by Dale Mayer
He suspected it had to do with Dillon.
He took several steps closer, asking in a quiet voice, “Is there something you want to say to me, Paxton?”
The older man’s shoulders shifted as if to straighten, then finding the effort too much, collapsed again. Eric sighed. “And does it have to do with the fact that you are a Louer?”
Paxton gasped, he spun around so fast that Eric was afraid he’d fall over. His eyes took on a glassy look and the color, never much in his face to begin with, drained right away. Concerned, Eric led him to the stool in front of the workbench and pushed him gently into it. “Paxton?”
Paxton clasped his hands to his chest, gasping for air. His skin color faded to gray.
“Oh no. Paxton, hang on. I’m getting you help.”
“No, I’m fine.” He gasped, “Just give me a moment.”
Eric wasn’t too sure. Damn. He spun around looking for help. Where was Storey? She was so level headed, he could always count on her to give him a hand. But he knew she wasn’t around. He knew because it felt like a part of him was missing. He’d never heard of anyone else having that feeling. He’d never thought something like this was even possible.
And that just made it all the more special.
“Paxton? Are you feeling better?” Eric bent over his friend, hating that he had to get answers from him and stress him out to this extent. But he suspected that it was Paxton’s secret that had made him the exemplary mentor and council head that he was. And a potential victim to anything the Councilman wanted. If he knew about Dillon, which was possible given that he had access to his quarters and therefore to the database, he’d have been automatically updated on Dillon’s arrival. Whether he knew about Dillon being a Louer or not was another thing…Paxton’s life would be ruined if he did.
“Our grandparents had heard rumors about the banishment of the Louers. They were young, too young to get married and too young to be independent…but my grandmother got pregnant. They were owned by your father’s family. They couldn’t get free. His sires have all been the same.”
“When the Louers were banished, my family hid away in the mountains. Trying to live their life alone. But the life was hard. My grandparents kept the secret, and my parents after them. I never knew I was different. Dillon was the younger by several years. My mother perished soon after his birth. My father was a simple man, he tried hard, but couldn’t do much without her. He took a chance and moved into town and tried to make a go of it. He told me the whole story and swore me to secrecy. Warned me what could happen if anyone found out. In truth I kind of forgot about it. I was a Toran in every way. And besides, by then, everyone had forgotten about the Louers. My father worked hard and kept a low profile.
But your grandfather knew. He didn’t do anything publicly, but one night my father disappeared. Dillon and I were still young. The neighbors took us in. And I never forgot again that what I was had to be hidden. That I couldn’t be me. That my family was so bad we had to be banished – or worse.”
The look in Paxton’s eyes broke Eric’s heart. How long did it take for history to be forgotten? One generation or two? Three maybe.
“Why did the Louers get banished?”
“My father once told me that at that time, many of the Toran people were dying. No one knew why. Because my people weren’t dying, the Torans blamed them. When my people had no answers to the illness, things went from bad to worse. The Louers were treated horribly. This went on for years, and once everyone had gotten used to the bad behavior, it continued well past the point when the Torans were healthy again. But the damage had been done and the behavior continued. The Louers tried to gather together to fight the problem. They were serfs and not slaves. But the distinction became lost over time as their roles slid further into slave and master.
“When the Louers rose up and started fighting back, the Torans banished my people.” The lost look in his eyes made Eric think he was looking back through time. “All those years, I did nothing to help my people and did everything to help your people. I’d hoped there’d be a way to find Dillon, but knew I had no means to help him as a Louer. But as a Toran, so much more was possible.” He gave a broken cry. “He was all I had… I tried so hard, but couldn’t help him.”
He stared glassy eyed at Eric. “Then Storey found Dillon.”
And Eric understood. “And you realized that in helping your brother, you were risking your own secret coming to light. Now that Dillon is safe inside a stylus, you are afraid for yourself.”
“No,” Paxton whispered shaking his head, “I don’t care what happens to me anymore. I’m old. My time is done. I stayed around to find an answer for Dillon, now that I’ve done that, I’m happy to die. But I’d like to die here. Not be banished to that cold dark place. Look what they’ve done to my people. Look how they’ve changed as each generation had to deal with the hardships they’ve endured.”
“They can’t banish you, Paxton. Look at all you’ve done for my – our – people.”
“They won’t care when I’m gone.” He looked up. “In fact, they are liable to look at you sideways too. Wonder if you can be trusted.”
Eric laughed at that. “No, if they look at me that way, it will be due to my father’s actions, not yours.”
As if he’d heard his name spoken, the Councilman’s voiced filled the air and his face appeared in each monitor in the room. It was kind of eerie.
“No. You must finish this. Our bargain still stands. You get rid of the girl and then I’ll give you the means to travel to my dimension.”
An odd-sounding voice answered, and a strong male’s face filled the screen. “My daughter says otherwise.”
A Louer male. It took a moment for Eric to understand. His heart slammed against his ribs. Tammy’s father. The Councilman, Eric’s father, was negotiating with the Louers against his own people.
“Your daughter?” blustered the councilman, “What does she have to do with this?”
“She says you tried to get rid of the girl already and now you are no longer in power. That you can’t promise anything.”
The councilman’s face reddened. “That’s not true. I have a secret up my sleeve. It will change the game entirely. I have information on the chief person who is against me. He will rue the day he went against me.”
The Louer elder’s face twisted. It was almost as if he were listening to something – to someone – else. His face cleared. “Ah. You are talking about your great scientist, Paxton.”
Paxton gasped. His eyes widened. Eric didn’t know how to help him. He could only hope his father would never see power again after this. To have actually guaranteed that he could give the Louers travel back to his dimension – that was beyond anything. The council would be screaming over this. Even as that thought registered, the key pad on Paxton’s desk lit up as multiple messages clogged up their communication system.
“Yes, yes, you see, he is not a Toran. He is a Louer. Like you.”
Paxton, standing in shock beside Eric, bowed his head in shame.
Storey raised her head and took a deep breath. Tammy, time to wake up.
Tammy shifted on the bed. Immediately the others in the room jumped forward. They surrounded the little girl, watching intently as she started to wake up. Skorky stayed put at her shoulder, but he lifted a tiny paw to bat Tammy’s cheek.
Then Tammy’s eyes opened. She stared at the Louers gathered around as a hum filled the air. Storey understood they were all conversing. She could probably tune in, but that damn hum hurt.
Use the honor mark.
Storey frowned. The same one?
No the newest one.
She reached to touch the new honor marks on her shoulders, instinctively tracing the flowing lines. Immediately the hum muted and words of a bubbling conversation filtered into her mind. The noise was too loud. She continued to trace, finding that as she went lower down her arm, the volume muted. As she traced higher, the sound rose.
She laugh
ed. It’s a communication device.
It’s communication energy, the stylus corrected. Now you can speak with Tammy normally.
Is Tammy going to be okay now?
Yes.
“Torrey!”
Storey smiled down at the little girl. “Hello, Tammy.”
Tammy smiled, a look that lit up the room and caused all the other Louers to murmur in shock.
“I guess they don’t do much smiling, do they?”
Tammy shook her head. “No. But I will teach them. You showed me. I’ll show them.” She practically beamed. She sat up and threw herself at Storey. Skorky jumped onto Tammy’s back and scurried across to Storey’s shoulder, where it chattered happily.
Wrapping her arms tight around the little girl, Storey said, “At least now we can talk to each other. Let’s hope we still can after I go home.”
“Torrey leaving?”
Storey nodded. “I hope so. I need to go back to see my mother.”
At that Tammy held out her hand to one of the Louers at her side. “You can share my mother.”
The other Louer stared down at Tammy in obvious alarm.
Storey laughed. “That’s okay. I have my own mother. Thank you for the offer though.”
Tammy smiled. “But you don’t have a father, right? So you can share mine.”
The little girl’s generous spirit was heartwarming, but there was no way that her stone-faced father would be interested in adopting Storey. And the feeling was mutual. Storey wanted minimal contact with Tammy’s family. Still, they had a few issues to be resolved.
The Louers at her side poked her suddenly. Storey sat back and glared at them. “You could just ask me to stand up you know.”
They backed up in shock. Tammy giggled. “They didn’t know that you could speak”
She looked at Tammy. “But I spoke with you?”
“I didn’t let them hear the conversation.”
Oh boy. She had a lot to learn. Storey said, “I couldn’t speak to them before, but now apparently I can.” She motioned to the shimmering marks on her shoulder.
Tammy gasped, she pointed to the marks. Skorky jumped to Tammy’s arms. “Mutre, look.”
Mutre, which Storey could only surmise meant mother, bent closer. Something shifted in her eyes, but so quickly Tammy didn’t recognize the emotions. Shock maybe. Understanding. Definitely something along that line. It wasn’t like Storey could speak Louer herself, more along the line of bad translation. Most of the message came through, but some of the finer nuances were lost.
“Tammy, what’s going on?”
“Potre wants to speak to you. And to make sure I’m okay.” She scrambled off the platform and grabbed Storey’s hand. “Come on.”
She tugged Storey to her feet and ran down the hall, holding on tight to Skorky. “It will be fine. I promise.”
That the little girl was mimicking Storey’s own words probably meant she didn’t understand their real meaning. Tammy’s father wasn’t going to like anything about Storey. But she hoped with Tammy’s help, they could convince him to let her go. She needed to go back to her own family soon. And somewhere along the line she had to transfer the Broken One to his new home.
And how she was going to do that was still a mystery.
It will happen in time.
Says you, she muttered mentally. Just help me get out of this mess, first.
As they walked into the large cave she had to wonder again if the Torans had technology that could help the Louers out as they built their new world. Then again, the Louers obviously had skills that were far more advanced than they’d initially thought. They’d dug this vast network of caves and had the technology to communicate with the Councilman in another dimension. Although he might have had a hand in that.
The damn place bulged with Louers. Oh crap. She really didn’t like the look of the room full of strangers, and not friendly ones, either. All those unsmiling faces staring at her gave her a bad case of the willies. Besides, they could knock her out in an instant. She hadn’t forgotten the last time.
At that memory her feet slowed, but Tammy would have none of it. Tammy was much heavier than Storey and she giggled as she pulled Storey forward. Before she knew it, she’d reached the front of the cave to face the Louer leader.
“You are Storey?” he asked, the sound reverberating loudly outside and inside her head. For such a huge man, his voice was calm, not aggressive. Still this form of communication was beyond weird. As if they were speaking aloud, but not quite. This was almost a group conversation.
She barely held back her gasp of shock, but managed to say, “Yes.”
Tammy bounced between her father and Storey. Her joy at having them both there on a relatively friendly basis was more than evident. Storey took that to mean she wasn’t about to be killed.
“Why are you here?”
Her gaze widened. “To help Tammy.” Then she realized they’d never actually learned what Tammy’s real name was. She quickly added, “To help your daughter.”
Potre gazed at Tammy, but there was no easing of the stony look on his face.
“And the Toran with you?”
“Eric?” She frowned. “He’s not with me. He’s in his dimension.”
“Is he? And his father.”
She scoffed. “That man should be locked up.”
“You are not here as his messenger?”
She reared back. “I am nothing to him. He wants to kill me.”
“So I understand.”
She frowned. “He wants you to take care of that.” She stiffened, remembering the conversation she’d overheard in the Councilman’s room. “I suppose he’s willing to make a deal to get that job done.”
The Louer leader nodded.
“And?” she asked in a cool voice, “What is your decision?”
He tilted his head and she thought she saw something flash in his eyes. She didn’t understand, but a weird hum filled the air. Dread filled her stomach; was she about to be knocked out? Quickly, she said to Tammy, “Tammy, stop your father.”
“Why?” Tammy bounced in front of her, the short tubby body surprisingly agile. Skorky raced from one shoulder to the other and back again.
“I don’t want to be knocked out again.” Storey said in a dry voice.
“He won’t.” She giggled. “It won’t work anymore on you now. He already tried.”
“He did?”
“Yes.” Tammy laughed and danced through the room. None of the other Louers noticed or paid any attention to her. Storey didn’t understand the lack of interest. “Tammy, why are there no other children?”
“There are. But not many.”
As the adults were looking at her. Storey continued to ask Tammy, “Do you know why there aren’t many?”
“No.” Tammy danced a little jig that made Storey grin. The humor was out of place, given the silent room and situation, but hard to resist. Tammy had always been a joy.
Crossover influence. She had to stop herself and think about that. She’d definitely been influenced by Tammy. Look where she was. There’s no way she’d have come to rescue the little girl – time and time again – if she hadn’t been. She’d also been hoping to find a way to improve relations between the Louers and the Torans. They were one and the same, inside.
And maybe so were her people, but they were a long ways away from being ready to have a relationship with other dimensions. She couldn’t even imagine trying to explain such a concept to her government. Add in all the other governments of all the other countries…and things would get very icky.
“Storey.”
She straightened to face the Louers’ leader. He motioned to her to move forward down a corridor. She stepped forward before the guards could prod her.
Tammy grabbed her hand, and tugged her closer. Storey grinned. It was stupid to feel so happy and carefree with her fate yet to be decided, but she’d been through so much. Done so much. How could she not want to enjoy the moment? Knowing he
r time with this cherub was coming to an end, Storey couldn’t help, but open her arms. Tammy launched herself into them. Storey stumbled. She’d forgotten how heavy Tammy was when in her body. She gave her a big hug, the two of them laughing. Finally she put her down and the two ran forward. They ended up in another cave, darker and much smaller than the previous once. On the wall was a large monitor. Filled with the Councilman’s face.
For a moment Storey was sidetracked by the apparent lack of power here and the appearance of a big, functioning monitor. Maybe her people could learn more than she thought from the Louers. From the rest of the furnishings in the room, she assumed the Louers had made good use of the doorways she’d made leading back to their old world.