Salene's Secrets

by Laura Jo Phillips

  “I’m coming with you,” Salene told her men after they’d explained to the people what was happening.

  “No,” Talus began, but she held up one hand.

  “I’m supposed to do this, Talus, I feel it through the power bond. This is why I’m here.”

  For one brief moment the world around them seemed to recede, leaving the four of them staring at each other in silence. Talus couldn’t help but remember a time, just a couple of short months ago in fact, when Salene would never have considered joining a fight. Through no fault of her own, she’d changed. They all had. They’d changed, their lives had changed, and it was becoming more and more clear that their destinies had changed as well. It was going to be more difficult than he’d thought to keep to their agreement to accept things as they were now, and move forward because, at that moment, it was the last thing he wanted to do. It was a pivotal moment, and they all felt it.

  “Of course you must come, Zerura,” he said. She let out a sigh of relief, and the tension growing in the back of her neck relaxed. Talus reached out and cupped her cheek in the palm of his hand, then bent to kiss her gently before forcing himself to step back as the world around them rushed back in.

  “Jinjie, get ready to open those doors and please, above all things, keep our children safe,” Talus said.

  “Jinjie do be promise,” he said before leaping over to Mali’s shoulder. She’d been looking at Talus in surprise, then shifted her even more surprised gaze to Jinjie before smiling through her fear.

  “I’ll guard the stairs,” Tonka said before heading out to take up a position at the bottom.

  Salene took off her pack, kissed Mali and Tab, then hugged them both. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Mali straightened her shoulders and nodded. Salene…no, Mom, was the bravest and kindest person she’d ever known, and she wanted to be just exactly like her when she grew up. “We’ll wait right here for you, Mom. Don’t worry about us.”

  “Thank you, honey,” Salene said, smiling. Then she hugged them both again. “I’m so proud of you both,” she whispered, then kissed them one last time before standing up and walking quickly out of the control room before they could see her tears. She paused for a moment to wipe her eyes, then began walking down the stairs with her men, drawing on the power stored in the diamond on her forehead. When they reached the floor Talus turned to look at her, his eyes widening.

  “Are my eyes red?”

  “Yes,” he said, nodding. “And you have golden scales on your face.”

  “That’s new,” she said, looking down at her hands as golden scales appeared one after the other until she was covered with them from head to toe. “You guys should probably shift now, just in case it’s more difficult than you expect.”

  “Good idea,” Talus said. “We love you Salene, and we want you to know that if you let yourself get hurt, even if it’s only a scratch, we’re going to spank you so hard you won’t be able to sit down for a week.”

  “Or two,” Jon added while Kar nodded solemnly.

  “Is that a threat, or a promise?” she asked, struggling to keep a frown on her face.

  They all grinned down at her. “Both,” Talus said.

  Unable to help herself, Salene returned their grin, then watched them step back and away from her. They shifted at the same time, not as quickly as they should have, but without pain. She set all thoughts of her men and sex aside as the three enormous gryphons surrounded her.

  They threw their heads back, opened their wickedly sharp beaks and screamed their fury to the bay doors overhead. Jinjie took that as his cue and activated the mechanism that opened the doors. Before more than a foot of sky could be seen between the slowly opening doors they were able to see two fighters hovering just above them. Salene focused on them, sensing the anticipation and growing excitement of the Nomen inside as they waited for the doors to widen enough for them to begin shooting. Knowing that they were looking forward to what they were about to do infuriated her.

  Before she knew it she found herself getting closer and closer to the gap in the doors as it continued to widen. She didn’t wonder how she was doing it since her attention was fixed on the fighters to the exclusion of everything else. When two beams of white light shot out toward her, she smiled, not even feeling the lasers as they hit her golden scales. When they stopped firing, she focused on first one, then the other, twin beams of red light shooting out of her eyes, returning their fire. Both machines shot up and back with the intensity of the explosions that turned them into instant fireballs.

  On some level Salene was aware that there was a snapping, popping sound close by, and that she was getting higher and higher in the sky. Wolef had told her that the power would do what was necessary, and that all she had to do was relax and go with it. Trusting in that, she didn’t worry about why she was so high in the air, or the strange sounds she heard.

  She heard shouting and saw streaks of white laser lights shooting past her from below. She glanced down to see several dozen Nomen surrounding the opening in the valley floor. They were all shooting up at her, but their weapons had no effect on her so she ignored them. She felt her Gryphons behind her as they shot up and through the bay doors that had finally opened enough for them to squeeze through. Knowing they would handle the Nomen on the ground, she turned her attention to the large gunship that hovered a short distance away, its front end pointed at the half exposed launch bay.

  That gunship, she now knew, was the reason she was here. As long as it was there, no one from the silo would escape alive. Yet no one, not even her Gryphons, could go up against it without being killed. No one but her.

  She could have shot it down the same way she’d shot the smaller machines down, but she was waiting for them to attack first. She just couldn’t bring herself to kill anyone unless they made the first move. Knowing how dangerous that one gunship was to all the people below, she felt a little foolish about it. But foolish or not, she couldn’t attack first.

  From the corner of her eye she spotted a group of large creatures flying toward her from the eastern edge of the valley. She looked down and saw that her men had already dealt with most of the Nomen on the ground, so she decided to let them deal with the approaching creatures while she waited to see what the gunship would do. She’d begun to think that the pilot might actually decide to turn away when she spotted a pair of doors sliding open on either side of the gunship’s blunt nose. A moment later two missile loaded launchers swung down, their warheads tilting directly at the silo below her. She immediately focused on one, then the other, setting both of them off with her laser glare, turning the gunship into an immense ball of white hot fire that shot so high into the sky it was difficult to see.

  Inevitably, gravity took over and the mass of molten metal fell downward, growing larger and larger as it sped toward the valley. Salene tensed and waited, uncertain what she could do to prevent it from crashing through the bay doors, but hoping that the dragon power would be able to do something. If it hit the launch bay, she knew without a doubt that it would kill everyone inside, including Mali and Tab. A few moments later it got close enough for her to see that it had arced slightly on its way back to earth, and allowed herself to relax when she realized it would hit far enough away that it would pose no danger to the people in the silo. She continued to watch until it crashed to the ground at the far end of the valley in a blaze of thick black smoke, then she turned her attention to the creatures she’d seen approaching earlier.

  She began to relax when saw that her men had killed all but one hybrid, which Kar disposed of a moment later with a powerful twist of his talons. She watched it fall, her anger cooling as Talus, Jon, and Kar flew back toward her. She felt herself descending slowly toward the ground as a strange lethargy settled inside of her, leaving her feeling heavy and tired. Her eyes closed against her will as she floated thru the doors and into silo. The moment her feet touched the floor she collapsed into a heap.

  ***

  T
he people inside the control room watched in shock as the three nearly identical men shifted into creatures that reminded them uncomfortably of the Doftle’s creations in the tanks they were forced to maintain. The tiny humanoid called Jinjie quickly assured them otherwise, explaining who the Gryphons were, and where they were from. Before they had a chance to fully absorb that, the petite warrior woman who wore a red stone on her forehead and carried many weapons, began rising off the floor as though by magic. She was now wearing something gold and metallic instead of the silver suit she’d been wearing just a moment earlier, which was a little puzzling. More surprising was the fact that she didn’t have wings, and wasn’t being carried, so there was no reason that they could see for her to be rising up toward the slowly growing gap in the bay doors. They all gasped in horror and dismay when the long red gold braid that hung down her back burst into brilliant red flames that snapped and crackled around her head, then they fell silent when they slowly realized that the flames weren’t burning her.

  They were still trying to make sense of that when the flying machines began shooting at her. Once again their hearts sank. They’d seen what the hand held versions of those horrible weapons could do, and doubted that anything could stand against them. But, instead of falling to the ground as they expected, the woman with the fiery hair began to give off a golden glow that the weapons couldn’t penetrate. Then, somehow, she managed to shoot back at them with twin beams of red light even though they could all clearly see her empty hands resting calmly at her sides. Then the strange male creatures that Jinjie informed them were called gryphons, launched themselves into the air and attacked the Nomen on the ground who were shooting at the floating woman with hair of flames. A few of the Nomen got past the gryphons and leapt down into the launch bay, only to find themselves face to face with a very large and very angry Brun. Tonka made short work of them despite their weapons.

  Tensions rose to a fever pitch when the fire haired woman faced off with the large gunship. The small fighters were one thing, but the gunship was many times bigger, with much more powerful weapons. But, once again, they were wrong. After the gunship was destroyed the woman began to drift slowly back down into the launch bay, the flames around her head gradually fading until it was a simple braid hanging down her back once more. The moment her feet touched the floor she slumped to the ground.

  Before anyone else could do more than gasp in dismay Mali set Tab down with an admonition to stay put, pulled the door open and ran down the stairs as fast her little legs could carry her, Jinjie clinging grimly to her shoulder. She reached Salene just after Tonka did, but she ignored the Brun’s warning for her to stay back. She went to her knees beside Salene and, after a brief uncertain moment, she carefully lifted Salene’s head into her lap the way she often did with Tab. She stroked Salene’s hair with trembling hands, ignoring the big tears running down her cheeks.

  She barely noticed when the Gryphons knelt down beside her until Talus said her name. She looked up, terrified that he was going to tell her that Salene, the first person in her memory who had even wanted to be her mother, was dead. But he didn’t. Instead, he reached out with slow, gentle fingers and wiped her tears. “She’s all right, Mali. She’s just very tired from using so much energy.”

  Mali opened her mouth, but couldn’t force any sound to come out of her throat. But Talus nodded, understanding how she felt. “We understand how important your Mom is to you, and how important you are to her. We’d never lie to you, especially not about this.”

  “Thank you,” she whispered around the lump in her throat.

  “Will you do us a favor?” Talus asked.

  She looked up at him uncertainly. Then she remembered how Salene looked at these men, and how they looked at her. She remembered how kind and gentle they’d been with her and Tab, and how much Tab liked them, and how they always answered her questions and never got angry, and how he’d referred to her and Tab as our children. And that he’d made Tab laugh. “Yes,” she replied simply.

  “Will you stay here with your mother while we go get the other people organized?” he asked. “We don’t want to leave her alone, but we need to get everyone moving.”

  “Yes,” she said, straightening her shoulders. “I won’t leave her alone for a moment, I promise.”

  “Thank you, Mali,” Talus replied. “Jinjie, will you stay with Mali please?”

  “Jinjie do be go nowhere.”

  “Thank you. We won’t be long. We need to get as far away from this place as we can, as fast as we can.”

  Mali nodded, relieved to hear that. Then she remembered her cousin. “Tab,” she said softly, looking up toward the control room window worriedly.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll find him,” Kar promised. Mali nodded again. They were trusting her with Salene and she knew that she could trust them with Tab.

  ***

  Salene opened her eyes, one hand already rising toward her head which ached terribly. She blinked several times to clear her blurred vision. When she found herself looking up into Mali’s worried eyes, she smiled. “Hello, honey,” she said softly.

  Mali offered her a trembling smile in return. “Hi Mom. Are you all right?”

  “I think so, yes,” Salene said, taking stock of her body. “I’m tired, and my head aches a bit. Why am I lying here?”

  “You…fell down and went to sleep,” Mali said, struggling to explain what she didn’t have a word for.

  Salene’s eyes went to Jinjie, who stood on Mali’s shoulder studying her carefully. She arched a brow at him and he nodded slowly, his relief at finding her unharmed so strong she felt it rolling off of him in waves. “Power bond with Wolef do be stronger than you know.”

  Salene frowned as she thought about that. After a few moments the memories came back to her, slowly at first, then in a flood. “Yes,” she said finally. “It certainly is. Is anyone hurt?”

  “Thanks do be for you, your Gryphons, and Tonka, none here do be hurt,” Jinjie replied. “Cannot be saying same to Nomen.”

  Salene turned her head slightly when she heard what sounded like gentle murmuring, surprised to find a large group of people standing several yards away, watching her. She was embarrassed to be lying on the floor and immediately tried to push herself to her feet. Suddenly, Talus was there, lifting her into his arms.

  “You might want to give yourself a little time before you start flying around again,” he said, his tone light, but his eyes serious. “How do you feel?”

  “My head hurts,” she replied, her eyes searching the crowd of people watching. “Where’s Tab? And Tonka?”

  “Tab’s right here,” Kar said. She turned her head and saw Kar holding Tab, the boy’s head resting against his shoulder. Jon held his arms out to Mali, who walked right into them without hesitation. The expression on his face as he picked her up and settled her in his arms brought tears to her eyes. Tonka approached a moment later.

  “How are you, Tonka?”

  “I’m fine,” he said. “I would have preferred to kill more Nomen, though.”

  “Salene does have a tendency to go a bit overboard when she’s in protective mode,” Talus said, winking at her.

  She rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Shouldn’t we be getting away from this place?”

  “Yes, we just had to wait for you to wake up from your little nap.”

  “Nap?” she asked, smacking him lightly on the shoulder. There was a soft murmur of laughter from the people watching, and she smiled at them. “Is everyone all right?”

  “Everyone is fine, thanks to you and your…companions,” the woman with short brown hair said, stepping forward shyly, but determinedly. “We have no way to repay what you’ve done, I’m afraid, other than to offer you our deepest gratitude.”

  “We seek no payment,” Salene said. “We want only to see you safe and free.”

  The woman smiled, then stepped back into the small crowd. Talus nodded to Tonka who led the way up and out of the silo through the bay d
oors. The Nomen had killed all but three of those who’d been in the settlement with Tonka and the children, one woman and two men. Of the people now following them out of the silo, those three were the only ones who’d ever had a glimpse of the world outside, so many of them froze in shock until someone nudged them forward.

  Salene was still too tired to walk at much more than a snail’s pace so she was forced to let Talus carry her. They had to move slowly now that there were so many of them, but it was still too fast for her as yet. She remained tense until they left the valley and the silo behind. After that she let herself relax a little and even dozed for a while. When Talus stopped walking she opened her eyes and looked around, surprised to find that the entire group was spreading out in a small grove of bare trees to rest.

  “You want down?” Talus asked. She nodded and he set her on the trunk of a fallen tree, releasing her slowly until he was sure she was steady. He offered her a cup of water which she drank thirstily, then someone offered her some food which she accepted even though she wasn’t sure what it was, exactly. Some sort of meat and vegetable dish baked in a pie. Talus used Fire magic to heat it up for her while she looked around for the children. She spotted them just as Jon and Kar set them down. Mali took Tab’s hand and led him straight to Salene, her expression worried and pensive. When Salene smiled, her shoulders relaxed a little.

  “I’m fine, honey,” Salene assured her.

  “Your hair was on fire,” Mali said, blurting the words out quickly like she was almost afraid to say them. Salene stared at her in surprise.

  “What?”

  “She’s right, Zerura,” Talus said. “Your entire body was covered in golden scales, and your hair turned into red flames. A manifestation of the dragon power, I’m sure.”

  “Interesting,” Salene said. “Now I know why Nia called me Firehair.”

  “It didn’t hurt you?” Mali asked.

  “No, it didn’t hurt me at all,” Salene said. “I heard some popping and snapping sounds but I didn’t know where they were coming from. I promise, I never felt a thing so there’s no need for you to worry. How are you and Tab?”