When she thought she reached a point where two mountains became one and they would have no choice but to execute an about-face, Zak was swallowed by the shadows—and she was alone.
* * *
An arm lunged out of the abyss to latch onto hers. She screamed and fought the tug. In a second she was shrouded in darkness, her eyes struggling to acclimate. Behind her, bodies pressed into the shadows. She felt their breath, heard their grunts of effort, and still the manacle locked onto her wrist. It squeezed once, almost encouragingly, and then it was gone.
Aimee swung around to focus on the gap in the rock and the daylight beyond. The bulky silhouette of Zuttah filled the opening as the others poured in behind him. With relief, she saw the sun glint atop Gordy’s blond hair before he fell into the shadows of this secreted cave.
A fire erupted behind her, lighting up the cavern. The smell of sulfur filled her nostrils. The source was a burning pile of kindling and moss heaped near the cave wall. It enabled her to survey her new environment. It was a large cavern with recessed walls that made her suspect there was more than just this grand chamber. Her head tipped back to search the vaulted ceiling. Abnormal rock formations and stalactites, hung like daggers from above.
Another fire erupted in the recesses of the cave, casting animated shadows across the moistened walls. There were others that had been waiting inside the cave. All in all, she could count nearly twenty people.
Zak had delved into the dark. She searched as far as the flames extended, but could not locate him. About to pursue, she noticed that Zuttah had settled the unconscious woman on a bed of furs and sat back on his heels now staring at Aimee, expectantly. Did he think she was a doctor?
Aimee dropped to her knees beside him. Something had to be done for this poor woman. Aimee placed the back of her hand on the tanned forehead and felt the scorch of fever there.
“She has a high fever. We need to bring it down. Do you have any ice? From the mountain perhaps?”
Zuttah gave her a quizzical look, and then snorted. He hefted up onto his feet and ambled over to a chest sitting up against the wall. Muttering, he grabbed an instrument and returned, squatting down beside the woman. “Just because we live in caves,” he scoffed, “doesn’t mean that we are cave dwellers.”
He stooped over the woman and pressed a small cylinder against her neck. A muscle rebelled against the touch, but the woman’s expression seemed to relax. Fine wrinkles around her eyes blended into the olive skin and disappeared. Thin shoulders slackened into the fur. There was even a sigh from her chapped lips.
“She will be okay soon.”
Indeed, the woman already looked improved and her eyelids even fluttered open. Brown irises slid about the cave, settling on one of the men who had been marching with them. The man shot forward to be by her side, his hand engulfing hers. As he leaned over, there were warm whispers of encouragement and shy smiles that made Aimee take a step back to offer privacy.
She tipped her head at Zuttah in respect.
Gordy was busy talking to the older rebel who had traveled at the rear of the pack. Occupied with an array of tasks, the group of men and women set about preparing food, honing handmade weapons, and engaging in congenial banter. Dressed in pants of a leather-like fabric, and similar vests, some lined with fur—these rebels looked industrious, and dare she say, happy? With the exception of the three people Zak and Zuttah had escorted in, these men and women looked healthy. Each had dark hair in various states of disarray, while their eyes were either brown or gold in hue. With the woman resting on the furs now coming around, Aimee thought that with some food and water, these three rebels would soon look as healthy.
Her eyes swept over their heads, deeper into the cave, beyond the flickering scope of the last fire. She stood and made her way in that direction, aware of the curious stares that trailed her.
In a nook created by a flank of large boulders, she found him.
Zak.
Her pulse drilled at the sight of the man reclined atop a flat rock, his head propped on a folded fur. His eyes were closed, but she knew that face. Even now her fingers reached for the charm dangling atop her collarbone. It was a piece of his ship. It was a piece of him. And for the past five years, every time she squeezed it, she saw this face. High cheekbones. A strong chin. Full lips that revealed a quirky dimple when he smiled, and a jaw that jerked in spasm when he concentrated.
Was he asleep? Had he passed out?
She stepped up to what eerily resembled an altar and gazed down at the strength in that broad chest. When last she had seen Zak he was dressed from head to toe in a black suit that held as many glittering nuances as space itself. Now she could see the tan flesh, the slight sprinkle of dark hair...the muscles. She wanted to touch him—so much so that her hand lifted, balanced an inch above his rising chest.
Aimee yelped as that hand was snared in a motion so unexpected. He gripped her wrist and hauled her a step closer.
“Who are you?”
His voice was hoarse and his eyes remained shut.
The manacle around her hand was unyielding, but not painful. All that she was aware of was the heat of his palm.
“It’s me, Zak. It’s Aimee.”
Pain lanced his forehead.
“That is not possible.”
Still, he did not open his eyes.
“Is it the solar ray, Zak?” With her free hand, her fingers moved from the pendant to dust across the vial Raja had given her. “Did they hurt you?” Her voice cracked on the last word.
Zak remained silent, but he did not let go of her hand.
“If you are a dream,” he murmured, “then I do not want to wake up. Let me stay here with you. I waited so long for you, and then the cursed path of this planet crossed the Horus. I thought I could come here and be back in time, but—”
The vice around her wrist eased. He continued in that husky voice she had missed so desperately.
“I asked Raja to—” his head shook from side to side against the stone, “—to see if you were waiting. I didn’t think you would wait. I couldn’t blame you if you had moved on. You were so beautiful. A man surely would have claimed you...you wouldn’t possibly be waiting for me.”
She realized that he wasn’t talking to her. He was talking aloud—to a memory.
“I waited, Zak. And I was there when Raja brought me back—back to the Horus.”
Zak frowned, confused that his ghost was trying to rationalize.
“I am on Ziratak,” he declared, more to convince himself. “There is no way you can be here.”
If only he would open his eyes. God, she wanted to see them.
“Well, I—” she hesitated because it did sound outlandish, “—I misappropriated an old terra duster, converted it into something that would fly, and learned to be a pilot so that I could come save you.”
“You used to be a vision descending to me on a bridge from the suns.” A trace of his dimple appeared. “But you were a quiet vision. Now the voice lends some authenticity.”
Bah. Enough of this.
Aimee leaned over and dusted her lips across his. She hesitated and then touched them again.
“There,” she sounded flustered, “do your visions kiss you?”
Zak shot upright, swinging his long legs off the stone altar. Aimee jumped back, startled.
Finally. Finally, his eyes were open and they looked oh-so beautiful. Golden halos around pupils that widened at the sight of her. Deep shadows at their core harbored the wonders of space.
He leaned forward, his shoulders thick with strain. In one quick surge, he lurched towards her, his hands reaching for her face, diving into her hair, cupping her head. And then his mouth was on hers—and she was lost.
It had been five years since she was in this man’s arms—and absolutely everything she had done—every decision she had made—was worth it.
He kissed her with urgency as his lips brushed hers, tasting her, testing if she was real. As swift as the assau
lt began, his head snapped back and he stared at her wide-eyed.
“Gayat.”
Dammit.
“Wh-what?” Recognizing the curse, her mind was slow, laden with the effect of his warm mouth.
“It can’t be you.” He touched her hair, his eyes skimming the strands. Calloused fingertips traced her cheek and hooked under her chin to tilt her head back.
“It can’t be you,” he repeated.
“Do you want me to kiss you again to prove it?” Ah, such bravado, but her voice trembled.
“The thought of kissing you is something I want so badly that it actually scares me. I don’t want the illusion to be shattered.” His palm stroked her throat. “You look—you feel so real.”
She grabbed his hand and laid it over her thumping heart. Then, she maneuvered his fingers inside the collar of her shirt and wrapped them around her necklace.
A muscle jerked in his jaw. Of its own volition, his hand tightened about her necklace as his knuckles brushed her collarbone.
“It’s real, Zak,” she whispered. “I’m real. Don’t let these monsters take this away from you.”
Dark lashes descended against his cheekbones as he said, “I need to sit down.”
Aimee guided him back to the giant rock slab where he rested his rear, but kept his legs splayed out on the ground, ready to bolt.
“Alright,” he began. “Fill me in on all the details, and then kiss me so I can be sure.”
There it was. A phantom glimpse of a grin she knew so well. Aimee felt tears bubble up behind her eyes, but she smiled and clapped her hands together and started in.
“Well—I was there in the woods exactly five years to the minute from when you shoved me off the Horus.”
“I did not shove you off the Horus,” he defended. “Letting you go that day was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life...and I’ve been through some pretty big battles.”
Aimee swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. “I thought you weren’t going to come back for me. The clock kept ticking and it wasn’t until almost ten minutes later that the beam arrived. The next thing I knew, I was on board the Horus, and Vodu and Raja were hugging me, but—” she frowned at the recollection, “—you weren’t there.”
Zak nodded. His head down.
When he didn’t speak, she proceeded. “Vodu tried to send me back while we were still within range of Earth. He didn’t want to see me hurt, as he suspected you were—dea—gone.”
Zak looked up, one golden eye watching her from beneath dark bangs, bangs he had not possessed the last time she saw him.
“But Raja had already pulled me aside with her suspicions that you were still alive. She didn’t want me to get my hopes up, but as you can imagine, it was all the spark I needed. It was enough to make me devise a plan.”
“Yes, I can imagine,” he murmured. “And what was your plan, exactly?”
“Quite simple, actually,” she beamed. “I was going to become a Warrior.”
Zak laughed. He laughed so loud Aimee glanced over her shoulder to see if anyone heard. The others remained unbothered, but his face had flushed from the mirth.
“It wasn’t that outlandish.” She crossed her arms.
“Men are born as Warriors. It isn’t something you choose. It is imposed on you by heredity.”
“Said the orphan from another planet.”
Now Zak crossed his arms and lowered his eyebrows. “I was an exception.”
“You usually are,” she grinned and waited as she saw him struggle to suppress his own. “Anyway, I went through training—”
He rose and used his hand against the stone for leverage. Even hunched slightly, he was taller than her. “You went through training?” he shouted. “With who? The Warriors would not let a woman in.”
“Oh, you’re all so chauvinistic. I got here, didn’t I?”
“Who trained you?” he repeated, quirking an eyebrow.
“Corluss, and JOH, and—”
“A blind man? A blind man prepared you for this trip?”
Well, when he put it that way.
“And that arrogant floating box?” he added.
“Did you know that JOH has legs now?” She ignored his goading.
“No.” He frowned. “I guess I have been gone awhile.”
Giving himself a mental shake, Zak continued. “That’s all fine. I totally believe you brainwashed, or bullied these people into helping you, but how did you get a terra angel? You couldn’t have flown with one of the Warriors. They would never let you on board.”
“You did.”
“You stowed away. Did you stow away again? Aimee—”
He was about to berate her, so she cut him off. “No. You are right. I could not get a hold of a terra angel.”
The quizzical look inspired her to continue. She squared her shoulders, ready for another outburst. “I reengineered an old terra duster. Well, not alone. I had a man named Wando help me. We designed the ion drives so that they would have enough power to make the trip, but in order to get it all to work we had to fabricate a vacuum, and now I’m afraid that—”
The anticipated laughter at her folly was not there. Heck, he wasn’t even smiling. Was he angry? No, she studied his pensive expression and challenged, “What?”
Hunched on the edge of the stone altar, with his chin in his hand, Zak looked like a statue in a Greek courtyard. Perhaps she was biased, but she didn’t think any artist could sculpt something so grand.
“Well,” he spoke and jarred her, “I’m not sure what amazes me more—the fact that you redesigned one of those old crop mowers, or that you convinced that obstinate old man to help you do it. You really are a—” he squinted his eyes, thinking, “—charmer, aren’t you?”
“You think I’m charming?” She batted her eyelashes.
Every time she expected to goad a laugh, he sobered.
“You said, now I’m afraid that—” His eyes pierced her. “What are you afraid of?”
“Oh.” Gone was her own smile. She waved her hand as if she could dismiss the comment, but Zak seized that hand and held it in both of his. She wanted to cry at the simple touch.
“It was a great collaboration to get us here, but I’m afraid that we exhausted all we had. I’m not sure we have the method to create a sufficient vacuum—” Her head cocked as she contemplated the vaulted ceiling of the cave, “—although a cave might help.”
“Us?”
“Huh?”
“You said, us. Who came with you?”
“Oh,” she glanced over her shoulder. They were still secluded inside this nook. “Gordy came with me.”
“Gordeelum?” Zak’s eyebrows vaulted. “I thought I imagined him. So, you and Gordy shot out into space on your own, in a relic—“ he shook his head again, “—and you actually made it here?”
“Well damn, you don’t have to sound so surprised. Have a little faith in me.”
He rose and approached her. Aimee’s breath hitched in her throat and her skin tingled in anticipation.
Zak clasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. “I do.”
Honestly, she wanted to say something, but it felt like a basketball was lodged in her throat.
“You went back to school when you got home?” he prompted quietly.
“Y-yes.”
His smile turned her kneecaps into noodles.
“I bet you excelled.”
“I did alright.” I got straight A’s because all I ever did was study so I could take my mind off of you.
“Good.” There was a quick nod of approval and then, “As soon as I finish berating you for this reckless trip—and as soon as I finish kissing you the way I want so desperately to
do—” his eyes dropped to her lips, “—I have something I need your help with.”
“Ohhh-kayy.” Where had her command of the English dialect gone? Oh, right, it flew away as soon as his eyes landed on her lips.
“Zak?”
“Hmm?”
“Can we skip the berating part?”
The familiar cleft scored his cheek. Warm palms slid down her arms and tentative hands circled her hips.
“Come here,” he whispered.
Tears blurred her view. She reached for him, her hands inching up behind his neck.
For a maddening moment his mouth hovered over hers—a warm breath tickling her lips—and then he was there, kissing her in a way that felt as if all the worlds in all the galaxies had ceased to exist, and the only universe prevailed in this embrace.
With a reluctant last caress, Zak broke away, but he kept his forehead against hers and spoke in a hoarse voice. “I missed you. Every day, every ren, you were with me.”
“We’re together now.” She touched the back of his neck, and inched her fingers into the lustrous hair. “We’re together.”
He hauled her into a tight hug as her arms linked behind his neck. After a few moments of this bonding, Aimee set her hands on his shoulders and pushed her way back so that she could look into his eyes.
“Are you okay?” She squeezed his shoulders for emphasis. “I hear—I hear that the solar ray can make you mad?”
“The Korons have taken much from me. I won’t let them take my mind.”
“Then why did you not think I was real? Why has Zuttah been so concerned?”
Zak sank back down on the rock and this time Aimee noticed the fatigue drawing shadows beneath his eyes. Still, he managed a smile.
“I thought I was the one who was supposed to do the berating here.”
Not to be dissuaded, she ducked to look him in the eye. The suns there were vibrant, but something in their dark nucleus troubled her.
“Tell me,” she pleaded.
“I haven’t gone mad, Aimee. I just have trouble seeing in the light. That cursed beam nearly caught me dead on.”
“But your shield—”
“—is not infallible. It prevents blindness, yes—but you can still end up with side effects. Right now, I see every beautiful inch of you, and I know you are real. Out there—” His hand flung towards the entrance of the cave. “My sight is limited, and what I do see deceives me. Eventually those phantoms start to get to you. They mess with your mind. And once your mind starts going, so does your strength. I can’t let the light stop me. There are people to save out there, and every time I go out it saps my strength, but I won’t stop until they are all free.” He nodded, “—so yes, Zuttah has been concerned. I’m not the most jovial guy outside—but in here I am sane.”
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