Page 20 of Into The Rift

And then he stopped talking abruptly as alarms started blaring all around us. Confused and disoriented at all the noise, I put out a hand to steady myself against the wall as he dropped my arm and turned in a panic to see what it was all about.

The captain had a large screen showing not just the starboard side but all sides of the ship, and he was intently watching it. He made an alarmed sound in his throat.

“Lord Dominiko—two more ships have just uncloaked between us and the rift. Our shields are up again, but all three of them have their weapons fully armed and locked on us. There is no evasive action I can take, and I’m not sure how long our shields will last against three ships.”

Dominiko began cursing. At least I thought that was what he was doing, though he wasn’t speaking any language I knew.

“Where did they come from?” I asked. “There’s been no sign of any other ships!”

He threw me a quick, irritable look over his shoulder. “They were cloaked. Go below in case they attack, so you won’t be injured.”

“They won’t attack while I’m onboard.”

Dominiko turned fully toward me, his eyes sharp, and the intensity almost burning my skin. “Did you know about this?”

I shook my head. “Me? No, how would I?”

He gave me a brief, unconvinced look, as if he thought this had been some elaborate scheme involving telepathy, I guess. Then he barked something at the captain. One of the other ships was clearly Tygerian, with its huge black shape and Tygerian markings. It was a battle class and looked like the ship Prince Mikol most often used. It was as large or larger than Tariq’s vessel. The other ship was not familiar to me. It was smaller than the Tygerian ships but studded with armament and clearly a warship of some kind. I didn’t recognize the markings at all.

The captain began hailing Tariq’s ship again. It seemed to take forever, but finally Tariq appeared. There was no sign of Rakkur.

“I remind you, Colonel,” Dominiko said, as soon as he came into view. “We still have Prince Jago onboard.”

“I’m well aware. Our concern for his good health is the only reason we haven’t already destroyed you and your ship. Release him immediately, and we’ll give you a quick death.”

Dominiko replied with a word that was harsh and guttural. I think both Tariq and I could guess what it meant. “The situation hasn’t changed, Colonel.” Dominiko said. “Make no mistake. If you attack us, I’ll kill the hostage.” He didn’t so much as glance over at me where I hovered in the background.

“Then we seem to be at an impasse. Let me bring in the commander of this operation and see what he has to say.”

The screen wavered erratically and then blinked into a split screen. Prince Mikol was standing on the bridge of the other ship, looking huge and fierce and altogether dangerous. He resembled his father Crown Prince Mikos greatly, and my omak too, for that matter, as all the brothers looked a great deal alike. My omak was a fierce warrior, as were all the Tygerians, and just because he cared for me when I was a child didn’t change any of that in the least.

“That’s Prince Mikol,” I said softly, and Dominiko turned quickly to look at me and then whipped his head back around toward the screen.

“Ah, yet another prince of Tygeria. Good gods, how many of you are there? Princes must be thick on the ground on your planet.”

“The situation has changed. You have to surrender the hostage,” Prince Mikol said, ignoring his sarcasm. His tone was flat, emotionless and totally unyielding. “Colonel Tariq is upset and has misspoken about giving you an easy death. It will be neither quick nor easy, if it comes to that. But I have information he doesn’t have yet, and I hope an attack can be avoided. If you agree to stand down immediately and release Prince Jago, your total destruction doesn’t have to happen. We’ll give you a moment to think things over. But while you do, you’d do well to remember one thing.”

“Oh? And what might that be?”

“We have a hostage of our own.”

He nodded to someone off to his left offscreen, and a big Tygerian soldier moved into view, holding tightly to the arm of a tiny female, wrapped in a silky-looking, black cloak that went all the way to the floor. She looked like a child next to the huge soldier, and her tiny hand clutched at his arm as she tottered along beside him. Then the hand reached up and pushed back the robe’s hood and a small, exquisite face was revealed.

“Lady Itaka!” Lord Dominiko cried out in an unbelieving tone.

Itaka? This was Lady Itaka, his grandmother? The one he’d told me about? I was at a loss and couldn’t understand for a moment what she could possibly be doing there on Mikol’s ship. It was like some kind of crazy nightmare. Dominiko seemed to be in the same state. It was even more surreal that we had just been talking about her and now here she was standing in front of us. How in blazes had she suddenly appeared? I knew Dominiko must be reeling, because I certainly was.

She looked directly at the camera, and she reminded me of a little doll. Her hair was blonde, though streaked with silver, and her face was mostly unlined. She looked fragile and weak as if she had to be supported by the Tygerian soldier. The fingers on the hand clutching his arm were ringed with large jewels, and on top of her forehead, she had the same golden horns as Dominiko, though hers were much smaller and more intricately coiled. She, too, had delicate green, iridescent scales in a small patch that trailed down her throat and disappeared inside her clothing.

I felt I must be in some kind of dream state as I looked at Lord Dominiko’s tiny relative, surrounded by so many huge men, all of them bristling with anger and danger, though they didn’t seem to be actually threatening her.

“Is this some kind of trick?” Dominiko demanded in a strained voice. “H-how are you doing this?”

Mikol stepped into view. “It’s no trick. We have the lady onboard as you can plainly see, and make no mistake, we’ll do whatever we have to do to rescue Prince Jago. Surrender immediately, if you wish to keep her safe.”

She spoke then, in an almost birdlike voice. She was speaking Tygerian, of all things, heavily accented, but still completely understandable.

“Niko…stop all this foolishness at once and come get me. I need you.”

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