"If Nimri said it will protect us, it will."
Did the woman brainwash everyone? Tem-aki's jaws clenched so hard her molars hurt. "Right, you think she is so honest." Tem-aki felt like spitting. "She told me I'd broken my leg and the next thing she told me was to run down here." Tem-aki pulled up her robes. "Does that look broken to you? Could I have gotten up and run on it, if it had been?"
"She is an excellent healer," Raine said. Tem-aki stared at her. How blind could anyone be? "Don't you realize that she told you the truth?"
"About what?"
"Everything." Raine made a helpless gesture. "I've never known her to lie."
"Everyone lies."
"On our worlds, yes, but not here." Raine put her hand on top of hers, so they both held the staff. "I know that you haven't had much time to get to know her, but Nimri is a woman of honor and she would not knowingly lie."
"Boy does she have you brainwashed."
Raine shook her head. "Given time, you will get to know her, as I have."
Unbelievable! "So you think that in the few short weeks that you have known her that you can tell when she is lying. Are you willing to bet your life on that?"
"What do you mean?"
"If she is telling the truth and this stick can protect us from the madrox. Mind you, I don't buy that, but since it seems to be the only option, I'll hang onto it... But if it is the only protection, and her energy signature is the thin air that attracts the beast, then explain to me why she gave the stick to me and went the other direction."
"Did she tell you why?"
"She just told me to take it to you and Mica."
"Well, there you have the answer to your question."
"Excuse me?"
"Nimri is a mother, who is willing to lay her life on the line to protect her child." Raine gave her a level look. "If Mica was yours, would you do any less?"
Tem-aki opened her mouth to retort, but no sound came out.
"That's what I thought," Raine said. "You're one of those people who can dish out venom, but don't know how to deal with the truth. Well, get this, if Nimri said your leg was broken, it was broken. If she said this so-called-stick would protect us, it will protect us. Right now, she's up on that hill probably trying to fix whatever is broken and I hope for her sake that she doesn't need to use her myst-energy to do it, because I don't know how she can protect herself, while she's protecting everyone else."
~o~
"If you believe that you can, it becomes possible," Nimri muttered as she fiddled with the confusing black box.
"Need some help with that?"
She jerked upright, surprised that someone had managed to sneak up on her. Even Kazza rarely managed to do that.
"Yes," she thrust the box at Tem-aki. "This fell off the rock and now it isn't working. Is it broken?"
"Probably just needs recalibrating." Tem-aki knelt down next to her and punched a few knobs. Suddenly, white symbols glowed. "That should do it, but I don't know if it helps, now that the madrox is gone."
"It will return."
"How can you be sure?"
"Do you know many species that abandon their young?"
"Yes." Nimri raised a brow. "Many reptiles do and amphibians, as well," Tem-aki said."I'm sure they aren't amphibians."
"Reptiles?" Nimri asked.
Tem-aki shrugged. "Madrox look a lot like they could be some sort of reptile."
Nimri frowned. "Judging by its response when the other three approached its hatching, I strongly doubt that it is gone for good. If you'd like to test that theory, feel free to go touch the baby." Putting her hand to shade her eyes, she scanned the sky.
"No thanks."
"Wise choice, particularly when I suspect that its returning, now." She pointed into the distance. "You'd better get back to the boat."
"I'd rather take my chances here."
Nimri gave her a long look, as she wondered what had changed, then she shrugged and realized that it didn't matter. "As you wish."
They sat side by side on the rocky ground and watched the dragon approach. "Do you think Thunder and Nolan are okay?"
"Yes."
Tem-aki looked at her in surprise. "You didn't even pause to think about your answer."
"Thunder has Cameron's staff and knows how to use it." She turned to study Tem-aki. "Do you care if they're all right?"
"Of course."
"Why?" This time, Tem-aki didn't seem to have an answer. Nimri grimaced, "Not so easy knowing why, is it?"
Tem-aki shook her head. "Do you always understand why you do what you do?"
"I try to do what it correct, which is why I'm trying to find a way to do as Cameron asks and still protect both human and dragon lives."
"Have you always been so focused on helping others?"
"It's what I was raised to do."
Tem-aki laughed, but when she didn't join her, she got a strange look on her face. "You're serious."
Nimri nodded. "My ancestors have been our tribe's healers and keepers of the peace since we came to this world."
"Cameron said his people arrived on this world 1,066 years ago."
"Then, they must be some of the ones my tribe calls the lost." Nimri ran her hand over the smooth top of the skull. "This Summoning Skull has been taken care of by members of my family since then, but until you and GEA-4 managed to activate the one here and tell us where you were, I had no clue how they worked. In truth, I was surprised to learn that they could create a cone of protection."
"Summoning Skull? I like the name."
Nimri grinned, "That's the official one, but Bryta always called it the Skull of Doom." Nimri looked Tem-aki in the eye. "I never understood why, but now that I've learned that Cameron's tribe had one, I suspect that sometime in history, people lost the knowledge of what the skulls' purpose or perhaps they assumed the lost tribes had met a horrible fate."
"Sounds reasonable," Tem-aki said, but her attention was now on the dragon, which had begun flying in looping circles around the two hatchlings. She gripped the lumpy black box, as if it was a lifeline, and Nimri wondered if she was even breathing. "I don't think it plans to land, so I can trap it."
Nimri watched the beast circle wide, dipping low over the flimsy boat, where Raine clung to the staff and Mica. As the dragon's wings beat the air, the calm water in the harbor seemed to boil. Even if the staff could protect them from the dragon, Nimri wasn't certain it would protect them from drowning, if the boat collapsed.
Something had to be done, and the only thing she could think of doing was use herself as bait. Nimri took a deep breath, to calm her racing heart. "Get ready. I'll get it to land."
"How will you-"
~o~
"-do that?" Tem-aki finished lamely, as Nimri's body briefly glowed, then slumped, apparently lifeless, to the ground.
Overhead, the madrox bellowed.
Tem-aki lightly pressed her fingers against Nimri's neck. Despite appearances, her life-force seemed steady.
Again, the madrox shrieked. As she turned her attention to the sky, it nearly got its wings tangled, by turning too quickly. "What the heck?" she said aloud. Tem-aki stared, as the madrox's suddenly adversarial behavior. Squinting against the sunlight, she thought she saw an unnatural glimmer of light zigzagging through the air.
Could what she thought she was seeing actually be happening?
She blinked several times, then tried to refocus, but now, thought she saw two unexplainable glimmers. Tem-aki looked from the sky to the crumpled form next to her.
If her eyes were telling her the truth, Nimri could do some amazing things. And she'd said she would get the creature to land and to be ready. Tem-aki made a couple small adjustments, then waited for the promised opportunity.
~o~
As Nimri ducked into a fat white cloud, she spotted Kazza's myst-energy. She'd wondered where he'd gone and was glad to have his help.
Once inside the cloud's cool humidity, she changed direction and soared upward,
then, as the dragon's heat passed below, she shot down, onto the back on its neck. She quickly knelt on its shaley hide. Was it her imagination, or was this dragon much cooler than the other one had been? Pushing the thought aside, she worked her fingers beneath the closest scale and yanked.
The creature cried out.
She pulled harder.
The dragon twisted and turned, but Nimri held on, all the time pulling at the scale in order to distract it from Mica and buy herself time to figure out a plan to get it to land. Suddenly, the dragon dove earth-ward. She tried to leap free, but a wing slapped her, then, before she knew what happened, they entered a dark, cold area.
By the time Nimri kicked free of the tangled wings, she realized the dragon had gone head-first into the harbor. She could only imagine the waves its dive had made. Fighting her way to the surface, she frantically looked for the boat, but it was nowhere to be seen.
With a scream, she returned to her body.
Tem-aki was staring, mouth open, at the harbor.
Nimri sat upright, still looking for Raine and Mica. "Where is the boat?"
Tem-aki literally jumped. "How did you do that?"
Nimri grabbed her upper arm. "The boat. What happened to it?"
Tem-aki's eyes widened in horror, as she looked where it should be tied. "I don't know. I was watching the madrox, ready to set the shield, then suddenly, it dove straight into the middle of the harbor and water splashed everywhere." She turned huge eyes to her. "How did you do that?"
Without pausing to answer her, Nimri scrambled to her feet and ran downhill to where the boat should be.
Mica had to be alive, he just had to be!
"Watch out," Tem-aki screamed, "There's something going on in the water."
Nimri noticed that it seemed to be boiling in the middle, and that made her run faster. Arriving at the shore, all she saw of the boat was shredded rope tied to a boulder.
Mica had to be down there, somewhere.
And she would find him.
Nimri dove in.
~o~
Tem-aki watched helplessly, as Nimri went head-first into the water, where they had last seen the boat and in the middle of the harbor, a familiar golden nose emerged.
Then the head, followed by the shoulders.
The water boiled with beating wings, but the creature seemed unable to fly.
Hadn't someone said that water supposedly killed madrox?
It didn't look very dead to Tem-aki. In fact, the scarlet eyes looked furious.
Shivering, she wondered if she should try to trap the dragon in the water, but just as quickly, she decided that would be a bad choice, since she didn't know if the shield-thing worked in the water.
Fortunately, the madrox splashed its way to the far shore, pulled itself out of the water and began to drag itself toward the hatchlings.
Tem-aki turned back to where she had last seen Nimri. There was nothing but furiously lapping water.
Chapter 33
Tem-aki wished she could do something besides sit and wait for the beast to get into position, so she could reactivate the containment, but she couldn't swim, and didn't know where anyone else was, so all she could do was wait and hope the shield would hold, if the thing ever got into a good position. Slow as it was moving, that would take a while.
Eyes watering, she did the only things she could do: think, wait and wonder.
If the shield failed, again, would she die, here on this desolate rock?
She wiped a tear from her cheek.
Was Nimri actually a horrible person or had she treated her that way because she wanted to punish someone for her bother's choice to stay here?
She wiped away more tears.
If Nimri hadn't healed her, would everyone have been lost?
The tears fell so thick and fast that she no longer bothered to hide them. After all, who was left to see? There wasn't even a bird in the sky.
She had always assumed that being a Stardust Warrior was exciting. In reality, had Larwin's previous life been as boring as this tedious waiting for Shaka-uma to drag herself across a quarter mile of rock?
By the time the madrox managed to struggle to its hatchlings, the second one was halfway out of its ovum and Tem-aki had no more tears left. Her eyes burned as she watched the beast painfully coil itself around the two young ones, then very carefully, she activated the tricorder.
When the shield shimmered over the madrox, she sighed in relief. At least the creatures couldn't harm anyone else.
"You know as prisons go, that's a beautiful one."
Tem-aki whirled around to see a half-sodden Raine sitting on a rock behind her. "How long have you been there?"
"Hard to say, but I guess I've seen at least half of the dragon's efforts to coil around the hatchlings." She scratched her ear. "I've watched them for years and never realized what devoted mothers they were."
Nimri had been so devoted to Mica that she'd drowned herself. Pressure and pain clutched Tem-aki's heart, but she managed to ask, "How did you survive?"
She picked up the staff that had been lying at her side. "Somehow this thing saved me. It's amazingly buoyant."
Buoyant? Wasn't it the one she'd found at the bottom of the ocean?
"I'm surprised the others haven't returned, now that the shield is in place."
Who did she think was alive to return? Wasn't it just the two of them? She cleared her throat. "Who do you expect?"
Raine gave her a surprised look. "Mica and Kazza for starters." Then, she got a worried look. "What happened to Nimri?"
"I think she drowned."
"Why?"
Tem-aki couldn't answer.
"When?" Raine demanded.
To Tem-aki's surprise, she began to cry, again. "After she saw that the boat wasn't there, she went head-first into the water." She sniffed. "I think she was trying to save you and Mica."
"But Kazza grabbed him before the dragon hit the water and I swim better than I walk."
Of course, Raine and anyone growing up on a water world would know how to swim. Why hadn't she considered that? "Kazza grabbed Mica?" Tem-aki looked around the barren slope. "Where are they?"
"I have no idea. In fact, things went so fast that I'm not clear about where Kazza came from. I just know that he seemed to be moving very fast and seemed to come from nowhere, grab Mica, then they were gone. In fact, I know this sounds crazy, but I had the impression he was flying and I know cats can't fly." Raine massaged her temples. "Then, before I could blink, the dragon hit the water and everything went upside down. Next thing I knew, the boat was gone and I was under water, being pushed along in a riptide."
Tem-aki didn't know what a riptide was, but it didn't sound good.
"By the time I managed to get my head above water, I was halfway out the channel. I was miles offshore by the time I managed to get out of the current, so it took a while to swim back."
"And all that way, you managed to hold onto the staff."
Raine gave a rueful laugh. "I'd tied it to my arm because it was too slick to hold onto. I think it saved me, not vice-versa."
"Amazing," Tem-aki said, and meant it, since she was certain she could not have survived.
Raine nodded. After several minutes when the only sound was the soft lap of water against the shore, Raine asked, "Have you decided what you are going to do?"
"About what?" Tem-aki swallowed as she wondered what Raine expected of her.
"With your life. You have a lot of options."
"If you say so. I was trained as a geologist."
"Don't limit yourself. I was trained as a dragon herder, but I've learned that I'm really good at weaving wool."
Whatever that was.
"Seriously," Raine continued, "have you at least decided if you'll return with us or will you stay here?" She got an odd smile on her face. "I'm sure Cameron would prefer you to stay, but we all know that your goal has always been to find Larwin."
"And instead, he found me." Tem-aki rubbed
her aching eyes. "You really think Cameron would like me to stay?"
Raine laughed and nodded.
"Why?"
"I've seen the way you two look at each other when the other one isn't looking."
A sliver of warmth began to bloom in Tem-aki's heart. "I'll talk to him."
"You do that." Raine raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "Ah, it's about time."
Tem-aki looked to see what held her attention. Kazza, Nimri and Mica were making their way through the strange geometric rocks, which scattered the shore. Seeing the proof of Nimri's philosophy, 'If you believe, it becomes possible' was like witnessing a miracle.
~o~
Days later, when everything for the shield was in place and after everyone, except Dirk and Varlet, had returned to the his home, the sun was inching downward. As soon as it dropped below the horizon, it would be time to begin the Solstice Celebration – an event, which had been hastily organized to replace the Solstice Celebration and Pilgrimage.
Cameron had spent years imagining how he would feel if he ever had the honor of officiating at the order's major event. But, now that it was time, and dragons had even returned, all he wanted to do was convince Tem-aki to stay with him. Unfortunately, the best way to do that seemed to be taking her and her brother's family to his home, so as the sun began to sink, Cameron ushered Larwin, Thunder, Raine, Nimri, Mica, Kazza and Tem-aki down the steep stairs to the main pier, where it seemed like half the town had gathered. It seemed like everyone wanted to look at, speak to and touch the strangers before they departed, so the walk took a lot longer than he expected. By the time they all climbed aboard The Sirocco, the sun was halfway hidden by the horizon.
His fingers tightened around Tem-aki's hand, holding her with him, on deck, as the others went below to ready themselves for their part of the coming festivities. Turning to the shore, he faced the townspeople, who stood shoulder to shoulder along the quay, their expression mirrored many emotions; many seemed confused by the rumors that dragons had returned and proven to be deadly, instead of purely beneficial. The announcement that this year, instead of a pilgrimage, they would be celebrating the return of the dragons, here in town, had meant that nearly everyone had turned out for the celebration, instead of those who were devote followers.
Fire Island: Book 3 of The Chatterre Trilody (Chatterre Trilogy) Page 25