CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 |
Moric was not having a good time. There had been several hours since his capture to dwell upon this latest round of disasters. Not only was he a prisoner, his own father was chin deep in a plot to overthrow Seroult's rightful prince. The Rani had been more than happy to fill him in on that little tid-bit. Now, to make matters worse, Elfie and the mage were prisoners, too. He glanced at Reven, but was ignored. His cousin had an unsettling, stretched look.
"I wish I was at my club," the viscount thought, depressed.
The Rani, on the other hand, was having a wonderful day. "Bring me the sorcerer!"
Elfie and the Doctor were immediately surrounded by guards. Appearing more annoyed than fearful, the mage glowered at the Rani as the guards stripped the hellsword from his back, then hustled the prisoners across the dusty floor.
"Doctor," she greeted him, eyes alight. "Meddling again."
He tried to shrug, but his nervous guards were holding his arms too tightly. Looking past her, he winked at Moric and Reven. The kelblade returned a stony scowl.
"You know it's what I do best." His blue eyes glinted. "What are you up to, Rani? What new atrocity are you trying to pass off as science?"
"I am serving the gods, Doctor. We have come to ask them to aid us against heretics like Prince Kellin."
"Rot. Why are you trying to open the well? Where are you going?"
The sorceress regarded him with enjoyment, clearly savoring the moment. "You don't have a clue, do you, Doctor? I'm disappointed. Perhaps I've overestimated you."
"It wouldn't be the first time. Whatever your goal, I'm sure it isn't worth a fraction of the mayhem you've caused."
"Alas, Doctor. I will not be distracted. As soon as I heard that you were Kellin's infamous mage, I knew my time was limited. Elb!"
A tall Ankaran officer approached and bowed. She thrust Soulstealer into his hands. "Take them back to the ship," she commanded. "Keep Kellin's sorcerer under strictest guard. Set men around the fortress -- just in case the prince has sent troops, as well." She hesitated. "And again, Elb, keep a good eye on the Doctor. If he does anything you don't like -- kill him."
The guards took hold of the mage again, but were immediately thwarted by Elfie, who flung her arms around him and was not easily removed, shrieking and biting her captors like a wild animal. Impatiently, the Rani stepped forward and pressed something against the child's thin shoulder. Elfie went limp. Moric and the Doctor were hustled from the chamber and back into the humid, dimly-lit corridors.
"She's lying to you all," the Doctor told his guards. "Driade cares nothing for your gods -- she does not mean Aliphor well! How can you look at something like Bloodsinger or Firestorm and not know that they are evil?"
Disinclined to listen, his guards knocked him to the ground and kicked him. "Be silent, demon-lover!" spat one. "Speak again and we'll cut out your tongue!"
Perhaps their blows stunned him, for he groaned and rolled over. Swearing, they reached to pull him up, but he erupted into energetic movement, leaping to his feet and darting between them. Off balance, they stumbled this way and that. Before Moric knew what was happening, the Doctor was beside him, one cool hand clamped around his wrist. The Time Lord lifted something aloft.
Fear froze the blood in Moric's veins, turned his muscles to lead. He had never known such horror. His heart lurched wildly; his gut turned to water. He would have run if he could, but the Doctor's grip was unbreakable. Screams vied with the roaring in his ears. There was no hope! Death was imminent -- hideous, lingering, agonizing death!
And then the feeling was simply gone. Moric, soaked with sweat, looked dizzily around. There was no sign of their guards, only swiftly receding footsteps. The Doctor lowered his shaking hand.
"Now that was a spell!" Moric gasped, truly impressed. "What is that thing, Doctor?"
The Time Lord looked blankly at the object he held, then gave himself a little shake. "Soulstealer." With a shudder, he dropped it into his pocket. "I removed it from the sword after Elfira brought it to me. From the quick peek I've had time for, it looks like a nano-intelligence, but I've never seen one that could broadcast e-waves ..." He trailed off, seeing Moric's mystified expression. "Never mind. I'll explain when we get back to my TARDIS."
The viscount doubted that very much.
Reven knew he would not survive what lay ahead. The Doctor had been his last hope, and now he, too, was a prisoner. Therefore, the question was not how to survive, but how to die. He walked alongside Thonnor, following the Rani and her trusted, personal guards deeper into the echoing silence. Elfie was still unconscious, flung over Thonnor's broad shoulder like a sack of flour.
"Here!" the Rani called suddenly, and stopped.
They had reached the exact center of the cavern. From this place, the great machines stretched away like the spokes of a wheel. A low circle of benches formed its hub, covered in dust, like everything else in this foul place. The Rani walked into the center of the circle and stopped.
"Bring the child."
Thonnor dropped Elfie roughly to the floor. To Reven's relief, the girl stirred. Rubbing her head, she looked around. Her eyes met his and Reven looked away.
Pulling Elfie to her feet, Thonnor sent her stumbling to the Rani's side. The witch smiled sweetly. "Below us, my dear, is a chamber to which I need access. As you can see, I've been unsuccessful so far in getting it open."
The floor did indeed bear the evidence of a determined assault. Deep gouges were marked in the stone and there were blackened patches.
"The engineers who constructed this place had impressive skills and to use greater force against the door risks destroying what lies beneath it. Do you recall the book you were ordered to steal, thief?"
Elfie nodded, white-faced.
"The access code was in it. Had you simply done what you were told and delivered the book to your guildmaster, you would even now be happily cutting purses in the gutters of Seroult. Fortunately, you have the opportunity to make up for your failure. Open the door."
"How can I do that, your highness, when even your magic has failed?" Elfie implored. "Storchi hasn't ever seen such a thing!"
"Don't be tiresome. Open it!"
"But I can't!"
"I think you can. Perhaps you need some incentive ..."
Too late Reven realized what the Rani intended. His heart lurched. 'No -- please ..."
Her disrupter sent him to his knees. Dimly, through the pain, he heard Elfie pleading. He wanted to tell her to stand fast, to refuse no matter what, but his jaw was clenched too hard to allow the words. Abruptly, the pain vanished. The girl, tears in her eyes, nodded to her invisible guardian. A deep rumbling ran through the floor and slowly, ponderously, the trap door lifted up and away.
Moric hunkered down beside the Doctor as another patrol passed. The men peered suspiciously down the corridor, but the Doctor was right -- here, the shadow was deep enough to conceal them. Ankaran's men continued on their way, and were quickly lost from sight.
"Close," whispered the mage. "But so are we. The TARDIS should be right around the bend."
"I sincerely hope so." Moric pulled off his coat. "Who were these Glinogri and why did they keep their fortress so damned hot?"
"The Glinogri are reptilian -- they prefer this temperature -- especially in such a hostile native climate. They're also an intelligent species, and usually peaceful. She must have held some powerful threat over them to draw them into such an alliance. I wish I could remember for what the Glinogri are famous -- it has something to do with cybernetics ... oh, no!"
A tremor ran through the earth, shaking the walls. The corridor went suddenly dark. It lasted only a moment, but that was enough to set cold sweat on Moric's brow. Exclaiming in another language, the Doctor started running. Moric hied after him, hoping their noisy footfalls wouldn't bring a patrol running. He rounded a corner and ahead, saw the familiar blue box.
Another shudder rattled the fortress. The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS door and dashed inside. Going straight to the console, the mage began entering commands. His hands flew. With its typical wheeze, the rotor began to rise and fall.
Moric reached his side, grabbing hold of the console as the ship rocked.
"I left the TARDIS powered up -- for a fast get-away," said the mage tersely, "I forgot about the feedback. We're too close."
"What do you mean, too close?"
"It's theory, of course. When two such devices are activated within a certain distance of each other, a weak temporal field is created between them," The Doctor's fingers continued their frantic dance across the console. "Unfortunately, that field is extremely unstable -- urk!"
The TARDIS shook again, knocking them both to the wildly tilting floor. Frantic, the Doctor lurched up and back to the console. He seemed to be talking to someone, although Moric saw no one else. The ship shook again. Harder. From all around came a great groaning and cracking.
"Hold on, Moric!"
The viscount felt a sudden rushing of air from his lungs. His vision darkened. Odd thoughts flew by too fast to comprehend. When reality returned, he was staring into the TARDIS' familiar roof of stars and galaxies. A face appeared over him. "Are you all right?"
"Did we -- are we -- safe?" He looked around. It seemed real enough.
"Quite."
The viscount accepted the hand offered him and was pulled energetically to his feet. "We're safe," Moric repeated. "Good. I like safe. Can we go home now? Someone should tell the prince he's about to be unthroned!"
The mage grimaced. "You're absolutely right. I'll set the controls for two days ago. Warn Kellin, and if he can spare it, send help."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. If the Rani succeeds in taking Seroult, she will use its might and l'Sanjil's to take the rest of Aliphor. She must not succeed."
"Kellin won't believe me. If I wasn't involved in this mess, I wouldn't believe me!"
"Kellin entrusted you to deliver a message to Kragorn. In the wrong hands, such a thing could have been a political disaster. I'd say you have some credibility with him."
"You knew about the Master Mage?"
The Doctor grinned and kept poking away at the console. "I've pre-set all the controls. Just ask the TARDIS."
"What are you going to do?"
His smile turned grim. "Stop the Rani."
The earthquakes triggered another rage in the Rani. She emerged from the hole in the floor, dust on her cheek, eyes blazing, screaming for Elb.
"He's got away!" she snapped. "The mage escaped again! Your men are a disgrace!"
"Highness!" the guard captain objected. "How could you know such a ..."
He broke off, staggering as the earth shivered yet again. The Rani set her jaw, staring off into the room's shadowy depths. "Never mind," she said finally. "Whatever was he thinking, materializing so close? Pyrdonians!"
Elfie crouched beside the control center, utterly wretched, barely heeding the princess' outburst. All around, the dead room had sprung to hellish life. No green glow here. White lights blazed, soft whirring stirred the air and everywhere was the suffocating sense of great power.
Gods, but she was tired. In coming to life, it seemed that the machines around them had sucked her strength from her. Weak, listless, she hugged knees to chest. Tears threatened.
The Rani returned her attention to the array of controls around her. Thonnor stood at her back, arms folded over his chest. Reven, under the watchful eye of her guard, had neither spoken nor looked in Elfie's direction since Storchi had opened the trap door. She should have done as he had pleaded with her to do -- resisted the Rani's command. Instead, she had given in at once. How he must despise her.
"That's it." The Rani straightened. She turned and smiled. "The moment of truth is upon us, Thonnor."
He bowed very low. "Your highness," he replied. "I can hardly wait!"
Elfie looked half-heartedly for Storchi, but he was gone, not so much as a flicker in her head. Good! she thought fiercely. She never wanted to see him again! Thonnor reached for her, but Elfie flinched away, chin lifting. "I can walk!"
They returned to Krisalka's surrounding labyrinth. The Rani urged them along, impatient and ill at ease. She cast frequent looks over her shoulder.
At long last, they turned a corner and stepped out into the late afternoon. The cold, twice as bitter after the sultry warmth of the corridors, drove the air from her lungs and stung her nose. A steep hill rose before them and atop it, the well -- its vast ring silhouetted against a lowering sun. The Rani stopped. "Take your men, Elb, and post them around the bottom of the hill. Establish communication immediately with the other patrols. I want no interference, do you understand? None!"
"Highness!" The officer bowed smartly. Without another word, the Rani pulled close her furs and started up the slope.
CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 |