"Yes, I see the contestants. What of it?" Mother Chundra snapped.
"What of it is Tragar is going to kill Daro in the first five minutes. He"s a trained a.s.sa.s.sin with hundreds of kills under his belt and Daro is a pediatrician. They"re not evenly matched at all!"
The High Priestess sniffed. "That is not my problem."
"But...don"t you care that Daro will die?" Emily demanded. "You handpicked him to come here as a candidate and he gave up his whole life to answer your call."
"Which is only as it should be." Mother Chundra lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Emily. "I am the Head of the Holy Council. My word is law."
"Right," Emily muttered. G.o.d, she couldn"t believe the power trip this woman was on! Still, she tried to keep her anger in check. "But Daro doesn"t deserve to die-he"s a really nice, upstanding, honorable guy."
"Not nice" enough, apparently, for you to want him as your chosen mate," the High Priestess said sarcastically.
"Well, no. He"s not Tragar. I told you when I came here that we were already together. I can"t-"
"The solution to this problem is simple," the High Priestess snapped, cutting her off. "Renounce your intention to bond with that filthy a.s.sa.s.sin and return to the Sacred Grove to continue your bonding ceremony with Daro."
"You know I can"t do that," Emily said. "Tragar and I are meant to be together. He found me on my home planet light years from here where there has never been a single Khalla before. He saved me. Please, just try to understand."
"No, you understand me." Mother Chundra stabbed a long, boney finger in Emily"s face. "Either accept Daro as your chosen mate or watch him get slaughtered before your eyes. Those are your only choices."
Emily felt her eyes starting to burn as the other came forward.
"Don"t you care at all that an innocent life will be lost just because you can"t have your way? Are you really that heartless?" she demanded, the voice of the other coming from her lips. Emily found she didn"t mind though-they were in complete agreement about this.
"The conflict is about to begin. Go and find a seat, Khalla-to-be. Your whining bores me." Mother Chundra waved her away.
Numbly, Emily left the High Priestess and went to Tragar.
He stopped making the short, deadly practice swings and gave her his whole attention.
"What is it, my Khalla? Your eyes are golden-are you all right?"
"She won"t do it," Emily said, feeling like she might cry tears of pure rage. "She won"t call it off. She doesn"t care if Daro gets killed."
"So the High Priestess refuses to cry off the Conflict." Daro came up to them, the spiked sword held loosely in one hand. "Forgive me," he added. "I could not help overhearing."
Tragar sighed. "Emily here fears for your safety."
"As well she should." Daro nodded gravely. "Even if I had spent the last five years training instead of practicing medicine, I still would not like my odds against a member of the Verrak."
"Daro, what are you saying?"
The soft voice was familiar-Lit"aal. Emily groaned inwardly when she saw that the little priestess had crept up behind them to listen in.
Daro sighed and put an arm around Lit"aal"s slight shoulders.
"I am only saying that now may be a good time for us to say our goodbyes, Lit"aal."
"What? No!" She shook her head, her indigo eyes wide. "No, you can"t give up like that! You can"t-I won"t let you. I..." Her lips trembled and her eyes filled with tears. "I love you, Daro! I didn"t have the courage to admit it before but it"s true-it"s true."
"I love you, too," he said gently. "I am sorry we could not have more time together."
"Oh my G.o.d..." Emily put her head in her hands. "Oh, Tragar-I don"t think I can do this!"
"Do you wish me to step down? To let you..." His throat worked as though he was forcing the words out. "To let you bond with another?"
Emily opened her mouth but Daro spoke before she could answer.
"No!" He shook his head firmly. "No, you must not do that." He looked at Emily. "I want to tell you how inspired I was by your actions in the Sacred Grove this morning. You would rather choose death than being bonded to the wrong person." He lifted his chin. "I feel the same way. Though being a chosen mate to a Khalla is a great honor, I would rather die than be with anyone but the female I love." He squeezed Lit"all"s shoulders and she burst into fresh sobs.
Tragar nodded, a look of respect gleaming in his golden eyes.
"You speak truth from the heart, my Brother. Though we cannot avoid this conflict, I give you my oath as a Kindred and as a member of the Verrak that your death will be swift and painless."
"Thank you." Daro held out his hand and Tragar took it in a warrior"s clasp. They gripped hard for a moment, each male"s fingers digging into the other"s forearm.
"I salute your courage," Tragar told him.
"And I, yours." Daro nodded.
"Enough of this endless talking!" The voice of the High Priestess rang out, interrupting the solemn moment. "This Conflict must begin soon. I have noticed that the Khalla-to-be"s eyes are glowing gold steadily now. She must have a chosen mate very soon!"
"Fine," Tragar growled, throwing her an angry look. "We will begin."
He released Daro"s arm and the two stepped back and faced each other. Feeling wretched, Emily put her arm around Lit"aal"s shaking shoulders and led her back to the benches. Somehow she got the sobbing girl seated beside her and found that Kate, the girl with the curly red hair was on her other side.
"What was that all about?" Kate murmured from the corner of her mouth.
"Mother Chundra-the High Priestess-could stop this with a word but she won"t," Emily muttered back, her eyes never leaving the arena where Tragar and Daro were circling each other warily. "She"s determined that I should be with Daro but he"s in love with Lit"aal here and of course, I can"t be with anyone but Tragar."
"Of course not," Kate said sympathetically. "He found you in the first place, right?"
"Yes. Well, I mean, he was supposed to kill me," Emily said in a low voice. "But he couldn"t. At first because of biology and the way Beast Kindred feel about a Khalla and then later because, well, we fell in love." She gave the other girl a sidelong glance. "I know that sounds like the worst case of Stockholm syndrome ever-falling in love with your a.s.sa.s.sin slash kidnapper-but you have to understand Tragar. He"s had a terrible past and he"s so sweet and kind and-"
"Deadly," Kate finished for her in an awed voice.
Emily looked up and saw that the battle was in full swing now. Tragar and Daro were circling each other, their weapons flying in sweeping arcs. Tragar moved with ease and skill, deflecting every blow the other Kindred threw at him with hardly any effort at all. His own blade was a blur but as yet, he hadn"t even attacked. He was simply moving around the arena as Daro hacked and slashed desperately, trying to find an opening.
But there was no opening to find. Emily had never been a big fan of action movies-fight scenes bored her to tears. But even to her untrained eyes, Tragar"s technique was fluid, flawless...and deadly, just as Kate had said. The air was filled with the sound of metal on metal and sparks flew from their blades every time they met. But try as he might, Daro couldn"t make any headway.
Tragar fought silently, a look of intense concentration on his face. As they watched, he made a sudden move, too fast to see, and Daro"s spiked blade went flying and landed harmlessly in the gra.s.s several feet away. The sun glinted off it, blinding Emily for a moment.
Daro scrambled for his sword but again, Tragar was too quick for him. In another fluid move, he was behind the other Kindred with his sword pressed to his throat.
"Oh G.o.d," she breathed too softly for the weeping Lit"aal to hear. "He"s going to die-Tragar is going to kill him."
"Looks like it," Kate murmured back. "Now I can see why Rone and everybody on the Mother Ship was so worried about you-these Verrak fellas don"t play around."
"I don"t want to watch," Emily whispered, her throat dry and her heart pounding. "I can"t..." But somehow she couldn"t look away. The bench felt hard under her behind and the sunshine was hot on her shoulders. The heavy scent of flowers and herbs coming from the nearby garden turned her stomach. She became aware that her eyes were burning again-the other was as upset as she was.
"This isn"t right-he should not have to do this. Tragar, the one we love, he should not have this death on his conscious as well."
I know, Emily told her. But what can he do? His hands are tied.
She waited anxiously for the final blow to fall-for Tragar to sweep the sword blade across the other man"s neck and cut his throat. She could almost see the crimson droplets pattering down on the dusty gra.s.s and smell the metallic tang of blood in the air...
Then, to her surprise, Tragar stepped back and threw down his sword.
"No." He looked up, looked around the arena at the watching spectators. "No, I will not take this male"s life. Through all my years in the Verrak, I have spilled enough blood to fill a fountain but I have never taken the blood of an innocent." He glared at the High Priestess. "I do not intend to start now."
"You must, warrior!" She stood up from the bench she"d been sitting on and pointed a finger at him. "It was you who demanded the Right of Conflict! You must see it to its end or forfeit the hand of the Khalla-to-be!"
"I will do neither!" Tragar"s voice was a low, angry growl. "Daro shall go free and I will bond Emily to me despite your spiteful demands. You may be the head of the Holy Council but you do not have the right to ruin the lives or cause the deaths of others."
"Then your Khalla-to-be will be denied access to the breeding suite." Mother Chundra pointed at Emily. "Without the lovesuckle blossoms to ease the final stage of her Tenrah, she will have almost no chance of survival. So go on and take her if you wish-take her far from the Temple and never return. You may live a long and happy life together-if she survives."
There were low gasps from some of the priestesses nearby.
"Can she do that?" Emily heard one of them whisper to another. "Denying access to the breeding suite is tantamount to signing a death sentence for the Khalla-to-be!"
"She is the High Priestess," her friend whispered back. "She can do as she pleases."
Emily felt sick. Was this really how it was going to go? Was she going to die after all when the final stage of her Shift hit her?
"I do not accept this-" Tragar began, glaring at Mother Chundra. He seemed about to continue but he was interrupted by a m.u.f.fled shriek from one of the priestesses. Emily winced at the sudden noise-then the girl beside her began to shriek too.
"Oh merciful G.o.ddess-look at it!" the first girl gasped. "What is that?"
Emily followed their eyes and saw something strange and horrible and somehow familiar appearing over the crest of the hill.
First came a huge, triangular black head as big as a beach ball. Black compound eyes glittered in the sunlight, flashing first bottle green, then gold, then neon blue. A long, narrow thorax with two insectile, chitinous arms folded close on either side followed. The body segment was striped in midnight black and red the color of old blood.
Finally, as the creature made its way nimbly up the hill on its long, skinny black legs, Emily saw a sleek abdomen that was partially transparent. Within its swollen curvature was a pulsing, bright green liquid. The final segment of the body ended with a barbed, inward curving stinger as long as Emily"s arm. It"s deadly, sharp point dripped with the green venom she could see seething in its abdomen.
The sight made her sick with fear.
"Oh my G.o.d," she whispered faintly and she felt the other"s horror as well.
"Coming-it"s coming for us!" the other whispered and Emily had to agree.
She"d never been able to decide what kind of insect Tragar"s boss in the Verrak resembled and now she saw it was a wasp. A huge, ten foot tall, horribly mutated wasp with enough poison to kill every single person here several times over.
And she was its target.
Chapter Twenty-nine.
Tragar looked up when he heard the frightened screams and a most unwelcome sight greeted his eyes. Tier Shan was coming over the crest of the hill, the light of battle glittering in his compound eyes.
"Tier Shan." He stepped away from Daro, who scrambled to his feet and backed up hastily, going for his sword. As soon as he found it, he ran to stand in front of Lit"all, blocking her protectively from the menacing shape. Tragar had the instant urge to do the same for Emily but he knew it was safer for her if he kept away-hopefully drawing Tier Shan towards himself and far from her.
"Oath Breaker. Click-click." Tier Shan"s breath hissed between his mandibles-clearly he was in a rage.
"What are you speaking of?" Tragar demanded even as his narsh began to burn unbearably. "I broke no oath."
"Then why do you and the girl both still live? Why had no blood been spilled? No life been taken?" The Vash`aran clicked his mandibles angrily. "Why have you not fulfilled your contract?"
"Because it was called off!" Tragar protested, frowning. "An emissary of Two, the Dark Kindred male who placed the contract in the first place, called and told me as much. He gave the contract termination code as well."
"Lies!" Tier Shan hissed, still advancing. "I was called not a solar hour ago and told that the contract was still unfulfilled! You swore to me it would be done-you lied! Click-click."
"Tier Shan-" But Tragar got no further chance to explain. The huge Vash`aran launched himself into the arena, stinger out, mandibles slashing.
Tragar jumped back quickly, narrowly missing being impaled by the venom tipped barb at the end of Tier Shan"s stinger.
"Stop this!" he roared. "There"s been a mistake-listen to me!"
But Tier Shan was past listening. Watching the way his compound eyes cycled from green to gold to blue to a deep, angry red, Tragar knew his superior was in his battle rage. He would not emerge from it until his target was dead.
And Emily is his target, he thought grimly. Slowly he circled, trying to draw those burning compound eyes away from the female he loved.
At first it seemed to be working, Tier Shan moved with him, his stinger dripping venom which hissed like acid as it hit the dusty gra.s.s. Tragar drew him away, bit by bit, to the far side of the circle. He wished he could shout at Emily to run but he knew that would only draw attention to her. As it was, when he dared to glance at her, he saw she was sitting on the bench, frozen in place with her eyes a pure, burning gold.
G.o.ds, he had to finish this quickly! If she entered Hel, the last stage of her Tenrah and there was no one to tend to her and breed her, she would die for certain. As for the High Priestess denying her access to the breeding suite, they would just see about that. Tragar was fully prepared to fight his way in if need be, although how he could hold off the Temple Guards and breed Emily at the same time he had no idea.
But there were more immediate problems at hand. Such as how to kill Tier Shan without getting killed himself.
"Listen to me," he said, trying again to reason with the huge Vash`aran. "Two"s emissary called me. He-"
Before he could finish, Tier Shan lunged. But not at Tragar, as he had expected. His thorax twisted at the impossibly small wasp waist and his four, long, chitenous arms shot out, gripping Emily by her shoulders and hips and lifting her high above the benches.
Before anyone sitting around her could even react, Emily was high in the air, held firmly by four insectile claws which brought her closer and closer to Tier Shan"s clicking mandibles.
"The target-the true target. Click-click," he hissed. "You are the cause of all this trouble and now you shall die!"
"No!" Tragar roared. Emily still hadn"t opened her mouth, not even to scream. But he could see her eyes, burning a brilliant steady gold and filled with terror. Her face was pale as paper and her hair had gone from blonde to deep, raven black. The shock and fear of this moment had sent her body racing right into the fourth stage of her Tenrah-she would die if she wasn"t bred soon after.
No, she"s going to die when Tier Shan bites off her head, shouted a voice in his head. Unless you save her!
Tragar darted forward, hacking and slashing with his blade but somehow Tier Shan parried his blows with his long, black stinger, all the while holding Emily high of reach.