Shield's Lady

close view of three dead men. One of them was Targyn. Sariana tore her gaze from the terrible sight as Gryph yanked her quickly past them. She swallowed a few times in an effort to calm her queasy stomach, but before she could think of anything to say Gryph was turning another corner.
    He stopped suddenly as the hallway opened onto a vast cavern. “By the Fire on board the Ship,” he breathed in genuine awe.
    Sariana knew exactly what he meant, but she couldn’t even summon words. The sight that greeted her made her speechless.
    The cavern was huge, lined with the same gray metal that lined the passageways and corridors behind them. But it wasn’t the chamber that inspired awe and wonder. Awe and wonder were inspired by the strange ship that occupied most of the space inside the cavern.
    The vehicle was roughly oval in shape with a sleek dome. It rested on its flat belly. But the alien shape of it wasn’t nearly as fascinating as the material from which it was made. It was crystal clear and yet it wasn’t. It glittered in the light, but the eye couldn’t quite focus on that brightness. There was an impression of wide, flat, oval objects inside the ship, but one couldn’t quite make out the details. The whole thing was lit from inside with a soft, pulsing glow.
    Sariana peered at the ship for a long moment. “It’s like looking into ice cubes,” she finally announced.
    “Living prisma crystal,” Gryph said softly. “I’ve never seen prisma in this condition, although I’ve heard it described a thousand times in song and story.” He strode farther into the room. “Targyn was right. This ship is much larger than any other ship found on this planet.”
    “Perhaps it was some sort of supply ship,” Sariana suggested as she followed Gryph slowly into the room. “Perhaps it’s bigger than all the others because it carried weapons to resupply the smaller ships.”
    Gryph nodded. “It’s possible. Or perhaps it was designed for some major assault that was never launched.”
    “We’ll never know.” Sariana examined the vehicle more closely. “Something’s moving inside it, Gryph!”
    He followed her gaze and nodded. “Targyn said he had primed it. He had been experimenting. Somehow he started a reaction within the weapons. He thought he could control that reaction.”
    “What now, Gryph?”
    “I’m not sure,” he admitted.
    “Somehow you being unsure about anything gives me cold chills.”
    “Sorry,” he said with a wry smile. “I’ll try to sound more in charge. Here, give me your hand.”
    Sariana held out her palm and he closed his fingers warmly around it.
    “Remember that first night together?” Gryph asked as he tightened his hand on hers. “Remember how it felt when we touched the prisma lock together?”
    “How can I ever forget? It was every woman’s dream of a wedding night.”
    “This is no time for sarcasm,” Gryph observed. “Save it for later. Concentrate on the sensation of linking with me.”
    Sariana closed her eyes and let the feeling of being linked sweep through her. It was easy to summon up that odd sense of awareness now. Almost immediately a wave of Gryph’s emotions poured through her. She couldn’t identify any single one, but she knew they were all from him.
    The huge wave crested, broke and then coalesced. She felt Gryph testing himself against the image of a mirror she presented. Shafts of light in varying hues danced through her mind. Sariana flinched when the first ones arrived. The memories of the bright, lethal bursts of light Targyn had wielded were still fresh.
    But after a moment it became clear that Gryph was in firm control of the energy he was using.
    The lights in her head flared brighter. A rainbow of a million hues vibrated within her mind and bounced off the mirror she was creating.
    In some manner, Sariana knew, Gryph was starting to take back the energy she was reflecting. It was stronger on the return trip, more concentrated.
    Time became meaningless to Sariana. She stood perfectly still, her body poised, her mind alert but unfocused. Gryph’s hand tightened on hers. Sariana’s eyes were still closed so she didn’t realize anything was happening to the ship until she felt the temperature in the cavern rise several degrees.
    Her lashes lifted and she stared at the alien ship. It was no longer as clear as it had been. Portions of it were losing clarity, turning opaque. The change seemed to be starting from deep within the ship and