Knights of Desire [Flights of Fancy 2] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (11 page)

Using his thumb, Landis moved the slide to the presumed
on
position. A red light came on, and in the center of the light were some of the squiggles he assumed were words in Shane's language. At least it didn't blow up.

He pushed the mode control to the middle position, and the weapon changed in his hand. Landis fought the urge to the throw the device, and it soon settled down, but it had grown a set of three rings, each containing what looked like lenses from a spyglass, two on the top of the weapon in a line he could look through and the last in front of the barrel. The light had also changed from red to yellow, and a different set of squiggles filled the center.

In spite of his dread, he moved the slide to the last mode. The weapon again writhed in his hand, and the lenses vanished. Replacing them was a globe at the very end of the barrel about the same size as Shane's fist. The orb glowed in an eerie blue hue, and Landis felt the hair on his hand and arm standing on end. The light changed back to red, but now it blinked on and off at about the same rate as his pounding heart. He saw no squiggles of writing on the light now.

Landis considered forgetting about the weapon, but no matter how skillful and determined he and Clemmons were he knew they had no chance against this many dragons. They needed the advantage of the weapon.

He slid the control back to the first detent, and the weapon changed again, the steady red light now staring at him from the device, mocking his hesitation. He had to go forward with this.

Raising the device to sight along the barrel, as he'd seen Shane do, he aimed at the lizard closest to the mouth of cave. He lowered the weapon. Landis had no idea what the shot would do to the cave mouth, and it could cause the entrance to collapse, sealing Shane in her tomb. Instead, Landis took aim at a large boulder some distance away from the cave and the dragons.

Landis slowly squeezed his fist, pressing on the
fire
control, and a loud crack rang out as the boulder's surface fractured and chips flew in all directions.

He smiled at his success until he realized that five dragons all ran straight at his location.

* * * *

After Landis had moved off to create his diversion, Clemmons crept a little closer to the mouth of cave. Several lizards still moved around outside, but a number had left the area, and he wondered if they had the right place. Clemmons knew from spies he and Landis sent to the mountains that the dragons had a number of caves they used as barracks, and there was no way of knowing if this was the one they had brought Shane to.

Landis said he had no idea what sort of distraction he would create to give Clemmons time to get into the cave, but he took Shane's weapon with him. Clemmons imagined something dramatic would happen, but he didn't know what anymore than Landis did. The real question was if it would be dramatic enough. On their home soil, rested and in numbers, the lizards would be a formidable force to deal with for a small army of men, let alone just two.

Even with Shane's amazing weapon, they couldn't count on an advantage. The simple fact was neither he nor Landis knew how to work the device. Clemmons doubted it would be of much help.

Suddenly, a loud report rang out across the small valley holding the cave, and a boulder a short distance from the entrance shattered. The lizards spun, looking in the direction of the cliff wall that rose far above the valley, and the five ran in the direction of the sound. Apparently, Landis figured out Shane's weapon.

Clemmons moved toward the cave, keeping to the cover of rocks and bushes when he could, but running in the open when he had to. The lizards trotted toward the cliff, their backs to him and their attention diverted.

Long before Clemmons reached the cave, the dragons reached the pile of rubble at the base of the cliff. They spread out, searching for the source of the explosion that damaged the boulder.

A beam of red light, far brighter than the sun at its zenith, stabbed out from the rocky debris. The light touched one of the dragons, and it wailed in pain as its skin bubbled and flowed from its body like lava from a volcano. The dragon ran from the rocks, flames trailing behind it and leaving boiling pools of flesh where its feet hit the ground. It tried to take flight, but its wings had burned off, and the dragon fell to the dusty ground, twitching and flailing. Soon, the screams of pain stopped, and a smoldering pile of flesh marked the final resting place of the lizard.

Two of the remaining dragons took wing and soared close to the cliff wall, looking down into the rocks to spot their attacker. Clemmons reached the mouth of the cave and had to flatten himself against the stone wall as another lizard ran from the cave to join his comrades in their search for Landis. Now three dragons flew near the wall to direct the other two on the ground.

Before entering the cave, Clemmons turned to look at the cliff to judge how Landis might escape. A loud buzzing sound came from the rubble at the base, but he saw no beam or projectiles whizzing through the air, and yet the wall of the cliff far above where the dragons flapped their huge wings, broke away like avalanches he'd seen in the past.

Huge slabs of stone rained down from above, slamming into the flying dragons, ripping their shattered bodies from the sky and crashing down to join the debris already piled at the bottom of the precipice. The cascade of rock smashed the grounded lizards. They didn't even have time to scream.

Clemmons's heart clenched in his chest, because Landis had no chance to escape the torrent of boulders Shane's weapon had unleashed. Landis now shared a tomb with the dragons.

Clemmons blinked back the tears collecting in the corners of his eyes, and he knew Landis would want him to press on, to find Shane and rescue her from the lizards.

He drew his sword and moved into the darkness of the cave, trying to leave the thoughts of his lost lover, comrade, and life-partner behind him in the harsh sunlight.

* * * *

When she looked up from her console, the Tactical Officer smiled. "Captain, I have high-power laser fire on the surface."

Elsa spun her command chair around a little too fast and had to grip the arms to keep from falling out. "Where?"

"At one-thirty-seven mark one-niner mark twelve mark twenty-six by twenty-two mark eight mark fifty-one mark niner."

Elsa sighed. "Blast your eyes! I'm not a mathematician! Put it on a map!"

"Sorry, Ma'am." The officer worked her controls, and a map appeared on the main view screen. "The blue area is the encampment. The red dot is the location of the laser activity."

The Science Officer tapped a few switches before she spoke up. "Ma'am, the energy profile matches Sergeant Rawls's hand weapon."

"Good work, people." Elsa smiled and reached for the intercom, but the Tactical Officer interrupted before she could call Ells.

"One moment, Captain." The officer again worked her panel. "I just got a huge blaster discharge from the same location. Looks like maximum power, near total discharge."

"God damn it!" Elsa slapped the intercom control. "Ells, I want immediate deployment of your people."

Despite being in full body armor and packed into an assault landing craft with his team for more than four hours, Ells sounded just like he always did—calm, cool, and collected. "Understood, Captain."

"You have the bridge for deployment."

"Copy that. Helm, come to heading one-niner-zero, down angle ten degrees, one-half impulse power, and prepare for emergency launch on my mark."

As of now, Elsa was the only redundant crewmember on the bridge. As had been done for millennia, the commander of the Marine detachment had command of the ship and would keep that command until all of his troops were safely away. All of this was despite the fact Ells was in an assault craft on the hanger deck, about as far away from the bridge as he could get and still be aboard
Daedalus
.

The helmsman worked the ship. "Aye, aye. Altitude six hundred and fifty kilometers, down seventy kilometers per second."

"Hold down at seventy. Arm explosive release bolts. All landing-party team members secure. Lock and load." Ells paused a moment as
Daedalus
dropped from orbit like a falcon diving for dinner. "Down fifty and hold steady."

"Down fifty, aye. Altitude four hundred kilometers."

The officer at the engineering station told everyone what they already knew. "Hull temperature increasing. Now at five hundred and five degrees."

Ells's voice never quivered. "Copy. Helm, hold course."

"Holding down fifty on one-niner-zero. Altitude two hundred and fifty kilometers."

Between the artificial gravity, the deflector shields, Harbison Field, and heavy hull plating, Elsa couldn't sense the motion, but she knew that even at this altitude, the thin atmosphere of the planet ripped at the skin of the ship. But this was all routine operation for a drop, and she'd done it dozens of times. That didn't mean she didn't have to fight the urge to bite her nails.

The Engineering Officer silenced the alarm announcing the hull temperature had hit twenty-five hundred degrees.

"Altitude one hundred and twenty-five kilometers."

Ells barked commands. "Standby to launch in three, two, one, mark!"

Daedalus
shook like she'd hit a wall when the assault craft broke free, falling into the thicker air of the planet at nearly a twentieth of light speed. The little ship would be on the ground in less than two seconds, but Elsa had to get
Daedalus
to a reasonable and safe orbit.

"Helm, maintain course, up angle at forty degrees, full impulse power."

"Aye, aye. Altitude seventy kilometers, up at one hundred kilometers per second."

Elsa casually wondered what the people on the ground thought of the tremendous fireball made by
Daedalus
as she streaked across the sky.

* * * *

He encountered only a few dragons as he moved through the cave, and Clemmons easily hid from them. Torches in stanchions set in the walls gave him plenty of light while also creating deeps shadows he could slip into. He wanted to avoid contact and thereby conflict. All he had going for him now was the element of surprise.

But he didn't know how that was going to work out for him. He had no idea where the dragons might be holding Shane in the labyrinth of the cave, and the lizards had been so rude as to not put up signs. Clemmons had no idea where to even begin looking, so he wandered more or less aimlessly around in the semidarkness.

A pair of dragons approached him, and Clemmons slipped into a dark crevice letting them pass. He listened to their idle chatting.

"The quake didn't do any damage to the cave as far as I know, but six warriors died when part of the cliff collapsed. Cedric has pulled all the others into the cave in case there are more collapses."

"We didn't even feel it on the third level. Did you know any of the dead?"

Clemmons felt some amazement at the conversation. It wasn't at all unlike how he might chat with another man.

"No, but they will be missed just the same. What were you doing on the third level? There's nothing down there."

"That's where Cedric and Handley have that woman prisoner. They want her away from the others for some reason."

The first dragon snorted. "You can bet that was Handley's idea. He's a mad and power-hungry fool."

"You're right about that, but don't let any of Handley's killers hear you say that. Cedric is good, but even he's afraid of Handley's henchmen."

As they moved farther down the tunnel, the rest of the lizard's ruminations faded away, but Clemmons had what he needed. Shane was still alive, and she was on the third level. All he had to do was find that.

* * * *

"My lord, killing this woman will accomplish nothing." The dragon called Cedric stepped forward, his large feet with their sharp claws very near her body. Shane had the impression he tried to shield her from Handley. "We do not yet know the abilities of these humans, and her death may anger them."

"Your weakness shows you fear these humans." Handley leaned toward Cedric, his teeth less than half a meter from Cedric's face. "Do you fear them more than you fear us?"

Shane took advantage of the confrontation to pull herself from under Handley and used the edge of the table to get to a standing position. "King Handley, I have told you all I know, and we mean no harm to you or your people."

"Silence!" Handley's roar shook the table Shane leaned on for balance.

Cedric stood his ground, not reacting to the outburst, and his gaze stayed locked to Handley's. "Sire, we know only that her people came from very far away, much farther than we or the men could travel. Their tools hint of power that could destroy us, maybe even the world."

Handley struck out at Cedric with his talons, much as he had at her, but Cedric reacted instantly and sidestepped the crushing blow. A bellow that again shook the walls of the cave chamber ripped from Handley's throat, and he charged at Cedric.

* * * *