Timewalkers 2: Mairi

by Michele Chambers

  Especially the blood. Powerless to stop himself, he caressed the soft skin of her cheek with his thumb. She was beautiful. Regal. Perfect. And a mystery. How had she absorbed his wound into her own body? Rumors abounded of a strange race of healers three galaxies away, but they reportedly banished wounds, not absorbed them into their own flesh.

  The rhythmic ebb and pull of the beasts swimming suddenly ceased and dragged Raiden from his musings. He rose to find their boat anchored in a small cove. No more than a short leap off the bow was the end of a dock that stretched a good hundred lengths, all the way to the red sandy shore. An explosion of color surrounded him. Yellows and greens, purples and oranges of every shade lit up the twilight from the myriad of strange bushes and trees that fought for survival in the wet sand.

  And in the center of it all, small and defiant in flowing red robes, an old woman stood waiting. Her white hair hung nearly to her ankles in a long braid. Blue-green eyes that were hauntingly familiar studied him with a marked intelligence from deep within the lined face.

  Instinctively, Raiden raised the blaster in warning and waited.

  With a bearing as regal as any queen’s, the woman glided on silent footsteps toward them. When she reached the end of the dock, she threw a rope to him with surprising vigor and watched in silence, her arms crossed, as he pulled the boat in and tied it off with one hand. The other hand still gripped the blaster like a lifeline. “Who are you?”

  Ripe and wizened with age, her voice held no hint of fear. “You’re not going to use that. Put the blaster away and follow me.”

  Gods have mercy, not another wisecracking female like Mairi. What choice did he have? He wasn’t going to kill the old woman in cold blood, and she knew it. But one wrong move, and he wouldn’t hesitate. “Where are you taking us?”

  “I’m Farra. I’m taking you to my home. Yasra tells me your woman is injured. We can help.”

  He’d risk it. Mairi desperately needed help, and he had nothing to offer her at the moment. Raiden shoved the meager contents of Mairi’s case into his pockets before lifting her into his arms and following the old woman. They walked about two hundred lengths from shore before a small home came into view. Made of the same brown polymer as Mairi’s boat, the circular structure had a bright orange door. The roof was a patchwork of colors designed to match the nearby foliage. He guessed it would be nearly undetectable from the air.

  “Come.” Farra opened the door and preceded him into the house.

  Comfortable and functional, the interior was lit with small burning torches. Farra led him to a narrow bed with simple woven linens the color of cream, and motioned for him to lay Mairi down. Even with all the jostling, Mairi hadn’t stirred, and worry tightened its grip.

  “Can you heal her?”

  “No.”

  Raiden turned to see Farra removing her long robe and hanging it on a hook beside the now closed door. She pivoted to her left and walked to a small table littered with stones similar to the ones he had in his pocket. His gaze followed the line from her thin hands, up her frail arms, and stopped at her neck. There was the mark both he and Mairi had branded on their shoulders. “Who are you?”

  “A stranded traveler, just like Mairi.” Farra didn’t bother to look up when she answered; she was crushing herbs in a small silver bowl on the table.

  “How do you know her name?” Hell. Things just kept getting more bizarre.

  “The Fire Beasts told me.”

  “So, you can talk to the animals as well?” Raiden waited for her answer, spellbound by the possibility. What other talents did these women have? “And breathe water?”

  “Yes.” At last, Farra approached, her gaze on Mairi, and the unshed tears in her eyes were completely unexpected. “I believe we are cousins, of a sort. I was not prepared to actually meet another in this life. I am deeply honored to have her here.” The pain in her eyes turned to iron when she switched her focus to him. “And profoundly disturbed that she is here at all. Do you know why she was sent here? Has she completed her mission?”

  Farra gently rolled Mairi onto her side, pulled the suit from her shoulder, and began rubbing the herbal mixture into the wound that, by all the laws of physics, shouldn’t be there.

  “She said she was here to save me.” Raiden’s shoulder came to life, the light tingle rapidly progressed to a cold burn. He clenched his jaw against the pain and leaned against the wall behind him. Farra left Mairi for a moment to retrieve a now glowing green stone from the small red table. In his pocket, Mairi’s stones pulsed with heat against his thigh. The closer Farra got to Mairi, the more they flared to life.

  Hands steady, a strange high-pitched wail coming from her throat, Farra pressed the stone into the wound on Mairi’s shoulder.

  An agony of fire exploded through his body like the blade in his shoulder had struck anew. His knees collapsed.

  Eyes rounding in shock, Farra turned her attention to where he lay on the floor. “Do you bear the mark of the Shen on your shoulder as well?”

  “Yes.” A Shen. So that’s what it was called. Warm liquid coated his back, and Raiden knew without a doubt that his blood again flowed from the wound on his shoulder. Somehow, this woman and her magic had returned it to him.

  He blinked, and Farra was kneeling over him. “Where are her stones?”

  “Pocket.”

  “I’m sorry for your pain. If I had asked first, this wouldn’t have happened.” Farra dug in his pocket for Mairi’s things, and Raiden couldn’t summon the energy to stop her. Mairi would live. Of that he was certain. His own survival was another matter entirely.

  “You must live, do you here me?” Farra grabbed his shoulders and squeezed with surprising strength. Her eyes blazed at him, were all he could see. “If you die, she’s doomed. You must live.”

  Damn bossy women. Did they really think he was that easy to kill? Raiden felt a grin split his lips, then everything went black.

  * * * * *

  Mairi stared out over the water and buried her fingers and toes in the warm sand where she sat waiting. A cool breeze flirted with the folds of the soft red gown she’d borrowed from Farra. An entire day had passed, and still Raiden slept. Farra assured her he would live, that the stones held him in slumber until his healing was complete. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to believe the old woman, but logic and fear were not always easy bedmates.

  “Don’t worry so, child. Yasra tells me he will wake soon.” Farra settled herself onto the sand next to her.

  “I know. I heard her.”

  “Then why the long face? He bears the mark. You’ve found your mate.”

  How could she explain this feeling of foreboding when she didn’t understand it herself? “I’m not sure what it is, Farra. I just have a feeling that my battle isn’t over yet, that something else is going on here.”

  “He said you came here to save him.” Manners too refined to pry, Farra would never directly ask about her mission. But Mairi felt she deserved to know.

  “Yes. He’s the crown prince of Qillius Two. His disappearance at the bottom of the Fire Sea triggered a war that killed billions. I got him to the surface, but I still have to get him home.” Farra sighed in understanding, but didn’t offer any advice. She’d been so busy tending to Raiden that Mairi hadn’t had an opportunity to question her. But she had noticed the Shen on Farra’s neck and her ability to speak with the Fire Beasts. “Farra, are you Atlantean? And what happened to you? How did you end up here?”

  Farra’s eyes closed, but not quickly enough to hide the stark pain behind them. Mairi almost wished she could take back the question. Almost.

  Voice barely a whisper, Farra began her tale. “I’m a Timewalker, like you. And Atlantean.”

  “Who was your mother? Do you carry the history?”

  “Yes. My mother was Helene. Her mother was Rebeka, and hers, Celine.”

  Mairi shook her head. She didn’t recognize any of the names. “My mother is Shauna, her mother was Trina, and
hers, Tempest.”

  “Shauna was my great-great-great grandmother’s sister.”

  “My God. You’re three generations beyond me.”

  Farra’s chuckle rippled through the night. “You’re much, much older than I am. But then, time doesn’t really mean anything to us, does it?”

  “No, I suppose not.” Mairi rested her head on her knees and hugged herself at the thought. Being a Timewalker was an honor, but it came with a price. “What happened to you Farra? How did you end up here?”

  “I was sent here nearly thirty orbits ago to assassinate a man.”

  At her gasp, Farra laughed. “Don’t be surprised. Not all Walkers are sent to save. Sometimes we’re sent to kill.”

  “Something went wrong.”

  “Yes. My target was saved at the last possible moment by a fiercely loyal bodyguard. A Dark Walker had forewarned them. She smiled and waved at me as I was arrested for murdering the wrong man. I was sentenced and locked in one of their floating prisons. There, buried alive in a cell beneath the Fire Sea, I met Yasra and her family. They helped me escape. But before the assassination attempt, I’d met my mate. Once I was free, I went in search of him, and discovered the Dark One had claimed him. She was lying in wait for me. I tried to kill her, but Danne, my mate, was seduced by her. He saved her life and disappeared with her. But she wasn’t the only one to hunt me. I was forced to flee to protect my unborn child. Yasra brought us here.”

  “You’ve been stranded here your entire life? And where is your child now?”

  “Yes. This island is small, insignificant, and Yasra’s home. The quad protects it, and me. And in answer to your other question, I gave birth to a daughter. Her name is Jena.”

  Mairi’s heart stuttered in understanding. “How long ago did the Archivers claim her?”

  “They didn’t.”

  “What? I don’t understand. If she’s not Walking, where is she? And where is your mate?”

  “My Danne, he’s a Jumper. And so, Jena was born with both of our gifts. And hunted for them.”

  “Farra, what’s a Jumper, or a Dark Walker?” Tales were handed down in her family, mother to daughter, an oral history of her Timewalker heritage. Mairi knew every woman’s story, every incident, by heart. Never, in all those stories, had she ever heard of Dark Walkers or Jumpers.

  “Dark Walkers are sent out, as we are, to alter Timelines. The one sent after me, in this time, claimed that she served a greater good. But she tried to kill me, lured Danne from my side. To me, she was simply evil. That’s all I know of them. But the Jumpers, they’re very different, and much more powerful.” Farra drew circles in the sand with her fingers, gathering her thoughts. “Danne and Jena have a unique molecular structure. They don’t need an Archiver to ride the strands.”

  “Oh, my God.” Time travel at will, anywhere in existence, on any timeline. Normally, a Timewalker needed an Archiver to open the doorway through time, and align the strands so she arrived in the correct place and time, without crossing energy paths with another traveler. An Archiver could manipulate the strands, read them, but couldn’t control them and ride them at the same time. They needed each other. Someone completely autonomous, with that kind of power could do great things, or destroy world after world.

  “He came for Jena when she was two. Tore her from my arms and disappeared.”

  So much to bear, for one woman. For her baby girl...

  Tears welled up in her eyes, and Mairi tried to blink them away. Farra’s story deserved to be honored, not doused in tears. “I’m sorry. Do you know why he took her? Or where?”

  “I tried to follow, to jump through the portal, but I was thrown back here and nearly died. My molecular structure didn’t allow me to follow. I remain here, and with every breath I take, I know they live. He lives. Sometimes, I reach Jena in my dreams, talk to her, look at her beautiful face and tell her how much I love her. The link I have to Danne is the only thing that keeps me sane. I know he will protect Jena from harm, that he takes care of her. It is all I have and the only way I can care for her.”

  “Who’s hunting her?”

  “Danne would never tell me their names. He said that if I knew, they’d use my knowledge as a way to track her. I decided to take her and run, but the Archivers never answered my call. My little Jena was only two. Too innocent to understand, but not to be murdered. I don’t know why Danne did what he did. Sometimes I feel him with that woman, the Dark Walker, and I want to rip out my own throat and take him to the afterlife with me. I feel his tortured thoughts, his guilt, but I can’t hold the connection long enough to discover what is happening. I’ve considered killing myself, and him with me, but in the end, I’m too selfish. He’s my only link to Jena. If he’s gone, I’m afraid something terrible will happen to her.”

  Mairi looked away to study the sea. Between her fingers, the sand chafed and burned where she’d rubbed her palms nearly raw in agitation. A Dark Walker had stolen her mate? How was that possible? Immediately her thoughts turned to Raiden. She hadn’t claimed him yet, but even the thought of losing him was like a hot poker in her stomach. “How did the she steal him from you, Farra? How did she do it?”

  “I don’t know. It sounds insane, but I still believe he loves me. I know he loves Jena because I feel it in him when we connect.” Farra’s smile was weak and died before it reached her eyes, but Mairi appreciated the effort.

  “Enough misery. I stay here. I live because I’m a stubborn old woman, and because my life sustains them. Not to mention that an Archiver came to me in a dream and asked me to prepare.”

  “For what?”

  “For you. Yasra and I’ve been gathering items we though might be of use to you. You’ll find them below, in Yasra’s cavern. The quad has already agreed to help you and Raiden get to the nearest city. At the current time, we float closest to Tertia. It’s the capital, and heavily guarded, but that can’t be helped. You’ll be able to find a ship there.”

  The ground shifted beneath her, and Mairi fought the sudden dizziness that swamped her. Silent all day, her Shen now blazed to life.

  “Your mate wakes. Claim him. Protect him. And get off this planet as quickly as possible.” Farra rose and stripped to nothing in the soft light of the setting star.

  Mairi noted, as a strange melancholy gripped her, that she didn’t know the star’s name.

  “I’ll be at sea, with my other family, for the entire evening. Have some fun for me. I’ll see you two lovers in the morning.” With a wink and a saucy smile, Farra dove into the water and disappeared.

  * * * * *

  Mairi entered the small house with her heart in her throat, not quite sure what she was going to say even if she could get a sound out. Raiden sat on the edge of Farra’s bed, sheet draped over his hips, examining everything within his line of vision. One arm crossed his bare chest so he could massage his healed shoulder.

  “Hello.” Brilliant opening line. She was so very glad she’d thought of it.

  “How do those stones work? My shoulder is perfect. Even a med unit would take several days to heal a wound that severe.” Hawklike and intense, his attention shifted to her the moment she entered the room.

  “Let me see.” Raiden claimed she was his. Farra testified to the mark on his shoulder, but Mairi needed to see it for herself. He twisted away from her so she could examine his back. There, perfect and unnerving, was the Shen to match hers. Fingers trembling, she traced the circular pattern with a reverence she normally reserved for the holy relics in her mother’s church. His Shen flared with heat in response to her touch, pulsed beneath her sensitive fingertips with a beat all its own. A rhythm hers answered.

  “I’d say we’ve both been branded.” Raiden turned back to face her and caught her wrist as her hand trailed over his shoulder stealing a whisper of contact with his silken hair. After placing a kiss in her palm, he spoke. “I woke up with that symbol smoldering in my flesh after a Farseeing ceremony when I was thirteen. I don’t understand exactl
y what it means, but I think you do.”

  “Yes.”

  “So tell me.”

  How could she when all she could think about was his kiss? Where had this weak, trembling body come from? It most certainly wasn’t hers. “What do you want to know?”

  “I want you to tell my why my blood started to boil the first time I saw you.” His lips nuzzled her palm again and the air froze in her lungs. “I want to know why visions of you have haunted me for years. Why would you risk your life to save a man you’ve never met? And why, even though I’m hunted, all I can think about is having you hot and naked beneath me in this bed?”

  “Can we start with the hot and naked? Because I can’t think when you’re touching me.” Oh, she felt the heat rising to flush her face, could barely believe she’d said it. And still, she waited for his response as if her very life hung in the balance.

  Chapter Five

  “All right.” The sheer force of the desire blazing in his eyes held her captive. He must be a magician, a wizard, or a sorcerer who’d cast a spell, because she couldn’t move. Not to blink. Not to twitch. And absolutely not to step away from his gloriously naked body as he rose from the bed and pulled her into his arms.

  Anticipation brought his lips to hers in slow motion, out of sync with normal time. Hungry and demanding, his kiss sealed them together and pushed her already heated libido to an inferno in her bloodstream. The hard planes of his body formed a sensual wall that she brazenly attempted to meld to her own.

  Lips still locked, tongues dueling for dominance, Raiden released the clasps at her shoulders and the soft fabric of her gown slid down her body until it was caught on the curving mounds of her breasts. Impatient to be skin to skin with him, Mairi pulled away to let the gown fall.

  Raiden’s hand on her breast caught the soft fabric, held it firmly in place as his thumb danced over her nipple, teased it to a hard peak and sent a rush of liquid heat to welcome him between her legs.

  He pulled his mouth from hers to trail his lips along her jaw, down the sensitive curve of her neck, and lower, to the beckoning peak in his hand. Swaying toward him, she moaned when he closed his mouth around the tight crest. The flick of his tongue through the soft material sent darts of fire straight to her core. When she was sure she couldn’t take any more, he pulled the dress from her body and suckled her, hard and fast.