A Dark, Distorted Mirror. Volume 4. A Future, Born in Pain

to remember. 'You seem very eager to pursue this, Forell. What is there in it for you?'

'Nothing but the greater glory of the lord I serve.'

He tried to study Forell's words for any sign of treachery or deceit.... for anything, but the fog around his perception would not shift, and finally he shook his head. 'Bring me Takier,' he said. 'We will muster our fleet, such as it is. In truth it does not matter what is at Krindar, as long as there is a battle. As long as there is.... then we will win glory, or we will die and rest.'

'It is as you say, great lord.' Forell bowed and left. Sonovar turned from him and glanced casually back at the table. He stopped, and thought.

The table was bare.... but there had been something there, had there not? A.... a data crystal? No, it was not there. There was nothing, just a figment of his imagination.

He prepared himself to receive Takier. For too long he had been still and silent. He would wait no longer for the enemy to encircle and destroy him. He would seek out glory.

He would choose the manner of his death.

* * *

'I understand now. I have been waiting for this, preparing for it. I know my destiny, and yet.... and yet....

'And yet now that the time is soon, I do not want this.

'Could I have changed things somehow? Could I have done things differently, or would my destiny always have brought me back here, to this place, to this time, to this understanding?'

All things can change. All things could have changed. You could have let the assassin's knife claim you as you stood above Earth. You could have remained in the Dreaming as Varmain died, and gone with her. You could have been content with the simple role of soldier

But you did not. You were not. You fought, and raged, and struggled. And your struggles led you to this place. Destiny did not bring you here. You brought yourself here.

'And there is no other way? None at all?'

You have asked that of us before. The answer is unchanged.

'I know. Will I be alone? Always?'

You will be with us always. No, you will not be alone.

Sinoval nodded. 'Then that will be enough. It will have to be.'

* * *

I hail thee, Sonovar. I speak to you from across space, in hope that as one warrior to another we may save our people, the people we both have sworn to serve and to protect.

Sonovar could feel the air hum around him, vibrating with breathless anticipation. He was going to war. He was riding to battle, the wind his steed, the stars his guide, the blade his voice.

'We attack Krindar.'

'What is at Krindar?' Takier had asked. 'What is there for us there?'

I am a warrior. I am not afraid, not to die, not to live, not to walk, not to rest. I fear only failure, but I am a warrior, and I will not fail.

You lie, Sinoval. Your words are lies.

His destiny is waiting. His destiny. My destiny. I have but to reach out my hand and take it, grasp it in my strong fingers and squeeze.

You are dying, Sonovar. You have been infected by a virus passed on to you by Kalain before his death. He was infected by Jha'dur, Deathwalker. It was part of her foul plan for revenge - on humanity, on me, on the whole universe. She is dead, but her legacy lives on. I bear the burden for her evil, and I will pay the price for it, I assure you.

'You lie, Sinoval. Your words are lies.'

'You are wise indeed, great lord. Victory shall be yours, surely.'

Forell is not here, but that does not matter. Nor is Sinoval, nor is Takier. Their voices are here, their spirits reaching out to touch him.

Forell is feeding you a drug, an elixir. It contains an antidote to the disease that is killing you. An antidote, but not a cure. It is holding back the disease and preventing you from spreading the illness to others. You became infected in Kalain's dying days. No one who has come to me shows any sign of her disease. I believe it is you alone who now bears the legacy Jha'dur intended to destroy our people.

'You lie, Sinoval.'

'Of course he lies, great lord. He seeks to distract you from your great purpose.'

'What is at Krindar, Sonovar? Why do we attack there?'

The elixir is more than a cure, Sonovar. It is a drug, an addiction. Forell is controlling your mind, warping your perceptions. He is using you. I do not know what purpose he intends for you, but you are being pulled by his strings. He has made a weapon of you, a weapon he has been using to strike at our heart. The elixir that preserves your life is destroying your mind and your honour.

'I seek only to serve you, great lord. I seek only a merest fraction of the glory your shadow casts over the galaxy.'

You lie, Forell.

One way or another, Sonovar, you will die. As do we all. It is for you to decide whether you die with glory, or with shame. The elixir is destroying you, but without it you will die and taint all those with you, spreading Jha'dur's contagion.

Come to me, Sonovar. All will be forgiven if you come now. Resist, continue to serve dark masters you do not know, and I will destroy you, and do more than destroy you. For myself, I can forgive. For my people....

Come to me, Sonovar. Come to me now, and I shall forgive you.

You lie, Sinoval. Every word a lie!

'We go to Krindar.'

'What is at Krindar?' Takier asked again.

'Glory,' Sonovar had replied simply.

* * *

The Alliance shipyards were at Greater Krindar, the spawning grounds for the new Dark Stars, each one a cocoon wherein lay a screaming telepath, bound in a dark chamber.

Sonovar arrived, his approach undetected, for the Shadows did not move with him save in the shadows of his mind.

This tale has already been told, the tale of war, of sacrifice, of heroism, of countless screams in the night.

Finally Sonovar limped away, bloodied but unbowed, broken but not silent, maddened but not mad.

On the contrary, at last he was sane.

* * *

What is love?

A question Kats could not answer. As she looked down at Kozorr's sleeping face for the third and final night, she found herself finally prepared to ask herself the question she had not been able to face before now.

She had not been surprised by the things she had seen in his face. She had seen his loyalty, his honour, his pride. He was a fine warrior, possessed of many of the virtues true warriors were meant to exhibit, but there was more to him than that. She could see his decency, his protectiveness, and most of all his sheer, clear and precise love for her.

She heard him cry out in his sleep. She saw his self–hatred, his inability to forgive himself for his self– perceived treasons, and she wanted to reach out and touch him, easing his pain and bringing him peace.

She remembered the first time they had spoken. She had been alone, trapped in an agonising pillar of light, at the complete mercy of a madman who had attempted to tear her apart, body and soul. She had met Kozorr then, trapped in despair and pain and suffering, wishing only to die. She had seen him before then, many times, but that had been the first time she had seen him as a man, not simply as one of her tormentors.