Chapter 24

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Carryn crashed into Maralt, dragging him away from Dynan. They fell, arms tangled, thrashing across the floor of the Marleen barn. Maralt hit her and squirmed away, kicking. Carryn clung to him, clawing after him as he tried to reach Dynan again. He lay on the dirt floor, huddled and almost spent, shaking from what he’d endured.

“Dynan, move!”

Maralt twisted, viciously striking Carryn with his fist and she fought off the blackness that rushed in at her. The swirling edges of unconsciousness pulled her, dragging her away as Maralt slipped from her grasp. She heard Dynan screaming her name. The medic room emerged around her for a moment. She saw Geneal standing over her, a dermal injector poised to touch her.

“No Geneal,” she said, nauseating pain coursing through her. “Not yet.”

“Frazier!” Geneal called out, “it’s working.”

Carryn fought back to Dynan, mired in terror, battling the horrifying agony that racked her body.

Maralt crouched over the Prince, his face a leering grin. Carryn lunged at him, but Maralt rose, twisting Dynan’s arm behind his back in one motion, and met the attack with a sweeping blow that sent Carryn sprawling across the floor of the barn. She slammed into a stall door and lay stunned, overwhelmed by the immense strength her brother possessed. She couldn’t move, suddenly paralyzed, and wished in the next instant that she couldn’t see.

“Haven’t you learned by now, Carryn, that you are destined to fail at every turn?” Maralt turned on Dynan again. He hauled him away another pace, dropping him roughly. Dynan moaned, fingers digging into hay and dirt. Carryn realized he was trying to crawl away. Maralt laughed and crouched down again. He jerked him over onto his back, then up by a fistful of shirt, his body limp, but his eyes aware and filled with terror. Maralt ran his hand over his brow, fingers gliding through his hair. His fist clenched and he pulled Dynan’s head back slowly.

“Would you like to know how I killed your father? How the great Ambrose Telaerin begged for mercy?”

Dynan’s eyes widened, drawn to Maralt’s. He tried backing away, but Maralt held him firmly. Grief, mingled with abhorrence, twisted Dynan’s features while Maralt smiled, leaning close.

“Are you ready, Prince?” he whispered.

Carryn watched in growing horror, struggling to get up, crippled by pain as she pressed her hands into the straw and dirt of the barn floor. With just the tip of his finger, Maralt tore two holes in Dynan’s neck. His hand came away dripping with a luminous substance that Carryn realized instantly was the life force that kept Dynan alive. Maralt’s breath elevated in anticipation as he raised a welling bead to his lips and his eyes rolled closed. He took the drop, greedily licking the fluid off his fingers.

Carryn watched in helpless revulsion while Maralt leaned, open mouth lowering to latch onto Dynan’s neck. His body jerked, shuddering in quick spasms, twisting. His legs curled reflexively, mouth opening to scream in strangled silence, eyes rolling back in pain. Maralt moaned, holding him. Dynan’s back arched and Maralt rose with him.

“You have no idea what this is like,” he said. “I can show you, Carryn. Join me.”

Maralt looked at her, drawing in more energy while Dynan quivered, gasping soundlessly in his arms. Suddenly, Carryn felt engulfing power flood through her, immensely compelling, and it filled her. Horror came in its wake, so intensely divergent she thought it might split her mind, ceasing her existence in that instant. Power surged inside her, rending thought in torturous agony.

“You’re not my brother, you sick bastard. Stop!” She tried to rise, but couldn’t, pounding her fists on the ground. Reduced to inching forward in excruciating increments, she crawled.

Maralt laughed, smiling insidiously as he returned to drink, eyes rolling in ecstasy. He settled to the ground cradling Dynan and ran his hand down his shirt, ripping the light material open to the waist. He peeled away the cloth and his fingers roved over his body. Slight coiling sparks crackled in response, probing from fingertips into skin. A low guttural moan joined with the sound of his breath, elevated and craving more.

“Time to die, Your Highness.”

Dynan shook in spasms with each breath, measured by the extraction of his life’s vitality as it was drained from his body. His head lolled to one side and Carryn met his gaze, so desperately urgent, begging for help she couldn’t give. His fingers clawed the dirt as he reached for her.

His movements frenzied, nostrils pinched from the fast intake of breath, Maralt spread his hand above Dynan’s heart, caressing him with a finger that suddenly sliced down into skin. Dynan jerked, eyes widened in sudden, terrified realization.

A space of darkness opened behind them, spreading outward rapidly to reveal an altar of black stone set in the center of a circle of pillars. Coiling tendrils circuited the entire shelf, raised and waiting. Maralt paused, his face lit with an ecstatic, mad smile as he looked into the chasm.

Carryn understood what Maralt meant to do. He wouldn’t be satisfied with killing Dynan. He intended to condemn his soul. He meant to open the Gates and cause the very thing they’d been taught all their lives to guard against. Carryn wondered, horrified, if Dain Telaerin wasn’t already there. The portal that stood open before her led to the Gates and to the demon.

Carryn staggered, fell and clawed her way up to her feet. Brutal pain erupted through her body when she moved. Screaming, she drove herself into Maralt and ripped him away from Dynan even as his hand slipped beneath skin.

The force of momentum carried them away. For an instant, they were all three separated. In that moment, Carryn heard the helm responding to the all stop command.

The portal snapped closed and Maralt jerked around. As he was dragged away, he reached for Dynan, his fingers sliding down his arm to clutch his wrist. Carryn scrambled after them, grabbed Dynan and hauled him back. Maralt grabbed him by the leg, trying to hold on. With his last strength, Dynan kicked him in the face, forcing him off. A snarling howl echoed through the barn as Maralt vanished.

“Dynan,” Carryn said, feeling herself being pushed out, terrified that if she couldn’t manage to stay, Maralt would return. “Come back. You have to...” The medic room spun around her. Voices swept by as she struggled to hold off the tidal wave of black that barreled toward her. “Dynan, open your eyes. Come back,” she whispered, each sound sending bolts of pain through her. “Come back, please. You’ve got to wake up, or Maralt will finish what he started. Wake up!”

She shook him and almost blacked out. Dynan’s eyes flew open and he gasped. Carryn reached for him, but the dark came in, took her away and she fell.

“Set sublight speed, course point zero three eight. Engage!” Frazier commanded.

“Star Destroyer at sector three nine,” Boral said from the bridge through the companel.

“Course set, engaging sublight engines.”

Dynan’s hands flew to his chest, searching, then to his neck, scrambling backward in the bed until he couldn’t move anymore. He trembled violently as Ralion gathered him into his arms, while Geneal struggled with Carryn. Sheed got over to help and they eased her down to the floor.

“Change course to zero two nine. Engage,” Frazier said, watching, unsure what he could do if Dynan succumbed again.

“Course changed.”

“Maintain battle stations. We may have to do that again.” He stared up at the ceiling. “The Gods help us if we do. Geneal?”

“I don’t know, Frazier,” she said tersely, rising to examine Dynan, talking to him, assuring him while he shook in Ralion’s arms that he would be all right.

Frazier ordered another course change. “How long before the Destroyer goes to sublight?”

“They already have,” Boral said. “We’re being tracked.”

Dynan moaned, cowering against Ralion.

“Prepare to change course to zero seven three. Helm, all stop.”

“Answering all stop. Standing by to change course.”

For a few tense moments, they waited. In the space of that instant, Frazier felt the weight of responsibility for all the lives on board the XR-9 pressing down on him. He folded his arms, trying to stop himself from shaking.

“Star Destroyer at zero two nine,” Boral said, his voice breaking.

“Engage,” Frazier said, watching Dynan’s panic grow.

“Course changed to zero seven three.”

At Geneal’s feet, Carryn groaned, then struggled to rise. Sheed leaned down and helped her up. Geneal turned, preparing to administer to her, but Carryn stopped her again, reaching to Dynan. “Come with me,” she said softly and took his outstretched hand.