Both members of the Corps were puzzled at this. “Down to the planet?” asked Brogan. “What’s down there that you need to do now?”
“Not a thing,” said Tynan. “Someone. Someone I need to see. Take me down there.”
A look of deepening concern passed between Brogan and Elaina before Brogan said, “All right then, if it’s that important. Down to the planet it is.”
_______________
The visiting room of the dungeon outside Silverwing was a cold, sterile, grey place. And it was with a cold and grey expression that Tynan, with Elaina and Brogan standing behind him, sat on one side of the table, staring across it at the little alien on the other side.
“She abducted your mating partner?” said Daxav. “That’s terrible.”
“And it could be more terrible yet,” said Tynan. “We’ve lost time getting from Nimbus City to here to talk to you. Anything could have happened to Sierra in that time. We need your help and we need it now.”
The Visanian timidly asked, “What can I do?”
Tynan leaned slightly over the table at him. “You know what you can do, Daxav.”
Daxav’s brown and grey skin took on an ashen look. “But…with my powers in their present state from the inhibitor? I couldn’t possibly do that now.”
“I can authorize giving you a temporary counteragent to the inhibitor,” Tynan said. “It’ll be on my authority and you’ll be in our custody.” The two standing behind Tynan stiffened at the mention of this, Brogan crossing his arms and Elaina putting her hands on her hips, gestures to let the prisoner know they meant business. “And then you can use your telepathic tracking power to help us find Liona.”
Plaintively, Daxav said, “But…but…”
“But what?” Tynan pressed.
“But…even if you give me something to counteract the inhibitor, the effect won’t be immediate. The telepathic center of my brain has been inactive; it will be like an unused muscle. My powers won’t be at their full sharpness and acuity. They’ll be weak—too weak to help you.”
Unrelenting, Tynan said, “Not if you try. You have to try. No one else can do this. You were in close, repeated contact with Liona over a long period of time. Your telepathic senses and memory know the signature of her mind. You’re the only one who can find her.”
“But you don’t understand,” insisted the little alien. “Tracking one telepathic signature means sorting through the output of every mind in a large area. It’s the most difficult thing we do. It’s draining, exhausting. It takes our maximum concentration, my greatest energy. It would be that way even if I possessed my full power. But you’re asking me to do it with my powers dulled from months of disuse under the influence of a drug. I won’t have the strength and the sensitivity…”
Tynan could barely keep his patience. He slammed his palms down on the table and reared up, leaning over it and into Daxav’s face. The anger, the fear, and the desperation radiated from him, frightening Daxav and making him recoil, leaning back into his own chair.
“Listen to me,” Tynan said in a tone that along with his posture made his friends want to grab him by the shoulders and pull him back. “There is no time for excuses. There is no time for doubt. I cannot listen to your reasons why your powers won’t be sharp enough, or strong enough, or clear enough, or whatever you want to call it.
Sierra is gone. She is in the hands of a female who must hate me. Liona must have something planned to turn that hatred on her. Whatever it is, she may have done it already.” His voice raised with a hundred fears for which he had no names. “Sierra is in danger. She could already be hurt. She could already be DEAD! And if anything has happened to her—anything…”
Tynan’s hands turned to dragon talons, his claws digging into the surface of the table. The scales and horns broke out on his face. It made Daxav want to bolt and run and curl up in a corner. His voice quivering with impotent fury and growing desperation, Tynan said, “That is why you have to help me.
Because Sierra came here to help me, to help my family, and we…I…have put her in harm’s way. Because Sierra was with me, Liona is turning her anger and her revenge on her. Sierra is innocent. She doesn’t deserve this. And I…,” his voice almost cracked, “…I cannot bear the thought that I’ve done this to her, that I’m the reason she could be…” Losing his voice, Tynan sank back down into his seat. The energy spent on fear and desperation took his talons and scales and horns away, leaving only a man beset by something unthinkable. But still he kept his eyes fixed on Daxav.
“Listen to me,” Tynan said. “We are going to arrange a temporary release for you into our custody. We are going to give you a counteragent for the telepathic inhibitor. You are going to concentrate with all your might on clearing your mind and recovering as much of your powers as you can. And you’re going to come with us and help us find Liona. You’re going to turn every bit of your effort into finding her.
And in exchange, I’ll arrange to have your full release expedited. On that you have my word as a Prince of Nest Moran.” He did not raise his voice again, but his tone took on the hardest edge that it had ever had in Tynan’s life. “You are going to do this. And you will be successful—because the consequences of your not succeeding are not acceptable. So, you WILL do this. Do you understand?”
Frozen in his seat by Tynan’s look and his tone, Daxav simply said, “Yes.” And truth be told, more than anything that might befall Sierra Smith, the little Visanian feared the full and unfettered wrath of a dragon Prince if he did not do exactly as Tynan said. He had every feeling that his own life, as well as that of Sierra Smith, depended on his success.