Summoning Light (3 page)

After a few moments, Kell's heartbeat returned, though it was erratic. His breath came in rapid gasps.

Elizar must have noticed, for he raised a hand. "Stop."

She discontinued the shocks.

Elizar approached Kell and stood over him. "You see that we're serious. We can go on like this for days. Tell us what the mages are planning. What action has the Circle decided?"

"I will – tell you nothing," Kell said.

"You will tell us everything. You have no choice." Elizar moved away. "I realize I haven't properly introduced you to everyone. You remember Tilar, of course. And earlier you saw your embarrassingly strange, constantly neglected student, Razeel. But I haven't introduced you to our latest addition." Elizar's hand extended with a flourish. "This is Bunny. Bunny is a telepath. I've promised her that if you don't tell us everything we want to know, she can tear your mind to shreds to get the information. She's looking forward to it. She's a bit unstable."

Bunny put her hands on her hips.

"So you see, it's foolish to suffer," Elizar continued. "Either way, we will find what we want. Isn't it for the good to tell us now and die quickly?"

"I think you were right before," Kell whispered. "The good is for me to be tortured. And to die having revealed nothing."

Elizar's dark blue gaze fixed on Kell. "Leave us," he said.

"Hey, it's my turn," Bunny said.

Elizar turned on her and Tilar, and his voice rang with authority. "Leave us. Now."

"This wasn't part of the plan," Tilar said.

Yet it was. Bunny and Tilar were incorrect; the plan had been torture, then Elizar questioning Kell alone, and then, if necessary, telepathic interrogation. Bunny and Tilar knew this. They were lying, she realized.

Anna opened the door briefly so that the others could leave. Then Elizar and Kell were alone.

"Anna," Elizar said, "release him."

Anna withdrew her tendrils, her fingers, leaving only the conventional shape of a chair. Kell wiped the sweat from his eyes with a shaky hand. His dark gaze followed Elizar.

"If you came with the intention of killing me," Elizar said, "I am sorry to disappoint. I will not be killed."

"That was not my intent," Kell said softly. His heartbeat was becoming more regular, his breath slowing.

"Then why did you come?"

"I had to see whether it was true. Whether you had truly betrayed the mages."

"I killed Isabelle. Was that not proof enough?"

"For one who loves you? No." Kell straightened. "I knew the difficulty of your position. I put you in it."

"What do you–" Elizar rested a hand against the wall, bowed his head. For a long moment he was silent. Then, haltingly, he continued. "You incited me to break into your place of power. You allowed me to access your files. You wanted me to discover your secrets."

"I acted alone. The others knew nothing."

Elizar shook his head. "You sent me as your unknowing agent to gather information from the Shadows. And all the time I thought you had betrayed us, by hiding all you knew. How could you keep such secrets? The Shadows–" Elizar's voice had a strange quality to it. Anna couldn't tell whether he was upset or angry.

"It is the legacy of Wierden. I allowed you the knowledge when I thought you were ready. Secrecy was necessary. I believed you were the only one who could save us. I still do."

Elizar turned his head away from Kell, and the hand resting against the wall tightened into a fist. "Then why have you come here? Why do you force me to kill you?"

Kell ran his index finger over the white hair on his chin. "Because if I'm wrong, and you have betrayed us, I want to die. And if I'm right, and you are trying to save us, then I give my life as evidence beyond doubt for the Shadows that you have joined them. So they will give you the information you need to save us. To allow us to fight the Shadows and defeat them."

Elizar faced Kell again. "I haven't betrayed the mages. I'm trying to save them. But I don't want to save them by killing you. Not now that I know the truth. How could you come here and lay your death upon me? And how will the mages survive without you?"

"I have already resigned the Circle. They must survive without me." Though Kell was the one tortured, he seemed calm, while Elizar grew more agitated.

"Resigned?"

"My secrecy led to the deaths of Burell and Isabelle. I made a desperate gambit, and they paid the price. Does any chance remain of success? If not, there is a third alternative. Together, perhaps we can escape this ship of darkness, or die trying, so we cannot be used for ill."

Elizar's hand curled closed, and his thumb circled nervously about his fingertips. "I believe there is a chance for success. They have trusted me more since Isabelle's death. But I don't yet know all I need."

"What have you learned?"

"I've learned the workings of their ships, and some of their devices. I know a few of their secret alliances. But I need more time." He crouched before Kell. "Tell me of the mages' plans."

"Of their plans I know nothing. I resigned upon Galen's return and have not seen them since."

"You must be watching them. You watch all."

"No longer," Kell said.

"You know them. You know what they will decide before they decide it. You have said as much in the past."

"No one can be sure of another's actions."

Elizar jerked to his feet, pacing in a small circle. "Still you keep secrets from me! Do you think I'm so foolish? You seek to learn what I know while giving nothing in return. You have no faith in me."

He stopped, and they stared at each other in silence, until at last Kell spoke. His voice had regained its resonance. "You attempt to manipulate me like an outsider. Sending the others from the room so we can speak 'privately.' I reveal that I have manipulated you, and you pretend no ill will, hoping to gain my confidence."

"You taught me well. How should I trust you, after all the secrets you've kept and the lies you've told?"

In a precise motion, Kell extended two fingers toward Elizar. "And how should I trust you? You killed one of us."

"You have the gall to say that to me! What incredible ego!" Elizar brought his hand down sharply. "You set me on my path. And you sent Galen and Isabelle into that path. Because of your manipulations, I have her blood on my hands! I had no choice. It was the only way to maintain the pretense. If only Isabelle had pretended to join them, as I did. I convinced them to spare Galen."

Kell took a tired breath. "Your loyalty is not pretended when you kill for them. There comes a point when the pretense and the reality become indistinguishable. When you killed Isabelle, you passed that point."

"But my way is the only way to save us. We must learn the Shadows' secrets. You said so yourself."

"Perhaps, if that is the price, we are not worth saving."

"We are not worth one life?" Elizar spread his arms. "This is your own plan. I am your pawn. And now you reject it? You reject me?"

"I love you. But I fear that my plan has failed. I fear that you have become a pawn of the Shadows. I fear that they will never tell you enough. I fear that, even if they did, you would use that knowledge for your own good, and the good of the Shadows, rather than that of the mages. It is what you are doing right now. And I fear that, even if you took your knowledge back to the mages, they would never accept it, or you."

Elizar nodded to himself. "Of course they will. When they need my knowledge, they will take me back."

"You can never again be one of their number. You can never have a place in the Circle."

"When they are forced to fight the Shadows, they will be grateful for my help."

Kell's lined face tightened. "You fool yourself, perhaps, better than you fool me."

"When they are dying, they will have no choice. They will take me as their leader."

For a few moments, Kell's intense, dark eyes studied Elizar. Then at last he spoke. "They needn't fight."

"Of course they–" Elizar looked sharply at Kell, wiping a hand over his mouth. "Will they hide, then? Will they bury their heads in the sand and pray for mercy? I should have known it." He crouched again before Kell. "Where will they hide, then? Where are they now? Preparing? Tell me all."

Kell's expression seemed pained. "I tell you nothing, except that your quest has become pointless. They will leave, and you will never find them. They will never accept you or your knowledge. There is no point to your remaining with the Shadows, unless you wish truly to join them. I put too great a burden on you. The task was impossible, though I did not want to believe it. If your intentions are true, then let us attempt escape from this ship, and if we die, we die for the good."

"If they refuse to accept me and what I might learn, then the mages will die."

"Then they will die. But they will never accept you. Unless perhaps you return to them now, as my savior. Come with me now, Elizar. We can take my ship."

Elizar gave a ragged laugh. "Can you still believe I would ally with you? Your ship is destroyed. And I would not save you no matter how much good it might do me. You and the Circle have lied and lied and lied. It is you who have led us into this dire situation. Your resignation simply saves me the trouble of overthrowing you."

"There is still the other alternative."

"Kill myself? Destroy the line of Wierden? And the hope of the mages? I think not." Elizar stood. "The mages have a great capacity to do what is convenient, as you well know. They've practiced that skill over hundreds of years. They will accept me, when they need the knowledge I have." He bent over Kell, put his arm over Kell's shoulders. "Tell me where they will hide. I will share the information with no one. I will use it only to go to them, once I know all that can be known."

"I don't know their plans."

Elizar straightened. "You know. And damn you to hell for making me torture it out of you."

"You will be unsuccessful."

Elizar stood silently, his face downcast. Then he strode to the door. "Anna, open."

She did, and he called out.

"Bunny! Your time has come."

Bunny and Tilar returned to the room. Anna sealed the door behind them.

"He let slip that the mages are going to retreat to a hiding place," Elizar said. "He must be getting old."

Tilar frowned. "They're going to hide? While the rest of the galaxy is at war? I don't believe it. How does that satisfy good?"

"It satisfies fear and self-interest, which have apparently always been stronger than good."

Tilar studied Kell. "They're planning to fight us. They have to be. They sent him to plant false information. That's why he came."

"You're wrong," Elizar said, "but I don't have the patience to explain all the reasons why. In any case, sweet Bunny will find out everything soon enough." He turned to her. "We need to know where the mages will hide and when, and where they will gather for this exodus."

Bunny flipped her hair back over her shoulders. "You could say please."

"Please will you rip into this old hypocrite's mind and pull out the information we need."

She winked. "Happy to."

Bunny crossed her arms and stared at Kell, and in her thin, tense face, Anna saw insatiable hunger. Suddenly Anna felt the pressure of Bunny's thoughts increase. They pushed at Anna's skin, at her mind. For a moment every thought, every sensation was lost in a blinding blaze of whiteness. Then the pressure lessened, sensation returned, and as the dull, pulsing discomfort of the telepath's presence faded away, she realized Bunny's power had found a focus.

Kell's body went stiff. His head jerked to one side, his cheek pressing into her skin. From a face rigid with pain he forced out a series of words, so softly that she had to strain to hear them. "Seven. Eleven. Thirteen. Seventeen. Nineteen. Twenty-three." As the numbers increased, his heart beat faster and faster.

"He's–" Bunny's eyes narrowed.

"What is it?"Tilar said.

Elizar's fists were clenched, his face as still and inexpressive as marble.

Kell's body temperature was increasing, and with trembling lips he pushed the words out, his short, hot breaths grazing her skin. "Twenty-nine. Thirty- one. Thirty-seven." Kell's heart raced with a beat it could not possibly sustain.

"Stop it!" Bunny yelled.

"Forty-one. Forty-three." With a cry Kell launched himself out of the chair at Bunny. He slammed into her, and they twisted and fell to the floor.

Through her skin, Anna felt his heart stumble.

"Forty-seven," he breathed against her.

The erratic beat cascaded into chaos, then, with one final, tired contraction, his heart stopped.

The normal pressure of Bunny's thoughts returned. The telepath pushed at Kell. "Get him off me! Get him off me!"

Tilar kicked Kell in the head.

"He's dead, you idiot," Bunny said.

Tilar gave Kell one more kick. Then he and Elizar pulled the body off of Bunny. Kell sprawled across the floor, still.

Bunny sat up, rubbing her forehead. "The son of a bitch gave himself a heart attack. Maybe he thought he could take me with him." She held up her hand, waiting for someone to assist her. Elizar did.

Some low-level ultraviolet radiation was coming from a spot on Bunny's forehead. Anna wondered if it was a result of her exertion.

"What did you find?" Elizar asked.

"He was trying to block me by reciting the prime numbers. It caused a minor delay, but I got through quickly enough," she said, straightening her tight dress. She was swaying slightly. "They are going to hide. He doesn't know where. They have some method of creating a hiding place almost anywhere they want, so it can't be detected. He thought it would be somewhere out of the way."

"Somewhere out of the way?" Tilar said, nudging Kell's head with his foot. "That helps a lot."

"I didn't have much time."

Elizar's eyes were fixed on Kell. "Anything else?" he asked.

"Mmmm, well" – Bunny twirled her hair – "I found out where they're gathering now. At least, where he thinks they're gathering. Someplace called Selic 4."

"You got that?" Tilar said.