Neverwylde (11 page)

            “Yes.”

            On one hand, Kyber had to admire Kelen’s bravery, but he was also frightened by her audacity. She may have been taught somewhat about Seneecian protocol, but she was stepping into lethal territory with her attitude. Holding his fear in check, Kyber waited to see what Plat’s next move would be.

            The man’s gaze swept over them all. “How many of these do you service?”

            “What do you mean?” Kelen requested. A moment later, she gasped as the implication sank in.

            The D’har waved a dismissive hand in front of her face. “You must learn your place, skint.”

            Kyber didn’t miss Sandow’s astonishment, nor the doctor’s pleading look he threw his way. This unspoken standoff could not continue. The time had come when someone had to defy the D’har. Defy his leadership and his authority, including his ability to command. Knowing there was no one else who could take on the man, Kyber knew he would have to shoulder that responsibility.

            He took a small step forward, close enough to place a hand on Kelen’s shoulder, but he kept his eyes locked on Plat.

            “Kelen’s place is beside me. She and I have Committed to each other, and we have done the ritual Cleansing. All that is left is the Confirmation.”

            He saw a faint smile come over Sandow’s face, and his earlier belief that the man had already figured out their relationship was affirmed. The others, however, appeared either stupefied or curious. But anger was quickly building in the D’har. As Kelen stepped back and placed her hand on top of Kyber’s where it rested on her shoulder, Kyber lifted his chin.

            “By my words and my actions, I am announcing that Kelen and I—”

            A loud roar cut him off, and Kyber was knocked off his feet as the D’har slammed into him. Instinctively, Kyber shoved her away, out of the line of attack, right before he fell heavily onto his wounded hip.

            White hot pain ripped through him and a groan rattled in his throat. But the D’har wasn’t finished. Throwing himself on top of Kyber, the commander started slashing at his face. With his good arm trapped underneath the D’har’s legs, Kyber tried to ward off the blows with his injured arm. He felt the man’s claws sink into his flesh, but he couldn’t feel the talons tearing into him.

            He was aware of Mellori and Sandow trying to reach him as they attempted to drag the D’har off, but Kleesod and Verin restrained them. On the sidelines, Gaveer, Tojun, and Massapa watched in horror. They wouldn’t intervene. They couldn’t. To do so would be an instant death sentence if the D’har succeeded in overpowering and killing him.

            He tried to lift his hips, but the man was too heavy. Blood was already dripping down his arm, falling onto his chest and face. He tried to roll over when he heard a shriek.

            “
Get off him, you fucking sneek!
”

            Before he could yell at her to not interfere, Kelen launched herself at the D’har. Throwing her arms around the commander’s neck, she continued to propel herself forward. Her action and leverage dragged the D’har off Kyber, enough to where he could roll away in the opposite direction.

            Struggling to his feet, Kyber whirled around to see the D’har holding Kelen by the throat. Already, she was choking as the man’s blood-stained talons continued to close around her windpipe. But she remained defiant, lashing out with her own fingernails, leaving little ineffective furrows in the D’har’s pelt.

            Plat grinned again. “Try to make that Confirmation again, Por D’har, and I’ll crush her life.” The grin widened. “Go ahead. Say it. Say the Confirmation.”

            Kyber shook his head to remove the blood from his face. Kelen was beginning to turn blue. Her eyes were partially closed, but she continued to struggle, determined to keep fighting. If he made any move toward her, the D’har would snap her neck with one hand.

            He deliberately took a step away.

            Plat snickered. “Another.”

            Kyber widened the distance. “We’re not done here,” he darkly warned the commander.

            “Yes. You are.” The D’har threw the same words he’d used minutes before back at him. And to prove his point, his grip tightened around Kelen’s throat.

            Sandow jumped forward and tried to pry the Seneecian’s grip from her neck, without success. “Let her go, damn you!”

            Without taking his eyes from Kyber, the D’har snarled, “Not until he leaves. Permanently. Your title is officially stripped from you. From this day, you will be branded a coward, a dissident, and a threat to our welfare. If any of us see you again, this female will be executed summarily.”

            Kyber studied Kelen’s face. Glancing at Sandow, he murmured, “Take care of her. Please.”

            Knowing to remain there any longer would further jeopardize her health, Kyber hurried into the tunnel leading back to the gardens.

Chapter 16

Speculation

            Consciousness came with pain. Reaching for her throat, Kelen tried to pull away whatever was restricting her breathing, but her fingers met skin. Skin that was sensitive to the touch.

            “Whoa, Chambliss. Take it easy.”

            She managed to peel her eyelids apart to find Sandow leaning over her. It suddenly all came flooding back to her, and she rapidly scanned the room where she was lying. The physician saw her panic and shushed her.

            “It’s just you and me in here.”

            “Where’s Kyber?” Speaking was nearly impossible. Her throat felt like she’d tried to swallow raw sludge. She coughed and found a bowl of water held out in front of her.

            “Sip slowly,” he ordered in that tone she was familiar with.

            She sipped, letting the water gradually trickle down the inside of her inflamed throat. Raising her eyebrows at him, she waited.

            Sandow sighed. “He’s gone.”

            “Gone?” Another fit of coughing caught up with her. She gingerly touched her aching neck. “That white Seneecian did this to me, didn’t he?” she breathily whispered. “Who is that overgrown pussy, and how do we kill him?”

            “He is D’har Plat, the commander of the ship we followed into the wormhole. He and two more of his crewmen found their way to the temple. From what Massapa told me, Kyber and the others came across the D’har when they went up to retrieve the weapons.”

            The man still hadn’t answered her original question. “Where’s Kyber?”

            Sandow pressed his lips together. “Gone.”

            “Gone where? Why?”

            The physician frowned. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

            The last thing? It didn’t take much concentration for her to visualize Kyber lying nearly prone on the floor with the D’har straddling him. She vividly recalled jumping on the creature’s back…

            “That sneek was trying to claw Kyber’s eyes out. I tried to stop him. He growled at me, and grabbed me…” Her hand touched her bruised neck. Kelen stared at the doctor. “He was choking me.”

            “And after that?”

            She shook her head. “I don’t remember.”

            Sandow sat back on his heels. “You blacked out. The D’har threatened to kill you if Kyber didn’t leave. The sneek stripped Kyber of his rank and banished him from the area. The last we saw of him, he disappeared down the tunnel leading to the gardens.”

            With the man’s help, she managed to sit up.

            “How do you feel?”

            “Mad as hell. Where are the others?”

            “The Seneecians are with Mellori and Dox. The D’har’s demanded they recharge the weapons.”

            “What about Fullgrath and the rest of our crew?”

            “The D’har has them in another apartment. They’re being guarded by Massapa.”

            Kelen stared at him. “Massapa?” she asked in disbelief.

            Sandow exhaled loudly. “I can tell the Seneecians who accompanied Kyber are frightened, but they believe they have no other choice now that Kyber’s no longer here. You have to remember, they feel they must follow the D’har’s commands because they’ve seen what’ll happen to them if they disobey. Personally, I think they’re afraid of him. Remember what your teachers taught you back at the academy? About how brutal and unforgiving the Seneecian military is? Plus, I think, now I can’t be sure, but I think the D’har has told them a Seneecian rescue ship is on its way. It’s possible Massapa and the others are also keeping that in the back of their minds.”

            Kelen knew what he meant. If Kyber’s fellow crew members crossed swords with the D’har, their lives would be worthless when they returned to their home planet.

“What will they do if Kyber comes back?”

            “He doesn’t dare. If he does, the D’har swears he will kill you, and Kyber loves you too much to put you at risk.”

            She took a few more sips of water, emptying the bowl. “What do you think’s going to happen to us? Do you think the D’har will eventually kill us?”

            “I don’t know. I think the D’har is weighing his options. I know he’s watching us. He’s watching us, and he’s also watching the men who’d followed Kyber, to see if they’ll try to oppose him.”

            “So you think he’ll keep us on…for what reason?”

            “There’s still this planet’s creatures we have to contend with, but you can bet he won’t let any of us yield a weapon. Eventually, if the food gets scarce, and it becomes a matter of their survival or ours…” He shrugged, leaving his comment unfinished, but the implication was clear.

            Kelen nodded. “Kyber will return. I know it. I can feel it in my bones.”

            “He may try to come back for you,” Sandow admitted. “I know nothing about Seneecian romance, or the protocols surrounding their life partnerships, but it’s possible he may try to retrieve you, if not attempt to take over the D’har’s command.”

           
Think positive, Kel. Positive thoughts equal positive vibes, right?

           
“All right. Let’s say Kyber comes back, and I think he will. What then? If we don’t have any way to fight him, how are we going to be able to help him overthrow that overgrown monkey man?”

            Her remark got the physician to smile, which she’d hoped it would.

            “Hey, positive thoughts equal positive vibes. Isn’t that what Captain Arvey always used to say?”

            “I think that if Kyber came back, and I agree with you that at some point he will, and if he is able to challenge the D’har and win, they’d willingly follow Kyber without question.”

            “All of them? Even the two who arrived here with the D’har?”

            Sandow hesitated slightly. “Honestly? I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to them, so I haven’t had the chance to read them.”

            “What about Gaveer and Tojun? What if you spoke to them? They might be able to tell us something about how the other Seneecians feel about being under the D’har’s rule.”

            “Maybe, but the D’har is deliberately keeping us separated. I guess it’s so we don’t talk to one another and possibly try to come up with a plan to overthrow him.”

            Drawing her knees up under her chin, Kelen wrapped her arms around her legs. “What do you think’s going to happen next, after Dox gets those weapons recharged?”

            “I can’t begin to guess. But there’s something you need to know.”

            “What’s that?”

            “We still have those tube-like weapons Dox made for us. I had to tend to Fullgrath’s wounds that he received when they were up top, and he told me he gave one to Gaveer.”

            Kelen stared at him wide-eyed. “Gaveer has one? Do you think he’s turned it over to the D’har?”

            “No.”

            “How can you be so sure?”

            “If he had, it’s pretty certain the D’har would have demanded to know where he got it. And if their commander is half as smart as I think he is, he wouldn’t accept the notion that Gaveer’s was the only one.” Sandow gave her a guarded look. “Mellori told me he and the others still have theirs, too.”

            “Which means we’re armed,” Kelen whispered. A hundred scenarios were running through her mind. “They think that because we tossed our weapons up top, we’re unarmed.”

            “That’s what I also think,” the doctor admitted.

            “We have to find a way to reorganize. Doc, we have to get Kyber back and oppose this D’har.”

            “No.” The man reached out and placed a hand on her knee. “No. We need to wait.”

            “For what? For the D’har to decide to kill us?”

            “No. We wait for Kyber to return, and then we wait for him to give us the signal.”

            She ran the back of a hand across her eyes to wipe away the wetness collected in her eyelashes. “How long do you think it’ll take?”

            “It won’t be soon.”

            Kelen felt her anger flare. “What are you talking about?”

            “Jules told me Kyber was shot during their initial confrontation in the temple. His hip hasn’t been given the chance to heal, and now he’s nursing a ray blast to the shoulder. He has no medication and no weapon other than his own teeth and claws. On top of that, he’s having to face whatever’s out there that’s tried to kill us. He’ll come for you, Kelen. I’m sure of it. That is, if he manages to survive long enough.”

Chapter 17

Click

            Kyber cursed himself as he climbed the steep grade toward the gardens. He had no idea how long he’d been climbing. Time had lost itself in the haze of worry and pain and anger which enveloped him now.

            There was no light. Nothing made a sound other than the shuffle of his sandaled feet on the rock path. He was moving slower than his last trip. Partly because he was beyond the point of exhaustion. Mostly because the further he went, the distance between him and Kelen grew longer.