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

  They eventually left the cargo area and slowed to a crawl before the Shreet set the tub down without so much as a bump, directly in front of what Taymar assumed was a deck-shuttle similar to the tiny rooms on the Regal that zipped people from one end or level to another. Kellin spoke in the strange clicking language to their driver as he hopped over the edge of the vessel. The Shreet only nodded, but the skin at the base of his braids flashed almost as white as his hair just before he maneuvered the vessel off the ground and headed back toward the cargo area.

  With a couple of taps Kellin managed to activate the sensor, and the door slid open. Apparently, every deck-shuttle in the universe looked exactly the same. Although this one was larger than most of the ones Taymar had seen so far, probably so it could transport bulky cargo. It still had the obligatory bench seating against the walls on three sides. And just like every other time she had been in a conveyor shuttle of any kind, no one in it made any move to sit. One thing about this enclosure was different though.

  “Is this fur?” she asked, running her fingers through the thick mat of fuzz on the walls.

  “Moss,” Kellin said. “The Shreet world is very humid. They try to mimic it here on the station as naturally as possible.”

  Either the shuttle was carrying them to another planet, or it wasn’t moving at all because she and Kellin just stood in the empty chamber staring at the moss until the silence got the better of her.

  “I think you should know I’m not going to just do whatever this YittBrae wants. I may not be here by choice, but I’m not a slave.” she said. “And I’m not afraid to die either, so there’s no point in threatening me.”

  Kellin furled his brow. “You didn’t have to leave the Regal with me. You could have stayed.”

  “Except for the part where you killed Nevvis. But I get your point.” She brushed the moss back and forth. Its soft mat tickled her palm reminding her of the moss-covered trees back on Drani. She would die before she let anyone take her there again. “And I hope you get mine. I’m here because it was the best choice that I had at the time, but that doesn’t mean I’m agreeing to help anyone. Not the Shreet or the Alliance or anyone else.”

  “I would expect nothing less.”

  They stood in silence, Kellin’s apparent casual attitude grinding at her psyche. Why was he so calm? But the answer was obvious enough. He knew what he was walking into while she had no idea. Her pulse started thumping again as she pushed back the reality of her situation and tried not to focus on it. She was truly trapped, and she had walked into it of her own accord. Not that the alternative of going back to Drani had been much of a choice. But still.

  When the shuttle beeped its impending arrival, Taymar jerked her hand away from the mossy wall and spun to face the doors as they slid open to reveal a much different space than the cargo area they had left. The hallways were still utilitarian, but much wider and often interrupted by alcoves with atriums full of miniature plants.

  “That took forever. I thought the deck-shuttle broke,” Taymar said, nearly running into Kellin as he paused to activate a panel on the wall. “This place is amazing. Not that I’m complaining, but what’s with all the plants?”

  Kellin looked around as if just noticing that the atriums were there. “We are very close to the cargo bay. Otherwise we would have transtremmed to the conference rooms. The Seed is an enclosed self-sustaining system. It produces its own water and air. Nothing is wasted. And technically, you were complaining.”

  “Transtremmed?” Taymar said, giving Kellin her full attention. “Are you telling me that this sta... er ... Seed is so big we would actually need to use a transporter to get from one end to the other? How big is it?”

  “It is nearly the size of your city, Razere. Are you ready for your meeting?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  “Of course,” Kellin said. “You might not like the consequences of your choice, but you do have a choice.”

  Taymar was working on a withering reply when the touch of a familiar mind on the other side of the door grabbed her attention. She spun to face the grey panel. It had to be a mistake. She didn’t chance a second contact and just to be safe, she shielded her thoughts, but her efforts were useless. When the door slid back, any hope of hiding her shock vanished.

  “Jalkean?”

  The young Dran stood. He was wearing one of the black Shreet uniforms and it looked ridiculous on him. Seeing how it sagged off his shoulders and yet was still barely long enough to reach his ankles, made Taymar realize that the Shreet were proportionately quite different. His dark hair stuck up in its usual disarray and his light-yellow eyes betrayed the worry he was trying to hide behind his shielded mind. “Hello, Taymar. You finally made it,” he said, genuine relief coloring his words.

  Taymar couldn’t manage a reply. Of all the people she could have imagined betraying Drani, Jalkean was the last. In fact, she wouldn’t have even thought it conceivable. Somewhere in the background, she heard Kellin speaking, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. Her mind was spinning with the possibilities of what Jalkean’s presence might mean. Jalkean a traitor? Her brain couldn’t process the thought. Jalkean was a kar, usually her kar, responsible for keeping her out of trouble and making sure she followed the rules. How could he be a traitor? How had he kept that secret?

  “Taymar, meet YittBrae, our Commander,” Kellin said in a louder voice than before, successfully managing to snap her out of her trance. “I believe you already know Jalkean of the planet Drani, and this is RydonDii, the ranking telepath stationed here on the Seed.”

  That got her attention. Taymar chastised herself for allowing her distraction to make her vulnerable. She couldn’t afford any mistakes. Not if she was going to survive long enough to borrow one of those shuttles and escape. She didn’t need some sad excuse for a telepath getting in her way. She had worked with more than her share of predatory telepaths in her short time on Daryus, and if she had learned nothing else, she knew for sure that the key to beating them was to get them on the defensive. Make them nervous and they would give away all of their secrets, or at least they would give themselves away when trying to steal secrets from someone else.

  Taymar focused on the audaciously adorned woman sitting in a chair against the wall. She was not a Shreet. She wasn’t whatever Kellin was either. This telepath was something new. She was wide and stocky. Billowing fabric decorated with dangling crystals and pretty stones which hid what looked like an abundance of fat. Layers of necklaces, and strands of beads and bracelets covered the rest of her. Very little of her skin was visible through her embellishments but her hands were deeply calloused and the skin on her face appeared more like thick hide. Instead of moving and stretching, her skin fit her like a flexible shell.

  Like the Shreet, she wore braids, but hers were not made of flesh. Hundreds of them fell down her back like tiny straw-colored cords, each ending in a bead or bell. Her every laboring move was marked by the clatter of jewelry. But, they were all just another distraction because the woman’s eyes were sharp and clear. Taymar felt the telepath’s mind trying to slip past her shield, felt the brazen arrogance, the desire to establish dominance and she reveled in the challenge. She may not know about spaceships and alien races, but she knew how to win a fight, and RydonDii was about to wish she hadn’t picked one.

  “I am pleased to meet you at last,” RydonDii announced, pushing herself out of the chair to the sound of tinkling bells. “As KellinDii has already said, I am Rydon. I’m the ranking telepath on the Seed.”

  You were the ranking telepath, Taymar thought stepping directly in front of her. “I am Taymar. You’re the best they have? You need to work on your technique before trying to sneak into a real telepath’s thoughts.”

  The affront was absolute. Rydon heaved herself away from her chair with indignation and made her second mistake. She built up a surprisingly powerful ball of mental energy and unleashed it at Taymar’s shielded mind. The jolt hit Taymar like the spike from a headache and then dissipated. It wasn’t a bad effort ... for a beginner.

  The desire to crush Rydon into a quivering mass flooded through Taymar’s mind, that familiar need to fight that all Arleles felt, to win, to destroy. It threatened to consume her as it usually did, but she forced it back. She didn’t need to destroy Rydon physically. No reason to reveal all her secrets. But she did need to establish that she wasn’t a defenseless tool in their game. Jalkean would probably stop her anyhow, but she had to take it as far as she could.

  She met Rydon’s attack of energy with one of her own and stood facing her opponent with a smile. All she needed was a break in Rydon’s energy stream. Using her telekinesis, she wrapped her mind around one of the many strands hanging from Rydon’s neck and twisted it. Rydon gasped in surprise and Taymar had her break.

  With the skill of a spider, she began weaving thought webs in the opposing telepath’s mind. The thought paths were nowhere near vacant, so her progress was very slow, but it still served its purpose.

  Each thought Taymar tangled, multiplied the woman’s distress until she was no longer fighting Taymar but struggling in desperation with the confusion in her head. Rydon let her guard down and Taymar struck. With a mental burst of her own and a telekinetic push, Taymar sent Rydon crumpling to the floor.

  Taymar glanced over at Jalkean. He hadn’t even tried to stop her. For a moment, she thought something must be wrong with him, but the look of frustration on his face changed her mind. He hadn’t stopped her because he hadn’t been allowed to. She looked over at Kellin, who was leaning against the table, the brae’s hand resting on his shoulder. His expression was a mix of pride and exasperation. The brae was harder to read. His bony, angular features gave him a generally stern appearance. But whatever he
thought about the encounter, he had allowed it to happen.

  “This is not finished,” Rydon hissed between gasps of breath as she climbed to her feet with a cacophony of clicking and chiming.

  Taymar tamped down the remnants of the adrenaline rush and gave Rydon a mocking smile. “It could be if you’d like another round. Only be warned, next time I will make sure you stay down.”

  Pure hatred exuded from the other woman. She turned to the brae for support, but he offered none. Instead, he pulled out his chair and sat down.

  The tension in the room had built to nearly intolerable levels when Jalkean broke the silence. “In many respects, she is a very typical Arlele.”

  “I’m eager to meet the rest of them,” YittBrae confided, his words slipping and sliding together and clearly unfamiliar on his tongue. “Please sit. We have a lot to talk about.” He turned to Rydon and spoke in the clicks and whistles of his own language.

  In a clash of clattering adornment, the telepath whirled from the room — her anger radiating like heat from a fire.

  No. Taymar thought as she found a chair nearest the door. This is not over. But it had been worth it. That telepath would think long and hard before she tried to sneak into Taymar’s mind again. Besides, Taymar needed every advantage if she had any hope of sneaking off in one of those shuttles, and she couldn’t be ducking a competing telepath while she did it.

  YittBrae handed her a band with a small square attached before seating himself behind the huge table. She glanced at Jalkean. He was wearing one just like it.

  > he sent. The connection of his telepathy was disturbingly comforting.

  Without too much trouble, she managed to sort out the technology and turned back to the Shreet in charge. He sat watching her with intense concern. She returned his stare.

  The brae wasn’t a large man, but he radiated the energy of a person with great power. The skin braids on his head reached just past the little bump where his ears would have been if he were an Arlele. After that, they turned to white hair that was striking against his rusty orange complexion. His eyes were a brighter orange, almost red and as he evaluated Taymar, he had the pleased expression of a man who knew he had just won something.

  When he spoke, Yitt’s voice came out of her translator nearly simultaneously. Even his tone, cordial yet serious, was conveyed through the device. “Jalkean told us when we first made contact that you were an exceptional Arlele. I only wish the dii who flew the mission on Drani could have seen what I just saw. Maybe then he would have heeded Jalkean’s warning not to underestimate you.” Yitt glanced at Jalkean then back at Taymar. “It cost us the ship you turned over, its crew, a great deal of time, resources, and even some lives to get you back. This time, we will exercise more care.”

  Taymar looked over at Jalkean again. He was as still as stone and his mind just as impenetrable.

  “What’s a dii? A rank, right? Is it a high rank?” she asked, turning back to the brae. She reached out with her mind to feel his thoughts, tentatively at first, but when Jalkean remained silent, she probed a little harder.

  “Correct. It denotes rank. Kellin’s rank is dii, and yes, considering the short time he has served with the Shreet, it is a fairly high rank. Why did you send our ship into Alliance space, Taymar?” Yitt’s expression was neutral, but Taymar could feel the importance of the question in his thoughts.

  She considered not answering. After all, it wasn’t necessarily a good idea to seem too cooperative to any of these people, Jalkean included. She did want to live though. There was that. And, what would her silence gain? No, she needed to be cooperative without being overly eager. Hopefully, that would get them to drop their guard without raising suspicion. There was no point trying to be endearing she decided, not that she could pull that off anyhow.

  “I was hoping to escape in the confusion. And I did,” she said, her tone curt.

  “What made you so sure we were not trying to help you escape your plight on Drani to begin with?”

  Taymar rested one elbow on the armrest of the chair, her eyes never leaving Yitt’s as she considered his strange question. What was he asking? What did he really want to know? Was he trying to trick her? She wasn’t sure, but whatever it was, she didn’t like it.

  “It’s hard to say. Maybe it was the three Shreet who burst into Nevvis’s room and held me by force while I was transported into a cage. Or maybe it was the other hundred people who were shoved into that cage with me. Could have also been all the dead bodies while the Dran tried to get the Arleles under control. I can’t really isolate the exact moment I realized I needed to save my own life.”

  Yitt glanced at Kellin. Irritation rang out of his thoughts, but he didn’t voice it and his facial features stayed neutral. He was good. Better, in fact, than most of the non-telepaths she had dealt with while hiding on Daryus. Her time battling wits with other telepaths on Daryus was beginning to pay off. She was already getting a better feel for the Shreet mind. Soon, even with the language barrier, she would at least be able to sort out the gist of what he was thinking and feeling.

  “I’m sorry for the way the dii handled that situation,” Yitt said, choosing his words carefully. “Because of limited time and space, we did have to get many people onto a relatively small ship, but it should not have been done in that manner. How did you get off the Alliance ship?”

  “I stole a shuttle.”

  “They didn’t notice?”

  “There were shuttles going everywhere. They never even questioned it until I deviated from the pre-programed flight path.”

  The brae raised his brows in surprise. She wouldn’t have thought he could do that given the bony ridge above his eyes. “And they just let you fly off with their shuttle?”

  “No. They tried to shoot me down. Turns out they didn’t want to destroy their own shuttle in the process, which worked in my favor.”

  She caught Jalkean’s smile out of the corner of her eye, but the brae didn’t so much as smirk. “Where did you go?”

  “Daryus.”

  “Why Daryus?”

  “Why not?”

  “What did you do on Daryus?”

  Taymar sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “I think you already know the answers to these questions, so why are you asking them?”

  “I want to hear your side of it. What did you do on Daryus?”

  She considered the situation for a moment. Jalkean’s mind was still sealed tighter than a fish’s asshole, so he was no help. The brae was digging for something, though, that much was certain. She felt around his thoughts a little more and decided to take a guess.

  “You want to see if my story matches what you were told, don’t you? To see if I’m a spy like Kellin? Well, I’m not.” She changed her focus to Kellin who sat silently on the brae’s left. “I worked for a company called ISTC outsmarting other telepaths. I had a great time until he showed up and hauled me off to Captain Sean.” Taymar jabbed her finger toward Kellin who sat silently on the brae’s left.

  Yitt smiled. It looked weird because he had almost no lips. “How did they find you?”

  Taymar shrugged. “I don’t know. Ask him.”

  Kellin folded his arms across his chest and regarded her with a casual glance. “We tracked down possible destinations based on available fuel, air supply, and intra-space broadcasts. To be honest, I didn’t expect to find her so easily.”

  Yitt nodded, but before he could ask his next question, Jalkean interrupted. “If I may, I’m certain the Dran knew where she was the entire time. They had to.”

  Kellin glanced in Jalkean’s direction. “Then why did they not tell us where she was? It was Drani that requested the Alliance’s assistance. Why would they do that if they knew where she was already?”

  “Could be a combination of things. Drani doesn’t have ships capable of inter-space travel. It would have also been a good chance to get the Alliance working for Drani? What better way to convert the Alliance than with Taymar? She has a way of making an impact.” He gave a non-committal shrug that looked too much like one of Nevvis’s shrugs. “Could be they were just giving themselves more time. I don’t know for sure. What I do know is that ...” he pointed to the band encircling Taymar’s left forearm, the miracle of technology which combines with the Dran’s ability to inflict pain telepathically to keep the Arleles under control. “Has a tracking device. They had to know where she was.”