Defy (2 page)

Animal-like sounds left her throat as she
struggled for the strength to move. If she could somehow get to the
platform, perhaps someone at Central could help her. And if she was
very fortunate,
kyria
Amber or
archigos
Gabriel might
even be in attendance. They could heal her.

Once more, she stretched her right arm in
front of her. The ground onto which she was emerging from the
forest was sandy and open. If any of her attackers remained nearby,
they would see her. While that thought terrified her, she couldn’t
fight the instinct to survive. She knew she had to try. So she
pressed her hand into the blazing hot sand until she had enough of
a grip to pull herself. Then she strained her already aching bicep
and heaved herself forward as much as she could.

She didn’t even move a foot.

Although she thought her attackers had
wrought all of the tears from her, she realized now that wasn’t the
case. They tracked down her bruised and broken face, joining with
her sweat and plopping into the sand beneath her head. Heat
radiated from the unforgiving surface beneath her, burning her
already punished skin.

A sound to her right had her stiffening in
fear. She made a whimpering sound as distinct footfalls grew
nearer.

Her enemies must have returned to finish what
they started. The tears continued unchecked as she carefully
removed her hand from the sand in hopes she could do at least a
little damage to the next male who hurt her. She would fight until
she couldn’t.

But the being approaching her stopped on her
left side. She tried to move her head toward her left and couldn’t.
Another pained sound escaped her.

The presence knelt. He said, “Ah, Luvania.
What have you gotten yourself into?”

She couldn’t turn her head and her vision was
blurred by tears and exhaustion, but recognition was immediate.
Although she hadn’t heard that voice in over fifty years, she could
identify it. He still managed to sound both impatient with the
world and infinitely bored by it. And at the moment, there was a
gentleness beneath his tone she would never have expected.

“I am afraid your injuries are beyond my
ability to repair,” he said. “I have seen others emerge from the
water where you appear to be trying to reach. I can get you to the
platform with your assistance.”

She couldn’t find the energy to speak, so
made another sound in her throat and moved her head in a form of a
nod.

“This will hurt.”

He lifted her. Pain screamed through her
body. She squeezed her eyes shut against it. When she again opened
her eyes, she realized they were in the water. She must have passed
out.

“Thought I might have lost you there,” he
said. “Are you ready for placement on the platform?”

Why would he not get on it with her? The
thought floated through her head and then faded as insignificant.
They had only a couple feet more to go. Extending her right arm
toward the platform, she indicated she was ready. He obligingly
moved forward. When her hand came into contact with the platform,
more tears welled in her eyes. He settled her on it and stepped
away.

“Good fortune to you, Luvania,” he said.

She once again thought to ask why he wasn’t
accompanying her, but by then she was lifting into the sky.

The trip took an eternity. She lost
consciousness more than once. Each time, she saw her rescuer’s face
in her mind, though she hadn’t actually glimpsed him during their
encounter. Thoughts of him from the past as well as what he had
just done for her kept her focused, overriding the brutality she
had endured.

She wanted to thank him. Wanted to praise him
for giving her hope merely moments after she had given up and
decided she was going to die. She wanted to help him as he had
helped her. Surely he needed her help if he was living on the
mainland and had removed himself from existence for over five
decades.

Her delirium grew. Thinking became difficult.
But at long last, through vision that was slowly fading to gray,
she saw the outline of Central approaching.

She had made it.

The platform eased its way into Central’s
loading bay. The darkness of the underground cavern had her
blinking to try and focus. It did her no good.

Her brain registered the sounds around her,
but couldn’t interpret them. The pain had leeched from her body.
She understood then that it had all been for nothing. Her efforts.
His efforts. For nothing.

“Holy light!” she heard.

There were other sounds. Other exclamations.
People touching her. But she no longer felt anything. She
registered only one lingering image.

“Luvania, can you hear me?”

Something flickered in her mind at the
echoing voice. Caoilinn.

“Luvania, can you tell us who did this to
you?” the Lekwuesti commander asked, her words filled with
urgency.

She wanted to tell them. They needed to know.
Others would be at risk as she had been. There were dangers beyond
any Estilorian’s knowledge lurking on the mainland.

So she struggled to work her strained vocal
chords as darkness clouded her mind. There was something important
she had to tell them. Wasn’t there?

Then she remembered. The image she had
carried with her on the ride to Central. Someone she needed to
help.

And with her last breath, she told them.

“
Zachariah
.”

Defy [
v
. dih-
fahy
]: To challenge the
power of;

resist boldly or openly:
to defy parental
authority
.

Being seventeen absolutely sucked.

Tate crossed her arms over her chest and
scowled at the grassy ground beneath her booted feet. The response
to her request had been exactly what she’d expected, but that
didn’t make her any less annoyed. She would be eighteen in about a
month, for all holy sake. What difference did a few weeks make?

“You know why I’m saying no, Tate,” her
father, Caleb, said in his level tone. “You’re not yet eighteen.
Leaving the area of protection around our home would be very
unsafe. You can’t bring forth your wings yet.”

She looked up at him, fighting against the
instinctive pout that she knew wouldn’t help her cause. “Only
because you won’t let me try,” she countered.

He gave her The Look. It was one he had
mastered over the years, and she felt her shoulders hunching
against it. Huffing out a sigh, she rolled her eyes and said,
“Okay, fine. So I’ve tried. But that doesn’t mean I’d be helpless
out there. I’d be with Quincy and Sophia, and they won’t be very
far outside the area of protection. Don’t you trust Quincy?”

Her father gave her another look, this one
telling her that she was losing her touch. “I certainly do trust
Quincy. He brought you into this world and he would protect you to
his death. Is that what you want?”

She pursed her lips in frustration. He knew
she wasn’t going to say yes to that. Refusing to give up, she said,
“What I want is for you to trust my ability to defend myself. I’ve
been trained to do so since I was old enough to hold a weapon. I
know very well that mom only trained for a few months after she
transitioned to this plane before she helped you defeat Grolkinei.
So I’m curious as to just when you’re going to consider me
ready.”

Now, her father’s dark blue eyes seemed to
take her measure. Then he acknowledged, “Well played.”

“Thank you.”

“But it doesn’t change my mind.”

“But, Dad—”

“No, Tate. My answer is final.” He reached
out and tugged on one of her many bouncy curls—curls that resembled
his outside of their coloring. “You offered a sound argument. But
the last thing that Quincy and Sophia need is a distraction while
they’re outside the area of protection. That would defeat the
purpose of their efforts. On top of that, my concern for your
safety won’t ease until you’re eighteen, and even then, I’m your
father. I love you and I’ll always worry about you.”

Her frown softened at the words, but she
still found the disappointment hard to swallow. She knew that she
was ready to experience more of the world. How could he not feel
the same? “I wouldn’t be a distraction,” she grumbled. “They
wouldn’t even know I was there. You’re going to have to learn to
trust my abilities at some point, Dad.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’ve lived a much
more sheltered life than your mother and your aunts did, Tate. You
don’t understand it yet, but you’re a much younger seventeen than
they were.” His lips curved into a smile that eased the sting of
his words. “When you’re really ready to leave the area of
protection, you’ll understand what I’m saying.

“The bottom line is that you might be the
oldest of all your siblings by five minutes, but you’re not the
oldest of your cousins. Clara Kate and Sophia will experience
certain things before you and Tiege do. But that won’t make those
experiences any less special for you when it’s your turn. Before
you know it, we’ll be taking you and Tiege out for your first
attempt at flying.”

At the mention of her twin brother, Tate
shifted her gaze to the training paddock. Located within equal
walking distance of her family’s home, her Aunt Olivia and Uncle
James’ home, and her Aunt Amber and Uncle Gabriel’s home, the
paddock was used by all three families. Tiege even now trained with
Uncle James in the use of the blessed kamas gifted to him by the
elders. The sickle-like weapons gleamed white in the sun as he
worked through his weapon forms under their uncle’s careful eye. A
number of their siblings and cousins also performed various stages
of training with her Uncle Gabriel and Aunt Amber. The younger
children were at school and engaged in studies with Aunt Olivia at
this time of day.

When she opened her mouth as a thought struck
her, her father said, “And no, I won’t let you go even if Tiege is
with you.”

Deflated, she now did allow her face to fall
into a pout. “Fine,” she huffed. She turned to stride down the
slope leading to the paddock, figuring she’d work off her
irritation in a contest with her brother.

“Tate.”

She stopped and glanced back at her father.
Even if he hadn’t been standing higher on the slope than her, she’d
have to look up to meet his gaze. His sculpted Gloresti musculature
combined with his height made him a very imposing figure. She had
always found that comforting, however. And when he now gave her a
knowing look and waved her back up the slope, she felt a layer of
her irritation slide away.

Giving up, she walked over to him and let him
draw her into a consoling hug. He had never allowed one of his
children to walk away on a harsh or angry word. Since she knew she
pressed him more than any of her siblings did, she could only
appreciate that.

Even if she did think he was being ridiculous
and overprotective.

“I’m eager for you to find your wings, too,”
he said, the sound of the words a rumble in her ear where it rested
against his chest. “You’re my firstborn. I can’t wait for you to
experience what it is to fly…to achieve another milestone of your
existence. But it’s only a few more weeks.”

More composed now, she pulled away from the
hug and caught his gaze. “I know, Dad. You’re just trying to look
out for me. And I love you, too.”

This time, when she pulled away and headed
toward the training paddock, he let her go.

“How did our babies suddenly get to be
approaching their eighteenth birthdays?”

Caleb kept his gaze on his daughter’s
retreating figure as his wife, Skye, walked up beside him and took
his hand. He watched the sparkling, fluffy, knee-length skirt that
Tate wore over her cargo-style pants spring up with every step,
just as her multi-colored, beaded curls bounced in their high
ponytail. She had the tall and curvy build of a grown female, but
many things about her remained achingly young.

In response to his wife’s question, he just
shook his head and gave her hand a squeeze, having no answer. It
did seem just yesterday that he was a neurotic mass of nerves
awaiting the births of Tate and Tiege, and now here the twins were,
mere weeks from learning to fly. The time had passed much too
quickly, even for a being who didn’t physically age.

Tate, in particular, was growing up more
quickly than he could handle. As his firstborn child, she certainly
held a special place in his heart. And her free, uninhibited spirit
so resembled her mother’s that he couldn’t help but love her all
the more for it. But she worried him, too. Where her twin was
content to follow the rules, she consistently bent them.

“I had the dream again.”

Now he looked down at Skye. Her light blue
gaze was centered on the paddock. As usual, she wore her long,
softly curling brown hair down, and it caught in the breeze,
allowing the sunlight to reflect on its beautiful red and gold
highlights. Her fitted, knee-length sundress formed a swirl of
rainbow-bright hues centered right over her round belly. Their next
set of twins was due in about two months. Unlike her sisters, Skye
was prone to multiple births. This would be their third set of
twins.

I know
, he thought, taking advantage
of their ability to share thoughts as an avowed couple.
I had
the same dream
.

Tate asked you if she could go with Quincy
and Sophia, didn’t she?
Skye thought.

He nodded. “I told her no, of course,” he
said.

“And we’ll keep an eye on her tomorrow?”

“Of course. As always.”

Such concern when expressed by other parents
might have seemed overprotective, he supposed, watching Tate join
Tiege’s training session. Her blessed nunchucks whirled and winked
in the light as the twins sparred.