Dagger of Drani (World of Drani #2) Read online

  Dagger of Drani

  World of Drani Book II

  Melonie Purcell

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Author’s Notes

  Copyright

  About the Author

  Final Thank You

  A sample from Hand and Talon for you to enjoy

  For my mom

  Thank you for braving the world of science fiction just for me and for bugging me endlessly about what happens next. Oh, and sorry for not letting you read the last pages first.

  Other books by Melonie Purcell

  Shield of Drani (World of Drani Book I)

  Hand and Talon (World of Kyrni Book I)

  Visit Meloniepurcell.com to sign up for her mailing list and for exclusive fan content!

  Chapter 1

  Taymar jolted upright at the sound of the door sliding open, cracking her head against the ceiling. As if her headache wasn’t already bad enough. And how had she managed to drift off to sleep anyhow? Who sleeps on an enemy ship? Well, maybe the Shreet weren’t really her enemy. Or were they? Who knew? She cupped her hand over the growing lump and rolled over to slide off the bunk. She remembered too late she was on top of a three-tiered bunk bed and her miscalculation of the distance landed her on her backside.

  “Dicci!” she swore, “That hurt.”

  Embarrassed, Taymar scrambled to her feet and finally managed to stare up into Kellin’s expressionless face as he said, “We have arrived.”

  He stood just inside the door but given his large stature and the size of the room, Kellin took up more than his fair share of it. He wore his Alliance uniform; a black utility vest loaded with gadgets pulled over a gray shirt with matching pants. It looked ridiculous on him. He was a huge creature covered in a thin layer of gray fur just a little lighter than his clothing. He had claws for fingers, and fangs that poked down over his lower lip when he spoke.

  “Arrived where? And don’t you people give some warning or something before you enter a room?”

  Kellin folded his arms and stared at her before speaking. His tone was as neutral as his expression, but he always sounded like he was growling. Maybe it was the fangs. “If you were caught by surprise at my entry, the fault is yours, not mine. We have arrived at the Seed. Are you ready?”

  “The Seed? I thought we were going to the Shreet space station.”

  “Your people call it a station. The Shreet call it the Seed. Their home planet is called the Root, so, by extension, this is the Seed since it will be the launching point of the Shreet civilization on this side of the flux. The brae, the commander of the Seed is waiting to speak with you, so we must hurry.”

  “They are not my people. They are the Alliance. My people are the Arleles and they don’t call it anything because they don’t even know it exists. Either way, even though it makes sense when you put it like that, it still seems like a weird name for a communication station. Who names places after plant parts?” Taymar picked one of her shoes up off the floor and pulled it on, but the other shoe was nowhere to be seen. “But I guess people with braids of skin coming out of their heads can be as weird as they want. I can’t find my other shoe.”

  “It is on the bunk where you were sleeping.”

  “I wasn’t sleeping,” she said with a scowl. She climbed up high enough to spot the shoe and used her telekinesis to teke it down. “I was resting, and why in three moons would anyone have three-tiered beds?”

  “You are not very pleasant when you awaken are you? This is a small ship and it must hold a lot of people. Are you ready?”

  “I guess so,” she said, pulling on her other shoe with a series of hops. “I still don’t get why we’re here in the first place. Why did you do that?”

  “Do what?” He swiped open the door and indicated with his hand that she should proceed him into the hallway.

  Taymar ignored him. “Bring me here? You risked everything to get me away from Captain Sean. To bring me here to the sta ... the Seed. I don’t understand why. What do you want from me?”

  “I want you to leave this room, so we can board the Seed before I expire.”

  “I wasn’t aware of your advanced years,” Taymar said, still not budging. “What do you, or the Shreet or the brae or whoever, want from me? What makes me so important?”

  “That isn’t for me to say. You can ask your questions of the brae once we get there. He is eager to meet you as is our informant.”

  “Informant? What informant?”

  “That is why I am here. To take you to meet him. If we ever manage to leave this doorway.” Kellin pointed to the open door. “That way.”

  “Is he from Drani?”

  “He would be of little use as an informant if he were not. Can we go now?”

  “Sure,” Taymar said, stepping through the door. “The brae is a Shreet?”

  “He is the Shreet who commands the Seed.”

  “Oh. Like Captain Sean,” she said, referring to the Captain of the Alliance ship she had only recently fled.

  “No,” Kellin said, swiping the door closed behind him and waving a deadly clawed hand indicating the direction she should go. “That way. Captain Sean McCauffer commanded one ship, the Regal. YittBrae commands an entire fleet. Meeting him is a great honor few people have experienced.”

  “You didn’t like Captain Sean?” she asked.

  “He is an excellent leader. I would like him more if his loyalties weren’t misplaced.”

  “He would say the same about you. About your loyalties anyway. How do you know yours are right and his are wrong?”

  “No war is waged in defense of wrong.”

  The door tried to open again as Taymar stared up at him in confusion. She arched a brow inviting him to continue.

  He stepped away from the door and tugged on his shirt where it was obviously too tight. “Everyone believes themselves to be in the right. I have chosen the Shreet because I believe they will win. The Shreet are the stronger force. Sean McCauffer should have seen that and chosen differently. Now, we really must go.”

  “Okay,” Taymar said, finally turning and heading off in the direction Kellin indicated. “Great honor. Big important person. Don’t mess him up. Got it.”

  Kellin fell in behind her. “I believe you meant to say don’t mess it up.”

  “Right. Don’t mess it up. I’ll do my best, but I can’t make any promises. I do tend to excel at messing things up. I’m good at messing people up as well.”

  He remained silent a beat too long. For a moment, Taymar wondered if maybe she had pushed him too far. But that was how she operated, so she wasn’t likely to change now. Besides, he had revealed himself as a Shreet spy on an Alliance ship, killed a high ranking Dran official and nearly been killed himself just to get her to this meeting. He wasn’t likely to toss her out an airlock now. That’s what she told herself anyway. And she wasn’t walking onto this Seed of his feeling like a victim.

  When Kellin spoke, he was closer behind her than she realized. “I hope you understand how much your future depends on the outcome of this meeting.”

  Taymar kept her pace steady but reached out telepathically to access his thoughts as she walked. “Th
at’s so weird. Maybe you’re a little telepathic after all, because I was just thinking the exact same thing.”

  Kellin’s deep laugh, surprising in both its rarity and its volume, rumbled through the hallway as he pushed past her and took the lead.

  She hadn’t meant it as a joke.

  As they walked, Taymar didn’t bother trying to track the turns and twists. No point since she was about to leave the ship anyhow. What she did note was its similarities to Captain Sean’s Regal. Panels of buttons and scanners lit up as they approached and then winked out after they passed. Some of them seemed to come with instructions, but she couldn’t even figure out where one letter started, and another stopped in the Shreet writing. It all looked like someone had taken a knife and carved a bunch of random scratches into the wall.

  The air was heavy and damp. It reminded her of the first Shreet ship she had been on. Wherever the Shreet were from, their world must be wet, but maintaining this level of humidity in space couldn’t be easy on the equipment and computers. Based on her experiences on the Regal, water was almost as precious as the brakeal fuel crystals the two sides were constantly fighting over.

  The passages were narrower than those in the Regal and Shreet crewmen had to hug the wall to allow Kellin to pass. Taymar guessed that his rank among these Shreet must be high or he would be the one hugging the wall. Then again, if he came walking toward her looking as menacing as he did, she would probably give way to him as well. She did, however, notice that the Shreet weren’t in a hurry to go about their business. They watched her as she passed with the same curiosity that she felt as she stared at them.

  She had seen some of the Shreet before, but not in person. Well, not counting the ones who had attacked her in Nevvis’s bedroom, but to be fair, she hadn’t really seen much of them either. She had been too busy trying not to get abducted and failing as it turned out. She had made them pay for that mistake though by sneaking into their minds and stealing their ship.

  Taymar paused to stare back at two Shreet who had stopped to watch her pass. She had to give them credit for not rushing off as if they hadn’t just been gawking. One was bluish, the other more of a light, dirty, orange. Their huge tear shaped eyes focused on Taymar unblinking, except for a barely visible membrane that slid occasionally across the black surface. Two vertical slits that she assumed to be the Shreet version of a nose, opened and closed in a steady rhythm, but the little protrusions on either side of their chins twitched and jerked as if they were looking for something. Both of them had the weird braids that started out as skin but transitioned into silky white hair. The orange one’s braids were half skin and half hair, whereas the Blue one had so little skin it barely had time to fade to white before turning into hair.

  The orange one elbowed the blue one, and they both headed off down the hallway. Taymar watched them for a moment longer, admiring their wide flat feet with the single claw hooking out over each heel. They moved in near silence and once again, she wished she had a claw like that on the back of her leg. Not that it was terribly functional, but it looked amazing.

  Once the Shreet disappeared around the corner, Taymar turned and rushed in the opposite direction to catch up with Kellin. He pretended not to notice that she’d strayed, but Taymar knew better. A guy like Kellin noticed everything.

  “Why do the Shreet have claws on the back of their ankles?” she asked once she had closed the gap.

  He shrugged. “Perhaps the real question should be why don’t you have claws on your legs?”

  “You don’t have a claw either,” she pointed out, falling in behind to allow another Shreet to pass.

  Kellin’s only answer was another shrug, so Taymar tried again. “What are those little skin whiskers on their chins?”

  “I think they function like your nose.”

  “I thought the slits were their nose.”

  Kellin paused to read some scratches on the wall and then turned down another corridor. “The slits are for breathing. The skin whiskers as you call them are for smelling. The Shreet can detect more than scents. They can smell fear, anger, even lies.” He stopped at an intersection of passageways and frowned.

  “Did you get us lost?” Taymar asked.

  He turned and glared at her. The man had an impressive frown.

  “I can smell fear and anger. That’s no big deal. I don’t believe you though.”

  One furry eyebrow raised.

  “I don’t think they can smell a lie.”

  “Lie to the brae and you will find out.” He stepped around her and swiped his hand over a control panel. Rows of colored dots lit up a square in the wall.

  “Arleles don’t lie.”

  “And now I am the one who doesn’t believe you.”

  “It’s true.” She tried to sort out what buttons Kellin was pushing, but none of it made any sense to her. “I live on a planet controlled by telepaths. What’s the point in lying? People on Drani just don’t lie.”

  Kellin glanced down one of the hallways and then back at the map that had replaced the colored buttons on the wall.

  “I hadn’t considered that,” he said, opting for the passage on the left.

  “Your people must be good at lying. You were a spy on an Alliance ship after all and nobody knew.”

  “They were starting to figure it out.”

  “Still, you must have been good at it for a long time,” Taymar said, a little envious of his ability to deceive. “What are your people called, anyway? You aren’t a Shreet.”

  One more turn led them to a massive archway split by partially opened metal doors whose sheer size made her think they weren’t opened often. Kellin paused at the opening and waited while a ray of blue light traveled the length of his body. Taymar wanted to jump back when the light turned on her, but she didn’t want to let Kellin see her fear. When the light finished scanning them, Kellin walked through the doors.

  “I am of the Branite people,” he said. “And what we are good at is surviving. Come.”

  Kellin led her into a large tube that was pressed up against the archway. When Taymar glanced back, she realized that the pitted scratched surface showing on the inside of the archway was the outer surface of the ship. Somehow, being on the outside of a spaceship, even a docked one, was completely unnerving for her.

  As they walked through the connecting conduit, they had to step aside to make way for carts that were zipping to and from the ship. Whether they were loading or unloading Taymar couldn’t guess. When the tube finally let out onto an expansive docking area, she stopped and stared.

  The space station was impressive.

  Taymar turned a slow circle taking in the immense size of the area. She had never been in an enclosed space so massive before. Entire ships that looked to be capable of holding thousands of people were docked along various platforms. The sheer volume of empty space was overwhelming. The walls linked together like puzzle pieces all the way up, the sides curving slightly as they changed from wall to ceiling. Taymar put her head back so she could follow the linked pieces and froze when she saw the yawning black opening overhead leading out to the void of space. Adrenaline pulsed through her.

  “Why aren’t we being sucked out of that hole?” she asked trying to sound casual.

  Kellin looked up and gave the flash of fangs that passed as his smile. “It is amazing is it not? That opening is completely sealed. Watch.” He pointed a clawed finger at a small ship drifting toward the massive gap. As the craft slid through the space gate, a bubble of light formed around the vessel, fitting it like a living gel. The second skin coated the ship until the very last bit had cleared the opening. Once the ship was through, the bubble closed, sealing the gate, at which point it disappeared. Or so it seemed.

  Taymar inhaled the scent of metal and relished the fact that there was breathable air. It really was amazing. Workers and machines moved around the floor in organized chaos, sometimes passing within a finger’s length of one another but managing somehow to avoid colliding.
Rows of shuttles and small ships lined one wall as far as she could see. Some looked to be in various states of repair, but others sat pointed toward the immense opening, staged neatly for a fast and efficient launch, which would be convenient when she was ready to sneak out in one of them.

  Taymar pointed to a boxy ship that looked like the shuttle she had used to make her escape from the Alliance. “Is that one of Captain Sean’s shuttles?”

  “It is an Alliance shuttle,” Kellin said, heading toward a waiting transport craft. “It was an Alliance shuttle. It belongs to the Shreet now.”

  “They stole it? They stole all of these?” Taymar eyed the contraption that was to be their ride with open suspicion. It looked like a large oval bowl sitting on the ground with two rows of seats at the front and no visible controls. “What is that?”

  “Get in. We acquired those ships. Just like you acquired the one you used to escape the first Shreet ship you were on.” Kellin didn’t bother with a door. He just climbed over the edge, so Taymar followed and hopped into the row behind him.

  “I didn’t steal an Alliance shuttle when I escaped the first time. I just borrowed it.”

  “Did you give it back?”

  Taymar shrugged and assessed their blue-skinned driver. His skin was a little darker than the one she had seen on the ship, but he had similar braids that were mostly composed of hair. More importantly, he seemed nervous. He didn’t even glance back at them. She couldn’t blame him one bit. If she were about to fly an oversized bathtub in a huge room that had a giant door leading out into space, she wouldn’t be looking around either. “It’s on my to-do list. Besides, I would have returned it if I could have, but I was trying to do the escape thing, so it wouldn’t have been a smart choice at the time.”

  “You stole it.”

  To Taymar’s surprise, the bowl lifted effortlessly off the ground and zipped forward without so much as a jerk. Just to be safe, though, she slid over to the center of the bench.

  The Shreet driver wove his tub in and out between the cargo carts and crew members with practiced ease and alarming speed. At one point, a group of the tiny Yarnit people like the ones she had seen on the Regal, scattered to avoid being leveled by the craft. Taymar bristled at the Shreet’s complete lack of concern over his close call as he buzzed past them.