“Let me go.” The words were dry in her throat. She swallowed and tried again. “Let go. Gervis has me.”
A growl rumbled near her shoulder. She reached up and tried to bat away his hands.
“Knife.” Mofitan twisted the neck of her uniform, and Corah rose another inch. “In your pants.”
Knife? She’d dropped it. No. Her hands moved to her waist and Gervis, sensing a new purpose in her, did his best to climb her like a ladder. He clawed at her legs, pulled himself to her knees, and clung like a tick when she tried to wriggle him loose. Her fingers found the second knife. Gervis clung and dragged on her. Corah unfolded the cloth, squeezing her fingers against the blade until it cut neat lines along their length.
Mofitan continued to haul her upwards. Gervis snarled and pulled himself higher. She shifted her hand down the blade, found the hilt, and closed her eyes through another shower of dust and tiny pebbles.
“Almost there,” Mofitan groaned down. If she let him just haul them up, he’d handle Gervis. She should let him handle Gervis.
Dern chose his own fate. He snarled and pinched, clawed his way to her thighs, and wrapped his legs around her ankles. Mofitan’s grip slipped. Corah fell back the few inches she’d gained. Not today.
She swiped the knife down in an arc and heard Gervis howl as the blade sliced across his face. His grip loosened on her immediately. Corah lifted, as if gravity had released her as well, but her gaze fixed down while Gervis Dern fell. She followed him into the blackness with her eyes alone, and only when he’d vanished from existence did she dare look up at her future.
Chapter Thirty
Mofitan dragged his heartmate out of the pit by the scruff of her neck. When her legs swung free, he shuffled away, a good twenty feet away in case the Chromians hadn’t been as precise as intended and more of the lip caved in. When they reached ground he felt confident wouldn’t fall out from beneath them, he let his body crumple, sat in the dust, and held Corah across his lap without ever loosening his grip on her.
Where the landing platforms had been a crater now stretched, all the way from the frontline where the rebels had tried to hold their ground to the far edge. One ship had remained aboveground, but now it listed to the side where the ground beneath its landing gear had succumbed to the slide.
They’d had the whole thing set to implode. Amazing. If it hadn’t almost swallowed Corah as well, he’d have applauded their ingenuity. As it was, from the safety of his current vantage, the view definitely impressed him.
“I think they won.” Corah shifted in his arms, still shaky but also still alive. “Look.”
The ghosts slipped out from their tunnels. Plump Chromians swarmed from Banshee’s pores. They shuffled together, a pale, doughy tide, and then they began to thump, and there were enough tails present to shake the remaining firmament. The Chromians drummed their victory, blinked, and let the planet rattle around them.
“Amazing, aren’t they?” Mofitan hugged Corah to him. “You should see what they have down there.”
“What’s that?”
“Tanks and cannons and so many supplies you could take the whole planet if you—”
“No, what’s that?” Corah pointed toward the horizon, to the far side of the new crack in Eclipsis’s surface. Beyond the leaning ship a low line of hills raised above the basin and above those, a row of dark shapes hovered. Ships, growing larger by the moment.
“Ah, shit.” Mofitan let her scramble to her feet and then stood himself. He squinted toward the incoming fleet and shook his head. “We gotta get them back underground.”
But the Chromians spotted the ships at that moment, and instead of vanishing sensibly back into the planet, they thumped louder, faster, and if possible, more of them appeared. The whole of Banshee turned white around them, and Mofitan could only hold onto his woman and watch the ships come.
“Should we try to take cover?” Corah leaned into him. “Gervis could have called for backup.”
“Would they be here this fast?” Mofitan squinted and tried the math. “I don’t think so. Unless he called them in advance of the attack.”
“Then who?”
They eased their way nearer to the swarm of Chromians. Fire still erupted from the mines and all of the compound’s buildings blazed as well. Most of the smoke dissipated and only a spotty haze hovered in the air. The ships grew nearer, approached the hills, and then parted like a tide to circle the hole where the pads had been. They knew. Dern’s forces would have attempted to land, at least flown near enough to see the damage before avoiding it.
“I think it’s the good guys.”
“Who?”
The lead vessel neared them, a steely transport with a familiar logo on the hull. Mofitan crowed loud enough to be heard over the thumping of Chromian tails. “From Wraith, look!”
The side of the transport slid open and a long cable snaked from the gap. Behind it, a trio of vessels mirrored the movement and a dribble of plump white Chromians slid from the ships to land amongst their brethren. He hooted again and hugged Corah to his side.
“My friends. Dolfan and Vashia.” He frowned. How had Chromians ended up on a vessel out of Wraith? Also, how was he going to explain this whole thing, this hole thing, to Vashia? “At least, I think they’re still my friends. I wasn’t exactly supposed to start a war. Actually, I was just supposed to gather information.”
Corah laughed and they watched the Chromians together. The forward transport stopped raining aliens, and Mofitan saw two familiar humanoids working their way down the cable.
“I think I like how you gather information, Mofitan. It certainly beats how I used to do it.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think I make a very good spy.”
“I think neither one of us is any good at that.” She sighed and stiffened a little. “Gervis and Niels are dead. Captain Curel is still in Spectre, but with the Chromians to help, I imagine your friend can have the region now. I don’t think there’s anyone left who can argue with her.”
“That’s good.” He watched Dolfan jump from the cable to the ground. The Chromians parted for him, and Vashia landed amongst them a moment later. Mofitan waved until they both looked in his direction. He heard Vashia’s squeal over the drumming of flesh against stone.
“Will you go home now?” Corah had turned to stone beside him. Her chin pointed out toward his friends, and her spine told him something had just gone wrong again.
“Probably. I mean, at least for a visit.” Mofitan watched for a sign from her, anything to encourage him. She’d gone completely rigid, all her signals suggesting he back off. Then again, he never had paid much attention to warning signs. “I was hoping you’d like to come too.”
For a breath nothing happened. Corah blinked, a Chromian-esque expression, and then relaxed, smiled, and punched him on the arm hard enough to bruise the bone.
“Ow. What?”
“You waited long enough to ask.”
“Well, I was sort of afraid you’d say no.”
“Ha.”
“Ha?”
“I think I fancy seeing this big crystal of yours.” Corah smiled at him and Mofitan saw the glow of the Heart in her eyes. He saw it, and he vowed to make certain that she got her wish. He pulled her into an embrace and kissed her until his skin flamed like the buildings around them.
“You’ll see it,” he said. “But first let’s meet these guys.”
“I suppose.” Corah looked sideways toward where Vashia and Dolfan were being swarmed by happy Chromians. “I’ve been on the wrong side for most of this. What should I say?”
“Say whatever you like…except.” He paused and squinted across at the other couple. “What I said about Dolfan being my best friend?”
“Yeah.”
“Whatever you do, don’t ever tell him.”
She laughed again, and Mofitan grinned and waved over the plump bodies. He’d hand Spectre over to Vashia, punch Dolfan around a little, and then they could haul ass for Shr
oud. Eclipsis had been a fun ride, a better ride than he’d ever hoped for, but now, as soon as possible, he and his heartmate had a date with the Shrouded crystal.
Jarn came for them within an hour of the captain’s departure. He opened the door without knocking and then had the balls to grimace when he found them in an embrace.
“Time to go, girls.”
“Where exactly?” Bless Jadyek. He still had a shade of rebellion in him, enough hope to fight back.
“It’s a surprise,” Jarn answered.
Dielel sighed. He’d spent the hour alternating between despair and hope. So much depended on who had landed in that ship outside. Strangers meant an uncertain future, more danger, and unless they believed the captain’s assertion, the inevitable possibility of separation. That, he couldn’t even imagine, let alone endure. Which left him hoping they’d find Dolfan waiting, Dolfan or Haftan even.
He’d tolerate that embarrassment if it meant securing their future together…anywhere.
“Come on,” Jarn said. “You’re going to love this.”
He led them out of their habitat without further explanation. On the pirate’s glorified asteroid, the light had turned purple with evening. The pirates gathered outside their domes, clustered the most thickly around the newcomers’ ship. Two of their stouter members joined Jarn in escorting them, an unnecessary precaution. Everyone knew they had nowhere to run.
Dielel walked at his heartmate’s side. They went arm in arm, and he did his best to match Jadyek’s defiant stance, the straight, confident set to the shoulders, bravado where he knew they both experienced the same terror.
Now was not the time to cry. It still might be Dolfan in there. Still might be anyone.
“Here they come,” the pirate captain bellowed and all heads swiveled in their direction. The pirates shuffled their feet and a gap in the crowd appeared.
Dielel peered through it, tried to see his immediate future there.
For a moment he felt the sweet rush of relief. Familiar purple skin in the crowd, a fall of jet-black hair, and more curves than any Shrouded man should boast. His feet stalled. Beside him, Jadyek gasped loudly enough for them both. Beyond the pirates, two impossible creatures stood. Everything about them claimed they were Shrouded except their unmistakable gender.
“Female,” Jadyek hissed near his ear.
Not possible, and yet, the women who looked exactly as if they were from Shroud turned to face them, smiled with features that had to be Shrouded, and opened wide, lilac arms in greeting.
“Welcome.”
They stood taller than most Shrouded men, too, towering over the pirates now they’d taken their feet. Giants. Female. Jadyek scooted into his side, left him to do the talking.
“Who are you?”
“We are your kin, of course.” The smile, Dielel thought, only floated on the surface. “We are your people, and we have been looking for you for a very long time.”
“Why?” Jadyek asked, bolder now that the ice had cracked. Not broken, exactly, not with the knives shining in this woman’s expression.
“A fine question,” she said. “With an easy answer.”
She gestured for her partner, and the second woman stepped up beside her. Telling them apart would be difficult. They might be twins, but then, Dolfan and Mofitan were nearly identical. An outsider might have the same problem with any of them, come to think of it.
“We have sought out the Lost Ones.” The second woman chanted it, made more of a ritual out of the words. Dielel thought, perhaps, he heard a threat there as well. “We have searched the heavens wide and far to find the Lost Ones and bring them home again.”
“Why?” Jadyek might have interrupted her. The look she cast at him would have cowed Dielel. His heartmate stood his ground, stared back at her. “Why?”
“Because you are ours,” the first female answered. “We are Irisian. You are Irisian. You belong to us.”
The last syllable echoed across the pirate moon. For their part, the pirates had enough sense to take a step back, to shuffle, casually, away from the huge women. Only Jarn of all of them hadn’t the wisdom to hear the daggers behind her words. He rushed forward, driven by his greed or just a desperation to be free of them.
“They will be yours,” he said. “When you’ve paid for them in full.”
“You are Jarn?”
“I am.” He’d never struck Dielel as stupid. Evil, yes, but far too wily for the mistake he made here. Perhaps the time in prison had broken him down. Maybe, he’d lost his edge somewhere along the way. Whatever had happened to him, he obviously didn’t see the danger, and it cost him everything when the woman gestured again.
The other one’s hand shot out. Purple fingers tightened around Jarn’s throat and lifted. She shook him once, and the planet echoed with the sound of bones snapping. He fell when her fingers opened, fluttered to the ground like a rag and never moved again.
“Now.” The purple woman cleared her throat but showed no sign she noticed the man she’d just ordered killed. “About this other thing. Show it to me.”
For a moment, Dielel thought they were next. He dragged his eyes from Jarn’s broken body and felt the chill of his last moments creeping over his skin.
“I have it here.” The pirate captain stepped forward, a brave move, considering. He held out his hand and the other thing became apparent. The ring. The signet all Shrouded princes possessed rested on the pirate’s palm. “It glows when they’re together.”
“Explain this.”
That time, he didn’t need to guess if she spoke to them. Jadyek piped in, however, before Dielel could summon words. “The heartstone glows to indicate a bonded pair. The perfect match. It is something my people—”
“Our people,” the woman cut him off. “We understand the bonding. Give it to me.”
They didn’t wait for anyone to move. One of the women plucked the ring from the pirate’s hand and the other leaned over it. They whispered something, and Jadyek’s ring flared to life. The heartstone glowed with the light of true mating, but it shone more brightly here than he’d ever seen it on his bonded’s finger.
“Interesting,” the woman said. “This stone comes from your new planet?”
“Yes.” Jadyek missed the elbow Dielel meant to nudge him with. He blurted the answer and then, perhaps, realized he shouldn’t have.
“So very interesting. Thank you, Captain. For this, I’ll consider not blowing your operation to bits from orbit.” She held the ring aloft and the glow turned her expression to shadow. Her lips stretched wide, and Dielel could have sworn he saw pointy teeth between them.
The pirate captain said nothing. Smarter than Jarn in the end. The pirates slunk back to their habitats, and Jadyek and Dielel were left to face their new owners. You belong to us. He saw that in her eyes, in the way her existence mocked their whole way of life. A crazed zealot, a madwoman. Her lips parted and she tilted her head back, lifted the ring and the glowing heartstone to the sky.
It burned more brightly than all the stars.
“Load them.” She howled now, chanted an insane cackle of words. “We’ve succeeded beyond all our hopes. This ring! This stone is the key.”
“Get them secure and send a message home.” Pointy teeth flashed against the blanket of space. Dielel saw pain there, horrors in his future. The woman sang it out for all of space to hear. “Tell them the Lost Ones have been found!”
About the Author
Frances Pauli writes across multiple genres. Her work is speculative, full of the fantastic, and quite often romantic at its core. Whenever possible, she enjoys weaving in a little humor.
Once upon a time she was a visual artist, but she’s since come to her senses. Now she fills her minuscule amount of free time with things like crocheting, belly-dancing, and abysmal ukulele playing.
A full list of her published works, free stories and a Newsletter Sign-Up can be found on her website at: francespauli.com
@mothindarkness
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More Heartstone
Shrouded
Seen
And coming soon:
Exposed
Eclipsed (Heartstone Book 3) Page 23