by Mikayla Lane
“Tarona! Don’t let him hurt my daughter!” Haruki screamed out as he ran towards them.
He was thrown back by the blue wall that suddenly surrounded Ainsley and Alderic.
“I am sorry, Haruki. The Sotier is doing what he must,” Tarona replied.
Mikal appeared beside Haruki and studied the blue barrier looking for a way around it or through it.
“Alderic, if you harm that girl, I will kill you. I swear you will die by my hands,” Mikal warned, his fear for Ainsley overwhelming him.
“Shut up, you fools!” Alderic snapped.
He closed his eyes and placed his palms around Ainsley’s head and began a chant that sounded familiar to them even though the brothers knew they’d never heard it before.
“Tarona, please let us take her away. She’s just a little girl!” Haruki roared in anger and fear for his daughter.
“Warriors,” Tarona began in a voice that held a hard edge, “watch, listen, and learn. If you’d known what to do the child wouldn’t be in this condition.”
Haruki pounded on the blue barrier and growled in rage as he watched Alderic raise his palm over Ainsley and force a stream of light blue energy into her mouth. Her small body began to convulse violently, her limbs twitching and contorting grotesquely in the air like a puppet being controlled by the Sotier.
Deanna reached the chamber just as the light seemed to explode within Ainsley, causing Deanna to shield her eyes from the glare. When she looked again, Ainsley was laying crumpled on the floor in front of a kneeling and breathless Alderic.
Haruki saw his daughter on the floor just as the barrier went down and he grabbed Ainsley, pulling her to his chest. He snarled in satisfaction when he heard the crack of Mikal’s fist against Alderic’s jaw before the Sotier fell backward to the ground.
“Ainsley? Baby, come on, talk to Dad,” Haruki begged his unconscious daughter.
“Let us look at her,” Grant said gruffly as he and Luca moved to his side.
“Stop!” Tarona called out. “The child is fine now. Search her through your energy. See that the Sotier has corrected her anomaly, and there was no reason for your distrust or violence against him.”
The brothers looked doubtful but sifted Ainsley’s energy as Luca and Grant checked her vital signs. Haruki was the first to notice the difference since he was holding Ainsley in his arms and could more easily feel her energy.
“Oh Gods,” he whispered in hope and awe before sifting her energy again. “It’s true.”
“How is this possible?” Mikal asked as he too sifted Ainsley and noted the anomaly was gone.
“If you hadn’t hit me, I could have told you already,” Alderic said as he sat up and moved his sore jaw around. “You had a small window of opportunity to fix her and once she came inside here, that window was closing fast. If I hadn’t done it, she would have died. You must learn your duties or more like her will die or become irredeemable through your incompetence!”
Alderic stood and glared at the brothers before moving so fast they couldn’t follow him until he stood over Mikal who was holding his bloody nose.
“If you hit me again, I will show you why I am the Sotier,” Alderic snarled.
“How the fuck we were supposed to know you weren’t hurting her?” Shane snapped.
Before anyone knew what he was doing, Alderic was in front of Shane, lifting him up by the collar.
“You’re cocky bastards who play with your power like it’s a fucking toy! How many anomalous have you killed instead of healed? How many more must suffer or die because of your arrogance and refusal to learn?” Alderic challenged, seeing the anger leave the brothers as guilt set in. He put Shane back down and shoved him away.
Haruki looked down at Ainsley and again sifted her energy, noting that the anomaly was indeed gone. He cuddled the girl close as Deanna knelt beside him and brushed a lock of Ainsley’s hair from her face.
“Is she all right?” Deanna whispered, her heart breaking for Haruki and the sweet girl she’d only briefly met.
Haruki couldn’t stop thinking about Moira and all of the others they’d expulsed over the years and wondered how many hadn’t been necessary. How many they might have been able to save like Alderic had done with Ainsley. He looked over at Deanna with unshed tears in his eyes.
“I think she’s going to be OK,” he whispered, trying not to choke on his emotions.
“The child is corrected,” Tarona said. “I would never allow an innocent to be harmed, nor would the Sotier. Be assured that she will remain safe while in my domain.”
“Asleep?” Deanna asked, looking at Haruki. “Ainsley said something about you putting me to sleep. Is that true?”
Haruki sighed and nodded his head.
“This place . . . no one is meant to know about it,” he whispered, hoping she’d understand.
“So you knocked me out?” Deanna snapped as she stood and glared at him with her hands on her hips.
“It was not your mate who placed you to sleep, it was me,” Alderic admitted, standing only a few feet from Ainsley as he quietly checked her vitals. “The Prime child should not have awakened you.”
“The child?” Deanna asked with wide eyes as she shook with rage that he would blame the child for waking her when he should have never put her to sleep to start with. “Fuck you.”
With his head turned to the side, Alderic never saw her hand before it connected with his already sore jaw.
“What is wrong with you people?” Alderic roared in anger and frustration.
Haruki grabbed Deanna and pulled her to him. When he had her attention, he placed Ainsley gently in her arms and pushed her towards the door.
“Put her in your pod. I will be there soon,” he promised.
He had kissed her cheek before he turned to face a visibly furious Sotier.
Deanna held tightly to the girl and spared only a glance at the brothers who were facing off against the Sotier.
“You better come for us,” she whispered before striding out of the door.
When Mikal saw that Deanna and Ainsley were safely outside of the chamber, he stepped towards the Sotier.
“I don’t know how you do things on your world, but on ours, we have free will as long as it doesn’t violate morals, ethics or laws. Deanna took offense to you taking that from her,” Mikal explained.
“It is no different on our worlds!” Alderic snapped. “But our Talunaha isn’t overrun by humans, and we don’t have anomalous running amok inside! Do you have no idea how frustrating this is! Your arrogance and ignorance could have killed that child!”
Haruki rubbed a tired hand over his face and nodded.
“I get it. I do, and I can’t thank you enough for helping my daughter. We’ve fucked up, and there’s obviously a lot we need to learn, but there’s got to be room for compromise. You can’t come in here, treat us like kids and trample over our mates and lives,” Haruki said, trying to create a working relationship.
“What the fuck?” Shane demanded, glaring at Haruki for siding with the Sotier.
“He fixed Ainsley!” Haruki shot back. “Don’t you wonder if we could have helped Moira? And what are you going to tell Dread when he figures it out when Ainsley goes back home just fine?”
“Fuck me,” Shane whispered, finally understanding.
“Sotier,” Tarona interrupted. “I do believe on your worlds that Dranovian mates and children are allowed inside the strongholds. To try and prevent my warriors from allowing their families here would be hypocritical, not to mention, it’s not your call to make, but mine.”
The brothers looked at one another in surprise, but Tarona wasn’t done yet.
“It is my decree that the mates and children of my warriors can be allowed free rein of my stronghold so long as this chamber is not disturbed while they are training. I have also lifted the Sotier’s ban on your access to the Shengari’ and have allowed your Dranovian brothers access,” Tarona declared.
Alderic sighed in
defeat and shrugged his shoulders.
“You must be trained!” he growled.
“I agree with you,” Mikal said.
“As do I,” Haruki said.
“Yeah . . . I think we do too,” Shane murmured, thinking of Dread’s mate Moira and the others they’d expulsed over the years.
“Then we must secure your Talunaha from the humans,” Alderic stated, waiting to see if they’d argue with him.
“Someone better damn well start with explaining what the fuck is going on!” Declan roared from the doorway as half a dozen brothers spilled into the chamber.
“Great, more untrained, hot-tempered fools,” Alderic muttered with a shake of his head.
“Are we good? For now?” Haruki asked Alderic.
When the man just nodded, Haruki turned to Mikal.
“I’m going to check on Deanna and Ainsley while you catch Declan up on what’s going on. Call me if you need me,” he said.
At Mikal’s nod, Haruki sprinted out of the door leaving Mikal to explain things to Declan and the new arrivals. He ran to Deanna’s pod and gasped in fear when he saw it was empty. Haruki calmed himself enough to send out a wave of energy and sighed in relief as he took off towards the mess hall.
He slowed to a stop when he heard giggling from inside and smiled as he opened the door.
“Dad!” Ainsley was suddenly across the room and into his arms. “I’m fixed! Thank you, thank you!”
Haruki cuddled her close, fighting his own tears when he felt hers against his neck.
“I didn’t do it, baby. The Sotier, Alderic fixed you. I’m so sorry that I didn’t even know that I could,” he whispered against her hair.
“I wouldn’t have been here looking for you if you hadn’t adopted me. So it’s because of you that I’m fixed. Declan says everything happens for a reason, and I believe it now,” Ainsley whispered back.
Deanna couldn’t stop the tears in her own eyes as she watched the father and daughter hold one another. She wasn’t really sure what was going on but knew that the previously sick girl was now completely fine and something special had happened.
Haruki glanced over and saw that Deanna had snacks and drinks on the table and set Ainsley down on the floor.
“Why don’t you finish your food,” he said with a smile.
Ainsley threw her arms around his neck and hugged him once more before she ran over to the table and started eating again.
He stood watching her with a smile as Deanna walked over to him.
“She woke up before we got to the pod and said she was starving. I figured you’d know we’d be here if we weren’t there,” Deanna said.
“Thank you,” Haruki whispered, grabbing her hand and kissing the back of it. “I can’t imagine how hard this had been for you. I’m so sorry.”
Deanna surprised him by bursting out laughing.
“Ainsley and I were just talking about how exciting your lives are. I have to admit that I’m no stranger to adventure, but you guys are a whole new level of that,” Deanna admitted with a grin as she pulled him towards the coffee pot.
“I’m afraid it’s going to get a little more exciting,” he admitted, tossing some sugar in the cup Deanna handed him.
“How so?” Deanna asked, almost afraid to find out.
“This place can’t be found by Mike’s company or anyone for that matter. We’re going to have to come up with some slick tricks to make them think this place blew up,” Haruki admitted, watching Deanna’s eyes widen in fear.
“You can’t blow this place up!” she said in shock.
“No! Of course not!” Haruki assured her. “We’re going to pretend to. It’s a little confusing, but we’re going to borrow the ability of a friend to make it look like we’re blowing it up so Mike’s company won’t come looking for anyone and think it was destroyed.”
“You’re going to steal Trick’s power?” Ainsley asked with a gasp.
“What trick?” Deanna asked, already confused.
“Trick is a Tezarian. The Alderic guy made him go to sleep with Dread,” Ainsley said between bites of the sandwich Deanna had made her.
“Is a Tezarian like a Dranovian? Why would he make someone go to sleep feeling dread? Is he making him have nightmares?” Deanna asked in horror.
Ainsley snorted before bursting into laughter. Haruki couldn’t help but join in as he finished his coffee. He looked towards the door when he heard voices and saw a dozen of his brothers come into the mess hall with Alderic.
Deanna was stunned when Ainsley disappeared again and reappeared in front of the large Sotier causing him to stop in his tracks and look down at her. The room seemed to hold its breath while Ainsley beamed up at the stern looking man.
“Thank you so much,” Ainsley whispered before she burst into tears.
Alderic caught her against his chest and tried to hide the tears shimmering in his own eyes.
“You are most welcome, little one. Most welcome, indeed,” Alderic whispered gruffly before he set her back down on the floor. “Go finish your food, I can hear your stomach begging for dinner.”
Ainsley giggled and ran back to Deanna while the brothers looked at Alderic with a new respect. The man was a complete bastard to them but was a total wuss when it came to children and females. It was nice to know they had something in common other than being Dranovian.
“We’re going to need some serious help to get ready for the show. We should put Dread on the transport and bring back a few more of us,” Elias suggested as he grabbed a cup of coffee.
“We need to get the humans out of here first,” Alderic argued. “They have physical needs that have to be attended to, and we can’t keep them asleep for much longer without potentially causing harm. We should take them to my world.”
“Whoa! Wait a minute!” Deanna called out. “What humans are you talking about and why?”
Haruki winced when he realized that Deanna had no idea about the discussions they’d had while she was unconscious.
“Honey, there’s no way they will ever be safe if they remain here,” Haruki said, trying to help her understand the predicament they faced.
When Deanna looked horror struck, Alderic sat across from her.
“The men that want this place will not stop until they get it. There is nowhere your friends can go on this planet where they will be safe. On my world, they will be free and able to visit places they’d never dreamed of,” Alderic assured her. “I promise on my honor that I will see them well cared for.”
“All those years that they dedicated to their country and humanity and this is what they get? Ran off from their own world? What the hell kind of choice is that?” Deanna cried out in anger and hurt.
Alderic burst out laughing, but when no one joined him, he settled down and shook his head.
“Here, let me show you,” he said as he clapped his hands together and as he drew them apart a solar system appeared between his hands.
“That’s cool as fuck! I have to learn that,” Gun whispered in awe at the display of power.
“This is where my worlds are,” Alderic began to explain. “Three of them are inhabited and protected by Dranovians, just like us. Your friends will be able to travel the stars. They are scientists and if you give them a choice of death here or a place where they can live the unknown, which do you think they’d choose?”
“Then why can’t we give them that choice? Why can’t we ask them?” Deanna argued, hating that she was being put in this situation.
Alderic sighed and looked to the Dranovians for help but knew right away he’d get none. He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked at Deanna.
“Pick two for me to awaken. I will take them and two of the Dranovian brothers to Dranar so the humans can decide the fate of the rest. Is that acceptable?” he asked, although it was evident he wasn’t happy.
“I’m going!” Shane called out.
“Like hell,” Mikal growled as the other brothers began to argue about who would go
to the Tri-Worlds.
Deanna grinned up at Alderic, while Haruki nodded his thanks to him.
“Dog and Harry should go. They’d know best if everyone would be happy there,” Deanna said, wishing she could see the other world as well.
Chapter Sixteen
An hour later eight stood in the chamber that Dale disappeared in, while a larger group stood outside waiting to see what would happen.
Deanna looked up at Haruki nervously as she squeezed his hand. Her other hand was engulfed in Harry’s and no one dared say anything about Dog and Harry also clasping their hands as they looked around the small chamber and waited to disappear.
Mikal stood with his arms folded across his chest and his eyebrow raised in doubt while Shane grinned excitedly and Luca playfully flipped off Grant because he was going and Grant wasn’t.
Alderic looked at their antics and shook his head, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake taking the impulsive Dranovians to his worlds.
“Take a deep breath, it’ll prevent nausea from the cellular displacement,” he warned.
Seconds later the room flashed a bright blue, and when they opened their eyes, they were no longer in the pyramid. At least not the pyramid in the mountain that they came from.
“This has to be a trick,” Shane whispered as he ran his hand over the bright white stone chamber surrounding them.
“Welcome to my domain, Dranovian brothers, and human guests. I am Xaratia Sitari,” a voice echoed around the room. “I will allow the portal to remain open to Terra as long as your power is not used to harm any on my worlds without proper cause.”
“I have so many damn questions,” Dog whispered as he looked around the room in awe, noting the four white pedestals. “But the first thing is . . . I need a bathroom.”
Alderic chuckled and motioned to a room outside of the tunnel.
“Please, follow me, and I’ll show you where the facilities are located,” he offered.
No one moved and just looked at one another for a moment before Mikal and Shane stepped into the tunnel and began heading down it. Alderic smiled at the others and followed the brothers. Luca ran after them with Dog and Harry on his heels.
