The Dragon Circle

by Irene Radford

  Inside the village, dozens of armed men and women from the landers ransacked the huts, pulling out baskets of food, tools, clothing, everything portable. They laughed and hooted over the fine spears and arrows men had labored over for many nights around the fire. They gobbled handfuls of raw grain and spat them out again. One woman tore off a hunk of dried meat with her teeth. She made an ugly face and spat. One of her teeth came out along with the soggy blob of jerky. She howled and rubbed her jaw. The others nearly doubled over in laughter.

  “All our stores gone to waste,” Raaskan muttered as he pounded the ground with his fist. “They’ll squander every morsel of grain, every basket of jerked meat. And we will starve this winter. I have had enough of starving.” He began to rise, eyes glinting dangerously.

  “No!” Dalleena and Poolie both said through gritted teeth. They hauled him back into the protection of the grasses.

  “We saved most of the stores. Stargod Konner told us to leave behind just a little as bait,” Dalleena reminded him.

  “We did not save enough to feed our village all winter,” Raaskan replied, still scowling.

  One of the intruders looked their way, narrowing his eyes.

  Dalleena held her breath, willing the man to forget he’d detected movement out of his peripheral vision. Apparently, she did not have Stargod Loki’s talent for influencing minds. The man turned and fully faced her and the others. He raised his weapon and shouted something at his comrades. She had to concentrate a long time to understand the rapid stream of clipped syllables.

  “Jimmie, did you see anything?” The guard took a step forward. “I’m going to investigate. This place is spooky. Cover my back.”

  A second guard stepped into his place, weapon at the ready, eyes scanning the fields, back and forth. Back and forth. He’d spot anything that moved. “Watch your step, Brewster,” he said.

  The first guard, Brewster, came closer. His weapon moved with his gaze across the stubble in the fields. For half a heartbeat, his gaze lingered right above where Dalleena crouched. Then he moved on, stepping cautiously, alert to his surroundings.

  Silently, Dalleena cursed whatever gods had cursed the people of the Stargods. Then she cursed the intruders from another world.

  The guard looked sharply above Dalleena’s head, toward the marshlands that separated the fields from the pasture of wild cattle. He raised his weapon and aimed.

  “What?” Dalleena mouthed to Raaskan.

  He shook his head.

  One finger length at a time, Dalleena turned her head in the direction where the guard looked so intently. Raaskan and Poolie edged backward, deeper into the high grass.

  “S’murghit!” Another curse escaped her lips, this one not so silently.

  “Halt!” Brewster called. He shifted his attention and his aim up, away from Dalleena, toward the tree line.

  Dalleena froze. The ground beneath her vibrated slightly. She placed her tracking hand flat upon the dirt. Many feet. Human feet tramped toward her.

  She risked turning her head a little farther.

  A wild red bull, his long fur ruffling in the breeze, sprang to his feet. No longer warily chewing his cud, he pawed the ground and lowered his head at the line of men approaching.

  Taneeo, the priest with the broken leg, led two dozen men. He had discarded his splints. He walked with only a slight limp.

  How? After only two days! Stargod Kim must have worked a wondrous miracle for such a cure.

  Then she noticed that each man in the line carried one or more of the weapons and communications devices the villagers had liberated from the intruders last night. They carried them across open arms and open palms.

  And Taneeo carried a bit of white cloth dangling from a stick.

  She recognized the fine weave of the “handkerchief” Konner had used last night to cleanse his face before retiring.

  CHAPTER 28

  ”AT LEAST WE can tell Mum that you are alive,” Kim said to his sister. He studied her intently for familial resemblance.

  Her sparkling green eyes were truer in color than Mum’s paler hazel. All three of the boys had midnight blue eyes. Kat Talbot had the same length of leg, red hair, and fair skin as the rest of the family. Mum was shorter but not by much. Their father must have been quite tall.

  Kim had no memories of his father other than a long shadow offering comfort when he awoke with a nightmare.

  Hard to tell if Kat had a figure at all beneath the now rumpled uniform. But she gave the impression of lean fitness.

  She possessed a dangerous, feral quality, ready to lunge at any moment without warning; even with force bracelets restraining her wrists and ankles above her soft ship boots.

  Kim edged a little away from her.

  They sat along the interior bulkhead, resting as much as possible in the heavy gravity.

  “You expect to get out of this escapade alive? Your Mum will be lucky to ever see you again,” Kat said. She’d lost the sarcasm in the last half hour. “Do you have any feeling yet?” She touched his right leg tentatively with both hands. Hard to separate them with the force bracelets.

  Kim fought to keep from twitching under her touch. Survival might depend upon the element of surprise. For the first time in months he wished his boots had not worn out. Boots would hide his feet when he flexed them, trying to restore circulation and feeling.

  “Barely.” Kim sighed deeply. “When you go dirtside, will you tell my wife that I died honorably, from battle wounds?” He tried to make his expression imploring. “I just hope our son will understand why he does not have a father.”

  Both Loki and Kat raised their eyebrows at him. Kat looked a little wistful. And sad. No one had ever found their father.

  “I have a nephew?” she whispered.

  “You didn’t tell me that Hes is pregnant again,” Loki said accusingly.

  “Not enough time,” Kim shrugged off the half-truth. Last night as he lay beside Hestiia he’d placed his hand upon her belly with affection. She’d been asleep when he finally crawled into bed after hours of experiments with the Tambootie. With the drug still coursing through his veins, he had sensed an extra presence beneath his fingertips. A heartbeat. A stirring of personality. “I only found out last night myself.”

  “And you can tell so soon that it’s a boy? I thought the natives were primitive.” Kat sat up a little straighter. Alert curiosity banished her soft expression “Even the most sophisticated medical equipment cannot determine fetal gender until the end of the first trimester.”

  “We don’t need medical equipment. We just need Kim on this planet.” Loki looked very smug.

  “Explain.”

  “Psi powers augmented by local conditions.” Kim jumped to explain before Loki went off into some wild tale.

  Kat’s face went blank. She was hiding something.

  Kim caught Loki’s gaze. He nudged his brother with his mind to read their sister’s thoughts.

  Loki’s eyes crossed. He concentrated for a long moment then shook his head. “She has erected barriers.” He sounded exhausted. The Tambootie must be wearing off.

  “Psi powers have never been documented,” Kat said. She sounded as tired as Loki.

  “Just because they have not been documented, does not mean they do not exist. We discounted them, too. Until we went dirtside here.” Loki picked up the train of thought.

  “This planet is magical. But it won’t be for long once your esteemed GTE gets hold of it,” Kim continued the persuasion. “The first thing the GTE surveyors will do is kill all of the dragons.”

  Kat shifted her attention from one brother to the other. “Dragons?” she gulped. “Dragons do not exist.”

  “They do here,” both brothers jumped in.

  “I’ve ridden on the back of one,” Loki said. “More magnificent than piloting any craft built by humans.”

  “You’ve had psychic experiences, haven’t you, Kat,” Kim pressed her. “Probably just flashes. Hardly enough to document.
But enough to make you wonder.”

  “What happens to you, Kat?” Loki asked. “Do you sense what others are thinking? Do you know what will happen before it happens? Or do you move things with your mind? Like the force bracelet you opened earlier.”

  “Perhaps you have touched someone who has received a mortal wound and watched them heal beneath your hands,” Kim added. To emphasize his point he raised his right knee, the one that should still be paralyzed, until she touched him.

  She gulped and opened her mouth as if to speak.

  “Intruder Alert! Intruder Alert!” came over the comm system. The lights turned red and began to flash.

  “Captain Leonard must have found Konner.” Kat struggled to her feet. The force bracelets must be burning into her flesh. She reached with both restrained hands for the stunner that should have been holstered right at her hip.

  Loki held up the weapon with one finger. He grinned sardonically. “Looking for this?”

  “You have to get back to your ship immediately. Before she seals all the doors.” Kat looked frantically up and down the corridor.

  “You come with us, Kat,” Loki said with the authority of the senior member of the family.

  “You need to find out what your mind is capable of, Kat,” Kim added. “We can help you do it. But only if we have some time, free of pressures from your crew.”

  “Where the hell is Konner?” she asked rather than answering.

  “Here,” Konner said from the end of the cross corridor. “Loki, I need help.” His voice came in gasps and grunts.

  Both Loki and Kat took off down the corridor, as fast as they could in the heavy gravity. St. Bridget, how much pain could she endure before she collapsed? Kim followed more slowly. Every joint and muscle from his waist down ached from the stunner blast. The gravity did not help much.

  Kat seemed to be made of sterner stuff than he.

  He found Loki and Kat supporting the magnificent blue king stone. Konner slumped against the bulkhead, half upright. Sweat glistened on his skin and soaked his shirt.

  Loki and Kat tugged in opposite directions, neither willing to give up possession of the crystal.

  “Can’t you three get it through your thick heads? If you won’t run far and fast right now, your only hope is to turn yourselves in, without violence. I’ll see that you get a fair trial,” Kat yelled.

  “There is another way,” Kim said more calmly than he felt. Alarms blared all around him. He sensed panic heading toward them.

  Then he heard a fierce pounding upon the sealed doors on either end of the corridor.

  “There is only one way in the GTE. Obedience to the law,” Kat argued. “You three may be my long lost family, but my loyalty is to the GTE, this ship, and my captain.”

  “Our loyalty is to the family and the people dirtside who depend upon us for safety. Neither the family nor our people can have that within the GTE,” Loki spat. “You are invading private space.”

  “You are coming with us, Kat,” Kim said. He closed his eyes and prayed for forgiveness. With luck his mental plea would reach her.

  Then he slammed his fist into her jaw.

  He just barely caught her end of the king stone before she collapsed against the bulkhead.

  “Grab her, Konner. We are getting out of here. All of us.” Without looking back, Kim led his brothers to the nearest rabbit hole hatch. His back and leg muscles screamed in protest and threatened to buckle with every step.

  Loki checked both of his brothers where they slumped in the cockpit of the lander. The king stone rested snugly in crash webbing. Why had Konner insisted on bringing the monster? Escape would be so much easier without the crystal.

  Kat fought her force bracelets from the jump seat where Konner had deposited her. Her wrists had already turned raw. At this rate they’d soon bleed.

  “Will you please give me the codes to override the captain’s seal on the bay doors?” Loki asked Kat with a veneer of politeness.

  “Go feed yourself to your dragon,” she spat and tried to kick him.

  He dodged her blow and caught her knees with one hand. Slowly he lifted, throwing her balance back against the bulkhead.

  “This is the last time I ask politely, baby sister. Mum always taught us to be polite. Will you please give me the codes?”

  She glared venom at him.

  “Okay, we do this the hard way.” He dropped her knees abruptly. Her feet landed with a thud. She winced from the pain of the force bracelets.

  “I have a little Tambootie left in my pocket,” Kim said. His voice sounded strangled. All three of them were exhausted and hurting from too strenuous activity in too heavy gravity.

  “What is this Tambootie?” Kat asked.

  “Give it to me. We need those codes.” Loki put out his hands.

  Kim deposited one partial leaf and several fragments into his palm. He kept the largest piece for himself, chewing on it hungrily.

  Loki’s skin begin to tingle upon contact. One layer of fatigue washed away from him. He popped all of the pieces into his mouth. He sucked on them a moment, moistening the dried leaves and drawing out any lingering oils.

  A now familiar rush of sensation sharpened his focus. A layer of energy emerged from atop every object. Mostly he saw a white after shadow. But when he looked at Kat, flares of bright red shot forth from her brow and the top of her head. With her red hair, she looked like a sun’s corona.

  Or the lava pit boiling beneath the blown-out volcano.

  Loki banished thoughts of that place. Too many bad memories crowded out what he had to do.

  “What are you hiding, baby sister?” he asked quietly. Immediately her corona of colored light shrank and blanched to a mere glare.

  Loki clenched his eyes closed a moment and shook his head.

  “Breathe deeply,” Kim coaxed him. “Inhale long and hard. Exhale long. Get rid of all the air inside you. Good. Now inhale. Exhale. Again.”

  Loki obeyed the soothing voice. More layers of fatigue and worry slid off of him. He opened his eyes again.

  Kat sat before him. If he looked closely, he could see through her skin to subcutaneous fat, muscle tissue, and bone. Her jaw muscles tightened. She ground her teeth.

  Fascinating.

  “Deeper,” he whispered to himself. “Deeper.”

  Her skull seemed to dissolve before his gaze. He thought he saw tiny bolts of lightning firing across the surface of her brain.

  “Past the brain, into the mind.” Deeper he went, following chains of synapses into the center. The chains became tunnels. They took on colors. Yellow for muscle reactions, blue for autonomic functions. Green for memory. Red for knowledge.

  And a black wall standing between him and the piece of knowledge he desperately needed.

  “Open,” he commanded. A few bricks seemed to fall away from the wall.

  She threw up new ones as fast as he tore down the old.

  “She’s blocking me,” Loki said. At least he hoped he said it.

  “Relax a moment. Gather your resources,” Kim instructed. His voice remained quiet, calm, soothing.

  Loki withdrew to the outer surface of her mind. Then Kim began talking. He spoke of fathers and sons. He whispered about the sweetness of holding his baby son when the child arrived. He spoke of Konner’s loneliness, missing his son, and needing to get back to Aurora in time for the custody hearing. He talked of Mum’s obsession with finding her missing daughter.

  The black bricks began to crumble and thin. Kat had held firm against frontal assault. She dissolved under the subtle pressure of her own need for family.

  How did Kim know what to say to her? He’d taken the Tambootie. It must have opened his telepathy.

  Loki turned his attention back to his mission. The moment he sensed Kat relaxing, he dove through the barrier in her mind.

  A beautiful black rose opened before him. The lush velvet petals spread. Each one contained a string of numbers. Some made no sense to him. But deep within the rose
he found what he needed. Three words followed by six numbers.

  “Got it.” He pulled out. Dizziness and disorientation. The cockpit looked strange, harsh, unreal. Nothing fit. He put out his hand expecting to brace himself upon the back of the pilot’s chair. He missed by three centimeters. The rest of the cabin tilted to the right by the same distance.

  Konner slid an arm beneath Loki’s shoulder. Kim just sat and grinned.

  “Breathe, Loki. You have to breathe. It takes a moment to clear your mind after an intense session,” Kim said quietly.

  “You’ve been practicing,” Loki said. His words sounded slurred.

  “You should, too. And so should Konner. We have to be able to control these powers.”

  “Let’s worry about that after we get out of here.”

  Loki opened an interface with Jupiter’s computer. He scanned the menu presented on the screen.

  “Is it voice activated?” he asked, keeping his back to Kat.

  Kim watched her. He was better at reading faces. He’d alert them all to minute changes in her expression.

  No answer from either of them.

  “Konner, hack into the system. I need to override voice and go to manual.”

  Konner swung around and began working the copilot’s screens. Some of the worry lines had eased around the middle brother’s eyes. “Good to go. You have a manual connection to the central computer.”

  Loki typed in the three words and the string of numbers.

  Access Denied. The words flashed before him. Access Denied. Begin countdown to automatic defense system.

  Loki gulped. He swung around to face his sister.

  She smiled blandly at him. “I’ll die before I give you the correct codes. We’ll all die in thirty seconds.”

  CHAPTER 29

  ”WE HAVE TO HIDE!” Dalleena said as she slithered backward on her belly. She’d moved only a few feet when her bare feet touched mud. She shuddered. She hated swamps. The murky water and unknown depths hid bloodsucking creatures, flesh-eating reptiles, and plants with leaves as sharply edged as one of the new iron knives.