Chapter 15
The sun set by the time they entered the pass. Chris and Emily couldn’t see anything, but Faruk and Turk led them on into the dark. “We don’t have time to stop. With luck, the column will stop for the night, and that will give us time to get in front of them.”
Anxiety kept Emily focused. She kept her eyes on Faruk’s hulking back against the dim starlight overhead. If only the aurora would come out to give her some light to see. But it didn’t come out. Her feet found their place on the smooth rock, but she couldn’t see where she was going.
Black stone walls rose up on either side and shut out what little light there was. The river whispered at her side and ran on down its stone bed to the sea. As long as it lay there and kept her company, she could rest assured she was heading in the right direction.
Once they entered the pass, though, there was nowhere else to go but down. Emily gazed up at the sky and let her feet lead her. Chris and Turk marched behind her. No one said a word to disturb the quiet. Emily lost all track of time. The night dragged on and on in an endless dream of tromping feet and murmuring water.
Then all at once, the sky exploded in a blaze of gold and silver and violet. Emily gasped out loud, and her eyes popped open. She thought the aurora had come out at last to light their way, but when she took a closer look, the lavender highlights edged the clouds. Their round bases brightened to green and grey. The sun was coming up.
Faruk arched one eyebrow. Then he bolted toward the canyon wall. “Up here! Quick! We don’t have much time.”
Emily scrambled up after him. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer. He found a foot path in the rock and climbed up the wall to the top. Emily clawed her way up after him. She caught her breath at the top and looked around. That’s when she understood what he meant.
In the distance, the cloud of dust raised by the Ursidrean column rose against the dawn colors. Individual people rode the enormous siege machines and battle guns. The soldiers’ armor glittered in the sun, and the engines’ motors growled across the land.
Emily caught her breath. “We’re just in time to intercept them before they cross the border.”
“Not quite,” Faruk replied. “Look.”
Emily turned around, and her heart sank into her shoes. Her knees almost gave out. Another column, just as big, came the other way across the Felsite plains. It didn’t raise a cloud of dust like the Ursidrean column, but hundreds of warriors clustered in its ranks. The sun lit up the manes of hair around their heads, and their weapons reflected the pastel colors in the sky. They were armed for battle.
“Now what are we going to do?” The words died on her lips. There was nothing she or anyone could do to stop this. They could only stand and watch Angondra’s hope for the future die on the battlefield along with the last of its men. Faruk took her hand, but the warm confidence he always gave her didn’t set her alight the way it usually did. He’d lost all hope, too. They would be going home to a dying place.
The two columns approached the canyon. Only the lonely river separated the two armies, and the warriors could step across it with no trouble. It didn’t offer them any obstacle at all. Emily could make out one big Ursidrean on top of the biggest battle cannon at the head of the column. It was Donen. He held a long gun propped against his hip pointed into the air, and he surveyed his surroundings with flashing eyes. He glared at the enemy approaching on the other side of the river.
The Felsite didn’t have big battle machines like the Ursidreans. They rode platforms close to the ground. The platforms glided over the terrain without a bump, but Emily couldn’t see what drove them. A big Felsite stood on the first platform, but unlike Donen, he was unarmed. A human woman with short black hair sat on the platform at his feet.
The two columns stopped at the rim of the canyon and faced each other over the gap. This was the only chance Emily would ever have of stopping the inevitable battle. She started forward, and Faruk came with her. Donen got down from his machine with his gun still in his hand, and Emily started walking faster. She couldn’t have traveled all this way for nothing.
The big Felsite got down, too, and the woman stood up at his side. He faced Donen across the canyon. They glared at each other in matched hostility. Emily broke into a run. She headed straight for Donen, but before she got anywhere near him, he dropped into another unseen path leading down to the water’s edge. The Felsite and his human mate did the same thing. Emily scrambled down the cliff face as fast as she could without plummeting to her death. At all cost, she had to stop these men from fighting.
She stumbled and slid the last few feet. Her feet rolled over stones in her haste to catch up to the two men. In front of her eyes, Donen strode up to the Felsite with his big gun ready. Emily rushed forward with her hand outstretched to stop them. Faruk’s footsteps rang off the walls. He was right behind her, but they were too late. The two men confronted each other with nothing in the world to stop them fighting to the death.
They stood face to face across a few inches of water. Then, all at once, Donen flung his gun to the ground. His foot splashed into the river, and the Felsite rushed toward him from the other side. The two men threw their arms around each other and held each other in a crushing embrace.
Emily stopped still and stared at them. She couldn’t believe her own eyes. The dark-haired woman held her hand over her heart, and a radiant smile spread over her face. She beamed at Emily, then back at the two men standing up to their ankles in the river.
Donen pushed the Felsite back. “You came.”
The Felsite’s mane waved in the sunlight when he nodded. “How could I not come? How could I ignore your message?”
Donen took two fistfuls of the man’s shirt and shook him. “I didn’t dare to hope you would come. It seemed too impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible.” The Felsite’s voice boomed off the walls. “As long as we want it, nothing will stop us from getting it.”
Emily couldn’t take her eyes off them. At her side, Faruk let out his breath. “It’s peace! They’re making peace.”
On Emily’s other side, Chris and Turk threw their arms around each other. Tears glistened on Chris’s cheeks. Emily looked around in wonder. The black-haired woman came toward them. She took hold of Chris’s two hands. “I thought I’d never see you again. Who are your friends?”
Chris waved her hand. “This is Emily Allen. She was on the same Romarie ship with me, but she landed in Ursidrean territory.” She turned to Emily. “This is Carmen. She’s Renier’s mate.”
Carmen shook Emily’s limp hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You must know my friend Aria.”
Emily nodded. “I....She’s been very kind to me.”
“We raced here because we thought your factions were going to war again,” Chris told Carmen.
Carmen shook her head, but she couldn’t stop smiling. “When Renier received Donen’s message, we couldn’t wait to come. This is the greatest day in our lives. We’ve wanted peace between our factions, and now we have it.”
Donen let go of Renier’s shirt. “We can’t afford to fight anymore. We owe it to our people and to the coming generations to work together.”
Renier nodded. “There’s so much to do to rebuild our planet. War costs too much in lives and resources destroyed that could be put to better use.”
“I’m ashamed of my faction,” Donen told him. “We were stupid to invade you in the first place. You had every right to kill me when you had the chance.”
Renier laughed a great booming laugh. “If I had, we would have no hope of peace ever again. Our factions would have fought until they were both destroyed. You know that.”
Donen nodded. “I have four sons, and I’m training them all to respect peace and work toward harmony with the other factions. It’s the only way we can survive.”
Faruk watched them with wondering eyes. “They already know. Everybody already knows.”
“We don’t want anything else,” Carmen told her. “We’ve never wanted anything else.”
“We all do,” Turk added.
Emily waved toward Donen and Renier. “Go to them, Turk. Negotiate with them on behalf of the Lycaon. You’re Caleb’s twin brother. You’re as much an Alpha as he is. If the Lycaon, the Felsite, and the Ursidreans make peace here today, that’s three factions united. We can use that bond to spread peace to the rest of Angondra.”
Turk eyed Renier and Donen in close conversation. Then he nodded and stepped forward. The others dwarfed him, but he approached them with no fear, and they welcomed him into their conversation. The three men bent their heads together in earnest.
Emily looked on with a pattering heart. She could laugh and cry and sing all at once at the sight. This moment meant more to her than watching a battle of mutual destruction. Carmen smiled and turned once more to Chris. “How have you been since I saw you last?”
“I’m very well,” Chris replied. “I’ve been living in the forest with Turk, and now we’re moving back to his home village so I can have my baby near his family.”
Carmen gave her a hug. “Congratulations.”
“How about you?” Chris asked. “How are you doing?”
“I’m not pregnant yet,” Carmen replied. “But with the war and all Renier’s responsibilities, that’s no surprise.”
Chris frowned. “Why not?”
“The Felsite can control their own reproduction,” Carmen replied. “Both sexes can consciously determine when they become reproductively viable. Can you imagine that? Either partner can stop a mating from producing offspring.”
Chris’s eyes popped open. “Really?”
Carmen laughed. “Pretty convenient, isn’t it? I wish I’d known about this back on Earth.” She became serious again. “Don’t get me wrong. Renier wants children as much as anybody and he doesn’t consciously prevent it. But something in his body stops it from happening because he’s so preoccupied with his duties as Alpha.”
Chris nodded. “That makes sense. Turk says he wouldn’t want to be Alpha for anything.”
Emily pointed toward the men with her chin. “He could be Alpha before you know it, the way he’s going.”
The longer they talked, the more animated the men became. “What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Faruk asked.
At that moment, Donen signaled Faruk to join them. Emily touched his arm. “It looks like you’re about to find out.”
Chapter 16
The men separated, and Faruk and Turk started back to where Emily and Chris talked with Carmen. Carmen moved back toward the Felsite column. “I better go. It was really good to see you again.”
“When will we see you again?” Chris asked.
Carmen smiled and held out her hand, but at that moment, her foot rolled off a stone in the river bed. She splashed into the water and she almost pitched over backwards. She put out her hands to steady herself, but at the same moment, a spout of water spurted out of the river and sent a shower of spray over the group.
Emily brought up her hands in front of her face, but before she could close her eyes, she stared in disbelief at a line of shadowy figures rising from the foam. They rode the wave out of the shallow water and stood dripping in front of the stunned onlookers.
Donen, Renier, and Turk stared at them in amazement, too. Inky black covered them from head to foot, and water ran down their bodies. Two bright eyes shone out of every face, but Emily couldn’t make out any arms or legs or other body parts.
The water receded into its bed. Emily stared at the creatures’ feet. There wasn’t enough water in that bed for a tadpole to hide in, much less a full-sized......whatever they were. They materialized out of the spray and took their full shapes on land.
Then, in front of her eyes, the black covering their bodies melted away and disappeared into the water, too. Underneath, perfectly formed bodies appeared with two arms, two legs, two ears, and eyes, nose, and mouth in the middle of their faces. A web of skin connected their fingers and their bare toes, and their skin shimmered with iridescent scales, but other than that, anybody could tell they came from the same breed as the other Angondrans.
One of them stepped out of the water and examined the three women with his head on one side. He blinked the water out of his eyes. Thick ropes of hair hung down his back. He turned to the four men still standing stock still some distance up the river bed. He bowed. “We meet again, Alpha Renier.”
Renier stiffened. “What brings you here, Fritz?”
Fritz studied the other Alphas. “Rumors of war bring me here, Alpha Renier. Rumors of war bring me here.”
“Our factions were at war,” Renier told him. “But we aren’t now. We come here to discuss peace between our factions.”
Fritz blinked again. His voice piped high and echoed down the canyon. “Peace, is it? Peace!”
Turk bared his teeth. “Is that so hard for you to believe? The Aqinas never profited much by peace.”
Fritz cocked his head the other way. “The Aqinas desire peace more than any other faction. We have done more to promote peace than anyone. You know that, Alpha Rufus.”
Turk let out a menacing growl, and the hair stood up on the back of his neck. “I am not Rufus. I’m Turk, Rufus’ son, and you won’t jerk me or my brother around ever again. We know the Aqinas and their tricks. You’re surprised we would meet here to negotiate peace without consulting you, and now you know why. We won’t have the Aqinas undermining the peace we’ve won here today.”
Faruk laid a hand on his arm. “Let him look. That’s all he can do. Let him look and see us united. Then let him go back to his water hole and leave us alone.”
Fritz smiled. It was an innocent smile, but it didn’t soften the tension. If anything, it made it worse. “I would never undermine your peace. No, never. The Aqinas want peace. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
Turk snorted and turned away. “Yeah, right.”
Donen said something under his breath to Turk.
Fritz waved his hand at the line of Aqinas behind him. They didn’t move from the river bed, but kept their bare feet in contact with the water at all times. Chris muttered softly to the others so no one else heard. “What do they communicate to each other through the water?”
In answer to her words, Fritz turned toward the women. “I come to seek you and your kind. I come to communicate with you.”
Chris frowned. “What could you have to say to us?”
He waved toward his companions, and for the first time, Emily noticed one figure that stood noticeably shorter than the rest. The same ropey hair and the shimmering skin made the figure blend in with the crowd, but the longer they looked at it, the more they noticed it wasn’t like the rest at all.
The figure stepped out of line and up onto dry land. It blinked the way Fritz did, but something in its face made Emily start back. It wasn’t Aqinas at all. It was human, and its hips curved too much to be male. Its shoulders were slender and shapely, and its hair was twisted into thick strands rather than individual solid ropes like the others. It was a woman.
She moved toward the group, and Emily took a step back. The strange woman stopped and regarded them with a blank stare. She scanned their faces one by one before she stopped in front of Chris. “I came to speak to you.”
Chris stared at her with her mouth open. Then she gasped out loud. “Sasha!”
Emily and Carmen exchanged glances, but Chris rushed toward the strange woman and took hold of both her shoulders. She didn’t hug the woman, but she stopped just short of doing it. “Do you know this woman, Chris?”
Chris didn’t turn around. She gazed into Sasha’s face in amazement. “I only met her once, but I thought she was dead. What happened to you, Sasha?”
Sasha looked around. The Aqinas st
ood perfectly motionless in the water behind her. Only Fritz showed any sign of listening to their conversation. “I thought I was dead. I don’t remember exactly what happened.....”
“The Romarie strangled you,” Chris told her. “It happened right in front of me. One of them was crushed by a piece of debris from the crash. Do you remember the crash?”
Sasha blinked. “The crash....”
Chris nodded. “You told me all about the Romarie, but I didn’t believe you until you showed me one of them in the wreckage. You told me not to go too close to it, but when the Lycaon appeared to help us, you got distracted and it grabbed you. Don’t you remember?”
Sasha looked around. “I don’t remember that.”
“What’s the last thing you do remember?” Chris asked.
Sasha hesitated. “It was raining.”
“It rained the night you were killed…..” She paused. “I mean, after you were strangled. I checked your pulse, but you must not have been dead. You don’t know how upset I was to lose you.”
Sasha stared at her, but she didn’t react. It was Fritz who explained. “She washed into the river in the rain. That’s where we found her.”
Chris frowned. “I don’t understand how a woman's body could wash into a river in the rain, but it doesn't matter. You're alive. I still can't believe it.”
Emily moved forward. “Are you coming back with us? Is that why you’ve come?”
“I’m not coming back with you,” Sasha replied. “My home is with the Aqinas. Fritz….” She waved over her shoulder.
Chris nodded. “I understand. I guess the Aqinas Alpha has a human mate just like the others.”
Sasha smiled for the first time. “You can’t understand how comfortable and warm it is with the Aqinas. It's so comfortable and warm…..”
Chris and Emily glanced at each other. “What else can you tell us about the Aqinas?”
“There are no questions there,” Sasha told them. “There’s no fear or wondering, and everyone embraces you in a warm, loving embrace. I never felt anything like it before on Earth.”
Alien Romance: The Alien's Wonderland: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 37