Lana. Lana is there.
The need to save his gesha was the only thing he knew for sure. The spear shook in his hands from the terrible blows he dealt to the doors, but they broke before his weapon did. The impact had been enough to make his grip slightly waver, and he was trying to stop his hands from trembling in tune with the spear. Corden burst through the door, ready to rip Worgen's heart out with his bare hands if need be to stop him from ever hurting Lana again.
But the room was empty.
Lana wasn't there. Neither was Worgen. Walking slowly through the rooms, on guard for any surprise attack, Corden figured no one had entered the rooms for a while. Certainly not in the last few hours and before that, Lana had been safely aboard the Flora.#p#分页标题#e#
That meant she had never been brought there. Corden searched for an explanation in his mind, but it was hungered for revenge, not answers. His being called for blood, to kill anyone who stood between him and Lana. Did it matter why she wasn't there? She had to still be on the warship.
Like a predator preparing to track his prey, Corden shook himself, trying to clear his head. The growl on his lips was almost feral, something that was better suited to a beast than a man.
Had Worgen lied to him? No. Corden had seen the truth in his words. The mad general had intended for Lana to be brought to his rooms where he could keep her.
Had he taken her elsewhere? Not likely. There would be a trace of Lana in the rooms then, signs of her fighting back.
Corden smiled, baring his teeth. His little gesha with the spirit he loved would have certainly resisted. There were no signs of a struggle.
That meant she had escaped and was somewhere on the ship, needing him. The rage pulled him back into its burning, hot grip. Corden was ready to leave the quarters behind when he heard a sound at last.
It was so quiet, barely there at all. Normally it would have taken him a second to detect it, but the rage threatening to overcome him was dulling some of Corden's senses.
The noise was coming from the general's bedroom, right from under his bed. Corden cocked his head, confusion settling over him. Lana would never cower from anyone like that, even if she knew there would be no real chance to fight. But who else could it be?
As he took a few steps closer, the breathing he heard very clearly changed. It had been scared before, but as Corden approached, it was outright petrified, panicked. The sound was muffled, as if someone was trying to press their hands down on their mouth not to scream.
The general lowered the tip of his spear to the floor, bloody and damaged but still sharp. A small scream echoed through the rooms now.
He recognized the voice.
"Get out," he ordered roughly.
When the figure under the bed only whimpered, Corden added:
"I will not hurt you."
A slender hand appeared first, then the rest of the frightened girl. The general searched his clouded mind for a name. Helia. He watched her climb out from under the bed, only to scramble as far away from him as possible, backing into a corner.
The girl looked dreadful. Her blonde hair was messed up, but at least her clothes didn't seem to be torn. Corden thought that fear had done worse damage to her than Worgen. He chose not to explain to her how lucky she was.
"Helia," he said. "I need you to answer me. Has anyone else been here today?"
There seemed to be something calming about using her name. The girl's eyes went wide and she shook her head.
"Not before you," she said quietly. "Are you here to kill him?"
"Yes."
The thought of death didn't seem to please her, but there was a ray of hope. Seeing that, Corden pressed on.
"You're all right now," he said, trying to sound soothing, but the battle trance turned it into a snarl. "This will all be over soon, but you can help. Do you know where he is?"
Helia stared at him with big, wide eyes. Corden forced himself to wait, reminding himself that not every Terran woman had as much courage as Lana. He watched the frightened girl, seeing the weakness in her. It wasn't even Helia's fault. The man who had kidnapped her was not someone she could stand up to, but breaking her had not been hard to begin with.
Her trembling hand rose and pointed to the opposite corner. Corden turned to look and noticed a small indentation in the wall, big enough for a little speaker to fit in there. He grinned. Luck seemed to be on his side at last, although the general had never asked for such a fickle ally.
All the Brion ships had a special link to the general's quarters so the commander could always be informed as quickly as possible. The speaker doubled the comm device that the general already had with him, tuned to the private channel. The one in the quarters required it to be turned on, which was impossible without the genetic sample so no one could tamper with it.
Had Worgen really been careless enough to leave the device on when he left? Or was it a form of torture, to let Helia hear everything that was happening on the ship? Maybe it was done in preparation of Lana's arrival, to inflict it on both women.
Corden didn't know and cared even less.
She heard. She heard all the private messages sent to Worgen.
The general searched for words that wouldn't scare the already terrified little witness. He didn't need much from her, only what mattered now.#p#分页标题#e#
"Tell me the last place he was called to," he said. "Be sure it's the last one."
Helia nodded, biting her lip. It was obvious she was trying, combing her memory for the answer.
"A bay," she finally said. "He was called to a landing bay, I think. Someone was trying to open it up again."
"Good," Corden said. "Which bay? Try to remember."
It was infuriating, taking so much time when he needed to rush, but if Helia gave him the right spot, he would finally be able to catch Worgen.
"Port bay," she said. "I think they said F and then a number. I'm almost certain it was four."
"I need you to be absolutely sure."
The girl looked helpless, staring up at him. Then she closed her eyes, trying to focus, as if it helped her remember. Corden wasn't sure, maybe it did help Terrans.
"I'm sure," Helia said.
"Stay here," Corden said, turning away from her. "Hide. With the comm link open, I'm sure you'll hear when it's all over. Until then, don't come out of this room."
That was probably an unnecessary addition. Helia nodded and it was quite clear she wasn't going anywhere. Just in case, the general pulled out his knife, seeing the girl wince, and handed it to her.
"If anyone should come here, stab them with it," he said.
Then Corden left the girl and the empty quarters behind, a new goal in sight. He ached to go and look for Lana, but there was only one real threat to her. With Worgen gone, she was saved.
Corden headed for the bay, intent to finish it once and for all.
***
The going was slower than he would have liked, but it was the first time the Abysmal actually seemed to function like a real warship. With a prideful grin, Corden knew he was the main reason for that. Worgen had been holding back the whole time, trying to protect his precious, valuable originals, but as he kept coming closer, he met with more elite units.
In fact, he was practically crowded with them. Every corner, every turn brought a new one, neatly organized to cut off his path to the bay Helia had named. Corden hated the delay, but it showed that he was on the right track. If the Abysmal itself was trying to stop him, there had to be a good reason. Finally the warship was showing its true colors, coordinating the warriors to try and halt Corden's pace.
Here and there, the Torons came to assist him. The vast corridors crisscrossed all over the ship and the frenzied beasts turned up everywhere. Corden was nearly attacked on several occasions before the beasts finally realized it was him.
"Friend," they said then and returned to their task at hand.
His spear had never seen so much work in one day. The clones themselves, the men wielding the weapons, were not nearly as good as the arms they carried. Corden parried blades as sharp as his, getting to feel the terrible power of them as well as dealing out the same.
The general heard the message when the bay was almost in his reach. The Abysmal was panicking now. The ship was indestructible for all intents and purposes, but it wasn't unbreachable. In the last few weeks, it was the first true surprise Corden experienced. Someone had managed to jam one of the warship's landing bay doors, allowing his men from the Claw to try and get on board. Of course, as the intercomm kept reporting, some were cut down by guns, but more reached the Abysmal and had landed safely. The bay Helia had directed him to was the hot spot.
And Corden was being delayed.
He roared, pushing on with newly found fervor. The killing had almost become automatic, the spear in his hands slashing throats and bodies and spears. He had lost the count a long while ago. That left his mind free to wonder who had opened the bay doors.
There was no way Worgen himself ordered it when the bridge sounded so taken aback. Instead they reported the mad general at the front lines, beating back the men who were trying to bring his ship down.
Corden considered his three warriors. He had ordered them to provide assistance to him on the warship, but if they really managed to do that, he was very impressed.
The general crossed paths with more Torons. The beasts joined him in breaking through to the landing bay.