by Cara Bristol
“He loves you very much,” Henry said softly. President Marshfield had been in a no-win situation.
“I love him. He tried to protect me, but it shouldn’t have been at the expense of others. He and Biggs brought Earth to the brink of a war we couldn’t have won!
“The man I’d looked up to as my hero, the hero of an entire country, didn’t have the backbone I believed he did.” She expelled her breath in a whoosh. “I love him, but it’s been hard. In the last few months, I’ve seen signs he’s becoming the man he once was, so that’s why I believe he’s telling the truth when he says he thought all the colonists had gone back to Earth.”
“But they didn’t.”
“No, and scouts are searching for them.” Her mouth tautened into a grim line. “When the perpetrator is found, he’ll be executed.”
“Draconians don’t believe in trials?”
“They don’t see a need because they can smell guilt, lies, and malice. This is why you need to remain in the palace. It’s not safe for any humans to be out. You could be mistaken for the saboteur.”
Toast now, ask questions later. “Can’t they smell I wasn’t involved?”
“Yes, but there is enormous antipathy toward humans right now. Do you want to risk it?”
“No, I’ll stay put.” What a mess. He couldn’t blame the Draconians—Earth hadn’t operated in good faith in the past, but…shit. He shook his head, his gaze sweeping over the pool area before settling on the respirator he’d left on a lounge chair. He didn’t need it in the pool area, but, as advised, he carried it with him in case he encountered toxic air.
“Since the habitats have been torn down, how have the human, or humans, been surviving out there?”
“They must have built a habitat somewhere. Probably on the other side of the planet.”
“So they leave the safety of their habitat, travel across the globe, risk encountering dragons, and enter a temple to take a whiz?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Whoever defiled the temple has to be close.”
“All the easier for the scout teams to find them.”
From what he’d seen via the donatta express en route to the palace, the only way to get from point A to point B was to fly. Which humans couldn’t do. They couldn’t have gone on foot, could they?
Why enter the temple at all? As humans, they wouldn’t have gone to worship, and, until the temple was consecrated, it was just an empty shell, an architecturally uninteresting shell. So what was the draw?
He was pretty sure peeing in the temple had been an impulsive act. Probably after traveling a good distance, they had needed to pee. But the fact that they hadn’t gone outside was disrespectful, insulting, and…maybe personal? Was the perpetrator sending a message?
“I can see the gears cranking in your head. What are you thinking?” Helena asked.
“Peeing in the temple was a fuck-you. To urinate on something is a personal act of animosity.” His gut knotted with a growing hunch. “Who hates the Draconians more than anything?”
Helena lifted her shoulders. “A colonist accidentally left behind?”
“Biggs. I think he’s here.”
“No… That’s not possible.”
“He hasn’t been found on Earth.”
“He wouldn’t come here. He loathes dragons.”
“Right. He hates them, but he covets Elementa. He risked an interplanetary war to get it—and then it was almost taken from him when your father pulled out. I think when the situation went south for him, he hauled ass to Elementa. That’s why he hasn’t been located on Earth—he’s not there!”
“How would he get on a ship? He’s on the no-fly list.”
“With his power and connections?”
“Oh shit.” She closed her eyes for a long second. “B-ut how would he survive out there?”
“How is anybody surviving there? Somebody is, so why not Biggs?”
Chapter Fourteen
O’ne cupped the tiny flame flickering from the draft of a portent. Significant change drifted in the breeze, more monumental than the death of a monarch, the coronation of a new king, a near-war with Earth, or migration to another planet.
She stoked the fire, feeding it with her breath, trying to see more, but she couldn’t. There was only the whispering hint. She’d been wrong before—not often—but possibly she’d misread the omen. She prayed so.
H’ry would be halfway to Earth by now. The white-yellow flame cooled to red as desolation swept over her. Of his future she could see nothing, although she checked often. After seeing the shrouded image of his mate and children one time, she hadn’t been able to call forth the vision again.
She caught L’yla’s scent and pinched out the flame. The acolyte brazened into the room with an assertiveness and confidence both gratifying and troubling. Until the completion of another temple, they had few duties, so why not grant the acolytes freedom? She’d given them leave of their devotion, telling them to let their dragonesses fly. They would never have another opportunity to see Elementa.
She wished for them to avoid the mistakes she had made. They needed to be sure of their motives, their desires. There could be no doubts, no half measures. They should spread their wings and see what the secular world had to offer. Afterward, they would return to the cloister with renewed gratitude and commitment—or they would renounce their vows and not return at all.
After initial and vocal reservations, L’yla had embraced the furlough with alacrity. She’d explored the First City and beyond, congregated with dragons not of the temple, and had traded her gown for a gray jumpsuit. Already outspoken, she’d become more talkative, her boldness bordering on improper. She’d embraced her freedom so wholeheartedly, it raised concerns.
Would L’yla return to the cloister after the furlough, or would she decide secular life held more appeal? If L’yla failed to return, it would break the circle of twelve needed for the rebirth. Another novitiate in training would have to fill in, and it would be difficult to prepare someone else so quickly. On the other hand, perhaps that would be for the best. L’yla had never struck O’ne as being suited for the role.
But who was?
Unworthy.
“The others have gone exploring. R’nay and I are leaving now as well. Do you need anything before we go?”
“No, I’ll be fine.” She dismissed her with a flick of her wrist.
“Princess Helena is sending food.”
“I will eat if I am hungry.”
“Elementa has an abundance of lava worms. They are best when eaten live. My dragoness loves them. Shall I bring you some?”
She remembered the pizza she had shared with H’ry. The food had been…terrible. But the company had filled her in a way nothing else had. “No, thank you.” She waited for L’yla to leave, but she showed no signs of budging. “What it is?”
“You have not ventured out of the palace since our arrival two weeks ago.”
“I did not leave the temple in thousands of years.”
“This is the palace—and a new planet. You encouraged us to see Elementa. Do you not wish to see it yourself?”
“No.” Why would no one leave her alone? Even Helena kept urging her to leave her chamber and explore the palace.
“I have heard the new temple will be completed in another two weeks.”
“Yes.” Her daughter had kept her apprised of the progress. Even more loquacious than L’yla, Helena had seemed to have guessed quite a bit and had spoken about H’ry so often, O’ne had forbidden her to mention his name.
He was gone. She’d told him to leave. A clean break was a kindness, and she was rarely kind. To ask him to stay, to salve her pain with the knowledge of his nearness, would have been selfish.
She felt gutted.
“They still have not found the human who desecrated the temple,” L’yla said.
Would she ever stop talking? When had they become friends? Freedom to fly and explore did not mean freedom to babble. A fireball of frus
tration coalesced, and it was all O’ne could do not to spit at her. “I’m aware.” If the defiler had been found, he would have been brought to her as she’d ordered.
“My apologies, priestess, for repeating that which you already know. By your leave, I’ll go now.”
Thank the sacred fyre.
L’yla pivoted and strode away. She had been well informed. O’ne drew her brows together in consideration. “Where are you getting your information?”
“The palace staff, the prince’s guards. The First City is abuzz over King K’rah having severed relations with the humans again. The cargo ships from Earth bringing products for Princesses Rhianna and Helena were ordered to turn around. No spacecraft from Earth will be allowed to land, and no ship of ours will travel there.”
Time, that slow passing of moments over the eons, jerked to a hard stop. “When?”
Confusion drifted from the acolyte. “When what?”
“When did interplanetary travel halt?”
“Soon after the discovery of the defilement of the temple. After consulting with the king, Prince T’mar informed the Earth president.”
“So no ships have left Elementa for Earth, and no Earth ships have come here?”
“No, priestess.”
Sacred Fyre! H’ry was still here.
Chapter Fifteen
Parson Hicks slipped into the control room. “The new camera is in place, boss.”
“I’m watching the feed now,” Biggs said.
Only ash remained of the pillared rotunda. The heat had been so great, it had melted the hidden camera. There’d been a flash of flame and light and then the screen had gone dark. It had been days before workmen could sneak over to the site and replace the camera.
“Why did they burn down their own building?” Hicks asked, shaking his head.
“Dragons set fires. It’s what they do.” Biggs had told no one about what he’d done. It had seemed juvenile. Still did, yet it had resulted in an interesting outcome. Why hadn’t they just mopped it up? Maybe it had nothing to do with him having taken a piss. What was a little urine anyway? On Earth, nobody blinked an eye if somebody urinated on a public street, in a tenement hallway, or in a subway.
“Nobody spotted us replacing the camera, right?” he verified.
“The site is deserted. After they torched it, they abandoned it. Not a single dragon has gone there. Not like everywhere else.”
“No kidding.” Since the ship had landed, the sky teemed with lizards like a plague of locusts. “You get anything interesting from the landing footage?”
“Well, the computer counted 5,002 disembarking the ship.” Hicks paused. “The two were human.”
Biggs swiveled in his chair.
Hicks nodded. “One man. One woman. They left the ship, and then they were snatched up and carried off.”
“Willingly or as prisoners?” The man had to be Henry Winslow. The woman was either the President’s daughter or her friend, Rhianna Montclair. Unless it was Patsy. His assassin supposedly had died at the hands of a dragon, but he wouldn’t put it past her to fake her own death. The problem with turning an agent was you couldn’t trust him or her. If they’d betray their country, they’d betray you, too.
“Well, they didn’t appear to resist, but who would take on a dragon?” Hicks said.
Biggs would. He’d blast the fucker right between the eyes.
The feed of the planet surface above the operations center appeared clear, but the creatures filled most of the other screens. “There sure are a lot of them,” Hicks commented.
They were like pigeons or seagulls. Ubiquitous. Annoying. Dirty. It stood to reason they’d swarm over their town, but strangely, even remote, uninhabited areas were crowded with the giant lizards. Heads down, they flew back and forth. Back and forth, incrementally widening their scope.
Biggs leaned forward. “Shit!”
“What is it?”
“You notice anything about the way they’re flying?”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at the Dragon Town vids.” Biggs motioned to screens five, six, and nine. “Compare it to twelve and fourteen.”
Hicks ping-ponged his gaze. “They’re disorganized over Dragon Town. They’re zipping around wherever.”
“Exactly. If you watched people in a city, some would be going to the subway, others to the store, some to the museum. They’d jaywalk. They’d run across the street in the middle, cut corners. As a group, movements would appear random. Here”—he jabbed his finger at a remote area vid—“they’re methodical, they’re moving in a grid pattern—they’re conducting a search.”
“For what?”
Jesus, the man could be a moron sometimes. “Us.”
Hick’s eyes bulged, and he shuddered. “They know we’re here?”
“No, not here-here. Not this specific location.” He pointed to the clear footage over the control center. “See—no dragons. They haven’t reached our area.”
Habitat units and the control room were located deep underground twenty-five miles from Dragon Town and thirty-five miles from the former Earth colony. He’d chosen the site because the distance and tunnel depth offered the best chance of avoiding detection by Earth authorities who’d sent out drones to ensure everyone vacated Elementa. Caution and foresight had paid off.
“Yet,” Hicks added.
“Yet,” Biggs conceded with a twist of his mouth. “All they know is there are still humans on Elementa.”
“They must have found a camera.”
“Probably,” he lied. In retrospect, pissing in the building had been a bad idea. He studied the monitors, noting which sectors had become off-limits and which ones were still accessible. “Send out an all-up alert. No one is to go to the surface without clearing it with me first.”
“Do we continue mining operations? What if they detect vibrations?”
“We’re so far underground, they won’t. They’re in the air, not searching on foot. But I want the control room manned 24/7 to track movements and changes. If a dragon farts, I want to know about it.”
“Got it.”
“And then we need to —” Movement on a screen caught his attention. “What the fuck? Jesus Christ!” Biggs did a double take as a naked woman tromped over rocky ground. “What the hell is she doing out there?”
“Oh my god, she’s not wearing a hazmat suit.” Hicks gasped.
“Screw the suit! If they spot her, she’ll lead them right to us. Get her out of there now!”
Hicks rushed out, and Biggs watched his progress on the monitor. It took an interminable fifteen minutes for the ops manager to suit up, grab a mining car, get to the location, and lumber up the ladder. Hurry the fuck up! Every second the crazy bitch wandered around jeopardized the entire operation. Acid bubbled into his throat, and he popped a handful of antacids.
The woman looked confused as Hicks confronted her. She shook her head when he motioned in the direction of the fumarole, but he took her arm, and, with far more gentleness than she deserved, led her away. Biggs watched as he ushered her down the ladder.
Biggs swiveled away from the screen and chomped a few more antacids. Christ. The last thing he needed right now was for someone to flip out. The lack of natural light, the confinement, the isolation challenged even the most stable people. Time had weeded out the weakest ones, and the prostitutes provided physical and mental relief for the ones who remained. Unfortunately, the sex workers had trouble adjusting, too. A fair number had fled back to Earth when he’d still been able to launch mining ships. The next cargo pickup wouldn’t occur for another year, and until the dragon problem got resolved, nobody was going anywhere.
Right now, prostitutes couldn’t be replaced, but if the whore couldn’t get herself under control, he’d have no choice but to put a bullet through her head.
Chapter Sixteen
Henry bolted upright. Again? Three nights in a row now, he’d awakened out of a sound sleep for no apparent reason. He tapped th
e band on his wrist. His compu watch emitted a burst of light and the time. One p.m. on Earth. By his guesstimate, that corresponded to two a.m. on Elementa, give or take an hour. Maybe.
He hadn’t attempted to adjust the settings on the device, finding comfort in the connection to his former life and planet, even if it was only the time. Besides that, Elementa rotated at a different speed, so it was doubtful the watch could be calibrated correctly anyway.
“Lights on!” he ordered, and flinched at the immediate blast to his retinas. “Dim 50 percent!” Illumination lowered, and he slipped out of bed. If tonight followed the same pattern as the past few evenings, there’d be no going back to sleep.
His discarded clothes lay over the chair as he’d left them. A quick search revealed his weapons remained in their hiding places, and the diamond pendant was under the mattress, where he placed it for safekeeping when he wasn’t wearing it.
The string of dental floss was stretched across the exit wall, a probable indication no one had entered while he’d slept. The string trick wasn’t foolproof. As walls melted open to allow entry and exit, if someone happened to notice the floss, he could step over it. But in the dark? Not likely.
Since he and Helena had figured out Biggs was on Elementa, he’d felt it prudent to take precautions. He hoped Biggs couldn’t get into the palace, but he or someone working for him had managed to defile the temple.
How had O’ne reacted to the discovery? What was she doing now? Did she ever think of him? Let it go. Let her go. He had to stop obsessing. The woman was a thousands-of-years-old dragon and a near-god. Despite the fyre supposedly burning within him, he was a human mortal. It was in his best interests that their interlude had ended.
Naked, he padded into the bath, relieved himself, and then, not bothering with underwear or swim briefs, pulled on a pair of pants and boots.
He rarely encountered anyone, and nobody would be stirring this time of night. He tucked a blaster into the waistband of his jeans and then donned a shirt to cover it. He slung a towel over his shoulder, and, stepping over the dental floss, left his suite.
