Transformation, M J Marlow [thriller books to read .TXT] 📗

spin, “is it to be bondage of another sort?” “Not a prisoner, Goddess,” Nayda frowned. “Never a prisoner.” She debated the wisdom of what she was doing as she realized that this girl truly was a goddess. “We have need of your assistance.” Zen laughedand she looked puzzled. “Something amuses you, Goddess?” “You choice of words, Nayda,” Zen told her. “I have heard such words before,” she told the woman coldly, “and found that the ‘assistance’ my captors wished was the chance to torture meand chain me.” She rose to her feet, her eyes cold. “It is not going to happen again!” she said in a tone that had all of the women, including Nayda, cringing. “If I am not here as a guest, then I will leave. I do not require your permission, or your assistance, to find my way home.” “So fierce, little princess,” a familiar voice spoke up from the doorway. Zen looked past Nayda to see the hunter leaning against the doorframe. “If you truly mean what you say,” he added as he came inside, “allow me to help.” “I am to trust you, hunter?” Zen snapped. “It is by your hand that I find myself in this place.” “You had the power to stop this,” the hunter replied as he sat downand accepted a goblet of juice from one of the women, “and you didn’t use it. Why?” “I was not created to be a weapon,” Zen told him. “My role was always as a source of knowledge,and protection.” “And you never thought that you could protect yourself, little princess?” Quern asked her bluntly. He saw from her expression that she had not. “I think it’s time you considered that.” He looked over at Nayda. “Sit down, Mother. She is not going to hurt you.” “Mother?” Zen asked him. “This woman is your mother? That slaver, Orto, is your brother?” “Indeed,” the hunter nodded. “I asked him to follow the Chen I ‘sold’ you toand make certain they did not harm you. I never dreamed he would hurt you himself.” He looked quite ashamed of himself. “I am ashamed of my part in that, Goddess,” he told her bluntly. “My lady-wife went too far. That is why,” he continued as he finished the juice, “I am turning her over to the Council when I return to Belastia.” He saw her look of disbelief. “Read my mind if you don’t believe me, Goddess. I am through being used to damage others.” Zen did as he asked,and he winced as her mind flowed into his a bit more harshly than she intended. She saw his memoriesand she grieved with him over the losses he had suffered, the abuses he had performed in the name of the Directive. This man had been honorable once,and he was trying to be so again. She pulled out, nodding,and sat back down. “There is truth in you, hunter Quern,” she said after a few moments silence. “I would return to my mate now. Perhaps you can do this for me before you return to Belastia?” She felt Nayda’s anguish. “The problem you need our assistance with is something you can handle yourself, Nayda Quern. You have the knowledge right here,” she continued, indicating the symbols on the wall. “All you lack is understanding.” She saw the woman’s eagerness. “May I give that to you now?” “You would do this for us, Goddess?” Nayda looked ashamed. “After we treated you so dreadful?” “I would do this for you,” Zen nodded. She held her hand out to Naydaand the two women. “With the understanding that the knowledge needs to be shared threefold.” The women came to kneel in front of herand Zen had them touch her hands. Her mind flowed into theirsand gave them the understanding of the knowledge they had always considered just pretty symbols. “You know what you must do now?” The women noddedand she rose to her feet. “Then I will leave.” She smiled over at the hunter. “May we go, hunter?” Quern bowed his headand followed her out of the hut. She saw the transport sitting by the streamand boarded it. For the first time, she realized, she was traveling in one of these machines by her own choice. She was delighted. The hunter took the controlsand she sat next to him copying the knowledge of what he was doing from his mind. He was oblivious to what she was doing as they headed east towards the Shrine. Two hours later, he frowned as the transport began to buck. “Try to go limp, Princess,” he said as he struggled with the controls. “We’re in for a very hard landing.” Zen did as he said, seeing in his mind what was happening. She was thrown against the bulkhead as they struckand blacked out. When she came to, the door to the vehicle was openand the transport was on its side. She crept out carefully, wincing as her right wing hung limpand useless. She looked around for the hunterand found him lying through the windshield. She pulled him backand looked him over. He was cut up, but otherwise unharmed. She made him comfortableand went to get the first aid kit. She had finished bandagingand cleaning the worst of his wounds when she heard a whistling sound. The next moment she was lying on her side, her arms bound against her sides. She heard someone climbing in the broken windshield. She played unconscious,and realized she wasn’t that far off as she hit her right wingand pain shot through her. “This is a strange creature, Trinia?” someone said as they pulled her up by the hair. Fresh pain struck herand she struggled to remain conscious enough to know what was happening. “The Directive is creating monsters now?” “She’s not a monster,” another voice, this one youngand female, protested. “She’s an angel.” There was a gasp. “Put her down, Petir! She’s got a broken wing.” Zen was laid down, on her broken wing,and the pain sent her tumbling into the darkness. When she came to, hours later she found herself looking up into a familiar Nydare face. It couldn’t be, her fevered mind told her. He was dead! Trel had said his bones were bleaching in the Scourge. She lost consciousness again as someone was giving her liquids. She floated inand out of consciousness, with Marekand then Daren seated beside her. She was hallucinating, Zen told herself. That was the only way they could be here with her. She fell into nightmares as the fever mountedand had to be strapped down. “The wing is healing, lord Daren,” a kindly old voice was saying as she came back to herself. “The fevers worried me, however. I thought we were going to lose your Queen several times over the past week.” “Week?” Zen croaked, her throat dryand in need of liquid. She tried to sit upand found herself strapped down. “Let me up!” “Calm, beloved,” Daren’s voice sounded in her ear. “You had a broken wingand had to be strapped down when your fever locked you in nightmare.” “You’re dead,” Zen told the figment of her imagination, refusing to open her eyes. “Go away.” Familiar lips brushed hersand her eyes shot open. “Daren?” She cried out in wonder. She tried to raise her arms but she was still strapped down. “Let me up. I want to touch you.” Daren looked over at someone she couldn’t see, seeking permission. His smile told her all she needed to know. He let her upand she threw her arms around his neck, sobbing. He held her to his chest, breathing in her scent. Had it only been two weeks since they were together. It seemed like an eternity since he had her in his arms where she belonged. He looked down into her beautiful eyesand his heart spun in delight. “I was dying without you, Zen,” Daren told her as he clung to her. “An overstatement, Your Majesty,” Tepit, the old kindly voice, said as he stepped forward. He bowed his head to her. “It is an honorand pleasure to meet you, Nydare Queen.” He nodded at Daren. “And I am happy to see you recovered from your ordeal. Your mate was ready to rip my head off.” “You have a question?” Zen saw it in his mind. “The chen?” Tepit nodded. “It was an experiment. The lady Trel wanted to see if I would transform if she had me mated to another race.” “That heartless bitch!” Tepit hissed, his kindly manner turned to frost. “It would probably have killed you, Your Majesty.” “The hunter?” Zen asked, looking over at Daren. “Is he all right?” “He is on his way to the Council,” Tepit answered for her mate. “He said it was the least he could do for the part he played in your ordeals.” He smiled. “That man knows where a lot of secrets are buried.” He bowed his head to her againand left. “Who is that man, Daren?” Zen asked as she watched him leave. “That, my beloved,” Daren smiled as he took her in his arms again, “is the lord Tepit Ven. He is the head of the Governors Council.” He saw her question. “I contacted him when I learned that the lady Trel had you. He was most disturbed to hear what an Ambassadorand her brother,and the lord Cardinal Omri, had done to you.” “Our flock…” “They are safe, beloved,” Daren told her, wondering if his little mate ever thought of herself. “The lord Cardinal is on his way to his superiors.” He saw that her worry was not over. “Now what?” “Those poor villagers!” Zen cried as she remembered what Omri had made her do. “We have to find them, Daren. I have to help them.” “And we will, beloved,” Daren laughedand held her close. “Only just not this moment.” He claimed her lipsand heard her sigh. “My own dear angel.” Tepit nodded as he heard the silenceand turned to go to his transport. Marek was seated, his eyes hard as he looked at the man. He knew his superior had a point, but he failed to see why it had to mean his ending his association with Zen. He could still feel her in his mind,and in his heart. He jumped as someone laid a hand on hisand looked up to see Tepit watching him. “We are asking a lot of you, nephew,” he acknowledged as he sat down nearby, “but I have been led to believe it is needed, or I would not ask.” “I have been away from my work too long, Uncle,” Marek replied. “There are still rumors of danger to our planet that must be tracked.” “Just don’t lock yourself back in your prison, Marek,” Zen’s mind soared into his, warming him, giving him peace. “Or I will track you down.” * Omri stood in front of the Council of Eldersand told them everything from the moment he had first found Zoran in his burial cylinder. To the plans heand the man had made to the digs that had freed the Princess Zenand the lady Sarit. He kept his pride in check, presenting his choices as his search for truth. It had been others, he asserted, who had turned the course of the investigation. He described the princess to them, his admiration for her determination,and her loyalty, quite plain. He also described for them the limitless potential of her abilities. Properly trained, she could be something quite extraordinary. “You should have brought this to us sooner, lord Cardinal Omri,” Abbott Jenos replied stiffly. “Such an asset to our cause had to be handled far more delicately.” He turned to the others, who nodded agreement. “You will be required to spend the next seven weeks in reflection. We shall contact the Princessand offer formal apology.” Omri bowed his headand left the chamber. Abbott Jenos’ face went even colder. “Who do we have in the area who can collect the Princess for us?”