Rion (25 page)

When the antigravs slowed to a gentle stop inside the tunnel, she jumped to the ground. Gravel crunched under her feet. But
that was the last normal sound she heard. The terrible noise of dragons moaning sent fear trickling like ice through her veins.

The sound of wounded animals, tortured souls, screams from thousands of throats raw with agony filled the air. The low moans,
the high-pitched whistles, the abject misery turned her stomach, and she swallowed hard.

The horror in Rion’s eyes fed her own anger. How dare the Unari do this? They had no right to invade and subjugate Rion’s
people. No one, absolutely no one, should have to endure the kind of pain that produced those sounds.

The noise rumbled through her, settled into her brain, and took up residence. She no longer wanted to go outside and see what
was going on—not when the sounds alone had her knees knocking and her gut churning.

Lex and his men must have heard the broken rumble of tortured dragons many times before, but they were not immune. She could
see them gritting their teeth, bracing their shoulders before they exited the tunnel and headed outside.

Marisa couldn’t wimp out and remain behind. She forced herself to take deep breaths and slipped her hand into Rion’s. She
had to be strong—for his sake.

But no amount of courage could prepare her for the sight that met her eyes. From the hillside above the city they had a perfect
view of… hell.

Dragons flew through the sky, pulling pyramid-sized stones supported by antigravs. Although the stones were weightless, they
still had mass, which meant stopping and starting the stones’ flight required huge amounts of effort. Dragons flew, placing
their bodies between the stones, straining to position the rocks into enormous walls that formed a pit as wide and deep as
the eye could see.

Everywhere, dragons worked, suffering under Unari whips. Many sported huge scars where the stones had torn into scales and
flesh. Rion had told her of Erik’s scar, and she knew he’d worked here, or in a place just like this one. Some dragons had
open, oozing wounds. A few were missing limbs, eyes, or parts of their tails. None had the energy to fully spread their wings
or fly properly. Their ribs protruded through bony chests. Their wings looked broken, the color a faded puce instead of brilliant
purple.

“Half starved, maddened by pain; it’s a wonder they can work at all,” Marisa said.

Lex sighed. “If the Unari lower the pain levels, our people fight back.”

Her throat tightened with tears. She didn’t dare let a sob escape. They had to do something to stop this ghastly display.
Anything.

But what was even worse than the dragons’ mutilated bodies and starved frames was the utterly defeated look in their golden
eyes. She didn’t see one spark of hope. As if the Tyrannizer’s pain wasn’t enough, the Unari had beaten down their spirits,
whipping any dragons they deemed slackers with pulsing energy rods that zapped and burned the skin.

The scent of burning scales hit her full-force. For a moment she closed her eyes, but the images had been branded into her
mind: tiny babies, their wings stressed almost to the breaking point, flying to deliver mortar to smooth between the gigantic
stones. Female and male dragons screaming in shrill bursts when a line broke and giant stones tumbled onto dragons working
below—crushing some, the others bellowing death rattles. And the Unari, monsters who looked like ordinary humans, ignored
the thrashing injured and forced the remaining dragons to keep building the walls right on top of their dying comrades’ bodies.

“Can you send out a message?” Rion said. “Ask the dragons if they know where my father is.”

“I can try.” Marisa dragged her attention from the horror before her. She had to be strong for Rion and for all these poor
souls. Trying to control her breathing, she focused on one simple question.
Where is the king?

The pain from thousands of minds zapped her.

The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground, cradled in Rion’s arms, her muscles jerking. “Wh-what happened?”

“You passed out,” he said. “Are you all right now?”

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t get through. The backwash of so much pain overpowered me.” She pushed to her feet. “I’ll
try again.”

“Not yet.”

She recoiled from the sharpness in Rion’s voice. “But that’s why I’m here.”

He shook his head. “I won’t risk putting you through that kind of pain again without a better plan. We have to know more about
what we’re dealing with first.”

Although she didn’t admit it aloud, she was glad for a reprieve. Echoes of the agony she’d suffered still stung her nerves.
She pushed to her feet. “So what do we do now?”

Rion studied the hellish landscape. “We try to figure out what the Unari are doing.”

“Maybe they’re creating some kind of city,” Lex suggested.

“The Unari aren’t building a city.” Rion’s voice was tight, low, and angry.

“If it’s not a city, what is it?” Lex asked.

“They’re erecting a building to protect the Holy Grail,” Rion said.

“What?” His claim drew her attention from the terrible sight. Years ago, her brother had found a map—a star map that located
the famous city of Avalon, where King Arthur had enshrined the Grail, not in England, but on another world. Because Lucan
hoped the Grail would solve Earth’s infertility problem, he had talked the Vesta Corporation into funding his mission to the
stars. During his journey, Lucan had found a cure for Earth’s infertility problem, but others had wanted the Grail, too. Had
the healing cup fallen into the Unari Tribes’ possession?

Rion frowned at the Unari building. “This structure’s very similar to the obelisk on Avalon that held the Grail. Only it’s
so much larger, I can’t take it all in.” He muttered under his breath, “No wonder I couldn’t find the Grail.”

His words confused her. “But you and Lucan found the Grail, then lost it.”

“After I figured out how to use the transporter at Stonehenge,” Rion told her, “I returned to Pendragon and searched. The
Grail was gone.”

Her eyes widened. “When you took me through the Stonehenge portal, it wasn’t the first time? You’d used it before?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head and sighed. How many more secrets did he have? A dragon howled in agony and shot a chill down her spine:
she supposed Rion’s keeping some information to himself didn’t matter so much in the giant scheme of things.

“If the Unari have the Grail, why wouldn’t they keep such a valuable object on their home world?” Marisa asked.

“Lots of reasons,” Rion explained. “Historically, the planet that houses the Grail often comes under attack from those who
seek to take the healing cup’s powers for their own.”

“The Unari have enemies who will come for the Grail?” she asked.

“It’s very possible that over the centuries the Unari have made more enemies than Honor, Pendragon, and Tor. And the Unari
don’t care if my people die, or if my world is destroyed. Better for them to fight here—than risk their own people.”

“The Holy Grail? It’s not a legend?” Lex asked.

“I’ve held it in my hands.” Rion spoke with authority. “I believe this entire structure is being built to house it so the
Unari can tap its powers. We have to stop them before they finish and drink from the cup. Because once they place the Grail
inside this edifice, they’ll become so powerful, we’ll never oust them.”

Lex scowled. “Is the legend true? That with the Grail in their possession, the Unari armies will not die? That they’ll rise
again to defeat Honor, Pendragon, Tor, and Earth?”

“We can’t let them…” Marisa looked at Rion, her heart breaking. Had her brother caused this galaxy-wide disaster? Had the
twin she loved found the Grail inadvertently for the Unari?

A muscle ticked in Rion’s jaw. “It’s up to us to stop the Unari on Honor.”

“And to stop them from building, we have to destroy the Tyrannizer,” she said.

Rion nodded. “One way or another, we have to find and destroy that machine.”

Lex and his men had mostly stayed in the background and out of the conversation. But Darian suddenly tensed, drew his weapon,
and hit the dirt, taking Lex to the ground with him.

“By the Goddess,” Darian swore. “Floaters.”

“Pull back,” Lex ordered. “Pull back now.”

Seizing the enemy without fighting takes skill.

—S
UN
T
ZU

R
ion had never seen so many floaters. About as wide as a man, the dull black spheres with glowing green eyes swooped toward
them with an ominous hum.

Rion grabbed Marisa by the arm and yanked her to the dirt. “Get down.”

“What are they?” She flattened her body but watched the sky.

“Floaters. Telemetric remote-controlled transport units monitored by Unari weapons specialists.” Lex motioned them back toward
the tunnel.

Rion retreated, but a floater placed itself between him and the tunnel. Lex shot it. Rion tried to take another step, but
another floater took the other’s place.

The men closed in, standing back to back with Marisa in the middle. Rion shot the next one. Marisa looked over his shoulder.
“You can’t shoot fast enough.”

Each time a floater obstructed their retreat, Lex, Rion, or Darian shot it, but each blast wasted precious seconds they didn’t
have as they waited for the exploding shards to clear before they could retreat once again.

“They don’t shoot back?” Marisa asked.

Lex shot one in the sky and it burst into flames. “If their stunner hits you, the blast paralyzes your muscles.”

Darian added, “After the floaters capture their victims, the Unari starve them until they’re so weak they dragonshape to eat.
Then they feed the dragons only enough to perform slave labor.”

Marisa hunkered behind Rion, her voice hard. “We can’t let them take us.”

Rion agreed. But they would run out of blaster ammo long before the Unari ran out of floaters. “Is there another way out of
here besides that tunnel?” Rion asked Lex. He advanced a half step toward the tunnel, looking past the stored equipment to
his right and left, but he saw only open land to their sides and the giant hellish building behind them.

“The tunnel’s our only way out,” Lex confirmed.

They couldn’t go forward. They couldn’t go back. They couldn’t hide.

With floaters surrounding them and more hovering and ready to descend, the rebel group was running out of options. The floaters
would capture them within moments.

Marisa gazed longingly at the tunnel. “Can’t we just run for it?”

“They’re too fast. But we have no other choice.” Lex fired at another floater. A beam bounced off the floater and the air
sizzled. The floater spun and wobbled. “We have to try for the tunnel. Everybody, let’s go.”

Every time they damaged a floater, three more swooped down—until the floaters had almost formed a solid wall to block their
retreat.

Rion kept hold of Marisa and sidled toward the tunnel. “Try to make the entrance.”

They were in trouble, outnumbered, their escape tunnel blocked by a wall of floaters. The rebels tried to shoot their way
through. But even if every charge they fired took out a floater, they wouldn’t win. The sky was dark with floaters—enough
to block out the sun.

Fire.

Fall back.

Fire again.

As a group, they developed a rhythm. Two men shot, the others pulled back. But the floaters were herding them together. Soon
the objects would pin them—but still the rebels fired.

The floaters took massive losses. But robotically controlled machines felt no pain, had no fear.

“Lay down your weapons,” a mechanical voice ordered.

“Not on your life,” Marisa muttered and fired over Rion’s shoulder.

When a floater targeted Darian with a yellow light, Rion fired and the machine fell from the sky, taking two other spheres
with it, and all three machines shattered. Shards of metal rained down—a few pieces taking out more floaters. The chain reaction
had annihilated ten spheres, but one of the shards hit Mendle.

He jerked back with a hiss of pain, then rolled and shot another floater out of the sky. Lex blasted another of the machines
that blocked the tunnel, but two more took its place.

Marisa held up a hand and Lex threw her an extra weapon. She fired alongside Rion, muttering fiercely, “You’re just metal.
Tin cans.” She swiveled and fired again. “Nothing we can’t handle.”

Rion had never seen her like this. Fierce. Focused. Fighting. And her aim wasn’t bad, either.

Rion would fight until his last breath. But he pulled the trigger and his weapon failed to fire. Out of ammo, he swung the
blaster like a bat, taking out his anger and frustration on the machines. He dented one but caused little real damage.

“Aim for the sensors. The eyes,” Lex shouted.

Darian and Marisa kept shooting. Lex, Mendle, and Rion were reduced to batting practice. Rion glanced over his shoulder. They’d
actually gained quite a bit of ground. “Come on. Ten more feet, people. Ten more feet and we’ll make the tunnel.”