Echoes in the Dark (63 page)

His
father scowled, slowly turned as if looking around.

We
are in the very heart of the Dark’s Nest,
Luthan said.

Bastien
dispatched two soulsuckers.

Both
your sons are here, fighting to destroy the Dark. Even your black-and-white
wild Power son, Bastien. See how he fights and prevails. Ours are the names
that will be recalled. Not yours. You will only be mentioned as our father, if
at all.

Too
long a speech, but Luthan fought through it, through the monsters to get back
to the other men, drag the sled there.

Slowly
the revenant looked around, then began to wield a ghostly sword, and horrors
died.

F
aucon watched
Koz disappear, battled, worked toward the place where the others had gathered.

But
some horrors had followed Koz, were going down to the women! The ladies, who
were concentrating on Singing.

Palms
slapped together. Grunting with effort, Faucon sent Power to Jaquar, found
himself lifted, too. The sled appeared and they were tossed on it, grabbing
onto each other.

And
down and away.

Into
the lower chamber where the women Sang scales. They hit the ground, picked
their targets, fought. He ducked a render’s razor claws, swung his sword and
cut them off.

Singing Chamber inside the Dark’s Nest

“W
e need a better
link with Amee,” Marian gasped, cradling her hand missing the finger under her
breasts, sending worried looks to her brother, who was lying too still beside
her.

“We
don’t have it.” Alexa was grim.

“
We
do.” Sevair’s voice rang out, and Jikata glanced around, saw only their men
standing, dead horrors scattered around.

“We
do,” Bastien echoed, yanking up Alexa, kissing her, keeping her solid against
him, her feet not touching the ground.

Luthan
came behind Jikata. “It was always meant to be this way. Lladranans and
Exotiques together.”

“Men
and women?” Marian asked. Jaquar was kissing the place her little finger had
been.

“Not
necessarily,” Jaquar said. “Had you pairbonded with women, this still would
have been necessary. Exotiques cannot save a planet, not their own. Not without
the commitment of natives. That is wrong.”

“I
believe you,” Marian said on a shaky breath. She blinked and frowned. “I can’t
hear or feel the Dark.”

“It,
too, is alien,” Sevair said. He held Bri and scowled. “You don’t have much
Power.”

Bri
lifted her chin. “Enough to finish this.”

Alexa
wiggled and Bastien put her down. She turned and set her feet inside his,
another wide and steady stance, straightened her shoulders, hefted her baton,
glanced back up at her mate. “You didn’t save us!”

“We
save each other,” Luthan said, his breath on Jikata’s temple and it was the
sweetest thing she’d ever felt. She closed her eyes, cleared her throat.

“We
can Sing with you,” Luthan continued. “But we do not have the Power or the
training to untie the weapon knot. You will save us all.”

“We
will save each other,” Calli said, relaxing into her own silent, reliable mate,
Marrec.

“I’ll
welcome the deep voices,” Jikata said.

The
mountain rumbled around them, the ground quavered under their feet, and outside
she knew Chevaliers and Marshalls and volarans were dying. But now they
could
kill the Dark. Everything in her mind, soul and Song sensed that.

She
opened her mouth and Sang the first note, at the lowest of her range.

Then
they spiraled upward in the Blessing and she felt a bond with Amee again, given
to her by Luthan, to the others by their men. The Blessing ended.

In
the pause before the first chorus, more horrors fell through the hole. Luthan
left her and the other men ran to face the monsters, fight them.

Jikata
couldn’t stop the spell, couldn’t delay it. She glanced at the women, gathered
their gazes, marked time with her hand and they started the first chorus on
three.

The
men joined in, Singing as they swung their blades and Sevair his hammers.

Pride
surged through Jikata, matched by the other Exotiques.

The
chorus ended and Calli launched into her solo, then Marian, Bri and Alexa. As
the men killed horrors, they kept the Dark at bay.

F
aucon whirled as
a soulsucker tentacle lashed, probed for bare skin to drain his life. Slashed
the tentacle, spun again and choked as he saw a slayer targeting Raine with his
poisonous spines. Short distance, straight in the torso, able to penetrate the
dreeth skin. He yelled her name, jumped toward her.

46

R
aine forced her
gaze away from the skirmishes between the men and the horrors, watched the last
loop of Alexa’s knot wave in the air, tug, and…pull…loose.

“I
am from the Seamasters, know oceans’ might!” Raine Sang, hitting the timing
exactly! Relief and sweat trickled down her spine. These damn dreeth leathers
were hot.

All
the blue-green crystals in the room, the shades of gray, even black and white,
all tints of the sea, glowed. Sound enveloped her, slipped along her skin, sank
into her pores, reverberated in every cell. All the sounds of the sea, too. The
surf, the lap against a boat, a ship, sloshing and splashing, the depths where
sound was simply vibration. Her breathing evened, her voice steadied, her
determination firmed. She waded, floated, swam. Sang.

Raine!
Faucon’s scream
brought her from a trance. She turned. Agony lanced through her, took her to
her knees.

You
must Sing,
Jikata yelled.

She
must Sing. She rushed to expel a wavering note that she’d missed, bolstered the
next. Concentrated on her solo, her Song of the sea, as she stared down at
slayer spines in her body. One in her side, another in her hand.

Poison
began to sink into her. Bracing, cutting one note a hair short, she ripped the
spines out, hissed a breath, inhaled sharply, and let the next note tear from
her throat, a low one, more groan than melody.

She
must
finish this solo.

Imperative.

So
she thought only of the Song, the phrasing, the breath, the rhythm, all the
little component parts that would make a mighty whole, like droplets of water
in the ocean. Like raising a Ship. She could do this.

Jikata
joined in to harmonize, even out Raine’s tones. The Singer was doing well for a
“fire” person, but hadn’t she said she’d had a house in California? Bri, the
other “water,” joined, too, and her support—more sound of rushing rivers,
trickling streams, rain—helped. Focus.

Sing.
The. Notes.

Watch
the knot,
Marian said, and that was good advice, too.

Raine
watched the thread slowly lift, push under another loosened loop. She was doing
it, her knot! A knot she should know, a seaman’s knot, but she couldn’t quite
figure it out. Her vision narrowed to the throbbing blood-red string.

Her
hand burned clear to her elbow. She couldn’t look at it or she might panic.
Something gnawed at her side.

Bright
flashes came at the edge of her vision, Alexa firing her baton at horrors.

Raine
wanted to smile but her face felt a little numb.

That
thought brought fear. She must
Sing.
Back to looking at the knot, back
to listening to the echoes of the crystals. Pain returned and she ignored it,
as she formed each note, strained to Sing them right. This part had a
rock-and-roll beat.

Pain
came because Bri was linked with her sending her healingstream through their
bond, fighting for her.

One
last sentence, a repeat of the first.

“Ahm
frm th’ Seamashters’, kno oshuns’ might!” She spit out the last word, saw the
thread jerk and her knot fall apart.

Jikata’s
voice filled the room, strong and rich. Raine curled on her spot and let the
pain take her, panted the continuing Song. She thought she heard Enerin’s soft
weeping in the back of her mind. Her vision blurred to turquoise…turquoise? Oh.
The blue-green of being under tropical seas. Snorkeling? Scuba diving?

Not
diving, dying.

J
ikata was amazed
that Raine had Sung her part, then Jikata sang hers and they all launched into
the second-to-last chorus. Jikata used all her art, skill, technique, Power to
bolster Raine’s voice, surprised the woman continued the Song. Her hand was
swollen to twice its size, red and with pus dribbling from the spine wound.
Jikata was in awe that the woman could even hum. But she was doing her part,
adding the lilt of the sea to the spell.

You
are faltering.
The words came to her mind. Not the Dark, but the Singer. Jikata had an image
of her, dressed in a heavily silver embroidered sky-blue robe, sitting in the
silver chair in the chamber identical to this one in the Caverns of Prophecy.
The
songspell wavers.

Not
by much, and not Jikata’s part, only Raine’s. Jikata added more Power.

I
will help. I will save you all.

Too
late for that, Jikata was sure. She was also sure that they would do fine
without the Singer. But Jikata let her Singing breath out in increments. They
would do better with the Singer. And the old woman wasn’t asking.

Rich
Song added to the room, and Jikata sensed the others’ surprise, then the Singer
melded into Raine’s part. The Singer didn’t have Raine’s heart, and was of an
air element and not water, but she’d had a century of practice. She could match
Raine’s voice, blend Raine’s Power with hers. Incredible.

The
spell strengthened.

The
accompaniment of ringing metal, human grunts and monster cries stopped.

Jikata
blinked, saw all the men but Sevair run to their women, hold them, boosting
their Power with battle adrenaline. Luthan’s scent and touch behind her was the
best thing of the day.

Faucon
sat and propped Raine against him. Sweat running down their faces, the men
prepared for the pause before the last chorus.

Sevair
clashed his hammers together and they sounded remarkably like the gong. Must
have been forged to do so. Another secret. The note was sweet, sweet, and
Jikata knew it echoed through the mountain and outside.

“The
others will withdraw now,” Sevair said. He walked to Bri, lifted her into his
arms, held her, spread his feet in a solid stance.

Alexa
mind-shouted the command,
Return to the Ship!

Jikata
sensed there weren’t many warriors left to heed the call, perhaps a quarter of
the force. Now and again through the Song, Alexa or Calli had jolted, tears
sprang from their eyes and rolled down their faces. Friends lost forever.

Or
for just a short time if she and the others failed, and died.

The
men stood behind their women, linking to them, providing Power surging with
adrenaline and testosterone to boost the energy that carefully unworking the
knot had drained.

With
Luthan’s arms around her, his chest touching her back, his breath in her ear,
Jikata hummed one note, and they all, even Raine, started on the right beat.

All
went well until the middle and Raine faded. The Singer carried on. Raine was
supposed to be amplified for two lines, and Jikata could feel her muzzy mind
focus on this one last task thinking of the rhythm of the ocean, could feel
Faucon’s Song intertwined with hers, helping.

I
can Sing these last notes,
the Singer said.

They
were pure, beautiful. Until the Singer died.

Jikata
felt the shock of it, of the old woman’s passing, as she had weeks before, when
Ishi had died.

Like
then, she kept on, steadied herself and the Song as the others realized what
had happened, as there seemed to be a void in the world. Until she became the
Singer of Lladrana herself.

For
a short amount of time.

Sweat
poured down Jikata’s body, and about three quarters of the way through the last
chorus, she knew she might break her voice, strain her vocal cords beyond
repair by the time the spell was ended. She got light-headed from the lack of
good air, and the others sent her Power so she didn’t falter, but her lungs
worked like bellows. The other Colorado women were in slightly better shape
from living at high altitude, but Raine was keeping her murmur steady at a high
price.

They
might escape with their lives, but they would be forever changed. Jikata met
Sevair’s worried eyes, he glanced down at the top of Bri’s head. She, too, was
draining herself of her Power, pushing her gift to the limits.

Koz
was dying. Raine was severely injured. They might not survive.