Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos Read online

  “Aside from changing his body chemistry, or changing the anaesthetic itself, he can’t. If he can do that, why didn’t he do it before?”

  “Maybe because now he thinks we’re going to kill him.”

  “We are.”

  Nikira nodded. “So now he’s stopping us.”

  “If he can change the nature of fluids, we’re not going to be able to do much to him.”

  “Unless we stun him.”

  Jonar turned from the window. “I’ll test the anaesthetic to see if it’s been changed.”

  The medtech removed the drip and took it away to his lab, returning half an hour later, looking confused.

  “He hasn’t changed it. I don’t get it, unless he did it after it entered his system.”

  “We’ll have to stun him,” Nikira said. “Then we won’t need anaesthetic, we’ll just test the poison.”

  Jonar nodded and selected a syringe from his medical case, admiring the golden hue of its contents. “Trimethanol vardus.”

  “What’s the point of this?” Enyo enquired.

  “To see how much it takes to kill him, compared to a normal human.”

  “Why?”

  Jonar shrugged. “Idle curiosity I suppose. He’s got to be killed, so why not find out a few things while we’re at it?”

  Nikira turned to stare through the window. “I really thought they’d want to study him more. We know so little about him and his powers. It’s a waste.”

  “How are we supposed to find out about his powers without him getting loose?”

  “There are some things that wouldn’t pose a threat. Like the girl said he can summon cups of god food from the air. I’d like to have seen that.”

  “How would we persuade him to do that?” Jonar enquired.

  “Ask him.” She swung around. “I think he’d co-operate if we offer him something in return, then we could test this god food and see what it is.”

  “Your call, Commander.”

  Nikira nodded and entered the shredder room, stopping close to the captive’s head. “Dra’voren, show me how you summon your god food.”

  He swallowed and licked his lips, his voice husky. “Why should I?”

  “I’ll give you medicine for your pain.”

  “And when I have no more to show you, you will kill me.”

  “No, why should I? You can’t escape, so we have no reason to kill you.”

  “You think I am a dra’voren, is that not reason enough?”

  She stepped closer, fighting a strong urge to touch him. “Not as long as you don’t harm anyone.”

  “Will you keep me prisoner for a thousand years?”

  Nikira stared down at his youthful countenance, amazed that he would live so long, and wondered how old he really was.

  “Am I to spend all that time tied to this table?” he asked.

  Put like that, the offer did not sound so appealing, she had to admit. “All I’m prepared to offer is an end to your pain. Take it or leave it.”

  He sighed. “All right.”

  Nikira’s heart pounded with excitement, and his easy agreement surprised her. “Good. Show me the god food.”

  Bane spread his right hand, and a gleaming gold cup appeared, hovering above his palm. She peered into it, elation making her breath catch. A glowing, pearly fluid seethed within it, and she gasped, taking hold of the cup. Instantly it became empty.

  “It’s gone!”

  “You touched it?”

  “Yes.”

  “You may not touch it.”

  She released the cup, and the liquid reappeared. “I want to examine it.”

  “Then you will have to do it without touching it.”

  “Keep it there.”

  In the containment room, Enyo and Jonar stared at the cup with bemused expressions. As Nikira emerged, she said, “We have to analyse the contents of that cup without touching it. Can we do that?”

  “Maybe.” Enyo went to his console and tapped several keys. The image on the bioscanner was replaced by a solid green field with many glowing lines on it. “I’ve switched from organic to inorganic. That’s the table and floor.” He tapped the screen, pointing to a circle of brilliant blue. “That’s the cup. Pure gold.”

  “But what’s in it?”

  “It’s not showing up as anything at the moment.” He typed on the keyboard again, and the colours on the screen changed. After several minutes of scanning in different modes, a solid round area of bright yellow appeared. Enyo’s eyes widened.

  “What is it?” Nikira asked.

  “It can’t be right.” He entered another command, and tiny words appeared next to the yellow circle. “Bloody hell.”

  “What?”

  “It’s pure triphasel virene.”

  Nikira stared at the words. “How can a dra’voren create a derivative of the white power?”

  “He can’t be creating it. It’s what he eats, isn’t it?”

  “Yes. Then where does it come from? I thought you said it was rare.”

  “No, I said it was exceedingly rare, as in we’ve only ever found a tiny amount of it in the cloud gardens. After pumping clouds through filters for two years, we extracted one milligram. There’s got to be over a three hundred millilitres in that cup.”

  Nikira straightened, shaking her head. “Why would a dra’voren eat something that comes from the white power?”

  “I have no idea.”

  Nikira marched back into the shredder room, stopping closer than ever to the dra’voren. “Where do you get that from?”

  “I do not know.”

  “How can you not know?”

  “Easily. I wish for food, and the cup appears.”

  She paced around. “What happens if you wish for water?”

  “The cup appears.”

  “And if you wish for... riches?”

  He smiled. “That I do not have to wish for.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I can turn things to gold.”

  “Anything?”

  “Yes.” He flicked his fingers, and the cup vanished. “Enough now, I am tired. Give me the pain potion, or I will show you nothing more.”

  Nikira opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it and exited the chamber. Senior SciTech Drontar, leader of the group of four scientists that had come aboard at the base at Sarlan to study the dra’voren, waited for her, looking annoyed.

  “Why hasn’t the poison been administered yet?”

  “I’m running a few experiments of my own, before he dies.”

  “I didn’t authorise that.”

  “You don’t have to. It’s my ship, sir.”

  He swelled with indignation. “I outrank you, Commander.”

  “In port, yes, but out here, I’m in charge.”

  Drontar glared at her. “All right, what did you find out?”

  Nikira told him, and his frown deepened.

  “Impossible.”

  “The scanners don’t lie. See for yourself.”

  Drontar studied the recorded data, demanding to know how Nikira had persuaded the dra’voren to co-operate, and her answer did not please him. Grudgingly he allowed that the information was interesting, but not useful, since the precious fluid in the cup could not be touched. Drontar left to inform his comrades, and Nikira ordered Jonar to administer a painkiller to the dra’voren, then retired to her quarters to get some sleep.

  ***

  When Nikira woke, refreshed after an undisturbed sleep-cycle, she rose and went into the bathroom to splash her face before donning a fresh uniform. Sitting at her desk, she activated the communications screen, and Enyo’s face filled it. “Any change, Enyo?”

  “No, Commander, he still appears to be asleep.”

  “He’s been asleep for close to twelve hours.”

  Enyo shrugged. “He’s weak.”

  “Is he deteriorating again?”

  “Not yet.”

  Nikira deactivated the screen and stared into space. Th
e dra’voren undoubtedly had much more to show her, but if he continued to sleep he might relapse into a coma before he could. That would be a great loss to science, but she also found herself longing to see him again. She wondered if he was influencing her as he had done his slaves, but discarded the notion. If he had, surely she would be experiencing a strong urge to worship him as they did, or, at the very least, release him? Dismissing her doubts, she rose and headed for the containment room. Retribution had almost arrived at the area where the other ship waited, its trap set for any dra’voren that came in response to her passengers’ earlier prayers.

  Enyo turned from his console as she entered. “He’s still asleep.”

  “Then it’s time to wake him up. I want to see what else he can do before he falls back into a coma.”

  The door to the shredder room slid open as she approached it, and the two guards followed her inside. Nikira walked around the table, gazing down at the man who lay upon it. His face was peaceful and strangely innocent in repose, his striking colouring enhanced by the bright lights.

  “Dra’voren.”

  “My name is Bane.”

  “So, you’re not asleep.”

  “Not since you walked in.”

  “Good.” She stopped beside his head. “Show me more of your powers.”

  “You would find it frightening, and I have no wish to earn another headache.”

  “I’m not a coward.”

  “Probably not, but if I took control of one of your soldiers and made him dance, you would not find that too amusing either, would you?”

  “No.” She frowned.

  “So let me sleep, I am tired.”

  Nikira hesitated, becoming aware that a lot of time had passed, and that he must indeed be exhausted. She tried to recall what he had shown her, but her mind was blank. Nevertheless, she could not shake the impression that she had spent many hours with him, questioning him, and was quite weary herself. She glanced at the soldiers, one of whom stifled a yawn, then headed for the door. Enyo turned to her with a puzzled frown as she stepped out of the shredder room.

  “Changed your mind?”

  “No. He’s tired.”

  “I thought he was going to show you some more of his tricks?”

  “He did.”

  Enyo eyed her. “No he didn’t. You were in there for only a couple of minutes, then he said he was tired, and you left.”

  “No, he showed me a lot of things, and answered a lot of questions.”

  “Are you feeling all right, Commander?”

  “Of course, why do you ask?”

  “Because you’re acting strange. None of what you just said happened.”

  “Of course it did. I spent hours in there, talking to him.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  Nikira rubbed her brow, frowning. “Then why do I feel so tired?”

  “He took control of you.”

  “What?”

  “He must have made you think you’d questioned him, and that you were tired.”

  Nikira gripped a nearby console as her legs turned to rubber. “I didn’t feel a thing.”

  “We must kill him now, Commander, before he takes control of all of us and makes us free him.”

  “If he could do that, he would have by now.”

  Enyo glanced through the window. “He could have made you believe his lies, too. Perhaps he can only take control of people who are close to him.”

  “I was when I questioned him.”

  “Then he knew we’d get suspicious if you believed him. Considering that he uses his brain to the extent he does, he’s definitely not stupid. I reckon he knew that if you’d ordered him released, we’d have known something was wrong and stunned all of you.”

  “So he tried the subtle approach, and it almost worked.”

  “But it would only have bought him some time.”

  Nikira sank down on a chair. “That’s why he agreed to show me his powers, and then pretended to sleep for so long. He’s waiting for something... or someone.”

  “Time to let Senior SciTech Drontar test his poison.”

  “I suppose so.” Nikira fought a strong urge to order the dra’voren kept alive. Just a little longer, something within her cried; a few more days to study him and learn his secrets. She swallowed hard. “Stun him.”

  Enyo ran his hand over his console, tapping buttons, and a dull thud shook the room. Nikira stood up and stared through the window, her heart heavy. The dra’voren’s head had lolled to the side, and a drop of blood oozed from his nose. She turned to Enyo.

  “Tell Jonar to administer the poison.”

  The senior confinement technician activated a communications screen while Nikira sank back down on the chair, struggling to shrug off the wave of desolation that washed over her at the prospect of the dra’voren’s demise. At least it would be a peaceful death, she mused, then gave herself a mental shake, angered by the strong compassion she felt for him, knowing it to be the result of his evil influence. He was filling her mind with thoughts of pity and mercy when he deserved neither. He was a world destroyer, she reminded herself, a foul creature who used the darkness to kill and torture, who slew creators, the world builders without whom there would be no life. He deserved to suffer the agony he had inflicted upon others and know his crime before he died. That he would not did not spark the rage in her that it should have, and again she blamed his influence for stripping her of her rightful hatred of him and all his kind.

  Jonar arrived with his little bag of tricks and took out the syringe of amber poison. Nikira averted her eyes as he entered the shredder room, wanting to leave before he administered the fatal injection. It was barbaric, she told herself, that was why it sickened her so. The dra’voren was a living person, a human being, even if he was a depraved and evil creature who deserved death. Only the fact that he was a dra’voren made her force herself to condone what was to happen to him.

  Chapter Two

  Intervention

  Crouched in the Channel, Tryne watched the three men enter the metal room, one approaching the tar’merin with a vial of poison. Cloaking himself, he stepped out and crept up behind the man, who stopped beside the Demon Lord, the vial of poison held loosely at his side. Seizing the opportunity, Tryne leant forward and snatched the vial from the man’s hand, turned and stepped back into the Channel as bedlam erupted behind him.

  Nikira jumped up as Jonar bellowed in alarm and sprinted for the door, the two soldiers close behind him.

  “Stunner! Now!” Jonar shouted as he leapt through the doorway.

  Enyo tapped the control panel as the shredder room door slid shut, and the floor shook with another dull thud. Jonar ran to the observation window and peered through it, frowning. Nikira joined him, but apart from the dra’voren, the shredder chamber was empty.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s something in there!”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know. Something invisible!”

  Nikira glanced around the shredder room again. “If there was, it would have become visible when the stunner hit it.”

  “Well clearly it didn’t. Unless it was the dra’voren.”

  “He’s unconscious.”

  “We don’t know what he can do. He might -”

  “What happened?” she interrupted.

  “Something took the syringe right out of my hand.”

  Nikira turned to Enyo. “Activate the shredder. If there’s something in there that can remain invisible even when it’s stunned, the shredder will destroy it.”

  Enyo looked at the scanner screen. “But there’s nothing on the scanner, Commander, and the lodestones are active.”

  “Perhaps it’s something that can cloak the dark power too,” Jonar muttered.

  “And that the lodestones can’t drain? If that’s the case, we’re in big trouble.”

  “A dra’voren can only be drained once his form has been stripped away,” Nikira pointed out.

 
Enyo signalled to his contechs, who turned to their consoles. The oscillating light guns around the shredder room spun, their tips glowing as they warmed up, then blue fire strafed the air, intensifying until Nikira was forced to look away. The flickering brilliance continued for several minutes, and when it stopped, Nikira studied the shredder room again. The dra’voren remained unharmed, but the grey trousers he wore were tattered and smouldering.

  She turned to Jonar. “There’s nothing there.”

  “There was. It must have left after it took the syringe.”

  “If it was a dra’voren, why didn’t the scanners detect it, and why didn’t the stunner work on it?”

  Jonar threw up his hands. “I don’t know! I’m a medtech, not a contech!”

  Nikira turned to Enyo, who shrugged. “It must have left the room before the stunner was activated, but I don’t know why the scanners didn’t pick it up. A dra’voren should have set off all the alarms, like that one did.”

  “You’d better check your equipment then.” Nikira leant on the sill of the observation window. “If we’ve got another dra’voren loose in the ship, our only hope of destroying it is to lure it in there and shred it. But I find that hard to believe, because if there was, it would have started killing people by now.”

  “Well I’m not going in there again,” Jonar averred.

  “You will if I order you to. If it wanted to kill you, it would have done it already.”

  “That’s another good point, Commander,” Enyo said. “A dra’voren would have killed him, not just taken the syringe.”

  “Unless it doesn’t want us to know what it is.”

  “Or it’s not a dra’voren.”

  Nikira raised her brows. “What else could it be?”

  “Something that doesn’t use dark power, and can become invisible and move through walls.”

  “You’d better start searching the database. I’m going to ask Drontar if he has any suggestions.”

  Nikira headed for the lab, her head aching from the tension.

  ***

  As soon as he calculated that it was safe to do so, a few minutes after the blue light had died away, Tryne stepped from the Channel again. He studied the closed door, then the sharp blade poised over the tar’merin’s heart. Prying the dagger from its cradle in the strange mechanism, he went over to the door. It took him several minutes to jam the blade into the narrow crack between the door and its frame, then he stood back to admire his handiwork.