King's Sacrifice (58 page)

"Yeah,
well, don't do me any more favors, bitch."

Tomi removed the
paralyzers from her ankles. Balancing herself on the nightstand, she
tried to stand. Her feet wouldn't support her. She tottered, started
to fall, and sat back down on the bed. Swearing softly, she reached
down, rubbed her feet and ankles, attempted to bring some semblance
of life back to them. Putting her hand on the nightstand, she
struggled to stand, swayed unsteadily a moment, then managed to
hobble from the nightstand to the bureau, grabbing hold of it just
before she fell.

Looking up, her
face glistening with sweat, Tomi saw Maigrey, watching her. "You
enjoying this, are you, bitch?"

"I was
waiting to see if you needed help," Maigrey answered calmly.

"I don't.
Not from you. And not from that weak, gimpy-handed virgin you
brought—"

Maigrey reached
out, caught hold of Tomi's arm. The captain tried to twist free, but
Maigrey's grip was strong.

"Listen to
me, Captain. And this is just between us, woman to woman. That 'gimpy
virgin' as you term him was strong enough in his beliefs and what he
perceives as his duty, both to his God and to a man who is his friend
and lord, that he was able to overcome not only his desire for you,
but his love.

"Yes, he
loves you, Captain. Loves you despite the fact that he knows you were
only trying to use him. Or maybe he loves you because of that. He
understood that your one thought was to try to save the lives
entrusted to you. You may not believe me, but we never intended to
turn you over to the Corasians. If Daniel had thought that you were
in any real and imminent danger, he would have aided you in a minute,
as he was about to do when the Corasian threatened you."

"You're
damn right. I don't believe you."

"It doesn't
matter. I want you only to understand and believe one thing. Brother
Daniel is truly a priest. He has been one since he was a child. His
life is dedicated to his God. He has taken vows of obedience, poverty
. . . and chastity. If it is any consolation to you, Captain, in
revenge for what you've suffered, you managed to hurt him deeply in
return.

"I don't
blame you for what you did, Captain. Neither does Brother Daniel.
Remember this, though. You'll recover from what happened to you. The
drug will wear off. The memories of the terror will soon fade. You'll
be a hero, a celebrity, when you return to the galaxy. I'm no seer,
Captain Corbett, but I predict that this adventure will be the making
of you. That you will glean from it fame, wealth, status.

"But not
him. Not Brother Daniel. He will be forced to bear, for the rest of
his life, the scars of the wounds you inflicted on him. Dreams of you
will torment his nights. Memories of you will interrupt his
prayers—and all the while he'll know that you were just using
him, that you despise him. He will ask his God for help and, for him,
that help will be forthcoming. But think about suffering like that,
Captain, before you ever again call Brother Daniel 'weak.'"

Maigrey let
loose her grip on the woman, turned and walked out the door.

Tomi stood,
clutching the bureau to keep from falling. On it she saw, where he
had left it, the soft leather scrip that belonged to the priest.
Fingers feeling stiff and clumsy, she fumbled at it, opened it.

The scourge lay
there, neatly coiled together, the thongs stained dark with the young
man's own blood.

"Just using
him." Tomi's eyes filled with tears. "A lot you know . . .
bitch."

Stood on the
brink of Hell and looked awhile, Pondering his voyage . . .

John Milton,
Paradise Lost

The woman and
her male cohorts were on the bridge when Tomi entered. Maigrey stood
staring at one of the monitors on which the captain could see
portrayed a star map, featuring a smallish star, orbited by what
appeared to be an asteroid belt. The soldier was at the helm, die
cyborg manning the ship's long-range scanner. The half-breed lounged
against a console, legs crossed, arms hidden inside his rags. The
priest, Brother Daniel, leaned over the woman's chair, talking with
her quietly, apparently discussing the image on the vid before diem.

Tomi glanced out
the viewscreen. They had come out of the Jump. A star, presumably the
one portrayed on the map, could be seen, burning hotly in the
distance. She couldn't see the asteroids or, more likely, fragments
from a broken-up planet. The
Belle
was on the far side of the
star, keeping the star between the planet's remains and the ship. No
Corasians in sight.

Maigrey had
glanced around on hearing the door open, greeted Tomi with a cool
nod, then turned back to her viewing of the map on the screen. The
men looked up from their work, as well, gazes flicking over Tomi with
varying degrees of interest—the soldier, uninterested, remote;
the cyborg, cynical and amused; the half-breed, dark, shadowed,
lethal. In his hand, she noticed suddenly, glinted a knife.

Tomi ignored
him, ignored the others, looked only at the young priest, the only
one who had not looked at her. Brother Daniel, standing with his back
to her, must have guessed, from the reaction of the others, who it
was who had entered. But he did not turn around.

"Captain is
armed," reported the half-breed, eyeing the lasgun Tomi wore
defiantly at her side. "You want me to take weapon?"

"Only if
she starts making a nuisance of herself," Maigrey answered.

Tomi felt
distinctly her own helplessness—armed though she was—against
these people. Her skin burned, her fingers curled over the gun,
tucked into its holster on her hip. But the vague and desperate plan
she'd formed, while in the shower, to seize back control of her ship,
take these people prisoner, bring them to justice, crumbled and
dissolved. She'd worn the gun mostly out of bravado anyway, and the
lurking suspicion that this was still, somehow, all a trick, that she
would be seized and taken prisoner again. And she'd use the gun on
herself first before she let that happen.

No one made a
move toward her, however. No one—except the half-breed—paid
any attention to her at all.

Her head ached,
the after-effects of the drug. Her legs were wobbly, she was more
than half-afraid she might pass out. But she'd be damned if she gave
them the satisfaction. Besides, she had to admit she was now
extremely curious to know what was going on.

"I wish we
could scan it," Xris said, talking through the twist in his
mouth. "I don't like going in there blind."

"Not a
chance. They might detect us. And we won't be going in blind,"
said Maigrey. "Here. I've drawn a diagram for you."

"How the
hell do you know what it looks like, sister? You been there?"

"No, but
I've seen it. Just one of my little talents," she said with a
smile that twisted the scar on her face.

"My lady,
we've received a signal from His Majesty. The fleet has safely
crossed the Void. They're now coming out of hyperspace.

"Right on
time."

"According
to the code, they're taking up position on the edge of the Void, my
lady, awaiting our coordinates."

"Send them
to Dion. Private code. No one else."

"Yes, my
lady." A pause. "Coordinates received. Transmission ended."

"Are we
picking up any sign of the fleet on our instruments?"

Feeling awkward
and self-conscious, her head throbbing,

Tomi walked
defiantly over to join them. She was aware, the entire time, of the
half-breed's suspicious, watchful gaze.

"No, my
lady," answered Agis. "Not this far away."

"Then I
doubt if Abdiel will."

"What would
he do if he did, my lady?" Brother Daniel asked.

Tomi found her
gaze straying to the priest's hands, clasped before him. She
remembered their touch, strong, yet gentle. ...

"The
Corasians could dump their computer files, make it impossible for us
to tell if they've got the complete plans for the space-rotation bomb
or not. Or, if they have the plans but haven't transmitted them yet,
they might be driven to do so."

"But
they'll know were there when our planes touch down."

"By then,
hopefully''—Maigrey glanced at the cyborg— "they'll
be too busy."

"And what
about my lord?" asked Brother Daniel softly. "Once the
mind-seizer knows we're there, isn't it possible that he will . . .
will—"

"Kill
Sagan?" Maigrey finished bluntly. "No. You see, Brother
Daniel, Abdiel always prefers using live bait. If Sagan was dead, I
wouldn't come. How long will it take
Phoenix
to make the Jump
from the Void to these coordinates?"

Agis referred
the matter to the computer. "Four hours," was the answer.

"What's
Phoenix
going to do? Burial detail?" asked Xris.

"If His
Majesty doesn't hear from me, or if I tell him we've foiled, the
warship will attack and destroy the planet."

Xris blew smoke.
"Nice to know that if we're captured, we won't suffer long."

"I thought
you'd appreciate it. Now, as I was saying before we got off the
subject, this is a blueprint of where we're going. The structure
appears to be several years old. These rooms you see here are filled
with various types of machinery. I'm not certain, but I would guess
that it was used as a sort of service station for the planes on the
outer perimeter."

"It looks
like a goddam ant farm," said Xris, studying the detailed
schematic that appeared on the screen.

"Typical
Corasian design—everything built below the planet's surface, no
need to cope with temperature fluctuations and atmospheric
disturbances aboveground. Easy to generate a breathable atmosphere
for the slave labor ... or for the mind-seizer and his disciples."

"We get in
. . . where? Through these cavelike things?"

"Yes. You
and your men follow this route to the mainframe computer, located
here. You will break into the files, determine how far along they are
on actually building a space-rotation bomb. Find out, too, how much
information on the bomb has been sent into the Interior."

"How many
Corasians do you figure we'll run into?"

"An outpost
like this would normally have several hundred. But I'm not certain.
It appears that they've ceased functioning as a refueling stop.
Probably concentrating all their efforts on manufacturing this bomb."

"Several
hundred, huh. And while we're breaking into computers, what will you
be doing, sister?"

"What I
have to. It's no concern of yours."

"Except if
you decide His Majesty should blow us all to hell."

She smiled
without warmth, pale and cold as moonlight. "We're going into
hell. Death's the way out. And now, if there are no further questions
..."

Agis turned to
Tomi. "Captain, you have the helm. The fleet will be here in
approximately four hours. I'm picking up no sign of Corasian
activity. You should be safe enough until help arrives, provided you
do nothing to alert the enemy to your presence."

Tomi grunted,
sneered. "If you're waiting for my grateful thanks, don't
bother!" Her gaze shifted, fixed on the priest. "And you're
going to go down there with her, with them? Onto a planet that's
crawling with Corasians?"

"Yes,"
Brother Daniel answered steadily.

"Don't be a
fool! Don't go. It's suicide. She's crazy. This woman—she's
Blood Royal. They were all crazy. Stay here . . . on the ship. Stay
..."

Tomi's voice
faltered. She felt Maigrey's eyes on her, continued defiantly: "Stay
on board here, with me." Her voice softened. "I want you
to. No tricks now. I mean it."

Brother Daniel
shook his head.

"All right!
Go with them!" Tomi told him. "It won't do any good.
They'll still despise you. Just like I do!"

Brother Daniel
flinched, the scorn in her voice flicking across him like the lash.

"I'm
sorry," he said, looking up at her. "I did what I believed
was best. I don't expect you to understand. But I hope someday that
you can forgive me."

A sob welled up
in Tomi's throat. Angrily, she turned away, stared out at the fiery
sun.

"You,
bitch," she said abruptly. "Get rid of them. I want to talk
to you a minute. Alone."

"The rest
of you go on. I'll meet you at the docking bay. Ill be all right,"
Maigrey added to Agis and Sparafucile, who appeared reluctant to
leave her by herself with the captain. "That's an order."

The men filed
out. The door shut behind them. Maigrey turned to Tomi. "What is
it, Captain? Be brief."

"The
Corasians have the space-rotation bomb? Is that on the level? That's
why you've done ... all this?"

"I could
tell you that was the reason. But I don't know why you should believe
me."

"I don't
know why either." Tomi's hands gripped the back of the pilot's
seat, her fingers digging into the leather. "And I don't know
why I should give a damn what you think about me, but I wanted to
tell you that you were wrong. What you said to me . . . back in my
room . . . about the priest."

Tomi sighed, put
her hand to her head that felt like it was splitting apart.

"I don't
despise him. I don't know why I said that. I really do care about
him. I didn't, at the beginning. I meant to try to seduce him, to use
him to escape. And part of me still meant it. But part of me didn't.
Maybe you could tell him that, if you think it would help."

Maigrey regarded
the woman silently, her face impassive. "Good-bye, Captain
Corbett. Good luck."

"I'm not
the one who'll need it." Tomi cast her a grim glance. "You
haven't got a prayer and you know it."

"On the
contrary," Maigrey replied gravely. "That's the one thing
we do have."