Demon Lord VI - Son of Chaos Read Online Free Page A

people by now.”
    “ Well I’m not going in there again,” Jonar averred.
    “ You will if I order you to. If it wanted to kill you, it would
have done it already.”
    “ That’s another good point, Commander,” Enyo said. “A dra’voren
would have killed him, not just taken the syringe.”
    “ Unless it doesn’t want us to know what it is.”
    “ Or it’s not a dra’voren.”
    Nikira raised
her brows. “What else could it be?”
    “ Something that doesn’t use dark power, and can become
invisible and move through walls.”
    “ You’d better start searching the database. I’m going to ask
Drontar if he has any suggestions.”
    Nikira headed
for the lab, her head aching from the tension.
     
    ***
     
    As soon as he
calculated that it was safe to do so, a few minutes after the blue
light had died away, Tryne stepped from the Channel again. He
studied the closed door, then the sharp blade poised over the
tar’merin’s heart. Prying the dagger from its cradle in the strange
mechanism, he went over to the door. It took him several minutes to
jam the blade into the narrow crack between the door and its frame,
then he stood back to admire his handiwork.
    Satisfied that
the door would not easily be opened, he stepped back into the
Channel and sought the poisoner, who had left the room outside
shortly before. He found the man striding along a bright corridor
and left the Channel to follow him. The poisoner soon turned into a
spacious room and went over to a shiny glass cupboard.
    Tryne surveyed
its contents, frowning at the assortment of poisons in it. The
poisoner took a vial from it and swung around, almost bumping into
Tryne, who stepped hastily aside. He waited for the poisoner to
leave, then glanced at the other people in the room, who were all
bent over strange equipment. They seemed engrossed in their work,
and Tryne considered the glass cupboard again, a delightful plan
presenting itself.
    Finding a
Channel that shared space with the inside of the cupboard, he
stepped into it, reaching through the Channel wall to pluck the
foul vials from the shelves. When the shelves were almost bare and
his arms were full, he walked along the Channel until he found one
that existed outside the ship, and stepped across. Dumping his
burden on the sandy ground, he returned to the metal room to guard
his charge.
     
    ***
     
    Nikira frowned
at the vidscreen that showed the inside of the shredder room door,
where the dagger that had been rigged over the dra’voren’s heart
was now wedged between the door and the frame, jamming it.
    “ How the hell did that get there, Enyo?”
    The senior
contech shook his head. “Your guess is as good as mine, Commander.
The dra’voren’s still unconscious. We couldn’t figure out why the
door wouldn’t open until I turned the camera and we saw that. I’ve
sent for engineers. They should be here at any moment.”
    “ So there is something in there,” Jonar muttered.
    Nikira nodded.
“Looks like it. And whatever it is, it’s protecting the dra’voren,
but it’s not using the dark power.”
    “ A creature of the light wouldn’t protect a dra’voren,” Enyo
stated.
    “ Unless he’s not a dra’voren.”
    Enyo snorted.
“We know he is.”
    “ Then it can’t be a creature of the light.”
    The engineers
arrived with a heavy duty light gun and set to work on the door.
Nikira glanced at Jonar. “Why were you going in there?”
    He held up a
syringe. “Another dose of poison.”
    “ Try to hold onto that one.”
    Jonar nodded,
grim faced, and they waited while the engineers set up the light
gun. Half an hour later, a sizeable hole had been burnt in the
doorframe and the dagger inside fell away. Enyo activated the door,
which slid open with a screech. The engineers removed the light
gun, and Jonar approached the door with obvious reluctance,
glancing around as he stepped through it.
    The guards
followed, their weapons ready. The medtech went over to the table,
the syringe