Shattered Soul (30 page)

Yes, of all those mercenaries, only Zadox and Reya retained their sanity. If they really did.. She walked the edge sometimes, guilt eating at her, and something more... something more that filled her nights with horror and ate slowly at her soul.

A darkness that ate at her sanity and her emotions.

Guilt over killing children was a terrible thing. Who knew it could bring one so low? She’d shamed her mother, shamed her memory, shamed her sister warriors, and if they ever knew what she’d done, they would hate and revile her, cast her from their tribe. No, they must never know.

Why killing the children should drive the mercenaries insane, she didn’t know. They’d all done so much worse, herself included. None of them knew. They just accepted that was the cause even though deep inside them they knew something had happened out there. Something very wrong. It had happened to them.

No one ever found out what happened that day in the desert. It became another legend.

And Reya walked the edge of insanity.

~*~

Space

Daamen Trading Spaceship

Instantly alert to the sounds of distress his beloved wife was making, Maverk awoke. “Lights on,” he whispered as he turned over quickly, coming up onto one elbow.

The soft glow lit up the cabin and he saw that Reya was caught up in a nightmare. It had been awhile since she’d suffered one but they did come now and again, a legacy of her mercenary days and the cannibal children of the Ylan desert.

Beneath the covers her legs shifted and her arms lifted, her hands outstretched as though warding something off.

“No,” she whispered. A tear slid down her cheek. “No.”

“Easy, lass.” His deep voice was gentle. Reaching out, he took one of her hands and linked their fingers. “You’re safe, sweetheart.”

“They’re out there...” Restlessly she moved. “They’re coming...”

“Shhh, lass.” Bringing her hand to his lips, he bushed his lips over her knuckles. “’Tis Maverk here, sweet one. ’Tis me. We’re going home.”

“Home...” she whispered brokenly.

It near on broke his heart but he didn’t move fast, knowing the only way to quiet her was to do so gently. “Aye, home. The desert is long gone, Reya. Everything is over. You’re safe.”

Still asleep, her brow furrowed, she rolled to face him. Her free hand re C fr over. Youached out, unerringly touching his cheek, her fingers lightly tracing down to his jaw line. “Maverk...”

“Aye, ’tis me.” Leaning forward, he brushed his lips across her brow.

Almost desperately she moved closer, snuggling in, her arms wrapping tight around him as she buried her face against his neck. “Screams...” She shivered. “So much blood...”

He drew her close, wrapping his big arms around her, sheltering her bodily, wishing he could shelter her mind from nightmares as well. “You’re safe. I have you.”

He braced himself, feeling her stiffen as shudders wracked through her slender body. She whimpered once and he spoke soothingly, pushing her nightmares back with gentleness and patience and soul-searing love.

As she’d done so many times before, Reya relaxed in his arms and slipped back into peaceful sleep. The furrows eased from her brow, the tears dried on her cheeks, and Maverk rested his chin on her soft curls and closed his eyes.

Loving her with all his heart, and guarding her through the night hours until he, too, fell asleep, his beloved warrior cradled close.

~ * ~

The Darknen

The ground rolled beneath The Darknen’s feet and surprised, he glanced around. He felt it immediately, a shifting in the darkness of a dark world, and he was mystified as to the cause.

Mystified and curious.

~ * ~

Witches

Standing beside Beulah, Sinya watched in open-mouthed astonishment as the river surged upwards suddenly, a roll of water that spurted high and shook, droplets shaking to the ground.

Instinctively he stepped in front of Beulah, one arm pushing her back.

“Stop,” she said softly.

Immediately he obeyed, glancing over his shoulder to see his wife’s usually calm black eyes now a fathomless space filled with falling and rising stars.

“I know that look,” he said lightly, trying for a joke. “The shit’s going to hit the fan isn’t it?”

Those star-filled eyes met his, seeming to sear into his soul, looking right through him to something he couldn’t see and, to be damned frank about it, he didn’t want to see. His witchy wife knew some scary shit.

“He pushes her.” Beulah’s words whispered from the ground.

“Not good, huh?”

“He seeks.” Her head angled, a soft strand of white hair caressing her smooth cheek. “Such danger.” The words moaned in the tree tops, making him shiver.

Oh yeah, somewhere the shit was about to hit the fan.

The river subsided with a whoosh, the water dropping in a glittering fall, and within seconds the river was back to its normal lazily moving ribbon, the very picture of peace and tranquillity.

But the stars continued to rise and fall in Beulah’s eyes, and that, Sinya knew, didn’t bode well.

~ * ~

Learta watched Cormac laughing and talking with Abra and Ricna, and greeting the newer m Cg t>

He didn’t need to know that around them all the air quivered. A crack in the ground, so tiny, spidering around their feet before closing up again. The wood of a building bowed outward slightly, a swirl of dust that blew out against a corner of a space ship.

She felt the sudden hot whisper against her neck, the pull on her soul, the chittering of teeth that only she could hear.

Briefly she closed her eyes and when she opened them again, all was as it had been, a normal day in a settlement.

But somewhere the darkness roiled.

“The darkness,” she whispered.

~ * ~

Acceli Healers

Something urgent, a feeling of fury and desperation pulling her up out of peace. Ceri sought to awaken.

The soothing, deep tenors of the Acceli’s voices lulled her under but she fought them, trying to surface.

“Rani,” she whispered.

She felt the pain of her sister, the betrayal, the despair. The darkness.

“Rest,” the voices whispered in the air.

“No...”

So weightless, the sensation of being carried, then water, lots of water, and things swirling around her, beings that caressed her, stroked across her and took her under, and she could only go with them, moving further away, taken back to peace.

Rani she thought once more, making one last attempt to reach out, and then she was wrapped in peace and soft violet light and taken back into deep sleep.

~ * ~

Inner Sanctum of the Outlaw Sector

Overlord’s Fortress

The meat of women was so sweet. Tender if they were young, full of flavour if they were older. Nothing like a piece of aged meat.

The Overlord did love his meat. The blood slipped down his chin as he took another bite of the almost raw meat, thinking that the woman he’d bedded the night before was proving today to be a tasty dish indeed.

Today he felt like a change. At his feet this time was a young, naked man. Fair of face, lithe of body, and willing to please The Overlord’s every whim. Big, brown eyes gazed up at him from a face that was achingly handsome.

“Ah, such plans I have for you later, my dear.” His white hand trailed down the man’s face, sliding along those lips, and The Overlord smiled as those same lips sipped at his finger. “Do you like pain, my sweet?”

The man rubbed his face against his robe, looking up at him almost worshipfully.

The Overlord sat back, throwing a hunk of meat down to him. The man grabbed it hungrily but proceeded to eat it delicately, little nibbles while looking adoringly up at The Overlord from under a heavy, gold fringe.

A well-trained eater. How The Overlord d
id like a neat eater.

A crack rent the air and he looked up sharply. A distant roar sounded, and The Overlord’s slitted pupils dilated. The shimmering in the air grew denser and he s Cnsee aaw one of the fortress’s pets thunder past, a blur in the atmosphere but the shadow on the wall huge and definite. It tossed its horns and faded suddenly, slipping through the floor out of sight.

A scream rent the air, and another, more and more until it seemed as though the sounds of every torment in the universe was focused in the fortress.

Music to his ears, a balm to his black soul, but disturbing to his mind because he knew that whatever had caused this disturbance in his fortress wasn’t of his doing or orders.

Blurring his vision, he stared at the wall where the head of his bed partner the previous night was mounted, and slowly but surely the blackness at the edge of his vision converged until he could see that which he sought.

And he swore.

Chapter 8

“Oh, shit,” Fredrico breathed, looking up to where Rani clung to the thumb of Ethmor, her face pale at the visions Phemar slammed into her.

“That stupid bastard’s done it now,” Veknor predicted grimly.

“Rani!” Fredrico started forward.

Flame flared up in front of him, forcing him back, and without missing a beat he turned to his beast and ordered, “Lift me up.” It took mere seconds for him to be in a massive hand and lifted high so he could see Rani clearly. “Closer,” he ordered.

The beast obeyed again, and Fredrico was glad that Phemar was concentrating on Rani to such an extent that he didn’t notice his pets helping Fredrico. Loyal to Fredrico his beast, Dreden, might be, but like all the beasts its loyalty only extended until Phemar, its true master, said otherwise.

Dreden walked through the fire without flinching, the flames not affecting its scaled legs. Fredrico was close enough now that he could see Rani’s profile.

Even as he watched, Phemar dropped the visions and Rani slumped back against Ethmor’s thumb, one hand to her eyes, shaking her head.

Holding his breath he waited, his gaze switching between the dark mystic and the warrior.

Keeping one hand over her face, Rani spoke, her voice rough with pain. “You tried to get my niece.”

“Reya.” Phemar made a smacking noise with his lips. “Such a pretty piece. She was very strong. I didn’t break her mind.” He angled his head. “I tried. I nearly succeeded. But she didn’t quite break. Interesting little piece.”

Rani straightened, rubbing her face slowly, her voice now almost hoarse. “You tortured her. You hurt my niece. You brought me back from the brink of death. You poured your demons into me, left a part of them in me. You made me live here amongst those who betrayed me, and expect me to trust them with my life.”

Fredrico watched her closely, a sense of foreboding in his heart.

The fires around them flared higher.

“Something’s wrong,” Veknor said, and Fredrico glanced around to see his friend close by in the hand of his beast.

“All true, warrior.” Phemar sounded amused.

“You enjoy playing with people’s lives, don’t you F Phemar, Phemar?” Rani’s hand lowered and her eyes were downcast.

Even in the heat of the hellish otherworld, Fredrico felt a chill go down his spine. “Rani,” he almost coaxed, “Look at me.”

“Fredrico,” Veknor began warningly.

Fredrico ignored him, his attention focused on Rani. He could feel a tremor in the very air, a brightness not previously in the flames, a threat trembling around them all. “Rani!’ he said more sharply.

“Yes, warrior, I enjoy playing with people.” Phemar laughed wetly. “And I enjoy playing with you most of all.”

“Then that,” she lifted her head, “is your mistake.”

Everything exploded. Fire, light, bright flares of orange and red, searing yellow and black shards. It cut through the air, obliterating almost everything.

Dreden roared, rearing back, his fingers closing almost painfully around Fredrico as it jerked him away.

Fredrico heard Veknor swearing but he could see nothing except light, great flaring blasts that almost blinded him.

Beasts roared, fury permeating the air. Flames so hot, so high, circles of pure power dripping orange heat and black smoke swirling around.

The ground trembled, cracked, releasing gusts of steam. The very air shook with fury, power, heat, and demonic beasts. Their roars, the thunder of their feet as they surged forward to protect their master. The stench of sulphur, the vicious faces, the saliva dripping from bared, jagged teeth and tusks.

They were after Rani.

Just as Fredrico was after her. He knew his duty, and attacking Phemar meant only one thing. Her death at Fredrico’s hands.

Without a second thought he drew on his darkness, drawing it forth from the tight ball deep inside him. He called it up, pulled it, and felt it flow through him so easily, so familiarly.

Faintly he could hear Veknor yelling but the words were indistinct.

Straining to see through slitted eyes, he could only make out the vaguest of forms, a slight movement in the clashing storm of heat and colour. Two indistinct black shapes fighting. A cold claw raked down his spiritual spine and he shuddered, feeling the blackness roil up inside him in answer to the hate and fury that filled the air.

Dreden dropped him on an outcrop and waded into the fight. Screams sounded, low and enraged, pained and shocked, and Fredrico was stunned to see a beast fall, its red eyes burning. Even as he stared at the monstrous head by his boot, he saw the red light wink out and the eye sockets were all that was left, empty and lifeless.

Something had killed the beast.

“We need to take her out.” Veknor was suddenly beside him, his ebony face grim. “Now.”

Fredrico nodded grimly.

An arc of lightening flared, hot and fiery, and another beast dropped howling to its knees, its eyes bubbling red froth.

More demons came from the ground, clawed hands coming through the cracks, clawing and gouging as they heaved themselves up from the smoky pits below.