Chapter 2

The crewmen of the Succubus hesitated as the small, leather-clad female stepped out into the passage, small silver sword in hand. Only Raniv, with Ta'awen in tow, dared to take another step forward.

The little woman thrust her weapon forward. She hissed a few words the Dyal captain could not understand, and Raniv, erring on the side of caution, stopped in his tracks.

"Do you understand her, Ta'awen?", the Dyal asked his psychic slave.

***No, My Lord***, the Aa'saani replied meekly, speaking only with her mind, as was the custom with her people.

"Can you teach her our words, with your mind-powers?"

Ta'awen stepped back a pace. It was already a struggle to resist the dark impulses coming from the strange little woman, and to make direct psychic contact would surely be too much for her mental defences. Raniv was right there, in front of her, however, and she knew she could not refuse.

Broading the scope of her psychic abilities, the Aa'saani female reached out to the small woman in leather. ***Can...can you understand me...?***, murmured Ta'awen. ***I speak to you with my thoughts...***

At first, Ta'awen found only a wall of steel-like will, extending beyond the range of her capabilities in all directions. She's familiar with psychic powers, or has developed extraordinary will-power for some other reason...

***I hear you.*** Three words, all delivered with some force and a liberal dose of hatefulness.

***We wish to communicate with you, but only I have the gift of mind-power***, Ta'awen explained. Now that she was in mental contact, the stranger was drawing her psychic aura back into herself, perhaps to ensure that no-one interfered with it on a psychic level. Yes, she knows about mind-powers, the Aa'saani told herself, and how dangerous they can be to an unguarded mind. ***I can share the knowledge of our language with you. Will you permit it?***

The silence was brief, but chilled Ta'awen to the bone. ***If I sense any attempt to attack me psychically, you will all die***, the small woman replied eventually - and Ta'awen knew she was being quite serious - in fact, deadly serious.

Ta'awen moved past Raniv, and reached out to touch the swordswoman's temple. The small sword was lowered, but it remained ready to strike at any moment in response to any hint of uninvited mental intrusion. The little female only allowed Ta'awen the narrowest of passageways into her mind, and in the world of mind-meeting-mind, it was as though the Aa'saani woman was weaving her way through a maze of alleyways, almost too tight for her to pass through...

The actual contact lasted only a second or so in the physical world. Her task complete, Ta'awen retreated immediately, seeking shelter behind her master's broad, dark wings. "You can understand us now?", enquired the Dyal captain.

"Yes", snarled the small woman. "I hope it will be enlightening. At least now you will properly appreciate my rage when I kill you."

"You are outnumbered - and you are so small", the Dyal retorted.

"Do not be deceived by size, winged one", came the reply. "Many have made that mistake before. Sadly, they did not live to pass on the fact of the matter."

Raniv ensured he looked supremely unimpressed. "And how do you come to be on my ship?", he demanded.

The small female looked confused, but only for a split-second. "To the best of my knowledge, you brought me here - imprisoned me in some kind of egg-like device..."

The Dyal raised an arched eyebrow in surprise. "You came from one of those?", he said thoughtfully. "Well, that changes things quite considerably."

"How so?", enquired the swordswoman.

"The 'egg' was retrieved from a crashed vessel - a vessel upon which I, Raniv of the Dyal, captain of the Succubus, have laid Claim of Salvage. That means, therefore, that you now belong to me."

"Never", spat the little woman. "Marishanna belongs to no-one - save herself."

"I beg to differ", said the Dyal confidently. "The Trading Laws are quite clear on the matter. You did not identify yourself when we boarded your ship, so you are classed as cargo. Cargo that is salvaged becomes the property of the salvager; therefore, you are now my property."

"Take your property, then - if you dare", hissed Marishanna, raising her sword.

Raniv made no move to respond with his own weapon. Instead, he leaned against one wall, and thoughtfully tapped his cheek with his index finger. "Hmmm...Well, perhaps I could be convinced to revoke my claim on you, if you are prepared to help us", he said after a minute or two's consideration. "The equipment we have brought aboard is...ah, unfamiliar, shall we say. Any assistance you could provide in that field would be most useful, and might even help our profits."

Marishanna lowered her sword, but only slightly. "If it will help you to see sense, I will assist you, if I can."

"If not, I'll be expecting you to be serving me breakfast in the morning", Raniv replied slyly, "and I like my slave-girls naked..."

Marishanna did not feel in the slightest bit threatened by Captain Raniv. He had the look of some kind of demon, or human-demon half-breed, but the warrior-sorceress had studied all kinds of infernal life, and had encountered real demons before. Raniv, she was absolutely certain, was not in the least bit supernatural.

Try and enslave me, you flying fop, she muttered to herself as she walked alongside the captain, back to the cargo hold. You won't be the first false demon to taste Silver Death...

Marishanna had no idea what any of the metal boxes, silvery cylinders or multi-faceted spheres was for. She had no interest in, and no love for machines of any kind - they were the tools of human-kind, the instruments with which they oppressed other races and destroyed the forests and seas, and Marishanna had been fighting the creators of such metal monstrosities when she was kidnapped. It looks as though I'll have to fight my way out of this after all, she thought. Very well - you'll not find me unwilling to draw blood...

Raniv examined the opened "egg", discovering a crack in the underside in the process, then led Marishanna to the other side of the hold, where two more eggs were propped against the wall. One had a thin film of frost on it, the other was dry, and at room temperature. "Is there perhaps another of your kind in here?", he asked her, poking his toe against the side of the frost-coated "egg".

"I don't know", she replied honestly. "It's not impossible."

The winged man beckoned to his psychic slave-girl. She was a strange creature, tall and slender of build like the elves of Marishanna's home-world of Deva'Aath, but her eyes were ovals of solid sea-blue, and her ears were long, narrow and drooping, like those of a rabbit. She was on the whole attractive, but her features lacked individuality or character, serving their purpose, but little more.

"Try to contact the mind of whoever - or whatever - is in this container", he ordered. "I don't want to have to break this one as well to get the occupant out. An intact device will bring far more than damaged goods."

"Yes, My Lord", said the long-eared female. She's so used to slavery, she doesn't even think for herself much any more, observed Marishanna. How disgusting - to relinquish one's freedom so totally!

The girl - Marishanna had sensed her name was Ta'awen when their minds touched - crouched down beside the frosty egg and, wiping a section of its surface clear of ice, placed her hands against the smooth surface and closed her eyes. A moment later, she flinched, and leapt back.

***There...there is some kind of psychically-sensitive mechanism!***, she exclaimed, crawling quickly backwards. ***I-I may have triggered it...***

Raniv's crewmen retreated as steam began to rise from the "egg", and the captain, dragging his slave, followed suit. Not able to rely on her magic to protect her, Marishanna did the same.

The "egg" shuddered suddenly, then let out a sound not unlike the cracking of knuckles. A dark crack, running from one end to the other, appeared on it, and there was a long drawn-out hiss as gases billowed out from within.

A sceond crack appeared, running around the middle of the "egg", and the object opened up like a flower, four "petals" spreading to reveal the lighter, padded interior. On the padding lay a tall, thin, pale-skinned creature, its long narrow face featureless but for two huge glossy black, almond-shaped eyes...

The instant Marishanna saw the creature, she recognised it - and memories flooded back. She remembered scouting through the forest at night, and seeing a great silvery disk descend from the overcast sky. Unable to resist, her strength sapped by some unseen force, she was lifted from the ground and taken into the disk, where a number of the large-eyed beings were waiting to receive her...

The creature in the "egg" started to move, and Marishanna leapt forward, Silver Death raised in a two-handed grip high above her head. She was going to make the creature pay dearly for kidnapping her...

The warrior-sorceress never reached her target. The air in front of her suddenly and unexpectedly became denser, resisting her attempts to move through it as though it was water...then snow...then treacle. Marishanna felt a familiar mind at work, and fixed her gaze on Ta'awen. The strange female's eyes were closed again, her mind focussed solely on manipulating the natural laws governing the area of space the swordswoman was presently occupying.

"I can't let you kill my property", insisted Raniv, "no matter what your relationship to this creature might be. Lower your sword, and I'll have Ta'awen release you."

Release me, and I'll kill all three of you, thought Marishanna, but she kept those words to herself. For the moment, she complied with Raniv's request, and brought Silver Death back down by her side.

"This...thing, and others like it, took me from my home-world", informed Marishanna, spitting out the word "thing" as though it was poison to her. "I think it would be fair to assume that the vessel you recovered me from belongs to them."

Raniv smiled greedily. "Ah, excellent", he purred. "Just what we need!"

Marishanna was forgotten for the moment as Raniv focussed his attention on this new discovery, and ordered Ta'awen to establish contact. The creature responded quickly, its mind geared, like the Aa'saani's, to communicating on a psychic level.

***It says it belongs to a race called the Va'aad***, reported Ta'awen. ***It asks to be returned to its people.***

"Tell it that we do not know where it comes from", said the Dyal. "Also inform it that it will be fairly and decently treated - if it is prepared to tell us everything about these machines, and the craft they came from..."

Ta'awen relayed the message, then passed on the response. ***It is unwilling to do that***, she said. ***Its people have strict laws on passing on their knowledge to what it calls "undeveloped civilisations"...***

Raniv snorted in disgust. "Inform our 'guest' about the Trading Laws concerning salvage, Ta'awen", he sneered. "And then make it quite clear that I am more than willing to show this...Va'aad just how 'undeveloped' we can be!"

The creature appeared to sense Raniv's feelings, and cowered back in its "egg". It raised a single, shivering three-fingered hand to shield itself, a gesture that Marishanna found singularly stomach-churning in its sentimentality.

"Allow me to assist", she offered. "I am somewhat skilled in methods of what one could call 'information extraction'..."

"Be silent", snapped the winged man. "I'm not finished with you."

Marishanna had been on the verge of starting to like the captain of the Succubus, appreciating the way he was prepared to deal with his reluctant captive, but those poorly-chosen words forever poisoned her mind against him. You'll be dead before your precious creature earns you any profit, she promised. Know this - I am quite definitely not finished with you, either.

 

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