Dragon Lord (28 page)

* * * *

He frowned when she went limp, studied the injector with a faint sense of uneasiness and finally pocketed it, lifting his fingers to check her pulse. If he had miscalculated the dose, Jaelen was not going to be pleased. Her pulse was slow and faint, but that was to be expected. He decided not to worry about the speed the
muzinaire
had taken effect. That was probably just the difference in the human metabolism, or maybe hers in particular.

Allowing her to slide to the floor, he opened the case and then scooped her limp form up and placed her inside. He paused for a moment as he studied her, appreciating her naked form, but finally dismissed it as undoable. He was already fifteen minutes behind Audric. He didn’t have time to sample the wares.

Quickly, he inserted the tubes, set the cyber sleep, and adjusted the life monitoring unit. Satisfied, he tucked her arms and legs into a fetal position and closed and locked the case.

He checked his time piece. Twenty minutes in and out. Not bad, but maybe not good enough if he didn’t hurry.

Audric glared at him as he strode up the ramp and into the ship. “Where have you been?”

He shrugged. “Collecting.”

Audric’s lips tightened. “You are bringing that stupid beast?”

“I am fond of the bitch and Simon gave me leave.”

“Stow it then and get to your station. Simon’s fit to be tied at all the delays.”

Pressing the retractor, Audric waited until the gangway had receded into its slot and locked into place and then closed the hatch and sealed it. Jorell sent him a warning look as he reached the bridge.

Audric glanced at Simon.

His face looked like a thunder cloud, but Audric didn’t think it was only because of the delays in departure. Simon had met his gaze when he’d arrived and he’d known instantly that, regardless of what Simon had said, he was less than pleased that Audric had taken him up on the offer to make the best of the time he had been allowed.

Or maybe it was only that he’d been convinced that Raina would refuse?

Likely she would have if she’d believed Simon cared. It was his own damned fault if he’d left her feeling discarded and unwanted. He could have told her--something.

Simon had the men going through another systems check. He didn’t look appeased, though, when everything had checked out. Instead, he turned to pacing the bridge while they waited for dusk to launch.

Nothing the earthlings had could catch them, but caution was ingrained by now. They’d launch after dark, when it was less likely they would be seen by anything but mechanical eyes. They would break free of Earth’s atmosphere long before the airbase could scramble jets to follow, launch a missile--do anything more than gape at the blip on their radars as it shot skyward and disappeared beyond their range.

When Simon at last took his seat and began to fasten his restraints, Audric moved to his own chair and settled, trying to focus his thoughts away from Raina as he fastened his own restraints and checked them.

He should not have asked her, he realized, but he could not resist. He had wanted so much to know if she cared enough for him to consider it and the thought had come into his mind and spilled from his tongue before he could stop it. As much as it had pleased him to know that she would consider having him, he realized he had given her hope that he might return that would only hurt her more if he could not.

He had made up his mind, though. If he lived through the war, he would petition Simon to release him from his vows and accept permanent exile to be with Raina. She loved Simon far more than she would ever love him, but she cared for him, and he loved her. He could give up his homeland, his friends, his family. He could accept that he would have no family of his own. He did not want to accept life without Raina if he had a chance with her.

“Fire up!” Simon commanded abruptly, dragging Audric from his thoughts.

Haig dashed onto the bridge and scrambled into his harness on the heels of the command.

Simon gave him a look.

Haig shrugged. “I had to take a leak.”

“You could not have held it?” Jorell demanded in disgust.

“With the way this thing bucks like a wild
naybst
on take off?” he demanded indignantly. “I pissed my pants last time.”

Elden nodded. “He always pisses his pants.”

Jorell snorted.

“It is better than shitting his pants,” Rama put in. “Tedra would make him wash them himself.”

“If everyone has finished discussing Haig’s problem,” Simon said dryly. “Perhaps you would consider flying the fucking ship?”

“Power is at full,” Jorell announced.

Audric swiveled around to check his instruments. “All systems holding.”

“The sky is clear,” Elden said, “on my mark … three … two … launch!”

Tedra let out a mewling cry as the ship shot skyward.

Simon flicked a quick glance at the old woman, but he could not see that she was under any particular distress aside from the fact that she had always hated flying. He glanced significantly at Haig. “Vitals check.”

Haig frowned and followed the direction of Simon’s nod. Nodding in return, he checked the vitals read outs. “We are all good,” he announced after frowning at the vid for several moments. “Tedra’s heart rate is a bit accelerated but she is not in the range of danger,” he added more quietly.

“She is a tough old bird,” Jorell teased. “Are you not, Tedra? She has not had a ride the likes of this in a while, I will warrant.”

Tedra pried one eye open and glared at him. “If you are suggesting what I think you are, Jorell Blackwing, then I will have you know that it has not been nearly as long as you think!”

Elden laughed. “You have done it now. She will save the nastiest piece of meat for your dinner. Right, Tedra?”

“Now that you have given that away, no,” Tedra said primly, struggling to shake off her terror at their bantering. “I shall have to think of something else.”

“Gods be damned!” Jorell bellowed abruptly, jerking the ship so suddenly that it banked hard right and then righted itself almost as quickly, performing a hard zigzag that slammed everyone in first one direction and then another. “I thought you said the gods be damned skies were clear, Elden! I nigh took the tail off of that airline jet.”

“It was … then. I can not help it that there is an airport nearby! It changed course.”

“Rama! You are supposed to be monitoring the chatter! Get your head out of your ass!”

“There are two more,” Elden said. “Three degrees port on my mark … now!”

The craft cut sharply to the left and then righted itself again.

“Clear,” Elden announced, “we are above their fly zone now.”

“Punching through the outer atmosphere,” Audric announced, completely unnecessarily as the ship began to shimmy with the last drags of gravity. “Artificial gravity in ten.”

Haig left his seat as soon as the artificial gravity kicked in. “I believe I will just go to my cabin and change my shorts now.”

Jorell emitted a snort of laughter. “You have no balls, Haig. That is your problem. It was not even that difficult a launch.”

Simon had thrown off his own restraints and moved to check on Tedra. “I do not believe Tedra would agree with you. She has fainted.” He glanced at Haig. “She has only fainted?”

Haig nodded. “I kept watch on her vitals. Blood pressure and heart rate remained well below critical.”

Crouching down in front of Tedra, Simon tapped her cheek lightly and finally unfastened her restraints. “Get the door for me, Audric,” he said as he scooped the old woman into his arms. “She will be better if she rests awhile in her cabin.”

Audric preceded him, opening the door to Tedra’s cabin and turning down the blanket on the bunk. She roused as Simon settled her, looking around vaguely. “We are in space?” she asked.

Simon smiled at her. “The worst is over for now. Rest a while.”

“I really should be preparing dinner,” she said weakly.

“We will not starve. Rest.”

Audric glanced at Simon when they left Tedra’s cabin. Simon had not spoken to him since he’d returned and he was fairly certain he knew why. He thought that it would probably be best to wait until Simon was ready to speak to him, but he decided to test the waters anyway. “It would have been better to place her in a sleep pod for take off,” he said.

Simon slid a glittering glance in his direction. “She is afraid of them,” he retorted coldly.

Frozen waters, Audric mentally acknowledged, allowing Simon to brush past him as they returned to the bridge.

He was not needed any longer and was tempted to avoid further contact with Simon at the moment, but he could not resist the possibility of taking once last look at Earth before they left it behind. Simon had already ordered the aft view up on the main screen when he arrived. He was standing rigidly before the screen, his hands clasped behind his back, his gaze focused intently, though there was nothing of any interest to either one of them to see any longer. A swirl of white cloud covered the entire southern portion of the continent. The city itself would have been no more than a speck now even without the clouds to obscure it.

He wondered if she was thinking of him … or Simon. She’d been tearful when he left but struggling to keep them inside. It warmed him that she’d cared enough to cry for him, and at the same made him feel ill at leaving her.

She would be alright, he told himself. She was far stronger than they had given her credit for. She had wept in her grief, but she had already begun trying to pick up the pieces and begin again.

She would be alright.

He was not at all certain that he would be.

Or Simon.

He discovered as he averted his gaze that Simon had turned away, as well. For several moments, their gazes locked and Audric wondered if he looked as miserable as Simon did.

He supposed must. He saw when he looked away that Jorell was watching him and the others studying Simon.

Simon cleared his throat. “Perform a thorough systems check for possible exit damage,” he said, his voice sounding rough. “If everything checks out, chart a course for Maiden Prime. We will go there first.”

“You think the Macedons will help us?”

“It can not hurt to ask,” Simon said grimly. “I will be in my cabin.”

* * * *

“The men are grumbling,” Audric said as he propped his shoulders against the wall of Simon’s cabin, folding his arms over his chest.

Simon didn’t move. He was staring at the ceiling as if mesmerized by the gleaming metal above him. “It is to be expected. They are chafing for the battle.”

“Exactly, and complaining that we have added another month to the trip for no good reason. They are concerned that you have no heart for this … and so am I.”

Simon expelled an impatient breath and sat up, running a hand over the growth of beard on his face--at a guess, at least three days worth. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and hollows in his cheeks since he neither ate nor slept as he needed to. “I am here,” Simon growled.

“Are you?” Audric asked tightly. “You look like shit.”

Simon lifted his head to glare him. “You look worse.”

Audric felt a flicker of amusement. “You have not checked your mirror lately.”

“I do not like the man I see,” Simon said after a long pause.

Audric could think of nothing to say to that for several moments. “They are not wrong, are they? You do not have the heart for this.”

“I will do what I must. I know my duty.”

“But you do not have the heart for it.”

Simon made a derisive sound. “Because I am a heartless bastard,” he retorted. “That is what she believes, is it not? That I am a cold, heartless bastard?”

Audric said nothing for several moments, not because the root of Simon’s depression was any great surprise, but it was a surprise that Simon spoke of it to him. They had not exchanged more than a handful words in all the weeks since they had left, and at that Simon only spoke to him as his aide, never of anything personal. “She did not tell me and I did not ask,” he said finally.

Simon speared his hands through his hair, cupping his skull as if his head pained him, which would not have surprised Audric either considering Simon had celebrated the end of his talks with Macedons by tying on a four day drunk. “I had not thought that I would miss her so … desperately,” he said raggedly.

“It does no good to dwell on it!” Audric said harshly.

“
Nothing
does any good!” Simon snarled at him.

“In time ….”

“Do not spout that tripe to me! I do not want time to take her from me! I would rather be miserable than forget.”

“You can not go into battle with a divided mind, Simon. We are at a disadvantage already. We will have to focus on the prize or we will have no chance.”

Simon dropped his hands and lifted his head to glare Audric. “That is the problem, Audric. The
prize
is back there! I was just too … arrogant to see it … because I was born to rule and taught from birth that I must do this for the realm, and that for the people, and set myself above them, and yet marry to please them. And if I do not give my life for the greater good, I am a selfish bastard, unworthy of the regard and respect of my people.

“
Damn
the people! I do not want to be their gods be damned ruler! Not if it means I can not have Rainie.”

Audric felt fear well inside of him and twist at his gut. Some of it was anxiety for Simon, himself, for, despite their differences, he loved his brother. A good deal of it was concern for their enterprise because it was critical to their success that Simon put is whole heart into it or they would surely fail … and in doing so, many would die.

They
were dead men if they failed. Even if they managed to escape, Jaelen would never allow them to live to threaten his control again. He would have them hunted down. They would never be able to rest for looking over their shoulders for assassins.

But a very great deal of it was because he had been certain that, regardless of how Simon felt about Raina, he would do what his duty required of him, take his birthright, bind himself with a suitable consort, produce his heir, and rule as he had been born to rule.