“Good morning Jinjie, Tonka,” she said in a low voice so as not to wake the children.
“Good morning,” Jinjie and Tonka both replied at the same time. Salene winced and looked at the children again.
“Do be not worry for noise. Me do be putting silence bubble on them what will break after they wake.”
“That’s good,” Salene said as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes while wishing, just for a moment, that she could take a long, hot shower. When she looked up again there was a wooden cup with steam rising from it floating just in front of her. She plucked it out of the air. “Thank you.”
“Do be welcome,” Jinjie said. “You no do be sleeping good?”
“Not really,” she replied before sipping her tea.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Tonka said, rising to his feet.
Salene nodded, already knowing he was heading for a small cave further along the tunnel that they’d been using as their bathroom. It was cold and dark, but it beat going out into the snowstorm. If they planned to stay in the cave for a few days, Salene knew she’d to have to dig a trench or two.
“You do being tense,” Jinjie commented after Tonka was gone.
“I woke up sometime in the middle of the night with a strong feeling that the Gryphons were coming toward us, and I still feel it,” she said in a low voice. “It’s confusing because Wolef said my psychic ability would be overwhelmed by the dragon power.” She frowned. “Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I also remember him saying that I might be able to feel traces of it. Maybe that’s what’s happening. I don’t honestly know. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking.” Jinjie remained silent and she glanced up at him in time to catch his expression before he could hide it. She wasn’t completely surprised by the grimace she’d caught since she’d seen it before, but she’d never asked about it. This time, she decided, she wanted to know. “Why do you dislike the Gryphons so much?”
Jinjie set his cup down on the log beside him, then looked Salene in the eyes for a long moment. “Do be sure you do be wanting answer.”
“I’m sure,” Salene said, confused by the warning.
“On Armadura, Landor Bear do be worried for you.”
“He asked you to keep an eye on me?”
“Me do be keep eye only if you do be leaving room. When you do be visit Gryphons, me do be stay out.”
“How good is your hearing?”
“Jotunn do be hear good,” he said, then picked his tea up again without looking at her.
“You heard, didn’t you?”
Jinjie dipped his head once in a single affirmative nod. Salene tensed, her breath catching in her throat. Jinjie noticed and raised one hand, palm out. “Do be not worry. Me do be not speaking on what do be private.”
“Thank you, Jinjie,” she said, relaxing.
“Salene do be welcome, but do be no need to thank for what do be right.”
“Nevertheless, I thank you.” Salene sipped her tea, looked toward the children, and then turned to Jinjie again. “There’s something I need to tell you.” Jinjie looked at her expectantly. “Do you know what a Controller is?”
Jinjie hissed and his brown eyes went cold and dark. “Evil. Controllers do be evil.”
Salene nodded in full agreement with that. “The reason I suddenly decided to go to Garza is that I think the Gryphons had, or have, Controllers.”
Jinjie thought about that for a few moments. “They do be prisoners for many days,” he conceded.
“There’s more,” Salene said. “A few days ago I got a message from Aisling Gryphon. The gel I collected from the tanks the Doftles put the Gryphons in got misplaced, but after we left Jasan they found it and sent it to be analyzed. I’ve always had a bad feeling about that gel, beyond the radioactive particles that were in it. I was waiting for the results of the analysis when Captain Jake ordered us to the launch bay. I wanted something more solid than a feeling before I told anyone about this, but time ran out. So I sent a message to my sister Tani on Garza before we left the map room.”
“Yes, me do be remembering that. What do be message?”
“I asked her to force the Gryphons to shift. I didn’t have time to tell her more than that, but Tani wouldn’t have worried about details. She’d want a full explanation later, but she would have done what I asked if my message got through the meteor shower, and if she got it before the Gryphons left Garza, and if I’m right and they had Controllers.” Salene sighed heavily. “It’s a lot of ifs, I know that, but that’s better than no ifs at all.”
“Me do be sorry, Salene,” Jinjie said, his tiny shoulders slumping.
“What are you sorry about?” she asked in surprise.
“My should do be checking at Gryphons’ Controllers,” he said, his Standard slipping in his distress. “Magic do be weak then, but after do being at Jasan and strong growing, me do be should checking.”
“Jinjie, this isn’t your fault,” Salene said gently. “I should have suspected something was wrong when they told me they didn’t want to link. I should have had more faith in them. But I didn’t. I didn’t see it until long after I should have.”
“Do be not your fault, also,” Jinjie said, but he saw that his words fell on deaf ears. She insisted that he not blame himself, but refused to do the same on her own behalf. “Why do be asking on shifting?”
Salene took a moment to decipher that. “Oh, why did I want them to shift?” Jinjie nodded. “Because shifting is a kind of magic that comes from inside each living cell of a Clan Jasani. The Jasani changes and transforms, altering and moving every cell in the body, but the magic doesn’t change the Controller to fit the new form. This causes the nano-bots the Controller is made of to return to their liquid metal state, which the Jasani’s body rejects as an inert foreign mass. As such, it’s forced out of the body during the shifting process, and ends up being left behind in a puddle on the floor.”
“That do be good to be knowing,” Jinjie said. “Problem only do be they have Controller, or do be they not?”
“Exactly,” Salene said, then an idea hit her. “You said that Controllers are evil, and you can sense evil. Does that mean you can determine whether or not they have Controllers if you see them?”
“Yes, me do be can if do be close enough,” Jinjie said.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard in a while,” Salene said as she rose up on her knees and reached for the leftover stew and set it on the fire. She sat back down just as Tonka returned. “How did you two sleep?”
“Jinjie do be sleep fine.”
“As did I.”
Salene finished her tea and set her cup down, then reached for the survival pack and began rummaging through it until she found the signal transponder. It appeared to be inactive, but it was the only item in the pack that would logically contain a tracker. “Maybe they’re pinging this somehow,” she said doubtfully, then put it down to fix herself a fresh cup of tea.
“What is pinging?” Tonka asked.
“It’s when one device sends a signal to another device, then isolates the return signal to see where it came from.”
“Is this a good thing?”
“That depends. There are three men who I think are heading toward us, but I don’t know how they’re doing it. I’m not even sure they are doing it. It’s just a feeling I have.”
“You are nervous about these men,” Tonka observed. “Are they your enemies?”
“No, they’re my destined mates,” Salene said. “I have reason to believe that the Doftles put something in their brains that made them act differently than they should have, but I didn’t figure it out until recently. I think the Controllers have been destroyed, if they existed at all, but I don’t know for certain.”
“If they’re under the control of the Doftles, I will not allow them to cause harm to you, Jinjie, or the children,” Tonka said with a distinct growl in his voice.
“Thank you, Tonka,” Salene said. “If they do show up Jinjie will be abl
e to determine whether they have Controllers or not. If they do, we’ll just have to find some way to force them to shift.”
“Jinjie can be doing that, Highness.”
“Highness?” Tonka asked in surprise. “You’re royalty?” Salene wrinkled her nose at Jinjie, who gave her an apologetic look.
“I am,” she admitted.
“I hope I’ve not offended you by being too informal.”
“Not at all,” Salene assured him. “We Jasani don’t much care about things like that except in formal situations.” She used one of the big wooden spoons to stir the stew while trying to maintain an outer calm that she didn’t feel. She needed to divert herself. “I don’t really know if the Gryphons will show up here, or even how they’d find us if they did. But if they DO by some chance show up, or if anyone else does for that matter, the first thing they’re going to want is for us to leave this world. It would probably be best if we decide what we want to do before that happens so we can present a united front. Tonka?”
“I want to leave this place and all of its ugliness behind and never look back. But I can’t. I must fulfill my promise to Oberto.”
“And I cannot turn my back on the people being held here,” she said. “At the same time, keeping the children with us if we have an opportunity to see them safe wouldn’t be right.”
“We want to stay with you, Salene,” Mali said, surprising her. She looked over to see the little girl lying with a sleeping Tab curled against her. “We won’t get in the way, I promise. Please?”
Salene looked into Mali’s frightened eyes, her heart twisting in her chest at the thought of sending them away. She’d been kidding herself, she realized. From the moment she’d seen Mali and Tab in that dank, dark pit she’d felt connected to them. Something inside of her had known all along that she needed to find these two children. That’s what the yearning sensation had been about all along. She didn’t know where it had come from, or how, or even why, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that she’d known them for only a day. It didn’t matter that she had a power bond with a dragon. It didn’t matter that she was sworn to fight the Doftles. It didn’t matter whether the Gryphons had Controllers or not, or even if they approved or not. Unless Mali and Tab had objections themselves, she was going to keep these children and raise them as her own.
“First of all, you and Tab will never be in my way,” she said emphatically. “I want you to try to remember that. If you’re ever in doubt, ask me and I’ll remind you. Okay?” Mali’s eyes widened in surprise but she nodded her head. “Good girl. Second of all, if I do send you up to a ship it will only be because I want you to be safe. Not for any other reason. As soon as I can I’ll come and get you, or I’ll come and join you so we can all leave this world together. All right?”
“All right,” Mali replied softly, the corners of her mouth turned up in a tiny smile. Salene helped Mali to sit up without waking Tab, gave her a kiss on the forehead, then made her a cup of hot apple juice.
When Mali was settled she returned to her place and checked the stew again, her stomach growling hungrily. “How far did you say we are from the silo, Tonka?”
“It took three full days, and sometimes part of a fourth for Oberto to reach the silo from the clearing where you found us yesterday. But Oberto had a bad limp which required that he walk slowly and rest often.”
“We could probably walk it in half that time,” Salene said. “Do you think that’s about right?”
“I would agree except that the snow will slow us down. I took a quick look outside this morning and it appears to be quite deep. I think it’ll take us nearly as long as it would have taken Oberto without the snow.”
“Good point. What do you think Jinjie? Do you want to come and see what the Doftles are up to here?”
“It do be risky. But, Jinjie do be prisoner for hundreds of your years. If you do be making trouble on Doftles, Jinjie do be helping.”
“That’s a very long time to be a prisoner,” Tonka said. “Are you sure about this, Jinjie?”
Jinjie met Tonka’s gaze and nodded firmly. “Me do be sure.”
“And you, Salene? Are you certain this is what you want to do? I can go alone as long as I know the children are with you.”
“I’m definitely going,” Salene said.
“In that case, I have something to tell you that you should know before you do this.”
“What is it?” Salene asked warily, something in the Brun’s posture warning her that this would not be good.”
“I told you that the Doftle create people, animals, and hybrids, and store them in the silo. What I did not tell you is that they’ve begun creating hybrids with human like heads, and some of those look much like you.”
“Like me?” she asked, stunned.
“Not exactly, but similar. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but I cannot let you enter the silo and see them without warning.”
Mindful of the fact that Mali was watching and listening, Salene rose slowly to her feet, turned toward the entrance and walked calmly out of the cave. The tunnel was pitch dark and she’d forgotten the flashlight, but she didn’t return for it. Instead she reached out and placed one hand on the wall of the tunnel, then walked until she was in the first narrow cave they’d entered through. She wasn’t wearing her survival suit but she stepped out into the cold anyway. She tilted her head back, breathing in the cold crisp air, her fists clenched so tightly that her nails dug into the wounds in her palms that never quite had time to heal before she reopened them. She couldn’t come up with a word to describe the combination of sick fear, and roiling fury she felt at the thought of herself, or her sisters, being used in such a way.
Tonka had told her that it had been over six months since he and the others had escaped from the silo. That meant that the hybrids he spoke of were created more than six months earlier. But it’d been less than two months since her own abduction. Therefore, it wasn’t possible for the genetic material used in their creation to have come from her, which was a relief.
If the Doftles had some method of growing their hybrids at an extremely fast rate, the material for those Tonka had seen had to have come from Rayne. If it took years for a hybrid to mature, then it was merely a coincidence that it looked like her.
“It’s very cold out there,” Tonka said.
Salene turned around and stepped back inside the cave, not surprised to find Tonka there, waiting, since she’d heard him behind her. She was surprised to see Jinjie sitting on the back of his neck, though.
“That’s…interesting,” Tonka said. His tone was calm, but his eyes were wary.
“What is it?” she asked, both hands holding knives before she realized she’d drawn them as she spun around to see if someone was behind her.
“Your power bond do be showing,” Jinjie said. She turned back and sheathed her knives.
“Sorry,” she said, then focused for a moment before sending the power back into the diamond on her forehead. “Better?”
“Yes,” Jinjie replied.
“I’ve never seen anyone with red eyes before.”
“It only happens when I draw on the dragon’s power,” she said, then nearly smiled at Tonka’s wide eyed surprise. “It’s a long story that I will share with you, but the short of it is that I don’t even know how to use it yet.”
“I look forward to your story,” Tonka said, politely letting it go despite his intense curiosity.
“Do you know if the Doftles have some way of growing their creatures really fast?”
“Yes, they do,” Tonka replied.
Salene grimaced. “Jinjie, you understand that it’s Rayne they used for the hybrids that look like me, right?”
The tiny Jotunn’s brows drew down over his round eyes as he considered her question. A moment later his eyes widened and the air around him suddenly filled with bright orange sparks. He leapt off of Tonka just as his shape changed into a feline creature with bright orange fur tipped with venomous stin
gers. Salene had seen Jinjie’s alter form the first time she and Rayne had encountered him on the Doftles’ space station. He was a lot bigger this time. Not as big as Tonka, but tall enough that his head reached her waist.
With his ears laid flat against his skull, and his red eyes glowing with fury, he opened his mouth in a snarl, displaying an impressive array of needle sharp teeth. Salene glanced worriedly at Tonka, but he seemed to be taking this new change in stride. His ears were up as he stretched his neck toward Jinjie and sniffed, though he didn’t try to approach him.
“I must say that the two of you are full of surprises.”
Jinjie shifted back to his normal self and leapt up to Salene’s shoulder. “Me do be sorry,” he began, but Tonka shook his head.
“Don’t be,” he said. “I like knowing that you both have hidden abilities. It means you’re even more capable of protecting the children than I expected. I find it interesting that you both have red eyes, though. Is that common where you’re from?”
“No, it’s not, actually,” Salene said thoughtfully, then set that aside to think on later. She turned her head so she could see Jinjie on her shoulder. “You were a lot bigger this time than before.”
“Magic do be stronger.”
“Stronger magic is good,” she said. “We’ll need to make a better cover for Tonka with those thermal sheets. One that covers his entire body, except for his face. Will you help again?”
“Of course,” he said, nodding. He looked through the cave entrance, then back to her. “The snow do be deep.”
“I know,” she said. “But I’m going anyway. I can’t not go. If you’d rather not, I’ll leave the children and the transponder with you. I suspect that’s what the Gryphons are pinging though I can’t imagine how. If they are, then they’ll find you when they get here.”
“That do be generous, but Jinjie do be not staying behind.”
“Thank you, Jinjie. I was hoping you’d say that.”
“I will carry the children as before and break the trail,” Tonka said. “You need only walk behind me.”
“Tonka, if the Gryphons come, and they don’t have Controllers, or if another ship comes to rescue us, I really am going to ask them to take the children to their ship. They’ll be safer there than down here.”
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