RAWN

by Bonnie Burrows

battle of so many years ago, Sir Rawn, is unfinished. It’s time to bring it to a close, the only close that is acceptable.

  For your crimes against the Chimerian expansion, for leading the attack force that resulted in the destruction of the High Chimerian, for nearly causing my own destruction as well as that of the master I served, your life is forfeit. I command you to come to the coordinates of my ship, which will be in the memory of Ms. Way’s AI which we left for you to find. You will come alone, with no other ships and no other members of the Lacertan Knighthood or Corps.

  You will face me, and you will submit to the annihilation you’ve earned at my hand. If you fail to obey… Your lover, Ms. Way, is aboard an escape pod which I’ve reprogrammed. Fail to submit to me, and I’ll launch the pod on a course other than that of escape. It will take her directly into the corona of Catalan, from which she will not be returning.”

  The recording cut back to Sabian at his ship’s controls. “The AI is now transmitting to me the time at which you’re viewing this message, Sir Knight. You have three hours in which to rendezvous with my ship at these coordinates and surrender yourself for execution. I’m sure that you, being the gallant Knight that you are, will comply with my instructions and appear as

  commanded. You’d never permit anything to happen to Ms. Way.

  Once your lifeless body is at my feet, I’ll reprogram the pod to take her back to Lacerta, where she’ll have the sad duty to report the utter and final destruction of Lacerta’s greatest Knight. In a way, you’ll have done her a great service, providing her with yet another historic event to report. But then I know you’re quite accustomed to providing services to Ms. Way. This will be your last. The clock is counting down, Sir Knight, and I’m waiting.”

  The hologram flickered out and a tomblike silence fell over the office—a silence that was short-lived.

  His heavy breathing turning to hisses and snarls. Rawn stepped back from Sienna’s desk. His fists clenched and unclenched. His body shifted and morphed until, in a matter of seconds, he was in dragon form, wings unfurled and tail furiously thrashing. Smoke poured from his nostrils. He reared back his head and opened his jaws wide. His mouth was a cauldron of fire with cruel ivory fangs.

  And he bellowed out a roar that could have brought down the ceiling and toppled the Spires from their foundations. Dame Sienna had never witnessed such a moment of all-consuming fury. As a Mentor and a trainer, she had seen the Knights of Lacerta in every conceivable mood from mirth to despair—but she had never seen anything to compare to this. It made her tremble inside to watch Rawn now.

  At last, Rawn, not bothering himself to morph back to human, faced the Mentor again. Smoke pouring from his nostrils and fire still dancing on his tongue, he said in a dark and ashen voice, “My ship, the Justice Claw—what is its status?”

  Quietly shaken, Dame Sienna replied, “At last report, it had passed through a full

  maintenance routine. I don’t believe final diagnostics have been run yet.”

  “There’s no time for them,” said Rawn. “I must have my ship—now.”

  For the first and only time in his Knightly life, Rawn addressed a Mentor, his superior Knight, in a tone that was not a request but a demand. Under any other circumstances, he would be subject to reprimand, report, or even relief from duty for such a transgression. Sienna did none of the above. She simply replied, “You’ll have it. You intend to comply with Sabian’s

  demands, then.”

  “I can do nothing else,” Rawn fumed. “He made himself clear. I can’t sacrifice Joanna. I can’t allow anything to happen to her. I must surrender to him or he’ll cast Joanna into the Sun. I’ll go to him—alone, as he demanded. I’ll face him. And…one of us will lose his life.”

  Sienna said, “We can still send other Knights after you. They can keep their distance and monitor everything that happens on Sabian’s ship. They can move in to assist you if you need them.”

  Rawn waved off the idea. “No…no. You must know that Sabian will be sweeping the area with long-range sensors. They’ll be found out, and then even I might not be able to save Joanna. I have to go alone, and finish this—finish our old battle, one way or the other.”

  “You don’t actually mean to lay down your life to him!” Sienna protested.

  “I mean to do whatever is necessary to save Joanna,” Rawn snorted, smoke curling thickly from his nostrils. “Whatever it costs.” He stepped back over to Sienna's desk and picked up Epaulette from it. “I may have need of this,” he told her. “May I take it?”

  “Of course,” the Mentor said.

  “Thank you, Milady,” said Rawn. “Of you and the Knighthood, I wish to request only one other thing.”

  “What is that?” Sienna asked.

  “If I do not return…I ask you to use every dragon, every resource, every power at your disposal to hunt Sabian down and destroy him once and for all.” His manner calmed, but only slightly. His voice still seethed with a crackling fire of anger. “As you honor me, I ask you—please, in my name, bring Sabian to final justice.”

  “We will, Sir Knight,” said Sienna. “You are the pride of Lacerta, and I will make it my mission to lead the Knighthood and avenge you.”

  Rawn bowed to the Mentor. “You have my undying thanks, Milady.” And without

  another word, he turned with a final slash of his tail and left Dame Sienna’s office.

  THE FINAL CHAPTER

  The Justice Claw pierced the outer atmosphere of Lacerta and peeled off into open space.

  Shifted back to human form, dressed once again in standard armor skin, and seated in the cockpit, Rawn was oblivious to the stars outside his viewport. He could hardly see space; he could only think of time—the narrowing gap of time between now and the moment when Sewall Sabian would make good on his threat against Joanna.

  “Go to autopilot,” he commanded his ship. The indicators and telltales on his instrument panel flashed, and there was a subtle change in the vibration from the engines, indicating that the ship was now being piloted by its AI. Rawn reached for a self-sealing pouch on the hip of his armor skin, peeled it open, and withdrew Epaulette from it. He placed the little piece of jewelry on the panel in front of him and said, “Display ship schematics of the source of the last inbound transmission.”

  A finger of light rose from Epaulette and spread out into a display of the vessel from which Sabian’s blackmail transmission had originated. Specific information about a ship

  transmitting a message could be blocked at the discretion of the owner or pilot, but some

  information was generic and readily accessible to the Interstar Fleet or the Spires, for reasons of safety and security within the quadrant.

  There were instances in which the authorities would need to know what kind of vessel had sent a given transmission, so certain data identifying a craft could not be encrypted. That was the only thing potentially working in Rawn’s favor right now. With luck, he could find out something about the ship that Sabian was using as his lair and Joanna’s prison, and perhaps even find a way to save her, by studying the schematics of the craft while speeding to the rendezvous.

  Frowning in concentration, he ran his eyes over the light images showing the configuration and inner layout of the craft. It was a light battle cruiser that might have come from any number of planets or shipyards in known space. It was armed but no match for the larger battle craft of the Fleet or the Spires—just powerful and fast enough to serve a single pilot or a pilot with a small crew.

  Rawn frowned more deeply. Sabian had said in the recording that he had a spy on Lacerta who had been watching him and Joanna and waiting for the right

  moment to move in and abduct her. How many foes would he find waiting for him aboard

  Sabian’s ship, putting themselves between him and Joanna.

  A hot churning of anger seethed in his stomach at the thought of that spy, hiding in plain sight, stalking him, secretly hovering over Joanna. The spy must have been th
ere, taking any number of different forms, lurking in crowds, creeping after them when they were alone. The spy could have been there, gazing through windows, when he and Joanna were in bed. Sabian’s agent could have seen the things the two of them did to each other while naked and aroused and thrashing together, that were meant to be shared only between the two of them.

  For that alone, Rawn swore he would make certain that Sabian stayed dead this time.

  He studied the vessel’s schematics more intently and noted the positions of the escape pod bays, one on either side of the craft, lying between amidships and the aft engine drive. One of them contained Joanna. His breath felt hot enough to turn to fire while still in his human form. Sabian would not harm Joanna so long as he could hold her over Rawn’s head to force his submission.

  But the thought of her as that creature’s prisoner was enough to make him utterly forget any concept of Knightly mercy he had ever been taught. It was not enough that Sabian had murdered Jacques Phifer and become the disciple of a monster bent on enslaving all life. Now, Sabian had dared to menace her. For that, his life was forfeit.

  With Rawn taking in every detail of the enemy craft’s design, the Justice Claw streaked on its way towards Catalan.

  _______________

  When Joanna opened her eyes again, she was aware, through her blurred vision and the swishing feeling inside her head, that she was not where she remembered being a moment ago—and it quickly came to her that a good deal more time must have passed than just a moment.

  A clear look at her surroundings came through the fog in her brain and told her that her first guess was all too right. This was no contemplation room in the Arboretum of the Lacerta Ruling Aerie. This was a much more enclosed, spartan and austere place, where the only soft thing was the cushion on which she was lying.

  Wherever it was, it had a viewport—not a window but a viewport—out of which a strange glow was coming. She dragged herself up from where she had found herself lying and half-stumbled the few steps over to the viewport. Once there, she realized the port must have been partially opaque; otherwise, the source of the light would have been overwhelming, almost palpably intense. Outside of wherever she was, a star loomed large and blazing. She guessed it was Catalan.

  Joanna’s mouth dropped open wordlessly. Somehow, she was in orbit of

  Catalan without the slightest clue to how she’d gotten there.

  Or wait… The last thing she remembered was talking to Evette Veles. Except, it can’t have really been Evette Veles, because the daughter of the Prime Dragon could not have possibly done the last thing that Joanna remembered happening. First, Joanna gulped in the muted glare of the star. Then, she whispered gravely, “Oh no…”

  Next, she called out, “Epaulette! Epaulette? How much time has passed since our last recording?” There was no response. She fumbled at her shoulder ribbon. Her fingers touched only the ribbon. She felt as if the bottom of her stomach were dropping out. Vainly, she looked at the unadorned ribbon on her shoulder. A cold horror came over Joanna. Her trusty AI was missing—or had been taken from her.

  Frantically, she whirled around, putting her back to the viewport and now facing what she knew was the hatch of some compartment of a spaceship. In the window of the hatch was a face. Joanna squinted at the man staring at her from outside the compartment. She recognized that face—and the impossibility of it.

  “I see I have no need to wake you, Joanna,” said Sewall Sabian. “That’s very good. I wanted you fully in possession of your senses for what’s soon to happen.”

  Joanna shook her head, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. She forced the name from her lips: “Sewall Sabian? How…?”

  “How am I alive? How did I escape the destruction of the Chimerian warp nexus? Your Sir Rawn was not the only one displaced in space, Ms. Way. I returned to the quadrant less than a year ago and have been biding my time, slowly recovering resources and power. The High Chimerian is gone, thanks to your good Sir Rawn Ullery. But the vision of all life in the galaxy unified through Chimerian genomes is still alive. It will soon rise again. Your Sir Rawn will be here soon, and once he has faced me and met the fate that he’s earned, I can turn my full

  attention to realizing that vision. I may even allow you to live and be a part of it.”

  Suddenly, too furious to behave as the captive she was, Joanna felt like hurling herself at that hatch, ripping it away, lunging at Sabian, and battering him senseless. She wished she had Rawn’s strength; she would do exactly that. “You brought me here to force Rawn to confront you?” Joanna shouted. “You’re using me to get to him?”

  “I’ll admit, I could have simply called him out to battle. He would certainly have come. He wouldn’t have refused my challenge in any case. But by availing myself of some leverage with you, Ms. Way, I was able to dictate the terms of our confrontation to my own liking. And if you’ll pardon my saying so, your relationship with the good Knight has provided me with the most optimal leverage.”

  Warily, Joanna demanded, “What are you talking about?”

  “The word ‘relationship’ should speak for itself, I think. Your relationship with Sir Rawn is rather more intimate than just a matter of media coverage, isn’t it? I’ve never been a voyeur, and if I were, I would certainly have endless other choices of erotic entertainment. And yet, the two of you…”

  Now, Joanna was livid. Her hands clenched like claws, then turned to fists. She leered at him, teeth bared, wishing they were dragon fangs. She screamed at him, her voice bouncing sharply off the walls of the pod, “You bastard! You son of a bitch! You watched us? You watched me with Rawn? You spied on us in…in…”

  Sabian raised a hand to calm her, knowing that it would not. “I took no pleasure in watching his pleasure with you,” he said. “It was only information that I required to know the right leverage to use. To be honest, I’m relieved that he isn’t bedding Ms. Veles. That would complicate matters for me much more. His liaison with you makes things much simpler.”

  Joanna glared at him, wishing she could breathe fire on him. “Oh, it’s going to be simple, all right,” she sneered. “It’ll be very simple when he catches you. He’ll tear you to pieces and broil the shreds.”

  “He’ll do nothing of the kind,” said Sabian confidently. “If he shows any resistance to my demands, if he dares to strike at me…he knows what will happen to you. I’m sure you’re observant enough to realize exactly where you are, Ms. Way. You’re in one of my ship’s escape pods, and we’re in orbit of Catalan. The pod you’re occupying has been programmed to take a very specific course once it’s launched.”

  Joanna’s eyes bulged. She spun around and gazed out the viewport again, seeing the disk of Catalan roiling with thermonuclear fire outside. She spun back around and caught the cold look of assurance on Sabian’s face, and realized exactly what “leverage” he had used on Rawn.

  “I have every belief that the good Knight cares enough for you that he won’t allow you to burn up in the Sun,” said Sabian. “To protect you, he’ll do as I say and give up his life to me. And that will finish my business with both of you.”

  “No!” Joanna cried. “Don’t hurt him!”

  Sabian smiled, a smile of mock compassion. “I’m sure he’d make the same plea about you. But these are my terms, Ms. Way. No harm will come to you—as long as he gives himself to be destroyed when he stands before me. He’ll be here soon, and it will be short work. I’ll make it quick and final. Then, I’ll send you on your way back to Lacerta. You’ll have quite a story to file. Having reported the return of Sir Rawn Ullery, you’ll now have the privilege of reporting his death. This time, his true death. It won’t be long now.”

  The man’s face disappeared from the hatch of the escape pod, and Joanna knew he was off, probably to the bridge of the ship, to wait for Rawn. She ran to the hatch and pounded on it, pressing her face to the metal. “Sabian!” The sound of her screams reverberated again in the small space in which she was tra
pped. “Sabian, don’t do this! Don’t do this! Don’t…”

  Her voice broke. It was futile, she knew. Nothing she did could deter the disciple of the High Chimerian, or stop Rawn doing what he would soon do when the Justice Claw made its rendezvous. There was nothing now but to wait for the showdown between the two old

  enemies—and its terrible outcome.

  Joanna trudged back across the pod to the viewport and the muted glow of Catalan

  outside. Not long ago, she had watched the drones carry the wreckage of the Scodax invasion into the star. If Rawn dared to defy Sabian, she would meet the same fate. One way, her life was over. The other way, he was doomed.

  She sank onto the floor of the escape pod, too despondent to cry.

  _______________

  Rawn docked the Justice Claw at Sabian’s ship and received Sabian’s instructions to come directly to the ship’s bridge, where he would be waiting. “I trust you know how to find the bridge,” Sabian said condescendingly.

  “I know exactly where to find you, Sabian,” Rawn said, not bothering to hide the tone of loathing and contempt in his voice.