Ha'ven's Song (4 page)

“Paul,” Zoran called out from where he had
taken a seat at the head of the large rosewood table. “I would like
to introduce you to some of the most experienced and deadly
warriors in the known galaxies.”

Ha’ven rolled his eyes at Zoran’s
introduction. “Don’t forget the best looking,” Ha’ven drawled
out.

That comment started the group of men going
again. Ha’ven sat back, a small grin curving his lips as he
listened to the jokes, rude comments and watched the even ruder
gestures being exchanged. This was good. It built a comradeship
between the warriors that would make them stronger.

You fought harder for those you trusted
and respected,
he thought as he watched Calo, one of Creon’s
fierce warriors, throw a small knife at his younger brother who
caught it with ease. Things didn’t calm down again until Creon
erupted in impatience.

“Enough!” Creon impatiently growled out.
“Adalard, if you aren’t careful you are going to end up with
another scar to match the one on your face. Let’s get back to
business,” he said in exasperation as he glared at the men sitting
around the large table. “The babies didn’t sleep well last night,”
he added sheepishly as he sat back in his seat.

“Mine never do,” Trelon Reykill groaned out,
running his hands through his tousled hair. “They escaped again
last night. They are up to something new. I just know it.”

“This is why I never want to find a mate. It
turns a man….” Ha’ven muttered in a low voice.

“…. Into a man,” Paul said standing up.

Ha’ven raised his eyebrow at Paul’s
interruption but listened silently as the male continued to outline
what had happened and the plans to finally trap and kill Raffvin
Reykill. He leaned forward listening intently. There was something
about the male that was… strange. He looked at Adalard who returned
his glance with a small nod. Ha’ven focused inward, pulling on the
power inside him and muttered a small meditation chant under his
breath to help him focus the power.

Everything in the room faded as power pulsed
out from his body to the other male. A golden glow formed around
the male, casting him in a mist of the shimmering color. Within
seconds, Ha’ven was focused back on the room and staring at the
male with a combination of mild shock and curiosity. This was a
very powerful male who had been touched by the Goddess herself.

Ha’ven shook his head to clear the vision as
another large male suddenly entered the room. A grin broke across
his face as he recognized the short dark hair, equally dark scowl
and vivid spots showing under the black vest the male wore. Intense
eyes narrowed on Paul Grove before the Sarafin King opened his
mouth and put his foot in it as usual.

“Who are you?” Vox asked, sniffing loudly.
“You look and smell human but there is another smell on you.”

Ha’ven chuckled as a chorus of smothered
chortles met his statement. The huge cat-shifter had a habit of
saying what was on his mind and it almost always ended in either a
riot or trouble of some type. It took another ten minutes before
the human was finally able to calm everyone down again.

Yes, if I have to go into battle I can
think of no one else I would want by my side than the men in this
room,
Ha’ven thought as he flexed his fist to keep the power
that he had drawn from building even further.

“Do you want something to eat?” A soft,
concerned voice asked.

Emma didn’t respond. She wasn’t even sure
she could if she wanted to. It had been so long since she had used
her voice. It didn’t change the fact that she didn’t want to
answer. It took too much effort and would make her accept where she
was and what had happened to her.

Instead, she sat curled up in the chair by
the window looking out over the clear sky waiting for darkness to
fall again. She liked the darkness. It didn’t bring scary
nightmares or horrible monsters. No, the light did that. In the
dark, she was invisible, hidden from the sight of everyone and
everything. In the dark she was… safe. Or at least as safe as she
would ever be.

Emma heard Sara sigh when she received no
response. She really didn’t know why Sara kept trying to bring her
back to life. She didn’t want to live, not any more. There was
nothing to live for. She had lost everything that had ever mattered
to her.

“You have to eat, sweetheart,” Sara said
kneeling in front of Emma and cupping one of her slender hands.
“You are losing way too much weight. The food is delicious. We can
go for a walk through the garden afterwards. There are so many
interesting and unusual plants here I swear it will take me the
rest of my life to discover them all. If we were back home…”

Sara’s voice faded when she felt the faint
tremble in the hand she was holding. A knock on the door had her
releasing Emma’s hand as she stood up to answer it. Emma
immediately tucked her hands under the light cover that had been
carefully tucked around her. She heard a quiet conversation before
another figure came into the living quarters they had been
given.

Valdier
… Emma thought.
What a
strange name. It goes well with the strange creatures that live
here. So different from Earth. I wonder how my mother is doing,
she wondered distractedly.
I wonder if she misses me.

“Emma, Abby is here to see you,” Sara said
softly. “She brought Zohar as well. Isn’t he adorable?”

Emma didn’t turn to look at those who came
into the room. That took too much effort, as well. She knew the
other woman was from Earth. She had been by every day to see how
she was doing. Recently, she began bringing other women from Earth
as well. The one called Cara was funny. Emma liked it when she
came. Even though she didn’t let the others know it, she thought
the young woman’s love for life was fascinating to watch.

“Hi Emma, how are you doing today?” Abby
asked gently as she came over to sit on the floor near the
window.

The infant she had in her lap immediately
leaned forward and tried to squirm away from her. Emma watched as
he finally succeeded and immediately made a beeline for her. Abby
started to stop him but appeared to decide to let him explore.
Emma’s eyes reluctantly lowered until she was staring into a pair
of very curious golden eyes.

Gold eyes,
Emma thought as she pulled
further away into herself.
Aliens, another world. So far from
home. So very far from home,
she thought sadly as she closed
her eyes to block out everything.

*.*.*

Several months earlier:

“Momma, I’m going to South America,” Emma
said excitedly as she walked into the cheerfully decorated room
where her mother spent her days. “I’ve been accepted by the
Reaching Kids through Music troupe. All those years of you and
Poppa working with me has paid off.”

The woman sitting at the window turned and
smiled as Emma entered. She was dressed in the pretty new pastel
dress that Emma had purchased for her the week before. She stood up
and held out her hands to take the flowers Emma was holding.

“Are those for me?” Alice Watson asked with
a smile. “Thank you so much, dear. Do I know you?”

Emma sighed as she handed the flowers to her
mother who immediately took them over to the vase on the small side
table and began changing out the wilted ones with the fresh ones.
Today was going to be another heartbreaker. The advanced stage of
Alzheimer’s made her daily visits more and more difficult to deal
with. Her mother very seldom remembered who she was from one minute
to the next, much less one day to the next.

Her parents had been older when she was
born. Her father had been a singer while her mother had been a
dance instructor who began her career as a ballerina before
becoming a choreographer. Emma’s world had revolved around her
parents as much as theirs had revolved around her.

They had been her best friends as well as
her mentors. There had always been music and laughter in their
home. She had helped her mother in the dance studio and played the
piano and other instruments while singing along with her father.
Her world had crashed around her when her happy imaginative father
died of a sudden heart attack when she was eighteen. Two years
later, her mother had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The disease
had progressed until Emma was no longer able to take care of her
mother by herself anymore. Fortunately, her parents had been
financially well off and Emma was able to find a private nursing
home specializing in patients like her mom.

“It’s me, Momma, Emma… your daughter. I’m
going to Colombia, Brazil, Argentina and Costa Rica. I’m going to
teach kids how to dance and sing, just like you and Poppa taught
me,” Emma replied picking up her mom’s hairbrush and walking over
to her. She gently led her over to the chair near the window. “I… I
won’t be gone long,” she said as she began brushing her mother’s
long, silver hair. “I haven’t done anything since you came here a
few months ago and I thought it would be good for me to, you know…
get out and maybe see the world a little bit.”

“That’s nice, dear,” Alice said as she ran
her withered fingers over the petals of a pink rose. “I like pink.
It is my favorite color. What was your name again, dear?”

Emma bit her lower lip to keep the pain in
her heart at bay. “Emma, Momma,” she replied as she laid the brush
down and divided her mother’s hair into three parts so she could
braid it.

“That’s a pretty name,” Alice said as she
leaned back in the chair. “I knew a girl named Emma once. She was a
dancer with the Rockettes.”

Tears burned Emma’s eyes. “I know. You named
me after her,” Emma said quietly. “You said she could dance on a
cloud she was so light on her feet.”

Alice’s soft chuckle echoed in the quiet
room. “She was amazing.”

Emma listened as her mother talked about
things she had heard a million times growing up. They went for a
walk around the gardens and Emma took her to the recreation room
where she played the piano for her mother and sung the songs she
had grown up singing, silently hoping that the music would wake her
mother up and help her remember who she was.

She stayed for over four hours, helping her
mother with her bath and into her nightgown. She fed her dinner
before helping her into bed for the night. She leaned over,
brushing a soft strand of silver hair away from the lined face
before giving the wrinkled cheek a light kiss. Straightening up,
she smiled down at the innocent look in her mom’s cloudy eyes
before she walked toward the door.

“Honey,” Alice’s tired voice called out as
Emma opened the door to her room.

“Yes, Momma?” Emma asked, holding tightly
onto the door.

“I… I wish I had a daughter like you,” Alice
said quietly. “You are a good girl. One day you will sing a song
and a wonderful man is going to hear and come snatch you up. You
just wait. My darling husband did that. He heard me sing and said I
opened his heart. I was his nightingale,” she murmured before her
voice faded as she fell into a sleep filled with wonderful dancers
and a tall, lanky man who swept her off her feet.

Emma stood at the door to the room for
several long minutes gazing at the relaxed face of her mother. A
single tear coursed down her pale cheek as she remembered the love
her parents shared. She could only hope she could overcome her
shyness long enough to meet the man who would fill her life the way
her father had filled her mother’s life.

“I know, Momma,” Emma said as she brushed
the tear away. “He loved you so much you could dance across the
clouds and never touch the ground. I love you, Momma. Sweet
dreams.”

*.*.*

She had left for Colombia three days later
for a two month tour. The performing troupe had signed a contract
for a twelve city tour to promote the arts. When they had reached
Florencia, Colombia, a month into the tour Emma thought she had a
chance of breaking through the overwhelming shyness she had
suffered from her whole life. That was one reason she had loved her
parents so much… with them she didn’t have to look for friends
outside of her home.

Working with the children in the different
cities helped her realize they weren’t the only ones benefitting
from the workshops that were sponsored by the Performing Arts
Company that was hosting the Reaching Kids through Music program.
It had been the day before they were to leave to travel to Brazil
that she and Betsy, another girl from the troupe, were kidnapped
from out front of the small hotel they had been staying at as they
returned from dinner at a restaurant across the street. Two other
members of the troupe had tried unsuccessfully to help them. Emma
could still hear the gunshots and see the blood as the two men were
gunned down.

Emma’s mind closed in on itself as she
fought to bury the rest of the memories of what happened. She had
tried to protect Betsy but things became foggy after her head had
been slammed into the stone wall of the small cell they had been
tossed in. She could do nothing but watch helplessly as Betsy was
brutally murdered in front of her. She could still hear the
beautiful girl’s anguished screams as she died.

*.*.*

Emma jerked, her eyes opening wide in terror
when she felt a hand against her cheek. Her mouth opened to scream
but nothing came out. It was as if her vocal cords were frozen and
couldn’t move any more. Her unfocused eyes finally cleared and she
found herself staring into Sara’s warm brown eyes.

“We are going to a dinner tonight,” she said
quietly. “I think it would be good for you to go. You have hardly
been out of our rooms at all.”

Emma wanted to protest that she didn’t want
to be around anyone else. She was happy staying in the rooms.
Besides, she did get out… frequently. She waited until after Sara
was asleep before she slipped outside into the gardens.