by C B Williams
“Only that I am tired of standing in Kalea’s shadow and having my life mapped out for me. First by the Goddess, and now Mother needs me to marry Likeke to seal the peace. Things will be changing. I’m making my own plans.”
Haku grabbed her shoulders. “What aren’t you telling me, Makini? What is going on in that troublesome head of yours?”
She smirked.
From where she hid, Ululani could see her daughter’s face. It was not a pleasant expression.
“What if we join forces, Haku? What of that?”
He stilled.
She continued.
“You need help, don’t you? Like today. I know you were trying to meet with those crystal men, but you couldn’t get away. How are you going to do all the gathering of your followers if you’ve made other commitments too? I can help you. Pika won’t, so let me.”
He was silent. Ululani held her breath. His next words were critical. Had she waited too long to discipline her son?
“Pika must never know. He would go running to Mother.”
Her son’s words felt like a fishhook plunging and twisting in her gut.
“I would never tell Pika anything. Ever.”
“Then we are agreed.” Haku ran his fingers through his hair. “Look, Makini, I have had too much Ferment tonight.”
“But not enough to forget this conversation?” she wondered.
He chuckled. “I’ll remember, never fear. But I need to sleep.” He dropped his hands from her shoulders. “Good night, little sister. We will find time tomorrow to talk.”
As he shimmered and shifted, Ululani moved deeper into the foliage and waited for Makini to leave. Her daughter stood for several minutes staring at the waters in the pond. A fish jumped. With a start, Makini came back to herself and with a slow, wicked expression of pleasure, she turned toward the village.
When it was silent save the chirping of insects and the occasional splash from the pond, Ululani emerged, shifted, and flew back to her hut. Alone, she crumpled onto her sleeping pallet and sank her head into her hands, covering her mouth so no sound could escape. Her shoulders shook with her sorrow.
The morning found Ululani on the cliffs overlooking the village. She stood looking off in the distance, contemplating a group of large sea creatures breaching and sounding. Their joy lightened her heart.
She hadn’t slept. When she could weep no more, she had waited for morning, wrestling with her grief as she decided how best to act against the plotting she had overheard.
If her children wanted to treat her as an enemy, then she would treat them likewise. It broke her heart to do so, but they had left her with no other choice. After running various scenarios over and over again in her head, she decided her first course of action was to do nothing. To watch, to wait, to determine who were her allies and who were not.
When Kalea returned, she would discuss it with her. Together they could decide what to do. For the first time she had disappeared, Ululani was glad her youngest daughter was far away and safe. Perhaps she would speak with Longwei, beg Her to interfere, but only as a last resort. When Longwei became involved, the outcome was never predictable. She could easily end up still a queen but without a village to rule and without children.
Why did my children choose this time to plot against me? While the strangers are on our shores? Who are these strangers from foreign towns with foreign names accompanied by a foreign creature? Just how dangerous are they? The man has power. I sense it. And what of the woman? She remembered the blood streaming down Pika’s leg. The woman is dangerous as well.
She sighed and spread her arms, letting the feathered cloak she wore slip to the ground. Someone would collect it later. She hurled herself into the sky, shifted in midair.
“Look at that,” Wren said and pointed to the Nuri in the sky. “It must be so amazing to fly like that. So beautiful,” she added as she followed the creature’s flight with her eyes.
“It is amazing,” Pika agreed as he led Eloch and Wren to breakfast. “And my mother makes it look easy. Believe me, it’s not. Flying doesn’t come naturally for us.”
“That’s your mother?” Eloch asked while he watched the Nuri bank and soar toward shore.
Pika nodded. “She’s larger than any of us. Easy to spot.”
“I would think you’d be larger,” Wren said. “You’re so much taller than your mother.”
“Our Nuri form has nothing to do with our human form. Longwei made us. She can reshape us.”
“Interesting.”
“Looks like she’s heading this way. Come, let’s greet her on this beautiful day.”
Ululani shifted as a robe was thrown around her shoulders and a woman handed her cloth. Without missing a stride, she wound it around her body, tucking the corner into the fabric under her arm. It was a more modest way to wear the pareo, Wren decided. And it would conceal most of her back. Perhaps she would try it.
Perhaps not. It didn’t look like a style that would stay on easily if she was forced to hurry.
Grale didn’t need Jocko to tell him they’d returned. He could tell by the hush spreading throughout the camp. This time there were two of those monsters. When they shifted, he felt a jolt of recognition. It was the woman again. The one with the hair and the full lips designed for kissing. She was one of them, then. A shape-shifting monster. He would have to play nice if he wanted to get her into his bed. Play nice or she’d rip him apart. Burn him to a cinder, more like it. But hadn’t he already decided to play nice?
All eyes followed the woman. She wrapped the cloth around her as she strode down the crater with the man, as unconcerned with her nudity as the man was with his.
“No wonder the old woman told us to stay away from the people,” Jocko muttered. “Can you imagine a whole village filled with women walking around like that?”
Grale glanced at him as they went to meet the pair. “You’d spend more time flirting than working, and I’d have to send you off to mine some asteroid.”
“No, not flirting. Just looking. If I said one thing wrong, they’d turn on me. Eat me alive,” he paused and winked. “And not in a good way, neither.”
Grale snorted and turned on the translator strapped to his belt. “We’re nearly ready to move the crew to the other mine site,” he said by way of a greeting. “Will you be escorting us, Haku?”
Haku shook his head. “It’s time for me to make my own plans. I’ve come for the fire sticks you promised.” He gestured to the woman, “This is my sister, Makini. She will lead you to the other mine tonight. She is a princess and must be treated as such. If I hear otherwise, you will personally answer with your life.”
Grale looked at Makini, who stared back at him, her gaze filled with angry fire. He smiled and bowed his head, “Princess Makini, I am honored you will lead us.” Women had told him his smile could melt a glacier. Surely it could put out a fire just as easily.
She gave him a perfunctory nod. “I will keep you safe,” she promised.
Her voice was low and husky. It went perfectly with her face and body. But her expression did not change. He pondered her anger. He’d only just spoken to her. What could have made her mad at him? “Excuse me, but have I done something wrong? I don’t understand your anger.”
Makini scoffed and looked away, so Grale turned to Haku, who responded with a small sneer.
“The night I escaped from here, you wounded my sister. She hasn’t yet forgiven you. I’d watch my back if I were you. My sister is famous for her temper.”
A chill ran through Grale. What kind of games were they playing with him? “Can she be trusted?”
She turned toward him, her nostrils flared. “Of course I can be trusted. Do you take me for a beast? I am Nuri,” she hissed.
He didn’t feel much better. He’d seen her eyes change. Perhaps Jocko was right. Looking was safer.
“Bring the twenty fire sticks,” Grale told Jocko. “And teach the kid how they work.” He turned to the pair of Nuri. “Haku, my t
hanks. Princess, I shall see you at dark.” He gave her a short bow and left to personally select the miners who would travel with the giant, slow-moving equipment.
Later, as he prepared the equipment for transport, Grale felt a twinge of guilt. The old woman had been very particular about their agreement, and he was grateful to her. Didn’t want to deceive her. It had been such a blessing to find this planet, to have been greeted by the woman as if she’d been expecting him.
He’d been very, very tired of pounding dead asteroid rock and barely scraping by. Hard when you were in business for yourself with hungry mouths who depended on your wits. There were so many rock-pounders out there, the pickings were getting to be next to none. He didn’t want to go back to salvaging. It was worse than being a rock-pounder. He’d have to go farther and farther from Talamh, his home planet. In desperation, he had been on his way to an asteroid belt close to this planet―Longwei, the old woman had called it―when his metacrystal instruments started buzzing like crazy. He made a U-turn and landed here. And found the answer to all his debt problems.
He could have wept.
Out of nowhere the old woman had appeared. Called herself Wei. He now suspected she was one of the Nuri, the way she’d pop in and out of their camp unannounced. She taught him how to manipulate the planet’s ley lines so they were hidden from others. She’d given him all the answers and assistance he could have asked for. Took him right to this rich bed of blues. Told him to take as many as he liked.
And in turn she made him promise to never disclose the source of his crystals (As if he ever would. Have others take what was his?) and to leave the inhabitants alone.
And look what he’d done. He was now in league with some Nuri. Broke his promise to the old woman. But how could he not? These other crystals, the reds, were even more valuable. No asteroid miner wanted to be without them. Without the reds, the explosive had to be set by hand. Very dangerous. He wasn’t the only one who’d lost men to the task. Got to the point only he or Jocko would set the charges. He couldn’t afford to keep training and then losing good people. Hells, he couldn’t afford to lose anything.
So, despite his promise to the old woman, he put his trust in the Nuri that they’d escort him to the second site unnoticed. He hoped he wouldn’t live to regret it.
There was one more place Pika wanted to find. To him it was much more important than finding either of the two crystal beds. Those had been his experiments, to see if he’d read the dances right.
This was the prize.
If he was right, and he felt certain he was, he was about to discover where Longwei had buried The Ancestors’ great ships centuries ago. Pika landed and shifted. As he wrapped his pareo around his middle, he surveyed his surroundings and breathed deeply to calm his excitement.
He stood on a thick, rough lava bed where nothing grew. A wasteland, which lay very close to the valley of crystals with the inner fire, the bed Haku used as trade. The lava chunks were rough and jagged. Even with his Nuri gifts, he had to watch his step for fear of getting cut. The whole landscape looked angry, as angry as the dance depicting Longwei’s attack on The Ancestors. If this wasn’t the ships’ burial ground, Pika didn’t know where else to look.
But where to begin? How to get beneath the thick surface? He’d seen no tubes, no fissures. Which left digging. He sighed as he unwrapped his recently wrapped pareo, folded it, and shifted into his Nuri form. With his claws he could break and tear off chunks. He looked around, found the closest depression, and began his long day of digging.
He worked tirelessly, oblivious to the hot sun beating down on his hide and heating the old flow. By late afternoon, his stomach told him to stop. He crossed to where he’d dropped his covering and shifted, but didn’t bother put it on.
Instead he used it to mop his face while he surveyed his day’s work. It was disheartening. He could hardly tell where he’d been working, the pile of rubble he’d created was so pitifully small. He stood pondering what to do next when the back of his neck prickled. He turned to see a beautiful woman studying him with a bemused expression. A woman so beautiful and perfect he immediately knew who she was.
“Goddess!” he cried and knelt low before her.
“It’s unusual to find a lone Nuri digging in the fields. What are you seeking? Stand, Nuri, and speak with me.”
He nearly lost his footing when he stood. The Goddess! Here! “Forgive me, Goddess, if I’ve trespassed, but I’m hunting for where You buried the ships of The Ancestors.”
She cocked her head at him. “Why would you do that?”
“To see if the dances are true and…” he hesitated, “…to see if I can enter one. I wish to understand. To learn.”
She studied him, her face a mask, her eyes glowing. Ripples of fear spread throughout his body when she remained silent for so long. Would She kill him for his trespass? He let out a breath only after she finally spoke.
“You are a great deal like your sister, my priestess Kalea, aren’t you? Both curious souls.”
She knew he was Kalea’s brother! He bowed his head. “Forgive me, Goddess, if I have trespassed,” he said again.
She shook her head at him and shrugged. “It seems my world is shifting once again without my consent. But this time I am not so unprepared.”
He wondered what She meant by that.
“You may dig, Nuri. But tell Me what you find, if you find anything at all.” She reached out and touched him. He felt Her fire fill him. “You have a good heart. Again, like your sister.” She paused and studied his body. “I find I like you, Nuri. What are you called?”
He looked up when her tone changed and realized she was still touching him. He gazed into Her heated eyes. “P-Pika. I am Pika, Goddess.”
She stroked his arm and then added a small tattoo at the place between his collarbones. Her hand lingered on his chest, and she gently thumbed his nipple. She was pleased at his sudden intake of breath.
“Come, Pika,” Longwei said, tracing a line down his belly. “Come pleasure Me.”
Pika woke slowly and wondered if he’d ever had such a vivid dream before. He half laughed as he recalled it. Making love with the Goddess? Him? Absurd. And embarrassing. In the dream, he had been awkward, unsure, and the Goddess had taken command. Despite that, he thought, the dream’s afterglow was going to be his own personal fantasy for some time to come. He was relaxed. Very relaxed.
And hungry. He rolled off his pallet, stretched, dressed and exited his hut in search of food.
“Where’ve you been?” Haku called when he caught sight of him.
“What do you mean?” he replied, dodging around him to get to the food stores.
Haku grabbed him by the shoulder. “I mean, where have you been? You’ve been gone for two days. We’ve been looking all over for you. I thought maybe you’d been taken by,” he lowered his voice and glanced around, “the crystal miners.”
Pika turned slowly to face his brother. “I’ve been gone for two days?”
Haku nodded and looked at him strangely. “And where did you get that?” He jabbed at the base of his throat. “That tattoo. It’s new.” His eyes widened. “That’s the mark of the Goddess.”
Pika slowly touched the space between his collarbones. “I’ve got the Goddess mark? Here?”
Haku squinted at him. “Pika, are you all right?”
Pika shook himself and looked at Haku. “What?”
“Are you all right? You look dazed.”
Pika passed a hand over his face. “I need to think. Eat.”
Haku shrugged, let go of his brother’s shoulder, and watched him turn away. “Better let Mother know you’re back,” he called after him. He studied him a little longer. Then shook his head and went in search of Makini. He’d seen her fly out earlier this morning.
Chapter 11
Plotting and Planning
Haku took one of the fire sticks from his hidden cache. He brought it for show, but it wouldn’t hurt to have it if he walked into en
emy territory. His tattoos gave away his tribal affiliation, since not all tribes contained Nuri blood. King Akamu’s did not, and he answered to Haku’s mother.
But rules were rules. Even though his mother was King Akamu’s overlord, Haku could not enter the King’s land without permission. If discovered, he’d be attacked first, questions asked later.
King Akamu’s lands were shaped like a wedge, its point extending toward the mountain peak. There it bordered his mother’s domain. It was easy to take a step and be in King Akamu’s lands, then take another step and be back in his own. It was also a good meeting place. It was neutral ground, with plenty of open space, so there was nowhere to set up an ambush.
Shortly after the feast for the newcomers, Haku had sent Ujarak, his closest and most trusted friend, to arrange a private meeting between Haku and King Akamu. Word had come back that the King would receive him, and this place was named. There was one exception to Haku’s request, however. King Akamu planned to bring his bodyguard, so Haku told Ujarak to meet him there, and brought the fire stick for backup.
He trusted Akamu as much as Akamu trusted him.
When Haku reached the rendezvous point, Ujarak, who was sitting on a rock, rose and nodded in the direction of Akamu’s lands, where two figures had just emerged from a thicket of short, bushy trees. Together, Haku and Ujarak monitored their ascent.
King Akamu was large―a head taller than Haku and as wide as he was tall. His features were full and always seemed to be covered with a sweaty sheen, his tiny eyes glinted with a feral intelligence.
His bodyguard was also tall but had a warrior’s body, honed and chiseled. He looked fast, the perfect bodyguard against a Nuri. It was while they shifted into Nuri form that the Nuri were most vulnerable. It was only for a few seconds, but if a warrior was fast, he could easily cut a Nuri down before the Nuri could cast his fire. Haku gripped his fire stick a little more firmly.
King Akamu mopped his face with his cape and studied Haku. “You have something to say to me?” he said.