Counting to ten, Raiden tried to take it all in. Was Tannen a traitor as well? One of Apolo’s lackeys? Or had he just been sucked into the lies? There was no way to know. “General, I beg you. Listen to me. Give me a chance to speak to my father.”
Apolo paced the perimeter of the room like a vulture that scented blood. “I’m afraid not, cousin. I was assigned to your ship to discover which of your men was selling secrets. Imagine your father’s surprise when we discovered it was you. The seals on your safe are DNA activated, Raiden. No one but you and the king himself can open your safe.”
“My father is here? On Herhma?”
“Yes.” Tannen strode to the door, shoulders bulging under the rich fabric of his uniform. Metals and honors adorned his chest, too many to count. “I’m sorry, boy.”
And then, he was gone.
Seizing his opportunity, Raiden charged at Apolo, but his cousin was ready. The blunt end of a blaster pistol rested between his eyes before he could crush the scum. Thoughts of Mairi held him at bay. He wasn’t sure what would happen to her if he took that blast.
Apolo’s sneer challenged his resolve. “So sorry, cousin. You’re off to a floating prison for the rest of your miserable life.”
“I don’t know how you did this, but I’ll see you burn for it.”
“I don’t think so. You see, Tannen and I are the only ones who know you’re here. Dear old Daddy thinks you died at the bottom of the Fire Sea and Tannen thinks it’s better that way. The old man’s heart is already broken -- why torture him further with your miserable pleas of innocence? No one will ever come looking for you. But, I’ll have you safely locked away. My trump card just in case I run into trouble back home.”
Straightening to his full height, Raiden held Apolo’s brown-eyed gaze, made absolutely sure his cousin could see death in his eyes. “I will kill you, Apolo.”
Silent and shaken, Apolo backed away. “Not today.” Craning his neck into the hallway, Apolo yelled for the guards.
Four huge men wearing red prison guard uniforms entered the room and ushered him out into the hallway. Apolo waved farewell as they herded him into a strange circular tube just wide enough to stand in, and sealed him inside. Air roared around him like a small tornado, and the floor opened beneath his feet, gravity shooting him down through a long transparent connecting tube. He slid for several minutes, deeper and deeper under the water until he landed in a small cell completely surrounded by the sea.
At least five hundred lengths from the surface, he looked through the transparent walls at the complex prison network. Like a giant spider web, it sprawled along the ocean floor, a connection of tubes and tunnels, of men and woman trapped forever. Buried alive...
And he was exactly where he wanted to be.
Patient as death, he sat, counted time by the blinking lights on the small computer and vid system that monitored him from the ceiling. Symon said they only watched for a couple of hours. After that, everything was on an automated system, Sentinals, an artificial intelligence that would answer to voice activated commands -- if you knew the right codes.
Raiden rested, gathered his strength and hardened his resolve as he sat counting the minutes. All the pain in his hip was gone, and he winced for Mairi. But, he couldn’t afford to think about that. Symon, his people, needed his help, and he’d given his word. Knowing that Apolo meant to sell them all out to the Triscani made his skin crawl with the need to kill. Time to go.
“Sentinal.”
“Activated.”
“Command five-seven-alpha-Symon-four-freedom.”
“Confirmed.” Half the distance to the ceiling, the tunnel entrance opened with a nearly silent whir and Raiden crawled inside. Wedging his body in the tube with his legs, he started to climb.
Sometime later, sweating, arms and legs shaking, Raiden crawled out of the tunnel and collapsed on the floor in a heap. Symon told him the entire prison system was automated. No guards. No people overseeing the care and treatment of the prisoners. No one to know about the hostages who shouldn’t be there.
After catching his breath, Raiden studied the layout of the weblike structure around him. He needed to get to the center of the maze, to the heart of the machine that operated everything. Sure of his direction, Raiden commanded another tube to open and got moving in a horizontal direction this time. He would’ve felt like a child on a play structure, crawling on hands and knees, but the stakes here were life and death. For himself. For Symon. Their fathers. And Mairi.
Seeming to stretch endlessly before him, the tunnel’s dim interior allowed his mind to wander. All he could think about was her. Mairi. His woman. The way her skin felt like rose petals beneath his palms, and her mouth dueled with his, sassy and sweeter than the richest desserts. His blood boiled at the memory of her hot core gripping him, bringing him ecstasy with every thrust of her hips rising to his, and every soft moan of desire he coaxed from her throat. He would never get enough of her. He knew it with a certainty that startled him and hardened his resolve to survive.
What had started out as an insane and somewhat suicidal mission was suddenly of much more import. Survival had not been a requirement before. He needed to expose the traitors and save both Qillius and Symon’s homeworld from treachery. That had been all that mattered to them. He had two strong brothers more than able to rule in his stead. But Mairi changed everything.
Cold and damp, the tunnels closed in around him like a moldy casket. But desire for Mairi kept his blood hot and his body surging with life until he reached the epicenter of the prison. Pulsing on his shoulder, the Shen flared, as if she were getting closer. He ignored it and, using Symon’s preprogrammed codes, he opened the hatch directly below him and dropped to stand in the control center.
Whirring with a life of their own, the computers completely covered the walls of the circular enclosure except for a two-foot band of clear glass that allowed him to see in a three hundred and sixty degree loop around the outside of the room. He scanned the logs. Seventy-one cells.
All the Herhman Tanks, as their prisons were called, had hundreds or even thousands of cells. Excitement gripped him. This was not one of the Tanks. The odds of finding his target had just gone way up. This was someone’s private dungeon, and he was more than happy to crash their party.
“Sentinal.”
“Activated.”
“Engage emergency surfacing procedure immediately. Confirm five-nine-seven-three-Symon-two-rescue.”
“Confirmed.”
A shudder passed beneath his feet as the giant energy cell beneath him flared to life and sent its command to the periphery. Seals popped all around him, echoed through the network of tunnels, as the structure was made secure and airtight for the ascent. If anything leaked, if the delicate balance of air pressure was upset or breached at five hundred feet, the sea would crush any human it reached.
Shocked cries reached him, voices bouncing off the tunnels with a strange echo to reach him. Raiden simply watched. And lingered. When he knew his prey was within reach, he was very, very good at waiting.
Chapter Seven
Ripples of unrest sped over the ocean floor in a cascading wave of warning. Mairi felt it as she rode Yasra’s back, knew Raiden was somehow the cause, and sighed in relief.
Your mate make more trouble. Yasra shifted slightly in the riding harness.
Yes. Biting back a laugh, Mairi rested her cheek on Yasra’s back and smiled. Water whisked over and around her like a lover’s caress, welcoming her to the deep.
He good at that.
This time she did laugh, and the strange watery trill startled her. Always so serious, so devoted to her heritage, she’d rarely laughed with joy, even as a child. Sarcasm and wit were her tools for coping with her duty, her choices. But a strange sense of freedom lifted the burden of being a Timewalker from her shoulders. Now that she’d met Raiden, life suddenly seemed full of possibilities. Once they were safely off this planet, she would be truly free. She could simply be h
is lover, and a mother.
Farra’s tortured eyes swam in her memory, and Mairi shook her head to clear the pain. Somewhere out there, Farra’s stolen daughter, Jena, was now alone with the Dark Walkers. Mairi sent up a fervent prayer for her, wished she could help. Warm against her skin, the Shen necklace she wore pulse with energy. But she was stranded here, just as Farra had been. She just had to have faith that the Archivers would find the girl and save her from whatever twisted fate the Dark One had planned.
Jena strong. Even when a child. She will survive.
Yasra’s reassurance helped a little. The Fire Beasts had powers she didn’t understand, but definitely respected. It was almost as if they could read her mind, or see into her soul.
They’d traveled some distance in silence when Yasra surged ahead in a sudden burst of speed. Mairi ducked her head behind the small oval shield designed for the purpose, and held on for dear life as the sea attempted to rip her from Yasra’s back.
Greeting piercing the water ahead of him, Yasra’s mate called out to his family. Once they reached him, the quad hovered in place and Mairi sat up, craning in every direction to see where they were. Scanning the water, she saw a strange lattice of pods reshaping and slowly rising to the surface some distance away.
Your mate in there.
Mairi stared, held speechless by the size and scope of the monstrosity before her. Where in that web of tubes was he? Huge pumps drew water into giant tubes, then forced the flow down toward the sand, propelling the structure up. Disturbed by the rush of water, sand turned the surrounding area into a murky mess. She didn’t dare try to get anywhere near it at the moment. She’d by sucked into those jet tubes and turned into mush. The sand would clog her lungs. So how was she going to find him?
We wait for cages to reach top, then we help.
Ignoring the churning in her gut, the need driving her to find Raiden, she couldn’t argue with sound logic. Yasra sent her children off in a flash of speed, then calmly floated next to her mate, supervising the rise of the man-made contraption from her territory.
Mairi didn’t know how long it took, but every moment felt like an eternity. On her shoulder, the Shen pulsed with renewed vigor at the proximity of her mate. Each beat drove her closer to the edge of reason, had her twisting her fists in the ropes, more to bind herself to Yasra than anything else. Everything in her demanded she charge forward to find him, save him.
Calling on years of training, she fought down the urge and focused on breathing, on the cool water flowing into her lungs. The frantic rhythm of her heartbeat drove her Shen to match its pace. Mairi tried, in vain, to slow down, but couldn’t concentrate enough to gain control of her body. She’d used the healing stones to repair the damage to her leg. She was healthy and whole, and driven by a primitive urge to save her mate. Raiden.
Like a whisper, Raiden’s Shen answered her call, summoned her to his side. Strange as it was, his heartbeat moved through her like music, slowed the erratic pounding in her chest. His body reached through space to calm her mind, to soothe her nerves with confidence and strength. He was whole. It was enough.
Closing her eyes, Mairi centered her existence on the murmur of Raiden’s heartbeat. The steady pulsation reassured her as nothing else could, and she waited in tranquil silence.
We go.
Mairi ducked behind the screen and held on as Yasra and her mate rocketed to the surface. Several of the water propulsion systems were still operating to keep the monster afloat, and they were careful to avoid them.
Air caressed her face with a soft breeze and Mairi’s lungs greedily took their fill. She could breathe water, but the act strained her system. Especially here. The water was denser, heavier, and her poor diaphragm had to work overtime to pull the thick liquid into her body.
A network of small domes bobbed above the surface, like they’d been left and forgotten by a giant fisherman. She was contemplating how to open them when all the seals popped open with a loud hiss. In the center, the top of the largest white dome flew over with a loud bang. First one hand, then another cleared the top. Raiden appeared, pulled himself out of the hatch and smiled right at her.
“I knew you were here.”
Mairi let out the breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. Knowing he was alive wasn’t nearly as good as seeing him in the flesh. Yasra moved closer so she could jump onto the structure and into Raiden’s arms. She burrowed her face into his neck, eager to taste him, to smell his skin, to listen to his heart beating in his muscular chest. “How did you know?”
“This.” Like a man starving for a taste of her, he wrapped his arms around her and crushed her to him, fusing their lips together in a kiss that stole every thought from her head. Hard and aggressive, his erection pressed into her stomach.
Yasra trilled a warning and Mairi pulled herself back from the precipice of her desire. Others were emerging, confused and disoriented. Still holding her pressed to his side, Raiden surveyed the spectacle with a knowing eye, looking for someone...
“You did this, didn’t you?”
“Yes.” He didn’t look at her, just kept searching the astonished faces that emerged.
“You let them take you, so you’d end up here.”
“Yes.”
“Why? What is this place? Who are you looking for?”
“Him.” Raiden stiffened beside her, energy straining his muscles as he held himself in check. It was obvious he wanted to help someone. But for some reason, he wouldn’t.
Mairi followed his gaze to see an older man emerge from one of the farthest cells. He faced away from them, stood tall, and proud. Anger tightened his shoulders and hardened his jaw. When he finally turned to look at them, Mairi gasped in shock. His eyes blazed a strange orange glow filled with power, rage, a promise of both retribution and death.
“Who is he?” Mairi pushed away from Raiden and settled her hand over the blaster strapped to her thigh. He was moving toward them at a surprising pace, running over the connecting tubes like a master on a tightrope. Everyone he passed bowed respectfully and moved out of his way. None attempted to speak to him, or to stop him. Even Yasra cooed to him, love and honor filling her voice. His face was impossible to date, timeless and noble. He could be fifty, or ninety.
All around them the water began to vibrate with greeting as more and more Fire Beasts arrived. Mairi shook her head and decided she’d better not shoot him just yet.
“He’s the king.” Raiden dropped to one knee and bowed his head in respect. “My Lord.”
“Thank you, Raiden, but rise. There is no need for you to bow to me.”
Raiden rose to his feet and the two men clasped forearms tightly.
“I was beginning to think no one was coming.” Was that accusation in his tone? Mairi tensed, ready to defend Raiden from this blustering man, but Raiden’s hand slid to the back of her neck and caressed the tension from her muscles in silent warning.
“My ship was sabotaged by Apolo and lost at the bottom of the Fire Sea. I lost the entire crew, and would’ve died with them if not for Mairi. She saved my life.”
“Then I owe you, Mistress Mairi.” The king turned his full attention to her. Gentle but firm, Mairi felt the brush of power as he took her measure, and accepted her. Her knees nearly buckled with relief when his aura left her, but she straightened her spine and met his gaze. He was not her king. He was a creature beyond her experience, but she owed him no homage and refused to kneel.
“I was just doing my job.”
“And what job would that be?” Hard and calculating, he dared her to answer honestly, even though she was sure he already knew what she was going to say, and what she was.
“To get him off the ship alive.”
“I see.” Only the soft slap of water against the domes broke the tense silence that followed.
Raiden frowned and shoved her behind his back, a protective arm still wrapped around her waist. “She is with me, sir. And I will kill anyone who tries to take her fr
om me.”
“Relax, son. Yasra has already told me of your adventure.” The king walked over to kneel by the water and Yasra raised her head onto the dome to accept his ministrations. “Thank you, sister.”
You’re welcome, Uriel. Come play.
Not yet. Raiden and I have some unfinished business.
Hurry.
The king tilted his head back and roared with laughter. “You never were fit for court life. It’s a good thing for us all you decided to rule the seas and leave the men to me.”
Men cause too much trouble.
“Yes, they do.” The king rose and returned to them. All laughter fled from his face when he looked at her. “Mairi, I’m sorry about Farra. She was a good woman, and we protected her as well as we could with the Dark Ones bent on her destruction. Now, tell me about the Triscani. Tell me everything Rogan told you.”
Mairi felt her eyes round in shock and was supremely grateful for Raiden’s solid strength beside her. Never had she felt so completely out of her element. The existence of Timewalkers was a sacred secret, entrusted to a rare few in the universe. That he knew of Rogan was even more unsettling.
Raiden’s hand dug painfully into her flesh, his thoughts probably reflecting her own. “How do you know about Rogan?”
“He’s the eighth son of a Timewalker.” The king smiled at her, understanding and warmth in his gaze, like she was a long lost daughter. “He sent you here, Mairi. Yasra protects you. And I accept you as family. You’re welcome to stay as long as you’d like, as an honored guest in my home once the betrayers are gone.”
“Thank you. But why?”
“I haven’t seen him since the Archivers claimed him, but Rogan is my youngest brother.” The king turned to the men and women who waited patiently atop their former prisons. “Let us ride to Tertia, and destroy the betrayers.”
Without hesitation, they all dove into the water and each person appeared on the back of a Fire Beast. The king walked to the dome’s edge and slid onto the back of Yasra’s mate. “Come Raiden. Mairi. Yasra will carry you both, and we will talk on the way.”
Timewalkers 2: Mairi Page 6
