The Iron Altar Series Box Set One: Books 1 to 3

by Casey Lea

  Misty was at his side before he could finish and planted a gritty kiss on his cheek. “You're a natural, Ace. Never think otherwise.”

  Misty pulled back and they studied each other solemnly. Jace reached to brush dirt from her face and the rest of the world seemed suddenly very far away. His hand settled over her cheek and he frowned. She smelled of earth and wildflowers, but there was some reason he shouldn’t be feeling like this-

  “What the hail have you done to my garden?” a voice demanded and at the same time a grating cough came from the sliver.

  Jace leapt to his feet and spun to face an elderly kres. She stood ramrod straight, with her arms crossed, but he grinned in relieved recognition.

  “Doctor Plume. We need help.”

  Harrier Plume's frown was wiped away and her face smoothed into a professional mask. “Are you hurt?”

  The willow started keening when its branches were swept aside and the strange kres who had saved Falkyn appeared.

  “Quickly,” she coughed and dragged what was now a regen pool out of the ship. Jace's brother was unrecognizable. Just as well, since Harrier stepped forward with calm competence.

  “What have you done so far?”

  The dark haired Court kres answered with similar clipped confidence. “He's a late pubescent kres who's suffered extensive trauma. I've used accelerated healing and stem cell direction by re-tasking normal regen pads.”

  Harrier looked up from the patient. “You achieved this with basic regen strips? Truly? He should be dead.”

  “He nearly was. And he still could be.”

  Harrier checked the data stream from her outsized com. “You're right. Come.” She decompressed a pair of dark discs, then levered the two magnets of a basic mag-repulsion sled under the patient so that he came smoothly off the ground. Amber helped her steer what remained of Falkyn toward the house. The two doctors broke into a jog, but Harrier called back over her shoulder.

  “Clean up my garden.”

  22

  Safely Home

  Darsey strode from her deck toward the cliff and straight into Blossom's soft evening rain. She switched off her protective field to let the steady mist settle on her upturned face. It chilled her when she approached the cliff on the ocean side of her house, but made her more aware of the slippery rocks beneath her feet and their sudden drop to the sea below. She stopped and looked down. She hadn't stood on the edge like this for years. Not since Jace was born.

  Darsey knew that if she turned she’d be able to see the lights of her home and beyond them, down a gentle wooded slope the village beyond, but she had no desire for warmth or comfort tonight. Not with her son so far from either and not with Crest dying. If anyone had made the last two planet-bound decades bearable and been a constant companion when her husband was busy, it was that loyal, lovely old kres.

  She sighed and blinked rain from her eyes. It was night-time, but the wind was rising to blow patchy holes in the cloud cover and suddenly there was plenty of light. Blossom had no moons, but the planet swung through space near the heart of the Milky Way and thousands of stars swirled around it like embers blown from a bonfire. They swept above Darsey, seeming close enough to touch.

  She tipped her head back and basked in the starlight. She usually loved the night, but for the first time the heavy scent of wet blossoms seemed cloying. In fact the rich smell was making her nauseous, and she was wasting her time out here. She had to be honest and admit she was hiding. Damn Crest. How could he decide to die and leave, just when Jace had decided to live and leave? Damn them both.

  Darsey's fingers twitched against her com, but she managed to stop herself from playing her son's message again. It only made her... everything. Angry, terrified, despairing. What the hell was he thinking?

  Falkyn survived, going to his mother, don't worry.

  Don't worry? Did he know her at all? Leaving Blossom had clearly given him space raptures, or radiated his brain, or both.

  The rain was heavier, or at least Darsey's cheeks were wetter. She turned, letting her com field sluice the water from her face, before assuming an expression of calm. What a joke. Calm had walked out the door along with her son. She crossed the damp lawn, slowing to take the broad stone steps to the deck that ran the length of the house. She paused to wipe her cheeks again and the night’s breath curled against the house shield ahead of her. It set her chimes jangling at one end of the veranda, while her husband’s wind pipes whistled at the other. She climbed the steps between the two and pushed through the energy barrier guarding their home.

  Darsey entered the seaside atrium and turned toward Crest's quarters without further hesitation. However, her good intentions were thwarted when her com thrummed urgently and she looked down at her wrist to see a familiar avatar.

  “Jace,” she accepted the link, called his name and sat down on something, she had no idea what, in the space of a single breath. “Where are you?”

  “I'm fine. And no, I'm not going to tell you where I am.”

  Darsey had trouble hearing him over the pounding of her heart. “What? You're sounding paranoid, kiddo. I can't just wave my wand and get you back.”

  “Not for want of wishing.” Jace bit his lip and looked over his shoulder. Darsey widened her field of view and waves of white hair came into focus past her son. Was that Free's daughter? It must be. That hair was distinctive and Misty had always been a beautiful girl. Darsey jerked straighter. Jace's disappearance suddenly made a lot more sense.

  “Well... umm, you've probably noted by now that I've run away from home.” There was a pause that Darsey made no effort to fill. Jace looked awkwardly back to Mistwing, who just shrugged. “Shit-” he continued. “Sorry. This is hard. A challenge I guess, 'cause usually I'm good at things without trying.”

  “Yeah, you're a god,” his companion observed happily, before leaning past his arm to address Darsey. “When you talk with my Patri, please tell him that I made it and I love it out here.” Misty added a respectful nod, before backing away. “Don't be long, Ace. We need to get unpacked.”

  Suddenly Darsey was seeing stars that had nothing to do with the night sky. “You're not coming home?”

  “Nope.” Jace studied Darsey warily and she wanted to plead with him, but her throat had closed so tight it was hard to breathe. Choking out more than one word was impossible.

  “Why?”

  “Mom, I'm sorry. I'm really sorry.” Darsey held her son's gaze, drinking in the apology and willing him on. His hands scrubbed at his face, while she waited, still breathless, but sure he was about to see sense. His eyes narrowed and he sighed. “No, I won't come home. I can't. On Blossom I just feel... I felt smothered.” Jace bit his lip, but the words were out and a minute later Darsey realized who he thought was smothering him. Her jaw tightened, but she managed to find enough calm to explain.

  “I know when you're young it feels like you're going to live forever, but that's just not true. Especially if you're reckless. Parents need to keep their children safe until they're old enough to understand the risks in every choice.”

  “You don't think I'm old enough yet.”

  “'Do you? I can see the temptation, Jace. I'm sure if I was a teenage boy I'd follow a wild, young woman to the Rim-”

  “No.” Her son's open defiance almost made Darsey bite her tongue when her mouth snapped shut on the rest of her words. Jace blinked and hesitated, before charging on. “Don't blame Misty for this.”

  “Would you have gone to the Rim without her?”

  “I'd have gone somewhere. Anywhere that was far from home. I can't keep living for two.” Jace stopped, but his words hung stark between them. Darsey felt as if he'd slapped her. How could he not appreciate her efforts? Her career abandoned to stay at home with him, a life tied to the security of one planet, her constant scrutiny of tutors for his home schooling, running him all over the continent to follow whichever sport was statistically safest at his age-

  Darsey froze and this time she fe
lt like she might have been punched. She stopped and stared at her son. She really looked at him for the first time in years and it was like being doused with ice water. She would have sworn she knew exactly what Jace looked like, but for a long time now she had been looking at his schedule, his guards, his friends, everything except him. She was struck for the first time by the fact that she had to look up to study her son's face. At some point in the past nineteen cycles he had magically become taller than her. Taller than his father too, she realized. His hair was the same dark red as hers and his eyes just as blue, but his features were somehow larger and stronger than she had thought. The charming little boy was gone. A stranger had replaced him. A mysterious young man with a hard face and body, filled by needs she had no wish to confront. “Oh.”

  Jace's face relaxed at the dismay in Darsey's soft cry. He stepped closer and the hologram moved too, until they almost seemed to touch. “I love you,” he grated, before hurrying on. “You know that - right? I just need to have a life. And yes, I realize that involves risk. I have paid attention, mom. I'm sorry for your losses, for our losses-”

  “You don't understand,” Darsey wailed, interrupting Jace like a distress beacon. She flinched when he stepped back, retreating from her again. She made an effort to steady herself, but started shaking instead. “It's my fault. I killed them.” Her voice broke and Jace studied her warily.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Your brother,” she whispered. “And my brother. I was scared with one and then careless with the other. Careless. I had no right. I should have known better.”

  “Mom, no. That doesn't make sense. It's not your fault they died.”

  Darsey screwed her eyes shut, gripping her hands tightly in front of her and refusing to look at her son. “It was my choice. Don't you see? Devyn, your uncle, the original Devyn, he made it my choice. He said he wouldn't go to the experimental space program. Not if I didn't want him to. He was all I had after our parents died and I needed him to stay home, but I was scared. Of what he'd think of me. I was sure if I said no he'd hold it against me and end up h-hating me. Instead he ended up dead.” She hesitated, opening her eyes just enough to stare down at her tangled fingers, unable to stop them writhing past each other.

  “I could have saved him, if I'd been braver. So my cowardice killed my brother and you'd think, hey, at least she'd learn from that. At least she'd always be careful to keep the people she loved safe. But no. My ship got boarded and I froze at the worst possible time. Will died because I couldn't grab a stupid helmet. But hey again, I was young and I'd learn to try harder and be smarter right? Not right at all. I went swanning off round the Rim when I was pregnant. I dropped my bodyguards, because I decided on a whim to go somewhere they weren't welcome and-”

  “Stop. That's crazy-”

  “Is it?”

  Jace spread his arms as if to embrace her and stepped forward again. “It's past crazy,” he whispered in Darsey's ear. Her jaw trembled and she refused to look up. “You need to stop carrying guilt for things that weren't your fault.” She did look up at that, but before she could protest he raised a hand.

  “It's the truth. Think about it. Number one, I'm sure you were right about Devyn. Your brother would have resented you if you'd blocked his career. And unless he was an idiot he knew the risks and chose to accept them. His choice, not yours. Number two, going into freeze mode during an attack by aliens you never even knew existed is normal. Okay? Not evil, or selfish, or cowardly. Just normal. And number three, you had every right to visit an obstetrician while you were pregnant. Lamidia and Nikareon are the ones who murdered my brother. His death is solely on them. Patri showed me the recording-”

  “Nightwing did what?”

  “I needed to know. So I saw what happened and I watched you save my life, mom. You kept calm and then you lied well enough to get me out of there. I owe you everything. And that's why I've stayed meek and mild so long, but I've finally had it. I'm not a baby anymore. I can look after myself. You don't need to worry about me. Truly. I'll be fine. I'll find work as an inventory tracker or a console jock. All of those years stuck inside at a computer will finally pay off.”

  Darsey's fingers grew still, despite remaining clasped together. She nodded slowly and when she looked up managed to stretch her mouth in a smile. “So I did do something right?”

  “You did plenty right. So please, do the right thing now. Just let me go. Department store geek isn't a dangerous job.”

  “You've made your mother so proud,” she murmured and Jace snorted back. His fronds bushed to send a thought, then instantly bunched tight against his throat to hide it.

  Darsey's smile stretched tighter. “Penny for your thoughts?”

  “Sorry, but no. I've got a bit casual with them since meeting Misty.” Jace shrugged while her throat tightened further.

  “She's clearly an interesting girl,” Darsey observed as sweetly as she could while trying not to choke. Jace's smile vanished and she shivered. When did that boy start looking so much like his father?

  “This is serious, mom. Serious for you and serious for me. For us. If you don't let me go, our relationship will never recover. I'll always love you, but I can't swear not to hate you too. Not if you keep me trapped. So this is it. Right here and right now, you need to let go. Please. I’m not asking that much. I promise to visit, at least when I want money, and I’ll call so often you’ll get sick of me.”

  “Not possible and not a joke. Living on the Rim isn’t funny.” Darsey did her best to consider his plea anyway. “If you stay there you’ll have to fight to survive. Can you do that?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Kill to survive?”

  To her dismay he hardly hesitated. “Sure.”

  Darsey’s fingers twitched at that, so she wound them closer together. “Be careful, Jace. Killing someone isn’t a line you cross, it’s a cliff you step off. You fall a very long way, you can’t ever go back and you’d better pray you don’t get lost down there.”

  Her son finally paused. “You think I’m going to turn slasher in some Rim mall? C’mon, mom, I’d save that for the family.”

  “Again, not funny.”

  “Neither is this lecture. Don’t you trust me at all?”

  Darsey had to fight off panic at the bleak finality in her baby’s voice. It was the rest of the universe she didn’t trust, not him. How was she going to fix this? Perhaps it was time for some truth. “I can't promise not to keep an eye you,” she confessed.

  Jace frowned, his brow creasing further, while his fronds lifted in a futile attempt to read emotion from a hologram. Darsey felt her cheeks heat and her hand rose to cover her lips, making him snap his fingers. “You've sent Jileea after me.”

  Darsey shrugged and then they were both laughing. They relaxed into the shared moment, grinning like loons at each other. “I'm so sorry, love. Old habits are going to die hard. I'll pull her back though and I'll try to pull myself back too. But Jace, if you're ever in trouble, if anyone threatens you, then offer them whatever you wish, because I'll pay it to keep you safe. Nothing and no one will ever change that.”

  Jace nodded and his grin faded, then he was gone. He cut the feed and Darsey's shaky smile vanished along with her son. She ran her fingers back through her hair, straightened her shoulders and mentally directed her com to place another call. There was no time to waste.

  A second hologram appeared at once and a silver-haired female looked up from her captain's chair with a lazy smile.

  Darsey smiled back. “Hi, Jileea.”

  “Hey boss.”

  Darsey sighed. “Still with the ‘boss’ thing?”

  “Till the day I die.”

  “I could die first, you know.”

  Jileea snorted at such a suggestion. “It's all good here, bossy lady. The Wildflower lifted straight after Jace and we'll reach Eltok in an hour.”

  “Yeah. About that...”

  Jileea sat forward in her chair. �
�You still wish me to drag him home?”

  “Not so much.”

  “Yes. Excellent, Darse. I've given support to this scary mother-smother crap, but I'll be happy to come back and let the chick get on with it.”

  Darsey's eyebrows shot upward. Mother-smother was way too harsh, but it was the second part of Jileea's comment that really surprised her. “Are you nuts, Jil? Of course we can't just leave him out there. I need to know he’s safe. Okay, I get that he's growing up and needs some space, but he's still not ready to fly without a net. You know that. I lifted course plots from his com while we talked and he's headed out to Eltok too. I want you to get there first, but I did promise to pull back, so instead of escorting him to civilized space, hit every contact we've got. Put friendlies right round Jace and drop a nice safe job in his lap. Okay? Was that a sigh?”

  “Course not, boss. I was just wondering whether this is truly pulling back?”

  Darsey gripped her hands until they hurt, but for once the pain didn’t make anything clearer. “I don’t know. I’m trying, Jil, but I can’t get this wrong. I failed before and my baby died. I won’t lose another son. I can’t.”

  Jileea shrugged, then bowed her head. “One set-up scenario will be delivered as ordered. Luck to you, Darse.”

  23

  Farewell Too

  The lighting in Crest's room was low, as Darsey expected, but there was no still figure lying in the bed. Instead the old kres was crouched on its foot, poised as if trying to launch himself at Wing who was bent over him. Free stood on the other side, with one arm around the ancient retainer, supporting him, but the other on his shoulder trying to gently urge him back into bed.

  Darsey ran forward to place herself in front of Crest. She picked up the hand wandering across his knees and rheumy eyes met hers. She paused in surprise and took half a step back.

  Crest seemed surprisingly well for someone on his death bed. He was still elderly, but looked as straight and unbowed as he did when they first met. Admittedly back then he’d been present only as a carefully crafted hologram. He’d also just bought her at auction, so she’d been somewhat distracted, but his upright posture was definitely familiar.