by Diane Rapp
Marasuta offered Krystal a cup of steaming tea and bowed with respect. “Your destiny is to lead the weak to higher achievement. You demonstrate the meaning of courage.”
“Thank you.” She gazed into the teacup to hide her fear. “Take the girls away in the morning. I’ll leave tonight.”
“We’d better plan your route.” Trenton dragged out a set of maps drawn on buckskin. “Travel this trail to the castle and set up a temporary camp here. While you play games with Jarrack, I’ll sneak into the spaceport and fetch the equipment you need. I’ll meet you at the foot of the volcano in two weeks. If you’re not there…”
“I’ll be there, ready to wow an audience.” Krystal appreciated Trenton’s easy manner. She studied the maps and listened carefully to Trenton’s suggestions. As the master of disguise and subterfuge, he overflowed with information.
*****
The night felt chilly. Kriegen sat atop a ridge, his pack watching from the surrounding trees, as Krystal road a small horse up the ridge. He said, Greetings, Krystal.
Greetings, Kriegen. Are you ready to explore the den of our enemies? She stopped the horse a few feet away.
The blade of our knife is as sharp as our teeth. If the evil one gives us trouble we will enjoy killing a few of his desert riders.
She glanced at the shadows under the trees. And what will your pack do?
They dislike entering caves where humans dwell, but they will assist us when the time arrives.
You are a good friend.
We enjoy adventure. The Elders assigned us to protect your pack from the evil one.
The Elders? She saw a mental image of solemn older wolves inside a red cavern.
Our pack is a small part of wolf society. One day the Council of Elders may agree to meet humans. We must prove humans are worthy to come before them. Some do not believe humans are intelligent and can follow the law. It may take time.
Krystal pondered the thought. She might be able to appeal to the wolves for help when the day came to attack Jarrack and rescue Donovan. She would discuss the prospect with Bryant. How could she help Kriegen prove humans were intelligent when sometimes she doubted the fact herself?
4 ~ CONFRONTATION
Havenshire’s lush gardens had been trampled into mud by heavy boots. They appeared bare, lifeless. With winter approaching, gardeners should dig, prune, and prepare the soil for next year’s growth. It was a shame that her immaculate flowerbeds would revert to a mass of tangled weeds. She walked along a familiar path to the castle alongside the sleek shape of a massive black wolf with glowing amber eyes.
She entered through a side door where a soldier dozed. He jumped up, startled at her sudden appearance.
“Take me to Jarrack,” she said.
He stared, transfixed by the woman.
“Are you deaf as well as slipshod?” His face reddened and he shuffled down the corridor to the royal hall, motioning her to follow.
She cringed at the destruction inside the castle. Fine art was missing and shredded tapestries hung from dirty walls. She shuddered, realizing that the reddish brown dirt on the white walls was splatters of dried blood. She averted her gaze and walked down the corridor.
Sniffing the hall, filled with the stench of decay, Kriegen growled. The guard, who had failed to notice her companion, heard the growl and raised a curved scimitar to strike.
Kriegen bared his teeth and curled his lips in a snarl.
“If you value your life, leave him alone,” Krystal said in a commanding tone and the guard slowly lowered his blade. She marched into the hall with a regal attitude, Kriegen keeping pace at her side.
A miasma of smoke and spicy odors filled the air as Krystal scrutinized the impressive chamber lit by clerestory windows. Men sat on the floor eating with their hands from giant bowls of meat. They tossed their leavings onto the floor where skinny mongrels battled for choice morsels. Dripping roasts, turned by veiled women with somber eyes, hung over smoky dung fires that blackened the walls with soot.
Tents in a nomadic camp were regularly moved, so the tribe had little experience with maintaining permanent dwellings. Krystal masked her disgust as she walked regally toward the throne. The crowd parted with a flurry of colorful robes as she advanced.
Excited exclamations in a foreign cacophony of guttural sounds spread through the horde. Kriegen growled when curious spectators pressed too close. One glance at flashing white teeth and bristling hackles cast fear into superstitious desert dwellers, and they backed away.
Krystal heard them say, “The sacred one protects the queen.”
When humans first landed on the planet, wolves viewed the two-legged creatures as an irritation. They tolerated the unintelligent creatures that came down from the sky in a fiery rock but could not hear mindspeech until the men living in the desert trespassed on their hunting territory. The wolves took action and desert dwellers learned to avoid wolf territory or die.
Now everyone in the hall respected the large wolf protecting Krystal. Women hid behind their veils and men sketched the sign against evil in the air as the pair passed.
Kriegen said, They smell of fear. Should we crack a few bones to show them our strength?
Krystal knew he was enjoying himself. Conserve your strength. We may need it to get out of here. Keep the pack ready.
They remain unseen in the shadows. Kriegen flicked his tail for emphasis. Men throw bones to them, thinking they are dogs.
Good.
As Krystal approached the throne she recognized the sad-eyed women resting on satin pillows, nibbling from bowls of stale food. These were the daughters, sisters, and young wives of lesser Lords and guildsmen who once sat on the council. Their ankles and wrists were chained and dark bruises marred bare arms. Where are their men? Krystal thought.
The Lords whose armies helped defeat Havenshire were conspicuously absent. Desert ruffians graced the hall, draped in colorful robes with curved scimitars hanging at their waists. Anger burned in her eyes as her gaze met the insolent black eyes of Jarrack.
“Have you decided to join our little family?” Jarrack gestured at the cluster of women at his feet. Krystal heard a mental laugh, broke contact with his gaze, and tightened her barriers to prevent his thoughts from entering her mind. She fought to suppress a sudden wave of nausea. It subsided when she stroked Kriegen’s head.
“I heard your men have been searching for me. What do you want?” Her tone sounded aloof, unconcerned, as she kept a hand on Kriegen.
“I have everything I want, power, money, and any woman I desire. What more is there but to fulfill old dreams and renew old friendships?”
Jarrack arose from his chair, a man of medium height and stocky figure. His thick black hair fell over sloped shoulders. He approached her with self-assurance and arrogance, obviously trying to appear handsome dressed in black silk robes with billowing sleeves to hide his portly body. He made eloquent gestures that set gold jewelry jangling, and his teeth sparkled as his lips curled into a cruel sneer. Nothing about his appearance appealed to Krystal. He looked pitiful, hardly dangerous until she met the stare of his cruel eyes, black pits which could absorb the soul.
Kriegen stepped between Jarrack and Krystal, protecting her from the mental barrage that Jarrack hurled at her. Krystal felt Kriegen reinforce her mental barriers. His tail twitched and he growled.
“My friend warns you to back away,” she said.
Jarrack wiped his moustache and nervously retreated.
Krystal demanded, “I want answers, Jarrack! Answers to questions you might not want everyone in this hall to hear. Shall we retire to a private meeting place?”
Jarrack’s eyes darted around the hall. “Yes, my dear. Privacy would be much better to entertain you properly. Show her to my quarters.” He flicked his napkin at a pair of guards.
Krystal and Kriegen followed the guards through a familiar doorway to the king’s suite. She felt comfortable in the familiar room filled with cloying fragrances from burning
incense. Krystal sat on a soft divan and Kriegen lay down at her feet.
Dr. Alexander entered the room, looking thin, tired. His distant eyes lacked luster and his clothes swamped his skeletal frame. Krystal caught her breath in surprise. Trenton claimed the doctor was safe and hiding in the castle tunnels.
“The doctor is my slave, Krystal.” Jarrack’s silken tone made her skin crawl.
“How can you be so cruel? He looks ready to die.” Krystal dug her fingernails into the soft fabric of the seat. Jarrack plopped onto a divan and dipped his long fingers into a bowl for a morsel that he popped into his mouth.
“Ask your questions.” His voice sounded threatening.
She avoided his eyes and blocked his mental probing. “Where is Donovan?” She was almost afraid to hear the answer.
“Tell her, doctor.”
Dr. Alexander said, “I’m so sorry, he’s dead.” He choked, unable to say more.
“You see, my dear? There’s no reason for you to carry false hopes. Donovan is dead, and you are free to become my queen.” Krystal sensed falseness in his statement and saw Alex fight to tell her something.
“You don’t want an unwilling queen,” she answered softly. Jarrack tried to capture her gaze but she avoided eye contact. “Why are you obsessed with me, after all you have all the women you want?”
Jarrack rose and paced. “I can force you to forget Donovan.” He studied Krystal dressed in a velvet gown of russet hue with bronzed skin and golden hair. Her soft, gray-blue eyes reflected the light of nearby candles. Her gaze filled with tenderness when directed toward the doctor but turned cold when she looked at him.
He growled, “You’ve avoided me for years, spurned me on the spaceship in favor of Donovan, and blocked the dreams I sent. I nearly had you when the castle fell, but you managed to escape. If you don’t cooperate, I will kill him,” he murmured.
“Kill him? You mean Donovan’s not dead!” Krystal’s eyes glowed with fire. “You forced Alex to lie!” Triumph sounded in her voice, but Jarrack roared with laughter.
“Clever girl!” His black eyes locked hers in direct contact and threatened to engulf her mind. “But you’re not as clever as you think.”
As she fought to break contact he said, “Yield to me and I will show you pleasures that will make you forget Donovan. Become my queen and live lifetimes of power and wealth on this backward planet.”
Kriegen snarled and snapped at his leg.
Jarrack’s gaze faltered, giving Krystal time to break contact and block her mind again. She stroked Kriegen’s head gratefully. “You forget, we destroyed the Transfer equipment and have no laboratory to create clones. We all have one lifetime left and I choose to live mine in freedom.”
Jarrack smirked. “Dr. Alexander confirmed that there is more Transfer equipment locked in the caves at the spaceport. As for clones…your daughters will do for you, and my sons will provide lifetimes of bodies for me.”
Fury flared within Krystal. “You must be mad! It is one thing to Transfer into a laboratory-grown clone, but how could you use your own son for Transfer? I’d never risk one of my daughters.”
“Oh?” Jarrack sauntered over to Dr. Alexander. “Doctor, explain how Krystal managed to bear those precious daughters? Tell her!”
Krystal flinched at Dr. Alexander’s guilty expression. “Leave him alone. He helped me bear children using ancient techniques.”
“No. The test tube babies caused you to miscarry, again and again. You would have died if we continued,” Dr. Alexander said.
“No, it worked!”
“I am an expert in creating clones. I can change hair color, eye-color, eliminate genetic deformities. Nothing is too difficult with slight adjustments in the chromosome pattern. Yet I didn’t have the skill of those ancient doctors to help you carry a test tube baby. I did what I thought was best.”
“They’re not clones! I felt those babies grow.” Krystal’s voice rose in pitch.
“The womb is a perfect incubator for new life. Your body rejected fetuses, but it accepted clones of your own tissue. Once implanted, they grew like natural babies. We implanted three clones because records recommended multiple eggs. We were successful with all three.”
“My babies have active minds, normal personalities.”
“Laboratory clones never had the chance to develop mentally. Their minds remained blank, like a computer without programming. Your daughters developed normally as healthy children.”
“I don’t care how my girls started, by egg or by cell duplication. I touch their minds and know they are unique individuals. I’d never use one of them for Transfer. They are my children.”
“Admirable but stupid!” Jarrack sneered. “Tell her the rest, doctor.”
“In space we tampered with the reproductive organs of clones to prevent pregnancies, but your daughters will be able to bear children.”
“That’s wonderful, Alex. They won’t suffer like I did. I’m so glad.” Tears filled her eyes and she wanted to hug him.
“You miss the point, my dear.” Jarrack’s sarcastic tone drew her attention. “I can capture your precious daughters, and bring them into my harem as future wives. I don’t need you.”
The fury building inside Krystal exploded from her fingertips as white-hot fire aimed at the evil black pits of his eyes. Jarrack screamed and hid behind his bodyguard, who instinctively protected his master. The man took the full blast of energy and fell writhing on the floor.
Kriegen stood on his hind legs, drawing the dagger strapped to his chest and slashed when the second guard charged. The guard’s weapon clattered across the floor, and Kriegen sank white fangs into the fleshy throat of the thrashing body. Krystal gathered energy to strike at Jarrack again, but he was gone, like a snake slithering into its hole.
Dr. Alexander slumped to the stone floor, his garments charred by the backlash of her blow. Krystal sent her energy as healing power into the doctor’s body. She strengthened his heart, cleared his lungs, and unclogged his arteries. She broke away as Alex opened his eyes and voices echoed in the hall.
“Let’s get out of here.” Krystal helped Alex to his feet and guided him toward the mural on the wall. Clutching her amulet she activated a shimmering force field, and they walked through the wall. She beckoned Kriegen. He sniffed her outstretched hand before stepping through strange wall. Krystal closed the force field behind them.
They entered the doctor’s laboratory. Dr. Alexander slumped into his chair and said, “I got caught trying to steal food from the kitchen. They don’t know about the tunnels or this laboratory. I manage to block those secrets from him. I’m so sorry. I didn’t think he’d ask about the girls, so I wasn’t prepared to block that information.”
“Jarrack is getting better at mind control. Previously he needed to prepare a victim by invading their dreams for many nights. I don’t blame you.”
“I didn’t want you to know about the girls.”
“It doesn’t matter. I wanted children and as my doctor you helped me have them. It doesn’t make any difference how you managed to do it. My girls have their own minds, their own personalities. They’re not clones.”
“But…”
“Does Donovan know?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Then I’ll hear no more about it! Ever! Do you understand?” Krystal’s meaning was clear. No one else would learn her secret.
“Thank you.”
“Tell me about the stasis field holding Donovan. Where is it? When will the field dissolve?”
“It’s in the same tower we occupied when we first arrived. They couldn’t move him without deactivating the field, so they’ve sealed the entire tower,” Alex explained. “The devise is not hard-wired into an energy source, so I heard Jarrack say it will last eleven or twelve years.”
She sat down, dazed. “So long?” She shook herself and asked, “What made Jarrack think we left a working Transfer machine in the spaceport caves?”
Alex looked sheep
ish. “I forced myself to feed him the story he wanted to believe, so he didn’t press me to get the truth. If he knew the truth, he might guess the real way he could complete Transfer.”
Krystal said, “He can’t Transfer without a machine.”
“You did.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“When you saved Donovan by sending your mind inside the ship’s Transfer machinery, you completed the process using your own power. Jarrack could learn to Transfer his mind with his own talent. He could kill the mind of his son and Transfer into the body without machinery.”
“You hid this knowledge from Jarrack?”
“Yes. I told him about the girls before I realized he couldn’t read my mind. I fabricated the story about the Transfer machinery so he wouldn’t keep pressing and learn the truth.”
“You must leave the castle with me, but I must see Donovan before we leave!” Krystal gripped his trembling hand.
Dr. Alexander sighed. “There is a maintenance tunnel that will get us close enough to see him but it’s dangerous.
Krystal frowned. “I’ve come this far and I won’t leave until I see him.”
They carried candles to light the way through the maintenance tunnels while Kriegen sniffed the walls and marked the trail with his own scent. Krystal marveled at the ingenuity of the castle’s builders. She realized that electricity, water and sewer pipes ran through these tunnels without anyone knowing they existed. She thought about technology that the people of this planet rejected and wondered if it would be possible to restore such inventions.
She knew Dr. Alexander missed his work but shuddered at the though of Jarrack transferring his mind into one of his sons. “Alex, how do you think Jarrack became evil? Did Transfer…?”
Alex shrugged. “The same thought has plagued me for a long time. If Transfer intensified a person’s natural skills, made someone like Donovan a better leader, a faster runner, did it increase Jarrack’s bad traits, make him evil? I’m afraid my invention created a monster.”
