JAMESON WAS deep in conversation with Vestra, discussing the best way to get his forces into Errian and disable the OberCorp force, when Alix tapped him on the shoulder.
Jameson turned to find Alvyn waiting to speak to him. The poor kid looked exhausted.
“Alvyn! How did you get here?”
Standing there with him was his onetime fiancée. “Jessa! Oh my God, you’re here!” He swept her up in his arms, hugging her tight.
She hugged him too. “You have wings,” she said in his ear.
“That’s not all that’s changed.” He let her go. “Alvyn, how did you get back so soon?”
“We flew. Well, I flew. Is it okay if I go get something to eat and drink?”
“Of course. You must be worn out.”
“A little.” Alvyn gave him a grateful smile and ran off.
“We have a lot to talk about.” Jameson took Jessa’s hand. He’d given this a lot of thought since he’d seen her the day before. In truth, once he’d accepted his fate on Erro, he’d never thought he would see her again.
Now that she was there, he owed her an apology and an explanation. “Tell me how Alvyn found you. Did he help you escape?”
She laughed, and Jameson remembered how much he loved that sound. “I’m not the kind of woman who needs saving, Jamie….” Her voice trailed off. “Jameson, I mean.”
He sighed. He understood it. She needed to put a little distance between them. He supposed it had been inevitable since he’d pledged his heart to Xander. It was just a matter of time.
“I should have remembered that. Like the time we were lost on that camping trip in the woods, and you were the one to guide us out.”
She smiled thinly but didn’t reply.
“So tell me how you got here. What happened in Errian?”
She explained how she had decided to come after him when she’d sent him a message and it had come back undeliverable. She’d sent an inquiry to the planetary authorities, but no one had known where he’d gone.
They walked down to the lagoon, where he procured some bread and water, and strolled along the black sand, the sun warm on their faces. Jessa got a few strange looks from the skythane they passed, but no one said a thing.
At last, they found a quiet cove, a kilometer down the beach from the camp. Jameson handed her a loaf of bread. “It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.” They sat down and shared a simple meal, drinking water from his canteen to wash it down.
JESSA CHEWED the hard bread. It had a good taste, but it was tough and a bit mealy.
She tried not to stare at Jameson.
He was no longer her Jamie. That man was gone, melted away by this strange world. In his place, this new man sat before her. He had filled out, looking much stronger and more athletic than her Jamie ever had.
He had wings too. Beautiful, glorious golden wings. He looked like a red-haired angel.
He was different in demeanor as well. Her Jamie had been cautious, sometimes to his own detriment. Conservative in his actions. Slow to make any important decisions.
Jameson, on the other hand, was sure of himself, decisive. It suited him, to be sure, but she was having a hard time letting go of Jamie.
“So… the wings?” She had news for him. She would share it. She promised herself she would, but first, he owed her an explanation.
“It’s hard to explain.” He blushed.
She snorted. “I’ve just flown halfway across the Common Worlds, stormed the offices of an OberCorp CEO, been taken hostage, escaped, and soared over the ocean in the arms of a wing… skythane man. Try me.”
He sighed. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.”
She nodded. “I believe you.” He had always been honest with her. Well, about most things.
“The guild sent me here to investigate a shortage in a drug I use—used in my practice. It’s called pith.”
“I remember.”
“What I didn’t know is that I was chosen for the task by someone who lived here on Oberon.” He looked out over the lagoon, as if searching for something.
He’d never been reluctant to talk about personal things with her before. That, more than anything, told her their relationship had changed.
At last, he ran his hands along his thighs, sighing, and looked back at her. “I was adopted. That was a shock. My parents never told me. I came from Oberon….”
She listened with growing amazement as he told her what had happened—the mad flight from Oberon City, the separation from Xander, the attack of the wereveren. How he’d come into his wings. She still couldn’t quite believe he had wings.
“Can I touch them?” she asked, staring at them, at the way the sun changed the colors of his feathers as he shifted.
Jameson nodded. “Go ahead.”
She stood and approached him. His wings spread out, startling her.
“Sorry.” He blushed again.
She reached out to touch his left wing. Some of his feathers were half a meter long, and they were soft and smooth. And warm. “You love him, don’t you,” she whispered as she stroked his feathers.
“What?”
“Xander. You’re in love with him.”
His wings slumped. “How did you know?”
“We’ve been friends, and more, for a long time, Jameson. You can’t hide much from me. Where is he now?”
“He’s coming to Errian with a force of Gaelani—those are his people.”
“More skythane?”
“Yes. Jessa, I’m so sorry—”
She laughed bitterly. “I guess I should have known.”
That seemed to surprise him.
She sat back down on her rock and stared at the lagoon disconsolately. “You were always… sensitive.”
“That’s hardly proof—”
“Let me finish. I know ours was an arranged union, but I was genuinely happy when I found out it would be you. You’re kind. Sweet. Considerate of others. When you talk to someone, you really listen. You don’t know how rare that is.”
“Still—”
“I’m not stupid. I saw. When some guy would walk into the restaurant where we were having dinner and your head would turn. The way you used to look at Jerrod in the church choir.”
“I did?”
“Yes. It was pretty obvious. You really didn’t realize?”
He scratched his chin. “I mean, I guess. I just thought everyone felt that way.” He looked down at the sand. “My parents weren’t exactly accepting and open-minded about the whole homosexuality thing.”
She nodded. “Things are changing, even on Beta Tau.”
“So, you’re not angry?”
She thought about it. “No, I’m definitely angry. But being angry and trying to change something unchangeable are two different things. I did chase you across half the Common Worlds, you know. And I certainly didn’t expect… this.”
Whether she meant his wings, his sexuality, or his newly assertive personality, even she didn’t know. Probably all three.
“I deserve that.”
“Yes, you do.” She stood and offered him a hug.
He accepted it with a grateful smile.
“Jamie… I have to tell you something.”
“Oh crap. You have a crush on Vestra, right?” He grinned.
“What?” She laughed. “No, I mean I overheard something while they had me held captive.” She tried to remember the exact words. “One of the men said something about an MB.”
Jameson frowned. “I don’t know what that is.”
“He said they were going to wait for you and the other wing men… skythane to attack. Said it would take out the whole city, like some village they used it on a few years back.”
Jameson’s face went pale. “Ballifor.”
“What?”
“I’ve been there. It’s a village that was destroyed by some kind of bomb. Nothing left but a sea of fused glass.”
Jessa shivered. “That sounds bad.”
�
��We won’t let it happen. Come on.”
“Not gonna let a girl catch her breath, are you?” She liked his new decisiveness, but she’d been hoping for a good night’s rest after her forced captivity and daring escape the night before.
He gave her a halfhearted grin. “I have one more surprise for you.” He pulled her back the way they had come.
She grumbled. She had always hated surprises.
IT WAS late afternoon by the time Xander and his companions reached Torr Talam, the white tower, and the sheltered beach Jameson had chosen from some unknown memory.
As they approached the sea, he was startled to see the size of the encampment there. Much of it was hidden under the jungle, but there were clearly far more than the six hundred skythane he’d brought from Gaelan. Double that, at least. Dark and bright wings, Erriani and Gaelani intermingled. If nothing else, this threat had united the two skythane nations like nothing else in recent history.
He landed on the beach, folding in his sore wings. He’d given them quite a workout these last few weeks. Sometimes he really missed his hoverbike.
Xander strode under the jungle cover, looking for whoever had taken charge. In one clearing, a group of men and women trained, some kind of hand-to-hand combat that used both ground and air as its battleground.
Another group seemed to be in charge of food preparation. The smell of meat and some kind of local spices made his mouth water.
A man with dark hair and wings ran past, and Xander grabbed his arm.
He looked up at Xander and immediately fell to the ground. “Your Highness,” he said. “Forgive me. I didn’t see that it was you.”
“It’s all right. Get up, please. You don’t need to do that in my presence.”
The man stood hesitantly. “If you say so, Your Highness.”
Xander sighed. This was never going to end. “What’s your name?”
“Fynx, Your Highness.”
“Fynx, who’s running the camp?”
“That would be Mylin, Your—”
“Xander is fine.” Mylin. Why should he be surprised? He’d assumed she would go with the rest of the Gaelani to the caves, but she had a gift for this sort of thing, young as she was. “Where is she?”
“Last I saw her, she’d set up headquarters in the white tower.” He pointed back toward the beach.
“Good man. Back to whatever you were doing.”
Alia was smirking at him. “You should just let them call you ‘Your Highness.’ You make them really uncomfortable with all this just be casual nonsense.”
“They make me uncomfortable,” he grumbled. “Who’s the king around here, anyway?”
Everyone looked at the sky, the ground, anywhere but at him directly.
“I see how it is.” He sighed and rolled his eyes at the sky. “Okay, let’s go find Mylin. She’ll put all you ingrates to work.”
The skythane who had come with him from Taycrob nodded, and more than a few of them grinned or snickered.
Ungrateful bastards, every one. He stormed back through the jungle toward the beach, climbing over fallen trunks and under vines.
Back on the beach, he made his way to the tower, leaning in through the open doorway that faced inland. He heard Mylin’s voice.
“…thirty more over to the practice field. We have to be ready to fight.”
Xander’s eyes adjusted to the dim light inside the tower. It was a wide, round room with a staircase cut into one stone wall. She’d turned it into her own personal war room with a makeshift table made from a couple logs lashed to a large, flat piece of wood. She was staring intently at a piece of parchment, mature beyond her sixteen years.
“I should have known you’d be the one to take charge.”
She looked up and the severe expression on her young face transformed to a smile. “Xander!” She squeezed around the table to hug him. “You made it.”
“I see you’ve been busy.” He arched an eyebrow.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. You can take over. I just—”
“Hey, you’re doing an amazing job from what I can see. Why would I mess with that?”
She laughed. “Thanks. Did you have any trouble getting here?”
“A little. We worked it out. Speaking of which, I brought you some fresh recruits. Can you find a place for them?”
“Of course. Nim, can you get these folks settled?”
An Erriani man in his late forties stood at her side, grinning at her through his salt-and-pepper beard. “Your Highness.” He bowed to Xander. “All right, folks, follow me. We’ve got plenty for you to do.”
Xander kissed Mylin on the cheek. “You are truly amazing. How many strong are we?”
“With these….” She counted silently. “Thirteen hundred and seventeen, give or take.”
“Holy….” He bit his tongue. “That’s incredible. Any trouble with OberCorp so far?”
She shook her head. “They seem to be holed up in Errian for now. We’ve been keeping an eye on them, but so far they haven’t made any forays out this way.”
There was something wrong about that, but Xander couldn’t put his finger on it. A little too “come and get me,” maybe?
Alia broke in. “I’d love to get something to eat. How are we on supplies?”
“Fair so far. Many of the outlying villages sent people and food. I think they’re still shocked at what happened to Errian. Once they found out we’d been through the same, it opened a lot of doors. Come on. I’ll take you four to get something in your stomachs.”
She led them back toward the beach. He let Alia and Mylin catch up and fell back to take time to think.
They were there now. Errian was just a short flight away. They’d have to make a move soon or risk being discovered and attacked.
And yet, the OberCorp forces had to know they were coming, after the battle over the Orn. Why hadn’t they at least scouted out the lands around Errian?
Something was off.
He’d see Jameson soon, at nightfall, and they could talk about it then. He glanced up at the sun through the purple leaves overhead—it was late afternoon.
Sometimes he missed his Personal Assistant too—back when he’d known if it was 4:57 or 5:15 just by checking inside his own head. And how he missed his ionic shower.
On the other hand, he hadn’t needed a sleeper to knock him out in weeks.
He took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see Jameson yet. What if he felt a rush of feeling for the man? How would he know if was real?
Worse yet, what if he felt absolutely nothing?
Sometimes he thought his old self had it right. Love no one. Trust no one. Rely only on your own wits and fortune.
Then the only one who could let you down was yourself.
Chapter Twenty: Reunited
QUINCE FOLLOWED Morgan into the mountain with Robyn in her arms. She was experiencing a strong feeling of déjà vu. Morgan once again provided the light, his hand glowing.
A deep sense of foreboding filled Quince’s heart, a fear of what was about to happen.
She looked behind her. The passageway was sealed, the door to the outside world gone.
She shoved her fear down deep. This was why she had come, to find Morgan. And at the moment, nothing was more important than getting help for Robyn.
The light went out as suddenly as it had appeared, and Morgan’s hand guided her against the wall in the inky darkness. “Shhhh.”
She stood immobile, holding Robyn in her arms, and waited for whatever Morgan was warning her against.
His hand was warm on her arm.
Her eyes adjusted slowly to the darkness, or maybe the darkness was changing. Bit by bit she found she was able to see the walls of the cavern, smooth like the cavern in the Mountain. Had it really been just six days before?
Then she saw it, or became aware of it, something moving down the cavern toward them.
It was ethereal, a construct of gossamer wings and rainbow colors, drifting about half a m
eter above the cavern floor. Nimfeach. She wanted to step out into the cavern, to greet it. It emanated goodwill and warmth as it approached.
Morgan’s nails dug into her arm, and she held back, hugging Robyn and the cavern wall.
It passed within half a meter of her face but seemed unaware of her. It continued up the cavern toward the place where they had entered, now just a solid rock wall.
It stopped, seeming to cast about for something. Then it turned and shifted.
The rainbow colors were gone, leaving behind a small, shriveled black thing. It glowed with a golden light now, and as it floated past, she got a good look at it—six spindly black legs, a long, tapered, purple-and-black striped thorax, dark iridescent wings, and a head with oversized, multifaceted eyes. As it reached them again, it stopped and turned to look directly at her.
Those alien eyes seemed to bore into Quince. They pulled at her, like the compulsion before, but without the warm and fuzzy feelings. This time it was a demand.
She squeezed her eyes shut, praying to Erro that the creature would let them be.
When she opened her eyes at last, it was no longer there, and Morgan’s hand was glowing again.
“What was that?” she whispered, hoping to never see its like again.
“Nimfeach. One of the protectors.” He let go of her.
“Is it gone?”
“Yes. It came to check the waygate after I opened it.”
Quince frowned as that sank in. “So… where are we?”
“Far beneath the surface. Come on. I will take you somewhere safe.”
Beneath the surface. How were they going to get out of there, if Morgan decided not to help? Quince shivered, thinking of the thousands of tons of rock sitting overhead, ready to collapse with the next quake.
Against her better judgment, she continued to follow him down into the bowels of Erro. What else was there to do?
They continued walking for about fifteen minutes before the tunnel leveled out and came to a juncture. Morgan led them off to the left and then into a dark room. He closed the door behind them, and it shifted to become part of the stone wall, leaving no hint of their passage.
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