Ice Phoenix (28 page)

The large, dark ship flew low over Si Ren
Da's surface, scanning for survivors. It was a prototype ship, piloted by none other than Imeldor Kuldor Brim. Towards the back of the ship was a small hangar which housed several large capsules, each capable of accommodating a large person. Right now, Grandmaster Deitrux tended to the people in the capsules, his face stricken with grief at the injuries of the younger Imeldors.

They had discovered Baneyon first. Grandmaster Deitrux had not even waited for Kuldor to release the suction beam; he flew down to the surface to retrieve the young Imeldor himself. The severity of Baneyon's injuries was horrifying, and Grandmaster Deitrux fought to keep him alive. They attached him to countless tubes in the capsule and worked together to stem his bleeding. What they lacked were blood bags, and Baneyon had lost plenty of blood. It was the grandmaster's qi that continued to keep Baneyon's heart beating, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before even that method failed.

Then, they located Raimus with a very weak Quempa by his side. Raimus had lost one of his three hearts, and they packed him into a capsule with several pli-gel bags. Quempa had insisted on staying up, and he cut a forlorn figure keeping vigil over Baneyon.

For Grandmaster Deitrux and Kuldor, it was an endless nightmare. They picked up a comatose Lady Fless, L-Master Kalum, who was still frozen, and L-Master Ana's headless body. Still missing were Master Ferro, Lady Anrath, and Queen Julere.

"I see no sign of the demons or the queen," Kuldor called out from the cockpit.

Grandmaster Deitrux sighed heavily and walked over to Quempa.
"Quempa? Do you recall anything of what happened here? Do you know what happened to the queen?"

Quempa shook his head, wiping away the tears that had begun to spill down his face. "When I came to, Raimus and I were falling. I managed to cushion our impact and that was when I saw the sky turn to fire. If I hadn't buried myself and Raimus deep underground, we would surely have died."

There was a short silence as Quempa tried to regain his composure, then he said, "Were you able to find the children?"

Grandmaster Deitrux turned cold. "What children?"

"The queen's son, the girl from Sector Thirteen, and another boy."

"The queen's son came to Si Ren Da?" Grandmaster Deitrux stepped back in shock.

Quempa nodded, struggling to find sense in what he had witnessed. While he was trying to collect his thoughts, something very large and heavy landed atop the ship, and heavy pounding rang from above. Grandmaster Deitrux yelled out. "Kuldor!"

"I'm on it!"

The big, hairy Gratchonian sprung from the cockpit and raced down the hangar. He reached a long ladder at the end and started to climb. Once at the top, he hurled himself onto a large lever, forcing it to turn with his weight. A wide, heavy door opened above. In stumbled Nisa, Dragoth, and Eindz, carrying their stricken passengers. The hangar now seemed very small as the faars took up most of the space. Grandmaster Deitrux caught sight of the queen's bloodless, wounded form. Fear flooded him.

He raced over and lifted her off Nisa. Her body levitated briefly as Grandmaster Deitrux gently laid her into a capsule. He quickly felt for a pulse. "
Kuldor, she's not breathing
!"

As he frantically administered first aid to her, Lorn and the prince slid off Dragoth and raced to the grandmaster's side.

"
Kuldor
!" shouted Grandmaster Deitrux. "She's not responding to qi treatment! What's wrong with her?"

Kuldor dropped from the ceiling to land next to him. He took one look at the queen's injuries and blanched, his fur gathering in one spot on his forehead.
"Dartkala! She's been stabbed by the phoenix blade. It destroys qi — that's why she's not responding." He grabbed some pli-gel bandages from the side of the capsule and began binding her stomach with them. A life support monitor attached to the capsule's lid began beeping.

"Out of my way!"
Kuldor barked.

Everyone jumped out of his way. Kuldor took one step and he was at the foot of the capsule. He tapped a yellow button, and a drawer popped open. Strange instruments lay on a white, sterilised sheet and there were several bags containing different coloured liquids.

Kuldor rested his hands on either side of the drawer, and they were quickly sprayed with lather. Then the lather transformed into gloves. He went on to pick up a syringe and used it to extract a yellow liquid from one of the bags. Then, he plunged the needle into the queen's heart.

"Why doesn't this ship have a full medical facility?" cried Lady Anrath as she watched her beloved queen convulse.

"It's a prototype," said Kuldor, grimly. "There wasn't any time to waste coming here. Any other ship would have taken another two days to reach this planet." He nodded at the queen's injuries. "Her internal organs are damaged and she's bleeding out. I've injected medic-bots into her body but they can only slow down the bleeding, not repair her organs. Young prince, I will require some of your blood."

Prince Gil Ra Im nodded. He looked like a ghost, clearly anxious for his mother.

"The rest of you need to leave. It's no use standing here, it won't help."

As the others fell back, Grandmaster Deitrux took Lorn and Lady Anrath aside. "How did this happen?" he asked, his expression grave.

"It was the girl," answered Lady Anrath. "She attacked the queen and stabbed her with Baneyon's phoenix spear."

"Are you referring to Terrana?" Grandmaster Deitrux couldn't have looked more shocked. "She's just a child!"

"She was no child," snarled Lady Anrath. "She was a monster!"

Grandmaster Deitrux turned to Lorn. "Can you confirm this?"

Lorn nodded, still numbed by everything he had witnessed. "It was Terrana, but it wasn't Terrana," he said slowly. "It was her body and her face, but it wasn't her. She was ... somebody else. She was covered in flames. She was savage ..." he trailed off, trapped in the memory of Terrana's heinous act.

"Savage?" repeated Grandmaster Deitrux.

"She ripped the undead demon apart piece by piece," cut in Lady Anrath. "I guess she had it in for him because he was the one that killed Baneyon. Then, she turned on the two remaining demons and released a fire that scorched the sky and the earth. Her power would have consumed even the pendant had not the demons used it to open a vortex to escape."

"And so in the end, they escaped with the pendant?"

Lady Anrath nodded. "The faars carried us out of harm's way."

"Where is she now — Terrana?"

Lady Anrath shook her head. "I don't know. What matters is that she is not here."

Grandmaster Deitrux frowned. "Why didn't she come after you? In that state of mind, I'd assume she was trying to kill everyone."

"She wasn't," said a weak voice. The grandmaster turned around in surprise to see the prince rising unsteadily to his feet.

"Steady, young Highness," warned Kuldor. "I took a lot of blood. You should remain seated."

The prince took a step, wobbled, and collapsed back into his seat. Grandmaster Deitrux hurried over to him. "That's right — you've seen her transform before, haven't you? At the school," he said.

Lorn glanced at the prince in surprise.

Prince Gil Ra Im nodded. "But she was nowhere near as powerful as she was today," he replied. "The first time I saw her transform, she was still coherent, aware of her other existence. But today, after she lit up in those flames, she was more like an animal. There was nothing of the old Terrana left in her."

"You said she wasn't trying to kill you. Why did you say that?"

"Because we would not be sitting here if she was," replied the prince. "Baneyon's death triggered the transformation. I believe she was going after anyone who was covered in, or using, dark qi from the pendant. She associated dark qi with Baneyon's death. That's why she went after my mother first. She was carrying the pendant. She was also carrying Baneyon's spear."

Grandmaster Deitrux shot a concerned look at the capsule where Baneyon lay. Baneyon was technically dead. His brain showed no signs of activity and his body was rejecting the grandmaster's qi.

The ship's sensors went off, indicating it had located another person.

"On screen," barked Kuldor.

A hologram appeared in front of him, showing a dark figure floating face down in the air. Everyone paled when they recognised Terrana.

Terrana was lost in her own mind, in a world of darkness from which she couldn't return. She ran around, searching for a place to hide, but everywhere she looked, she saw Baneyon falling, his blank eyes staring at her as the demon ripped him apart. The sound of her own screams had long faded, and she tasted blood in her mouth caused by the rupture of her vocal chords.

Baneyon. Baneyon, come back. Baneyon, wake up. Look at me!

But he wasn't moving. He wasn't fighting back. Instead, he had chosen to suspend her in the air while he fell.
While he died. A hole grew in her chest, a mass of darkness and pain that slowly consumed her.

Hello, Terrana.

Terrana blinked. When next she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into her own face. "T2," she whispered. T2 stared back at her with dark, malicious eyes, her hair billowing around her shoulders. She grinned, and Terrana felt a wave of intense hatred from her.

"Get away from me," Terrana screamed as she tried to back away. But she couldn't move.

T2 sniggered. "First, the prince and his beast called me Anarret, and then you come up with an even worse name! T2, really?" Her face turned ugly. "You've gone and done it this time. You killed him."

"Killed who?" Terrana shouted. "I didn't kill anybody!"

"Aaah ... but you did. You killed Baneyon. It's all your fault. You were useless, only getting in his way. He had to worry about you, and in the end he died trying to protect you."

"That's not true!" Terrana shouted. "The demon killed him!"

"The demon killed him because he was trying to protect you," T2 snarled. "If it wasn't true, why did you come here? Why did you come into my world to hide?" She descended on Terrana, her face twisted and full of rage. "When Mum and Dad died, you hid in here. And Archie, you couldn't bear to think about him! You locked them away while you cried your silly eyes out and
I
had to deal with all the hurt. But one day, Baneyon came. Baneyon pulled you out of here, and you abandoned me. You left me to deal with the pain while you selfishly lapped up his affection! And now Baneyon's dead, and you are trying to throw that hurt back onto me. I won't take it anymore! I won't suffer anymore! Do you understand?"

"Stop, please stop!" cried Terrana.

"I won't stop! I won't be locked up anymore!"

T2 screamed, and Terrana had to cover her ears so that the high-pitched voice wouldn't rupture every blood vessel in her brain. Hands grabbed her by the front of her cardigan and threw her against an invisible wall. T2 was so powerful. She pressed her face into Terrana's, and Terrana was shocked to see tears running down her alter ego's cheeks.

"You killed the only person I loved," she growled. "
You.
You killed him with your uselessness! I won't stand for it anymore, you understand? I won't let the people who hurt him get away. I will not be condemned to suffer, forced to watch everyone I love die over and over again.
You will let me out!
"

"No, I won't let you control me," Terrana cried. "You will only hurt people if I let you take over. You nearly killed the prince the last time!"

"But I didn't! Admit it — you want revenge just as much as I do. You want to kill them all for making Baneyon suffer!"

She was right — Terrana wanted revenge. She wanted to kill the people who had hurt her beloved Baneyon. The same people who had crushed her heart. The other girl stared into her eyes, and a menacing smile crossed her features. "You just freed me."

Terrana cringed. By admitting her desire for revenge, she had just given T2 a get-out-of-jail card. T2 was no longer standing directly in front of her. She had vanished, leaving Terrana to fade into the shadows. Time passed, becoming an eternity. In a blinded world, Terrana did not see or hear anything apart from the pathetic sounds of her own sobbing. But there were moments when a tiny window would open, and she could hear an angry fire raging outside. Whenever that happened, she was overwhelmed by a strong desire to kill, and it was with the greatest restraint that she did not throw herself through the window. Eventually, a strange feeling of disappointment washed over her, and later, filled her with welcome silence. She felt herself drifting facedown, as if she was looking through her goggles in the sea.

Terrana.
Wake up.

She waved the annoying voice away like a mosquito.

Terrana, you have got to wake up! The other you is tired and is sleeping. You must wake up now, or she'll trap you forever.

Baneyon?

Yes, it's me.

You're okay!

No, Terrana. I'm not okay. I'm dying. But I can't leave you like this. You have got to wake up.

You're lying! You have to be okay otherwise I won't wake up.

Terrana, listen to me. I warned you to never change into her. Her powers are beyond control and only you could have stopped her. But you didn't listen, and as a result people got hurt.

I couldn't help it! I thought you had died. She thought you had died. She was hurting so much and — and we both wanted to save you. I didn't realise that sharing the same feelings with her would let her out.

Terrana, you must always fight her. Never give her control. My body is on the ship. Please wake up, and come on board. I can't last much longer.

The voice faded.
Baneyon! Baneyon, don't go. Don't leave me!

But the voice did not respond and Terrana panicked. If Baneyon was still alive, she had to be with him. She couldn't abandon him. Her eyes opened and they stared out with the same brown irises that belonged to the real Terrana. The first thing she saw was an angular starcraft hovering not far
from her. There was a tiny person standing in its doorway. Obviously he could see her, and he knew she was looking at him. He beckoned her with a wave of his hand. Almost immediately, she found herself being pulled towards him.

When her feet finally rubbed the cold steel floor of the craft, the little person spoke. "Hello, Terrana," said Grandmaster Deitrux, looking very grave. "We meet for the first time." Then, he removed the phoenix blade from her hand ever so gently.

There was a sombre mood aboard the starcraft. The smell of death was strong as Terrana walked with the grandmaster. She noticed the faars standing to one side of the hangar, while people huddled directly across from them. Her eyes widened as she recognised Lorn, Prince Gil Ra Im, and the little man who had been with Baneyon. There was also Lady Anrath — she was standing next to the prince. They were huddled around some rather large capsules lying on the floor. Terrana suddenly realised what they were.

"Baneyon," she whimpered.

"He's here," said Grandmaster Deitrux, leading her to the capsule farthest from the prince. When they reached it, he used his finger to draw a line across the top of the capsule, unlocking the lid. It opened with a slight hiss, and Terrana gave an involuntary cry when she saw Baneyon resting inside. He was missing an arm and a leg, and deep gashes ran down his chest and stomach. There was a horrid, fleshy wound below his ribcage.

Tears ran down Terrana's face and she leaned forwards, taking hold of his remaining hand. It was cold. "Baneyon!" she cried. "Baneyon, can you hear me?" She looked up at Grandmaster Deitrux. "He'll be okay, won't he? He's going to get better, right?"

"We are doing everything we can," answered the grandmaster. "But we need to get him to a hospital right away. Master Kuldor is flying us as fast as he can to his world, where Baneyon and the others will receive the best possible treatment. You can help him by remaining at his side. Can you do that?"

Terrana nodded and wiped away her tears. Grandmaster Deitrux petted her gently on the head. He then left her alone with Baneyon and made his way to the cockpit, where Master Kuldor sat. As the door shut behind him, Kuldor spoke. "That was risky, pretending to be Baneyon to reach into her mind."

"It worked though. She returned to herself." Grandmaster Deitrux placed the phoenix blade safely out of the way, then floated to the seat next to Kuldor. "But the sooner we arrive in Gratch, the safer I will feel."

"You and I both know that Baneyon is technically dead. He has suffered multiple organ failure and it is only a miracle that your qi continues to sustain him. His breathing will stop and there will be nothing we can do to prevent that. Not unless we reach a medical facility in the next half hour."

"And we both know that's not going to happen, right?" Grandmaster Deitrux said sadly. "We are hours away from the next gate."

Master Kuldor chose not to answer him. Instead, he asked a question of his own.
"Her Highness?"

Grandmaster Deitrux felt part of his soul die with him as he thought of the queen. "Dartkala help us all. Some parts of her remain. She is fighting to live. Her son continues to channel his qi into her, despite being told it will not help her injuries. Lady Anrath is keeping an eye on him."

For a while, they remained quiet. Kuldor gazed out the window, his big gentle face filled with sadness. He had been fond of Baneyon, and he respected the queen immensely. While he would certainly grieve over the former, losing the queen would have far more repercussions throughout the thirteen sectors. UWIB would be thrown into disarray, because officials would most likely demand to interfere in the process of finding the next successor for Sector Six.

Bounties would materialise everywhere, because without the queen to protect the faars, people would try to capture them. The capture of even a single faar could create tension between the sectors and lead to war. Kuldor groaned inwardly — now was not the time to think about such matters. He had to get everyone to Gratch as soon as possible.

"It has been a tragic day," Grandmaster Deitrux said, his voice laden with sorrow. "We lost good people."

"Not all though," replied Kuldor. "Raimus and Lady Fless are still alive. It is a lucky thing that the demon did not realise that Raimus possessed three hearts. And it was also lucky that Quempa came to and saved the both of them from certain death."

"But we have lost every single lacer," said the grandmaster. "L-Master Kalum has just passed on. This will not go down well with the L-Council."

Kuldor sighed heavily. "And we have lost Baneyon, Ferro and possibly Her Highness. I'd say we are equal."

Grandmaster Deitrux suddenly sat up straight. Master Kuldor shot him a concerned look. "What is it?"

"Baneyon's body has rejected the last of my qi. His heart has stopped beating … we were too late, Kuldor."

Master Kuldor's hands clenched into tight fists, the only sign of his grief. Like the grandmaster, he had hoped that Baneyon could have held on a little longer. "It won't be long before Terrana learns that he is dead," he said.

They remained quiet; neither of them wanted to discuss what would happen when Terrana learned the truth. Kuldor sighed. "How is Quempa?"

"As expected. He blames himself for not being there with Baneyon when the demon attacked."

"It wasn't his fault. No one could possibly have predicted what was going to happen."

"Sadly, that is no consolation for him. He and Baneyon had been partners for a long time." It was the grandmaster's turn to sigh. "They're all keeping their distance from the girl. None of them can get the fire out of their minds."

"I had been thinking of that too," said Kuldor, tapping his fingers lightly on the dashboard in front of him. "What are your thoughts on it? How did she do it?"

Grandmaster Deitrux met Kuldor's eyes. "I don't know. We'd have to have been there to understand what she did. Lady Anrath told me earlier that the faars sensed something terrible and flew them out of harm's way. They remember seeing the sky catch fire. It exploded into blue-green flames, they said. I've never heard anything like it."

Kuldor leaned back in his seat and sighed. "Perhaps, if we could solve how she did it, it would help towards explaining her ability to see things as they happen while she is asleep."

"There is a deep mystery surrounding her," said Grandmaster Deitrux. "It was our mistake not to look into her background with more diligence. It is apparent to me now that someone was deliberately hiding her away in Sector Thirteen."

Grandmaster Deitrux could not look more troubled than he did now. He did not show it, but the death of the younger Imeldors and L-Masters had affected him deeply, and as head of the Imeldors, he would be in the firing line for questions from the L-Council and UWIB concerning the events at Si Ren Da. Terrana's existence added a bigger problem to his plate and he contemplated whether or not to reveal her existence to UWIB and the lacers.

"Now would be unwise," said Kuldor, reading his thoughts. "We cannot risk focusing attention on her when we should be concentrating on the demons and pursuit of the pendant."

"Perhaps you are right, Kuldor. But I only hope, for everyone's sake, that Terrana's appearance in UWIB is not related to the demons, and that whoever had been hiding her in the Sector Thirteen will not decide to make an appearance now."

Kuldor's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't thought of that.

Beyond the cockpit, Terrana held onto Baneyon's cold hand, her tears trickling into his open wounds. Her chest was so tight that she could barely breathe. She leaned in close to his ear, and choked as she tried to speak.