Aegis League series Boxed Set

by S. S. Segran

  Dr. Nate shrugged helplessly. It wasn’t his fault the pair had escaped, but he supposed the boss’s anger toward Tony would have to spill over to him eventually. He watched as the Boss tucked the violet sphere away into a pocket.

  “We cannot afford to have the Elders interfering with our plans,” the distorted voice growled.

  Running his thumbs over where his eyebrows should have been, Dr. Nate said, “You yourself ’ave said they’re isolated. ’ow much damage can they cause?”

  “You have no idea!” the boss snapped. “We must be at least two steps ahead of them.”

  “If they’re that much of a threat, why don’t we simply go in and take them out? We ’ave the resources for that. All three Ospreys are back stateside, aren’t they? I’m sure we can be in and out of that village within an hour. By the time they realize what’s ’it them, it will be too late.”

  “If only it were so. You’re forgetting what they’re capable of, Doctor. More importantly, there are certain individuals there whom we will need alive to complete the final phases of our plan. But most of all, there is an object of great importance which is under the protection and safekeeping of one of the Elders. Without this relic, our final solution cannot be fulfilled. Even if we go in, it would be prudent to do so knowing what they’re up to. A shock and awe operation from the air will not work. It’ll have to be boots on the ground. And even then I wouldn’t authorize the mission without knowing what the Elders have planned.”

  “Yes, I suppose that makes sense.” Dr. Nate wavered, unsure if it would be smart to voice what was on his mind, then said, “I find it rather odd that the fenixium was only available to be mined in two places on this planet and of those places, one just ’ad to be near that bloody valley. If it wasn’t for that, they would ’ave remained oblivious of us.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that as well, Doctor, ever since the day we discovered it. Why was the most concentrated source of supply so close to that cursed place? We’ll never know, I suppose. Fate has a strange way of dealing her cards. Regardless, I make my own destiny. That is the key to what we do here.”

  Dr. Nate stared, not wanting to interrupt.

  The Boss looked down and readjusted the black coat. “I’ll be instructing Tony once again to bring me the children. Once we have them, I expect you to extract the information needed.” The hologram looked at him directly and the ambient temperature in the room seemed to plummet. “I can count on your expertise, yes?”

  “Of course.”

  “Good. One last thing before we part. I think it’s time for me to address our Stewards in all six Sanctuaries. They are our future, after all, and they need to know that we are getting closer to our destination.”

  45

  Though Nageau had studied the sculpture of the island in miniature for years, he was still fascinated by the amount of detail evident in the work of art as it sat upon the wooden table. There were dozens of tiny shopping stalls delicately placed in an open air marketplace and a golden beach with a sheltered turquoise harbor where large trading vessels were tied alongside a pier. Numerous homes dotted the island and at the center of it all was a majestic volcano. Even though it was merely a model, Nageau had to stifle back a shudder at the story he’d been told since he was a child—a story that everyone knew.

  The people of Dema-Ki were a hybrid race. Over two thousand years ago, a group of fifty-one survivors had barely managed to escape their home when a once-dormant volcano erupted with a cataclysmic force. Many residents were killed by the sulfurous ash and lava, and many more died as the island slowly collapsed in on itself and vanished into the depths of the ocean.

  The survivors, who had boarded a trading vessel at the last possible moment, watched with tear-filled eyes as their home disappeared in front of them, unable to comprehend or accept what had happened. Each of them had lost some, if not all, of their family.

  The Islanders were a peaceful people and extraordinarily advanced for their time. They had learned to harness the hidden potential of the human mind and powers inherent in nature, allowing them to exercise a range of skills, including healing, omnilinguism, telekinesis, extreme agility, strength, speed and many other abilities that varied from person to person. Though such skills would appear mind-boggling to others, they were as natural as breathing to the islanders.

  The survivors journeyed across raging seas and through vicious storms for nearly four moon cycles before arriving on the rocky coast of a new land. After a brief skirmish, and with some trepidation, the indigenous inhabitants of the land welcomed the newcomers. It wasn’t until the Islanders shared some of their healing abilities, their history and their tradition that the strangers were truly accepted.

  Over time, the two races became one; the Islanders showing their new family how to unlock their innate abilities, while the indigenous tribe demonstrated how they lived in harmony with nature on the coast of what would, to the modern world, be referred to as the Pacific Northwest. Eventually, the new hybrid race moved northward and inland, establishing their community in a remote place and naming it Dema-Ki, the hidden valley.

  A woman called to Nageau. “Shall we begin?”

  Nageau blinked and straightened, then turned to face the other four Elders. They were seated around a small fire pit inside their comfortable assembly shelter. The flames crackled invitingly as Nageau took his place between his mate and a bearded, red-haired man.

  “I apologize, dear friends,” he said, pushing his cloak out so it wouldn’t fold under him. “I called for this early morning meeting but sidetracked myself. That miniature display simply never ceases to astound me.”

  “Fine workmanship indeed,” the flame-haired man agreed. “So what news have you regarding Mariah and Tegan?”

  “I am glad to say that the girls have been found and are in safe hands now,” Nageau reassured him. “If what the Sentry has told me is accurate, the two caused quite a bit of havoc for their abductors while escaping.”

  Tikina’s eyes flashed; pride for her apprentice, Tegan, shone through a brilliant smile. Another woman, wearing a royal purple headband, bore the same look as her—Mariah had been her apprentice. “They are spirited, that is for certain,” she said.

  “This is, unquestionably, fantastic news,” her mate cut in gruffly. He had muscular arms and thick black locks. “But Nageau, you seem . . . troubled.”

  Nageau threw some kindling onto the fire. “Sharp as always, Ashack. Sharp as always. Yes, you are right. There is the matter of the girls having been interrogated while they were held captive.”

  The woman with the purple bandana went rigid. “They were not harmed, were they?”

  “No, Saiyu. It is just . . . The girls told the Sentry that whoever was interrogating them knew of our existence here in the valley.”

  For a long minute, the only sound to be heard was the popping of the fire from the pit.

  “Are you sure?” the flame-haired man asked. “Do you suppose they could have misunderstood—”

  “The girls say that our valley was mentioned by name, Tayoka.”

  “Who was it that asked the question?” Tikina queried.

  “Some fellow whom they did not know. But what the girls did say was that another person was present. Hidden and silent, but watching and listening. The interrogator kept referring to them as a superior.”

  Ashack subconsciously rubbed his exposed arms. “What did they want to know?”

  “Mainly what and how much we knew about them, and what we are planning to do,” Nageau answered. “The girls gave very little and managed to delay the interrogation until the next day. They escaped before that, of course.”

  “Peculiar,” Saiyu muttered. “There are very few possibilities as to who would demand to know about us.”

  “None of which I am overly fond of,” Ashack grunted; gruffness seemed to be sowed into the very fiber of his being.

  Nageau held up a hand. “I know this is a sorely pressing issue that will require fur
ther discussion, but there is one more thing I would like to share first.”

  The other Elders hesitated before nodding.

  “The five discovered something important about the source of the scourge faced by the outside world,” Nageau said. “Thanks to Kody’s intuitiveness and sharp eyes, they have found an entity that may be at the root of this affliction.”

  Tayoka rested a hand on Nageau’s shoulder. “You trained him well, Nageau.”

  “Apparently he couldn’t sleep well after the Sentry had given the five their pendants and decided to take a walk outside. As fate would have it, it was then that he observed the entity. It also seems he has uncovered another layer to his abilities.”

  The others brightened slightly.

  “Wonderful.” Tikina cast her eyes toward the fire. “I only wish we could have had more time to train them before sending them back to their homes.”

  Saiyu took Tikina’s hand in hers. “We did what we could with the time we had, my friend.”

  “What are the five doing with this evidence they now have?” Ashack asked.

  “Tegan and Aari have left to meet with the Sentry’s contact,” Nageau said. “The others are staying back at the home of Jag’s grandfather to try and identify the location where the entities are coming from.”

  “Speaking of his grandfather,” Tikina said, “or rather, family in general . . . how long will the younglings have to keep this part of their lives away from their parents? I understand the importance of maintaining our existence here a secret, but is it not only right for their families to be informed? Especially since more will be asked of them as time goes on.”

  Nageau looked around the fire at the other Elders and could see that they were torn on the subject.

  “I agree that the families have a right to know,” Ashack ventured slowly, “but there is no telling what the consequences of revealing our presence might have on our people here and those in the outside world.”

  Tayoka shook his head. “My question is, with all the recent developments, do you suppose the time for us to shed our veil is nigh?”

  “No,” Ashack snapped. “The world is not ready. They are yet to arrive at a stage of their collective evolution that would make them receptive to what we have to offer.”

  “I suppose this is a matter to be deliberated at a later date,” Nageau said calmly.

  Saiyu waited for a break in the discussion before asking, “I take it there is still no news about our two deserters?”

  Tikina tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. “None. There is no trace of them. Hutar and Aesròn have somehow managed to slip past the Guardians. They are long gone.”

  Ashack’s arms tightened. “What is our course of action, then? Can we not locate them in the novasphere?”

  “I was unable to sense either of them,” Tikina answered. “And that worries me greatly. It seems as if they have somehow learned to . . . mask their presence.”

  “Are you sure?” Saiyu asked. “That is an incredibly difficult skill to master. Nearly impossible, even. Perhaps they have . . . perished.”

  “Those two are fighters,” Ashack said darkly, “and they are very keen. Besides, they know the forest well.”

  Tayoka was quiet when he spoke. “Something tells me that they have crossed into the outside world.”

  Nageau raised his fingers to the fire. The flames licked toward his hand but were just out of reach. “Tikina?”

  “I . . . ” His mate clearly didn’t want to utter the words she was about to. “ . . . I fear Ashack and Tayoka may be right.”

  Saiyu closed her eyes and turned away. Nageau swallowed his disappointment. “Then, regrettably,” he said, “there is little else we can do. We have sent out search groups and scoured the novasphere. If they truly are nowhere to be found, then we must let this go and move on. The best we can manage now is to let the Sentries know so that they can keep an eye out.”

  “I am not sure if that is prudent,” Ashack warned. “Need I remind you all of Hutar’s lineage?”

  “We are not to judge a person by the deeds of his ancestors,” Nageau said firmly. He lowered his hand from the flames. “Let us get back to our earlier discussion about who is so anxious to learn what Mariah and Tegan know about us. As you mentioned, Saiyu, the list is a dramatically short one.”

  “Yes,” Saiyu murmured, “and the two that come to mind are either a rogue Sentry, or . . . ”

  “Or Reyor.”

  The others recoiled at the name and the fire in the pit dimmed momentarily of its own accord.

  “Do you believe that?” Tayoka asked, hushed, his eyebrows swept upward. “You have been unable to sense . . . Reyor . . . in the novasphere since the banishment.”

  “I am aware of that,” Nageau said, voice thick, “but we cannot rule this out as a possibility.”

  The conversation that followed was neither pleasant nor helpful and the meeting didn’t take long to come to a close. As they emerged from their assembly shelter, they noticed the sun was fully risen and shining down upon them. After bidding the other Elders a subdued goodbye, Tikina and Nageau strolled back to their living quarters—which the villagers called neyra—with their arms linked. Tikina pushed open the door and stepped in but Nageau hung back outside.

  “There is something I feel like I should do,” he said softly.

  Tikina leaned against the open door and gave him a knowing look. “If it will help ease your mind . . . ”

  He leaned close to her and gave her a peck on the forehead. “Thank you for understanding, Tikina.”

  She righted his cloak and gave him a loving smile. “Do not thank me, beloved. You do not need my permission. Now go. I will have our midday meal ready when you return.”

  * * *

  Nageau emerged from the densely-packed trees and gazed up at a stunning waterfall that stretched high above him. The cascading waters ended in a pool at the base that was calm around the edges. The whole environment carried with it a therapeutic effect, but it still wasn’t enough to completely soothe the Elder.

  He closed his eyes and took deep breaths for several minutes. A tingle seeped through his body as he basked in the fine mist from the waterfall. It cooled his skin and allowed him to relax, but his posture remained intact.

  He opened his eyes and deliberately rotated on his heel to observe what was behind him. The forest thinned out slightly to create a crescent-shaped tree line a dozen yards from the edge of the pool. The greenery at first seemed insignificant, but if one were to look closer, five trees would stand out at the brink of the crescent. They were tall, gorgeous pines, all of them many hundreds of years old.

  Nageau quietly made his way over to the middle one. Its richly-textured bark was several shades darker than the rest. He pressed a hand to the rough trunk, feeling the notches against his palm and the life in the tree. “Hello, old friend,” he whispered.

  Though there was hardly any wind, the tree’s branches swayed and rustled leisurely, as if sighing a greeting. Everything else in the forest seemed to have gone silent. To the Elder it felt as though the tree had drawn every spirit into its being.

  He kept his hand on the trunk, thinking. He’d visited this place less than a handful of times, the last being years ago when he’d had to make a difficult decision. He’d been racked with doubts and fears, but sitting under this very tree aided in soothing his qualms. Now, he rested against it and once again felt his worries trickle away.

  You have been here for nearly a millennium. You have seen my ancestors come and go. You have remained a strong and vigilant warden, and we thank you for that.

  The darkened tree rustled again, seemingly breathing its acknowledgement.

  Nageau recouped in tranquility before he felt a strange sensation in his mind, as if something, or someone, were tapping his consciousness. He opened up and reached out to the presence. When he sensed it, he laughed in delight. Jag! Is that you, youngling?

  Elder Nageau? It was indeed Jag—a little faint, b
ut most definitely him.

  Yes, youngling. I see that you have managed to find me.

  Ah, yeah. I thought it would be difficult, but it turns out that it’s not too bad. So many people seem to be . . . dormant, I guess? It’s like their consciousness is inactive in the novasphere, but yours is bright. Like, the sun kind of bright. I’m confused, though. I tried reaching out to Marshall to see if I could connect with him but I can’t.

  The Elder chuckled. Telepathy is a strange gift, and one that can take some a lifetime to master. Do not fret. There will be some people with whom you cannot connect for the time being.

  Okay . . .

  I had actually intended to reach out to you, Jag. I am relieved to know that Mariah and Tegan are safely back with you. I tried many times to reach them while they were being held, but their consciousness was not yet receptive.

  That’s alright. At least you tried, and I really appreciate that. Jag paused, as though wavering. Uh, Elder Nageau, I’m happy I found you and all, but something’s been bothering me. It’s become obvious that whoever we’re dealing with out here is powerful and has the means to carry out whatever it is they intend to do, and . . .

  Yes?

  I just don’t know how our small group can stop this. We’ve accepted—well, re-accepted—our responsibility but . . . we’ve seen things, Elder Nageau. While we may not have a lot of evidence, I’m sure we have enough information that we could help the authorities fight back this darkness, whatever it is. He paused again, waiting for Nageau to respond. When he received no answer, he continued. Mariah and I saw an incident earlier. Actually, we were there as it happened. It was regular people going at each other, trampling one another just to get some bread. We were—we were really shaken up.

  Nageau gazed up at the tree that loomed protectively over him. I hear you, youngling. It is rather serendipitous that you chose to reach me when I am at a very special place in the forest. I have not ventured to this hallowed spot for many years. But that is a story for another time.