The True Ruler, page 15
part #5 of Worlds Apart Series
When the fog lifted from his brain, he realized he was chained to the wall. His wrists and ankles were bound by metal braces and attached by short chains allowing prisoners of varying heights to be secured.
The muscles in the back of his neck cried out in pain as he shifted his head to examine his surroundings. The cell was dark so he could not determine how large it was. There was a distinct smell of decay and human waste.
He heard metal scraping against the stone floor as the door to his prison opened. A flash of light illuminated his world as a torch held by someone entered. When his eyes adjusted, Darden recognized Barash Kleyman.
“I should have figured you were behind this,” Darden growled. “You are not going to get away with kidnapping me.”
Barash laughed as if something he said was funny. “Try to summon help from your soul mate.”
Darden reached out to Cassie, but was unsuccessful making a connection. There was no static in his mind. The communal pathways were gone. Whatever they had fed Cassie was now impairing his ability to communicate telepathically.
“Where am I?” Darden asked.
If Darden stood any chance of getting out of this alive, he needed information. The more confident Barash was his fate was sealed, the more facts he would let slip.
“You are where crystal telepaths are brought to die,” Barash answered. “Very few know about the prison located underneath The Palace. Even fewer know there is another level below the temporary holding cells.”
He was in the middle of the Aster Province, but he might as well be on the moon. They had only found out about the subterranean prison when Starc and Chartail were arrested some time ago. His brother would find a way to search below The Palace, but would not have a clue he was so close. It was doubtful the entry to the lower level would be obvious.
“How did you manage to engineer this?” Darden inquired.
“Oh, you believe I am behind this?” Barash said in surprise. “Jeryl Jarlyn arranged for your abduction, not me. He wants you out of his granddaughter’s life. I suppose she will mourn for you, but eventually she will warm my bed. Cassandra is young; she will recover quickly.”
Darden fought against his restraints. He wanted to pry himself loose and tighten his hands around Barash’s neck. The thought of the bastard touching Cassie was more than he could bear. Barash would be the first suspect Starc and the others would go after to find him.
His jailer placed his torch in a holder and picked up a pail of water. He taunted Darden by scooping up ladles of the precious liquid and throwing it at his feet. Darden’s throat was parched.
“Would you like a drink of water?” Barash asked. “It is laced with crushed flentium. What is more important, not dying of thirst or hoping the telepathic channels will open again in your mind before you die? Either way, you are going to perish down here.”
“You can go fuck yourself,” Darden sneered.
“Why would I do that when I can slide my cock into the Prime Ruler’s gorgeous granddaughter?” Barash gibed. “I wonder if you will still be breathing when I drive into her and she gasps for air, crying out with pleasure. Here is my one gift to you. I will treat her right. She will come to love me while we rule side by side.”
He actually believed Barash was sincere, but it was irrelevant. Somehow, someway, he was going to find a way out of this prison. Darden had the most powerful beings in the Troyk universe searching for him. After eight years of denying himself, he had finally joined with Cassie. Fate was not so cruel that his story would end down here. Cassie, Starc, and the rest of his friends would not leave a stone unturned until they found him.
Barash left without saying another word. Darden was relieved he was not tortured with more imaginings of Barash and Cassie’s supposed future. Even if he died down here, Cassie would never find what she could have shared with him. He cursed his temper for getting himself in this position and not only endangering his future, but Cassie’s as well.
Darden was helpless without a crystal. There were thousands of them directly above him. Jeryl Jarlyn hoarded them for his own use. He had traveled enough with Shirl to know crystals called to her. Darden closed his eyes and reached out for the power directly over his head. He could feel the power vibrate, but he had no clue how to harness the energy at this distance. If he was going to survive, he would have to find a way.
Chapter 16
Putting a warrant out for her grandmother’s arrest did the trick. Within two hours of announcing Elyn’s treasonous behavior, her grandmother was brought to the Crystal Telepathic Headquarters.
People were generally interrogated in The Palace, but Cassie did not want to chance running into Jeryl Jarlyn. It also made sense to keep her father’s parents separated. There was no telling what would happen if the two were reunited.
When Cassie entered the conference room, Elyn was visibly upset. Being arrested in the Troyk universe was no small matter. At one time, anyone convicted of a crime either served a life sentence in the Troyk penal colony or were sent to the Nightshade universe to die. The vast majority of Troyk citizens were unaware a blood lusting, vicious vampire handed down the death sentence. Jeryl Jarlyn traded their blood for crystals. Both practices had ceased and no new solution had been agreed upon.
“Where can we find Darden Lours?” Tarsea asked. He had taken command of the search for Darden. Solfa had brought him into her organization, so his questioning the prisoner was not out of line and would not draw unnecessary scrutiny. They had enough visibility as it was.
“How would I know?” Cassie’s grandmother replied, seemingly innocent of any wrongdoing. “I was not involved in his abduction.”
“Then how do you know he is missing?” Tarsea asked immediately after hearing Elyn’s answer.
Tarsea had trapped her grandmother. Cassie moved forward in her chair. She could barely disguise her excitement. It would only be a matter of time before they liberated Darden.
“An unusual channel opened the evening we met,” her grandmother claimed. “There has been chatter all day in that pathway, but the communal channels have made no mention of Darden’s disappearance.”
“Shit,” Tarsea mumbled under his breath.
Elyn’s entry into the warrior channel made her an ally and beyond suspicion. Now, they not only had to find and rescue Darden, they had to exonerate her grandmother. Cassie was crushed, but tried not to show it.
“How did you meet Barash Kleyman?” Cassie asked. “Where does he live? Are there places he likes to hang out? Is there a specific place he would go to hide?”
Cassie’s anxiety caused her to rapid-fire question after question at her grandmother. Elyn didn’t seem overwhelmed by the barrage and merely waited for her to finish before attempting to answer.
“Since Barash has aligned himself with Jeryl Jarlyn,” Elyn said, “I imagine he will not leave The Palace unless he must.”
“Barash was last seen entering The Palace early this morning,” Koel informed the group. “No one witnessed him leave and we have had people searching every spot open to the public without success. He may have left The Palace and we missed him.”
The discussion stopped when Shirl and Starc entered the room. Her soul mate’s twin looked exhausted and defeated. What little optimism Cassie had in finding Darden quickly was destroyed when she looked at Starc’s face.
“What are you picking up, Candy?” Cassie asked. She was grasping at straws, but odds were if Candy had a premonition, she would have told the group.
“I’ve got nothing,” Candy admitted. “As my powers have grown, I’ve discovered I can reach out and get impressions about people. Normally it’s nothing I can use, but I at least feel something. With Darden, it’s almost as if he’s disappeared from the pathways I use.”
“Do you think he is off world?” Cassie asked.
“Doubtful, since he is a crystal telepath,” Tarsea responded. “No one would risk Darden getting ahold of a crystal and escaping. I would imagine he is either unconscious or his access to the pathways have been severed. Cassie mentioned she consumed a crystal inhibitor and Tarah was also unable to enter any links when The Prime Ruler held her.”
Not a single person in the room mentioned the possibility Darden was dead. Wouldn’t Cassie know if that was the case? She imagined she’d feel a crippling sense of loss if Darden had been killed.
“We should keep looking,” Koel suggested. “In the meantime, Cassie should be sent back to the Troyk penal world.”
“No!” Cassie cried. “I can help. My mind control capabilities continue to improve. I have abilities we can use.”
“Cassie,” Koel cajoled, “we will find my cousin; I promise. If I have to, I will ask the vampires from the Nightshade universe for help. We cannot afford Jeryl Jarlyn getting his hands on you and using Darden as a pawn to get you to do his bidding. We cannot verify the Prime Ruler has him, but it is too risky having you in this dimension.”
All eyes were now glued on Cassie. How could she argue with Koel when she knew he was right? The last thing she wanted was Jeryl Jarlyn harming Darden, forcing her to bend to his will. She was surprised he was not already blackmailing her through their familial channel.
“We draw a crowd everywhere we go,” Cassie said. The trip they made to the Crystal Telepathic Headquarters was as crazy as a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. She was surprised they didn’t start throwing beads as they made their way through the streets. “How are we going to get to the mountain portal without a crowd following us?”
“Look at your finger, Cassie,” Shirl said. “Dorothy had her ruby slippers, and you have an amethyst. That crystal is emitting so much power, I could transport an army with it.”
“You just may have to, Shirl,” Tarsea said.
Shirl touched her ring’s stone and a gateway opened. The crystal telepath entered first, in order to manipulate the harmonics that would open a portal to the Troyk penal colony. Everyone entered behind Shirl. Cassie wondered if she would ever return to the Troyk universe or be held in her soul mate’s arms again.
The Troyk Penal Colony World
They exited the portal just as the community gathered for their evening meal. Shirl opened another portal and brought the rest of their friends to the colony. No one was safe in the Troyk universe anymore.
Cassie spotted her father and immediately ran into his extended arms. She had a short-lived sense of home and safety. He was her anchor to the past, but Darden was her future.
She felt her father suck in a breath. Without turning, Cassie knew he was reacting to seeing his mother, perhaps for the first time in his life. It was high time Benko met the woman who gave birth to him.
“Daddy,” Cassie said, “Jeryl Jarlyn ripped you from your mother’s arms as soon as you were born. She never wanted to give you up.”
Benko Jarlyn released Cassie and she watched him tentatively walk toward his mother. She had never seen her father do anything with hesitation. Cassie never realized what his mother’s abandonment had done to her father’s psyche.
Elyn closed the distance between them and took her son into her trembling arms. Tears of joy fell from her grandmother’s eyes. Cassie wiped away the moisture from her own cheeks.
What had started as a typical evening meal turned into a celebration. The children squealed when Tolfer walked through the portal. Candy’s soul mate was a particular favorite among the colony’s young. When he and Candy had been stranded in the penal world, Tolfer had gone out of his way to bond with, and be there for, the children. He had a talent working with the young ones to help them manage their multiple telepathic channels and reduce the pain they experienced until mastering the techniques.
Chartail and Elyn hit it off immediately once her grandmother recovered from the difference in their ages. The older woman must have felt it was some kind of favorable reflection on her that her son had such a young soul mate. There did not seem to be a single soul Chartail could not charm. Even Alex, who loathed Chartail in the beginning, was in an intimate discussion with her stepmother about their pregnancies. She needed to put her jealousy aside and make Darden’s rescue her primary concern.
As the evening wound down, Tolfer took the children to the lake to build a bonfire and tell them stories about Troyk’s legendary women. The celebratory part of the evening was done and the adults had more pressing matters to discuss.
Cassie had been barely able to carry on a conversation during dinner. She moved the food around on her plate to make it appear she was eating. An occasional nod also masked her distraction. Her attention was not focused until Darden was mentioned.
“Are there sections of The Palace the general population does not know about where they could be holding Darden?” Tarsea asked Benko. Her father was in the best position to answer that question since he once resided there.
“There are cells directly below the Grand Hall,” Benko answered.
“I am painfully aware of those,” Starc said.
Although Starc had not been tortured while he was a prisoner in The Palace, Cassie figured Starc and Chartail had been anxious about their fates as The Prime Ruler talked to Shirl during their captivity. Fortunately, Jeryl Jarlyn released Starc, and Chartail was sent to the Troyk penal colony dimension for her crime.
“As a child, my father terrorized me to break me of any habit he found distasteful and mentioned a place no one ever returned from,” Benko added. “Unfortunately, he never showed me the location, so I am not sure such a place exists.”
“I wish I could help,” Kelog said. “Although I heard rumors of such a place, I was never asked to escort a prisoner there.”
“There has to be a place criminal or dissident crystal telepaths were sent,” Koel said. “They disappeared without protest or commotion as they were not transported through the streets. The prison has to be under The Palace or Crystal Telepathic Headquarters. My guess would be The Palace. There are more deliveries at that location. The guards used to transport prisoners would have taken advantage of all the activity bringing items in and out of The Palace.”
“I can read each guard’s mind until I find the one with the information,” Alex offered.
“You are staying here where it is safe until Benko has control of Aster Province,” Tarsea stated. “If you will not consider your own life, remember you are carrying our daughter.”
It first appeared Alex was going to challenge Tarsea. Cassie knew the exact moment her friend acquiesced, Alex’s shoulders slumped in defeat. All Tarsea had to do was mention their child and his soul mate folded. She did not expect her to do anything else. Cassie figured Tarsea was going to be as overprotective a father, as he was a controlling mate. Alex will have to teach Star how to wind Tarsea around her little finger like Alex had.
“Cassie can keep Alex company,” Benko said.
Unlike her friend, that was one dictate Cassie was not going to tolerate. “I am going with you to find Darden,” Cassie declared. “The soul mate channel is the first telepathic link to mend. I may be the only one capable of communicating with him. Besides, he is my soul mate. No one has the right to tell me I am not going to be part of his rescue. That includes you, Dad.”
“Baby girl, you do not understand; this will be an all or nothing attack,” her father said. “Either I unseat my father or we will be joining Darden or dead. This will not be a stealth attack. Everyone will be exposed.”
There was an uneasy silence between Cassie and her father. She knew he wanted her to be safe, but there was no way she would wait on the side lines hoping the mission was successful. The future of the Troyk universe rested in this small group’s hands.
“As much as I hate to say it,” Koel said, “Drake has offered his support. It would be foolish if we do not take him up on his offer. Our attack will be at night, so casualties should be low. I hope there will be a good number of guards who will switch allegiances once they realize who they are fighting. The vampires will only make our force stronger.”
“Once news of the invasion enters the communal pathways, the citizens of Aster Province will hit the streets,” Candy said. “I don’t know how I feel about letting a bunch of blood thirsty vampires loose on innocent bystanders. They were able to only attack our enemies when they helped liberate Tolfer and me from this world. Drake and his blood brothers may not be able to tell our supporters from our foes.”
“And we will?” laughed JoAnna. “We have three powerful mind control telepaths. That has to count for something.”
“Make that four,” Chartail announced. Although she did not naturally have the ability, her pregnancy temporarily gave her the telepathic gift.
All eyes shifted to Benko Jarlyn. Chartail carried his unborn son. His soul mate had almost successfully executed a plan to assassinate Jeryl Jarlyn. The baby notwithstanding, how could Cassie go and Chartail not be allowed. Her father was not in an enviable position.
“Cassie,” her father sighed, “as much as I would like to command you to stay behind, Darden is your soul mate. I must respect and live with the decision you make. Chartail, I have made no oral commitment to you or our child. For that unforgivable oversight, I have no control over you.”
“We are both going,” Chartail said before her soul mate could change his mind. “I have sat in all the planning sessions. Nobody knows the plan better than I do, with the exception of Koel.”
Her father slightly nodded, acknowledging Chartail’s decision. Although Cassie was ambivalent regarding Chartail, she admired her courage. Her child would grow up in the Troyk universe if they were successful. Not one more child would be born in the primitive world where the former dissidents lived in exile.
“Are we sure about Drake?” Shirl asked.
“I know what his demand will be for aiding us, and I am willing to pay it for Darden’s life,” Tarsea stated. “He will be able to control himself and his blood brothers while they are in the Troyk universe. Drake has too much to lose if he angers Alex or me. As long as he is convinced our daughter is his soul mate, the creature is controllable.”
