Alien General's Beloved (Brion Brides 6)(47)

The mad general turned to his warriors. "Find the Torons. I want all of those creatures dead. I should have killed them all the moment I heard those animals were aboard, but I was merciful."

Lana thought that Worgen had an absolutely absurd idea of mercy, but that was not the problem anymore. She watched as the Brion warriors marched away to kill the Torons. Out of the corner of her eye, Lana saw Yarel signal something, but she couldn't understand what.

Worgen turned his attention back to her.

"You will take me to the Palians and their lab," he said.

"I—" Lana began to argue.

"Now."

Worgen's voice brooked no argument from her. Lana was about to take her chances anyway, but Yarel appeared by her side, very gently nudging her forward. She got the message, but thought that if Worgen saw the Palian touching her, the commander would be dead within a second.

"As you wish, General," she said. "Lead the way, Yarel."

The lab wasn't far from that particular landing bay. It had been chosen for that very reason, so it didn't take them long to get there. Lana felt like she was walking around blindfolded, every corner threatening her with a new surprise. She wished that Yarel and Corden had told her what was going on, because the plan seemed to be spinning out of control.

Yarel led the way. The hallways emptied before them, people running to get out of Worgen's path. The ship's intercomm kept announcing new attacks and warnings against the Brion patrols. Lana hoped that good sense kept most of the passengers and crew hidden.

Here and there, she saw the signs of the Toron attacks. They were bloody and brutal. Unlike the Brions who excelled in combat because of their skill, the Torons relied on their strength alone. They had no particular style of fighting, pushing through every conflict with sheer force.

It was why they'd been so easy to subdue by other species, as they lacked clear leadership and tactics. Their single attacks were devastating though, and Lana kept her eyes away from the floor.

Worgen said nothing either. Every time Lana dared to peek his way, the armor appeared to be hotter and hotter until it was painful to walk close to him. She wondered if it reacted to his mood somehow, like the Brion valor squares did. By the time they got to the lab, Worgen was an inferno by himself.

The scientists had been gathered to answer to him. With disdain, Lana noticed the way they were huddled together like a pack of sheep. Not fighters, as she'd suspected. She was afraid too. It would have been foolish not to fear Worgen, but at least she tried to be better than the terror inside her.

"You are the ones responsible for the death of my men?" Worgen demanded.

Lana couldn't imagine any of them would ever answer that. Beside her, Yarel had tensed up too.

"We were working on the techniques you ordered, yes," the bravest of them finally said, clearly figuring silence was damning.

"And what happened?" Worgen boomed.

Lana saw them all wince, wishing she could somehow share her own courage with them. The cowards were about to doom them all. She didn't know what was going on with Worgen's army exactly, but Yarel and Corden had both hinted there wasn't going to be one.

"The... Torons, they attacked us..." one of them dared to say.

"And you let them," the mad general said, drawing his spear.

All of their eyes were nailed to it. The spear's shaft was as dark as Worgen's armor, the blade sharp enough to cut through them without effort.#p#分页标题#e#

"General, we are Palians," Yarel came to their aid, "we are not a match for Torons. And they aren't even warriors."

Worgen turned to him and Lana thought how brave it was to draw attention to himself in a situation that explosive.

Silence stretched as the general measured Yarel with a dark look of his black eyes.

"How did the Torons know?" he asked at last.

"General?" Yarel asked, but Lana had seen the flash of fear in his eyes.

"How did the Torons know it was the lab they needed to attack?" Worgen asked, coming closer to the commander. His voice was no longer threatening; it didn't need to be when it was very clear Yarel was seconds from his death.

"We told everyone to stay away from the lab," Lana cut in, knowing it wasn't the best excuse, but she had to do something. "They might have figured out that there was something valuable to you here."

"The Torons?" Worgen asked, his voice showing his disgust. "They are animals. No Toron would put the two things together. No, they had help from someone who saw an opportunity to hurt my cause. And you Palians have always had your lies."

Things were going from bad to worse fast. Lana could practically see Yarel's mind spinning, looking for a way out, but no words seemed to be forthcoming.

Help came from the most unexpected source, but the words froze the blood in Lana's veins.

"It might be the weird Brion, General," one of the Palian scientists said.

All eyes turned to him. The Palian shrunk back from that threat alone. He was a timid creature, short even for a Palian, and the naked fear in his eyes was clear for all to see.

Corden, Lana thought. No. Not now.

"A weird Brion?" Worgen asked, moving away from Yarel.

The spear was still in his hand, a bare threat. The scientist's eyes flickered between him and Yarel. Lana thought he was probably trying to help, to save one of his kind, but in fact he was killing them all. And she was unable to stop him. There wasn't anything she could say to convince Worgen he'd heard wrong.

In the thundering silence, the Palian nodded.

"This is not our fault, General," the man hastened to say. "I saw a strange Brion a few days ago. He had killed some of the others and he was looking right at me. He said I couldn't tell anyone, but I have to now. He must be the one. I'm sure of it! He led the Torons here!"

Lana wanted to punch the man so badly her fingers itched. She had to bite her tongue not to scream. She couldn't even begin to count all the mistakes the Palian was making, trying to push the blame on Corden.

Of course, she had no doubt that he was right. It started to make sense now. Who else other than Corden could have killed Brions and who else would have dared to order a Toron horde around? It was all him, Lana was sure of it.

But the damn Palian... He was doing it all wrong. Most importantly, he still thought anyone could reason with Worgen. Lana knew better, had seen better. Worgen didn't care who was to blame. He killed everyone he thought should die, without discrimination.

"This Brion," Worgen was saying. "What did he look like?"

Lana prayed that the Palian had any sense in his head to lie, now that the malice in Worgen's voice was very, very obvious. To her right, Lana thought she saw Yarel slowly drawing the gun from his hip. She wanted to warn them both, to scream, but it would have been a death sentence. Was it a Palian thing, to underestimate an enemy like that?

The scientist was hesitating, starting to realize he'd done something wrong, but still hoping to walk away from it.

"Tall," he said, "strong. Almost as powerful as you are, General."

If he thought flattery was going to get him out of it, he was wrong. Lana saw the understanding dawn on the mad general's face and it was horrible to witness. She would never have said the general looked peaceful before, but the change made it seem so.

Any warmth, any compassion he might have ever had washed away and was replaced with utter, all-encompassing fury. Lana and the Palians found themselves seeing the first true manifestation of the Brion rage since the dark days of their species.

She doubted any of them relished the historic moment.

Slowly, very slowly, the general turned to her. The contempt she saw there shattered any illusions she had of a happy ending to all of it.

Corden, she thought. As life flashed before her eyes, Lana realized that her priorities had changed completely. It wasn't death she feared the most, not even torture. It was never seeing her gerion again.#p#分页标题#e#

"He lives," Worgen said and Lana chose not to respond. "You knew."

The general came closer to her and she knew there was no place to hide. It was over. They'd lost.

"I was wrong about you," the mad general snarled, inches from her. The blazing armor was hurting her, burning her skin and threatening to set her clothes on fire. Lana could barely breathe in the heat of him, but the look in his eyes was so much worse. "You don't have spirit. You are only a slave to this fool, a whore."

Lana backed away, fury rising within her. If these were going to be her final moments, she wanted to give that bastard a piece of her mind.

"I am no one's whore," she hissed, "and I will never be yours."

Before Worgen could answer, a shot rang out. Lana cried out when it whined past her, aimed right at the general's head.

The blade rose and fell and she heard the bullet clatter on the floor.

Impossible, Lana thought, while the world went into slow motion around her.

Worgen turned toward his would-be killer and Yarel took another shot, his expression stony. The general advanced in slow steps while the commander staggered back from him, firing as he went.

Worgen dodged each and every one of them, seemingly not even expending effort to do so. The Palian scientists were pleading for him to stop, but Lana couldn't get one word over her lips. She only realized what was happening when Yarel stumbled, falling. His eyes met hers and flared wide.