Shattered Soul (32 page)

Fear for Veknor, his best friend, whose body throbbed with heat, who had blood pouring from his mouth and who hung onto Fredrico’s arms with shaking hands.

Fear for Rani who stood, tall and strong and bloodied and bruised, in front of them both, her back to them as she faced Phemar. The warrior prepared to risk her life for the two downed men.

Phemar climbed to his feet, the putrid muck now dripping from the tattered hems of his sleeves. His breath gurgled more than usual, a testament to the fact that he was hurt.

Hurt and dangerous and powerful.

“Traitors,” he hissed. “Traitors!”

Rani coughed and spat blood to the side. Blood spilled from a deep gash in the back of her thigh and black, burnt flesh peeled from her upper arm. But not once did she falter.

Fredrico tried to ease Veknor aside, gauging Phemar as the biggest threat right now, knowing he couldn’t do anything for his friend unless Phemar died.

Veknor tightened his hold. “Get us both up.”

“You’re too injured.”

“We need to get up.” Turning his head, the ebony pirate looked over his slumped shoulder at Fredrico. “We need to get up now.”

“Vek—”

“Trust me.”

Those two simple words stopped all argument. The only person in his life he trusted anymore was Veknor, and if Veknor said, ‘move’, Fredrico wasn’t going to argue. His friend was canny, sometimes eerily so, and he knew something.

Power was building in the air and there was no time for gentleness. Looping Veknor’s arm around his neck, Fredrico stood.

Rani shifted slightly, her clenched fists easing, fingers stretching out. Orange smoke curled up from them.

Just as smoke curled from Phemar’s fingers.

“We can’t leave her to face K he1">him alone,” Fredrico said quietly, his gaze trained on Phemar.

“No,” Veknor agreed. “Get us beside her.”

They ranged up beside Rani, Fredrico by her side with Veknor leaning heavily against him.

Phemar laughed harshly, raking them with a glowing gaze. “You will pay for this treason. You will be an example of what happens to those who dare to question me.”

“Get back,” Rani ordered Fredrico without looking at him.

“I’m not leaving you,” he returned harshly. “Neither of us is.”

“I’m the cause of this.”

“You are.” His smile was mirthless. “You’ll answer to me for that later.”

“You wish.”

Phemar raised his hands.

“Don’t move,” Veknor said quietly, a line of blood spilling from his mouth.

Fredrico spoke to Rani without taking his gaze from Phemar. “Don’t move.”

“Are you out of your mind? I—”

“Obey me,” Veknor snarled.

Fredrico had no idea if the warrior was going to obey because a sudden clap of thunder that shook the very ground beneath their feet resounded.

The fires flared high, torching hotly out of sight.

Demons dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

Wraiths screamed and vanished.

The cracks in the ground closed.

Fire disappeared.

Darkness reigned around them and Fredrico clung to Veknor, his free hand coming out to wrap firmly around Rani’s upper arm.

“No!” Phemar’s wet denial bubbled atrociously in the darkness.

~ * ~

Uncertain as to what now was coming for them, Rani peered intently into the darkness. Her fingertips tingled hotly, her body racked with pain, but adrenaline kept her standing. Fredrico’s hold on her arm was the only sure thing she knew at that moment. After the horrors she’d seen and done, she didn’t know what the hell to think other than that maybe she’d finally gone mad. Or had been mad all along and this was just all an illusion.

And wasn’t that just wishful thinking? Her lips curled slightly even as adrenaline pumped through her body in preparation for whatever nastiness was about to be unleashed on them now.

An unholy, sickly, grey light pierced the darkness, growing larger and larger, and Rani couldn’t stop her mouth from falling open as The Overlord stepped forth from the light. Huge - no, monstrous, he stood over twenty feet tall, his lipless mouth open in a snarl to reveal razor sharp fangs. Shadows darkened his features in areas but the milky whiteness was unmistakable. His pink eyes burned with inner fire and his pupils were slitted.

In that second Rani knew she faced a massive power, one she could never win against no matter who fought with her. This was dark power personified.

“Overlord!” Phemar cowered back. “No!”

“What is the meaning of this?” The Overlord’s words thundered through the air.

A demon bowed its forehead into the dirt and every demon followed in imitation.

“Traitors, Overlord.” Phemar straightened. “They attacked me!”

The massive head swung in their direction, the pupil-slitted, pink-eyed gaze raking over them all. That gaze seemed to slice right through Rani and she fought to remain upright, refusing to kneel though her knees trembled as an invisible weight pushed down on her. The only relief was when that gaze cut to Fredrico, and then finally to Veknor who slumped against him, his ebony face wet with sweat.

The Overlord’s gaze went back to Phemar. “You have failed in your duty to me, dark mystic.”

“No, Overlord! Truly, I tried to train the warrior but she turned on me, and Fredrico and Veknor followed her.” Phemar pointed at them. “I did everything I could for you. I obeyed your orders - ”

“Enough!” The Overlord swept his hand down, and Phemar fell to his knees, flesh spattering the ground around the hem of his robe.

“No! Overlord!”
The terror in Phemar’s voice was plain to hear and Rani watched, mesmerized.

What the hell was happening? How come The Overlord, the small, white, weird alien on his throne, was walking, was so damned big? How come the dark mystic, so full of power, was terrified of him? Why were the dark mystic’s demons bowing and trembling before his wrath?

What the hell was The Overlord? Obviously not just some bloody weedy alien relying on a dark mystic.

The Overlord spread his arms, his robes snapping as though in a wind that didn’t exist. “You have been a loyal servant to me, Phemar, but your own power has consumed you, blinded you to my cause.”

“No! No, I swea - !”

“Your presence,” The Overlord’s voice was a threatening rumble, menacing in its sudden lowered tone, “is no longer required.” Bringing one hand swiftly before him, he closed his milky white fingers into a fist.

Phemar screamed wetly.

Blood and flesh squeezed out between the Overlord’s fingers, foul and dripping.

Phemar was literally crushed where he stood. It was like watching an invisible fist squeezing the filthy life from him. His cloak split and fell, and the nightmare it hid was revealed.

Half man, half rotting corpse. His ribs were yellow, poking out from the maggot-strewn flesh. Gaping holes littered his torso. Ragged flesh and green intestines writhed with rot. Part of his bowel hung from a hole in his flesh to slap wetly against his leg. Through a split in his skull his brain bulged.

He screamed, then choked off.

Rani didn’t even realize she was pressing against Fredrico, her free arm wrapped around his waist as she watched the horror unfolding before her eyes.

Phemar’s lungs burst from his chest, sickly grey and spilling out with thick, black blood. His ribs snapped loudly, his chest crushed by an invisible fist.

As The Overlord’s hand squeezed the air, as blood and intestines and organs and flesh slid from between his now stained fingers, so Phemar’s corpse was crushed in imitation.

A sudden twist of The Overlord’s hand and Phemar’s corpse snapped in two. Making a scooping motion in the air with his hand, he gathered something unseen up and mashed it into a sodden ball.

Phemar’s corpse was scooped up into the air and mashed into a sodden, bloody, messy ball.

A sphere of orange and black light rose from the corpse, pulsing angrily, and unerringly it flew to The Overlord to be engulfed in the massive maw that opened to it. The Overlord swallowed the essence. He smiled, teeth gleaming.

With a flick of his wrist, he tossed aside something unseen.

Phemar’s body was tossed onto the ground, an unrecognizable mess of putrid flesh, rancid blood, maggots, and tattered cloth.

Rani’s stomach heaved and she’d have vomited on the spot except that The Overlord was now turning towards her and her mind was too busy switching gears into a flight reaction.

“Hold,” Veknor grated harshly. “Hold.”

“Hold,” Fredrico hissed. “For the love of all that’s holy, Rani, obey us!”

Now she became aware of Fredrico’s arm behind her back, his fingers digging into her side as he held her against him on one side with one arm, and Veknor upright on his other side with his other arm.

The Overlord laughed, great rounds of thundering, malevolent laughter that shook the air around them. From the darkness beyond a chittering sound filled the air, the ground gave with a crack, and from the gap hopped what looked like a ball of mismatched fur and leathery skin, almost comical with its tiny useless wings. It opened its beak to show razor sharp teeth. More spilled up from the gap, flapping and growling deep, harsh, guttural sounds. They descended on the ball of squashed meat that had once been Phemar, stabbed their beaks into the putrid flesh and dragged it back to the gap in the ground. They disappeared over the edge into it, taking the dark mystic with them. The gap closed over.

The sudden quiet was almost deafening. All Rani could hear was her own thundering heart, Fredrico’s harsh breathing, and Veknor’s rapid, shallow gasps.

The Overlord took two giant steps toward them and then he knelt down, peering into their faces. His slitted pupils dilated before narrowing once again.

“I saw,” he breathed, a gust of sulphur laden air falling hotly over Rani. “I saw him bait you, Rani. I saw your power.” His gaze slid to Fredrico. “I saw the tie between you, when you were meant to kill her. I saw your linked power, and I saw what it could do.” His gaze almost caressed over Veknor. “I saw your choice.”

And now we’re going to die because of it. Oh, shit. We are so dead!
Rani’s mind screamed to fight, her instinct screamed to run, but her body obeyed Fredrico who had her in a one-armed death grip.

Against all the odds she trusted him. It wasn’t like she had anyone else to trust right now, and between Fredrico and the monster alien, the space pirate was her safest, more normal choice.

“I saw,” The Overlord breathed again and his smile was all gleaming fangs. “And I liked.”

So maybe they weren’t going to die just yet. Rani suppressed an involuntary shiver.

“But I have a dilemma,” The Overlord said. “I have no dark mystic. I need someone to take his power. Someone to be my dark mystic, to wield the power I choose to give him, to be loyal solely to me.”

Fredrico stiffened and for one crazy second Rani thought he was about to offer. She partly turned to him with a strong rebuke on her lips, but then she saw Veknor slumped in Fredrico’s other arm, his weight leaning heavily against his friend. Blood covered his shirt, wet and red.

“Veknor!” She started in alarm.

“Yes, Veknor.” The Overlord held out one massive hand. “Forward, my chosen one.”

Fredrico’s face went stark white. His hand convulsed on his friend’s side. “No, Veknor.”

“He is so near.” The Overlord inhaled with obvious enjoyment, like a hound scenting a meat roast. “So very near. So very perfect.”

Veknor lifted his head and looked at Fredrico. Rani saw the greyness around his mouth, the drawn look of pain on his face. He was dying. Fredrico’s dearest friend, the space pirate who was so much a mystery to her, was dying.

Dying because he’d helped her. He’d helped Fredrico.

She’d caused all this. Her gaze flicked down to Fredrico’s face and she saw the agony in his eyes, the wet sheen, the tightness of his lips, the pain and torment of knowing what The Overlord meant to do to his friend... his friend, as close to him as his brother.

“Veknor,” she whispered. “Veknor, don’t...”

Those dark eyes looked hazily at her. “I must.”

Fredrico swallowed hard, but not one word passed his lips.

“Fredrico!” Rani grabbed his hand at her waist and squeezed. “Fredrico, you can’t let him do this.”

“He has no choice in this,” Veknor panted, more blood spilling from his mouth.

“Veknor, no.” She heard her own voice break. When had she started to care about the ebony space pirate? Or Fredrico, with his pained eyes and tightly pressed lips? “This is my fault. It’s I who should do this, not you.”

“No!” Fredrico barked it out harshly, his gaze lifting to bore into her eyes. “Now be quiet.”

“You can’t let him - ”

“Be quiet!” His words lashed out, making her flinch, and she tried to step back, only to feel his fingers dig painfully into her side. “Be still,” Fredrico continued, his teeth clenched. “Stay very, very still.”

His gaze was locked with hers and she felt something intangible pass between them.

::Listen to him. You must listen. Everything you know, everything you have learned, is in the hands of Veknor at this very second. The very future rests with him. Listen to Fredrico. Listen!::

Shaken, she looked at Veknor, meeting his dark-eyed gaze, and slowly she nodded.

“Your loyalty to Fredrico and Veknor, and their loyalty to you, ties you together,” the Overlord stated in low voice that still rumbled threateningly. “Veknor’s loyalty to me will tie all three of you to me. There is power in numbers, and that power is mine.” Reaching out, he touched one massive finger to Veknor’s head, while with his other hand he negligently swatted Fredrico and Rani aside.

Stumbling sideways, Rani was knocked to the ground, Fredrico landing atop her. She registered the now freezing ground beneath her and the heat of Fredrico’s body above her. But it wasn’t comforting, not when she looked up into ruthless blue eyes that burned with a combination of fury and sadness.

Fredrico swung up off her, his hand catching hold of her upper arm to drag her upright. In one savage movement he pulled her around to face the spectacle playing out before them. “You need to watch,” he said harshly. “Veknor is my friend, my brother in all but blood. Your choice brought us to this. The least you can do is watch.”