The True Ruler, page 20
part #5 of Worlds Apart Series
“What happened?” a bewildered Darden asked.
“A miracle,” she whispered, giving him a chaste, kiss on the lips. Darden did not have to know at this moment he had vampire blood circulating through his system. “Can you get up?”
“Let me try,” Darden answered. He must have remembered how much pain he was in when he collapsed. She noted his surprise when he rose without grimacing in pain. “The med-tech did a wonderful job.”
“He certainly did,” Cassie answered with a covert wink at Drake.
Her soul mate was whole and standing next to her. Thanks to Drake’s blood, he was healthy once again. She owed the vampire a tremendous debt.
A commotion on the top floor of The Palace grabbed her attention. It appeared her father and his men were mounting another attack against the small army protecting her grandfather. Cassie determined it was time to put an end to this revolution and confront the man who was responsible for her soul mate almost dying. Jeryl Jarlyn was going to answer for everything he had done to her people.
Chapter 22
Darden saw the determined look on Cassie’s face and knew he would be unable to stop his soul mate from seeking vengeance. She had risked her life to save him, so he was in no position to suggest others finish the battle. Besides, he knew how powerful she was. He had a small taste of that power when he stopped Barash.
He felt unbelievably strong and knew it was not the med-tech that was responsible. There was still the telltale taste of blood in his mouth. Frazour’s blood did little to heal his body, so he knew it was Drake who saved his life. The sun would be rising in two hours, so they needed a final surge to bring down Jeryl Jarlyn once and for all.
“We storm the fourth floor living area,” Darden said. “If we throw everything we have left at that one location, we will topple the Prime Ruler.”
“Not a bad idea, cousin,” Koel shared through the warrior link. “I am still on the second floor. We secured the Prime Council chamber and will not attempt any other aggressive moves. Once Jeryl Jarlyn is in our control we can begin negotiations. I will have the rest of my men deliver JoAnna to you and aid in the effort. Together, Cassie and JoAnna’s abilities should be able to counteract Jeryl’s superior mind control.”
“He has barricaded himself in a room filled with crystals,” Shirl said “We need to destroy as many of them as we can. The larger the stone, the more power it generates. A shattered stone will temporarily be worthless. Jeryl used me and inadvertently gave me the power to destroy him. If I have to, I will open a portal and use its power to end this war once and for all.”
The crystal telepath spoke with confidence, seemingly unafraid. Darden’s brother, Starc, often worried how Shirl handled her unspeakable power. It appeared she finally made peace with her new powers and would not hesitate to call upon all her gifts.
“We take the fourth floor then,” Tarsea concluded. “The women will be placed in the middle of the force. Drake, you will make sure nothing happens to Benko. Frazour, Candy, and Jace will protect Cassie. All other assignments will continue as before. Do what you have to in order to stop any resistance we come across. Our fight will soon be over.”
They moved as a unit up the stairs. Their first problem would be getting beyond the second floor. With Koel succeeding in containing the opposition already within the Prime Chamber, they should only encounter minimal resistance.
As they walked up the stairs, his eyes scanned the floors above them. His friends and family, as well as the Nightshade contingent, rallied for this last strike. Supporters turned their backs to them, protecting their ascent. Candy announced through the communal pathway that anyone facing them would be considered a threat and eliminated. Darden heard Cassie share the hope that Benko’s return would bring an end to mind control against the people of Aster Province. Once again, he could sense feelings of joy and contentment from the communal pathways.
Four laser blasts sounded and Afton sent a fireball in the direction of a man pointing a crystal weapon in their direction. The man burst into flames before he could pull the trigger again. Darden had heard tales of the incredible powers Afton acquired while transforming into a fire elemental, but took them with a grain of salt. Now he knew those stories were frighteningly true.
Three of the men surrounding their party engaged the other aggressors, overpowering them with ease. All four of the men who fired upon them were dead before they had the chance to do it again. Fortunately, none of their group was hurt. The unfortunate men were amateurs and had no clue what they were doing. They would hopefully be her grandfather’s last victims. Cassie breathed a sigh of relief.
Their forces increased as they joined the freedom fighters embroiled in the conflict on the second floor. Flanked by Frazour and Jace, Cassie walked a short distance ahead of Darden. Candy was beside him, directly behind Cassie. Strategically, she was in the best position to push Cassie down if a direct threat was imminent.
His soul mate was so focused on capturing her grandfather he could not sense any fear coming from her. Cassie saw Jeryl Jarlyn’s treatment of him as the final straw. Whatever tender feelings she once held for her grandfather were gone. If Jeryl Jarlyn thought Cassie would show him any mercy, he was sadly mistaken. Cassie gave her grandfather the benefit of the doubt when she first entered this universe and made her own decision about Jeryl Jarlyn’s merits.
Cassie continued to use her power to bring people together and sway some of the opposition to their side. Darden heard her actively communicate in all the communal pathways, no longer afraid of who she was. By the time they reached the fourth floor, only the true zealots attempted to protect the Prime Ruler.
“Give it up, my friends,” Karlon Flonder yelled from the front of their force. They had now made it to the landing outside the private residence. The intelligence officer was well acquainted with many of the Palace Guard. “Why sacrifice your lives for the Prime Ruler when the True Ruler is present? Can you not feel her in the communal pathways?”
Benko and Cassie continued to talk to the Troyk people through the communal links. Jeryl Jarlyn was silent. Cassie was using her power to support her father. The volume of voices within the warrior link became unbearable due to the sheer number of people with access to the channel, and communication through that pathway was now impossible. He only heard Koel’s earlier conversation clearly because of their blood relationship.
“You have until the count of ten to surrender and move forward,” Tarsea yelled. “Lay down your weapons and get out of our way. If you still insist on remaining loyal and martyring yourself for Jeryl Jarlyn, I cannot stop you. I hope you all heard about the man who burst into flames. Give up now or that will be your fate. I will count to ten. When I am done, anyone who has not surrendered will be killed by a fire bomb shot down the hallway.”
Tarsea started counting slowly, his voice echoing menacingly in the outer hall. Darden only saw two men walk forward and lay their weapons down. He sincerely hoped Afton could control the blast and was not going to burn The Palace to the ground. The beautiful structure was erected long before the mind control government took power and would hopefully stand long after its downfall.
When Tarsea got to ten, Afton produced her second fireball. It traveled down the hall, incinerating everything in its path and vanishing when it reached the end of the far wall. The fire only burned what was within that space and nothing else was even singed. They would never know whether the casualties were human or other objects—only ash lay where everything else once stood,
“That was so cool,” Candy commented.
The rest of the group stood in silent awe, digesting what they just witnessed. Most of them had never seen any power manifest itself outside the body. Clearly, there were greater powers in the universe than their telepathic abilities.
“Now what?” Cassie whispered.
There was only one thing left to do. Cassie took a deep breath, regally raised her head, and squared her shoulders. Darden’s connection to her was so strong he could feel Cassie’s fear. It was time to face Jeryl Jarlyn and he was not sure if Cassie was truly ready.
Each step Cassie took up the marble stairwell brought her closer to her destiny. Now, staring at the demolished hall leading to her grandfather’s living quarters, she couldn’t seem to move. Fortunately, no one else had started down the hall.
It was not concern over how many men would be protecting her grandfather or how many of Benko’s followers would be lost during the final assault that kept her glued in place. Once her father took over the government, her life would change. It would be almost impossible to hide who she truly was. She had lied to everyone and only Alex, Candy, and Karlon had ever guessed the truth. Even her soul mate had been clueless until he overheard her discussion with Alex.
Cassie’s feet moved forward, as if walking in a dream. Frazour and the beautiful Jace walked beside her. As before, Candy and Darden followed. The rest of their group lagged behind. She could not sense where her father was in the troupe.
When she reached the door to her grandfather’s meeting room, she opened it and walked in. Afton’s fireball had not done any damage to the entryway. She was surprised to see her grandfather alone in the room. His face and neck were covered with blood. There was a wide crimson ring where his life force had dripped down and was absorbed in his shirt. The fact he wore white only magnified the amount of blood he had lost.
An odd sound came from Jace, reacting to the blood before him. It would have been so easy to release the vampire and have him feed, condemning Jeryl Jarlyn to the very fate he once meant Chartail to suffer. She figured her father’s soul mate was somewhere behind her and may have been thinking the same.
“Is Benko among you?” her grandfather asked. His voice was weak, but she was not going to lower her guard.
“I am,” her dad replied.
Her father stepped out from the crowd with Drake at his side. The vampire’s quick reflexes would counter any attack her grandfather may have planned for his son. Jeryl Jarlyn did not look capable of mounting a telepathic attack against anyone.
To her surprise, her grandmother quickly made her way to stand beside her son. It seemed oddly appropriate that mother and son would confront the man who separated them.
Jeryl Jarlyn basked in the sight of the man his son became. If he recognized Elyn, he showed no sign of it. Her grandfather did not seem aware of the crowd that had entered the room and fanned out behind them. Their weapons were drawn to stop any aggressive act of the man who was about to lose his status as the Prime Ruler.
“I waited years for your return,” Jeryl Jarlyn said. “If you had come home, I would have forgiven and pardoned you. Why did you stay away so long? How could you have denied me my granddaughter?”
“You know I never believed in controlling the minds of others,” Benko replied. “When you started sending people to the Nightshade universe to die terrible deaths for your own gain and exiling not only criminals, but dissidents, to life off-world, I could no longer stomach being a part of your world. I just heard about the cells on the lower level and what you did to crystal telepaths who broke your laws or disagreed with your government.”
“And did you find paradise, son?” her grandfather asked.
“No,” Benko replied. “I lost all my friends to a world where the telepathic brain is destroyed by the pollutants in the air. You were well aware of that, though, were you not? Even if we had left Gingko Terra before Jenka Thork died, we would not have returned here. At least my friends would have lived to raise their daughters.”
“And you blame me for that?” Jeryl Jarlyn asked.
“No, they followed me,” Benko hung his head. “I am responsible for their deaths. If I had to do it over again, I would have found some other way to stop you that did not result in anyone else dying. But I cannot change the past.” Her father slowly raised his head, narrowing his eyes, and glared at his father. “The future, on the other hand is a different story.”
“Do you feel what is happening in the communal pathways?” her grandfather asked in wonder, ignoring his son’s veiled threat.
“One should not feel anything emanating from the channels, but I do,” Benko replied.
“Shortly after you left, I found an ancient text. Many of our legends were based upon it,” Jeryl Jarlyn said. “I remember reading many of those stories to you when you were a boy. The text foresaw the return of the seeds from the Troyk universe. The first was a young woman who could read minds and blend into the background; a perfect chameleon. There were no stories about that particular woman, other than the beginning of tales about soul mates. I searched for my soul mate, but never found her.”
Cassie knew Alex was the chameleon the story spoke of—the first soul mate of legend. She would have to find the text Jeryl referred to and share it with her friend - the one she always wanted to be her sister.
“The second story was of a mated female crystal telepath who could harness the power of the portal,” Jeryl Jarlyn continued. “Can you guess what the third story was about?”
“The Warrior Woman,” Candy answered.
“Yes,” her grandfather replied. “You can imagine my surprise when Shirl and Candy came back to this world. I had my suspicions about Tarsea’s Alexia, but did not know for certain until JoAnna came home, a powerful mind control telepath.” The old man smiled. “It has been so many years, I have forgotten everything the prediction had to say about JoAnna. It was the fifth woman that drew most of my attention. Cassie, do you know what it said you are?”
She imagined Karlon’s earlier words were playing in people’s minds. It was not long before the answer bombarded the communal pathways. The True Ruler. Cassie remained silent.
“So, you see, my boy,” Jeryl Jarlyn said, “it was your destiny to leave this world. And years later, the five women of legend would return to The Troyk universe. Only by your leaving, would the True Ruler return. It was my responsibility to shepherd the population until the True Ruler arrived and then teach her how the use the gifts given to her by The Supreme Being.”
Cassie could stay silent no longer. Her grandfather was wrong. Not about who she was, but about how she should rule.
“If you believe those old fables, I guess part of what you said is true,” Cassie said. “The five of us have special talents that can be interpreted to agree with the stories, but I grew up in a different world and was raised by a good man. I cannot deny the existence of the warrior link or that it opened as soon as I touched Darden.”
Cassie looked around the room and continued, “Destiny shouldn’t be manipulated. People should have the freedom to make their own decisions about how they are going to live and who is going to rule over them; and that’s assuming, they even want a Prime or True Ruler.” Cassie paused for effect. “There was a sixth woman, wasn’t there?”
Her grandfather looked surprised. He had interpreted the stories he read and tailored them for his own devices. Weaker women would have succumbed to Jeryl Jarlyn’s manipulation. Cassie needed to know what the sixth woman of legend was destined to be.
“I assume the sixth child was miscarried by one of Benko’s followers on Gingko Terra,” her grandfather informed her. “The sixth woman would suffer and be subjected to violence. She would rise from her circumstances and bring about the Golden Age of the Troyk universe. Her role otherwise would be unimportant because she bore no significant telepathic power.”
“Holy crap,” she heard Candy say in their pathway.
“You know who he is referring to,” Shirl said.
Cassie pressed her lips together to suppress the smile that threatened to creep across her face. Fate was a strange bedfellow.
“Come on forward, Miss Golden Age,” Cassie pushed through their closed link shared by the six women of legend. Now Chartail’s presence in the pathway that opened all those years ago in the orphanage made sense.
When she extended her arm behind her, a warm soft hand took ahold of hers. Five women walked forward, while the sixth was protected in the Troyk penal colony world.
“You speak of your God-given duty to manipulate your people because of the telepathic power you have, Grandfather,” Cassie said, “yet it is someone with common telepathic powers who will bring about the greatest period this dimension will ever experience. I find that rather ironic. And you were wrong about one thing. Another daughter of the Troyk universe did leave this dimension and returned. Chartail was destined to fail in her plot to assassinate you. Otherwise, she would not have left this world and suffered the atrocities in the Nightshade universe. You know, I love a happy ending. Do you know what happened to her? She ended up meeting her soul mate in the penal colony.” Cassie put a hand on Chartail’s shoulder. “Meet your son’s soul mate, Grandfather.”
Jeryl Jarlyn looked at Chartail in horror. His bloodied face became redder, if that was even possible. He placed both hands on two of the giant crystals next to him.
“No!” he screamed.
The crystals glowed and light flashed, temporarily blinding her. It was as if time stood still as the light approached them. Her grandfather had used the crystals’ power to create a lethal laser beam, meant to destroy the women of legend.
Chapter 23
Cassie watched in horror as a wall of energy came toward her. She did not know how else to describe it. She could not move. A body knocked her sideways and shoved her to the floor. She quickly turned her head to see if the crystalline beams were still coming toward her and if she was out of the way. Above her head another burst of energy pushed forward to meet what her grandfather had created.
The second energy field held back the first. It looked like a portal coming into contact with another event horizon. Cassie cautiously lifted her head and peered behind her. Shirl and Starc held hands beside an open portal. Somehow, Shirl had harnessed the portal’s power and sent its energy to fend off Jeryl Jarlyn’s attack.
