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"Kiriss."
"Clan-Lord?"
"You have the bridge. I will be in my quarters if I am needed."
"Yes, Clan-Lord."
As soon as he was clear of the bridge Karak lengthened his stride. By the time
he was near Soamosa's prison he was running. He stopped just before the
turning to the brig to calm his breathing. Then he approached the guards
outside her door at a measured walk.
"I am to take the scumvermin girl to the Clan-Lord," he said coldly. "She will
not be coming back, so you are to report to your unit commander for
reassignment."
"No one has informed us of this, Petite-Heir." The woman guard stared at him,
obliquely contemptuous.
He gritted his teeth at the title; officially he should be Magna-Heir, as his
fathers only living son, although Belazir had never found the "time" for the
ceremony.
Enough. I renounce him.
"I
am informing you. Just as I shall inform your unit commander that you are
desperately in need of a punishment drill." He paused long enough to watch her
struggle through her resentment.
"Does the Petite-Heir require an escort?" the other guard asked.
Karak narrowed his eyes as he studied the man, not certain whether the trooper
was sincere or joking.
"Fearsome as she is," he drawled sarcastically, "I doubt the prisoner will try
to overwhelm me. We have her beloved Benisur in our clutches, you must
remember, to insure her good behavior." He looked at the door and waved his
hand in one of his fathers casual, dismissive gestures. "Go," he said, bored
with them.
They saluted and moved crisply off, contempt and resentment leaving an almost
visible wake behind them.
Karak watched them until they disappeared around the corner, and waited until
he could no longer hear their footsteps. Then he keyed open the lock on
Soamosa's door and entered her cell.
She rose with a startled gasp, then frowned when she saw it was him.
"You frightened me," she said a bit crossly. Then she rushed to him and threw
her arms around his massive chest. "But I am glad to see you." She smiled up
at him, waiting for his kiss.
He looked down at her, tenderly cradling her blond head in his big hand, and
sighed for sheer delight in her sweet innocence; leaning down to award the
kiss she expected. Then he held her against him, gently stroking her bright,
soft hair.
"I have come to take you away," he said.
With a sharp intake of breath Soamosa pulled away from him, looking up into
his face excitedly.
"We are going to rescue the Benisur Amos?" Her blue eyes shone with a fierce
joy.
Karak closed his eyes and swallowed hard.
"That is impossible," he said in a toneless voice. "My father has ordered him
to be taken to the technicians who will prepare him for his journey."
He watched her brow darken and her eyes begin to sparkle with outrage.
Grasping her upper arms, he gave her a little shake.
"He will be safe, little one. It is your people that are in danger, and they
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are in danger from him. We must get away to warn them."
He watched, and saw her face harden with resolve. His back relaxed in relief;
this arguing was more trying than just giving orders.
"You are right," she said reluctantly. "It is what the Benisur himself would
say to me." Then another idea took hold and she started as though struck. "The
Captain! If we cannot bring the Benisur Amos away with us, then we must save
Captain Sung."
"The Captain is . . ." he trailed off. He felt a queasy sensation in his
stomach, something unfamiliar, that grew worse when he thought of what had
been done to the man.
"You told me that he was still alive!" Soamosa protested. Her face showed her
puzzlement and her eyes regarded him uncertainly. As though she had just
realized that this could easily be one of the famous cruel jokes the Kolnari
loved to play.
"He alive. But not in any way that he would wish to be. It would be a mercy
to leave him to be is killed, Soamosa. No one should have to live as he is
now"
She backed away from him, frightened and furious.
"What have you done to him?"
" have done nothing to him. This I swear by my love for you. My father put him
in with the Benisur to
I
be sure that his plan would work. In just a few hours, the Captain took
infection through simple contact with the Benisur, and now he is mindless. He
is incontinent, Soamosa, he drools and weeps like a baby. And he is terrified
of the Kolnar. If I go near him he will scream and howl and run away."
Karak threw up his hands in exasperation at the mulish look on her face. "How
are we to escape while we are hauling around a man who is screaming and trying
to escape?"
She bit her lower lip and looked down, her brow furrowed in thought. Then she [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]