Turk tasted the water and smacked his lips. “Good. I guess the Ursidreans can’t be all bad if they have territory like this.”
Faruk laughed. “What did you think? Did you think our territory was all caves and rotting logs?”
Turk shrugged. “Something like that.”
“We all have a lot to learn about each other,” Faruk replied.
“What will we do if no one listens to us and our people are torn apart by war again?” Turk asked.
Faruk looked away, but the two men kept walking side by side. “We won’t let that happen. As long as Alphas like Caleb are willing to listen to reason, there’s always hope. We just have to convince Donen and Renier.”
“And Aquilla,” Emily added. “He hates the Ursidreans more than anything. He could be the hardest to convince.”
Chris came to her side, and they walked shoulder to shoulder behind the men. “I’ve been thinking about what you said.”
“What did I say?” Emily asked.
“You said that we, the human women, had the best chance of bringing peace to this planet,” Chris replied. “We’re neutral in all these petty wars and conflicts, and we’re in every faction.”
“Except the Aqinas,” Emily returned.
“But the Aqinas aren’t at war with anybody,” Chris replied. “Marissa told me they usually act as negotiators for peace when the other factions are fighting.”
“Aria told me,” Emily countered, “the Aqinas are the instigators of the wars sometimes. She said they can start a war without anybody knowing, and then they intervene to bring about peace in a way that favors their interests. She spent some time with the Felsite before she mated with Donen, and Renier told her the Aqinas benefited the most from the other factions staying in constant conflict. If it’s true, they could be our biggest problem, especially since they have no human women among them.”
Chris frowned. “If that’s true.”
“Do you know anything about the Aqinas?” Emily asked.
Chris shook her head. “No one knows anything about them. It’s the same problem of ignorance and prejudice. Everyone imputes motives to everyone else because they know nothing about their motives. Everything you just told me could be prejudice against them by the Felsite.”
Emily shrugged. “Maybe.”
Chris sighed. “I don’t understand why we all can’t live in peace. It’s bad enough living so many miles away from your friends, but when our factions are fighting and hostile border patrols are keeping you even farther apart, it breaks my heart.”
“Me, too,” Emily replied. “I feel at home with the Ursidreans and I want to go home to Harbeiz with Faruk, but not until I’ve done everything I can to keep us safe and secure—and I mean all of us, all of Angondra.”
Chris pressed her hand. “I feel the same way. I don’t want to go home and rest until I’ve done everything there is to do to make this world the best it can be for my children.”
Emily gazed straight ahead. “You’re lucky.”
Chris stared at her. “Why am I luckier than you? You’ve got a good man to go home to. You’ve got good people who will welcome you back. You have everything I have.”
“You’re living the dream,” Emily replied. “I have everything to look forward to, but you’re already doing it. You’re pregnant, you have a family waiting for you back in the village, and you have a dozen or more human women to live with.” She sighed. “You have Aimee.”
“You’ll have all that and more,” Chris told her. “You’re going through an uncertain time, but it will pass. When you’ve been living in your city a while, you’ll have a network of friends. You’ll have your mate and your children, and you won’t even notice the difference between human and Angondran anymore. You’ll only know people.”
“It sounds wonderful,” Emily murmured.
“It is,” Chris replied. “We got lucky when we crashed on this planet. We couldn’t have asked for a better home.”
Chapter 15
The sun set by the time they entered the pass. Chris and Emily couldn’t see anything, but Faruk and Turk led them on into the dark. “We don’t have time to stop. With luck, the column will stop for the night, and that will give us time to get in front of them.”
Anxiety kept Emily focused. She kept her eyes on Faruk’s hulking back against the dim starlight overhead. If only the aurora would come out to give her some light to see. But it didn’t come out. Her feet found their place on the smooth rock, but she couldn’t see where she was going.
Black stone walls rose up on either side and shut out what little light there was. The river whispered at her side and ran on down its stone bed to the sea. As long as it lay there and kept her company, she could rest assured she was heading in the right direction.
Once they entered the pass, though, there was nowhere else to go but down. Emily gazed up at the sky and let her feet lead her. Chris and Turk marched behind her. No one said a word to disturb the quiet. Emily lost all track of time. The night dragged on and on in an endless dream of tromping feet and murmuring water.
Then all at once, the sky exploded in a blaze of gold and silver and violet. Emily gasped out loud, and her eyes popped open. She thought the aurora had come out at last to light their way, but when she took a closer look, the lavender highlights edged the clouds. Their round bases brightened to green and grey. The sun was coming up.
Faruk arched one eyebrow. Then he bolted toward the canyon wall. “Up here! Quick! We don’t have much time.”
Emily scrambled up after him. “Where are we going?”
He didn’t answer. He found a foot path in the rock and climbed up the wall to the top. Emily clawed her way up after him. She caught her breath at the top and looked around. That’s when she understood what he meant.
In the distance, the cloud of dust raised by the Ursidrean column rose against the dawn colors. Individual people rode the enormous siege machines and battle guns. The soldiers’ armor glittered in the sun, and the engines’ motors growled across the land.
Emily caught her breath. “We’re just in time to intercept them before they cross the border.”
“Not quite,” Faruk replied. “Look.”
Emily turned around, and her heart sank into her shoes. Her knees almost gave out. Another column, just as big, came the other way across the Felsite plains. It didn’t raise a cloud of dust like the Ursidrean column, but hundreds of warriors clustered in its ranks. The sun lit up the manes of hair around their heads, and their weapons reflected the pastel colors in the sky. They were armed for battle.
“Now what are we going to do?” The words died on her lips. There was nothing she or anyone could do to stop this. They could only stand and watch Angondra’s hope for the future die on the battlefield along with the last of its men. Faruk took her hand, but the warm confidence he always gave her didn’t set her alight the way it usually did. He’d lost all hope, too. They would be going home to a dying place.
The two columns approached the canyon. Only the lonely river separated the two armies, and the warriors could step across it with no trouble. It didn’t offer them any obstacle at all. Emily could make out one big Ursidrean on top of the biggest battle cannon at the head of the column. It was Donen. He held a long gun propped against his hip pointed into the air, and he surveyed his surroundings with flashing eyes. He glared at the enemy approaching on the other side of the river.
The Felsite didn’t have big battle machines like the Ursidreans. They rode platforms close to the ground. The platforms glided over the terrain without a bump, but Emily couldn’t see what drove them. A big Felsite stood on the first platform, but unlike Donen, he was unarmed. A human woman with short black hair sat on the platform at his feet.
The two columns stopped at the rim of the canyon and faced each other over the gap. This was the only chance Emily would ever have of stopping the inevitable battle. She started forward, and Faruk came with her. Donen got
down from his machine with his gun still in his hand, and Emily started walking faster. She couldn’t have traveled all this way for nothing.
The big Felsite got down, too, and the woman stood up at his side. He faced Donen across the canyon. They glared at each other in matched hostility. Emily broke into a run. She headed straight for Donen, but before she got anywhere near him, he dropped into another unseen path leading down to the water’s edge. The Felsite and his human mate did the same thing. Emily scrambled down the cliff face as fast as she could without plummeting to her death. At all cost, she had to stop these men from fighting.
She stumbled and slid the last few feet. Her feet rolled over stones in her haste to catch up to the two men. In front of her eyes, Donen strode up to the Felsite with his big gun ready. Emily rushed forward with her hand outstretched to stop them. Faruk’s footsteps rang off the walls. He was right behind her, but they were too late. The two men confronted each other with nothing in the world to stop them fighting to the death.
They stood face to face across a few inches of water. Then, all at once, Donen flung his gun to the ground. His foot splashed into the river, and the Felsite rushed toward him from the other side. The two men threw their arms around each other and held each other in a crushing embrace.
Emily stopped still and stared at them. She couldn’t believe her own eyes. The dark-haired woman held her hand over her heart, and a radiant smile spread over her face. She beamed at Emily, then back at the two men standing up to their ankles in the river.
Donen pushed the Felsite back. “You came.”
The Felsite’s mane waved in the sunlight when he nodded. “How could I not come? How could I ignore your message?”
Donen took two fistfuls of the man’s shirt and shook him. “I didn’t dare to hope you would come. It seemed too impossible.”
“Nothing is impossible.” The Felsite’s voice boomed off the walls. “As long as we want it, nothing will stop us from getting it.”
Emily couldn’t take her eyes off them. At her side, Faruk let out his breath. “It’s peace! They’re making peace.”
On Emily’s other side, Chris and Turk threw their arms around each other. Tears glistened on Chris’s cheeks. Emily looked around in wonder. The black-haired woman came toward them. She took hold of Chris’s two hands. “I thought I’d never see you again. Who are your friends?”
Chris waved her hand. “This is Emily Allen. She was on the same Romarie ship with me, but she landed in Ursidrean territory.” She turned to Emily. “This is Carmen. She’s Renier’s mate.”
Carmen shook Emily’s limp hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. You must know my friend Aria.”
Emily nodded. “I....She’s been very kind to me.”
“We raced here because we thought your factions were going to war again,” Chris told Carmen.
Carmen shook her head, but she couldn’t stop smiling. “When Renier received Donen’s message, we couldn’t wait to come. This is the greatest day in our lives. We’ve wanted peace between our factions, and now we have it.”
Donen let go of Renier’s shirt. “We can’t afford to fight anymore. We owe it to our people and to the coming generations to work together.”
Renier nodded. “There’s so much to do to rebuild our planet. War costs too much in lives and resources destroyed that could be put to better use.”
“I’m ashamed of my faction,” Donen told him. “We were stupid to invade you in the first place. You had every right to kill me when you had the chance.”
Renier laughed a great booming laugh. “If I had, we would have no hope of peace ever again. Our factions would have fought until they were both destroyed. You know that.”
Donen nodded. “I have four sons, and I’m training them all to respect peace and work toward harmony with the other factions. It’s the only way we can survive.”
Faruk watched them with wondering eyes. “They already know. Everybody already knows.”
“Is it possible our factions can live in peace and harmony?” Emily asked. “Is it really possible?”
“We don’t want anything else,” Carmen told her. “We’ve never wanted anything else.”
“We all do,” Turk added.
Emily waved toward Donen and Renier. “Go to them, Turk. Negotiate with them on behalf of the Lycaon. You’re Caleb’s twin brother. You’re as much an Alpha as he is. If the Lycaon, the Felsite, and the Ursidreans make peace here today, that’s three factions united. We can use that bond to spread peace to the rest of Angondra.”
Turk eyed Renier and Donen in close conversation. Then he nodded and stepped forward. The others dwarfed him, but he approached them with no fear, and they welcomed him into their conversation. The three men bent their heads together in earnest.
Emily looked on with a pattering heart. She could laugh and cry and sing all at once at the sight. This moment meant more to her than watching a battle of mutual destruction. Carmen smiled and turned once more to Chris. “How have you been since I saw you last?”
“I’m very well,” Chris replied. “I’ve been living in the forest with Turk, and now we’re moving back to his home village so I can have my baby near his family.”
Carmen gave her a hug. “Congratulations.”
“How about you?” Chris asked. “How are you doing?”
“I’m not pregnant yet,” Carmen replied. “But with the war and all Renier’s responsibilities, that’s no surprise.”
Chris frowned. “Why not?”
“The Felsite can control their own reproduction,” Carmen replied. “Both sexes can consciously determine when they become reproductively viable. Can you imagine that? Either partner can stop a mating from producing offspring.”
Chris’s eyes popped open. “Really?”
Carmen laughed. “Pretty convenient, isn’t it? I wish I’d known about this back on Earth.” She became serious again. “Don’t get me wrong. Renier wants children as much as anybody and he doesn’t consciously prevent it. But something in his body stops it from happening because he’s so preoccupied with his duties as Alpha.”
Chris nodded. “That makes sense. Turk says he wouldn’t want to be Alpha for anything.”
Emily pointed toward the men with her chin. “He could be Alpha before you know it, the way he’s going.”
The longer they talked, the more animated the men became. “What do you suppose they’re talking about?” Faruk asked.
At that moment, Donen signaled Faruk to join them. Emily touched his arm. “It looks like you’re about to find out.”
Chapter 16
The men separated, and Faruk and Turk started back to where Emily and Chris talked with Carmen. Carmen moved back toward the Felsite column. “I better go. It was really good to see you again.”
“When will we see you again?” Chris asked.
Carmen smiled and held out her hand, but at that moment, her foot rolled off a stone in the river bed. She splashed into the water and she almost pitched over backwards. She put out her hands to steady herself, but at the same moment, a spout of water spurted out of the river and sent a shower of spray over the group.
Emily brought up her hands in front of her face, but before she could close her eyes, she stared in disbelief at a line of shadowy figures rising from the foam. They rode the wave out of the shallow water and stood dripping in front of the stunned onlookers.
Donen, Renier, and Turk stared at them in amazement, too. Inky black covered them from head to foot, and water ran down their bodies. Two bright eyes shone out of every face, but Emily couldn’t make out any arms or legs or other body parts.
The water receded into its bed. Emily stared at the creatures’ feet. There wasn’t enough water in that bed for a tadpole to hide in, much less a full-sized......whatever they were. They materialized out of the spray and took their full shapes on land.
Then, in front of her eyes, the black covering their bodies melted away and disapp
eared into the water, too. Underneath, perfectly formed bodies appeared with two arms, two legs, two ears, and eyes, nose, and mouth in the middle of their faces. A web of skin connected their fingers and their bare toes, and their skin shimmered with iridescent scales, but other than that, anybody could tell they came from the same breed as the other Angondrans.
One of them stepped out of the water and examined the three women with his head on one side. He blinked the water out of his eyes. Thick ropes of hair hung down his back. He turned to the four men still standing stock still some distance up the river bed. He bowed. “We meet again, Alpha Renier.”
Renier stiffened. “What brings you here, Fritz?”
Fritz studied the other Alphas. “Rumors of war bring me here, Alpha Renier. Rumors of war bring me here.”
“Our factions were at war,” Renier told him. “But we aren’t now. We come here to discuss peace between our factions.”
Fritz blinked again. His voice piped high and echoed down the canyon. “Peace, is it? Peace!”
Turk bared his teeth. “Is that so hard for you to believe? The Aqinas never profited much by peace.”
Fritz cocked his head the other way. “The Aqinas desire peace more than any other faction. We have done more to promote peace than anyone. You know that, Alpha Rufus.”
Turk let out a menacing growl, and the hair stood up on the back of his neck. “I am not Rufus. I’m Turk, Rufus’ son, and you won’t jerk me or my brother around ever again. We know the Aqinas and their tricks. You’re surprised we would meet here to negotiate peace without consulting you, and now you know why. We won’t have the Aqinas undermining the peace we’ve won here today.”
Faruk laid a hand on his arm. “Let him look. That’s all he can do. Let him look and see us united. Then let him go back to his water hole and leave us alone.”
Fritz smiled. It was an innocent smile, but it didn’t soften the tension. If anything, it made it worse. “I would never undermine your peace. No, never. The Aqinas want peace. That’s all we’ve ever wanted.”
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