Star's Storm: Lords of Kassis Book 2 (9 page)

“Welcome, little warrior,” Madas called out
in greeting. She looked at Armet who was coming up toward her with
a deep scowl on his face. “I see you have brought company.”

Star looked over her shoulder with a frown.
“He figured out what was going on somehow and was waiting in the
transport for me. I swear his face is going to freeze like that if
he doesn’t stop scowling at everything all the time.”

Madas chuckled. “I believe his expression
will change shortly. Come, the sooner we leave the sooner we arrive
at where we are going.”

*.*.*

“Star ship 782.226 clearance granted. Safe
journey,” the voice of the control tower stated.

Star trembled nervously from where she was
strapped into the chair. She had a clear view of out the front
viewport. She watched as the ground slowly slipped away, becoming
smaller. A burst of power had her jerking back into her seat. She
held onto the hand grips so hard her knuckles turned white. Within
seconds, the darkness of deep space surrounded her and she felt
herself relaxing again. She heard a mumble of voices over the
communications system as the control tower gave them clearance to
the jump gate. Armet answered calmly. Before she could let out the
breath she was holding all the way, the lights dimmed on the inside
of the star ship while outside colors flared as the ship picked up
speed as it entered the first jump gate.

“Oh yeah, now this is smooth,” Dakar said
with a grin of appreciation on his face. “Madas, I know the
Tearnats don’t have a ship like this. Where in the hell did you get
it?”

Madas chuckled as she relaxed back. She was
a good pilot but she was nowhere as good as the two warriors in
front of her. She had done her homework last night after she had
worn her mate out. She knew Gril was going to come after her once
he realized what she was up to. He was very protective of her. She
often got amused at his need to protect her and his possessive
behavior. She enjoyed keeping him on his claws. He was an excellent
lover but when he was outraged with her over something, a shiver of
delight flared in Madas as she thought of her mate’s reaction to
this little adventure.

Yes, it will be worth his anger when I
return,
Madas thought with a small smile.

“It is a gift from a friend of Lord Jazin.
He confirmed that Jazin was not on board the fighter when it
exploded. A traitor to the Tearnat was the victim. Tai Tek is
behind your prince’s disappearance,” Madas assured both men.

“How do you know for sure this ‘supposed’
friend is on our side?” Star asked, worrying her bottom lip. “What
if it is a trap?”

Madas reached over and gently unclenched
Star’s fisted hand and held it tenderly in her larger one. “Trust
me, little warrior. I would not lead you into a trap. The warrior
who gave me this star ship is to be trusted. He knew things about
you that only your mate could have told him. Things that he would
not have share with an enemy, not even under torture.”

Star’s eyes filled with tears at the thought
of Jazin telling someone else about her. “Like what?” She asked in
an unsteady voice.

Madas reached over and picked up a strand of
golden hair, letting it run over her slender fingers. “Like how
your hair is the color of the sun touched with gold on a clear day
and how beautiful, strong, and brave you were against those much
larger and fiercer than you. He spoke of your courage and loyalty.
But most of all, he spoke of his respect and love for you.”

A single tear slid down Star’s face. For a
moment, it was as if she could feel Jazin brushing it away with a
tender kiss. She closed her eyes and pulled an image of him into
her mind. She gripped Madas hand tightly, wishing with everything
in her that it was Jazin holding it. She breathed deeply before she
opened her eyes and stared at her friend.

“He is alive,” Star whispered. “I can feel
him. In here,” she said, touching her chest over her heart. “I can
feel him calling to me.”

Madas nodded. “He is alive, little warrior.
He has much to live for.”

Pain racked Jazin’s body where he hung from
the wall. He leaned forward, resting his head against the hard
stone trying to relieve the pressure on his shoulders. Exhaustion
beat at him but he refused to give into it. He let his mind turn
instead to Star. Over the past week or more since he had been
captured, the picture of her face staring up at him was the only
thing that kept him from going insane. Tai Tek had personally been
seeing to his torture. The numerous cuts, bruises, and burns
attested to the former councilman’s desire to take his frustration
out on Jazin. His methods of trying to extract information from him
were becoming more brutal. His latest ploy was to see how long
Jazin could stand upright without dislocating both of his
shoulders. His arms were chained out to the side and only his
standing, gripping the chains tightly in his fists prevented the
heavy weights attached to the ends from pulling his arms out of
their sockets. He had been like this for the past six hours or
more. Every once in a while, Tai Tek would come in with a whip and
viciously strike him over and over, leaving his back a bloody mass
of torn flesh. Jazin refused to give Tai Tek the satisfaction of
seeing him in pain. He stared at the wall with a cold, impassive
face as blow after blow ripped at his flesh. His mind turned to
Star and the memories of how her gentle hands had caressed him the
night before he left. Tai Tek had left him several hours ago with a
curse that he would make sure Jazin talked when he returned or
else.

Jazin knew he wouldn’t last much longer. Not
only because his strength was waning but because Tai Tek was
growing increasingly more desperate. That desperation was leading
to more brutal blows. It was only a matter of time before one of
them lead to his death. He would never reveal the information that
Tai Tek wanted. He would die first. He stared at the ceiling of his
prison and fought back a wave of grief at the idea of never seeing
his mate again. If he could have just one more moment with her, he
would tell her that just the short time they had together brought
him more joy than anything else in his life. His eyes burned but he
refused to let the tears of grief to form. He would only think of
Star’s beauty. He would only relive the times when her fierce
spirit woke a need inside him that he never thought to have.

“I love you, my fierce little warrior,”
Jazin whispered into the darkness of his prison cell. “More than
anything, I wish I could tell you one last time how much.”

His head dropped down to rest on his chest
as exhaustion pulled at the chains holding him. Perhaps he should
let death take him. As long as he had his memories of Star, he
would not die alone. He would seek her out in another lifetime. He
would always look for her, no matter where the Gods sent him. She
was his soul mate – forever.

Jazin didn’t bother raising his head up with
the door to his cell creaked open. He mentally tried to prepare
himself for another beating. He pulled even further into his tired
mind, seeking shelter as he felt first one wrist than the other
being unchained. He had no idea what new torture Tai Tek had for
him but he would die a warrior. He forced his head up as he was
turned around and stared straight into the eyes of his tormentor. A
frown ceased his forehead as he saw a set of familiar eyes,
instead. The dark, glowing amber eyes met his for a brief moment
before turning away. As his strained arms fell to his side weakly,
the huge figure of the male in front of him lowered him down to the
cold, stone floor gently.

“Your warrior mate is coming for you,” the
voice whispered hoarsely. “Stay alive. She is not alone and neither
are you.”

Jazin let his head rest weakly against the
floor. He didn’t know if the voice or the figure had been a figment
of his imagination. Perhaps this was one of Tai Tek’s tricks to
torture his mind as well as body by giving him hope. He rolled
weakly over and looked around the dimly lit cell through blurry
eyes. He was alone. Rolling over again, he curled up as far as his
battered body would let him to preserve his body heat against the
cold of the rock cell he was locked in. His mind drifted back to
the first time he saw Star. Everything became fuzzy as his body and
mind began shutting down in exhaustion. He reached up with
trembling fingers to touch the faint scar on his cheek where Progit
had cut him. All he could think of was when Star had touched him
for the first time. Her tender touch as she gently wiped the blood
away and her softly spoken words. His head turned slightly when he
thought he felt her gentle fingers against his cheek for a
moment.

“You are safe now,” her husky voice
whispered through the lonely cell.

“I know,” he whispered back. “As long as I
have you in my heart, I’ll always be safe,” he responded to the
ghost in his mind as darkness settled over him.

*.*.*

Star jerked awake from the dream she was
having. She sat up trembling, her hand covered her mouth as silent
tears flowed down her cheeks. She had seen him. She had seen Jazin.
He had been in a dark cell chained to a wall at first before she
saw him again lying curled up. His body was covered in welts,
bruises, and cuts from being beaten.

She pushed the covers on the narrow bed back
and slid her feet into the soft brown leather boots. Pushing her
hair back impatiently, she straightened her top before walking over
to the small closet-size cleansing room. She stood looking at her
pale reflection. Her eyes seemed too large for her face and were
slightly red from crying in her sleep. She could have sworn she had
touched him. She could feel his skin under her fingertips as she
caressed his cheek. She looked down at her fingers and was
surprised to see a small trace of red on the tips. Her hands
trembled as she raised them up to the dim lighting above the small
mirror. Small streaks of dried blood were barely visible on the
tips but they were there. Star looked back at the reflection in the
mirror trying to see if she had scratched herself in her sleep. She
looked frantically, ripping open her shirt and checking her arms,
chest, face, and stomach for any sign of injury that could explain
the blood on her fingers.

Nothing,
she thought
. No
scratches, not cuts, no marks except
…. her eyes rose to look
in the mirror again in disbelief. She had been with him. She knew
it. She had told him he was safe now.

Star fumbled with refastening her shirt. She
quickly braided her hair, brushed her teeth, and washed her face.
Her eyes were glued to the faint trail of red as she washed her
hands before it disappeared. Her face hardened into a frozen mask
of determination. She was going to bring him home. Her eyes
glittered in fury as she stared into the mirror one last time
before she turned to find Madas. She was going to bring him home
and she was going to kill the man who had hurt him. No one messed
with her family and lived, no one!

*.*.*

Dakar set a cup of steaming tea down in
front of Star before he moved around the narrow table they were
using as a conference table to sit on the other side. Madas let her
tongue taste the brew before she smiled in pleasure and took a
deeper sip of it. Armet pushed into the room late. He had set the
auto-pilot and wanted to double check some of the weapons systems
before joining them.

“This is what we are facing. We need to not
only break into this fortress but then try to get out of it in one
piece,” Dakar said pulling up a three-dimensional map of Tai Tek’s
prison fortress. “There are four levels in all. Three above ground
and one below. The cells are below ground, of course. Look at these
towers. There are six of them. Each has a high power laser cannon
capable of bringing down any size fighter. In addition, there are
smaller automated laser cannons that can be controlled from this
center building. They are set to automatically fire at anything
that shows a heat signature. You would see what I mean if you could
walk around the perimeter of the fortress,” Dakar said in disgust.
“It is littered with the remains of any creature unfortunate enough
to wander into the firing range. Truthfully, I don’t think there is
any way to get into the fortress alive.”

Star stared at the structure in front of
her. Her eyes following the lines of the fortress as Dakar showed
it from different angles and explaining the materials used to build
it. Her eyes kept going back to the long, thin cable that extended
from the mountainside where the fortress was built into to the main
control rooms in the center of the grounds.

“What about from above?” She asked
hesitantly. “Are the cannons aimed for anything coming from above
the fortress?”

“Of course, they are set to fire on any
incoming vehicle,” Dakar said, pointing to a series of cannons
pointed upward.

“Yes, but what about from here,” Star asked
pointing to the narrow aqueduct system that came out of the
mountain and the cable attached to right below it to the center
building. “What about if someone were to go through the access
tunnel at the top of the mountain? They could make their way to
this release duct. Would the cannons detect someone coming across
the wire from where it is connected here to the control tower?”

Armet leaned forward studying the areas Star
was asking about. He shook his head. “There is no way to do that.
The vents are too small. They can’t be more than two feet in
diameter. Even if Dakar or I could fit through there we wouldn’t be
able to cross the cable. There is a security field set up that
stops about a foot under the wire.”

“But, if someone was able to make their way
through the vent, cross the cable to the control tower, and take
out the control room, it would allow others to breach the fortress,
right?” Star insisted looking at the wire that ran down where it
attached just outside an access door to the control room. It was a
left over from the building stage and had probably been left as an
afterthought for maintenance.