Fire Island: Book 3 of The Chatterre Trilody (Chatterre Trilogy) (6 page)

Her gaze went to the translucent skull, which was sitting on top of the table in front of the window. Its vacant eyes seemed to be staring at Sacred Mountain's peak. Was the skull as magical as her great-grandfather had claimed or was it just a mysterious creation, which repelled dust?

After the dream she'd just had, Nimri was inclined to believe that, for once, her great-grandfather had told her the truth. She wished that made her feel better, but keeping others ignorant of how to do things was Rolf's main form of power-play, because it kept others dependent on him.

Kazza's whiskers brushed her arm; she turned her attention to him and caressed his silky fur. His serious eyes proclaimed that he knew what she had dreamed and that he was as worried as she was. For the millionth time, she wished they could communicate better.

"In many ways, communication with Kazza is more straightforward and honest than with most humans," Larwin said. Kazza's whiskers twirled in agreement.

Heat spread from her neck to her cheeks, as Nimri realized that she must have articulated the thought. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Simple, most humans tell you what they think you want to hear, which may or may not be true. Or they tell you what they think should be said to get the sale or the support or whatever it is they want."

"You always were cynical."

"True, but that doesn't mean that the average person is honest."

"You want honest?" He nodded. "Fine!" Nimri took a deep breath, and wondered where to start and what to say. "I am scared." There, she had admitted it.

"We all are."

"What if my dreams are true?"

"There is no if. Your dreams usually are accurate premonitions."

"Are they?"

"You know they are." Remembering the horrible dreams, which she had had prior to the madrox invading the Star Bridge, Nimri was forced to nod in agreement. Larwin pressed his point, "Without your dreams, we would not have known to prepare."

"As is, we barely survived," Nimri said.

Larwin took her knotted fists in his large comforting hands and began to caress her wrists. "But we did survive, and we will survive whatever is haunting your sleep this time, too." His words along with his touch soothed her, but she still feared that a confrontation was looming.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded, then kissed her forehead.

"How can you be?" Shaking off his grip, she got out of bed and went to the window. "How can we fight something when we don't even know where it is? With my past dreams, we knew it was coming from the Star Bridge." She gestured to the window. "Now, I dream of water as far as the eye can see. Where is that? All I can see from here is trees and the river." She turned to face him. "Even when we were at the peak of Sacred Mountain and could see forever, we didn't see that much water."

"We will find it."

"How?"

He shrugged. "Don't know, but I do know that we are meant to, so we will."

"I wish I had your confidence."

Larwin wrapped his arms around her in a comforting hug. "I have confidence in you, Kazza, and Thunder."

"While that makes me feel good, it also scares me. What if I can't figure out where the danger is? What if we can't fight four madrox?" She pushed away from him. "Did I mention that they could dive in and out of water?"

"Perhaps it only looked like water."

She blinked at his words and a kernel of hope for their survival began to bloom.

Chapter 9

Tem-aki watched Cameron as he puttered around the boat, frequently looking toward shore. Shortly after mid-day, she spotted tiny dots of saffron slowly moving across the distant landscape. Was that what he was looking for?

She consulted GEA-4, who confirmed her suspicion and added that the group had come from the distant ridge, which Cameron had referred to as Dragon Ridge, adding, "That is where the Summer Solstice Ceremony will begin on the next moon cycle."

Tem-aki digested that information. "You can communicate with him?"

"Verbally?" Tem-aki nodded. "No," GEA-4 said, "not yet, but I am working out the language based on the writing."

"What writing?"

GEA-4 gestured to the odd scraps of rustic paper, which had strange squiggles of charcoal, or at least something that looked like charcoal on them. "Draco Cameron is apparently some form of leader who rules based on celestial cycles."

"I could tell by his attire that he didn't have access to much technology."

"Technology isn't the answer to everything."

Tem-aki blinked and stared at GEA-4, who was a product of said technology. "I can't believe you said that."

"Fact is fact."

Just before sunset, Cameron went over the side and rowed his small boat to the shore, a few moments later, a group of golden-robed individuals arrived on the shore. There were hugs and back-slapping, as ripples of conversation and laughter were carried across the water.

"Now there should be enough for me to hear their spoken language and start breaking it down for you," GEA-4 said.

"Excellent, once I can communicate with them, I can begin getting answers and find out where Larwin is."

Things were looking up. Then all of them turned, as one, and stared at her.

A chill ran down her spine.

"Why are they looking at us, as if they've never seen a female before?"

"Perhaps they have not seen one," GEA-4 said. "All are males."

"Well, they all look humanoid too, so they had to have a mother. I mean they don't seem advanced enough to have been grown in a lab or anything."

"This is true." GEA-4 studied the group on the shore, as they climbed into the small boat. "None appear hostile."

"I'm glad to know that."

"However, three have elevated blood pressure, which suggests high emotion."

"Which can be bad." Tem-aki sighed. "Until we know that they are not hostile, please stay by my side."

"Understood."

~0~

Varlet glared at the strangers on Sirocco's deck, then spun to face Cameron so fast that the small boat rocked dangerously. "Those are females!" Varlet's face turned an unhealthy shade of red as he spat out the words.

"Yes, they are fe-"

"How dare you allow them to defile the order's vessel!"

"I told you, they came to me in the Protected Place."

Varlet's eyes bulged, as he tried to find words to continue his tirade. "You allowed them there, too? You do not deserve to be high draco."

"What would you have done, if they walked out of the water?"

"Thrown them back," Varlet said.

"Walked out of the water?" Emmet asked. "I thought you said they came to you in the Protected Place."

"Exactly," Cameron said, as he calmly looked at the thirteen priests and initiates. "You have noticed that there is water within the Protected Place, haven't you?"

Emmet's eyes widened until they were brown dots surrounded by white. "But that's impossible."

"If I had not seen them arrive, I would agree," Cameron admitted. He nodded toward Sirocco's deck. "I also advise you not to touch either of them. They are far stronger than the normal female." Cameron turned his attention to Varlet, who was not only the tallest and thinnest, but also the most obnoxious. In fact, Varlet was so obnoxious that he was one of the top five obnoxious people Cameron had ever met. "If you have any thoughts of throwing them overboard, feel free to try, but I expect that you will be the one swimming."

"Is that a threat?" Varlet snarled.

"Just a warning," Cameron said. "Yesterday, I merely touched the smaller one, and the next thing I knew, I was flying through the air, over the rail and into the water."

"It doesn't take much strength to offset another's balance, if you get them close enough to the rail."

"True, but I was mid-deck."

Everyone began to murmur, as they gazed at the strangers.

"How are we supposed to achieve Ba-Tal with females aboard," Varlet asked.

"Ignore them," Cameron said. "They will turn in at sunset, and as soon as we have enough moonlight and a good offshore wind, we will pull up the anchor and sail home. If you are worried that two females can ruin your joy, peace and harmony in such a short of time, perhaps you should consider a future other than the priesthood."

Varlet's hands fisted and his jaw clenched. "I was not worried for myself." He gave the younger novices a significant look.

"We will all be too busy to notice their presence." At least he hoped they would be. "For now, we need to get on board, have a meal, then get some rest before the winds change. Tristan, can you secure the lines to tow the dory?" Tristan looked pleased to be chosen, and eagerly nodded. "Excellent. Benji and Emmet, head to the galley and begin serving cold cuts."

"Yes, Sir!" Emmet said.

Benji paused a moment to ask, "Will our guests be dining with us?" Cameron nodded. "Okay." He scurried up the ladder.

Nolan put his hand on Cameron's arm, silently asking him to linger. "They seriously came to you in the Protected Place?" Cameron nodded. Nolan sucked in his breath. "What kind of message did they bring?"

"I wish I knew," Cameron said. "After we are through the passage and the younger ones turn in, you and I need to talk."

"You didn't tell everything." It was a statement, not a question.

Cameron shook his head, then leaned close and lowered his voice, "Our guests brought the staff of power with them."

"The staff of power? As in the staff Draco Shakura lost?" Cameron nodded. Nolan's legs gave out and he sat with a thud.

Cameron sat next to him. "And that isn't all. Things have been unusual, while you and the others prepared for Shaka-uma's Festival." He glanced upward to make sure no one was near the rail. "I don't have time to tell you all now, but I need your advice and insight. But I promise that once we are under way, I will tell you everything."

"It will be just like when you were an initiate," Nolan said.

"Thanks." Cameron clasped his mentor's shoulder. "It is always much easier to see things clearly when I share them with you."

"It is the same for me."

"Do you regret it?"

"What? Not accepting the cowl?" Cameron nodded. Nolan shook his head. "Never. At my age, I do not need the stress of dealing with everyone and their dramas." With that, Nolan stood back up, then began to climb the ladder and Cameron bent over to secure the paddles for an ocean passage and wondered for the thousandth time, if he should have passed on the offer, too.

But, again, he had to admit that if he had passed, Varlet would have become draco and he could never allow that to happen.

~0~

Tem-aki woke with a start. Eyes wide, she wondered what had woken her. She looked to her right, then left, but the only other entity in the room was GEA-4, who was standing by the crystal skull. As her ears and eyes strained, she heard footsteps above and voices talking. Abruptly, there was a loud thump, which sent Tem-aki half leaping and half falling out of the treacherous hammock.

"What's happening?" Tem-aki asked.

"I believe they are preparing to set sail," GEA-4 said.

"Set what?" The floor beneath her feet tilted slightly. "Is this thing moving?"

"Affirmative."

Slowly, the view from the porthole changed. It didn't take a physicist to know the boat was now pointed away from land.

This could not be good.

"We have to stop them!" Tem-aki said as she grabbed GEA-4's arm and tried to haul her toward the ladder.

"Why?" the obstinate, unmoving android asked.

"What do you mean, why? The boat is moving; it needs to be stopped."

"You do realize that boats are a primitive form of transportation and are meant to move, correct?"

"Well, yes, but-"

"Then why would you want this group to cease what they are obviously doing on purpose?"

Tem-aki opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't think of anything she could say without revealing her fears. "Then what do you suggest we do."

"Exactly what we were doing. I will stay on watch and you will sleep." GEA-4 turned from the window and touched Tem-aki's arm. "If there is any danger, I will protect you."

"And wake me?"

"Affirmative."

"Fine." Tem-aki climbed back into the unstable bed and tried to block out the voices speaking gibberish above. Her only consolation was that the voices sounded cheerful. Unfortunately, she had no idea what they were saying. For all she knew, they were headed toward the deep, mysterious sea to throw her and GEA-4 overboard.

Tem-aki lay in her hammock, staring at the planking overhead and realized that she needed to find a way to make herself important to this group, so she could assure her survival, and eventually their cooperation in helping her find her brother.

Chapter 10

Pain slashed across Nimri's back, like the claws of a madrox. Tears streaming and gasping for breathe, she sank to the kitchen floor. Bryta screamed and dropped the menthe leaves she had been cleaning. Kazza howled so loud the rafters shook. A moment later Larwin, burst into the kitchen, panic in his expression. Seeing her on the floor, he dashed to her, "What happened?" he asked Bryta.

"I d-d-don't know."

"I'm fine," Nimri said. With each syllable it was a bit easier to breath. Seeing Larwin's white face, she found the strength to sit up and take his trembling hand. Looking into his eyes, she could tell he didn't believe her. "Really." He gathered her into his arms and sat on a chair.

"If you are fine, why did you collapse?" Bryta asked, distracting her from Larwin's uncharacteristic panic.

"There was a deep, slashing pain in my back."

"Lower back?" Bryta asked in a calm, collected tone, which helped Nimri regain her own composure.

"Yes."

Bryta nodded knowingly. "That is how your mother experienced labor, too."

"That was labor?"

"Probably."

"That's not how the others experience it."

"The others aren't Tramontains. You are."

Bryta did have a point there and while it helped her relax, poor Larwin looked ready to faint. And she doubted if colonels in the Star Dust Fleet ever fainted, so this was probably a first for him.

Larwin gently squeezed her hand, "I can carry you up to bed, unless you'd be more comfortable elsewhere."

She nearly laughed because, at the moment, he didn't look capable of carrying his own weight to the stairway. Instead, she squeezed his hand. "It takes hours, sometimes even days for a baby to come. Lying in bed will only prolong the time."

Larwin's complexion went from pale to white. "Seriously?"

Nimri nodded. "Think about it. If you have some physical thing you want to do, do you prepare for it by taking a nap?"

"Sometimes that is the best strategy."

Nimri laughed. "Be serious."

"I am."

She shook her head. "I'm fine, but I could use a hand standing up." Larwin did just that. It would be good when Mica was born and her body was her own, again, particularly if her nightmares were omens and somewhere in her future she needed to fight four of the deadly creatures. The good news was that in her most recent vision or nightmare, or omen, or whatever she was experiencing – she had not been pregnant. The bad news was that she had no assurance that they could handle four of the horrid beasts, when they had barely managed to handle a lone one.

Of course, Larwin had been a big help, as had Thunder. Perhaps Tem-aki and the gold-clad man would be a big help, too.

Kazza purred and gently rubbed her arm.

Yes, and Kazza had been a major help, so perhaps the pretty white feline would be, too. And hadn't Raine claimed that her job was herding the horrible creatures? That should make it six humans and two felines against four madrox. When Nimri thought of it that way, she realized that she might live long enough to raise Mica.

~0~

When Tem-aki got back into the hammock, she could no longer feel the odd movements of the boat. That was a good thing. When she shut her eyes, she could no longer see how the view beyond the porthole was changing.

That was good, too.

But, even though they were muffled by the floor, she couldn't shut out the boisterous voices of the men, or forget the evil looks a few of them had given her and GEA-4.

How did she know they weren't taking her somewhere to get rid of her?

Even as she had the thought, she recalled how the others, even the nasty ones, had looked at Cameron for leadership. She was sure he didn't want to hurt her. Make her wear the ridiculous robe? Yes. But that wasn't exactly hurting her, at least not if she moved slowly and cautiously, so the cloth couldn't wrap around her ankles and trip her.

She lay in the hammock, mind racing to understand her situation and alert for any hint of treachery, but nothing happened, unless she counted a shift in the breeze and that she could no longer see land out the window.

Though Tem-aki assumed she was too stressed to sleep, she did sleep and dreamed she was giving birth to a child. The unexpectedness of the dream fascinated her. The best part was that Larwin was there. He looked different, because he wasn't wearing his uniform, his skin was darker and his hair was longer, but somehow, despite the differences, he was still her brother.

The strangest thing was that he looked at her differently. She'd always known that she could count on her big brother's unconditional love, which was the main reason why she was so determined to find him. But now, as she gave birth, she could see warm, loving emotions shimmering in his eyes.

When the birth was finally over, a cheerful, chubby woman handed the baby to Larwin, who began to hum and sway. Tem-aki had never seen her brother look so happy and content. Was this because she was seeing the man he might have been, if he had not been selected for the military at age three? She had only been a year old, when he had left for the academy, and had no memory of him for her first three years, when she had been sent to the geological institute. Leaving home should have been that for any memory she had of her biological family. However, her mother not only was one of the governors, she and her father had made a lifetime bond, which was unheard of in their culture. But the most extraordinary thing was that they both thought that the family unit was important. Due to her mother's position, her parents had been able to arrange that all four of them shared the same leave time every year. So, for a month of each year, they were a family. And that felt great.

It also meant she was different.

The chubby, graying woman massaged her back and urged her to relax. Tem-aki closed her eyes and her thoughts drifted to how much she had resented her parents and Larwin when she was twelve. What right did they have to demand she spend her month of unrestricted time with family, instead of take a trip to see the rings of Torin or the moons of Ido with her friends?

How she had envied her classmates' freedom from family obligations!

By the time she was fourteen, she had met a dozen others who spent their free month with their parents too, but none of them had a brother, at least not a brother who shared both parents and she had begun to realize how special their relationship was.

By the time she was fifteen and had been accepted to the specialize field of geology, she had met three others whose parents still maintained a committed relationship.

That had been new proof that her parents were strange and possibly even backward, so she had fought even harder to have her month of freedom.

Now, Tem-aki was glad she had never won that fight.

And now, she worried what her parents must be thinking – feeling – about having both children listed as missing. How soon would she be registered as 'presumed dead', like Larwin?

Would her parents look for her?

She doubted it, since they had not demanded a special search for Larwin. Regardless, she wished there was some way to contact them to let them know she was fine and would return, if possible... after she found Larwin, of course.

But how could she do that, when she not only didn't know where here was, but where Guerreterre was.

How could anyone not know where they were?

A wail brought Tem-aki's attention back to Larwin and the red-cheeked baby. Again, she marveled how happy her brother looked and how settled. Strange, she would never have used those words to describe him, before. Smart, definitely. Driven, absolutely. Lethal, yes. But happy and settled?

Never.

And she certainly could never have imagined him tenderly holding a newborn and humming to it while it beat its tiny fists in the air and screamed.

Though Tem-aki knew she was having a dream, and could objectively evaluate it, one part of her also had the feeling that this glimpse of Larwin was fact and she had somehow found her brother, if only in her dreams.

~0~

Cameron adjusted the sails as he rounded the far point and the breeze shifted. A glance at the horizon assured him that there were no storms coming, so they should be in place by the time the sun rose to create the morning's onshore wind, which would blow them into safe harbor.

They would be home by mid-morning bell, but what would their reception be, when the followers discovered that they had returned with two strange females?

Cameron sighed because he already knew there would be problems explaining why he had broken a tradition that dated back more than a millennium. The question was how to minimize the peoples' shock. And the other question was how to make the announcement before Varlet told everyone a distorted version of the story.

He didn't realize he was muttering his thoughts aloud until Nolan said, "Forget about minimizing their shock. Maximize it."

"What do you mean?"

"Tell me what you thought when you first saw them."

"I thought they were a vision." Nolan nodded and motioned for him to continue. "At first, I wasn't sure if they were even human." Cameron frowned. "I'm still not, if you want the truth, GEA-4 never eats and seems capable of healing herself by laying her hands on herself."

"You told me that as soon they came from the Deep, they knelt at the bones of those who have passed on." Cameron nodded. "Which is why you decided they were supernatural beings, not demons."

"That plus the fact that when Captaintemakiatano took off the strange hood that I showed you, her hair -"

"What there is of it," Nolan said.

"True." Cameron sighed. "You've seen that it's the color of sunlight and golden dragons, and her strange outfit is the color of a cloudless sky on a beautiful day."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Nolan asked. Cameron arched his brows. "The staff," Nolan said.

"Exactly!" Cameron nodded emphatically. "All signs point to them coming to aid us. The only thing I can't understand is why I can't understand their speech."

"Perhaps you don't need to."

"Why do you say that?"

Nolan shrugged. "It is my experience that when the time is right, so is everything else."

"So you believe they are waiting for something before they reveal why they came."

"Do you have a better explanation?" Cameron shook his head. "Then, I suggest that before we disembark, you do two things." Nolan leaned close to Cameron, so no one could hear him counsel the addition of deep hoods to help conceal their faces and have one of them carry the staff of power, then as he stood at the top of the gangway, to introduce them to everyone within earshot.

"Then, finish with a plea not to disturb them. It's the only way to beat Varlet," Nolan concluded.

It wasn't a perfect plan, but with no other alternative, Cameron started trying to figure out how to convince them not only to wear the robes, which they seemed to dislike, but hoods, too.