The Lobos' Heartsong

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “I thank you, High Prince,” Saige said. She had not thought she would ever feel comfortable calling anyone Prince, but in this instance it was right and just. This man was a Prince, and she knew that every word he spoke was true and honestly felt by him. They would never rest until they had found the missing women.

  “Since the Lobos’ home was destroyed, we thought that the two of you would not mind if they rebuilt their home here on the ranch,” Garen continued. “That way you would be closer together.”

  “And easier to protect,” Saige added.

  “Yes, easier to protect,” Garen agreed. “Though the Lobos now have stronger magic than before, circumstances dictate that we err on the side of extreme caution now. We do not wish to make you feel as though you are in prison, but for the sake of all of our people, we must not allow the Xanti to get their hands on any of you.”

  Saige and Lariah both shuddered at the thought, their eyes going at once to the three small bassinets nearby. “It makes sense to me,” Saige said. “They’ve had me once, nearly had me a second time. I have no wish to tempt fate a third time.”

  “Nor do I,” Lariah agreed.

  All of the men in the room seemed to relax. Saige met Lariah’s eyes and they both smiled.

  “You should also know that we have ordered our military to step up security precautions. The Bearens have been called in to take their places as planetary security chiefs and the Lobos will be acting second in command. We have had offers from every male-set on the planet to act as personal guards to the five of you. As blood relatives of Princess Nahoa-Arima Lariah, the Katres have first call on that duty, and have requested it.

  “I tell you this because you will notice an increase in the number of males around the property. Few will enter the house. We must ask that you take reasonable precautions before leaving the house or garden. We will assign a guard to accompany Tiny when he is away from you.”

  Lariah bit her lip at that. Garen cocked a brow at her. “Won’t your men feel insulted at having to guard a dog?” she asked.

  “No,” Garen chuckled. “Lariah, I do not think you or Saige understand how important you are to our people. Our most hardened warriors would protect Tiny with their very lives if it would make you happy that they do so. Besides, they have all heard the story of how you rescued Tiny, and how Tiny saved your life. He is as famous among Clan Jasani as you are, and as respected as a warrior.”

  “What about Darleen Flowers?” Saige asked. “I understand that she didn’t mastermind the whole thing, but at the same time, she used her relationship with Lariah to abduct us. And I promise you, she was as happy as can be about it. She wanted us hurt. And she is responsible for Riata’s death. She told those men that she did not care in the least what happened to her.”

  “We have three male-sets hunting her down as we speak,” Garen said. “If she is caught, she will be held and tried for her crimes.”

  “Not banished?” Saige asked.

  “No, not banished,” Garen assured her. “She was a party to the murder of a very important personage to Jasan, the abduction of the only two Arimas in thousands of years, and the unborn children of the Princes of Jasan who are also the first daughters born to the Jasani in over three thousand years. She will pay dearly for her part in today’s events.”

  “What will happen to her?” Lariah asked.

  “Once she is captured she will be detained until tried by a jury of Citizen Jasani, as is our law. If she is convicted on all counts against her, she will be offered a choice of death, the rest of her life working in the mines on Jasan, or transfer to a Penal Planet for life. We do not have jails or prisons on Jasan.”

  “Good,” Saige said. “She deserves it after all she did. Does anyone have any idea of where she is?”

  “Her luggage was sent to the spaceport early this morning and is currently impounded,” Trey replied. “Anyone asking for it will be detained and, of course, her scans and prints are flagged. She will not leave Jasan can it be helped. Other than that, we know only that the male-sets tracking her and her ground-car discovered a spot where she pulled over and picked up a human male. The car then headed out of Granite Falls in the direction of the spaceport. They are still tracking her ground-car and have no further information at this time.”

  “What about the two men with her?” Saige asked. “I think one of them should be alive still.”

  “Yes, one is alive,” Garen said, smiling grimly. “I thank you for that, Saige Lobo. He, too, has been sent to the council. I have no doubt they will glean whatever information he owns. Among other things, it is our hope he will provide us with some insight as to how he, and others like him, have managed to bypass our immigration laws and live on Jasan unnoticed.”

  A small, mewling cry sounded from one of the bassinets. Saige bent down and carefully picked up Tani, cradling the tiny infant gently in her arms. The baby stopped crying the instant she was held, her gray eyes looking up at Saige solemnly.

  Faron, Trey and Ban watched Saige with the newborn, reminded anew of how much she wanted children. Faron wished that Riata were there to tell them whether or not such a miracle was possible for them now, then chastised himself for the selfish thought. They would find out as all people discovered such things. When it happened. Or didn’t.

  “Sharali, there is a small group of warriors here and we have promised them a look at the newest daughters of Jasan. Do you mind, or should we wait another day?” Garen asked.

  Lariah started to shrug, then paused, a thought occurring to her. “Garen, they are only just born,” she said. “I don’t want them being claimed now.”

  Garen smiled gently. “Do not worry sharali. Until they bloom as young women, it is not possible for a male-set to claim them, or even have a physiological reaction to them.”

  Lariah let out a sigh of relief, as did Saige. They both understood how important the baby girls were to the males of Jasan, but they were just babies.

  “If they are going to be standing around guarding us, they deserve to meet the reason their presence is needed,” Lariah said.

  “Thank you, little love,” Trey said as he leaned down to kiss her gently.

  Lariah smiled up at him, her emerald eyes shining. “How shall we do this then? Just have them all come filing through?”

  “No,” Garen objected at once. “You do not need five warrior male-sets marching through here while you are still in bed. We will take the babes out to them, then bring them back. You can meet the warriors another time.”

  “Good plan,” Lariah said with relief. She really had not been looking forward to being stared at by a bunch of strange men just at that moment.

  Saige and Lariah watched as Garen lifted Salene out of her basinet, the baby’s body smaller than his two hands together. He held her as though she were the most precious thing in the Thousand Worlds, and in truth, to him, and the rest of the Jasani people, she and her sisters were.

  Trey lifted Rayne with just as much care, and Val took Tani from Saige’s arms, tucking her blanket around her more securely with deft hands that surprised everyone watching. He seemed to be more comfortable holding the baby than either of his brothers.

  Cradling the tiny infants in their huge, muscular arms, the Dracons filed out of the room with the Lobos guarding over them all as though they were in dangerous territory rather than their own home. Saige and Lariah watched, smiling indulgently at their men.

  “How are you feeling, Lari?” Saige asked, suddenly realizing that Lariah was still in bed, though it had been hours since she’d given birth. She had thought her body would have healed by now.

  “I’m just a little tired still,” Lariah said. “Apparently, even though I have the ability to heal very quickly, it takes time for things to get back to normal after carrying three babies for nine months, even for a Jasani. I should be fine by this evening, or tomorrow morning at the latest.”

  “If Riata were here she could heal you, couldn’t she?” Saige asked sadly.
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  “No,” Lariah said. “Riata is the one who told me how long it would take for my body to return to normal. It is not an injury or disease, it’s childbirth. So there is nothing to heal. It just needs to return to what it was.”

  “That’s good news,” Saige said. “I think it takes longer than that for most women to return to normal.”

  “Yes, I think so too,” Lariah replied with a grin. She studied her friend’s face for a moment, her grin fading. “Saige, what’s on your mind? You look worried about something.”

  “Its just that I have this great power from Riata, and yet it is completely wasted on me. How in the stars am I going to figure out how to use it?”

  “I do not know,” Lariah replied. “But I think that when you need it, it will come to you.”

  Saige glanced sideways at her. “Just like that?”

  “Perhaps,” Lariah said with a shrug. “That seems to be the way some of this stuff works. When I first became dracon I tried and tried to transform, but nothing worked. Then, when I needed it most, it just happened.”

  “Yeah, I see what you mean,” Saige said with a sigh. “I suppose I will just have to try to be patient.”

  Chapter 36

  Slater felt the usual disorientation that occurred whenever he transported, but his first deep breath of Onddo air after so many years made him forget about it in a hurry. He wasn’t altogether certain whether he felt nostalgic or nervous about being back on his home world. After all, the last time he had breathed Onddoan air he had been running for his life.

  He looked around, startled to find himself in a landscape that was not really familiar to him. Rather than the humid, swampy low-lands he had spent the early part of his life in, he now found himself standing on a rocky outcropping overlooking a large body of green water. The air was still humid, but it lacked the aroma of mold that he associated with home.

  He saw a tiny flash of light out of the corner of his eye just before Xi-Kung appeared next to him. The Xanti wrinkled his nose for one moment, then smoothed his face. He turned to Slater and raised one quizzical brow.

  “Shouldn’t you transform now?” he asked.

  “Yes,” Slater replied. “I was just trying to figure out where we are.”

  “We are approximately 100 miles due east of the small village of your childhood,” Xi-Kung said, tilting his head in the correct direction.

  “Good,” Slater said, relieved that Xi-Kung had indicated which way east was as he had no clue. “It will not take long for us to travel that distance.”

  Slater turned his back on Xi-Kung and walked several yards away. He then closed his eyes and focused on the form of a sugea. Several moments later he looked down at Xi-Kung, a part of his sugean brain itching to burn the Xanti into ashes where he stood.

  Slater suppressed the urge and lowered his huge, snakelike head to the ground, his long neck low enough for Xi-Kung to leap onto. Once the Xanti was sitting comfortably on his back, Slater had to struggle to prevent himself from flinging him to the ground.

  Only when he was sure he had control of the sugea did he stretch out his wings and leap into the air. He wanted very much to test his magical ability in this form, but he restrained that urge as well. He did not want Xi-Kung to see either his strengths or his weaknesses just yet, especially when Slater himself did not know what they were.

  Slater’s powerful wings had them shooting high into the sky at great speed, causing the Xanti to grab quickly at the large fins on Slater’s neck to keep himself from falling off. Slater could not prevent the surge of satisfaction he felt at that knowledge, nor did he try.

  Slater continued to climb until he heard the Xanti on his back yell at him to not go any higher. Then he turned and headed in the direction Xi-Kung had indicated. Slater did not fly as quickly as he could have because he didn’t want the Xanti to fall off. The sugea did, but Slater did not. Not yet.

  Even flying slower than he wanted to, it did not take long before Slater scented the familiar moldy air of his childhood home. Shortly after that, he saw the large, marshy valley that contained the village begin to grow larger as they rapidly approached. He was nearly overhead before anyone noticed him. He decided to circle the area a few times to gain as much attention as possible.

  His sharp sugea eyes had no trouble picking out the large stone crèches, the trampled paths cutting through the fields from one area to the next. He remembered thinking as a youngster that the valley he lived in was huge. Now he saw it through more experienced eyes as the small, poor, backward thing that it was. There were a few small mud-daub huts, but for the most part his people slept in stone lined holes in the ground or beneath the sky. There were a few long lines of people waiting for food which was being doled out from several small stone huts.

  He saw groups of people in several small fields dotted here and there, and Slater remembered those were the teaching fields and the training fields. The small one over at the far edge of the valley was the extermination field. Slater spotted the largest hut set against a stone cliff at the near end of the valley and circled it a few times, watching as several people began running toward it. That was the home of Magoa, and that was where Slater would land. He waited until the entire place was a bee hive of activity and the large, distinctive figure of Magoa appeared from the inside of his house.

  When Slater was sure that Magoa was looking up at the sugea circling overhead he tilted his head back and roared a great gout of flame into the sky. Then he circled once more and descended slowly, making a show of it, using his wings in a way he had not thought possible so that he almost floated down to the ground. Slater knew that the sugea itself was in charge of that, and he didn’t mind since it didn’t seem inclined at the moment to burn everyone into cinders.

  As Slater’s huge clawed feet touched the ground he folded his wings gracefully, arched his neck and yawned widely to display both his fangs, and his contempt for the group of exterminators gathering nearby with their crude stone axes. He eyed them balefully for a moment, pleased when they all took a small step backward. Then he turned his gaze on Magoa.

  This meeting was the crux of everything. If it did not go well, he would have to be sure that they did not kill Xi-Kung as the Xanti ship was Slater’s only means of escaping Onddo. On the other hand, if it went well, Slater’s feet would be firmly set upon the path of his dreams and true glory.

  Chapter 37

  Darleen was very reluctant to open her eyes. From the moment she had begun to awaken she knew that things were not as they should be. She was not lying in her own soft bed with its silk sheets and feather pillows. In fact, she was not even lying down.

  There was an odd metallic taste in her mouth, and her skin felt strangely tight. She focused on sound, trying to identify where she was. She heard the low, soft humming of electronics, the distant sound of air blowing through vents, and a faint jumble of background noises that she could not separate enough to identify.

  “Open eyes.”

  Darleen’s eyes popped open without her permission at the sound of Lio’s voice. She found herself staring straight at him, and the expression on his face made her heart begin to pound with fear. He looked very much like a cat with a rodent’s twitching tail hanging out of its mouth. Darleen felt her body try to shudder, but for some reason, it did not move the tiniest bit.

  She frowned. Rather, she meant to frown, but didn’t. She tried to frown, but couldn’t.

  She realized that she was standing up, her arms held uncomfortably straight out on either side of her. She tried to lower them but they refused to obey her. She felt no bonds on her body, nothing restraining her. Besides, even if there were restraints, she should still be able to flex her muscles. Shouldn’t she?

  “I know this is very confusing for you, Darleen,” Lio said, still smiling that scary smile. “However, that is the fun of it. The more confused you are, the more fun it is for me as I watch you try to understand it all. But, I will tell you a few things. First, you are mentally ab
le to remember who you are, what you want, like, need, feel, hate, all of that. If I wish to take your memories from you, I can. But it pleases me greatly to know that within this body that I own and control, you still exist and are endlessly horrified by your new existence. Your body is no longer in your control, and never will be again. It is now mine to control, with some help from the prime controller installed in your brain.

  “I like toys, you see. Full sized, real life, flesh and blood toys that do as I say, when I say, and never ever argue, complain or resist. I do hope you enjoy the color silver, Darleen.”

  Lio stepped aside and Darleen found herself staring at her reflection in a large mirror. Her skin was silver. Shiny, metallic silver from her toes to the top of her shiny, bald head. Darleen wanted to shriek, yell, scream. But she could not. She could not even take a deep breath.

  “I will continue to call you Darleen for now,” Lio said. “I may take it from you later, or change it to something demeaning, as it pleases me. But for now, I want you to remember every moment who and what you are.” Lio frowned.

  “Because of you, the women escaped, and Za-Queg has been recalled. I do not really understand it, but I do know that he sent me this prime controller just for you, along with a spare. They are gifts beyond your limited ability to understand. However, in thanks for them, I intend to do to you everything he requested. Which means that you will spend some time suffering quite severely. That you will understand, I assure you.”

  Darleen was so angry, so scared, so confused that she did not know what emotion to react to first. Not that it mattered. She could not express her emotions in any way.