by Lea Kirk
He smiled. “Lift your hand and look.”
She did. The lighter blue of Dante’s palm flesh greeted her, but the cut was gone.
“Holy shit, girl,” Simone breathed. “You did it.”
“Oh, my god. I did!” And it was easy. Easy enough to try again. She whirled around and grasped Gryf’s hands. The least she could do for him taking care of her on their journey was to heal all the scratches he got climbing trees. She focused on the multitude of scrapes.
“Alex, no!”
Dex.
Chapter Fourteen
Gryf’s breath wheezed out as his soul slammed against his chest. Ska! He had not anticipated Alexandra’s intent as quickly as Graig. As she had taken his hands, he only knew joy for her and her newfound discovery. One unguarded moment and now he was fighting to keep from joining his soul with hers, despite his deepest desire to bond with her.
“Release his hands, Alex.” Dante’s words were crisp and professional.
Alexandra’s grip loosened, then fell away, her eyes wide and face pale in the aftermath of an event she could not possibly understand. She sagged back against Dante, and he guided her to a stool.
Bending to place his hands on his knees, Gryf ran through calming exercises he had used since childhood to refocus himself. Explanations needed to be made to the three Terrians, but mostly to Alexandra. This was not the way he had intended for her to find out.
But there was no going back now. Honesty was the best foundation to build from.
“Who’s going to tell us what the hell that was all about?” Simone stood with Alexandra and Nick, her arms crossed.
Gryf raised his hands in a calming gesture. “Peace, Simone.”
“Don’t you ‘Peace, Simone’ me. Someone’s gotta watch out for these kids, and it looks like that’s me, since Alex is in shock.”
Interesting how, when Simone was agitated, the inflections of her speech pattern changed. Even though brown-skinned Terrian was ten years Alexandra’s senior, a friendship had blossomed between the two women. Much like his own friendship with Dante.
“I’m okay, Simone.” Alexandra reached toward Simone’s arm, then pulled back before making contact. She stared at her hand, front and back, then set it on her lap. “Little afraid to touch anyone, but otherwise okay.”
“Do not fear, Alexandra.” He must set her mind at ease before he could expect her to accept what he had to confess. “You may touch Simone, or Nicky, or anyone else without fear. I am your problem.”
Dante held up a finger. “She may touch you too, as long as neither of you are using your Gifts.”
“Can we get to the point, here?” Anger flared in Alexandra’s eyes. “What just happened, and why?”
Gryf pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead, then blew out a sigh and allowed his arm to drop back at his side. “It is called eno anim. In English, the mating of souls. The occurrence of soul mates is exceedingly rare among my people. Throughout Matiran history, soul mates—or anim tros in our language—have come to pass during difficult or dark times. Two are chosen and bound together to work as one, to right wrongs and serve the greater good. We don’t know how they are chosen, yet it happens.”
Alexandra’s mouth opened and closed twice, then she gave him a side-long look. “Are you saying that we—you and me—are anim…whatever?”
“I am.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I see.”
This was the delicate part. No one truly wanted to give up their individuality. “When our souls bond, we become a new entity. We still have our individual bodies, but we will share each other’s past experiences, and will be aware of the other’s new experiences.” He cleared his throat. “It is said to be rather intimate.”
“You mean we share everything?”
“That is not all, I fear.”
She scoffed. “Oh, please, do tell.”
This was not going well. “There is a prophecy….”
“A prophecy?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. “Great.”
“Alexandra, please. This is part of my culture, my people. Allow me to explain before you pass judgment.” Even to him, his voice sounded harsher than he had intended.
She blinked, then seemed to settle. “Fine. Go on.”
“Thank you.” Gryf braced himself. Even if she heard his words, there was no guarantee she would accept her part in this. Keep it as brief as possible, Helyg. “The Profeti foretells of a dark time befalling Terr and Matir. Two are to be chosen to restore order and reunite our peoples, or die trying.”
It was as if a band tightened around his chest. Saying the words aloud instilled a clarity that he had lacked in the cave with Graig. As much as he wanted to discount it, the Profeti seemed to perfectly fit the series of events that had brought them to this point. This was their destiny. He and Alexandra were the Profetae—the chosen ones to fulfill an ancient oracle’s vision.
“Is that it?”
Her abrupt tone was not encouraging. “Yes. That is all.”
She seemed to study him, then her gaze swept from him to Graig and Dante in turn, before returning to him. Without a word she rose from the stool and strode out of the room.
Gryf thrust his hand through his hair. He had failed to convince her. And he’d thought getting her to see past his role in the invasion would be difficult.
~ * ~
Alex rolled a river rock in her palm. The size was all wrong, but the weight was near perfect. She gave it a little bounce. The roar of the river filled her ears as her eyes scanned the opposite bank for a target. The tree on the left this time. She brought her arms in close, paused, then lifted her leg and pitched. Smack!
Nailed it. Good to know she hadn’t lost her touch since high school. Baseball had been the one and only sport she’d played back then. She had been the second best pitcher on the team, and the only girl. Definitely not a stranger to an occasional beanball when she was up to bat. But she’d been okay with that. Those opposing pitchers, who had egos big enough to defy the rules because they couldn’t accept that a girl was a better player, usually got their comeuppance.
The corners of her mouth twitched, and she bent to retrieve another rounded river rock. Her male teammates rarely missed an opportunity to “defend her honor”. But the truth was that they were nothing more than testosterone-laden teenage boys looking for a brawl. Not that she had been innocent. More than once, she’d jumped into the fray. And more than once, suspensions were handed down.
But the joy of the game and the camaraderie had made the tough times bearable. It hadn’t been easy, but she’d seen it through for four years. She wasn’t a quitter, and they had been a team, through thick and thin, come hell or high water.
For better or worse.
Dammit. If she could stop thinking about anything relationship related, she’d be one happy woman. How could Gryf even suggest such a ridiculous idea? Bonding, soul mating, losing everything she was to become...what? Some sort of superhero? Good grief.
But, on the other hand, it would explain why she’d been attracted to him from the start. Were they meant to be? Why did this have to be so complicated?
She posed, eyed the largest boulder across the roaring water, wound up and…. Something grey streaked past her head and hit the boulder with a crack. Who the hell threw that? Alex spun around.
“You like baseball, I think.” Ora’s mouth curved into a secretive smile. “Me too.”
Huh? “You know baseball?” How could she?
Ora shrugged. “Officially, I have never heard of the sport. But, being a captain comes with certain advantages. And it helps to know someone in the Terrian Cultural Studies Department.”
“Terrian Cultural Studies Department?”
“They process and study intercepted transmissions from your planet. Technically, I do not have clearance to view or listen to these transmissions.” Her white teeth flashed as her grin widened, and Alex couldn’t suppress a smile in response.
So, the good captain
had a devious side. Nothing wrong with that. Alex turned back and fast-pitched her stone. Crack!
Ora appeared at her side, another stone in her grip. “That one metra patch of dirt, I think.” She posed and pitched smoothly, as if she’d been born on the mound. The rock sunk into the soft mud and stuck there.
Game on, Captain. Alex scooped up another rock and pitched. Crack! Her rock struck Ora’s, burying it deeper in the mud before bouncing away.
“Nice,” Ora said. “How about the cedar, the second tree right of the boulder?” She let her stone fly.
Three more pitches went by, then Ora said, “You have a Gift to heal, I hear.”
Alex frowned. “Apparently.”
“This is good. We need another healer in camp. Dante will be hard-pressed to care for all our residents.” Ora struck the boulder again. “Please have him train you, Alex. We cannot risk having a rogue healer in camp, and he is an excellent magister.”
“Magister.” The alien word sounded almost like master, and Dante was definitely a master at healing. “Is that ‘teacher’ in Matiran?”
Ora grinned. “More than just a teacher. A magister invests themselves in their disipula, or student, much like a parent invests themselves in their child. They become your family.”
That sounded intense, but now that the power flowed through her, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what could happen if she couldn’t control it. She let her arms drop to her sides. “All right. I’ll talk to him.”
The Matiran woman nodded. “We must speak about the other.”
Great. Just great.
“Please, hear me out, Alex. You need not make any decisions at this time, but the choice you do make should be with full understanding.”
Fair point. “All right. Go ahead.”
“Come. The meadow is quieter and still private.”
Ora turned away and climbed up the bank and into the woods. Alex blew out a sigh. Guess we’re going to the meadow.
~ * ~
Sunlight reflected off the snow-covered meadow, dazzling the eyes. Alex perched on a grey boulder, shoulder to shoulder with Gryf’s cousin. Ora had not even broached the topic of the prophecy. Instead she had talked about her rescue from her ship, Athens.
“The captain should go down with their ship. I believe it is much the same with your military.” Ora’s golden eyes looked at Alex as if seeking confirmation. Alex gave her a nod, and the Matiran captain continued. “As I thought. Since I was unconscious, I was not given a choice. My second in command ordered Lieutenant Commander Laurentius to remove me from my ship. I woke up aboard the transport with Cassian, and twenty-four others from my crew.”
Ora stared out across the field. “Sadly, Iantha, the Lieutenant Commander’s wife, was not with us. She and Cassian had only just married. I was privileged to bind them. We lost most of the fleet that day.”
“The Atlantis survived.”
“Yes. And I believe two of the Guardian cruisers escaped. If Delphi and Mu were able to warn the Matir, then the Defense Fleet will come.”
Right, the fleet that defended Matir while the Guardians protected Earth.
“We wanted to warn all of you, Alexandra. But then we encountered Duck, and came upon Bodie the next day. Their initial reactions reaffirmed what we knew about Terrians. Keep in mind that we have monitored your audio and visual transmissions for several decades. In your stories, aliens seldom find acceptance. We opted to broadcast a warning to your government relying on them to share the message, then started to bring Terrians in as we encountered them. As we prepared for the probable Anferthian invasion and the resulting refugees, we prayed for intervention.”
So what had happened with the broadcast? Had it been received and ignored?
“It would be best if the Defense Fleet did not come here,” Ora murmured.
“What? We need them, don’t we? If they don’t come, we’re screwed.”
Ora turned to her. “They will be here, Alex, do not fear. This is why we have rotating crews aboard the transport scanning for them every hour of the day. But DF’s arrival could leave Matir vulnerable.”
Right. Gryf’s concern as well. Not that any of them could do anything about it. Alex wiggled to alleviate the discomfort of sitting on the hard rock. “So, how did you land on Earth without us knowing?”
“Imagery.” Ora smiled. “We projected the star field directly behind us in front of us. Anyone watching on Terr would not have noticed anything unusual. It is a common military tactic, and a technology that the Anferthians also used, only on a larger scale, of course.”
Of course.
“You may wonder why I told you about my unsanctioned removal from my ship. The truth is it was a brilliant tactical maneuver by my second, Commander Damerys. By sending me away, he provided us an opportunity to rout the Anferthians.” She dug into the snow with the toe of her boot. “I was furious at first. Furious with Damerys, furious with Laurentius, furious with all the others aboard the transport for allowing this to happen. But I was wrong. If not for them, this camp and its inhabitants would not exist. And you would still be in the custody of our enemy.”
Ora reached into an inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Yana, you are a natural leader. Truly, you are. I suspect you have been all your life. You are also a fighter. These are traits your people need. I understand that the Terrians aboard the slaver looked to you for guidance. It will be no different here, mark my words. Now that you have a sense of the larger picture, I have something you should read. Please consider these words, and how you can best serve your people. Unlike me, you have a choice.”
The Matiran woman slid off the rock and met Alex’s gaze. “It is in English, no fear.” Then she walked away, the snow crunching under her boots.
Alex frowned and glanced down at the square of paper in her hand. It looked like it’d been torn out of the same spiral notebook as the letter Ora had entrusted to K’rona.
Curiosity spiked. “Ora?”
Gryf’s cousin turned, a neutral expression on her face.
“How many Earth languages do you know?” It seemed like a random question, but Alex was curious.
Ora tipped her head in the same manner Alex had seen Gryf do many times. “Nine.”
Wow. Heat rose in Alex’s cheeks. Maybe she should have paid more attention in her high school Spanish classes. “Um, what about Gryf? How many can he speak?”
“He is fluent in twenty-two Terr languages of which I am aware. You will have to ask him about galactic languages.”
Cripes. The man must be linguistically gifted.
Ora continued up the path through the trees. A snort escaped Alex, then she unfolded the page and read.
Custii Profeti (Prophecy of the Guardians)
Beware! Betrayal, Destruction, and Despair.
The Knowing Ones gift us a single life from each Sun.
Two Souls sacrificed to unify.
Beware! Failure, Death, and Doom.
Alex stared at the neatly printed words. That was...depressing. And vague. What did Ora think she’d get out of this? That she’d be struck by an epiphany? If anything, she was more confused.
She refolded the paper and shoved it into her own jacket pocket. Whatever hopes Ora had were not going to be met. Not by this Earthling, at any rate.
Chapter Fifteen
Gryf rolled over in his sleeping bag. That was the worst night’s sleep he had ever experienced, and he had had some awful nights recently. And it had not been the result of the accommodations. No, the reason for his insomnia was wrapped up in a yellow sleeping bag across the cavernous sleeping dorm. Next to her brother.
He yanked the zipper down and pulled his feet free. Clearly Alexandra still harbored resentment over yesterday’s Profeti debacle. In truth, she had spent the previous afternoon avoiding him. Then not graced him with so much as a glance when she had entered the dorm last evening.
Gryf thrust his feet into his boots with unusua
l force. The only positive occurrence in the past twelve hours was when Dante reported that Alexandra had agreed to begin her healer’s training this day.
Graig appeared at his side. “Morning blessings.”
“Indeed. Let us find our first meal.” Gryf stalked out of the dorm, and Graig fell into step beside him. There was no call to be abrupt with Graig. Yet, he did not desire to apologize for his rudeness either.
“I will begin assessing and training Terrians in marksmanship and self-defense tomorrow. Shall I engage Alex?” Graig asked as they exited the tunnel and strode through the main cave. Surprising how many people had already risen for the day, even though it was not quite light outside.
“Yes. If nothing else, she must know how to defend herself. What time tomorrow?” He paused at the entrance to get his bearings. Cooking fire to the left in the circular outcropping. He headed in that direction.
“After midday.”
“Do it in the morning, Commander.” The words came out with the brittleness of a thin sheet of ice.
Graig’s gaze narrowed. “Of course. Excuse me, sir.” He veered away to take the path leading to the facilities.
This day was not beginning well. Not only was Alexandra ignoring him, now he had been rude to Graig.
“Senior Captain Helyg!”
Gryf glanced behind him and frowned at the young Matiran man approaching. One of Ora’s crew. Lauris? No, Laurentius, Cassian Laurentius. “Yes, Lieutenant Commander?” How can I provoke you today?
“Captain Solaris’s orders are to begin the process of transferring command of the camp to you. For that reason, I am reporting to you that a supply group is due back this morning from their latest assignment.”
“Is Or...Captain Solaris incapable of remaining in command?”
Laurentius’s eyes widened to the point Gryf feared he might have to catch his eyeballs when they popped out. “Sir?”