The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga

by Laura Jo Phillips

  Summer smiled at the image of herself on Loni’s right foreleg. She stood in an offensive stance, skirt whirling about her legs, long black hair flying as she swung the katana. He had sworn, on the day of their linking, that he would display his lau-lotu forever, never allowing it to fade. Everyone had been surprised to see that, when he was in his alter-form, the lau-lotu displayed her as a woman rather than her katrenca.

  Once she’d drunk her fill of the sight of them, she focused for a moment, then felt the strange growing sensation that always accompanied her shift. Unlike her Rami, Summer’s katrenca was black, like her hair, with chocolate eyes. Though there were other Katres with dark hair, they all had golden eyes, which made her chocolate eyes unique. She’d been a little disappointed to learn that female katrencas had neither a tail tuft, nor horns. On the other hand, her katrenca was smaller, lighter and, while it wasn’t faster than the males, it was definitely able to leap higher and climb faster. A trait she used to her advantage whenever possible.

  “You are so beautiful,” Maxim said.

  Summer purred, a deep, yet somehow feminine rumble. She stretched, loving the feel of her katrenca’s long, sleek muscles. Then, without warning, she burst into motion, leaping past Maxim to the center of the enclosed garden surrounding the house. Her paws barely touching the ground, she leapt again, this time clearing the garden wall. Then she was in the jungle, racing through the heavy blue-green foliage, the faint sound of her men’s paws against the damp ground as they chased her the only warning she had of their position. She veered slightly toward a gigantic, ancient tree that rose above the canopy. She sprung upward to the lowest of its branches, nearly a hundred feet from the jungle floor. Without a pause she leapt again, higher still, and yet again until she broke through the lush ceiling.

  “Take care, kilenka,” Maxim warned softly.

  Summer looked up, sending her senses out as she leapt to the next tree, and the next. “It’s clear up here,” she said.

  “Please, come back down,” Loni asked, his tone, as always, cool and calm. But she sensed the worry and responded to it.

  “All right,” she said, as she leapt to the next tree, then dipped down below the canopy once more. She jumped down several branches, settling on one heavy branch covered with bright blue moss. She stretched out, rested her chin on her paws and sighed happily.

  “Where are you guys?” she asked.

  “Still trying to catch up,” Ran said. “Did we fail to mention that katrencas aren’t supposed to fly?”

  “Yes, you did forget to tell me that,” Summer said, laughing softly in her mind. “Unfortunately, it’s too late to tell me now that I’ve learned how to do it.”

  “Did we also forget to tell you that you’re stubborn?” Maxim asked. A brief moment passed with no response before the sound of a sharp explosion reached their ears. All three of them went from a casual lope to full out running in the space of a heartbeat. Before long the scent of burnt wood reached them, though there was no smoke.

  “Summer?” Maxim called as he ran, but there was no response. He pushed himself to run even faster, trying to ignore the fear crawling through him like a living thing. The scent of burnt wood grew stronger, though there was no smoke, and he began to get an idea of what had happened. He kept his suspicions to himself though. Getting to Summer was all that mattered at the moment, and if Ran and Loni knew what he was thinking, they might well go into a blood-rage.

  A few moments later they scented Summer’s blood, but at the same time they all felt her, so they were able to maintain their tempers. She was not conscious when they reached her a few seconds later, but she was alive. She was also still in her katrenca form, which was not a good sign.

  “Stay in your alter-form so you can hear her if she begins to wake up,” Maxim said to Ran just before shifting to his humanoid form and kneeling down beside Summer. He checked her carefully, clenching his teeth hard in an effort to maintain his calm as he examined each of the twenty or so long, thick slivers of wood that penetrated her body, nearly covering her left side. While he examined a large wound on her head, Loni studied the tree that had exploded.

  It didn’t take him long to understand what had happened and he hurried back to where Summer lay and knelt down beside Maxim.

  “Laser beam,” he said shortly. “Orbiting ship. We would have heard a transport or VTOL otherwise. There’s no sign of her climbing up the tree, so she climbed down it from the canopy, and they marked her.

  Maxim nodded as he looked up at the tree that had exploded and measured Summer’s distance from it and her position. “She sensed it at the last moment,” he guessed. “Just in time to save herself.”

  “How bad is the head wound?” Loni asked.

  “Bad,” Maxim replied. “From the blood I’d say the worst of it is on the other side, but I can’t check it because her neck is broken. The problem is that she has too many wounds. Her body can’t heal them because of the wood keeping them open, so her energy is being wasted. If we move her as she is, she’ll die, so we’re going to have to do this one step at a time.”

  “What do we start with?” Loni asked. As always he sounded calm and in control, but Maxim saw the near panic in his brother’s eyes. “We won’t lose her, Loni,” he said. “We won’t.”

  Loni nodded, just a tiny fraction of movement, but it was enough to assure Maxim that he was in control of himself. “We need to begin removing this wood, one piece at a time, so her body can heal the smaller wounds first,” he said.

  Loni nodded and reached for one thick sliver of wood near Summer’s hip. He gritted his teeth and pulled it out in one smooth motion. It was longer than he’d feared, and left a larger wound than he’d hoped.

  They all watched as blood welled up from the wound and spilled over into Summer’s dark, glossy fur. A moment later the wound began to close and they let themselves breathe. Loni waited until it was fully healed before reaching for another sliver.

  Ran shifted back to his human form and together, one by one, they removed the raw slivers of wood from their Arima’s flesh. An hour later, after all of them had fed energy into Summer’s unconscious body to help it continue healing itself, they’d removed the last of the slivers. Now they could only wait tensely to see if her body would heal the head wound and then, finally, her broken neck.

  The dark bruise that had begun to spread across her face as they removed the wooden splinters faded, but the worst of the wound was on the side of her head that lay against the ground so they couldn’t see it, and didn’t dare move her head. All they could do was wait, and hope.

  It was long minutes before the black katrenca lying in front of them began to slowly change into Summer’s human form. Only then did they begin to truly relax. Summer’s katrenca would not have allowed the shift until her neck was healed. If it had, the injury would have killed her.

  Summer’s eyes opened slowly, surprising them all. “Close your eyes, kilenka,” Maxim said hoarsely. “You must save your energy.”

  “Warn the Dracons and the Lobos,” she whispered, barely able to form the words with her lips.

  “Warn them of what?” Maxim asked.

  “Triad are targets,” Summer said, her eyes fluttering as she struggled to keep them open.

  Maxim frowned, not understanding what she was talking about, but Loni got it. “It’s the last line of the prophecy,” he said. “Shall the Three perish, so shall the people be lost, forevermore” Summer’s lips turned up slightly at the corner as she turned her eyes to him. “We got it,” Loni said. “Now close your eyes. We’ll handle it.”

  Summer closed her eyes with a small sigh. Loni slid his arms beneath her, ignoring the tears that streamed down his face as he stood up, holding her close against his chest. Maxim and Ran stepped close and, without a word, they turned together and left the jungle.

  ***

  Honey opened her eyes, smiling when the first thing she saw was Hunt’s face leaning over her. Then she frowned. Where was she?r />
  “We’re in your office,” Hunt said, seeing her confusion. “You used a bit too much of your own energy healing the Bearens’ baby.”

  “Did it work?” Honey asked, raising up on her elbow.

  “Yes, it worked,” Hunt said, pride shining in his pale yellow eyes. “You worked a miracle.”

  Honey fell back against the pillows on what she now realized was the narrow sofa in her office. “I’m so glad,” she said. “They’ve tried so hard for so long.”

  The door opened and Honey sat up this time and swung her legs around so she could put her feet on the floor. “How you feeling, Honey?” Doc asked, entering the office with Vikter and Lance.

  “Just a little tired, but who cares?” Honey said, smiling. “Hunt said it worked.”

  “Yes, it worked,” Doc said, shaking his head slowly but with a huge smile on his face. “I’ve never seen happier Bearens in my life. The only damper on their excitement was you passing out cold when it was done. But Jareth insisted you were just exhausted and needed rest. I told them to stick around for a couple of days. I thought you’d like to check them again tomorrow.”

  “Yes, thank you, Doc,” she said, standing up with a hand from Hunt. “I do want to check tomorrow, just to be sure everything is perfect.”

  “I ran a scan of course,” Doc said. “Everything looks good to me. But it won’t hurt for you to check. I’m proud of you, young lady. You just saved more lives than you know.”

  Honey tilted her head as she thought about that. “How long have they been trying, Doc?”

  “Several decades,” Doc said vaguely. “I don’t think Lexa can take another disappointment, and if we lose her, we’ll lose all of them.”

  A chill ran down Honey’s spine. “That’s so sad.”

  Vikter stepped forward and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “There is much sadness for our people when it comes to children, zetia,” he said. “It has been so for thousands of years. You cannot begin to understand how important you are to us with your talent. You bring hope where hope has been lost.”

  “I’m not going to be able to save every child,” Honey said. “The truth is that if they’d come in a week later, I wouldn’t have been able to save this one.”

  “That makes sense,” Doc said. “You mentioned that before, too. We need to begin doing more extensive testing earlier.”

  “That will help,” Honey said. “But please understand that I cannot fix everything. I cannot work miracles.”

  “You do work miracles,” Vikter argued. “You just can’t do it every time. Don’t worry, we won’t forget that, and we’ll be sure that everyone knows that.”

  “He’s got that right,” Doc said. “Right now, your doctor’s telling you to get on home and get some rest. Don’t come in until after noon tomorrow. That’s when the Bearens will be back.”

  “Thanks Doc,” she said, too happy to argue. Lance gathered up her sweater and her purse and they all left the clinic together and headed toward the Vulpirans’ big ground-car.

  “We’ll bring you down tomorrow and you can drive your ground-car home after you see your patient,” Vikter said, opening the rear door for her. She climbed in and slid across the seat, making room for Vikter. Hunt started the car and pulled away from the clinic, then turned right at the bottom of the long driveway.

  “Where are we going?” Honey asked.

  “Home,” Hunt replied. “Why?”

  “What about Nica?”

  “I thought she was staying home today with Sila,” Vikter said. Honey frowned. Sila was the younger of the two nannies who worked for the Bearens. Hope had offered to let Sila work for them, looking after Nica, until they found someone else, which had been a huge favor. But Honey worried about Nica and Sila alone at River House all day long, and her worry hadn’t lessened when Adori had come from Berria to help them either. Foolish or not, she still feared that the Teriens would try to take Nica away from her. So, she’d instructed Sila to call her every couple of hours when they stayed at the house, just to check in.

  “I got a call from Sila at about ten this morning,” she said. “She told me that she and Nica were going down to the Bearens for the rest of the day with Saige Lobo.”

  “Oops, sorry about that,” Hunt said easily, swinging the car around. “We didn’t know about the change in plans.”

  “I’m sorry, I should have voxed and told you guys,” Honey said, frowning. “We need to come up with a better system I think, so we all know what’s going on.”

  “I don’t think it’s really going to be a problem, Honey,” Vikter said. “Right now we’re working long days in an effort to get the Research Center and the infirmary rebuilt, but after that things will ease up.”

  “How’s that going?” Honey asked.

  “Very well,” Vikter replied. “We’ve got the walls up and both of the roofs on. The new infirmary is going to be bigger with the new obstetrics wing. You’re really going to love it.”

  “I can hardly wait,” Honey said, leaning her head over on Vikter’s shoulder. She closed her eyes, just for a few moments. When Hunt turned off the main road she opened her eyes and lifted her head, looking out the front window expectantly. Nica usually watched for them at the end of the day and ran out of the house the moment they drove up.

  “You stay here,” Lance said over the seat. “I’ll run in and get her.”

  Honey nodded, but she was getting a bad feeling about this. She swallowed hard, determined not to panic.

  Lance came back a few moments later without Nica, and Honey had to bite her lip to hold back her rising fear. “Arima Hope said that Sila and Nica went home just after lunch,” he said. “Arima Saige dropped them off.”

  Honey sighed with relief. If Saige took them home, she was sure they were fine. Saige lived right next door to the clinic, and if there’d been anything wrong she was certain Saige would have told her hours ago.

  Hunt backed out of the driveway, then turned toward the River House, driving a little faster than usual.

  “I can’t say I’m happy that Sila didn’t call me,” Honey said, trying to hide her worry, though of course they could all feel it. “I gave her strict instructions to let me know when they were going to be in the house alone, and to check in regularly.”

  “Lance,” Vikter said, “Call Sila so we don’t all have to worry until we get home.”

  “Excellent idea,” Honey said, wondering why she hadn’t thought of it herself. She was panicking, obviously.

  They all waited quietly, the only sounds in the ground-car the distant crunch of the wheels on the gravel road. Honey watched the back of Lance’s head as he reached up, tapped his vox, then tapped it again before murmuring into it again. He hadn’t gotten an answer the first time, she realized, so was trying again. She felt her heart begin to race as she waited, her fists clenched in her lap. The silence stretched out until finally, just before she was ready to start screaming, Lance turned around in his seat and looked back at them.

  “I can’t get an answer,” he said. “I tried Sila and Adori both.”

  Honey felt Vikter’s tension leap upward, along with Lance’s and Hunt’s. Suddenly she was finding it hard to breathe.

  “Drive faster, Hunt,” Vikter ordered.

  “Maybe you should get out and shift,” Honey suggested. “You could get there faster, right?”

  “Maybe, but only by a few seconds,” Vikter replied. “We’re almost there now, so it would take longer to stop the car and start again.”

  Honey nodded, barely understanding what he was saying. All she could think of was Nica. Little Nica with her sweet, elfish face, her big dark blue eyes, her quick smile and bright laughter. If anything happened to Nica, what would she do?

  Hunt pulled up in front of the house, and they all noted that the windows were dark. It was still light out, the sun hadn’t set, but it was dusk and there should have been at least a couple of lit windows. Lance was out of the car before Hunt brought it to a full stop, Vikte
r right behind him, and Honey sliding out as quickly as she could. She was nowhere near as fast as the Vulpirans though. In fact, she hadn’t even made it all the way to the front door before she heard Vikter and Lance roar. She began running, terrified of what she’d see when she entered the house, but needing to see it anyway. Needing to know what had happened.

  “Honey, wait,” Hunt said from right behind her, but she ignored him and kept going. She shoved the door open all the way and entered the house, stopping abruptly just a few steps inside. She swallowed hard and looked away from the still figure lying on the floor near the fireplace, a puddle of dark blood around it. It was Sila, the wild mop of orangey red curls told her that much. She looked around quickly, avoiding looking at Sila again, but saw no other signs of violence. Lance came down the stairs and shook his head quickly. Nobody up there. They all turned toward the kitchen when Vikter called out, Lance getting there first, Hunt hanging back with Honey, unwilling to leave her alone for a second.

  Honey crossed the dining room and started to enter the kitchen, suddenly afraid. What if Nica was in there? What if she was...but no, they wouldn’t let her in there if that was the case. She swallowed hard again and entered the usually bright, cheery kitchen. Hunt flipped on the lights, illuminating the scene before her.

  Adori lay on the floor, a large lump over one eye, tied up with enough rope for ten people it seemed. It was wrapped around and around from her feet to her shoulders, nearly covering her completely. Vikter was gently unwinding it as Lance walked to a corner of the room and voxed someone.

  Honey went to her knees on the floor beside Adori and lifted her head carefully, resting it on her lap as she studied the injury. Adori was awake, her eyes watery and shocked, but aside from the bump, she didn’t appear to be seriously injured.