Martyr (The Martyr Trilogy) Read Online Free

past it, up a short
flight of concrete steps, through another door, and into a maroon-carpeted
hallway.  I heard footsteps.  Maaike turned white.  She pushed us back through
the door and closed it, remaining on the other side.  There was silence for a
few seconds, then the rumble of a man’s voice.  It was followed by a female
voice; it sounded like Maaike.  The man spoke again, and Maaike apparently
responded.  Then a long pause…
     
    The
male voice again.  Then light footsteps, receding.  Oh no!  Maaike had been
sent away.  I hadn’t heard the heavier tread – was he still there?  There was
silence for a long time.  My companion started to say something, but I silenced
him with a quick hand.  Then the worst thing I had imagined - the rattle of the
latch.  He was about to descend into the dungeon!  I thought of running to the
nearest open cell, but knew we’d never make it, would be heard if we did.  Then
the rattling stopped as quickly as it had started.  It seemed he had changed
his mind.  The next sound was that of heavy footsteps, mercifully receding. 
     
    We
waited.  I had to shush my tag-along once more, but nothing else happened. 
Maaike didn’t come back.  But neither did the guard.  After a time I made a
choice.  I cracked open the door.  The hallway ran straight ahead, and straight
to the right.  It appeared to skirt a columned central area.  There were no
walls on that side, only scarlet curtains that ran floor to ceiling between the
columns.  There were doors at the ends of the hallway in each direction, but
instead I ducked through a gap in the curtain.  This appeared to be a sort of
lounge, with a bar on one wall and several couches covered with an obscene
number of gold-embroidered pillows.  There was a full wall on one side, hung
with photos of idyllic landscapes, impossibly green and inviting.  Adjacent to
that wall, another partial wall was interrupted by an arched door.  I peeked
around the edge of the doorway, and saw a wider hall leading into a similar,
but larger, lounge.  I motioned my new friend forward.  
     
    In
the bigger lounge three beasts lay on the floor.  I took these to be the “dogs”
Maaike had referred to, though they looked like no species I had ever seen. 
For one thing they were absurdly massive.  Lying on their sides as they were,
their rib cages rose to the height of my knees at least.  They also had a
grotesquely exaggerated underbite, which housed four tusk-like canines that the
mouth could not contain.  They looked to be sleeping, but I knew better.  And I
was grateful.  At one side of this lounge was a big set of double doors.  They
were not shut completely.  I approached them, and as I drew near, I heard the
male voice we had heard through the door earlier.  I could make out the words
of a conversation, and when the other party responded, I was sure it was not a
human voice I heard.  That wasn’t what really caught my attention, though.  The
man’s voice…I knew it, had heard it before somewhere…recently.   I tried to
listen closer. 
     
    “But
how is this possible?  I watched him die!”
     
    You
watched someone die, not him.
     
    “How
can this be?  I know that face.  It has haunted my dreams for three years now.”
     
    The
face is the same.  The man is not.  Tal-Makai is dead.  Truly do you say you
watched him die.
     
    “I
don’t understand.”
     
    Then
I shall try to explain it in terms you will understand.  Do you know of
genetics?
     
    “I
have read of the matter.”
     
    Strands
of DNA, like the coils of a serpent, define each of your traits.  Normally,
each strand defines its own trait.
     
    “Yes,
I understand the concept, but…”
     
    But
occasionally, a piece of one strand is exchanged with a piece of another.  The
results can dramatically alter the resultant organism.
     
    “Are
you suggesting that Tal was altered in this way?”
     
    Try
to stay with me, mortal…we are talking