tenar.”

“Why not set up an ambush and shoot them?” Bria waved that off. “Forget that. My brain is not working on all synapses.” Laser pistols couldn’t kill Dornians. Cutting off their heads would work, but most people didn’t hold still and allow themselves to be decapitated. A sharp knife to the frontal lobe would work, but was also tricky since the target would be moving. God, she was getting bloodthirsty. Jotak scared the crap out of her. “What are you going to do?”

“I think, using the laser pistol, I can weld the battle-blade I picked up to keep the door from opening.”

“Won’t they blast through it?” Bria watched Mel heat the iron of the ancient weapon and then affix it across the metal door and frame like a permanent lock.

“Eventually.” Mel looked at Bria and winked. “But we could hook up with our men by then.”

Bria nodded.
Hurry, Iolyn.

I am.

The two joined Lorinda, and they moved forward. They were about one hundred meters from the doorway when the sound of loud thuds reached their ears.

“Is there anywhere to hide up ahead?” Mel asked Lorinda.

“No.”

They’d come to a spot where three tunnels branched off from the cave.

Lorinda added, “This was only meant as an escape route to the river and then to the ocean. The Caradoc ancestors didn’t build any safe rooms.”

“Which one do we take?” Mel asked.

Lorinda held up the lantern and swept it from one tunnel to the next and then the last. “The One save me, I can’t remember.” Tears sounded in her voice and Bria rubbed her back. “I do know not all go to the cave behind the waterfall.”

A loud boom then a crash echoed down the tunnel. Angry men’s voices rode the underground air currents.

Air currents!

“There’s air movement, Mel,” Bria said. “They blew the door, and I can feel a slight breeze moving over me from behind. It’s moving toward the far right tunnel.”

“Good observation, Bria.” Mel gently turned Lorinda’s shoulders and nudged her to the right. “Move quickly, and don’t whisper. Only talk when necessary and use low monotones. They carry less.”

Lorinda moved into the tunnel. Mel followed Lorinda. Bria brought up the rear.

This tunnel was smaller. The air was stale and stifling. As Bria moved forward, the stone walls closed in. Panic threatened to steal her breath. The darkness, only broken by the dim lanterns, felt oppressive. Had Lorinda chosen the wrong tunnel? Were they heading for a dead-end?

Breathe,
peata.
Don’t let your fear rule your mind.

Bria took several breaths through her tightly constricted throat. Then she realized the breeze was not only still there, but it also seemed to be stronger the further away they moved from the tunnel split. Somewhere ahead was an opening to the outside. She took a deeper breath and let out a wobbly sigh of relief.

Thanks,
gemat
. Are you in the cave yet?

Yes. Bre Jod is leading. If you see a red glow, it is his caving light.

Has Wulf told Mel this?

Yes. We understand you’re being followed. We’re moving as fast as we can, but the tunnel is very narrow at this end, and it is slow going.

Okay. Be careful.

“I see a light,” a low angry male voice echoed down the tunnel. It seemed close, but sounds were deceptive in caves.

They know where we are.

Lorinda was getting weaker and weaker. Mel was pregnant with an heir to the Prime leadership. Bria knew what she had to do and threw up a wall around her mind to keep Iolyn from talking her out of her plan.

Bria tugged on Mel’s sleeve. “Go. Take Lorinda. I’ll stall Jotak.”

“No.” Mel’s voice held anger, fear. Her face looked almost demonic in the light from the lantern as she turned toward Bria.

Lorinda turned and shook her head. “Stay together.”

“That’s foolish,” Bria muttered. “I can do this. I have to do this.”

“I’ll stay,” Mel offered. “I have more training.”

Bria pressed a hand over Mel’s still-flat tummy. “Not an option. Jotak is my problem. Not yours.”

Mel growled sub-vocally, but nodded. “If they take you—”

Bria cut Mel off. “Then my
gemat
will come get me. Now, move.”

Mel thrust several ancient knives carved from animal bone into Bria’s hand. “Go for a kill with each and every throw, sister-kin. If you get the chance, cut off their heads.”

Bria gulped. “That’s the plan.” She could do this. Life or death. She wanted to live, so Jotak and the others had to die.

Mel took Lorinda’s elbow and soon the light from the one lantern they’d taken and the sound of their soft footfalls were gone.

The only remaining sounds in the dark, narrow tunnel were the shuffling of large feet heading for her position, the
throb, throb, throb
of her rapidly pounding heart in her ears, and the pounding of Iolyn’s angry will against her shields.

Quickly, Bria prepared her defense. She placed the lantern on the tunnel floor, a meter from the slight turn in the tunnel where she would hide. She turned up the intensity of the light and aimed it in the direction from which the men would approach. They would be blinded, giving her time to target them. Then she moved back and into the shadows.

She’d start by throwing her sharpest weapons first. With any luck, she’d take down the enemy and then could finish them off before the pseudo-reptilians had a chance to heal themselves. She had very little space in which to maneuver, and now that she’d placed the light closer to the enemy, she had no way of retreating in the inky darkness of the tunnel leading toward the waterfall cave.

To skew the odds in her favor, she’d need help from her warrior-
gemat
. Taking slow, calm breaths, she lowered her mental shields and met a blast of red-hot rage and fear coming across their mate-bond.

Bria! Bria! Answer me!

I’m here. They aren’t…yet. Are you going to be a help or a hindrance,
gemat
?

Iolyn’s fear-filled rage chilled to arctic ice temperatures as the frigid calm of full-blown
batel rabia
set in place. Bria felt the other Prime with Iolyn join in, even Nadia. Mel, who could not have met up with the rescue team yet, also rode the wave.

Ride the battle rage, Bria
lubha
. We’ll be there soon. Do. Not. Get. Hurt.

Top of my to-do list, warrior-
gemat. The enemy was closer now. She swore she could smell their anger as they approached.
Iolyn…I love you. It’s time.

Iolyn’s response was to stroke a phantom hand over her hair and then send her a burst of strength to aid her throws as he had earlier. She also sensed the flow of Prime energy building in strength and speed, like an unearthly tsunami, as the rescue team came ever closer.

“The light is stronger ahead,” Jotak said. “It is not moving. They must have hit a dead end.”

“Or it’s a trap,” one of the other Dornians said.