Carmen turned away, but her silence gave him all the answer he needed. The palanquin rolled on through the countryside. Carmen studied the landscape. Towering escarpments of sheer rock jutted into an iridescent sky. Bright blue rivers cut through canyons of layered stone. It really was a beautiful planet. If she was stuck out in space a hundred light years from Earth, she couldn’t ask for a nicer place to do it. And she couldn't ask for a nicer bunch of people to be stuck with.
Maybe, just maybe, she could be happy here—with Renier. Why did she continue to struggle against the inevitable? Why did she refuse to accept the reality of her situation? What did she really have to go back to on Earth that could match the future Renier offered her here?
From a great distance, she became aware of his presence at her side. He dominated her awareness so she couldn’t turn away from him. Her resistance melted, and she sank into the void of his embrace, where care and anguish no longer existed. They fell back on the palanquin, and their bodies melded side by side on the swaying platform. He brought her into the glowing sphere of his presence, and she didn't need to know anymore.
Night enveloped them, and the palanquin rolled on through miles of impenetrable countryside. Angondra's three moons didn't disturb their union, until the first streaks of dawn light found them in front of Melnili again. Carmen sat up and gazed at the city glowing in the early morning sunshine. Renier's apartment called to her up there somewhere with all the welcome any home ever offered her. Aria was there, and Leroni. She would form connections and relationships with other Felsite until Melnili became her home and the Felsite became her own people.
Renier handed her down from the palanquin, and the snails dispersed. Carmen and Renier stepped up onto the stairs leading to their apartment—their home. She cast a glance over her shoulder.
The sun spread over the plain below, down to the river bottom with its swaying trees and verdant meadows. A profound peace filled her heart, and Renier took her hand. “Are you ready to go in?” She smiled up at him, and his mouth closed over hers in passionate memory of their night together.
At that moment, a shout brought their attention to the plain in front of the city, and a lone figure stood up on the hill opposite them. The light set off his black silhouette, and Carmen squinted to make him out. But Renier growled under his breath. “Caleb!”
At the same moment, a line of Lycaon jumped up in a long line along the rolling hillside. The line stretched from end of the city to the other. Did they have the city surrounded? Renier let out an ear-splitting roar, and a hundred other Felsite answered him from the ramparts.
No sooner had the noise died than Caleb lifted his head and shouted across the meadow. “Felsite encampment! Hear me!”
“Who dares trespass on Felsite territory?” Renier bellowed. “Who dares set his foot on our sovereign soil?”
Caleb didn’t answer. Another figure rose from its hiding place at his side and stood up tall and true by his side. The sun caught fire on the figure’s head, and Carmen jumped up on the wall next to Renier. “Marissa!”
The Lycaon stood still in their long line and faced off with the Felsite on the city walls, but Carmen and Marissa ran to each other across the gap and threw themselves into each other’s arms. Carmen dabbed her tear-stained eyes on Marissa’s shoulder. “I thought I would never see you again.”
Marissa held her at arm’s length and smiled. “I’m all right. I'm just glad to see you're okay. I didn't know what happened to you after the battle. Then I got word you were here, so I had to come and see you.”
Carmen waved back toward the city. “Aria’s here, too. She's inside. She's pretty shaken up after what happened at the gathering hall, but now that you're here, she'll recover. We can all work together to….”
Marissa shook her head. “I’m not staying here. I'm going back with the Lycaon. I only came to see you and make sure you're okay.”
Carmen stared at her. “What are you going back for?”
“I’m staying with Caleb,” she replied. “Don’t you remember how he saved my life when the Romarie almost shot me? No one has ever done anything like that for me before. I'm staying with the Lycaon.”
Carmen swallowed. “Don’t you want to stay with other humans? I don't understand why you would want to stay with the Lycaon when you have no other humans near you.”
Marissa glanced over her shoulder toward the city. “You said Aria’s here. Do you know where Penelope Ann is?”
Carmen shrugged and looked away. “She’s with the Avitras. She doesn't want to come back, either. She's with Aquilla, the Alpha of her faction.”
“Well, there you go,” Marissa replied. “I’m not the only one who's found something that means more than human company. I've had human company all my life, but I've never had any connection with anyone the way I've had with the Lycaon. Did you know they live in packs? The packs have a strong bond of family loyalty. As Caleb's mate, I'll always have a family and a place in the faction. I've yearned for this all my life, and now I've got it.”
Carmen couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. “Please don’t leave, Marissa. I can't stand you leaving this way. First Penelope Ann and now you. Please don't do this to me.”
Marissa nodded toward Renier glaring at her from the rampart. “It looks to me like you might have the same thing here. You won’t be alone. You'll find your place in your faction, and you'll find love and family, too, the same way we have. You will be happy.”
Carmen let her chin fall to her chest. Tears ran down her cheeks, and her shoulders shook with sobs. “I can’t stand this!”
Marissa patted her on the shoulder. “Go to him. Let him comfort you. He’s the one you should be clinging to now, not us.”
Carmen wept into her hands. Marissa hugged her one last time. Then she strode away across the field to Caleb. When she reached his side, she looked back and waved to Carmen. One by one, the Lycaon warriors dropped down behind the hill and disappeared. Caleb and Marissa waited until they stood alone before the Felsite city. Then they stepped down into nothing and disappeared.
Chapter 12
Deep in the night, Carmen rolled over and buried herself in Renier’s arms. His breath warmed her scalp, and his presence gave her all the comfort she could need. She no longer needed anyone else. He was Alpha of the Felsite faction, and her connection with him was one and the same as her connection to her faction. She belonged with him and she belonged with the Felsite. She belonged on Angondra now.
All at once, a roar sounded from the top of the city. It echoed through passages and stairways into every apartment. From far and near, feet trampled the hallways and doors slammed. In a fraction of an instant, Renier tore himself from Carmen’s arms and launched himself out of bed. He tore the door off its hinges.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“We’re under attack!” he shouted. “The sentry sounded the alarm, calling every warrior to the ramparts. We have to defend the city.”
He didn’t say anything else, but barreled out of the room. Before Carmen could follow him, he raced out of the apartment and was gone. Carmen struggled into her clothes and ran down the stairs. Aria’s bedroom door remained closed. A hint of concern for her friend nagged at her heart, but as soon as she passed out of the apartment and down the stairs, she forgot all about Aria in the rush of warriors and the rattle of weapons. Male voices shouted back and forth, and some spectators stuck their heads out of their apartments. Carmen noticed Leroni among them. “What's going on?”
Leroni shook her head. “The sentry noticed a battalion of Ursidreans moving in to attack the city.”
Carmen peered into the dark. “Where are they?”
“We can’t see them from here,” Leroni replied, “but they’re there. The sentry wouldn’t sound the alarm unless he was sure they were here.”
“Is there anywhere we can go to see better?” Carmen asked.
Leroni smiled and jerked her head back toward the city. “Follow me.”
She led Carmen back through the maze of stairways and halls to the very top rampart of the city. They ducked into an empty apartment. Leroni pointed through a big window, where the plain spread out before them in stark relief. “There. You can see them now.”
Carmen strained her eyes. These Felsite must have exceptional night vision, because she couldn’t make out anything more than a black line moving up from the river toward the city. Far below them, Felsite warriors ran up and down. Their voices echoed up to Carmen's ears. Renier moved in the thick of the crowd, pointing and issuing orders to the others. He stood on the wall with his burly frame dominating the field.
All at once, a bright streak of blue light shot through the night. It zinged across the field and hit the city walls. It smashed the stone to pieces and sent a rain of shards down on the warrior's heads. The Felsite warriors formed ranks at the wall with Renier in their lead, but a hundred other lightning shots sailed over the meadow. They struck the walls and shivered Melnili's great structure to its foundations.
Carmen held her breath and clenched her fists in anxiety. Was this the end of her bright future? Would these two factions fall to war on the very eve of her arrival? How could she face losing the Felsite after just losing both Penelope Ann and Marissa?
The Felsite charged out at the enemy, who came within sight of the city. The blazing lamps and candles of the city lit up the Ursidreans so Carmen saw them clearly. Their powerful forms shook the ground under their feet, and they carried heavy weapons like the blaster weapons she’s seen them use at the gathering hall. Every warrior held at least two handheld weapons, and behind the main body of soldiers, heavy cannons mounted on rolling machines bore down on the city.
These weapons sent sprays of energetic fire over the city and into the Felsite ranks. Bodies flew in all directions, and the city’s strong stone and timber construction crumbled to powder. Carmen dug her fingernails into her palm. This couldn't be happening.
Just then, a terrible volley of fire blasted through the Felsite ranks, and Carmen caught sight of Renier flying off the wall. He sailed backwards and hit a stone wall with such force it shattered and crumbled on top of him. Carmen started forward with a cry. Leroni tried to hold her back, but Carmen broke her grip and charged down the stairs. She had to get to him, to help him, to save him. She couldn’t lose him, too.
She didn’t notice the terrible fire raining down on all sides. She didn’t notice the Felsite warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat with Ursidreans in the byways and courtyards of Melnili. She saw only Renier. She knelt at his side with Leroni next to her. Her hands nursed his wounds. All around her, the thunder of battle fell into silence. Nothing remained in the living universe but the two of them.
In her mind, she picked him up and carried him back to their apartment, but in reality, it must have been other Felsite who carried him. She could never budge his enormous bulk by herself. He lay on the sleeping platform in the main room, and she sat at his side and tended his battered frame.
Leroni hung back. All at once, Carmen realized the din of battle no longer rattled the city. Deadly silence filled the night. She glanced around, and Leroni stepped toward her. “He’ll be all right now. He just needs to rest.”
Renier groaned and his eyes rolled back in his head. He pushed himself off the bed with his hand over his eyes. “My head! What happened?”
Carmen burst into tears of joy and threw her arms around him. “Thank God you’re all right!”
Just then, the door opened and an enormous Ursidrean strode in. Carmen jumped to her feet. “What are you doing here?”
Leroni moved between them. “He’s come to offer terms.”
“Terms!” Carmen bellowed. “His people attacked the city. What does he think we’re going to do—surrender to him? We'll fight to the death.”
Leroni touched her arm. “We don’t have to. He attacked the city so he could come here and offer terms to us. He's Alpha of his faction. Just listen to what he has to say.”
Renier dropped his feet over the side of the platform, but he couldn't raise himself from his seat. His head hung between his shoulders, but he glared at the Ursidrean out of the corner of his eye. “What do you want, Donen? What's so important that you would attack our city and kill our people?”
The Ursidrean’s voice rumbled through the apartment. “What’s so important? Don't you know? It's the Earth female I come for. All our factions suffer from lack of females, so I can find no female suitable to be my mate. How can I ensure the future of my people when I cannot leave our leadership to my heirs?”
Carmen’s fury blazed. “Do you think you can buy and sell us like cattle? Who do you think you are, to attack this city and demand a female for yourself? You’re no better than the Romarie.”
Donen faced her. “I invited the Romarie here out of desperation. They trade quality females all over the galaxy, and I wondered if we might benefit from them, too. When I saw you and your friends at the gathering hall, I realized I was mistaken. I would never take a female by force. I only come to ask your consideration for a people in desperate straits. Is it asking too much to ask you to help us in our hour of need?”
Renier squared his shoulders. “Carmen is right. We can’t expect any of these women to do anything without their express consent. You attacked my city in vain, Donen.”
“The Avitras Alpha has an Earth female of his own, and so has Caleb of the Lycaon.” His eyes swept back and forth between Carmen and Renier. “I can see that you have a female of your own, too. Why should I not benefit from a female, too?”
“The only other female available is Aria,” Carmen replied, “and I wouldn’t make her leave the last of her friends to go be a mate to an Ursidrean. Why would she want to leave this lovely city, with the people who made her welcome, to go live in a cave in the mountains? You’re out of your mind if you think she would consent to that.”
A sound across the room brought her head around, and Aria stood in the bedroom door. Her eyes glowed in the soft light.
“Aria!” Carmen exclaimed. “I hope we didn’t wake you up with our arguing. I was just explaining to this…..this person….”
Aria shook her head. “I heard the whole thing.”
“You don’t have anything to worry about, Aria,” Carmen went on. “We won’t let him take you.”
Aria took a step into the room. “It’s all right, Carmen. I'm going to go.”
Carmen spun around. “You can’t! You have to stay here, where we can be together. Didn't you hear Renier say they live in caves? You can't live like that. You deserve better. I know where we can find food here so we're not eating meat roasted over a lamp every night. We can have a decent life here. Just stay here with me.”
Aria smiled, but Donen cut her off before she could say anything. “The other factions say we live in caves, but we have cities inside the mountains as grand and as advanced as anything the Felsite ever built. The Avitras think they’re so advanced, with their chattering and their gossip, but we have technology no other factions has. We preserved it from antiquity. We have electric lights and computing systems for recording our history. We have advanced medical technology for curing diseases that used to wipe out thousands of our people. You will live a good life with us, and you have my word of honor I will treat you well.”
Carmen interrupted him. “Don’t leave, Aria. Stay here with me. We're the last two Earth females left together. We should stay together. You don't know what you're going to. He could be lying about all of it, and once he gets you into his mountain cavern, he'll be able to do what he wants with you.”
Aria smiled at her. “You know that’s not true, Carmen. These Angondrans live by their word. Tell me the truth. Have you met a single one of them, from any faction, that wasn't trustworthy? I believe him, and I know I'll be safe and well looked-after among the Ursidreans.” She exchanged a nod with Donen.
Carmen’s voice cracked with emotion. “But I’ll be left alone here. The others hav
e gone to other factions. You're all I've got left.”
Aria waved her hand at Leroni and Renier. “You’ve got your own people here now. Penelope Ann is where she needs to be, and Marissa has found her own home, too. All of you found love and connection here. I want the same thing for myself. Is that too much to ask?”
“Aria….” Carmen sobbed.
Aria shook her head. “I need security after what happened with the Romarie. The Ursidreans can give it to me. I’ll have my own people and my own family and my own place. I can't ask for more than that.”
Carmen stared at her with tears streaming down her face. Aria crossed the room to Donen's side. “I'll go with you.”
He studied her. “Are you certain you do this of your own free will? I couldn’t take you otherwise.”
Aria nodded. “I want this. I want to go. I’ll make a good mate to you. I know something about medical treatment, too, so I might be more of an asset to your people than you realize.”
Donen nodded. “Good. Let’s go then. We have a transport waiting for you outside.”
Renier struggled to his feet. “That’s settled. Perhaps in the future you could find another way of offering your embassy instead of attacking us and destroying our city.”
Before Donen could reply, Aria faced him. “You wouldn’t seriously consider his offer if he hadn't done it this way. I don't think I would have seriously considered it, either. This was the best way to offer his proposal.”
Donen swelled with pride, and even now, he and Aria matched each other perfectly side by side. Her chocolate brown skin and tuft of hair contrasted with his heavy features and hulking shoulders. They looked good together, and they both wore expressions of satisfaction at the outcome of this adventure.
Carmen covered her mouth with her hand, but she couldn’t hold back her sobs. Wordless gasps of anguish broke from her throat, but Aria paid no attention. She smiled up at Donen, all her fear and hardship gone. They moved toward the door.
Saved by a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 2) Page 54