"It's…not what I expected."
"It never is." The disbelief on Nare's face would have made a great picture, if only to remind her someday. At least the worst was over. Or not—they had one more crystal to free. "Are you ready to use it?"
"I…Yeah. I'm ready." Nare clenched her fingers around the shard, the stunned look tightening into stern determination. "This is for Elis."
"For Elis," Raea repeated quietly. And everyone else who has suffered at the hands of the Risaal. A new lump formed in her throat. She nodded and put her hand over the shard hanging on her chest with the feather Elis had given her three weeks ago.
"Let's go." She choked out the words and stepped from the room before breaking down again. They had a mission to finish. Then she could grieve all she wanted.
In Memoriam
Elis glanced to his right—two armed guards, at least two that he could see. To his left stood two more. Crystal fire. He didn't have a chance. They were ready for the slightest glow of the Starburst marks on his hands.
His only way out was to give them something from the translation.
His back muscles tightened, pulling his wings close to him, as much for warmth as from frustration. They hadn't offered him a new shirt after removing his other to treat his wounds, leaving him to shiver in the chill of the central chamber with the monolith.
His chest didn't bother him as much when he was still, but shifting positions stung like a knife cutting through his breast bone.
Dar Lorel had told him the order to recapture Raea hadn't yet been given, although she admitted to not being apprised of everything. That wouldn't last long. The Risaal wanted her shard.
He had to stop them, but he needed a new plan, another option than killing them all as Dar Lorel had proposed.
In the window above, the human face of the leader frowned down on him. They watched Elis's every move. No easy way out this time.
All right. But they wouldn't like what the translation said, which was nothing about a crystal. The small, inner two tracks had been carved with precision, but they made little sense, unlike the rest of the larger figures, which spiraled from the outside in to give the story of what must have been the Risaal attacking Inar'Ahben and the escape of the colonists with the help of the Miru, who brought them to the new world. There, they established farms around the world and harvested a variety of crops with the service of the primitive sentient species, a word he was unfamiliar with but which resembled the Inari character for humans. While they gave agriculture to the primitives, they also showed them how to keep livestock for easy hunting.
Through the efforts of the Inari, both species prospered on that world, and the Inari began construction of a new city to claim the skies. But an accident caused the death of Lady Atia. Her son, Lantis, inherited her rule and the right to name the new city. His council agreed on the name Atlantis in honor of his mother, whose strength had helped them rebuild on a new world, and him, the first male to govern.
The memorial stone was to be a beacon and marker of the geostationary position of the new city, once it took its place in the sky, pointing the way to the first city of their new home.
There it ended with the words, ["In memoriam, Lady Mikael Atia."] No reports had surfaced of the city. He had no idea where it had vanished.
The inner tracks were a jumble of technical words, almost like directions for the operation of a device, now that he thought about it. It was a device, though, a land-based marker for the city's location. In the present, Inari used more complex systems to position their cities, but this had also been a memorial to Lady Mikael Atia.
It proved the Inari had come to Earth at the time Dar Lorel and the others had pursued them from the homeworld. It said nothing about a crystal or rock or any description, except the mention of a darkness which took Atia. What was the warning on the back about?
What were the marks of metal in the deeper grooves of the stone? Obviously, there was a device beneath, but what?
How could he get to it?
Elis stared at the round stone, more questions rising than answers. He needed a break.
He needed Raea, but she was gone and hopefully safe. What had happened to her when she touched the center stone?
He had nothing to lose for trying. Here went nothing.
Cold and smooth and rounded like a glass ball, the red stone did nothing to him.
Odd.
He shifted his hands. Still nothing.
Wait. Someone whispered to him, but he couldn't make out the words.
"What did you say?"
None of the Risaal answered or moved, nor did the shadows he suspected to be others in camouflage.
Voices whispered in a language he felt he should know but muffled as if over a great distance.
Familiar but odd. Familiar…
Yes. That was it! Impossible.
Elis removed his hands from the red stone.
The voices vanished.
No…No. No. No. This couldn't be right.
What if it was?
Elis took a breath to slow his racing heart and put his hands on the stone again. The voices returned, this time more insistent as if shouting over a great distance.
It sounded like Starfire entities. How was that possible?
It's not possible. It can't be. There must be another reason for this…but what?
Black wings lifted involuntarily behind him but he pulled them tight again at the shift of weapons. The Risaal were too trigger happy since his and Raea's escape attempt.
He had other things to worry about now. As long as his hands rested on the red stone, the voices whispered to him.
He must have been wrong. He'd only heard the Starfire entities a couple of times, one of them when he'd healed Raea and they'd spoken through his connection with her.
There must have been another reason for it.
A sense of anxiety passed from the stone through the voices, warming him with the Starfire energy so the marks on his hands glowed.
Risaal guards shifted.
Elis yanked his hands away and the resonance faded, leaving him cool and startled.
It was a Starfire, a second crystal. How?
So Close
"Where are you going so soon?"
Raea cringed, her back to Anita under the glow of the street light. Damn, that woman was annoying and sneaky. She hadn't even seen Anita waiting for her in the shadows. "None of your business." Next to her, Nare scowled but said nothing, her tri-comm dark on her cheek. They had agreed to keep the shard a secret. Apparently, Nare took that as keeping her mouth shut, which was probably for the best.
"Everything you do is my business. It has been since I was assigned to you. Who do you think pushed through approval of Elis's application?"
Raea caught her breath. "You?"
Crap. She wanted to wipe that smirk off Anita's face.
"Why?"
Anita crossed her arms and shrugged. "I knew what he was and why he was here."
"Debbie told you."
"No." She said that too coolly.
That meant only one other reason. "You spied on him?"
A corner of her lips crooked up.
"Can't we get any privacy?" Enough of the woman! She had more important business to finish than deal with this bitch.
Raea marched away to the darkness of the field, Nare quietly keeping pace beside her, and pressed her tri-comm to her cheek. Who cared if they trampled the wheatgrass? She had to get away from Anita quickly. That meant getting airborne as soon as possible.
"Your life has always been our business, Raea."
Not anymore.
Steps hurrying behind them on the pavement grated on her nerves.
["Let's go, before she catches up,"] Raea whispered over her tri-comm.
["Agreed."]
They ran through the field over the hill, where the shadow from the lights of town fell. While running, Raea found the resonance, that perfect pitch of the crystal within her cells allowi
ng her access to the power, and focused on growing wings on her back again.
Nare beat her to the sky, pale blue wings spreading wide and flapping hard. Raea swerved out of the way of the wind created and spread her wings. None too soon, the disturbance of Nare rising into the starry sky settled. She flapped to join the blue-white wings against the darkness.
In the light of a streetlamp below, Anita stood watching. Raea's blood curdled and her fingers tightened into fists.
["Forget her."] Nare's voice reached her clearly over the tri-comm. ["Focus on the Starfire. Do the entities of your shard remember?"]
Her shard—she should have thought of that. She might not have been paying attention to where she flew the night she escaped the Risaal, but the entities would have mapped the location.
A touch of the resonance opened the contact with her Starfire. She saw the landscape below her flight home as she saw it then. ["Yes."]
A pause, then, ["Good. Lead the way."]
Rather than confuse herself, she retraced her flight towards Bismarck and angled east, following the trail of white and red car lights marking I-94 in the night.
Nare said little, probably because she still adjusted to the connection with the Starfire entities. It seemed too easy, but maybe—maybe—the entities understood their situation and would cooperate no matter the cost. They might have connected to Nare's memories and known, even through the protective covering. It had protected the shard from mechanical detection, but apparently not from a Keeper, like the crystal in the heart of the Atlantis memorial.
Thinking about Nare and her new status took Raea's mind off the fresh memories of that awful night, only a few nights ago. It seemed ages ago yet could have happened only the night before.
All the guilt and grief broke through her barriers and flooded through her, blurring her eyes with moisture. She sniffed and wiped cold tears from her eyes.
Elis…I love you so much. It hurts. God, it hurts. Why did this have to happen? Why you? Why now? I'll never forget what you did for me…Never. I want to remember. You gave so much and never asked for anything…I was selfish but no more…I know better now. Raea closed her eyes and flew, remembering the recent night he flew over her and held her in the air, his strong arms blocking out the horror of Pallin's memory. The rush of excitement from his touch—Elis's touch, so soft and endearing, gentle and satisfying. She could almost feel it reaching into her soul.
I wish I'd known sooner. I wish I'd never listened to anyone. I was so stupid not to see you before. Now…Now you're gone. I can never take it all back. I'm so sorry. I wish none of this had happened.
But it won't be in vain. We have the fifth shard, and we will free the others.
She let out a shuddering sigh to regain her composure and glanced over her left shoulder and wing at Nare. The shard that should have been Elis's belonged to his cousin.
It should have been his. It would have been, if they'd gone that night. Maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe he'd be alive if he'd had the shard already.
She was so alone.
Focus on the landscape. Not Elis; not yet. The time would come to grieve as her heart desired, but not until after they freed the other crystal.
[You are never alone unless you choose to be.]
Atia could spare the lectures.
[I would not be if I could change the past.]
Anger burned a rebuttal, but truth washed it away in humility. The Lady understood after experiencing it all.
[I never deserved him. He was too good.] That's why Elis was taken from her. It should have been her death. He deserved far better than Raea could give him.
[You are more than you know, or they would not have accepted you.]
She wished she could believe Atia, but this time the Lady was wrong.
[Believe in yourself as he did, Raea.]
Yes. She would make Elis's sacrifice count for something. Maybe Atia was right. In that, a new appreciation for the Lady welled up within her. [Thank you.]
She wiped her eyes and the remainder of her tears dried up in the cool night air brushing her cheeks, but the knot of emotions stuck in her chest. Despite the pep talk, the pain of losing him ached through her.
It always would, but she had to finish this. One more task and she could focus on his memory.
It was so hard not to think about him, though.
["Raea. Are you all right?"]
Nare had noticed. Raea had hoped to avoid talking about it. So much for that.
["I'll be fine. We're almost there."]
["You're sure?"]
["Yes."] She sniffed in spite of herself. ["No. We're going back to where he was killed."]
["I know…You can do this. You're strong. I've seen it. We'll do this together."] She appreciated Nare's pep talk, but why couldn't she show the same respect for Elis when he was alive? Why did it take his death to soften her? It wasn't fair! Death was never fair.
["How much farther?"]
Raea wiped her eyes and adjusted her wings to glide on a steady air current while she compared the land below to the memories the Starfire showed her. ["Not far."] The lone building and fenced area was ahead, a cluster of trees darkening an area in the middle of a large pasture. She would have to focus if she hoped to live through this.
* * *
Kalas fingered the weapon in his hand, ready to kill the Inari if he dared make those hands glow. For the moment, the topless Inari stood still while Lorel tended to his chest wound. Kalas couldn't afford to lose Lorel. The xenobiologist gave him an advantage in the upcoming battle for clan dominance on Earth and their return to the homeworld.
The Inari seemed unusually cooperative, too cooperative. If he intended Kalas to let down his guard, he deluded himself.
"This is nearly healed." Lorel sounded pleased. "How is it possible?"
"The Starfire makes us stronger." Strangely colored eyes peering up through disheveled black hair at Kalas made his spikes shift down his back in spite of himself. Defiance flared in those eyes, a challenge igniting Kalas's anger and a need for retribution.
He fingered the trigger of his weapon but controlled himself.
"It enhances our healing abilities." The Inari spoke with his eyes on Lorel, all hint of defiance gone.
"This is remarkable. I would appreciate learning more of your symbiosis with the energy of the crystal." Lorel held up the scanner, her eyes on the display.
"Another time." Black wings disappeared behind the Inari's back.
A moment of hesitation passed between them, their eyes locked and Lorel's expression puzzling. Her eyes shifted toward Kalas for a second and a few spikes broke apart her camouflage on her neck. She was anxious about something.
That something struck discord in his mind. The situation felt wrong. The Inari was too comfortable with Lorel.
The Inari shifted his head sideways and back and Lorel lowered her scanner.
A click on the link Kalas wore in his ear stole his attention for a moment.
{"Dar Lorel, your attention is needed with the human."}
The medic glanced back at him. {"His condition?"}
{"Unconscious. Heart rate low. He won't awaken. I think he's dying."}
She stared at Kalas as if asking what to do. They didn't need the human with the Inari there, but he was their backup. They couldn't risk losing him yet.
{"Go."} Kalas didn't need her again for a while. She'd already confirmed the Inari in good health.
Why did she look at the Inari like that?
Elis frowned.
"You can heal?" Lorel asked.
"Yes."
"Humans?"
The Inari straightened, standing fully taller than any of them, his frown hardening. "Yes."
What was this about? Why did she reveal this to him?
The spikes on her neck broke apart and she turned to Kalas. "He can help us."
She put too much trust in the Inari.
Kalas fingered the trigger of his weapon. The Inari's
wings, which had loosened at his back, disappeared again and his cheek twitched, a hint of fear in those eyes. Satisfaction filled Kalas, until Lorel caught his eye and her nostril slits widened. She was the one he intended to kill, but not yet.
He trusted no one fully, not even her, but he needed her cooperation to succeed. He needed every individual to support him if he would succeed in defeating Nakor Surik and his clan.
{"It's not worth the risk."} Of losing the Inari and risking failure of his plan. But his interest was piqued. How could the Inari heal the human?
{"He's told me of some of these abilities they have because of their symbiosis with the D'Nuvar. The human is our link to finding another shard of it, if what we suspect is true. Kan Rikku Nakor Surik will be displeased if the human dies."}
True, but he'd be more displeased if the Inari used this as a distraction to escape.
The link clicked again. {"The human quit breathing. Dar Lorel, you're needed immediately."}
She gave him a look of disdain and raced out as soon as the door opened.
"I can help."
Kalas lifted his weapon, his temper spiked with the desire for a reason to kill the Inari. "You lie."
"No." Elis spoke calmly, his black wings lifting slightly and settling again to relax off his back. "It's my duty, a gift of the Starfire."
Gift? More like theft. Still, if the Inari helped the human, maybe he would reveal the location of the Eye. Kalas had considered the idea once before. The humans thought the Inari were special and worshipped them.
But taking the Inari out risked him escaping.
Kalas twisted and glanced up at the observation glass. No sign of Nakor Surik. He'd probably returned to his private room to meditate and consider their plans. Kalas was on his own. A favorable outcome could secure his leadership among the rebel clans. Failure would risk everything.
It wasn't worth it.
He strode towards the door when his link clicked.
{"Rikku Ronur Kalas."} Lorel's voice. {"I can't revive him."}
Kalas hesitated and turned back to the Inari. {"You must."}
{"I know too little of his condition. If we lose this one, we start over."}
Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) Page 22