Rout of the Dem-Shyr (The Ascendant Series) (19 page)

This would be so much simpler if they could just eliminate Vycor and be done with it. The urge to obliterate him nearly overwhelmed her. Until they knew what he had done with Ty and what wheels he had already set in motion, though, she knew they would just be shooting themselves in the feet if they did.

Stay over there in that corner
, Gren thought, distracting her.

She moved to obey. Her gaze followed him as he approached a group of Mynders standing by an unmarked door. Sem stood in front of the Mynders, issuing orders. She noticed that unlike the other Mynders, Sem wore the same black armor that Gren and Ty wore. She’d never seen him wear it before. It must be an indicator of his current position, she guessed.

Gren spoke with Sem, but she didn’t listen in on what he said. After a moment, Sem gave Gren a brisk nod and turned to follow him in her direction. Since she couldn’t read Sem’s expression, she tapped into his thoughts. He was puzzled that Gren had addressed him, and irritated that Gren had interrupted him as he spoke to the Mynders under his supervision.

She also felt another’s influence on his mind.

It was so noticeable that it made her gasp. There were dark places in his mind…areas of confusion and definite influence. She had a sudden image of Sem strapped to a chair in the palace prison, fighting to escape as Vycor and the Inquisitors descended.

Furious for her friend, she pulled forth her abilities and blocked anyone from his thoughts. She waited until he had stopped in front of her and then removed the eyeshades. Her power surged as she sent him calming thoughts so that he didn’t alert anyone who might be watching.

What the hell?
he thought when he met her gaze.

It’s me, Sem
.

She took his hand and conveyed the memory of waking up in the death box. Despite her attempts to calm him, his eyes grew gradually wider. After a moment, she released him.

He grabbed her arm without speaking and led her around the bend of a nearby hallway. His urgency made her think that he wanted to have a private conversation. When they reached what appeared to be a small meeting room, he tugged her inside.

Then he whirled her around, yanked her up against him, and pressed his lips against hers.

Chapter 24

“If so many of you were wrongly convicted, why haven’t you addressed this with the Vawn as a group?” Ty asked.

Orran snorted as he swallowed his last bite of jerky. “Ya really are a freshy if yer askin’ that question.”

“I think we’ve all established that I’m a ‘freshy,’” Ty said tersely. “I wouldn’t be asking otherwise.”

“Get yer head outta yer arse, Orran,” Barto declared when Orran glared and leaned in Ty’s direction. “He could kill ya where ya sit, ya daft idiot. It’s what he’s trained for.”

“Then maybe he wasn’t influenced,” Orran asserted, crossing his arms over his chest. “Maybe he killed her because—”

Ty got to his feet. Orran stopped talking. His throat worked as he swallowed whatever else he’d been about to say.

“Sit back down, lad,” Barto said, waving Ty back to his seat. “As ya can tell, Orran here ain’t all that bright. Surprised that mouth of his ain’t gotten him killed yet, truth be told.”

Ty sat back down. He looked pointedly at Barto.

“The reason no one has gone ta the Vawn is that we can’t,” Barto explained. “There are protections in place against it. Once a convict is dropped off in the Dark Lands, they can’t ever find their way out again.”

Barto’s explanation tugged at Ty’s memory. He had learned about banishment early in his Mynder studies. The safeguards Barto mentioned were meant to protect the megais from possible invasion by Outcasts. A number of the inhabitants of the Dane megai were responsible for supporting those defenses. He wasn’t entirely sure what the protections entailed, but he recalled there being a mix of mental and physical deterrents.

When he’d had all of his abilities intact, he might have been able to find a way through those protections. But now, without even the ability to read minds, he knew he’d have no more success than any other Outcast.

In the back of his mind, he’d harbored the hope of at least making his way back to his family in the Dane megai. No matter what had happened, he knew his mother would at least listen to him. She might have been able to help him come up with a plan to prove his innocence and avenge Kyr.

Now, he knew he was truly on his own.

Shaking off the thought, he asked, “If the protections are so effective, how are people still communicating with the palace?”

Barto turned his dark gaze to Hope. “I think we need ta have a conversation, female. Ya seem ta have lost all yer damn sense.”

“She didn’t tell me anything,” Ty lied. He was tired of Barto’s threats, which he suspected the guy would follow through on based on Hope’s terrified expression. “I lived in the palace. We heard things.”

Hope sent him a grateful look before she turned her focus to the piece of jerky she held.

“Ah,” Barto said, nodding as though he’d already come to that conclusion. “Well, then, ya’ve confirmed what many in the Dark Lands believe. There’s a direct connection ‘tween this shitehole and the Vawn palace.”

“It’s a rumor on the palace side, too. Why does everyone here believe it?”

“Easy,” Barto answered. “We know too damn much out here. News of the Ascendant’s murder—er, beggin’ yer pardon.”

Ty knew he had flinched. He also knew Barto had been looking for it. Meeting the other man’s gaze, Ty silently let him know that he was walking on dangerous ground.

Out loud, he said, “It’s fine.”

They both knew it wasn’t.

Barto cleared his throat before continuing. “As I was sayin’, news from the palace reaches even the outskirts of the Dark Lands much too quickly for there not ta be a connection. The news comes on the regular, too. Seems likely that someone here is communicatin’ with someone there.”

“But you don’t know where the information originates?” Ty asked.

“No. We usually get our info from the Growers, who get it from the Tinkers, who get it from the Peace Keepers, who get it from Yen-Ki knows where.”

Ty considered this. Was it a single individual here in the Dark Lands communicating with the palace? Or was it a group, such as the Marauders? Did the information flow two ways? If so…

“Why would anyone in the palace need or want to communicate with us out here?” he asked, mostly to himself.

“I think they’re monitorin’ the progress of the tajeria minin’,” Hope replied.

Everyone turned and looked at her. Barto, Orran, and Reider all seemed surprised she had spoken. Ty had a feeling that she knew more than all three of the males put together.

“What do you mean?” he asked her. “I thought all tajeria mining had been stopped because of how dangerous it was.”

Reider made a buzzing sound with his lips. “That’s what all of us were told. When we got here, we learned the truth. They didn’t stop the mining…they just stopped it in places people knew about.”

“We’re the lucky ones,” Orran said, his tone subdued. “We escaped.”

Ty looked around the table. “So, all convicts except the ones who escape are working in a tajeria mine?”

“That’s the damn truth,” Barto declared. “Orran has the right of it, he does. We are the lucky ones, even if we struggle ta get by day by day. At least we’re not in that death-trap of a mine.”

This was huge.

Ty sat back in his chair. If what they were telling him was true—and he had no reason to believe otherwise—then the very basis of Alametria’s economy was a lie.

Other planets traded valuable resources with Alametria in exchange for what they believed was a rare good. The famed Alametrian Elixir, created with tajeria, was an extremely potent source of energy. Depending on its form, it could do anything from power a space vessel to extend a person’s life. Because the stores of tajeria were limited—well, supposedly limited—the Vawn could command any price they wanted for it.

On top of that, if other planets found out that Alametria was still rich in tajeria, it would make the planet vulnerable to outside invaders. There were many planets that couldn’t necessarily afford the price of the Elixir. They wouldn’t hesitate to stage an invasion to get their hands on the tajeria by force if they had to.

Although Barto apparently hadn’t clued in, Ty figured that this was why people were being falsely convicted and sent to the Dark Lands. The mine needed laborers, and with the mining process being so hazardous and a number of people escaping, there had to be a steady need for working bodies.

Freshies
.

“Ya see the problem with goin’ ta the Vawn even if we could, don’t ya?” Barto asked.

He did. There was no way something like this was going on outside of the knowledge of the Guardians and Vycor. Had they sanctioned the influencing of innocent Alametrians to get more people mining tajeria?

“I’m curious why ya weren’t dropped at the mine yerself, Freshy,” Orran said. “‘Twas a death sentence, them dumpin’ ya where they did.”

“Seems obvious to me,” Reider said. “They didn’t want him to survive.”

Ty shrugged. “That’s probably true.”

“Well, it doesn’t much matter ta me why ya were or weren’t dropped at the mine,” Barto said. “If ya want ta stay here with a safe roof over yer head, ya have ta earn yer keep.”

Feeling everyone’s eyes on him, Ty considered his options.

He could walk away from all of this, head out into the Dark Lands, and die in peace. But something about that option wasn’t quite as alluring as it was even a couple of hours before. Now, he had more of an idea why Vycor had done what he did. Kyr had been getting closer and closer to assuming her full responsibilities as the Ascendant. She had shown compassion towards both the Shelvaks and the V’larians, making it clear that she wouldn’t sanction cheating them if she found out about the mine in the Dark Lands.

So Vycor had eliminated her.

And he would die for it.

Ty’s second option was to head out on his own and try to find his bearings in an unknown environment as he sought a way to bring Vycor down. That would take time that he didn’t want to spare, not to mention possibly killing him in the process.

His last option was to stay with this questionable group and risk his life every day in order to have food and shelter while he figured out how he could close down the mine and kill Vycor as painfully as possible.

He went with the third option.

A thirst for vengeance was all he had left.

Chapter 25

Sem pressed Kyr up against the closest wall. His tongue invaded her mouth, exploring her like a lover. She froze, all sense of self-preservation flying out of her head.

And then he was suddenly gone.

She collapsed against the wall, shaking and struggling for breath. She watched as Gren spun Sem around, his expression murderous. Sem didn’t seem very concerned. He shoved Gren’s hand off of his shoulder and then turned back to Kyr. Before she could object, he dragged her into a tight hug.

“Sorry about that,” he said against her ear. “The one thing I regretted when I heard that you had died was that I had never kissed you.”

She couldn’t believe that he was taking her survival in stride like this. Belatedly, it occurred to her that she was still influencing his emotions, which was likely impacting his reaction.

“It’s okay,” she said, keeping her voice quiet in case the room was being monitored. Through thought, she added,
Sem, I can feel Vycor in your mind.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gren’s posture change. She figured he had intercepted the thought.
His influence is strong. I’m using a lot of energy right now to counteract whatever he’s done to you. I want to break that hold and do what I can to prevent it from happening again.

Sem shrugged.
You can do anything you want to me, Ma’jah
.

Even now, he flirted with her.

Sighing, she lifted her hands to both sides of his face and once again drew upon her abilities. Thinking of how she had dived into Ty’s mind to break the barrier that prevented him from touching her with love, she held Sem’s gaze and did the same thing. She allowed her mind to explore those parts of Sem’s that had been touched by Vycor’s darkness.

The memory caught her by surprise.

“Let me go, Vycor!” Sem demanded. He was strapped to a chair. Inquisitors stood on either side of him.

“But I’m about to give you a great honor, SemDane,” Vycor said, sitting across from Sem. Kyr felt his influence entering Sem’s mind. “Your cousin just killed the Ascendant. I thought you would want to honor Ma’jah’s memory by serving as the head of security for her burial.”

“Get out of my head, you crazy
fuck
,” Sem snarled, trying to fight against Vycor’s invasion. “Kyr isn’t dead. Ty would never do that.”

“Oh, but she is. He killed her with his own two hands.”

And cruelly, maliciously, Vycor sent Sem a play-by-play of exactly what had happened in the judgment chamber, using his influence to heighten Sem’s feelings. Hatred towards Ty and crippling grief over Kyr’s death had Sem doubled over in the chair. Animal-like sounds left his throat. His emotions stuck him so powerfully that he couldn’t fight Vycor any longer.

“Nothing would please me more than to have you doing my bidding, SemDane,” Vycor said, leaning forward and yanking Sem’s head back by his hair so he could look into his eyes. “Not only have I defeated your cousin, but now I’ll start destroying his family one person at a time. You’re first.”

It took an enormous amount of control for Kyr to push past the atrocious memory. Worried that she might encounter more, she cycled her abilities in stronger waves. She eradicated Vycor’s influence one piece at a time, replacing it with shields that she thought would keep anyone from entering Sem’s mind unless he allowed it.

Once she was done, she freed herself from his mind, easing her influence so he was fully experiencing his own emotions. Dizziness overtook her as they disconnected, making her grab the table for support.