Authors: Laura Jo Phillips
“You’re correct,”
Tonka said.
“She wanted very much to return to the silo where there were more men for her to choose from, and she was constantly trying to convince the others to return with her.”
“What happened?”
“The Nomen declined to allow her to gather a few items she wanted to take with her, and that made her angry. Lei was always very loud and extremely insulting in her anger, but the Nomen had no patience for it. I confess that I was somewhat relieved when I heard her begin ranting at the Nomen.”
“Relieved why?” Salene asked, then immediately shook her head. “Never mind, I know. You were afraid she’d tell them about the children.”
“Exactly,”
Tonka said. “
I suspect she was not altogether right in the head if you want to know the truth of it.
“I sort of figured that out myself,” Salene said. She watched the children sleep for a few minutes while she finished her tea and set her cup aside.
“
I think we should try to get some sleep now.”
“Yes, I agree,”
Tonka said, yawning
. “I
’
m quite tired.”
“Yes, so am I,” Salene agreed as she placed a fresh log on the fire, then banked it carefully. “That should burn throughout the night. Maybe we should take turns staying awake.”
“No do be need,” Jinjie said, then waved his arms around a bit until a cloud of orange sparks rose into the air above him, swirled around for a few moments, then vanished. Salene told herself that one day she was going to ask him about all that waving around. Male Clan Jasani wielded magic but they didn’t wave their arms around when they did, and they didn’t generate sparks, either.
“There do be alarm what do be waking if threat comes near.”
“Excellent,” Salene said, yawning as she unzipped the survival suit and stepped out of it. She sat down and pulled off her boots, then removed her weapons vest and holsters, putting both on top of the blanket beside her. She laid down and watched the fire while her thoughts turned to the Gryphons.
Her mind picked over the same questions, the same doubts, and the same worries almost by rote now. It was a useless exercise since she had no more answers now than she’d had the last fifty or sixty times she’d done it, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself. She wondered where they were, how they were, and whether they’d meant to break faith with her or not. After a few minutes she closed her eyes and sent out a silent, secret wish that they really did have Controllers, even though it was a horrible thing to wish upon anyone. Nevertheless, she wished for it harder than she’d ever wished for anything in her life.
Chapter
10
Talus, Jon, and Kar were so tired that they’d begun to think in circles by the time they finally agreed to stop looking for Salene long enough to grab some sleep. After giving Royce specific orders on continuing the search that the man didn’t need, they headed to their staterooms. Talus took a quick shower before climbing into bed, but the moment he closed his eyes he realized it wasn’t going to be that easy. Putting his body to bed was one thing, but stopping the fear, worry, and near panic that whirled and spun through his mind was another.
He decided to try thinking of something else. Something specific. For a moment he settled on the night of Tani and Steel’s wedding. The night they’d made love to Salene for the first time. He quickly realized that particular memory wasn’t conducive to calm thinking so he shifted his thoughts to the following day instead. He skipped through the shocking revelations concerning Rayne and her trip through time, and moved on to that night, after their hurried departure from Garza with Salene on the
Razor
at her parents’ request. He still didn’t remember very much of that night, but one memory was very clear to him. He’d been standing in a doorway looking at Salene, her long red gold hair flowing down her back in silky waves, the delicate scent of wild Jasani lavender, her scent, filling his senses.
Salene stood facing the viewport in the
Razor’s
observation deck, gazing out at the stars. She didn’t even seem to hear the door open, or the sound of their boots on the floor as they approached, but when Talus placed one hand lightly on her shoulder, she didn’t flinch. He stepped closer, pressing himself against her back while Jon and Kar stood on either side of her. Only when they were all touching her did they feel the slight tremors running through her body.
“
Zerura
?” he asked softly, casting quick looks at Jon and Kar, who both looked as worried as he felt. “Tell us, please, why are you crying?”
“Leaving Rayne like this,” she said, her voice raw and hoarse. “It’s wrong. She’s sick and in pain and I should be at her side, not running off in the other direction.”
“I understand how you feel,” Talus said. “I would feel the same if I had to leave one of my brothers behind. But this is what Rayne wants, what her Rami want, and what your parents want. If you stay with her you endanger her, and risk giving away their plans.”
“I know,” she said miserably as fresh tears fell down her cheeks. “I know this is what has to be, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Talus agreed, stroking her shoulders lightly in a soothing gesture. Suddenly, Salene went still, not even breathing for a long moment. Then she turned around and looked up at him. Her eyes were red and swollen from her tears, but she set her troubles aside as she studied his face.
“What is it?”
Talus smiled. “You never miss a thing, do you?”
“I miss lots of things,” she replied. “But I didn’t miss that you’re tense about something. Tell me what it is, please.”
“Let’s go to our room, first,” Talus said. Salene hesitated.
“Don’t worry, love,” Jon said. “We want only to comfort you.”
Salene stiffened but before Talus could ask why she stepped away from them, turned around, and started for the door. He caught up to her in one stride and scooped her up into his arms. “Close your eyes so you don’t get dizzy.” She nodded and did as he asked. He stopped in front of the Razor’s master suite a few moments later and waited for Kar to open the door. Talus carried her inside and set her on her feet beside the bed. She waited for Kar to lock the door and join them before raising both brows at Talus.
“Tell me now, please. You’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m sorry,
Zerura
, that was not our intent and there is no reason to be scared,” Talus said. He paused for a moment to order his thoughts. “We understand that this situation is difficult for you, and we understand that your main concern is your sister. That’s who you are and we’d never ask you to change. But please understand that our main concern is for you.”
“Why me?” she asked, surprised. “I’m fine.”
“Yes, you are, and we’d like to keep you that way,” Jon said.
“I certainly don’t object to that but I still don’t understand what you’re worried about right now.”
“We don’t want you to be transported out from under our noses like Rayne was,” Jon said, then winced as she paled. “I’m sorry,” he began, but she shook her head, stopping him.
“No, don’t be. I realize that what happened to her could happen to me, of course. I was just trying not to think about it since there’s nothing that can be done.”
“Actually, there is,” Talus said, surprising her.
“Let’s do it,” she said at once.
“You haven’t even heard what it is yet,” Kar said, smiling at her.
“I don’t care what it is as long as it protects me.”
“Allow us to tell you anyway, please,” Talus said shaking his head though he was smiling, too.
“Fine, talk, then do,” she said impatiently which got a soft laugh from all three of them. She arched a brow and Talus stopped laughing, though his eyes still danced.
“Your fathers taught us a shield weave this morning that will protect you from being transported as long as you’re with us, and we’ve spent the past few hours practicing with it. We’d like to try putting it around you now, but this is a complicated weave and we need to concentrate. We ask that you lie down and be really still while we do it.”
“That’s easy enough.” Talus tilted his head as he studied her. “Why are you nervous? This is a new shield for us, but it’s not the first shield we’ve ever woven and even if it was, messing it up wouldn’t hurt you.”
“I’m not worried about that.”
“What are you worried about?” Kar asked.
“What happens if the shield doesn’t work?” she asked, and they all heard the tremor her voice.
“We’re working on a backup plan, love,” Jon said. “Let’s just do one thing at a time.”
“All right, what do you want me to do? Just lie down?”
“Yes, lie down and try to relax,” Talus said.
Salene nodded and kicked off her shoes before sitting down on the edge of the bed to watch them take off their boots. Then Talus climbed onto the bed, shifted to the middle and leaned back against the headboard. He pulled her into his lap with her back against his chest, while Jon and Kar sat cross legged facing her, Jon on the left and Kar on the right.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Now you relax, try not to move, and let us do this.” Salene nodded and closed her eyes. She’d had shields woven around her before. Lots of times, actually, though it was usually her fathers who did it. She knew that what they were doing required skill and concentration, so she took their request to relax and be still very seriously.
“Why are you so sad, Salene?” Kar asked softly nearly half an hour later. Even though her eyes were closed, they knew she wasn’t sleeping and had no trouble feeling her emotions.
Salene opened her eyes, an expression of worry on her face.
“Seriously, Kar?” Jon asked before she said anything. “I’d think the answer to that question would be rather obvious, all things considered.”
“True,” Kar said. “I’m sorry, dearest. That was a foolish question. Of course you’re sad about Rayne.” They all felt her brief flash of guilt and wondered about it.
“I love you,” she said.
“I love you, as well,” Kar replied before bending down to kiss her softly on the lips. “Try to get some sleep if you can.”
“You’re not finished?”
“No, love,” Jon said. “We made an error in the weave and are waiting for the threads of power to dissipate before trying again.”
“All right then,” she said, closing her eyes. “Maybe I will sleep for a little while.”
Talus, Jon, and Kar sat quietly, unsurprised when they sensed her falling asleep moments later. It had been a long and emotional day for all of them, Salene especially.
“I think we’re making a mistake,” Jon said when they were certain she was fully asleep. “She’s our Arima. We should be honest with her.”
“We’re not being dishonest,” Talus said. “We’ve only made love with her once. Let’s give her some time to get used to sex, first. What’s the rush?”
“There’s no rush,” Jon said. “But keeping the truth from her feels wrong to me.”
“It doesn’t feel right to me either,” Talus admitted. “But I don’t want to scare her. We have to lead up to this slowly.”
“What do you think, Kar?” Jon asked.
“I think the subject of keeping her safe is far more important than anything else right now,” he said. “And I also think I’ve come up with an idea that might just work.”
“What is it?” Talus demanded. He winced. “I’m sorry, Kar. That came out harsher than I meant.”
“I understand, Talus, don’t worry about it. My idea is that we put a tracking dot beneath her skin,” he began, but before he could say more Jon interrupted.
“That’s not going to work,” he said irritably. “The Doftle would pick up the signal immediately and either remove it or neutralize it.”
“Obviously,” Kar said quietly, his eyes fixed steadily on his brother.
“I’m sorry, Kar,” Jon said with a sigh. “Please continue.”
Kar dipped his head in quick acceptance of the apology. He was no less tense and worried than his brothers. He just handled his emotions more quietly than they did. “We put a tracking dot beneath her skin, but we deactivate it first so that it doesn’t give off a signal.”
“What good would that do?” Jon asked.
“If she goes missing we wait a day or two until we think they’ve scanned her for tracking devices, then we activate it.”
“Is that even possible?” Talus asked, frowning.
“Yes, it is,” Kar said. “I’ll need to program a regular tracking dot with a remote activation sequence but I think I’ve got that figured out.”
“How long will that take?” Talus asked.
“If it works as I expect, just a few minutes.”
“Then go do it,” Talus said. “We’ll wait here. Unless you need help?”
“I don’t need help, but shouldn’t we ask Salene first?”
“I don’t want to wake her up, and I don’t want her to go unprotected a moment longer than absolutely necessary. We’ll tell her in the morning.”
Kar nodded his agreement and got off the bed, moving carefully so as not to disturb Salene. “I’ll be back in about ten or fifteen minutes whether it works or not. We still have to weave that shield around her.”
Talus opened his eyes and blinked a few times in an effort to dispel the gritty feeling that too little sleep always left behind. Something had awakened him, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He laid perfectly still, his senses reaching out. He neither heard nor scented anything unusual. Had it been a dream? That felt right, but he couldn’t remember it.
He closed his eyes and relaxed his body, trying to think of nothing at all. It took a while, but eventually it came back to him. His eyes flew open, he leapt out of the bed, yanked on a pair of jeans, and left his stateroom. Crossing the corridor in two steps he knocked on Jon’s door, then moved down to the next door and knocked again. A moment later both doors opened.
“Jon, come in here,” Talus said as he stepped into Kar’s room without waiting for an invitation. A moment later all three were standing in a tight circle.
“What is it, Talus?” Jon asked.
“I don’t know how we could have forgotten this, but we put a tracking dot in Salene’s shoulder, remember? The night before we were taken by the Doftles.”
“That’s right, we did!” Jon exclaimed, stunned. “Kar deactivated it, is that right?”
“Yes, that’s what I remember too,” Talus said. “You can ping that, can’t you Kar?”
Kar nodded, a dazed expression on his face as he moved to sit down in front of his vid terminal. His fingers began flying over the keyboard. “I don’t know how I could have forgotten this,” he said, shaking his head while he continued to type.
“Wait,” Jon said suddenly, his stomach turning to ice. “The
Razor
no longer exists. How will you recreate whatever you did? Hell, how will you remember the encoded ID of that specific tracking dot?”
“The program I could rewrite, but you’re right about the ID,” Kar said. “Since it contained about thirty characters I knew I’d never remember it, so I sent a back-up data package to my personal server back on Jasan as soon as I finished resetting the device.”
“You’re brilliant, Kar,” Talus said with a heavy sigh of relief. “How long will it take to retrieve it?”
“It’s already been retrieved,” Kar said. “When we initially boarded the
Aegl
on Jasan the Controllers were in charge. They obviously knew nothing about the data I always take with me wherever we go, so it wasn’t here. One of the first things I did after we left Garza was send an encrypted data upload request to my personal server on Jasan. It arrived yesterday. I just haven’t had time to open the package yet which I’m doing right now.” After another few minutes Kar stopped typing.