Maddoc looked at Rowenna. “They have used the Pathway.”
At first Rowenna seemed stunned. Then, coming to herself she asked, “Whom?”
Bracus answered, “The fragment.”
“But that would mean...” Rowenna began in dawning horror.
Clara looked at Bracus and saw an uncommon emotion on his face.
Fear.
Not for himself but for her.
Clara felt the world narrow and consciousness slipping away. She bit the inside of her cheek until blood welled and her mind righted itself.
“They travel to my sphere? That is where that 'ripple' leads, true?” Clara asked in a panic.
Rowenna nodded sadly. “They will be ill when they arrive, that is the only weakness. But when they become themselves once again, they will pour through your tunnel and kill every male in sight.”
Clara left the room and bent over in the hallway, throwing up on the floor. The horrors of the fragment had been laid bare before her. They would murder her people, savage the women, and take all that was precious.
She straightened, wiping a shaky hand over her mouth. She felt Rowenna's hand on her back and Maddoc handed her a flask.
“We will go after them,” Clara said.
“You cannot, Clara. The sickness...”
Clara turned on Rowenna. “Fear not, I care not if I die when trying to save what Father held dear. I cannot leave them there unprotected.”
“Do you not have some Royal Guard present?” Bracus asked, immediately gauging the defense of the interior of the sphere.
Clara shook her head. “Nary seven. No more. The others accompanied us here and were killed earlier.”
It seemed so hopeless to Clara. She rummaged about in her brain for a plan. She would leave but with whom?
“Bracus.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
Clara smiled at the title, even in the midst of everything Bracus was ready and responding as a true ally. “Assemble everyone. Call to the nearby Band of Massachusetts. And,” she held up a finger and directed the next question to her mother, “Rowenna, do you have a homing dove?”
Rowenna nodded. “We have a small flock. They were bred to move between your sphere and here.”
Clara thought. Mayhap that would not be enough. There was a fifteen mile span between the Clan of Ohio and her sphere. Could the Band there receive a message? Could President Bowen be alerted in time to wage a battle?
“My father?” Clara asked.
Rowenna nodded. “He thought if there were ever need in an emergent situation...” she shrugged.
Clara thought that she could not admire her father further. Yet she could.
She did.
“I follow what you say, Clara. You think one of the Band may scout and come upon the bird?”
She nodded.
“It is bred to return to the perimeter of where the tunnel intersects with the main body of the sphere,” Rowenna explained.
“How would you know this, Rowenna?” Clara asked and Rowenna explained, “Raymond drew a sketch of sorts of the sphere and I have kept it these past years. I can show you... ” she offered, lifting a brow.
Clara could not believe she had not been made aware of this earlier. Rowenna saw her expression and laughed. “I am sorry, I had not remembered to mention it.”
Clara drank more water and spit it out into a basin, trying to get the horrid taste from her mouth. She followed Rowenna back into her chamber as she crouched down beside a solid wood trunk and used a key which lay between her breasts on a twine of leather to unlock it.
She pulled a scroll on parchment paper, tinged at the edge in yellow and unrolled it, laying it flat upon a small table.
Clara saw her home and her heart squeezed painfully with homesickness then on top of that fear.
Her sphere was in peril.
She had a sudden stab of hate for the Travelers. They had allowed this to happen with their meddling.
Clara returned to the task at hand, noting the mark that Father had made that clearly showed a bird at the point that a sentry would be. She had not remembered anything there and said so.
“Do you remember how 'thick' the sphere is at the junction of its connection with the main body?” Rowenna asked.
Clara nodded. For the most part, the sphere was translucent to clear. But at the seams where the sphere intersected with the trading tunnels, it was so thick one could not see through to Outside.
“It is there that your father placed a pen for the dove's return.”
Bracus palmed his chin. “The Band will scout this area and surely the homing pigeon will make its presence known.”
Clara puzzled at the different label for the bird but said nothing, noting yet another subtle difference between clans, spheres and regions.
Rowenna nodded. “It will.”
“Let us make haste with an alert,” Bracus said, taking command.
Rowenna had to but look at Maddoc and he sprinted out the door.
*
Clara stood in the glade that housed the ripple, the homing dove long sent. Four of the Band of Massachusetts, her home Band and Maddoc and Rowenna waited at her side.
Clarence and Charles were arguing with her. “You know not what the outcome will be. And forgive me,” he gave Rowenna a long look, “you do not yet know her with enough intimacy to gauge the accuracy of this venture.”
Clara huffed and glared at Charles. “Am I Queen or am I not? It is our people that lay like sheep before the slaughter. I cannot rule the dead. She had told me this is how Father made his way to her. That the Traveler’s intended their union to produce me. I exist for a purpose.”
“He died for them, Queen Clara,” Clarence intoned quietly.
“I am aware,” Clara said. “But he traveled many times. It is my fervent hope that this singular attempt will not sicken and shorten my life.” She looked straight in his eyes, then her gaze shifted to Charles. “But if it were, it is a risk I am willing to accept. Nothing you say can dissuade me. A message has been sent by dove to President Bowen....”
“One that may or may not reach him,” Charles said.
Clara nodded. “ 'Tis true, but I cannot fail because my help will arrive or no.”
“It is a safeguard. My scout will travel every other day and the message moves even now,” Bracus said, shrugging.
Charles could see that he was unperturbed by the huge odds against them. The other of the Band would not arrive in time. He told them this.
“Mayhap, but we have been up against greater obstacles,” Edwin said.
The Band murmured their assent to that and Clarence interrupted them, “But did you have females to defend in your midst?”
The Band grew quiet.
“Enough!” Clara said, holding up her palm. “We leave. Time is passing and each moment they recover and move forward with their scheme. I am certain that I was to be held hostage to coerce the people into compliance. But since that has failed, they will use force to subdue my people. It cannot be discussed any longer. We leave. Now.”
Clara looked from Charles to Clarence. “You do not need to attend me. You need not risk yourselves. You are not rulers. I alone can decide my own fate, not yours.”
Charles' eyes softened. “You know I would not let you go alone, Clara.”
“Nor I, Queen Clara,” Clarence agreed.
“That may be. But it will be informed consent. Know this,” she looked at all that had gathered, “my father, King Raymond, was murdered for conceiving me. It did not happen immediately. But year by year he sickened and died before his time. All because of his travel through the Pathway. Do not come if you fear this end.”
The Band stepped forward, their fists on their hearts.
Bracus stepped forward. “The Band serves you, Queen Clara.”
“Aye, we do as well,” Clarence said, Charles joining him by his side with a nod.
Rowenna came forward and took Clara's hand in hers. “Where you go, I do
as well, Daughter.”
Tears of gratitude fell down her face in a hot trail.
She looked at the faces that surrounded her, love and loyalty bound in their expressions in a beautiful mix. She held out her arms and they gathered around her, a circle of friendship and protection. Her fear tasted like a bitter ash on her tongue.
They walked toward the ripple.
CHAPTER 29
The fragment lay in the tunnel, their bodies tingling, their insides heaving up. Tucker thought that his entrails would be disgorged from his body. His throat burned and fine needles pricked every inch of his body. The cold left his fingertips numb.
Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings. The Outside could be seen through the milky interior wall of the sphere. He looked and it was Daniel that stood, shaky but not nearly as affected as he.
Curious.
Beside him the girl lay at his feet. Her eyes, or the one that was not swollen shut, caught his and she sat up too quickly and swayed. Daniel was quick to steady her.
He thought he was so clever, that Tucker did not notice his softness for the females. He did. He noted everything that was unusual.
Like his resistance to the effects of the Pathway.
Tucker made his way with grueling slowness to the spigot that lay in an alcove shaped like a half-moon, making the tunnel widen on one side. A large sliding door stood to open to Outside. It locked at both the top and bottom. It would not open easily. There was no sentry but Tucker knew that there was one which guarded the entrance to the Sphere of Ohio.
They would breach that easily and then the sphere and all that it contained would be theirs. He looked at the girl again but she stood beside Daniel, her form dwarfed by his height.
Tucker turned and cupped his filthy hand underneath the spigot, using one hand to pump the water that sprayed out in a rush, soaking his pant leg as he gulped greedily. Others of the fragment lined up behind him, muttering and groaning from the travel.
*
Daniel watched Tucker studying him and realized the element of surprise was fast dissipating. Tucker knew there was something afoot and would be watchful. He looked down at the blond head of the young female and thought about what might occur. They'd seen the two of the Band charge after them while they stood at the portal's door and if he understood the Band correctly, they'd follow them through the Pathway. The only respite they could hope for would be the Band would assemble more, then follow. Hopefully, he could dispatch Tucker, take hand of the fragment and enter into peaceful negotiations with the sphere before the Band came upon them and slit all their throats. He'd met them in battle but a handful of times and knew that although the fragment outnumbered them four to one, it mattered not.
They were fearsome.
Evelyn looked up at Daniel, her belly in knots. She had managed not to heave the contents of her stomach as many of the males had and the cold had left her. But the oppressive weight of the travel still lay heavy upon her, she did not feel herself. She was sluggish. Daniel appeared to have fared the best. He stood tall and unmoved. She knew he had not vomited, nor did he appear tired and dizzy like the others.
“Do you not feel ill?” she asked in a whisper.
He looked down at her and lied, he couldn't have anyone thinking he was different. “I have felt better. My stomach hurts and my head swims, but not so much now.”
Daniel actually felt almost normal. When they had first exited the Pathway, there was a period of intense dizziness when they had fallen from a point mid-air in the sphere tunnel to the floor. His stomach had lurched horribly but he gritted his teeth, fighting the physical malaise and finally overcoming it.
The fragment came together and Daniel fought the urge to put the girl behind him.
Tucker looked at each face, some had the pallor of ash. “We must press forward. Daniel and I saw two of the Band approach as we entered the Pathway. They'll follow. I think this female somehow belongs to them.” His malevolent gaze rested on Evelyn. “Do you?”
She did not answer and he stepped forward, reaching for her from Daniel. He moved to stop Tucker and his eyes met Daniel's. “Why do you protect her?”
Daniel thought quickly. “She can be used as a hostage should the Band follow.”
Tucker thought his logic sound. He looked at the girl again. “Will they follow?” he ground out.
She nodded. “They shall.”
He huffed in disgust. “The Band and their servitude to the weak females. No matter, they can't save them all,” he said as he smiled to himself.
Evelyn gulped and heard a dry click. Daniel led her to the spigot and she cupped her hands under it, filling them fully then splashing it on her face. She winced at the contact, her swollen face protesting under the cold water. It was at once refreshing and painful. The next handful was for her parched throat.
“Let's move!” Tucker said. He gave instructions to two of the fragment that were low to the ground and fast. Mayhap only ten and five, Evelyn estimated.
Evelyn watched them race ahead, moving in the shadows like eels in a stream.
****
Clara fell, weightless through the darkness, ice coating her body as she hurtled through the inky black of the Pathway. She could not feel the arms that had bound her to their bodies: Edwin's and Matthew's. She felt utterly alone. She knew that they grew closer to the end when the black became murky and her stomach lurched inside her, rising of its own accord. And as if she were underwater, she began to see a light shining below her. She shut her eyes as colors raced alongside in the periphery, the velocity making her nauseous.
When she opened her eyes, she saw Edwin beneath her and had but a moment to put her hands before her as she landed on top of him.
He grunted as she fell from a height of at least one horse length, mayhap two. She tried to scramble off but Matthew was at her back and rolled her away from Edwin. Turning he leaped to his feet with her in his arms and backed away as the Pathway spit the remainder of their party onto the floor beneath it. As a giant mouth, it expelled them onto the dirt floor while Edwin and Bracus dragged them away before the next expulsion.
There would be bruises, Clara thought. Her stomach felt terrible and her head spun. She would not have been standing if Matthew did not have her in his arms. “Matthew.”
Matthew looked down at her, the bruise at her temple almost a memory. He cocked his brow.
“Please, put me down.”
He did, his hand remaining at her elbow. She watched as Charles and Clarence stumbled to the side, vomiting where some already lay. Anna came next and threw up with them, Joseph holding her hair away from her face as she did.
Philip had Sarah in his arms where she lay unconscious. Clara rushed to her side. “What is wrong with her?”
Philip shook his head. “I do not know. But she was held by me the entire time.”
Clara looked at her. She placed her ear above Sarah's mouth. “She breathes. Mayhap she needs more time to recover?”
Philip shrugged. “We do not leave until she awakens. That I do know.”
Clara turned away with a smile. It faded when she saw what lay around them. Aside from vomit still cooling in the tunnel, there was a great mud pool around the base of the spigot.
Fragment.
They had been here and gone.
Clara looked at the faces of the Band. They stood straight and true. A furrow formed between her brows. “How fare you?”
Bracus and Rowenna came forward. “I feel somewhat off-kilter, otherwise much as I usually do,” Rowenna said and the remainder of the Band nodded assent.
Clarence, Charles, Anna and even Sarah seemed quite ill. She herself felt affected, but not to their extent.
Clara said what she thought, “I think the savage blood affords a barrier of sorts. The Band is not sick. The fragment will be. I am mixed, so I am affected less. Nonetheless, I would not take on my normal tasks with any reasonable amount of vitality,” Clara said as she swallowed the bile that threatened
.
Bracus nodded. “It seems the Travelers extended that protection when they tampered with who remained.”
“It would seem so,” Edwin murmured.
“I would like to put them through the Pathway,” Philip said with venom.
“Mayhap one hundred times or so,” Matthew smiled.
“Excellent, my brother,” Maddoc said.
Rowenna rolled her eyes. “If you males are finished making jest there is a sphere to save.”
They smiled, the tension lessened with their humor. Clara looked at Charles and Clarence. They were holding on to the side of the sphere wall, their hands sinking into the surface a few inches, the flesh buried out of sight.
“Clara, do not go without Clarence and myself,” he rasped out through a throat raw from expunging.
Matthew growled low in his throat. “The Band will protect her. You are not able to do much more than raising your head, sphere-dweller. We must go. Do you not wish to secure the safety of your family? Do you not have younger kin that sit in wait, unprotected? Do not let your pride hamper your intellect.”
Clara looked down, Matthew was extremely unskilled in conveying things in a diplomatic way. The effect of that was apparent in the brick red flush that crept up Charles neck. “I would not leave our Queen defenseless.”
Matthew raked a hand through his hair, exasperated. “Do you think the Band would?”
Clarence staggered forward, catching himself on the back of the bench which stood close to the brass doorway that led Outside. “You do not understand our duty to her.”
Matthew's expression darkened and that of the other Band. “Aye, we understand duty. We have pledged ours to her.”
“I advise you shut that hole beneath your nose before one of us fills it with a fist,” Philip said, moving forward.
Sarah stirred in his arms and he halted. Clara saw that he had forgotten she lay there when his temper flared.
Good Guardian.
Clara flung up her hands. Everyone's eyes fell on her. “Joseph.”
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 50