by Nina Croft
“It’s one of the Old Ones. His name is Kronus,” she murmured. “This is where he sleeps.” She waved at the cavern around them. “They built these mountains as protection from the brainwaves and…other things. It’s the only way they can rest peacefully.”
He swallowed. “So what’s waking them?”
“Me.”
He’d suspected he wasn’t going to like the answer. All this “destiny” crap was really starting to piss him off. He wanted to be in control. He liked being in control—he was good at it. He hated the feeling that he was being dragged in a direction he didn’t want to go—at least until he understood where he was going—by a force he had no influence over.
“They’ve been waiting for me,” Saffira said. “Waiting ten thousand years.”
He sighed. “And are you going to tell me why?”
“Because I have the power to take my people back to their Promised Land…it’s what I was born to do.”
She stroked her hand down the side and somewhere—he supposed at the front—an eyelid raised, revealing a violet eye the size of his palm, the lights whirling and spinning so he had to jerk his gaze away. He took an involuntary step back as the creature seemed to stretch, one huge clawed leg reaching forward, a massive wing spreading until it almost filled the cavern.
Now he couldn’t have looked away if he’d wanted to.
“It’s a fucking goddamn dragon.”
And it was. Straight out of old Earth’s myths and legends.
“They used to travel the universes,” Saffira said, her tone distant and dreamy. “Exploring through time and space. I guess they must have visited Earth at some point and that’s where the legends came from.” She hadn’t moved.
“Do you want to step away a little—you’re freaking me out.”
“He won’t hurt me. He’s restless, that’s all. They’ve waited a long time.”
The creature rested his monstrous head on his outstretched leg and the eye closed. Devlin breathed a little easier.
“He’s the Guardian.”
“Guardian of what?”
“Come,” Saffira said, holding out her hand to him. “Let’s go see.”
“Come where?” But maybe it was best he didn’t know. Closing the space between them, he slipped his hand in hers, allowed her to draw him across the chamber and out the other side.
This doorway led not into a tunnel as he’d expected, but into another cavern, and he stopped, his feet refusing to take him farther. Saffira had also halted just inside the room, and they both stared.
A spaceship stood in the center of the chamber, parked on the sandy floor. But it wasn’t the spaceship that held their attention. High above their heads, the air rippled with darkness. White light flashed and shimmered around the edges of a gaping hole in space. The very air writhed and roiled as whatever it was fought for freedom.
“What the fuck is that?” Devlin whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“It’s a wormhole,” Saffira murmured at his side.
“Yeah.” Devlin could see that. “But what the hell is it doing inside a mountain?”
“They’ve trapped it here.”
“They can do that?”
“Obviously. Once they controlled time and space. They created the wormholes as pathways, and they could twist them to where and when they wanted to go. But time isn’t meant to be manipulated, and they nearly destroyed not only their universe, but all universes. So they retreated back here. They destroyed the ones they could find, but some escaped. And they still remain in the far reaches of the universes.”
“That doesn’t explain why this one is here.”
“It’s the one that brought Thorne and his people to the planet ten thousand years ago. And it’s been waiting to take them back. To restore them to where and when they are meant to be.”
Devlin ran a hand through his hair and pressed his scalp as though he could prevent his brain from leaking out. He hated time travel.
“They destroyed their ability to twist time,” Saffira continued. “They can no longer guide the wormhole to where it needs to go. So they’ve been waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“For me.”
“Shit, this is more of that destiny crap again, isn’t it?”
She shifted her gaze from the wormhole above their heads to look at him, and her lips curved into a smile. “I’m a time-mancer. I’ve always had powers, but when I took part in the Change those powers were magnified a thousand times.”
He wasn’t sure that was good news. “Why the hell couldn’t I fall in love with someone ordinary? And how do you suddenly know all this?”
“He told me.” She nodded toward the chamber they’d just left. The chamber with the dragon. “I can hear him in my head, sort of, not words really, but impressions. They’ve been waiting. They saw me before their powers were destroyed. They knew one day I would come back and take Thorne and his people home.”
…
“So we can get out of here?” Devlin asked. “We take the ship through that”—he nodded toward the wormhole—“and we’ll end up back in our universe at the time Callum blows up Trakis Seven?”
“That’s the idea.” She chewed on her lower lip as she debated with herself whether to tell him the bad news. But she was through with lies and evasions. “I can’t go.”
Shock flashed across his face, and his eyes narrowed on her. “The hell you can’t. That’s our ride out of here.”
“They won’t let me leave.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because I’m a time-mancer, and they won’t allow me loose in any universe. It’s the first of their protocols.”
“How will they stop you?”
“If I attempt to get on that ship, they’ll destroy the wormhole. I can’t go. I’ll guide the wormhole, but I must stay. You can go. You could meet up with the Blood Hunter afterward.” She held her breath while he grappled to come to terms with what she was saying.
“I won’t leave you.” He studied her. “And if you try and knock me out—again—I’ll be pissed.”
Her whole body sagged as relief washed through her. She hadn’t wanted to stay alone. Not a second time.
“Once they’re gone we can maybe sneak away on the shuttle without your new friends spotting us,” Devlin said. “I might be able to work on one of them, extend the distance she can travel. Maybe I can get us back through the black hole. It’s not the end.”
“No, it’s not the end. Come on, you need to get outside and contact Thorne. Tell him to bring everyone here. It’s time to go home.”
She sat in the sand, leaning against the warm rock, watching Devlin work on the shuttle. He’d moved them both into the circle and was now taking parts from one and adding them to the second. She loved watching him. But how long would they be happy, stuck here with just the two of them, if he couldn’t extend the reach of the shuttle so they could make it through the hole?
Something in the air drew her attention from Devlin. A flying figure approaching. Thorne came to land lightly in front of her, and she scrambled to her feet, brushing the sand from her leather pants.
“Are they coming?”
“They’re on their way from the Keep.”
“What about the Wardens?” Saffira asked.
“We paid them a visit—they were expecting us. They won’t cause trouble. Apparently they’d already been contacted by the Old Ones and are to join us. Now show me.”
Devlin crossed the space to join them and once again, she led the way into the mountain.
Beside her, Thorne’s breath hitched as they entered the chamber with the dragon, but she didn’t slow, and she got nothing from Kronus’s mind. He’d fallen back into his deep slumber. Is this what you came to if you lived long enough? They were very old. Far older than Thorne. Once they had been rulers of the universe and the time-mancers had been revered among them. Now the Old Ones slept. And dreamed. And wanted no part of the world.
She led them into the second chamber where the bulk of the Espera rested in the center, huge in the confined space.
“I didn’t believe it,” Thorne said as they came to a halt beside the ship. “They told me my ship was destroyed.”
“They thought you might leave. And they needed the chance to restore you to your proper time and place.”
“They’ve spoken to you?”
“Yes.” Though it had been more of a flood of information, saturating her mind.
“I had a quick look over her,” Devlin said. “She’s in perfect condition.”
Thorne headed up the ramp, and they followed. The ship was big—somewhere between the Blood Hunter and the Trakis One. It had been built to carry colonists and everything they would need to set up lives on a new planet. Most of the space was set aside for living accommodation and storage space for the agricultural equipment they had taken with them.
The machinery was still there, though the plants and animals were long gone.
“We’ll make do without livestock,” Thorne said as he studied the contents of the great docking bay. “Once we’re settled I can make a trip back to the Trakis system and get what we need. But first I want to see our new home.”
They made their way out of the docking bay, along a narrow corridor, up a ramp to the next level, and eventually onto the bridge at the front of the ship. As he moved around, Thorne ran his hands along the walls, the consoles. Finally, he came to a halt beside the pilot’s chair. He sat down and stared for a moment as though scared to try in case she would not respond.
Devlin leaned back against the wall and pulled her against him, slipping his arms around her waist, and nuzzling her neck as they waited.
Thorne leaned across and pressed a button. Beneath her feet, Saffira felt the vibrations as the ship kicked to life, and Thorne turned to them with a broad grin. She hadn’t yet told him she wouldn’t be going with them. There would be less time for messy arguments if she left that bit of news to the last minute.
“Come on,” she said to Devlin. “The first people will be arriving. We can leave Thorne to play with his ship.”
The people from the Keep arrived first. Medina with her baby in her arms, followed by all her sisters. And Thorne’s people, some of whom had been part of the original crew of the Espera. Finally, the Wardens. Saffira remained outside to greet newcomers while Devlin took them inside and onto the ship. The numbers were little more than they had been when the ship had crash-landed all those years ago. Maybe that had been on purpose as well. Had they been controlled in everything?
Had their lives all been part of a giant plan from the start?
It took all day for the people to come. Ten hours later, the ship was ready to go.
Saffira stared up at the wormhole writhing above her head. It seemed inconceivable that she could control such a thing. She hadn’t wanted to attempt to influence it until they were all on board safely. Now, she reached out tentatively with her mind.
The swirling lights pulsed violet, and the thing reached for her, hitting an invisible barrier. They would have to release it from its tether.
Thorne and Devlin appeared at the top of the ramp. “That’s everyone,” Thorne said. “Are you ready to go?”
It was time. “We’re not coming.”
He strode down the ramp to stand beside her. “What do you mean ‘not coming’?”
“Are you losing your hearing in your old age?” she asked, trying to inject her voice with a humor she was far from feeling.
“Why?”
“They won’t allow me to leave. They’ll destroy the wormhole before they let me through it.”
“Can they do that?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then we all stay.”
She’d known that would be his next move. “Sweet, but no thanks. And don’t worry—we have a plan.”
“We?”
“Devlin is staying with me.” She gave Thorne a grin. “He loves me. I told you he would.”
“Obviously, a man of taste. So what’s this plan?”
“He’s fixed one of the shuttles we came down on to increase the range.” Devlin raised his eyebrow at this but luckily, he was behind Thorne so he didn’t see it. It was a slight exaggeration. He hadn’t yet managed it but he would, given time—Devlin was brilliant—he could do anything. And she presumed they’d have plenty of time once Thorne and his people had gone. “Once the Espera has left and he’s”—she waved a hand toward the next chamber where Kronos dozed fitfully—“sleeping again, we’ll sneak away. The shuttle should get us through the black hole.”
Thorne was silent. At first, she thought he was considering her plan, then she realized he was “talking” to Devlin. And what was with that? Why couldn’t she do the telepathy thing? Was that something peculiar to time-mancers?
“Hey guys, you do know that’s rude, don’t you?”
Devlin grinned. “He was just telling me to look after you.”
“Actually,” she said. “I’m quite capable of looking after myself and Devlin as well.”
“Of course you are.”
“Humph.”
Devlin moved past the other man to stand beside her. This was it. Time to say good-bye. She closed the space between them and wrapped her arms around Thorne’s waist, laid her head on his chest.
“We seem to be always saying good-bye lately,” Thorne said.
“Well, let’s hope it’s not for five hundred years this time. We’ll contact you somehow when we get through.”
She gave him a last squeeze and stepped back. A loud crack sounded above their heads, and she glanced up quickly. The bonds that tethered the wormhole were unraveling. “You have to go.”
He nodded. “I’ll see you on the other side.” He hurried away, and the doors closed behind him, leaving Saffira and Devlin alone.
“Hold my hand,” she murmured, needing his touch to ground her. In theory, she understood how this should work, had seen it clearly in her mind, but her insides were quaking. What if she made a mistake and sent Thorne God knows where and when?
“You can do this,” Devlin said from beside her, and she heard the conviction in his voice.
Closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, calming herself. She looked up to the wormhole, stretched out her free hand, and called it to her.
At first, it fought her, then slowly the mouth widened until it encompassed the whole of the roof of the cavern. Inside, flashes of bright white light illuminated a tunnel, the deep throbbing violet of Devlin’s eyes.
Devlin tugged her back as the Espera rose into the air and hovered above the ground. Saffira never took her eyes off the wormhole. It oozed closer, lowering, until it engulfed the ship, so close she could reach out and touch the whirling flashes of light.
Power shot through her, filling her with darkness, then the darkness faded, and she was in a dimly lit place of violet pulsating light. She spoke to it with her mind, showed it where to go, to take them back the way it had come all those years ago.
A flash of white blinded her. And when she could see again, the Espera was gone, and the wormhole was retreating. As it writhed across the cavern, it suddenly reared up, the mouth clamped closed. A wave of red flame consumed it, and it was gone.
“Well,” Devlin said. “That was…” He shrugged. “Different? Did it work?”
“I think so.” She was still clutching his hand and now she pulled him close and held on to him tightly.
“I suppose we should go finish working on the shuttle,” Devlin murmured into her hair.
She straightened a little so she could peer up into his face. “Can it wait a little while?”
He gave her a lazy smile that melted her insides. “Why? What did you have in mind?”
“This,” she said, sliding her hand around the back of his neck and tugging him down for a k
iss. His mouth slid against hers, his tongue pushing inside, and she lost herself in the sensations he aroused, her sex growing warm and heavy, her nipples hardening.
Devlin was breathing fast when he raised his head. “Let’s get out of this place—into the open air.”
He tugged her hand and she allowed him to pull her along. They’d make love, and afterward, Devlin would fix the shuttle, and they’d get out of here and into the other universe where they would live forever.
In a strange way, all her plans were coming out fine, if a little different than she’d anticipated. A deep excitement for the future, an excitement she hadn’t allowed herself to feel until then, built inside her.
By unspoken agreement, they were silent as they crossed the next chamber with its sleeping dragon, and she had to fight the urge to tiptoe. They were halfway across when the great eye facing them blinked open. Its consciousness slammed into her. In that second, she saw their intent. And knew they would never allow her to live.
In a flash, she saw the fate of the other time-mancers of their people. They had burned. One thing that would destroy them completely was dragon fire. And they had gone voluntarily into the flames. At least most had gone voluntarily. Sacrificing themselves so that the universes would continue and not be ripped apart. That they might never be tempted again to play masters of time. She saw something else—the time-mancers had all been female, and never again had they allowed another female to be changed. Until now.
And they planned to remedy that and quickly.
“What is it?” Devlin said from beside her.
She realized she’d come to a halt staring into that great purple orb. Seeing the history of her people. Seeing the future. The flames. Burning.
“Run,” she screamed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Saffira pulled free—holding hands was all very nice, but would slow them both down—and raced for the entrance to the cavern.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the great beast uncurl and raise its head. They were almost at the entrance when the heat of its breath seared along her back. Fear blossomed inside her. She ignored it and kept moving, at the same time knowing it was too late. Devlin was slightly ahead of her now, almost there.
