“How did you know?” Annya asked. Reed shrugged. “That was supposed to be a secret.”
“Marsha never took any pains to hide it,” Reed said. “And once I realized how she manipulated others, everything fell into place.”
Annya frowned. “I always thought her spells were my imagination.” Reed shook his head. Annya’s expression suggested barely contained murderous rage. It was lucky that Marsha had died in the attack.
“If you aren’t Colonel Atano, who are you?” Raine whispered.
“Thunder.”
“Thunder.” He seemed more like the powerful boom before the sky split than someone who lurked in the shadows. The name fit. “I am Raine.”
“Will you take me home?”
She looked down. The water was at least two inches deep and rising. She touched her ribs, intending to explain how her injuries prevented her, but they felt fine. Raine inhaled deeply. No pain. She inhaled, again, then shook her head.
Annya lightly touched his forearm. “Please, can you help us?” Raine looked at the visibly bulging door and blinked back tears, as she realized that Annya didn’t yet understand that she had led them to their death. Annya continued looking at Thunder as if he held the answers and that for him, raising the dead was nothing.
He raised a brow. “This chamber not meant to hold water?”
Annya blinked with confusion, then gestured to Brock, who was holding Shay’s dead hand as if it was a lifeline. “Can you help her?”
“She’s dead. No one can help her,” Preston snarled.
Raine winced.
“Even The Zar couldn’t raise the dead,” Preston sneered. Her brother had always used anger as a cloak to hide his fear.
Thunder barely spared her sister a glance. “There is still a thread of life.”
Sure there was.
Preston snorted, Brock kept his face averted, but his shoulders began to shake. Raine shook her head. “Even if we could get out of here and I could get to my ship and get airborne, I couldn’t abandon my duty. Especially now.” Her voice seemed loud in the silence.
He grimaced. “You must save your world, as I must save mine.”
She thought of the barren ash-covered planetoid and shivered. Even Kalamar, with its moon of doom and doubtful possibilities of survival was better than that miserable cinder.
“Please?”
“Kalamar is much better than that barren ruin of a world where I found you.”
He sighed and shrugged. “Solterre is only the portal.” Thunder sighed. “If I hadn’t given into the temptation of seeing the destruction the dragons did to the old world.” He frowned as he shook his head.
She blinked. “Mooncalves don’t destroy worlds, you Guerreterrans do.” Did he expect her, of all people, to believe such nonsense? “Now, I grant you, they might damage leaky freighters, but they’ve never destroyed-“
“Yes, they have. A millennium ago, they attacked Solterre’s sun and the flares scorched all living things on it. More recently, they attacked Latawba and it, too, burned.”
“That’s a lie! The Guerreterrans destroyed it.”
He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head.
“You’re a Guerreterran, of course you’re willing to lie for your people.”
He shook his head. “I do not lie. A Royden freight ship watched the dragons attack Latawba’s sun and made a memory of the flares that burned that world. It was like seeing what my ancestors went through.” He shook his head, as if forcing himself to focus on the present instead of a happy memory.
She stared at him, unwilling to believe his story, because if she did, it meant that The Zar had willfully murdered Gornt and maimed Dalf. She glanced at Annya and Brock. How much did they know?
“So there is proof of the duplicity.” Reed’s tone was grave.
“You believe him?” Raine demanded.
“At the time, there were rumors.” His mouth flattened. “But they were quickly silenced.” He sighed. “I always harbored suspicions, especially when I heard how many bakufus were recruited for the mission, and knew that none had returned.”
“Dalf returned.” She gestured to him, as he crouched in the now shin-deep water and quietly whistled and clicked with Frazier.
Annya stared at Reed. “I was responsible for procuring uniforms for the bakufus.” Her face paled. “Until the battle for Latawba, they had never gone into space and our standard uniforms would not adapt to their physiology.” She looked at Dalf and Frazier as if seeing them for the first time. “I never knew. I just accepted father’s word that they were the workers that we could afford to send, but what if he meant that-“ She put her hand to her mouth.
Reed eyed Dalf. “He couldn’t have gone, he’s too young.” Reed’s mouth flattened. “Besides, any that returned were recycled.”
Raine scrambled off the cushion, glared Reed straight in the eye and hitched up her chin. “Unless they had a guardian who heard about the planned euthanasia, faked the paperwork and snatched the victim.”
“You?” Reed asked. Raine gave a short nod and watched Annya out of the corner of her eye. Reed gasped. “But how?”
“You make a habit of abducting injured people,” Thunder said.
“I do not,” she snapped. He raised a brow and grinned at her. Raine’s mind went to mush and her attention focused on his lips. His smile widened. Did he know how he affected her? She squared her shoulders. “Would you rather that I had left you there to die?” He winced. “Besides, your robot forced me to take you at gunpoint.”
“What robot?” Annya blinked than turned on Thunder. “Who are you?”
“What gun?” Preston stared at Raine.
“You jeopardized your life to save an egg-layer?” Reed stared at her in shock.
“Dalf is more than a label.” She glared at Reed, but watched her brother out of the corner of her eye. His rigid stance melted, he took a step toward her and gently, then more firmly felt her ribs. His fingers began to shake, making it difficult to win the staring battle with Reed.
Abruptly, Preston plummeted to his knees and water splashed to her thighs. “What’s wrong?” Coral asked. Preston tried to answer, but only managed a ‘t-t-t-t-t’ sound. Unsteadily he pointed at her. Coral swatted Reed on the arm. “Quit acting childish. She’s hurt; she needs rest, not a gawking contest with you.”
“I’m fine,” Raine assured her. She stood up, stretched and then pirouetted to prove her point. Dear, Spirit, she really was fine!
Coral, Annya, Preston and Reed all appeared to have had the same revelation, because they were looking at Thunder, with saucer-wide eyes. He was looking back at them as if he wanted to escape.
With a high-pitched screech, the door crashed inward and a wave of water surged over them. It swept everything out of its path and slammed her back against the far wall. After a moment, the water rushed back toward the stairwell, Raine dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. Thunder knelt next to Shay, feeling her floating body, as if seeing with his fingers. Everyone else either appeared stunned or was fighting their way free of cushions and tapestries.
As the water lunged back and forth, searching for its level, Thunder calmly placed his hands on Shay’s head and closed his eyes.
Brock struggled to his feet, saw Thunder, and roared with rage and staggered toward him. The warrior ignored the coming attack. Raine pushed away from the wall and tackled Brock. He fought her. She hit him in the solar plexus, then pinned him. As she straddled his abdomen and held down his arms, she put her face inches above his. “If you love my sister, let him alone.”
He shook his head and fought like a man possessed.
“Stop it!” Annya said. Brock still thrashed in the deepening water. If he didn’t settle down, so she could let him up, it would soon cover his face. Annya shoved her aside. When her twin started to get up, she kicked him back down. “I said, stop it.” Her furious tone got his attention.
Brock blinked up at her, as if seeing through a thick
fog. “He’s touching her.”
“Unless I miss my guess, he’s one of the ancient line. Give him a chance to heal her.”
“T-t-th-the ancient l-line?” Preston asked.
Raine stared down at her perfectly healed body and her throat went dry. Then, she looked at Brock, realized she’d attacked a Vole d’Laire and felt faint.
While the water leveled out, everyone silently watched healthy color seep back into Shay’s cheeks.
With a rumbling boom, the ceiling split open in an evil smile. “Don’t those fools realize what the defense blaster is doing to the building?” Annya grabbed Brock’s arm and moved as fast as possible, in the rising water, toward the stairwell.
Preston, Coral, Reed, Dalf and Frazier were close behind her.
The ceiling groaned, as if a giant was waking from a long slumber, but only dust drizzled from the gaping crack. Raine stared upward for a mind-numbing moment, then looked at Shay and Thunder, who were oblivious to the impending doom, and at the gaping maw, where the rest had fled. If she could get out of here, she could help her team control the dragons. Or she could stay here and hope that Thunder saved her sister before the building collapsed and crushed them all.
“Follow me to Nambaba.”
Raine ran toward the stairwell. When she got out of the sucking grip of the water, she took the stairs three at a time, but the building shuddered from another blast, nearly knocking her down.
Chapter 21
Thunder soothed away the angry swelling at the base of the female’s skull. Then, he willed the broken fragments of bone back into place. He paused, waiting to feel Kazza’s presence, but all he sensed was water. It was the main thing he’d perceived since coming to this wet place. He shivered, then focused on the gray conduits and injured portions of the girl’s mind. Though her physiology was closer to that of his Tribe than Dalf’s had been, there were several unfamiliar parts. It would have been better if Kazza did this, but Thunder took a deep breath and persevered.
A wet chill felt as if the water was engulfing him. This would have panicked him, if not for the past three days, which made it seem irrelevant. He pushed away the sensation and began repairing the damaged blood vessels. Then, still ignoring the sense of saturation, Thunder meticulously restored each cell, pausing as he contemplated the complex structure at the base of her skull, where her anatomy was unfamiliar. Raine claimed this girl as her sister and while they shared some outward attributes, their circulatory and nerve patterns had many differences. The term sister must mean psychological bonding, instead of shared parents.
As he contemplated Shay’s nerve system, a loud groan made the floor beneath his feet shudder. He jerked free from his healing trance. Water was waist deep and rising to engulf spray from cracks in the walls. The ceiling moaned like the voice of doom and began to buckle. He grasped Shay around her mid-section and hastened toward the gaping doorway. Something heavy splashed behind him. A surge hit his back and slammed him against the cold metal stairs. He threw Shay over his shoulder and sprinted upward.
A resounding crash filled the circular stairwell with mist-laden dust. The staircase shuddered, as if it was a tree about to fall. He tightened his grasp on Shay and took the steps three at a time.
He dashed outside. Within two paces, scalding, humid mist enveloped him and brought him to his knees. Shay slithered from his shoulder and sprawled over the hard, broken surface. He doubled over. Face to fractured flooring he fought for breath. It got easier when he put his arm over his nose, but it took all his willpower to push himself up and look around the broken landscape. The dragons swarming in the clouds probably accounted for the heat, but what had shattered everything?
If the dragons had touched the land, it would be scorched.
In the distance small clusters of people congregated just outside the edge of an impenetrable fog layer. The unpredictable climate of this wet world was beyond belief, Raine had to take him home. He touched Shay’s sweat-soaked cheek and willed her to awaken. When her strange lash-less eyes opened, he mustered every ounce of willpower and struggled to his feet.
“What happened?” she said. “Where am I?”
“You fell.” He held out a hand to her. “We must find the others.” Even after she was on her feet, she held his hand. Her webbed hand felt small and fragile in his grasp. “Do you know which way we should go? They’d spoken of going to Nambaba.”
“I never thought Brock would run.”
Thunder arched a brow, but Shay ignored his confusion and pulled him toward a dense patch of haze. Though he’d expected it to be cooler in the cloud, it was hot as steam. “What happened here?” she gasped.
“This isn’t normal?”
She shook her head, then plowed deeper into the dense shroud until only the purplish blur of her hair was visible. For what seemed like an eternity, the only constants in the murky haze were the steady pull of Shay’s grip and his escalating sense of doom, Then suddenly they’d rejoined the group and she shook free of him and hurtled toward one of the taller lavender haired ones, but it was impossible to tell male from female in the mist. “I thought you’d left planet without me.”
“Shay? It can’t be.” His voice reached a pitch that rivaled the chorus of shrill delight emitted by Yulder.
“Shay?” Reed’s white hair was nearly invisible in the cloying mist. His thin, pale hands reached toward her, as Brock, who’d previously been the most attentive one shrank away. She swatted Reed’s hands away. “How dare you leave me alone!” She didn’t take her gaze off Brock, as she walked toward him.
“But, but, but I thought you were dead.”
“Dead? How do you expect to rule a planet when you can’t tell a faint from death?” Shay demanded.
“He’s right,” Preston said. “You smashed the back of your head when you fell.” He reached out and touched her nape. “I don’t understand.”
“Did he heal you?” Raine asked as she emerged from the gloom.
“I don’t know.” Shay peered back at him. “Could you do such a thing?”
“It isn’t difficult,” Thunder said as he stepped forward. He touched Raine’s hand. “I have given you back what you wanted. Now, will you return me to my home?”
Claw-like fingers gripped his bicep. “You can’t take him. I must study him.” D'nor’s sparse white hair hung in dripping tendrils around his shoulders.
Thunder plucked away the man’s hand. “This is not about what you want. I must leave.”
“We all need to leave,” Raine said. “The orbit of Vilecom has deteriorated and it’s only a matter of hours before it enters the atmosphere and everything is vaporized.”
“Then you will come home with me?” The idea pleased him.
“No!” Dalf shrilled.
“Don’t argue,” Raine said. “Come with me.”
“No. I stay,” Dalf said.
“You can’t,” she said.
“You drive dragons.” Dalf made a sweeping motion with his arm. “Save ovum. Save world.”
If only it were that simple. Raine opened her mouth to explain the situation to him, but the complete trust in his miraculously restored eyes made it impossible to tell him that Thunder had saved him only to watch this world he loved die.
“This is my home world,” Dalf said. “I not leave.”
Frazier squared his narrow shoulders. “Nor will I.”
The two bakufus looked at each other, as if each expected the other to speak for the pair.
Then the male with the lavender hair reached toward Shay. “You haven’t been returned to me to simply die, again. I will leave.” He turned to the dolphman. “If there is any way to save this world for you, I will find it.”
The green one grabbed the arms of the two old ones. “We will take the alien with us. Reed, you will have all the time you wish to study him.” He turned to Raine. “How much longer before Nambaba surfaces and we can leave?”
She tilted her head. “Listen.” It sounded like a huge caldron
was boiling just beyond the dense fog layer. “Follow me.” Single file, seven of them trouped down the inclined ramp.
“Aren’t you coming, Annya?” Shay asked the amethyst haired woman.
“No. I will stay here and try to get back to The Pinnacle. It is where I should be.”
Shay gave her a quick hard hug. “Be safe.”
She nodded. “Take care of Brock. And remember me.”
“If there’s any way-” Shay was unable to finish the thought, but Annya seemed to understand. They clung together for a final embrace.
Thunder turned away from the emotional scene and followed Raine. When they jumped from the solid surface to a slick rounded log-like form, he teetered, then caught his balance and jogged after her. Something dark, like the opening of a cave, appeared in the distance. She didn’t slow as she sprinted toward it. Four paces later, he entered the chilled shadows. Gooseflesh covered him. He gasped with mixed shock and relief.
“At least the heat hasn’t saturated the water completely,” Raine said. “Of course, the long delay only prolongs the inevitable.”
“You knew it was coming,” Preston said.
Raine nodded in agreement.
“Statistically, this shouldn’t have happened for four more years,” the old, pale man said.
“Reed kept telling me this would happen,” Coral babbled, “but until we actually came out and saw it-” She ended her statement with a shudder.
“Everyone, find a secure spot.” Raine touched a bumpy panel and a set of thick doors thumped shut behind them. Suddenly it was pitch-black. Coral shrieked. “Sorry about that,” Raine said. The walls began to glow. “I forget that I’m the only one who is used to walking around here in the dark.”
“Oh, thank you, dear,” Coral said. “I really don’t know why the dark should scare me, not after spending so many months in the tunnels, but it does. My, it’s cold in here.” Reed put his arm around her, and guided her toward an oddly bent door.
Shay took his hand. “Come. I’ll show you my favorite place to stow away.” She winked at Raine. “Take off is like magic.” With him in one hand and Brock in her other, she ushered them down a dark narrow corridor until she arrived at an area filled with misty light. “We have to brace ourselves.” She sat down with her back against one wall.
Thunder Moon: Book 2 of the Chatterre Trilogy (Chatterre Triology) Page 22