The large man started to laugh and V’ritan gave him a look of pretend hurt.
“Well, I never,” he murmured. “You must be feeling a whole lot better than you look.”
“Thanks a lot, V’ritan. That’s really helpful.”
“No, I mean it. What you did at the Fortress was insanely—”
“Irresponsible?” Lars suggested and sounded like he’d been run over by a Dreth.
“Stupid?” Vishlog’s contribution wasn’t much better and he sounded as if he’d had a wall dropped on him.
She glanced at them in time to see them close their eyes again and she looked at V’ritan. “It was necessary.”
He sighed. “You are more Dreth than you know. That was exactly what Jaleck told me.”
Stephanie smirked. “It’s nice to know she hasn’t changed. That world is all about tough love.”
He pressed his lips together in a firm line and gathered his thoughts before he spoke. “You know you’ll have to go back there, don’t you?”
She shuffled a little higher in the bed and looked around. Now she understood why she was pulling gMU—she was back on The King’s Warrior. “Why?”
“To receive their full respect.”
“So why am I up here?”
He gestured toward her hand. “We thought you needed to be out in space to get the energy you needed to repair that—and because you needed the energy you’re used to.”
Now, she noticed the spent batteries lined up on the dresser next to the bed. “Oh.”
Seeing them and feeling the constant inward flow of gMU, she frowned. “Why didn’t I explode?”
“It seems you have no way to store the Nihilistic energy. Once you stopped focusing—and fainting is a good way to do that—you lost your hold on it. Mind you,” he continued, “we did make the ascent very slowly.”
“Yes,” Brilgus commented, “in case your other hand blew off or something.”
His words startled a giggle out of her and drew a wry smile from V’ritan.
“Once you were in space,” the King’s Warrior went on, “I could see you pulling energy as normal so I assumed you’d be safe to place on the ship.”
“You didn’t want me to blow up your new toy, huh?” she teased.
“Oh no,” Brilgus interrupted before the Meligornian could reply. “He didn’t want the cleaning bill placed on his tab.”
“And you have already met my chief engineer,” V’ritan pointed out. “The ship goes nowhere if he’s upset. Bringing an explosive Nihilistic energy bomb anywhere near his precious engines would have seen us stranded here for a very long time.”
She chuckled, then sobered, and her gaze drifted across Vishlog to Lars. “How are the rest of them?”
V’ritan nodded. “The healers are still wondering how Marcus stayed on his feet long enough to carry you out of the arena. Avery was badly concussed, among other things. Frog had a sword slash and a knock to the head.”
Stephanie snorted. “That man needs the occasional knock to the head.”
“I’ll tell him you said that,” Lars mumbled.
“I think he already knows,” she replied and turned to V’ritan. “And the others?”
“Johnny collapsed at around the same time Marcus did, but he’ll be okay. Those suits are surprisingly effective at wound compression.”
“And they hold considerable blood,” Lars added. “When he’s back on his feet, I’ll wring his neck and kick his ass for not saying anything.”
It was the most animated he’d been, but he coughed and closed his eyes.
The nurse finally decided she’d had enough. “That’s it, Mister She’s-My-Responsibility. You’re going back to bed.”
He cracked an eye and gave her a tired smile. “Make me.”
She withdrew a needle from her coat pocket and had delivered its payload and tucked it back into her pocket before he registered what she was doing.
“Cheat,” he slurred, but she spoke quietly into her comms and two orderlies arrived shortly after to wheel him out on a stretcher.
She turned to Vishlog and the Dreth raised his hands. “I’ll walk.”
The woman smiled. “They’re bringing a wheelchair,” she told him. “No one wants you to fall over in the corridor.”
“Okay.” He rested his head against the wall again.
Once he’d been wheeled from the room, the nurse turned to Stephanie and her gaze took in V’ritan and Brilgus. They met her stare but Stephanie saw uncertainty creep into their expressions.
The nurse’s lip curled, and she looked at Stephanie. “And you need to rest,” she advised, “so I’ll ask the King’s Warrior and Standard Bearer to give you some peace and quiet and space to freshen up and you’re going back to bed. You can see your ‘boys’ after your next nap.”
Stephanie nodded and hoped the woman wasn’t hiding another sedative up her sleeve. V’ritan caught her glance and smiled. “I think that’s our cue,” he said. “We’ll join you for lunch.”
“See? Always seeing me when I’m in hospital.”
He gave her a look of mock hurt. “That is not true. We had a perfectly good couple of meals before you went playing in the Fortress.”
She smiled and the nurse frowned.
“Out,” she commanded, the softness of her voice coated by steel.
Bumblebee and Zeekat were on the bed when next she woke—and the nurse wasn’t impressed. Bee ducked his head and brandished his horns in a casual fashion, and Zee yawned slowly to show all his fangs.
“Bee! Zee!” Stephanie said, and they turned their heads toward her. “Leave the nurse alone.”
“I told them to get down,” the woman explained.
She snickered before she recalled V’ritan’s comments on her lack of diplomacy, stopped, and gave the nurse a pleading look
“It would be good if they could stay.”
The nurse snorted. “As if I could get them to move.”
“How long did I sleep?”
“Long enough. You missed your lunch date, but if you’re up to it, you can join them for dinner.”
She wasn’t, but V’ritan and Brilgus came to visit and brought dinner with them. They even remembered the cats and fed them in opposite corners of the room. If the nurses and healers disapproved, they didn’t protest.
It took two more days before she felt well enough to go visiting. The guys seemed to recover much more quickly and dropped in to see her in twos or threes. Frog and Marcus brought in a card table and a pack of cards and dragged anyone into a game with her if they could.
“Hey!” Frog protested when V’ritan claimed the cred sticks in the middle of the table. “Who taught you to cheat like that?”
He glanced at Brilgus and the Standard Bearer rolled his eyes and looked at Marcus. “I wonder.”
“Those are supposed to be team secrets.” He slapped his teammate on the leg.
Marcus grinned. “In case you hadn’t noticed, he is part of the team.”
Frog dealt another hand.
As soon as she could, Stephanie started working out. She started lightly and slowly regained her strength, and she made sure to take as many meals with the team in the Warrior’s dining hall as she could. V’ritan and Brilgus sat with them and life slowly returned to normal.
She was transferred to her cabin by mid-week and the nurses breathed a sigh of relief when the cats went with her. Stephanie laughed, scratched Bumblebee’s head, and tickled Zeekat under the chin. “Troublemakers.”
They rubbed their heads against her and retired to their beds. She watched them curl up with happy sighs and looked at her hand. “I wonder...”
The stump tingled and showed signs of fingers, and she stared at it. She felt the gMU flowing as strongly as it had when she’d arrived. Focusing, she directed it into the stump and willed it to speed the repair.
There was an answering rush of warmth before the skin slowly started to burn. She pulled the magic back and the new growth throbbed. The fresh pi
nk skin had flushed red and she stared at it until the color faded to its original shade.
“Oookay,” she said. “So there’s no way to grow you back in one go.”
She sighed and waited for the throbbing to die down. When it did, she gave the magic a gentle nudge and concentrated on how things felt while she slowly increased the flow. It took her a few attempts to find the balance between what the energy was doing on its own and speeding the process up without causing herself pain.
“Small amounts,” she concluded and made a timetable to work on getting all her fingers back.
Since they hadn’t done a lot with healing and the AI was sure to be interested, she also noted the process for Burt.
“Besides,” she added, “there might be someone out there who’s better at fixing things than breaking them, and this could be all they need to get them started.”
She flopped onto the bed. “This is going to take so looooong!”
It didn’t. The week passed relatively quickly, even if parts of it seemed to take forever.
“I’m almost ready,” she called when Brilgus knocked on her door. She pulled gloves on and took a moment to adjust the one over her damaged arm. When she was done, she stood in front of the mirror and turned to inspect herself.
The new armor fit well, all black with the purple and gold of her sigil emblazoned on the breastplate and both shoulders.
“Done,” she told the cats, who watched her every move curiously. “Let’s do this thing.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
This time, the shuttle ride down was shorter, the Dreth having moved them into an orbit that put them closer to the Fortress of Fire and Respect.
“They really didn’t want us here,” Stephanie observed when the trip that had taken hours took only minutes.
“They wanted to be sure,” Vishlog told her. He still moved stiffly and the dressings made the fit of his armor tight, but he looked much better than he had.
The same could be said for the rest of the team. None of them was a hundred percent, but they looked it.
“They’ll wonder how we recovered so fast,” Lars commented and she grinned.
“Let them.” Her grin faded and she frowned. “Will you all be okay?”
The guys looked at each other and grinned at her. “We’re always okay, Steph. You know that.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Uh huh...and I thought you were all only ever fine.”
They chuckled. “Yeah, well, we’re that, too,” Frog admitted as the shuttle touched down.
Jaleck waited on the tarmac. She greeted V’ritan with a formal bow and Stephanie with a deeper bow, “Welcome home, Talon of Dreth.”
Stephanie returned the bow and stared as Jaleck turned to the team. The bow she gave them was not as deep but it was still full of respect. “Welcome home, Children of Dreth.”
The Ceremony of Respect was also held in the Fortress. The ambassador led them to the entrance and to an elevator hidden in the stone walls, then ushered them into a space built to hold a dozen Dreth.
“This will take you to the Platform of Recognition,” she explained as they traveled slowly upwards. “There, you will be recognized by the Council of Families in its restructured form.”
She gave Stephanie a toothy smile. “There have been some changes, some of which were long needed.”
The elevator ground to a halt and she opened the door. “Remember. You are Dreth.”
That was all the warning Stephanie had before she stepped out into a space lit by the morning sun. The cats flanked her, as usual, and the team arrayed themselves behind her like the guard they were.
A loud roar greeted their appearance but the light obscured her view of their surroundings. Jaleck and V’ritan did not follow and the Dreth ambassador placed a hand on V’ritan’s wrist when he went to move forward. “Our place is in the stands. Come.”
He went with Brilgus at his side and their escort paced with them as the elevator doors closed.
On the stage, Stephanie stared and tried to see beyond the glare. She gasped as the platform they were on began to descend before she heard a deep Dreth voice echo into the space around them.
“On Earth, when great danger threatens, they say a Morgana comes to face it. Dreth has never had such protection and our heroes have risen and fought alone. Only once were the Talons of Dreth not enough to prevent our fall.”
The platform descended even more until she could see that the light had come through windows set at the top of the Fortress’s highest tower. The Dreth continued.
“Once was enough and now, as our planet rises from the devastation that followed, a new danger follows, and we have no Talons left to face it.”
He paused, and the platform descended far enough out of the light for Stephanie to see her surroundings. Her eyes widened as she saw the number of Dreth who had gathered. The stands above the arena were packed, but there were galleries above that, each one with several tiers.
Each and every one of these were full.
The platform continued its downward journey and finally came to a halt when it reached the space behind the judges’ dais. Other lights came on to illuminate the stage. On the dais, four figures flanked a fifth. He half-turned and raised his hand to indicate Stephanie and the team.
“Now, Dreth has a new Talon, a Morgana who claims us as her own, a hero willing to fight not only for us but with us, to win the right to protect us when we would not accept what was offered. A Talon who dared exile on a world that adopted her as its own and then threatened to discard her.”
He let his hand drop. “I present to you Dreth’s newest daughter and her siblings, Dreth’s newest set of Champions. I present to you the Talon Morgana. Now, welcome her to her world.”
The roar that followed was deafening. It rolled over and through her and thundered over the team in a tangible wave of sound that vibrated through their bones. When the welcome died down, the Dreth Speaker led his four colleagues onto the stage.
He stopped before the team and performed the Bow of Greatest Respect. Stephanie moved to respond but Vishlog touched her on the shoulder. When she glanced back, he shook his head.
“Stand,” he whispered and the Speaker nodded as he rose.
“Accept our Respect,” he told her and moved to one side of the platform.
She stood as each of the senators that followed made their own bows and moved to stand behind him. When the last one took his place and she wondered what was next, the Speaker stepped forward.
“Senators from the Council will come forward and pay their Respect,” he announced, the command in his words unmistakable.
Movement rippled through the stands and the family representatives came forward. Stephanie stood as still as stone, her face solemn as she accepted the Dreth Respect of each senator. It seemed to take forever.
As the last one left the stage, the Speaker strode to its center. He looked out at the stands and shifted his gaze to the galleries and tiers before he raised his hand.
“Give the Talon of Dreth and her Champions your Respect.”
Beyond the lights, the wave of movement shuddered around the walls as every Dreth made the Bow of Greatest Respect. When it was over and they had resumed their seats, the Speaker turned to her.
“Welcome, Daughter of Dreth. Please lead your Champions around the arena one more time so our people might see you and know you by sight. We will meet you in the atrium at the Fortress’s entrance when you are done.”
“It would be my honor,” she replied and followed the path he indicated.
It led her to a broad set of stairs down to an open space behind the arena walls. She took the team down these and out under the spotlights. Walking counter-clockwise, she raised a hand to acknowledge the cheers and applause while her gaze roved the Dreth hanging over the rails above.
The ex-Lord of Hachtech was easy to locate. He sat morosely in the lowest part of the stands and looked none too pleased at the honor she was being shown. Behind her,
Vishlog saw him too and snorted.
“He has been disgraced. See? Those torn places are where they removed his symbols of office and would not allow him new robes. He is deep in disgrace for bringing the clan into disrepute.”
Hachtech scowled at them and sniffed in a way that suggested he smelled something bad. Then, his gaze shifted and he started to smirk. Without looking, Stephanie knew he had noticed her gloved hands.
His face broke into an ugly grin and he leaned over to speak to the Dreth seated beside him.
“Let’s see how well she does with only one hand.” The disgraced lord smirked again. “Wiping her ass must be a real bitch.”
Stephanie raised her damaged arm in a signal for the team to stop. Smirking, she lowered it enough to grasp it with her good hand.
The stadium stilled and seemed to hold its breath, and every eye watched as she removed the glove from the hand she’d lost.
Only she hadn’t lost it. It had grown back, the flesh new and pink and the hand whole.
She waggled her fingers, turned her hand, and rearranged her fingers. Pointing at the fallen lord with her left hand, she raised the insult formed by her right and held it high. Laughter spilled through the audience and she moved on.
Behind her, every single member of her team copied her gesture, first pointing at Hachtech with their left hands and raising their rights in defamatory salute.
With her right hand held high, she finished her circuit and the team followed suit. The Dreth roared with laughter.
Standing beside Jaleck, V’ritan groaned and barely refrained from slapping a hand to his forehead. “I do not know where she learned that.”
The ambassador smirked, her eyes on Vishlog as the Team Morgana Dreth turned to Hachtech and slowly and deliberately raised his right hand in the same disrespectful salute.
He was laughing as he left.
Chapter Thirty
“Well, here I am again,” Stephanie commented and settled herself in the sweet-scented grass.
Above her soared the purple Meligorn skies. Around her, butterflies danced between flowers and a lone shadow flew overhead. Virtual Meligorn was as beautiful as the real thing. It was almost like being home.
Witch Of The Federation III (Federal Histories Book 3) Page 34