Crimson Rain

by Jaye Roycraft

  “Rayn!” The shout came from outside the building. The other B’haratan “ambassador.”

  “In here.”

  The newcomer entered the hangar cautiously and stopped when he saw Dhagaz.

  “Your friend is over there. I think he’s still alive.”

  The dens ran to Rayn and knelt at his side, then looked at Kyl. “What happened to him?”

  “He was caught by Dhagaz’s Roven Killer.” He nodded toward the weapon. “That electromagnetic monstrosity.”

  The dens turned back to his friend and closed his eyes. “He’s still breathing, but I can’t reach him. Can you help him?”

  “Perhaps.”

  “And will you?”

  It was the right thing to do—not just for Dina’s sake, but his own. “Aye. But you’ll have to drag him over here. My body has no strength yet.”

  The young dens rolled DeStar’s body over, grasped him under his arms, and dragged him across the floor to within Kyl’s reach. Kyl moved his hand with an effort and placed it over DeStar’s heart. The body indeed lived, but his mind had retreated to a very dark and faraway place. But Kyl’s mind could heal as easily as it could harm, and there was no place another mind could go that he couldn’t follow.

  Kyl closed his eyes and slipped into the nonphysical world. DeStar’s spirit was easy to track. The man’s energy spark left a trail to follow as brilliant as that of a meteor across the night sky. He found the spirit in the world of the oversoul, the highest level of being. It was a place Kyl had been to many times himself. It was the place of the Logos—cosmic reason, where lie the keys to destiny, the source of all order, and the purpose of physical being.

  Come back with me, DeStar. Your time in the manifest world is not done. There are those who need you, and there’s much work to be done. I can’t do it all.

  DeStar’s spirit gave its assent, and together they journeyed back to the physical world. DeStar’s eyes opened, and he looked at Kyl. Thank you, friend.

  No. I think I should be the one thanking you.

  Sandy entered the hangar, stepped over to Dhagaz’s body, and whistled. “Xe a che.”

  Kyl, the feeling finally back in his limbs, stood and joined his shipmate. Dhagaz’s skin was blue, and he smelled of burnt flesh.

  “I wish I’d been here to see that. Luck of the Roven, Alec.”

  He patted Sandy on the back. “No, not this time, brother, not this time. There was a little more than luck involved.”

  Sandy nodded and turned to him. “Did you get it all?”

  “Aye.” Kyl walked over to one wall, where a panel hid the controls for the video cameras in the hangar. “The bastard gave the performance of a lifetime. I think our B’haratan friends here will see that the Glacians do the right thing by the recording.”

  He turned, and Rayn DeStar winked at him.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The Crimson Rain

  DINA LEANED AGAINST the outside wall of Kyl’s mansion, breathing heavily, praying that Sage and Sandy had been in time. She longed to join the fray inside, but Sandy had ordered her to remain outside, and he’d made it a compelling command. Long moments passed, and still no one came out. She heard nothing, though she reached with her mind for any sounds which might issue from the mouth of the bay. She sensed only the stillness of death, and she fought a rising panic.

  She could stand it no longer.

  Rayn?

  She shivered, but no response filled her mind. Nothing in the universe would prevent Rayn from answering her except loss of consciousness or death. Her heart, already thudding from her exertion, now thundered in her ears.

  Sage!

  Stay there, and keep quiet.

  She slumped to the ground, covered her face with her hands, and cried. Rayn had gone to warn Kyl—for her. He had overcome his feelings of hatred—for her. Guilt washed over her as her tears filled her hands, but no comforting thought came.

  When she’d had the choice of leaving with Rayn or staying with Kyl, doubts had come so easily to her. She had questioned Rayn’s motives, his feelings—even his ability to forgive her. This of a man who had overcome Gods knew how many obstacles to travel across space in a search anyone else would have deemed impossible. He’d been prepared to fight a man he knew was his superior in strength—for her. He’d been willing to forgive the most serious of transgressions between bonded mates—for her.

  Her foolishness and selfishness overwhelmed her, and she put her hands over her ears to shut out the punishing thoughts.

  A shadow darkened her face, and she looked up at the man standing before her. The handsome face was silhouetted by the sun, but she had no doubt as to the man’s identity.

  “You can stop your tears. It’s over.” He held out his hand to help her up.

  “Rayn?” she croaked, having no voice.

  “See for yourself.” Sage helped her to her feet and nodded toward the doorway.

  There he stood, bracing himself against the doorjamb, long strands of hair hanging over his eyes and bright blood trickling down his raised arm from a cut on his hand. She threw herself at him and almost knocked him backwards, but he caught her and held her as fiercely as if she were a lifeline in a storm.

  “I’m sorry, Rayn, so sorry . . .”

  He shushed her and caressed her, and she realized with a laugh how foolish her words were. The very last words any B’haratan cares to hear. She leaned back to look at him. He’d just been through a battle, and he looked it. Blood from a small cut on his cheek caught her eye first, followed by the dark growth of two-day old beard that helped disguise some of the dirt and sweat that streaked his tired countenance. She reached up to smooth back the tangled hair, and her gaze followed the arrow point of his widow’s peak to his eyes.

  She frowned. His eyes looked strange. Not just dark and sullen, as they had before, but wrong. She pulled closer to him and looked deep into the golden wells. They were ghost-eyes. Haunted. No. She tentatively touched his mind, but a wall of pain repelled her.

  “No!” She pushed away from him, and alarmed, Sage caught her by the arm.

  She struggled against him. “Let go of me!”

  “Dina, what is it? What’s wrong?” Rayn took a step toward her, and she fought even harder to back away from him.

  “Talk to us, Dina,” said Sage, still holding her fast.

  “You bastard! How could you do it? Get away from me!”

  Rayn, his brows raised, looked at Sage, who shook his head in answer to the silent question. Hands raised in surrender, Rayn took a step back. “Relax, Dina, I’m not going to hurt you. Just tell me what’s wrong.”

  Sage, can’t you see? Don’t you know what’s happened? It’s the Roven!

  Sage burst out laughing and released Dina’s arm. “Cousin, would you please reassure your woman that you are still the same stubborn man I left B’harata with? She thinks the Roven has taken you.”

  Rayn didn’t seem to see any humor in the situation. “Touch my mind, little girl, if you don’t believe it’s really me.”

  “I did, and I felt the Roven. You think I haven’t felt his energy enough times to recognize it? And your eyes . . . you have the Roven’s eyes.”

  “That’s because he saved my life, Dina,” said Rayn, trying to approach her once again.

  “Perhaps I can explain it to the lady,” came a low utterance from the doorway. They all pivoted at the sound of the voice, and she saw the weary, scarred face above the feathered breastplate.

  Dina felt a lightheadedness wash over her, and her body folded to the ground before Rayn or Sage could catch her.

  Sometime later, she felt wakefulness stir her—that and a hand that caressed the hair that covered her shoulders.

  Ummm . . . Rayn?

  Yes, little girl. You’re n
ot going to run screaming from my arms again, are you?

  Krek. I don’t suppose you’ll ever let me live that down.

  I may, but I doubt Sage will. He was in stitches. How do you feel?

  I’ll know better when I try to get to my feet, but right now that’s not something I want to do anytime soon.

  Don’t you want to hear what happened?

  Mmm, someday, maybe.

  The others are waiting. They’re worried about you.

  Oh, very well. Dina rolled over and sat up. She was on the bed she’d slept on her first night in Kyl’s house. She frowned at Rayn, touching his cheek where he’d been cut. What about you? Are you truly all right?

  Yes, truly all right.

  She looked into his eyes and gave a short laugh that was half-sob, half-chuckle. The clear amber eyes glowed at her even in the muted light, and the haunted look was gone. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips, softly and tentatively at first, deepening the kiss when he circled his arms around her and pulled her tightly against him.

  Finally he released her, and, breathless, she laid her cheek against his, snaking her fingers through his long hair and feeling the strong thick muscles of his neck. The little finger of her left hand caught on something, and she hooked the slender ribbon of metal, sliding her finger down its length to the middle of his sternum.

  She poked the tip of her little finger through the circlet of gold and raised it to her eyes, turning the band until a silver eye flashed at her, crying a rainbow of sparks and one luminescent gray tear.

  She looked at Rayn, and a wide smile, complete with crinkles around his eyes and a long dimple down one cheek, greeted her. She returned the smile, but couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling up as well.

  It was her exodite and pearl ring, given to Rayn on Exodus, so long ago.

  “WELL, LITTLE GIRL, are you ready for one last story?” She and Rayn entered the solarium where the other three men waited. All rose when they came in and asked after her health.

  “I’m fine, really. It was just a combination of the shocks of the day, seeing Rayn after so long, finding out about the Roven, thinking that Rayn was dead . . .” She looked at Kyl, meeting his eyes. “I guess the thought that Kyl had killed Rayn was one too many shocks.” Sage might have had a good laugh, but she felt terrible that she’d believed even for one minute that Kyl would destroy Rayn and take his body. Kyl’s eyes didn’t show it now, but she knew her lack of faith in him had hurt him. She wanted his forgiveness before they parted forever, so she held his gaze until his eyes softened and pardoned her, and he nodded to her. She smiled at him to let him know she understood.

  Rayn’s voice broke in, and she shifted her gaze to him, but she kept the smile in place. “Dina, I know that you weren’t properly introduced to Sage. This handsome devil is Saynt-Aage Z’andarc, bond-mate to my cousin Cyonne. Sage is also a friend as well as my soul-counselor. There’s nothing closer to a B’haratan, not even a brother. I couldn’t have done this without him.”

  Sage stepped closer to Dina and gave her his grandest B’haratan greeting, the supine arm gestures embellished by a very debonair flourish. “My lady, it is an extreme pleasure to meet you after all this time. Rayn’s description of you, as uncharacteristically wordy as it was, didn’t do you justice. I know now why he was so fervent in his desire to find you.”

  “Thank you. Rayn, why didn’t you tell me you had such a charming cousin? Gentlemen, please be seated.”

  Rayn smiled and continued the introductions. “Sage, though the two of you have already met, this . . . this is Alecto Kylariz, the Roven who’s been the object of our search for so long. Dina, not for the first time, helped me learn a lesson today. I came to this rock to see this man killed, if not by my hand, then by the hand of a man I knew to be a ruthless killer. I didn’t care. It was what I wanted. But tonight, that burden is mine no more. Dina released me from all that. This man saved my life. He didn’t have to, but he did. Thank you, Kylariz. And now, I think you have a story all of us would like to hear.”

  Kyl nodded. “This is a story that Dina has heard but mere pages of. It’s a story without beginning and without end. As you all know, I’m a discarnate entity, as is Sandy. In our pure state, we have no physical body. In order to live and interact in the world of man, we must take a host. It’s the only way we can link our reality to yours. Dhagaz saw it as murder, and perhaps some of you saw it as such as well.”

  Kyl’s eyes took on the same faraway look they always did when he spun a story. His head was tilted back, and through the skylights he gazed at the night sky. “On some worlds, far across the frontier, we’re called Gods, for we cannot easily die. Some myths speak of the Roven as a phoenix, a creature reborn from the ashes of death. The phoenix is depicted as a great bird to honor our love of flight to the stars. This chapter began forty years ago, on the Xegesis frontier. I doubt that any of you have ever been there. The Xegen are an exquisite people, with golden skin, hair every shade of yellow from Dina’s to the darkest bronze, and eyes of indigo and violet. But the Synergy looked upon the Xegen with fear and hostility because of their ability to communicate with animals. I was an officer in the Xegen Fleet when Axial was assigned to my command as a rookie. She was not only beautiful, but had the untamed spirit of youth I’d lost many years before. She yearned for the stars, and for a long time I was her mentor, her teacher, showing her how to navigate and engineer the finest of the Xegen ships. As she grew older, we mated and travelled together as fellow officers in the Xegen Fleet. But differing assignments finally separated us, and the body I inhabited was mortally wounded in a battle with a Syn ship.

  “Thus was born Alejzo Tar. He was another Xegen, young and strong, but a mere trooper. I tried for a long time to make my way back to the heart of the Fleet, but a post as a sentinel pilot was the best I could do. For many years I didn’t see Axial, until fate finally brought our two ships together again at a frontier supply base. She didn’t know me, of course, but I knew her. She was older, but still magnificent in her fire and beauty. Time had served only to strengthen what youth had built, and grace and elegance tempered the passion she still possessed. We became acquainted, and perhaps she saw something in Alejzo Tar that reminded her of her former lover, the Fleet Officer. I couldn’t tell her who I was, of course. I’ve never revealed the secret of the Roven until now. Anyway, through a happy set of circumstances, she joined my crew, and we were together again.

  “But then came the order to patrol the quadrant that bordered Synergic space. The Red Zone was supposed to be neutral, allowing scientific or commercial vessels from either side, but warships were to stay out. I didn’t have a warship, but I was Fleet, so technically I shouldn’t have gone there. But I wanted to spend time with Axial planetside. There was this resort that catered to . . . everything pleasurable.

  “And the Syn came. In the form of a small recon ship. Nothing to worry about, even for us, their sworn enemy. This was a neutral zone. But this captain, unknown to us, had his own agenda, and that was to exterminate the Xegen wherever he found them. He had a small crew, but they were handpicked, all of them, and willing to carry out their captain’s orders to the letter.

  “Axial and I were together in our room, savoring the privacy that was so rare on our ship, when a young Syn officer burst through the door. He was the epitome of everything a young ISD officer aspired to. He was tall, lean, straight as a pillar and just as strong, with the good looks Glacian girls swoon over, thick blond hair and clear gray eyes. He was ambitious, intelligent, and had the special favor of his captain. He looked first at Axial, then at me. He stared long into my eyes, and I thought I saw compassion. It caught me off guard. He fired his weapon before I could react. I truly believe he regretted doing what he did. But he did it. He mortally wounded Alejzo Tar, and the Roven had no choice but to take the body of Lieutenant Kylariz for his own.

 
“Axial would have been spared, except that Captain Duguerra Dhagaz chose that moment to enter the room. He ordered me to kill Ax, which of course I refused to do. I should have killed Dhagaz right then and there, but in my naiveté I didn’t realize just what kind of man he really was. We argued, and more of the captain’s men came, and I think he went mad. He had to maintain control. He couldn’t allow defiance by his first officer. So he killed Ax before I could stop him, and, son or no son, hit me with a stun and left me to die in the firestorm that followed. When I came to, I found a massacre. Dhagaz and his men had killed two hundred and fifty-eight men and women—everyone at the outpost.”

  He paused and took a deep breath. “I thought Dhagaz would be punished for the Crimson Rain, as I came to call the massacre, but he lied and portrayed the Xegens as the aggressors in the battle. His crew backed him up, and he was promoted. After I recovered from the wounds of the Crimson Rain, I wandered the stars without purpose, until I met Sandy here on Eruthros. Our plan was born. We became raiders and did all we could to attract the eyes of the Synergy and Dhagaz. The rest, I think, you know.”

  WHEN THE TIME came to leave Triplicity, it was harder than Dina had imagined. Though she and Kyl had already said their personal good-byes, this was their final farewell. She and Rayn wanted to leave Eruthros as soon as the Sun God was refitted and minor repairs were made. Kyl, on the other hand, wanted to remain on his home world for a time while he searched for a new drop ship to replace the Megaera.

  They sat alone in Kyl’s solarium. The final moments were as hard to let go of as her feelings for him had been. She knew now that he’d loved her all along. And he had, indeed, given her his soul—the secret of who and what he was. She also knew that she’d loved him as well, in spite of her attempts to deny it. “What will you do now?” she asked.