Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  Rahuna ran his hand across an incised legend on the door’s left side. Closing his eyes, he chanted, repeating a long phrase over and over with subtle variations in tone each time. Tleer and the four monks joined in with a harmonizing tune.

  Andi chuckled when she realized Wilson was humming along but poked him in the ribs. If this door was set to recognize an aural key, it wasn’t going to accept his burring baritone, which wobbled at just the wrong moments. Musicality wasn’t one of his stronger points.

  She gave him a small smile then closed her eyes for a minute, memory taking her to her intimate late-night conversation with Tom by the lake. I hope we get another chance to sit in the moonlight together. Glancing at the litter, where the captain lay with his eyes closed, as if paralyzed, Andi felt regret clotting her throat. I never even kissed him.

  With a whoosh of displaced air, the black stone door, which had to weigh several tons, disappeared. Nerves jangling, Andi flinched, hand over her mouth to keep from swearing. Lords of Space, this place just keeps getting spookier.

  Rahuna dragged her across the threshold, close on the heels of the litter-bearers, with Wilson right behind, treading on her heel. One of the monks stumbled, and the sergeant dove forward to catch the end of the litter, preventing Tom’s limp body from pitching onto the stone floor.

  A rush of air shoved her forward, stumbling. Hand on the wall to keep her balance, Andi pressed a hand over her heart as it trip-hammered like a drumbeat. The portal had sealed them in as mysteriously as it had opened a few moments earlier.

  “Not far now.” Rahuna took her elbow, turning her to continue on with him.

  The walls, floor and ceiling in this new corridor were a glaring white that hurt her eyes. After a few steps, as the passageway curved to the left, they emerged into a small, pentagon-shaped room with a sunken center. She and Rahuna stood at the edge of a flight of shallow steps leading into the main portion of the room.

  “Tell me I’m not seeing this.” Wilson paused on the threshold, apparently transfixed by whatever waited in the chamber.

  Taking a step to see for herself, Andi gawked, her mouth falling open. The monks transferred Tom from the litter to the exact center of a table made from solid emerald. That stone is the size of a groundcar. One man took the quilts, while two others picked up the litter. Bowing to Rahuna, the quartet departed, back the way they’d come, apparently to wait by the door.

  “Unnecessary witnesses are forbidden.” Tleer stood at the end of the emerald. “Come forward, don’t dawdle.” He beckoned with outstretched arms. “I fear we’ve no time to waste. Your captain is far gone toward the next life. He leaves this world soon.”

  Eyes brimming with unshed tears, Andi rushed down the stairs,Wilson hard on her heels. “Show us then,” she said. “What do we do?”

  “Stand on either side. Observe, there are marked areas for the supplicants.” Rahuna pointed at an octagon of opal set into the floor at the monstrous emerald’s midpoint.

  The iridescent colors in the opal whirled, making her dizzy. Blinking the sensation away, she took her place in the center. Kicking off her sandals because it felt wrong to her to sully the gemstone with shoes, Andi stood barefoot on the stone, wiggling her toes. Wilson walked around the other side to take his assigned place, while Rahuna took up a position at the foot of the emerald.

  Huge, unfaceted Zulairian rubies had been set in alternating bands with smaller emeralds and carved disks of opal on the walls. “It’s like being inside a giant’s jewelry box,” Andi said.

  “Don’t seek to examine the workings of Sanenre.” Rahuna waggled his finger at her.

  “And don’t touch the device,” Tleer warned even before Rahuna had finished speaking. “Only the one to be healed can endure direct contact with the energies the stone will pour forth during the ceremony. Anyone else who touches the emerald of Sanenre before the ritual is completed will die.”

  Frowning, Wilson shifted his stance. “So, what do we do? Stand here with our hands at our sides? I could’ve done that in the sickroom. What does it take to activate this baby? Tom doesn’t have time for us to chitchat.”

  Rahuna nodded. “Standing with your hands in your pockets is a hard thing for a man of action, I realize, Sergeant. But necessary, I’m afraid. Tleer will chant the words of invocation. When—if the device is activated, you’ll be moved by the power of Sanenre to do what’s needed.” He ruined the positive impact of the last pronouncement with his next, half-heard mutter. “According to the old records, at any rate.”

  Squinting against the rainbow glints arcing off the facets under the lights, Andi eyed the emerald. But where’s the machinery? What’s going to turn on? All her fear and anxiety channeled into her twitchy hands as she pleated and unpleated the sides of her dress in a gesture she was unable to control. What if this is all mere legend? Her chest hurt at the thought. What if the device doesn’t work? “When was the last time this thing was used?”

  “One thousand twelve years ago, when the Obati High Lord was wasting away from an unknown ailment. He was the direct ancestor of our present-day High Lord Tonkiln.” Rahuna’s voice was calm and even.

  Somewhat reassured at this matter-of-fact answer, although concerned at the span of time since the device was last utilized, Andi reached out to touch Tom’s hand. I hope he knows I’m here, that he’s not going through all this pain alone. And I hope all this astoundingly beautiful, gem-based technology still works!

  “We begin.” Tleer cleared his throat twice, adjusted his robes, stood up straighter and swallowed hard.

  Andi leaned in Rahuna’s direction. “If this room hasn’t been used in over a thousand years, how do you know what to do to activate it?”

  Evidently possessing keen hearing despite his age, Tleer glared at her, the fierce expression at odds with his benign, wrinkled face. “I spent the afternoon poring over the crumbling records, practicing the required syllables with the oldest monk in the brotherhood.” Now he hummed a note to calibrate himself before chanting in a dialect unfamiliar to Andi, the sound echoing around the room.

  Glowing brighter and brighter, until she found it hard to look at, the emerald captured her attention. A low-pitched hum seeped from the gems set into the walls. The sound built, vibrating in her ears first, then thrumming in her bones. Stuttering, her heart beat irregularly. A wave of vertigo assaulted her.

  The other lighting dimmed, giving way to the bright-green illumination generated by the glowing emerald. Flickers of green flame curled up from the corners of the stone.Seeing all this activity gave Andi hope. Maybe Tom does have a chance.

  No sooner had the reassuring thought crossed her mind than the humming began dying, while the light emanating from the emerald’s heart flickered and dimmed. Panicky knots in her stomach, Andi looked around the room. Gemstones all over the walls were going dark. Lump in her throat, she pleaded with Rahuna. “Do something. Please.”

  Leaving his assigned spot, the cleric hurried to stand next to Tleer. Rahuna spoke to the chief monk in a voice too low for Andi to catch the words, making sweeping gestures as he talked, pointing at her and at Tom. Tleer continued to chant half heartedly while Rahuna harangued him, although the old man’s voice shook and he stumbled over the syllables. After a long minute, the emerald glowed with renewed inner light. The hum restarted, pulsing in time with Tleer’s words.

  “Ah, a test of our faith perhaps.” Rahuna patted Tleer on the back and returned to his post at the end of the emerald. “Pray continue your efforts, my brother.”

  Enough with the damn tests. Time for results. Andi studied Tom, relieved to see his chest rising and falling slightly.

  A voice spoke from overhead, deep, melodious. She peered across the green glow at Wilson, but he shook his head. Overriding Tleer’s chant, the voice spoke again.

  Tom’s body suddenly lifted from the surface of the emerald, floating about five inches above the stone. Instinctively, Andi reached to touch him, to keep him safe, before yanking her h
and back as she remembered Tleer’s stringent warning. A gentle, green luminescence flowed in the gap between Tom’s spine and the gem. His body revolved to the right, still supported by nothing but air. Lancing in from an invisible source, short bursts of thin, green light attached themselves to Tom, writhing around his neck and face like vines while his body slowly spun. As the lights homed in on his forehead, the captain’s eyes opened.

  Andi was startled. Is he awake? Look over, look at me, give me a sign. After a minute, Tom’s lids lowered again, eyelashes sweeping his cheeks. The green lights abandoned their exploration of his face, concentrating now on his chest and abdomen. The voice from the ceiling uttered periodic remarks. I don’t care what language this is, that tone suggests someone making a report. But is it good news or bad?

  Like a recording running down, Tleer stopped chanting. The machine’s hum continued, apparently sufficiently launched into its cycle not to require further human prodding.

  Elevated by a cushion of light, Tom’s body stopped its slow rotation and held steady.

  One of the intense, green beams uncoiled from a spot above his heart. Turning in midair, the foot-long bar of light flew at Andi like an arrow or a snake. Instinctively, she flinched, crossing her hands in front of her face as a shield. The light stopped short, emitting its own buzzing hum, and hovering. Cautiously, she peeked between her fingers, then lowered her hands to her sides. Like bejeweled smoke, an opalescent haze rose around her, rising from the octagon at her feet. This is Tom’s only chance to live. I can damn well stand here and endure whatever Sanenre’s device throws at me.

  “It’s all right.” Andi didn’t know if she was trying to reassure herself or Tom. She was sure he’d have been more courageous if their positions had been reversed.

  Moving in a lazy S curve, the green beam played over her face as Andi screwed her eyes shut. A faint, prickling sensation spread through her nerve endings, followed by intense cold, uncomfortable but not painful. For a minute, her nose and her ears were plugged. Choking back a gasp, she felt tingling on her tongue and lips, going down her throat, spreading through her sinus cavities. Andi gagged and coughed while the feelings ebbed. The nagging migraine headache was gone for the first time since she’d climbed into the foothills on the way to the monastery. Raising a hand to her cheek, she was half afraid to find herself scarred or bleeding, but there was no damage to the skin.

  The voice spoke again, right in her ear, like someone standing beside her. The phrase had the lilt of a question.

  What does it want? What am I supposed to do? In answer to her silent appeal, Rahuna was no help, raising his shoulders in a silent shrug. Andi cleared her throat, licked her lips with the tip of her half-numb tongue. Pretend I’m talking to a doctor maybe? “Your patient, has what we humans call bhengola fever. A deadly disease from another planet, not from Zulaire. Chills, convulsions, organs shutting down. He’s dying.” Reciting the symptoms and inevitable progression of the disease was more than she could bear and her voice broke on a sob.

  Wilson nodded encouragement at her from across the width of the emerald. Swallowing against the tears overwhelming her voice, Andi spoke again. “Please help him—Zulaire needs him.”

  And so do I. One tear ran down her cheek, splashing onto the smooth surface of the emerald, where the liquid vaporized in a burst of rainbow steam.

  Opalescent light now enclosed her on three sides, playing along her arms and around her head like a miniature aurora borealis. Careful to avoid the potentially fatal contact with the emerald, Andi leaned forward to take Tom’s hand in both of hers. To her delighted surprise, his skin was warm, but not feverish and certainly no longer ice cold. His fingers curled around hers. No tremors. He’s been shaking nonstop since the attack began. Glancing at Wilson she saw he had a grip on Tom’s other hand, similar illumination outlining the sergeant as well.

  The three of them were linked by clasped hands and a cocoon of light. How long have we been here? The air was damp, slightly metallic-tasting as she breathed. Could be days for all I know.

  Tom stirred, kicking his feet. Encouraged, she leaned closer.

  Blinking, he opened his bleary eyes, pupils contracting as he focussed on her face. “I was dreaming of you,” he said, curving his cracked lips in a smile. “But this is still the dream, isn’t it?”

  “Don’t worry. Go back to sleep, everything’ll be fine in the morning.” She squeezed his hand tight.

  Nodding, Tom shut his eyes.

  The hum stopped. The voice spoke two short words. Finality was unmistakable, even in the unknown language. For the length of a heartbeat a musical chiming note played from deep inside the emerald. As the green light thinned and ebbed below him, Tom drifted back to the surface of the emerald. Andi let go of his hand as Wilson did the same on the other side. The opal light blazed around them one last time before dissipating. She staggered, bracing both hands on the emerald to steady herself.

  Too late, she remembered how her tear had vaporized the instant it had touched this same surface during the healing process. The glow was dying away deep inside the immense gemstone, however, and there was nothing but a mild, burning tingle in her fingertips.

  Tom snored.

  The prosaic, normal sound made her laugh.

  Rahuna moved to Andi’s side, wrapping a quilt around her shoulders. Tleer did the same for Wilson. “You’ll be tired.” His Serene Holiness bent to retrieve her discarded sandals, sliding them onto her feet. “Try to fight the exhaustion until we get out of Sanenre’s corridors.”

  Tugging, pushing and prodding, Rahuna and Tleer managed to coax Andi and Wilson from the healing chamber, through the two mystical portals.

  Chapter Six

  Deep into the middle of the next afternoon, Tom finally stirred, kicking the quilts half off the bed and muttering as he dreamed. Andi woke, uncurling from the comfort of the large chair where she’d been napping since lunchtime. The encounter with Sanenre’s healing device had left her exhausted. Since she was so lethargic, she wasn’t worried when Tom didn’t awaken as the day wore on. Wilson’s diagnostics also confirmed reversal of the captain’s condition. His liver, kidneys and other systems functioned now within the norms in all respects.

  As Tom continued to show signs of regaining consciousness, Andi smoothed out the wrinkles in the simple peasant dress she’d taken from the village. Pulling her hair back, she crossed to the bed. His forehead felt normal to her touch. She rubbed his bare shoulders, massaging the well-defined muscles. Half naked, he wore no shirt because he’d kept pulling at the fabric in his sleep, finally taking the robe and pajama top off without ever fully wakening. Mitch and the monks had given him a bath and a fresh change of clothing after the healing ceremony, while Andi changed the sheets.

  She stared at his chest, lightly dusted with hair. A line of darker hair ran from his belly button down below the waist of the pajama pants. Andi realized she was following that enticing line with her eyes—again. Well, I can’t help it. He’s got the sexiest body I’ve ever seen. Tom shifted on the pillows, and Andi lifted her fingers from his skin. A drowsy sigh escaped his lips, and he blinked a few times before focussing on her face.

  “So, you are here. Not a dream?” His voice sounded raspy. “A good dream.”

  “Not a dream.” She smiled, happiness warming her. “Let me get you some juice.”

  With surprising strength he clasped her wrist, detaining her at the bedside. “Wait.” Tom rose on one elbow. “Don’t leave.”

  Regretfully but gently, she peeled his fingers from her wrist. Walking to the table, Andi spoke to him over her shoulder. “Mitch said you’d need liquids when you woke. He stressed the point. I have the juice pitcher right over here, cooling in a bowl of ice from the mountain. Let me get you a drink, rearrange those pillows. Then we can talk. A little. You’re still pretty weak.”

  “Where are we? I’ve never seen anything like this on Zulaire.” He glanced at the tapestries and the view out the window.


  Andi poured juice into a large mug. “It’s the Monastery of the Clouds, in the upper ridges of the eastern mountain range. I think we’re safe enough here. For now. And, no, you’re right, this isn’t a typical Zulairian facility.” Returning to the bedside, she leaned over to help him prop up while he drank from the glazed green ceramic cup. “Take it slow.”

  “Tastes good.” He licked his lips and grinned. “Tangy. Is there more?”

  “A whole pitcher full.” She got him a refill. He’d been drinking it for the past few days, but obviously didn’t remember those earlier, half-awake encounters.

  Taking the mug from her, he sank into the pillows without further protest after she fluffed them as much as she could. He’d apparently lost interest in the history of the building for the time being. “A bhengola attack?”

  “Yes. You passed out on the trail, a few hours after we rescued Rahuna. Remember?” Andi sat cross-legged beside the bed, so he wouldn’t have to keep looking up at her. She clasped her hands in her lap against the nearly irresistible urge to touch him.

  “How long…” He frowned, apparently trying to remember the onset of the attack.

  “Four days now,” Andi said. “Mitch told me you’ve had this for years, taking some black-market medicine to keep it in check. How can you still be on active duty with a chronic condition like this?”

  “ ‘Mitch,’ huh? You and my sergeant got to first-name basis while I was out of it? Should I be jealous?” Raising one eyebrow, he gave her a teasing smile before taking another swig of the juice. He tipped the last drops onto his tongue, then handed her the mug. “Command didn’t have to know I had bhengola. The condition never affected my ability to do the job.”