by Vi Voxley
Kol-Eresh nodded slowly.
"You said you had suggestions," he said. "Go on. And make them good."
Forack gave him a hard look which Kol-Eresh chose to ignore and explained:
"I ran diagnostics for every known illness that the Terrans have recorded. All came up negative. Either it's very new or it's something out of our hands."
"You should dearly hope it's the first," Kol-Eresh said, looking at Jackie.
"I do," Forack said. "Gods have been good to me in my life, but it doesn't mean I want to meet them very soon."
Kol-Eresh barked a humorless laugh.
"Speak," he ordered then.
"The females," Forack said, checking a screen that showed Jackie's vitals. "Your fated can't give us answers in her condition, but perhaps they can. If it's something new, they might know. I want to ask them."
"I doubt they'll give you any answers," Kol-Eresh said, running his fingers over Jackie's cheek.
He nearly winced. Her skin was ice-cold.
Forack chose not to comment on that.
"I will ask even so," he said instead.
"Do it," Kol-Eresh said, taking Jackie's hand and holding it in his.
As Forack was leaving the room, throwing a glance to the other healers that clearly told them to stay quiet and out of his way, Kol-Eresh added:
"And Forack? Make them talk. No matter what it takes."
The healer left with a grim nod.
Hours had passed when Forack returned to the healer bay. His face was ashen.
Kol-Eresh hadn't let go of Jackie's hand throughout that time. He'd stood, guarding his fated, his thoughts increasingly darker. If he were to lose Jackie... The harbinger didn't want to consider that.
Nayanors weren't the only species in the galaxy who bonded to their fated mates. Brions, the most powerful warriors of the Galactic Union, did the same. As did Corgans, their bitter rivals. Each one of those races experienced different emotions when forced to face the loss of the person who made their existence whole.
Brions accepted it with the staunch pride they were known for. Men who had suffered the loss of their fated could be picked out of crowds easily. The look in their eyes was dead, as if the light that had once burned brightly was gone now and only breath remained to keep the body going throughout their shadow deaths.
Corgans were more religious about the matter. They celebrated the lives of their fated, judging their loss to be the will of their gods and delving into the memories they'd made together. The lives they led after their fated were gone were more purposeful, carried by the image of someone only they were able to see.
Nayanors were nothing like that.
The long lives of their species became a curse when there was no one to share it with. The rage that was released into their hearts when the females died wasn't comparable to anything else. The warriors freely gave in to the bloodlust that ran so close to their surface. They searched for death themselves, longing to be reunited with their fated in the afterlife, but not before taking as many enemies with them as they could.
"Enemies" was a loose term for anyone stupid enough to get in their way.
Kol-Eresh had had to stop several such rampages. He had pity for those lost souls, but not the pity weaker species had. His pity and compassion were the razor-sharp blade of his sword and a precise strike that never missed.
So it was understandable why Forack approached him like he was a dangerous, wild predator.
"How is she?" the healer asked, although the harbinger knew he could probably tell more from the screen than his admission.
"Alive," Kol-Eresh replied simply. "For now. Speak, healer, my patience is nonexistent today."
Forack nodded.
"She has something called Rovecolis. Apparently the Union has been plagued by it in the past few years. It came from a newly discovered planet. One female told me that most of those who caught it were politicians, diplomats, people who dealt with the induction of the world into the Union. She is apparently one of them."
Kol-Eresh didn't reply at once. He hadn't even known that. There was so much more he needed to find out about his fated. To lose her was not an option.
"And?" he demanded harshly.
"It's a death sentence," Forack said, backing away from him when the harbinger looked up at last. "For the Union, Harbinger."
"What in the name of gods does that mean?" Kol-Eresh roared, making the rest of the healers flee from his anger. "Do we not live in the same galaxy? Are you telling me she's lost?"
"I'm telling you the Union couldn't cure her," Forack replied.
The harbinger saw him eye a long blade that was used for gods knew what. Definitely not Jackie, as long as he still had a say.
"Can we?" Kol-Eresh asked, trying to force himself to be calm, but it wasn't so easy.
He was seeing the red-hot flare of his own rage.
"Maybe," Forack said carefully. "Harbinger, I don't know. We have not encountered this before and much of the ancient wisdom is gone. The people who devised the diadons could maybe make sense of what's killing her."
"I told you not to mention the Eternals on my ship ever again," Kol-Eresh snapped.
The group of scientists who had found the secret to harnessing the power of the sapphire minerals inside the diadons were not popular on Luminos. As brilliant as they were, they were also completely insane, even by Nayanor standards.
Harbingers several generations ago had banished them from all fortresses, driving the Eternals away to their hideout that no one had been able to locate. It was a complete mystery how they'd managed to survive all the long nights, but recently, they'd made an appearance again.
It seemed time didn't heal all wounds. The men who had been sent to exile to die hadn't taken the suggestion. They'd lived. So had all the experiments, machines and pure, unrestrained insanity that drove them.
The worst of all, the Eternals had lived in a very literal sense. The men who had returned to test Luminos once again by kidnapping Terran females and doing tests on them were the same who had fled to their exile.
It meant they remembered everything and Nayanors, as Kol-Eresh often reminded himself, were not prone to grow more forgiving in their later years. If anything, the Eternals were even more vicious than they'd been before.
"I didn't propose asking them," Forack went on, sighing. "I merely noted that perhaps what they've already given us could help."
Kol-Eresh growled.
"You want to fit my female with a diadon," he stated. "Have you lost your mind?"
"It's the only solution I see," Forack said honestly as he always did. "You know it's not impossible, but the female who eventually told me the story was very specific. She has weeks to live, if that. I don't think the wormhole travel did her good. It might have triggered some previously unseen symptom."
There was something odd in Forack's tone.
"What do you mean?" Kol-Eresh demanded. "When the female eventually told you? What went on in the holding bay?"
Forack's face was as unmoving as if he was carved from rock.
"The females didn't respond well to my question as you predicted," he said. "They didn't think any assistance should be provided to us despite the help going toward one of their own. They truly hate us, not that it's any wonder. The problem was that the crowd turned against the female that knew your fated and mentioned she knew what was wrong."
The healer pulled a face.
"Terrans," he said distastefully. "One single female is usually a good match for her mate, but every time a lot of them are held together like that, their tempers flare as if feeding on each other."
"What happened?" Kol-Eresh demanded.
"I had to protect the female who had my answers," Forack said, shrugging. "Some others were hurt. One died, I think."
"That is a great loss," Kol-Eresh remarked. "All captured females count."
"Yes, it is," Forack agreed, holding his gaze.
A heavy silence set as they looked
at Jackie. Kol-Eresh wondered what she would say if she knew her life might have been bought with another. He suspected his fated would not like that, but there had been no other way.
Jackie came first, always.
"What happened to the female who talked to you?" Kol-Eresh asked.
"She lives," Forack said. "I had her stationed away from the others. I do not trust them to welcome her back."
"What else did she say?"
"That it's not contagious," Forack said, shrugging. "It needs first-hand contact with whatever was the carrier and I doubt we have it aboard. The female also said they'd spent time together on Terra and she didn't develop any symptoms, so the rest of the ship is safe."
Kol-Eresh's mind turned back to the diadon as Jackie sucked in a rasping, hollow breath.
"Is the diadon the only way?" he asked the healer. "No alternatives."
"No, Harbinger," Forack replied firmly.
Kol-Eresh considered.
It was true what Forack had said. Terran females had been fitted with a diadon before, in extreme and hopeless situations much like the one at hand. In fact, he'd recently seen a female live from that operation and it was the one thing that gave him hope in the face of losing Jackie.
There had been a particularly violent long night years back when Kol-Eresh's fortress had been breached. He'd traveled with his domain to the fortress of Jos Gharo, belonging to the harbinger Rhyslan. Of all Nayanors, Rhyslan was the only man who Kol-Eresh considered a friend.
Rhyslan had cut a diadon right out of a warrior's chest to save the sister of his fated. The female, suffering horrendous exposure from the storm, had lived. It had been touch-and-go for a while, but the fragile female had pulled through.
There was a problem with that, though.
"You know the risks," Kol-Eresh said. "All the females who lived after the implant – and I don't have to remind you of the success rates which are still under one percent – have been on Luminos for at least a year."
"That is true," Forack admitted. "It is still the only way I see. She doesn't have enough time to start the long process of finding a cure. Only the diadon might have a chance to combat it."
She can't die. She is mine and nothing of mine is lost until it's ripped from my grip.
"Can you do it here?" Kol-Eresh asked roughly.
Forack shook his head.
"No," he said. "I have to take her to the Black Hall. No other place has equipment like what we need. Harbinger Rhyslan got lucky. Your fated has never set foot on Luminos. I would not take any chances."
"Very well," Kol-Eresh said, looking at Jackie.
The Black Hall was the largest and most ancient fortress on Luminos, belonging to another harbinger with a Terran fated.
"Let Zar Kohora know we're coming," he ordered. "And have Jackie brought to my rooms."
"Harbinger –" Forack protested, a deep frown on his face. "I don't think it's wise to remove her from my care."
"You said there's nothing you can do for her here," Kol-Eresh replied. "I want her with me."
The tone of his voice ended that argument.
You are mine, Kol-Eresh thought, feeling his fated's weak pulse under his fingers. The gods themselves have to descend on Luminos to take you from me.
Ten
Jackie
Dreams had never scared Jackie.
She actually quite liked sleeping. The colorful, vivid, bright dreams she usually saw had always been fun for her. Unlike people who struggled to fall asleep or who had nightmares, Jackie was used to getting a good night's sleep.
No longer. Lately, her dreams had been darker and filled with ominous signs that followed her long into the day. The terrible clock of her life that kept ticking so fast all of a sudden didn't even leave her be in her sleep.
This was the worst one yet.
The darkness enveloped her completely. Jackie had no idea where she was or even whether she was. She had no body and no voice in the endless void. It felt like she couldn't move, like she was paralyzed, but then it occurred to Jackie that perhaps there simply wasn't any "her" anymore.
She began to suspect she was dead.
Out of the darkness, voices drifted to her. There was a bright light somewhere above her, but Jackie couldn't reach it. She got the sense that she wasn't alone, but that wasn't as comforting as it should have been since she couldn't see or hear them properly.
Then another voice joined, deep and powerful and hers.
Jackie held on to that voice like it was the only lifeline she had left. Her mind dangled in the darkness, trying to focus on that voice or slip away into nothingness.
It seemed to go on for an eternity, at least. The terror of never getting out of there overwhelmed Jackie. She tried to tell her that she was in the shock that Dr. Tom had described, but it wasn't helping.
Centuries seemed to have passed before she became aware of something again. When she moved, Jackie could sense a warm, soft surface under her, like she was in a comfortable bed.
Am I sleeping?
That gave Jackie hope, but it also terrified her. Now it felt like she was sleep-paralyzed. She was still alive, just unable to contact the outside world. With all her strength, Jackie tried to move, to wake up, to shake herself awake. Even if she was still on the raider ship, it was better than the bleak, starless nothingness she was in right now.
There was someone with her, Jackie was suddenly certain of that. And she thought she knew who it was, too. Kol-Eresh's image appeared before her eyes, cloudy and distorted somehow.
She realized her eyes were open.
Jackie burst out of her nightmarish dream like a bolt of lightning, sitting up so fast it made her dizzy. She almost shot out of the bed, but the harbinger caught her before she could fall.
"Jackie," Kol-Eresh said quietly, his voice surprisingly soft.
She couldn't reply. Jackie's mouth was open in a hopeless, desperate scream but no sound came out. For a second she thought she'd brought the silence with her from the dream, but then her voice cracked and broken, horrified sobs spilled from her lips. Bitter tears were running down her cheeks as she gasped for air, clinging to the harbinger's big, firm body.
It felt so wrong, so pathetic to be that vulnerable in front of the man who'd kidnapped her from her home planet. Yet there, absolutely alone gods knew how far from her true home and all the people who Jackie had left behind long before the raid ships arrived, Kol-Eresh had one thing going for him.
He was there.
He was there, solid and strong like some avatar of hope, holding her at the moment when Jackie thought she was close to losing her mind. The powerful arms wrapped gently around her shoulders were not tight, but the feeling she got from them was being as safe as if gods themselves had finally decided to start fighting for her.
There was no helping it, no other safe haven to turn to. And in Jackie's tortured mind, she couldn't shake the nagging doubt that it was actually him that she wanted by her side, despite all reason or logic.
No Terran had ever truly helped. The comfort they provided was fleeting, the words mixed with grief as if she was gone already.
"Jackie," Kol-Eresh repeated and the emotion in his voice finally pierced the haze of her sorrow.
In a galaxy where everything was mortal and flimsy, she had happened upon the one man who didn't let that intimidate him.
She tried to answer this time, but the words refused to come. Tied up in her throat, Jackie was left with priority one, which was breathing.
"Light," she finally managed to whisper. "I don't – don't want to be in the dark."
Kol-Eresh never let go of her as he made some strange gesture with his hand toward the panel on the wall. At once, the motion detector begun brightening up the room. Not in that hollow medical bay kind of way.
The harbinger had summoned the morning. From panels all over the room, artificial sunlight seeped in, bathing her in the warmth and sense of hope that every morning brought.
Jackie
took deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves. If she was alive, she wanted to stay that way. Now it seemed she had to stay awake for the entirety of what remained to her as well, because there was no way she was falling asleep after that.
"What do you remember?" Kol-Eresh asked, slowly petting her hair as Jackie slumped against his strong body.
She was thankful that the harbinger was out of his sturdy, hard armor. She could feel his heartbeat through the shirt he was wearing, felt the warmth of his body. All signs that she was still there, still kicking.
"I don't want to die," Jackie whispered.
Even saying those words out loud made her cling to the harbinger harder, pulling herself against him as if he really possessed the power to hold her there with sheer stubbornness alone.
"I'm not going to let you die," Kol-Eresh replied. "What happened, Jackie?"
She barely recalled anything before the darkness.
"I was running," she said quietly. "Running is good, it helps. Then I – I don't know."
She couldn't bring herself to say I thought I was lost.
Kol-Eresh made her look at him. The harbinger softly lifted up her chin and forced her to meet his burning gaze. The breadth of emotion and concern in his hazel eyes was enough to make Jackie listen.
"Listen to me," the harbinger said. "I have no idea what you experienced. Even my healers aren't entirely sure what's going on. All I saw was you crying out in your sleep while I held you, hoping that you would come back to me.
"Now you have and I need you to believe me. I will not let you die, not before your time. Do you understand me?"
"You can't say that," Jackie pleaded, tears still running down her face. "Don't do this. Back home, when people were initially trying to make me feel better, they said the same thing. I won't let you go. I'll find a way. There must be a cure. It just made everything so much worse.
“That's why you found me alone up in the mountains. I couldn't take it anymore. Not from them and not from you."