Demon Lord V - God Realm (27 page)

"Yes."

"If you're not
a dra'voren, what are you?"

"I am
tar'merin."

Nikira
signalled to Enyo to search the database for the strange word. "I
don't know what that means."

He sighed
again. "Few do. I have said that I will not harm you, so will you
undo the bindings? They hurt."

"No, not
yet."

"You fear
me."

"We have good
reason to."

He inclined
his head. "I suppose you would think so. Could I have some water
then?"

"You're
thirsty?"

"Yes."

"I'll see what
I can do."

His eyes
flicked open, then closed. "The girl who was with me, is she
unharmed?"

"Yes. All your
slaves are being looked after."

A slight smile
curled his lips. "They are not my slaves."

"What are they
then?"

"I saved
them."

"They were
starving and exhausted," she said.

"The God Realm
is a bad place. I am weak and injured, I could not care for them
well enough, and some of them refused the help I offered."

"Why did they
refuse?"

"They are
afraid of me."

Nikira nodded.
"How were you injured?"

"That is a
long story, and my head hurts. Have you nothing for the pain?"

Nikira moved
closer, inexplicably drawn to him. He seemed so reasonable, and
spoke as any normal man would. "I think not. The pain will help to
keep you subdued, and if you become hostile we have drugs that will
make you compliant."

He grimaced.
"You are terrified of me."

"Does that
please you?"

"No."

Nikira
signalled to a contech to bring some water. "Are you able to
control the minds of those around you?"

"Yes."

"If you try
it, we'll stun you again."

"I will not."
He flexed his right hand, and she stepped back in alarm, bumping
into the soldier again. Feeling foolish, she moved closer.

"You could be
lying. Why should we believe anything you say?"

"Why ask me
then?"

She hesitated,
and the contech sidled in with a cup of water. "Your water is here;
lift your head if you want it."

The dra'voren
raised his head, and the contech shot Nikira a terrified look. She
jerked her chin, indicating that he should give it to the
dra'voren. The young tech held out the cup at arm's length, and the
dra'voren started when the cold edge touched his lips. He drank a
few deep gulps, then let his head fall back, and the contech
scuttled out. Nikira stared down at him, her mind devoid of
intelligent questions.

"Why did you
chase the girl towards our hologram?"

"The
illusion?" He frowned. "I was trying to prevent her from getting
killed by what I thought was a dark god."

"A dark god?
He was a dra'voren."

"Same
thing."

"Dra'voren are
not gods, only creators are gods."

His frown
eased. "I see. I do not know your beliefs, but where I come from,
everyone considers what you call dra'voren to be dark gods."

"Including
yourself?"

"Yes."

"A grandiose
aspiration."

A slight smile
curved his lips. "Well, if what you call creators are what I call
grey gods, or light gods, then even they consider the dra'voren to
be gods."

"How would you
know that?"

"I know a few
of them. Some even claim to be my friend, especially after I save
them. They still fear me, except for Lyriasharin and the grey god
who was my companion, Kayos."

Nikira stared
at him, shocked. "Impossible. No creator would befriend a
dra'voren. Your kind kills them."

"I am
different."

"You're
lying."

He turned his
head away. "Do not question me if you are not going to believe me.
I am tired and my head hurts, to say nothing of my arm."

Nikira scowled
at him for a moment longer, her mind seething with unease and
disbelief, then swung away and left the chamber, the soldiers
following. As the door slid shut, Enyo and Montar turned from the
window to face her.

"You heard all
that?" she demanded.

They nodded,
and Enyo said, "Every word."

"He has to be
lying."

"Of course he
is; he's a dra'voren."

"Then
questioning him is pointless," she said.

"Let's leave
it up to the leaders at base to decide what to do with him."

"They'll kill
him."

"Of
course."

Nikira marched
to the door. "Watch him."

Returning to
her office, she started another report, then paused, thinking about
what had just happened. It seemed like a dream, and she stared at
the blank word recorder, unable to speak the first sentence. He had
not behaved as she had always imagined a dra'voren would, had
anyone ever managed to speak to one. Surely he should have been
ranting and cursing, threatening to kill her and tear her ship
apart if she did not release him?

Why had he not
freed himself and tried to attack her, or take her hostage? All
those eventualities she had been expecting and prepared for, but
instead his calm, reasonable attitude had surprised and confused
her. Or was that his plan, to win her trust so she would free him?
That was certainly not going to happen. She frowned at the blank
recorder. There was a way to get the truth from him, if it worked.
Jumping up, she hurried back down to the containment room.

Enyo glanced
up in surprise. "He hasn't done anything."

"Good. Will
drugs work on him?"

"I'm not
sure."

"Let's find
out. What can we try that will have concrete results, something he
can't fake?"

Enyo glanced
at the monitors. "Euthanasia?"

"I want him
alive for now, Enyo."

"Anaesthetic
then."

She nodded.
"Do it."

Enyo turned to
his console and activated a communication screen to summon Jonar
from his medlab. Nikira wandered over to the observation screen,
and Enyo came to stand beside her.

"If he objects
to the procedure, it could get nasty."

"I'll explain
it to him, and then Jonar will administer the drug. If he tries
anything, stun him."

"Why are you
doing this?"

"If the
anaesthetic works on him, then a truth serum should too."

Enyo frowned.
"Not necessarily, but there's a good chance, I suppose. He might be
able to fake unconsciousness."

"Unless we
make sure he's out."

"Stick a knife
in him?"

She nodded.
"That would do it. Even if he's able to hide his reaction to pain,
the surprise should be impossible to disguise, and since he's
blind, he won't see it coming."

Leaving Enyo
gazing through the window, Nikira signalled to the two guards and
activated the door. They accompanied her into the shredder chamber,
but the dra'voren gave no sign that he knew of her presence.

"Dra'voren."

"My name is
Bane."

"We're going
to perform an experiment on you. If you try to resist, we'll stun
you again."

His Adam’s
apple bobbed. "I assure you, my reaction to pain is the same as
yours."

"We're not
going to hurt you."

"You already
are. I am cold, and you deny me a potion to ease my wounds. You
also deny me food and water, which weakens me, but I suppose that
is part of your plan. I understand that you are afraid of me, and
you think I am a loathsome thing that should be slain, but since
you keep me alive, is it not within your power to ease my
suffering? Are you so cold-hearted?"

The dra'voren
turned his head away, and she swallowed a lump, her heart twisting
with pity. He looked so young and vulnerable, no more than twenty
or so years old. She wondered if he was manipulating her feelings,
and strived to harden her heart. His eyes opened briefly again, as
if he was checking to see if his sight had returned, then he
sighed.

"Have you a
name, or should I just call you 'Tormentor'?"

"I am
Commander Nikira Varel, and I'm not a tormentor."

"What would
you call what you are doing to me?"

"Being
cautious. I know you could tear apart my ship and kill us all if
you got free."

He turned his
head towards her. "How am I going to get free when you have that
infernal thing that knocks me out? Not to mention the blade, which
I assume is aimed at my heart again."

"It is, but we
know you could melt it. You might even be able to disable the
stunner, so we must take every precaution."

"How long do
you intend to keep me here like this? Will there be no end to my
suffering?"

She hesitated.
"It will end soon enough."

"When you have
finished examining me, and kill me."

"When we've
found a way to prevent you from harming anyone, if that's
possible."

"You have my
word. But of course, you do not believe me. I cannot harm anyone as
I am, so your goal is already achieved."

Nikira glanced
up at Jonar, who stood in the doorway, his equipment in one hand.
He approached, and she looked down at the dra'voren again.

"Which is why
I can't release you."

"So there is
no possibility of my being released, is there?"

"That's what
this experiment will determine, but I can't say more than
that."

Jonar set up a
drip next to the dra'voren's left arm, and he turned his head
towards the medtech. At Nikira's nod, Jonar uncapped a needle,
hesitated, and then pressed his fingers against the inside of the
dra'voren's elbow to raise a vein. The dra'voren hissed as the
needle sank in, his brows drawing together in a deep frown. Nikira
bit her lip, turned and left the chamber to join Enyo at the
window. A few moments later Jonar came out, and the door slid
shut.

He glanced at
the clock on the wall. "It should take only a few seconds to work,
if it's going to."

Enyo glanced
at her. "By the way, we've finished analysing his clothes. They're
made of inert plasma, similar to a dra'voren's droge form, but
utterly stable."

"Interesting.
What about that word that he used, and the names of the creators he
claims to know?"

Enyo shook his
head. "Nothing in our database at all on those."

Jonar turned
to the bio scanner console. "It's working."

Nikira studied
the screen, which showed the dra'voren's brain image turning cool
blue. "Let's make sure he's not faking it."

"That would be
difficult to do," Jonar pointed out.

"I wouldn't
put anything past a dra'voren."

Jonar looked
down at the fairly blunt kitchen knife he held. "If you think he
can fake that, what makes you think he couldn't fake no reaction to
this? He could be reading our minds."

"You really
think he could prevent anything showing up on the bio scanner?"

"You wouldn't
put anything past a dra'voren, remember?"

She snorted.
"We'll just have to hope that even he has limits."

"And if he
doesn't, we're all dead."

"Sometimes
risks are necessary."

"No risk if we
kill him now," Enyo pointed out.

"I'm sure the
techs at base would rather experiment on a living dra'voren than
his corpse."

"I'm sure
they'd rather have his corpse than nothing, and a destroyed ship
with a hundred and fifty people killed."

"You're
objection is noted. Make it official if you want." Nikira turned to
Jonar. "Do it."

Jonar
re-entered the chamber and made a deep incision in the front of the
dra'voren's thigh, which oozed bright blood. Enyo monitored the bio
scanner.

"No
reaction."

Nikira
activated the intercom. "Heal it. I don't want him to know what we
did."

Jonar took an
instrument from his pocket and pushed a button on its base. Its tip
emitted a pale yellow light, which he shone it on the wound until
it healed.

Nikira had
written another report, eaten, washed and rested before Enyo called
to inform her that the dra'voren was waking up again. She hurried
down to the containment room, eager to perform her next experiment,
which could yield interesting information, perhaps reliable. When
she arrived, she instructed Enyo to summon Jonar, then entered the
shredder chamber with two soldiers. The dra'voren turned his head
towards her, looking dazed.

"Now we will
perform another experiment on you, dra'voren."

"What did the
last one tell you?"

"That this one
might work."

He grimaced
and licked his lips. "Wonderful. May I have some water?"

Nikira
motioned to a hovering contech, who fetched a cup of water and held
it to the dra'voren's lips when he raised his head. He drank
several mouthfuls, then relaxed. Jonar arrived and injected a vial
of truth serum into the drip that remained in the dra'voren's
arm.

He consulted
his watch. "It should only take a few seconds to work,
commander."

"Good."

After several
moments of tense silence, the dra'voren's expression became
blank.

Jonar glanced
at Enyo. "What does the bio scanner indicate?"

"Decreased
brain activity."

"It seems to
have worked."

Nikira stepped
closer to the dra'voren, excitement making her heart pound.
"Dra'voren, can you hear me?"

He ignored
her, and she glanced at Jonar, who shook his head.

"He won't
reply unless he knows you're speaking to him, and evidently he
doesn't consider himself a dra'voren. Do you know his name?"

"Yes. Bane,
can you hear me?"

"Yes."

"What does
tar'merin mean?"

"Incorruptible."

Nikira
frowned. "How many domains have you destroyed?"

"None."

"Who is
Kayos?"

"A grey
god."

"What are
you?"

"Tar'merin."