The Prisoner of Eldaron: Crimson Worlds Successors II (56 page)

Sarah stood next to Erik, looking down at his broken body, wounded, covered in crusted blood. Her eyes passed over his withered frame, his almost skeletal arms, the ribs so visible on his chest. She imagined how he had suffered. The torture, the beatings. She saw images in her mind, thought of how many days and nights she’d gone about her business while he lay against the wall in this cold cell, almost starving to death. She imagined the foul rations his captors had given him, when they’d fed him at all, and she felt a wave of anger, of hatred at those who had done this to him.

She could hear intermittent gunfire in the background, as Darius’ Eagles hunted down the last of the Eldari soldiers. The final battle had been quick and decisive, the enemy forces caught between Darius’ Teams and the relieving force sent to find them. The Eldari broke and tried to run…but there was nowhere to go. Many had tried to surrender, but the Eagles ignored their pleas and gunned them down where they stood. They were enraged that the Eldari had tried to trap them, that they had suffered the losses they had. But word had also begun to spread that Erik Cain was indeed alive, that he had been held here in appalling conditions for more than fifteen years. The Eagles respected Erik, as their general’s father, and as a legendary and honorable warrior…and their rage had sealed the fate of the Eldari soldiers in the catacombs.

Since they had left the Nest, Sarah had imagined herself trying to restrain Darius, keeping him from unleashing hell on the Eldari people, but now her energy to fight for mercy had left her. She looked down at Erik, lying on the cold ground of the cell, his sufferings so clear to see, and she felt the same burning rage. She knew it hadn’t been the fault of the commoner. Indeed, she doubted one in a hundred thousand Eldari had even known Erik Cain was there. But she didn’t care…and that kind of uncontrollable fury scared her. She had seen it before, in Erik, after Gavin Stark had murdered Elias Holm. She remembered the look in his eyes, and she knew she would never forget it, no matter how hard she tried.

“Sar…ah…”

The voice was weak, barely audible, but it hit her like a tidal wave. Erik had been unconscious since she’d gotten there, but now he was looking up at her.

“A dream…” he said sadly.

“No, my love…not a dream. I am here. Darius and Elias are here. We have come to take you home.” She leaned down and put her hand on his face.

“Home?”

He tried to turn his head toward her, but she could see he was too weak. She leaned over him, bringing her face closer. “Yes, home. You have suffered for long, so long. But now we are here.”

He looked up at her, and she could see the expression on his face, disbelief giving way slowly to comprehension. “Sarah,” he said again, and she could see realization in his eyes.

“Yes, Erik. You are safe now. We will take you home.”

She felt the tears inside, struggling to escape her eyes, but she held them back. He needed strength from her now more than anything.
You are a Marine
, she reminded herself.
A veteran of fifty years of war. Hold it together
.

“Home,” he said softly. Then he looked at her with watery eyes. “Love you,” he rasped. Then he slipped back into unconsciousness.

“I love you too,” she said, rubbing her hand on his face.

She felt the wave inside her, knew she couldn’t hold it back any longer. She got up and walked across the room, turning the corner and leaning against the wall. She took a deep breath, and then she dropped her guard…and let the tears come.

*  *  *  *  *

“Where is the Tyrant?” Darius Cain’s voice was terrifying, a vocal manifestation of the violence he felt. He held the Eldari officer in armored hands and shook the man’s body. It took every bit of self-control he could muster not to tear the man’s body in half.

“I don’t know, sir,” the panicked soldier cried. “I don’t know…I swear!”

“Ahhhh!” Darius screamed in frustration, throwing the man hard into the wall. “Nobody knows? Nobody?” He was shouting to the Eldari prisoners lined up in front of him. “He just vanished into the wind?”

Elias was standing a few meters from his brother. The two of them had been questioning the prisoners for over an hour…and the answer was always the same. No one seemed to know what had become of Eldaron’s ruler in the last confused moments when the Citadel fell.

“Well, let me explain something to you…all of you. My father was held here for many years. He was mistreated all that time, tortured and tormented. And my soldiers were forced to fight a brutal battle here, and many hundreds of them died.” His voice was rising in volume and intensity, and the captive Eldari cowered before him.

“You know who I am. You have all heard my reputation. My heart craves vengeance, I lust to judge you all, inflict horrors upon your world that you cannot imagine. I warn you not to test the thread that holds me back from yielding to my worst desires. For with a word I will unleash a nuclear hell on this world, one not even the cockroaches will survive. Your homes will be vaporized, your families seared to crisps in the atomic fires.” He paused and panned his eyes over the row of prisoners. “And I tell you now, if I must destroy this world, cleanse it of all life to destroy the Tyrant, then that is what I will do.”

“I will help you find him.”

The voice came from behind Darius, and he spun around, looking back toward the room’s entrance. Two of his Eagles stood there holding a man between them. “General Cain,” one of the guards said, “this is General Davidoff, the commander of the forces outside Eldaron City.”

“General Davidoff,” Darius said, “I will put to you the question I have been asking these fools. Where is the Tyrant?”

“I do not know where he is, General Cain. But I believe I can help you find him.”

“And how can you do that?” There was interest in Darius’ voice, but menace as well.

“I know the main data banks were wiped clean, but I still have my personal files…and they include the complete layout of the Citadel. Including every bolt hole, every secret tunnel.”

“And you will help my people find the Tyrant? Or is this another trick?”

“No, General Cain. The Tyrant has been the worst disaster in my world’s history. He has led us to ruin. I will help you find him so he may account for his actions. So that he may face the punishment for what he has done—to your father, to the Black Eagles…and to Eldaron.”

He paused a few seconds, holding Darius’ withering gaze. “I will do it to save my people, for I know what will happen here if he is not found.”

“Very well, General Davidoff.” Darius turned toward another armored figure. She was almost thirty centimeters shorter than him, and her retracted helmet revealed a woman with close cropped blonde hair. She was very attractive, but it was the toughness in her expression that stood out. She wore a scowl on her face, and it was clear to anyone who gazed at her that the Eldari could expect no more mercy from her than from Darius Cain…and very likely less.

“You will go with Colonel Kuragina here, and you will cooperate in any way she requests.” Darius’ eyes had turned back toward Davidoff, but now he flashed another glance at Kuragina. “She has my permission to conduct the search any way she sees fit…including blowing your brains all over the wall if she thinks you are holding back in any way.”

“Go, Colonel. Take General Davidoff here, and find the Tyrant.” His voice became sharp, frigid. “And bring him to me…alive.”

*  *  *  *  *

“I can’t believe it. I’ve seen it…I lived through much of it. But I still can’t quite convince myself it’s true. After all these years…he is alive.” Elias Cain sat at the table. It was some kind of wood he’d never seen, and the light hitting it revealed a rich depth of color. He could see it was old, aged in the way fine things often did, acquiring character without yielding beauty.
Probably a priceless antique
, he thought, as he looked down at the surface, now covered in scratches and deep gouges. It had been dragged here from wherever it had been found, without regard to its value or history. He wanted to frown, to look down on the Eagles as barbarians who only knew how to destroy. But he’d realized he had been wrong about his brother’s soldiers. And he’d seen the carnage of the battlefield…the price the Black Eagles had paid to rescue his own father.

When you’ve seen hundreds of your comrades fall…when the stench of rotting blood is still thick in your nostrils, it’s hard to give a shit about a fucking table. Or paintings, or statues
.

“I know. When I left to come here, I tried to keep my expectations in check. But now I can see I failed at that. If he hadn’t been here, or if we’d gotten to him too late, I don’t know what I would have done. It would have been like losing him all over again.” Darius sat across the table from his brother. He was still clad in his armor, though his helmet was fully retracted. He’d sent everyone away, even Alcabedo. The area was secured, and he didn’t need his nursemaid. Besides, he wanted to talk alone with his brother. “He should be on
Eagle One
by now.” The shuttle had left almost twenty minutes earlier. “Mother is with him…so you know he will get the best care.”

Elias nodded and smiled. Then his expression became serious again, and he looked at his brother with a pained stare. “Darius, I don’t know how to thank you…for rescuing him. You were the only one who could have done it.” Elias paused. “And I want to apologize as well. To you…and to your Black Eagles. I made very prejudicial judgments, thought of your soldiers in the basest terms, as armed thugs who fought only for money. But I saw them here, fighting for you, dying in their hundreds with no paymaster. Our father lives only because of their sacrifices. I was wrong.” His voice was strained, halting.

Darius looked across the table, silent for a few seconds. He knew how difficult those words had been to utter, and a smile crept onto his lips. Then he said, “And my thanks to you, brother. For your words now…and for your timely help. I have read the operations reports, and I say now, had you not come to the Nest, and then rallied the Marines to come to our aid, we would have failed here. My Eagles would have been destroyed, and Father would still be a captive…or killed by the Tyrant once he was no longer useful.”

He stared across at his brother, with whom he had so long been at odds, and he felt something different, a feeling almost forgotten, old, but still vaguely familiar. The bond with a sibling, with a twin. “I have wronged you too, brother,” he said. “I saw you as a martinet, as a willing tool of the forces of corruption and destroyers of freedom. Yet, here you are, having followed your own will, pursued what you knew was right, without regard to the orders from your unjust masters. You are indeed my blood, Elias, and I would take back much of what has transpired between us. I would have my brother back.”

“I would like that too,” Elias said slowly, his voice heavy with emotion.

“Then so it shall be.” Darius looked down at his armored hand. I would shake with you, brother, but perhaps that is best left until later. I do not think crushing your hand is the way to celebrate our reconciliation.”

Elias smiled. It was the first time in a long time he’d felt like laughing, a bit of timely humor amid the suffering and detritus of war.

“General Cain…” The voice came from outside the room. Then the door opened and Cyn Kuragina walked in. “I am sorry to interrupt you, sir, but we found the Tyrant. He was hiding in a secret chamber on one of the lower levels.”

Darius stood up abruptly. “It appears, brother, that we have finally found the rat, hiding in his hole.” His gaze turned toward Kuragina. “Well done, Cyn. As usual.” He smiled, but it slowly slipped from his face, morphing into a cold stare. “Let us go see the Tyrant, shall we?”

*  *  *  *  *

The Tyrant stood against the wall. He was slouching, his posture communicating his fear for all to see. He had been hiding in one of his bolt holes, a shielded chamber almost impossible to detect. He’d only been found because of General Davidoff’s knowledge of the Citadel.

Darius Cain stormed into the room. “So, this is the Tyrant of Eldaron…this whimpering creature, broken and so choked by fear he can’t even stand straight to face his judgment?” Elias Cain and Cyn Kuragina had come in behind Darius, and they stood at either side of the Black Eagles’ commander.

Darius stared at the Tyrant with an intensity so withering it drove the prisoner down, closer toward the ground. There was blood on the Tyrant’s face, now partially dried. It was clear Kuragina’s people had been less than gentle, but he had no serious injuries.

“So, Tyrant…you put a great deal of effort into luring me to Eldaron. Now I am here. Is this how you had imagined our meeting?”

Darius felt the rage inside. It was taking all his control to stay his hand, to prevent himself from grabbing the miserable fool and crushing him in armored hands.

The Tyrant looked up, but he could only withstand a few seconds of that terrible gaze before he looked away again. He tried to say something, but nothing escaped his lips save a pathetic whimper.

“What a useless piece of garbage I find behind this great plan…a gutless coward, without the character even to meet his adversary eye to eye.” Darius turned and looked around the room. “Leave us,” he said. “All of you. I must learn what this worm knows about the forces that so damaged us here.” His voice was cold and ominous, like death itself. “And then I must deal him the justice he so richly deserves.”

The Black Eagles in the room turned and walked to the door, instantly obeying their general’s command. Darius turned and looked at Kuragina. She just returned the gaze and nodded, leaving only Elias still standing there.

“I would ask you, too, to go brother. You have some rights to this justice, that is without question, but I beg you to leave it to me…for I must also extract a price for my fallen Eagles. And it is imperative that we learn all this foul creature can tell us about the greater enemy we face.”

Darius looked into his brother’s eyes. “It is a great joy to me that we are reconciled, brother, but this I would do alone. I fear you are not yet ready for what will happen in this room. You would stand by me, I have no doubt. But being a part of this will wound you, scar your soul in a way that can never heal. As mine is already scarred.”