She secured the door to the quarters and walked around to where the capora grazed. His head popped up and he walked to Erynn, nuzzling her with his soft nose. A gentle breeze stirred the air, cool under the brilliant sunshine. Her heart beat with a slow steady rhythm, her lungs exchanging air with ease.
Did I call the wind to rise up, to rage, and then to abate?
Erynn gazed at the still trees and stroked the capora. His breath blew over her face, the smell sweet, like the grasses he ate. Shaking her head to clear her mind, she slid the rope around the animal’s neck and led him to where the gear waited. He stood patiently while Erynn fitted the cinches and adjusted the head straps.
When ready to go, she walked to the road and glanced back at Glaskra. Only distant rooftops and the facades of the foremost buildings met her gaze. The city appeared so peaceful, all color and light. She knew the children were safe, for now. Smoothing the thick fur of the capora’s neck, Erynn sighed. “Time to get moving.”
The animal turned to study her.
“I’m fine. How about you? You ready?”
He snorted and tossed his head.
“Good.” She nodded. “This is only going to get harder, you know. Saving Arranon won’t be easy, but it will be well worth the fight.”
She didn’t look back at the city as she rounded the bend in the road.
***
Long evening shadows covered the forest, siphoning away the vivid colors and replacing them with muted ghosts of their former vibrancy. Sean, evidently watching for Erynn, walked from beneath the cover of the trees to meet her. His broad smile reflected her own. She slid off the capora, leading him toward the small camp. Tiar came forward and took the reins. Erynn searched the shadows under the trees. Roni was there.
“Erynn, I’m glad you’re back.” Sean’s green eyes studied her face. “Are you all right?”
“Isn’t Jaer here? He left me early this morning. He should’ve returned long ago.”
Sean frowned. “He was here. All he did was pace and growl at any one who tried to talk to him.” He glanced at the mountain.
“Where did he go?” Erynn asked, knowing the answer.
Sean continued to gaze up and pointed.
“Someone should go after him.” Erynn started toward the caporas tethered under the boughs.
Tiar pushed through the branches. “Let Jaer work this out,” he ordered, staring at Erynn. “Leaving you like that was hard for him. It’s not his way.”
Erynn glanced at Roni, and she nodded.
“Come on, eat. Jaer can take care of himself,” Tiar said and walked back under the low limbs.
Erynn realized with her first bite of the stew how hungry she was. The flavor was rich, the meat strong, wild. No one asked what happened between her and Birk, and she didn’t offer. Her mind worked on their next move.
We must get to an outpost or a city and somehow arrange transport to…?
That was where the plan fell apart. She couldn’t walk into the nearest big city and ask for the whereabouts of General Cale Athru, and travel vouchers. But staying here was dangerous. The enemy would continue searching in this area. “Tiar, is there a way to get to a city, maybe catch a freighter delivering supplies to another remote section of Arranon?” Erynn’s question intruded on the quiet.
“Possibly.” He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Where do you want to go, Erynn?”
With not a sound of his approach, Jaer stepped out of the shadows. He stared at Erynn. “What are you talking about?”
Erynn looked up into his dark, brooding face and sighed with relief.
Tiar picked up a pebble and rolled the tiny stone around in his hand. “Erynn wants to leave.”
Jaer’s eyes narrowed. “Where?” he demanded.
“Somewhere, away from here,” Erynn said, glaring at Jaer.
“So, you have decided to endanger yourself? We are safe here for now, Lieutenant. Take some time. Think this out before making any decisions that could cost your freedom.”
“I’m not as sure as you are, sir, regarding our safety remaining so close to where they will be looking for us.” Heat burned her cheeks. She lowered her face.
“Where then? Where would you take us?” Jaer stared down at her, eyes blazing, squaring his shoulders. He appeared even larger.
“The immediate threat has passed.” Tiar’s tone was even. He tossed the pebble at the fire. “Why start it all again by attempting to leave? You’ll only call attention to yourself.”
Turning to Tiar, Erynn said, “There might be a way—if we had a good plan.” She whipped her head around to Jaer. “And no. I don’t know where to go.” Erynn’s tone hardened. “Maybe that doesn’t matter as much as just getting away. They are going to keep looking for us.”
Tiar glanced at Jaer. More of that silent communication passed between them.
Erynn gritted her teeth.
“It’s possible, but risky,” Tiar conceded.
“I understand.” Erynn nodded and forced her tense jaw muscles to relax. She sensed Jaer’s intensity and met his gaze.
Jaer’s eyes narrowed, and he shook his head. “Be sure this is the best choice. Personally, I think you are underestimating the possibilities available to you here, Lieutenant Yager.” He turned and walked to the caporas.
“What possibilities? We’re in the middle of nowhere. How will staying here help us find Cale?” Erynn shouted at his back. She considered running after Jaer, to make him explain, but they were both tired. There would be time.
***
The next morning, Erynn made a point of helping Jaer pack the gear onto the caporas. After a long silence, she broke the awkward quiet. “Where are we going today, sir?” she asked with respect, her tone light, and waited for him to respond.
Jaer finished the task before him, silent. When he completed securing the last bundle, he turned and faced her. His expression softened. He glanced to the awakening day. “Do you trust me, Lieutenant?” he asked, searching her face.
Taken aback by the directness of his question, Erynn stared. “Yes, sir. I do trust you.” She nodded and narrowed her eyes. “I believe you’d never do anything to jeopardize Arranon or your… our people, on both worlds.”
“Then allow me a few days before we leave for a more distant region of Arranon. If you still feel strongly about leaving, I will see to it.”
Erynn released her breath slowly. She kept her expression guarded and watched him.
Why is it so important we stay here?
She started to voice her question and stopped.
Ahfarine. Trust.
“All right. Now, where are we going?”
Jaer gazed into the rising sun. “Leathan gave me some secure locations where we could stay. There is one not far from here.” Jaer turned to her when she didn’t respond.
“Birk told me my dad’s dead.” Erynn stared at the ground, held her emotions, and squeezed back the tears that threatened. “Birk murdered my dad,” she whispered. She raised her gaze. “Did you hear anything about this before you lost communications with Korin?”
Jaer sighed and glared at the same spot on the ground Erynn had studied and then back to her. “Yes—to some point. We knew of the commanding general’s—your father’s—capture.”
“You should have told me. It would have been better to hear the news from you. Birk enjoyed telling me.” Anger steadied her, taking the tremor from her voice.
“I was wrong not to tell you. I am sorry. But sorry is not enough, and my reason for not telling you was selfish.”
Erynn frowned. “Selfish?” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
He started forward and stopped as if a barrier he couldn’t—or didn’t—want to breach separated them. “Your father, Damon Yager, was the only family you knew. I did not want to be the one to take him away from you.” He pushed through the distance between them. “This does not make sense to you. But had I known Birk would boast the news…” He stared toward the
sun now fully above the trees. “I am sorry. I understand if you are angry with me.”
“I am angry. At Birk and this alien force—at what they’re doing to our people, our worlds. I’m angry with myself for not seeing what was happening right in front of me.”
He turned away from the sunrise. His gaze again locked on her.
“I’m not angry with you.” Now she turned to stare at the brightness of the new day. “I think you did exactly what you had to. I learned from the experience, and I did what was necessary,” she said, her voice low.
***
The small outpost was a short ride, as Jaer promised. One-story stone buildings lined a single main street deep in the shadows of the mountains rimming the town. Transports crawled among caporas carrying packs. Consumers and suppliers bartered outside the shops in the unhurried pace of the street.
Erynn felt exposed, vulnerable here in the open. She pulled her hood down to conceal her face.
Are there those here who would turn me over to the enemy, killing others in the process?
Jaer slid from his capora and turned, holding his arms up to help her.
“I can get down by myself,” Erynn said. She threw her leg over the capora’s neck and frowned at him when he didn’t budge.
Ignoring her, he took her waist and lifted, setting her on the ground. He let go, made a low rumble in his throat, and stepped toward the building.
Erynn thought she heard the word “stubborn” in his grumbling. “What did you say? I am not stubborn. I’m—”
“Stay here,” he called loud enough to indicate that he meant all of them. He glanced over his shoulder. “Roni, you come with me.” He pushed through the door into a squat building and Roni followed.
Erynn idly stroked the soft fur on the capora’s neck as she surveyed her surroundings. No one seemed to be paying much attention to them. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and let her mind take wing. The freedom she experienced both exhilarated and frightened her. Her ability to let go and float on currents of consciousness was getting easier. She feared the possibility of going too far and not finding her way back.
Discovering nothing alarming in the immediate area, she pushed her awareness beyond the boundary of the small outpost.
A welcoming presence reached out and touched her, caressed her mind, and lingered.
She pushed her awareness farther. Like jumping into warm, bubbling water, the reply rushed up from her feet until she was submerged. Colorful firelight danced around, tickling where it skimmed across her skin. The familiar cloying scent filled the air.
High voices sang in her mind. “Talchim.” Come.
“Come where?” her mind asked.
When she got no answer, she pulled back. Her consciousness responded slowly, dragged through a strong, opposing current. The sights and sounds of the town returned, pushing away the peculiar sensation.
She opened her eyes and glanced up at Jaer, meeting his gaze. He stood in front of her, watching her. Erynn straightened and licked her lips. She glanced around. Tiar and Roni stood outside the building. Sean was at the head of her capora, staring out at the street. She had lost time.
How long?
“I have lodgings for us. We can stay until we decide what to do,” Jaer said when Erynn again gave him her full attention.
Nodding, Erynn moved to where Roni and Tiar stood.
“You and Sean go inside,” Tiar said. “We’ll take care of the caporas.”
Erynn glanced back at Sean. He stepped toward her, his green eyes dark with concern.
What happened? How long was I “gone”?
The presence hadn’t felt threatening, and even now, what remained of the experience wasn’t unpleasant.
***
Erynn and Roni shared a small room in a back corner of the building. Rough gray stone made up the walls. The floor was dark planks of varnished wood, pitted and scarred by age and use. Two sturdy beds stood opposite the door to the washroom. A large window between the beds faced a deep forest tucked against snow-capped mountains.
With a blanket wrapped around her, Erynn sat on the sill of the open window. She shivered and stared out at the deep, silent darkness, occasionally glancing at Roni’s still form beneath the covers. Cold air drifted in on delicate breezes, but that wasn’t the cause of her chill.
Something out there called to her, lured her to come closer. The pull was compelling, but not menacing, and had grown in intensity throughout the evening. She was sure the summons connected with her loss of time this afternoon.
Erynn continued peering into the night, searching the dark.
In the distance, soft pinpoints of color appeared, growing nearer.
From inside Erynn’s mind, words collected, nonsensical at first and then gelling into a solid message. She recognized the voice—a man’s, clear and ringing. Erynn tried to stammer out questions. His words, inside and outside her head, eclipsed her attempts.
“There is a special place deep in the forest. I’ll meet you there.”
The intensity of the lights increased—vibrant blues, greens, and purples—but they stayed in the distance.
“Our time is short.”
The wind sighed through the eaves of the low building.
Or is it the wind?
“There’s so much I need to tell you—so much I wish I had time to show you. I will try to help.”
With a blink, the lights vanished, taking the male presence with them. Erynn stood up and leaned out the window. The shouted plea for him, for the pinpoints of living lights to come back, caught in her throat. Calling to them would only wake Roni.
Erynn quietly dressed and filled a small pack in the dark. She crept to the heavy wooden door and slid into the hallway.
Jaer stood at the end of the hall. He watched her for a moment, silent, and then stepped aside, allowing a path past him.
Erynn closed the distance between them and stopped. She opened her mouth to speak.
Jaer put his fingers to her lips and brushed them with a gentle touch, quieting her. He shook his head, his dark were eyes soft and warm like a smoldering fire. “The capora outside is for you.” He let his hand fall and walked away.
Erynn remembered the urgency of her message, the promise of help, and ran into the night.
Chapter 17
A FULLY PACKED CAPORA WAITED in the deserted street. She left the small settlement the way they’d come in. After the town was well behind her, she turned onto a rocky path leading deep into the forest. The call was strong and steady, a beacon her mind seized—to find this someone who would help.
Erynn thought about Jaer, about how he had been ready for her leaving. Just being prepared again, she assumed. She realized she knew little about him.
Did he have family? Where was he from? How had he become the leader of the Anbas at such a young age?
The capora navigated the darkness through the thick branches and undergrowth with ease. Erynn found she no longer needed to guide the animal. He’d linked his mind to hers and now followed the same unrelenting pull. She would catch glimpses of darker forms moving ahead of or beside her, but nothing disturbed the journey. Her thoughts ran with the possibility of what awaited her. With any luck, she would find an answer to defeating the alien force attacking her worlds.
She felt light, weightless. Her stomach somersaulted. She lifted her face to the night sky. Stars twinkled. “Please let this be the help we need.”
Her ride was well into morning when she stopped. The force pulling her was gone. An aged stone-and-wood cabin stood in a small meadow surrounded by dense trees a short distance from a black pond. Little sunlight penetrated, and the area remained in shadow. She dismounted but stayed back watching and waiting, expecting someone to come from the cabin and proclaim, “I am the one you are searching for—the one who will help you.”
No one emerged.
Wind through high boughs, distant chattering, and soft singing from the treetops were the only sounds. The cabin appe
ared long abandoned. The pond lay still, bordered by shades of gray, the dark surface untouched by the gentle breeze through the upper realms of the forest. Moving closer, she secured the capora and stood at the entry.
The door lay askew on the leaf-strewn floor of the one-room hut. Dim light filtered through a high, small, dirty window in the rear. Shadowy corners, centinent webs, and dust were all Erynn found. Doubt crept into her mind.
She turned back to gaze out over the pond. The water wasn’t black as she had first thought. Instead, the color was the deep indigo the sky takes on before dawn. She walked to the sloping edge. Sparkling blues, purples, and deep-greens exploded. The colors glistened under the rippling surface. She could see far into the depths of the incredibly clear water. Erynn knelt and smiled. “Well, hello again,” she said. “I remember—no touching.”
A confident voice behind her asked, “Do you always talk to yourself?”
Erynn stood up and spun around, nearly falling backward into the pond before she caught herself.
A tall, lean man surrounded by a shimmering white light stood before her. His hair was dark brown, long, and clasped at the back of his neck. He wore a brown hooded coat, quilted pants, and boots. “Hello, Erynn,” he said, his voice melodious. “I’ve waited a long time to meet you.” He smiled at her.
His cheery expression did little to allay her suspicions. “Who are you?” Erynn asked, her voice low. She circled the apparition, moving away from the edge of the water.
“I’m Zander—your father.”
Erynn took a step back, her voice flat. “You’re dead.”
“Yes, I am,” Zander said. “I can only stay with you a short time.”
“How…?” Erynn started to ask, staring at the vision before her. She surveyed her surroundings with quick glances, always keeping the apparition in view.
He ignored the question and sighed. “There’s so much I’d like to tell you, to show you. You’re going to have to learn a great deal on your own, though. You can do this, Erynn. You have abilities that will help Korin and Arranon overcome this invasion in ways you can’t imagine.”
Storm of Arranon Page 11