When Melodie went into labor on their way back to the castle, no one knew it. Because of the shock she suffered from Morandoni’s death, it wasn’t until JarDan felt the gush of warm water across his legs as he rode with her in his arms that he knew something was wrong. By the time they reached the castle, her natural birthing water ran pink with blood.
“Hey, no frowns allowed.” Melodie scooted closer to where he lay across the blanket she spread for the baby. “Why so somber?”
“Just a few bad memories.” He smiled and kissed her gently. “Nothing a little tender, loving care from my wife wouldn’t banish.” And word from Dak’s ship.
“I think I can come up with something pleasant.” She leaned across his chest, pressing her mouth to his. He instantly fitted his lips to hers, deepening the kiss.
“Pa --Pa.” The childish words uttered with complete confidence in their reaction, brought JarDan straight up off the blanket.
“When did she learn that?” He asked, scooping his tiny daughter into his arms. Cuddling the baby close to his heart, he inhaled the clean, powdery smell of her skin.
“That’s the first time I’ve heard her say it.” Melodie grinned at her gentle giant, his powerful hands cradling their baby with love.
“We’ve been coaching her for weeks.” Zeth announced as he and Arica joined them beneath the limbs of the willow tree. “We wanted it to be a surprise.”
“It is definitely a surprise.” JarDan laughed, tickling Elizabeth under her chin. “And I admit I like the sound of it.”
“I’d like to hold my granddaughter, if you don’t mind.” Arica held out her arms to the laughing baby.
JarDan smiled fondly at his mother, sitting close beside his father on the stone bench. She didn’t look a day older than when she disappeared from their lives. The first few weeks after Sladal awakened her from the sleep chamber were a nightmare for her. Her muscles refused to support her body after being dormant for so many years. She endured long hours of painful physical therapy to regain their use. It would be a long time before she completely healed. His mother thought only a few days had passed since Morandoni kidnapped her from the rose garden. The shock of discovering it had been more than twenty years was traumatic. Through it all, his father never failed to be there with her.
“We’ve come to tell you that we’re planning a little trip.” Zeth announced after he received his share of wet, baby kisses. “I’d like time to get to know my wife again. We have many memories to catch up on.”
Arica leaned her head against Zeth’s shoulder and JarDan smiled although his heart was heavy. His mother, so recently returned to his life, now planned to leave again. He understood why they wanted some time together, but the little boy in him still wanted to cling to his mother – afraid she might go away and not come back again.
And Dak. Where was Dak? The trip to Earth to retrieve Logan should only take ten weeks -- twelve at the most. In the four months since his departure there had been no word from him. The Venture, leaving two weeks ahead of Dak and the Rendezvous, reached Earth, retrieved the infants from the compromised collection station, had returned more than a month ago. Dak never made it to Earth. Was he still alive -- waiting for a rescue ship to find him? By all the Ancient Prophets, just let him be alive.
As if sensing his pain, Melodie stood and slipped her hand into his, squeezing his hand in silent understanding. “Where will you be going?” She asked.
“We haven’t decided, yet.” Zeth grinned at his wife. “Maybe Earth. Your mother thinks she’d like to see what Melodie’s home is like. Wherever we go,” he glanced up at Melodie with love in his eyes, “I feel confident my kingdom will be safe in the hands of the legendary Warrior Queen.”
Melodie blushed. She didn’t like to remember her part in ending the reign of terror Morandoni spawned. Her conscience still bothered her over the taking of a life. Covering her discomfiture with activity, she stooped and began gathering Elizabeth’s toys and blanket.
“Did Sladal find you, son?” Zeth asked, breaking the silence.
“Yes, but I’m not sure what he expects me to do with his information.”
“You have to admit, it’s the only solution that fits the circumstances.” Zeth took the baby from Arica’s arms and rocked her against his shoulder. “Why don’t we take this little angel up to her room? She looks about ready for a nap. You and Melodie can probably use a few minutes to yourselves. Why don’t you tell her what Sladal is hypothesizing?”
“Tell me what?” Melodie asked when Zeth and Arica were out of hearing range. Stacking the baby’s things on top of the blanket she brought for her and JarDan, she slipped her arm through JarDan’s and pulled him down on the bench.
“You know that in the past six months there have been more than two dozen baby girls born here.”
Melodie nodded encouraging him to continue. It looked like the plague that threatened to destroy Anderas was finally over. She was glad, especially since it made Elizabeth’s birth less of a phenomenon.
“Well, according to Sladal’s tests, all of the fathers were on the Destiny’s last voyage, and like me, still test positive for the virus. After questioning every member of the crew, me included, until we were hoarse from answering his infernal questions and studying the ship’s log, he believes he knows what caused the female births.”
“Does that mean the plague is officially over?” Melodie asked, tracing the design of his bonding band with her fingertip.
“No, we still test positive. The only difference in our trip and all the others is that it lasted for more than a year. A Travel Craft carries provisions for a crew of two hundred for two years, but it can only carry enough water for six months. I landed twice and took on fresh water. Once in northern Canada and again in western Montana. Although, the medical teams haven’t figured out exactly what significance the water from Earth has on the conception of females, at least it’s a start. It’s the first real clue they’ve had in more than two thousand years.”
Melodie stared at her husband for a full ten seconds before she burst into laughter. Every time she looked into his bewildered expression, her laughter erupted again.
“Would you mind sharing the joke?” He asked dryly.
“I’m sorry.” She gasped, wiping the tears from her face. “It’s just so funny. You stopped for water!” Again she doubled over in laughter, unable to continue her explanation. When she could catch her breath again, she looked out over the rose garden instead of at him. She’d never control her silly giggles if she looked at his face.
“One of the first rules of traveling anywhere on Earth is you do not drink the water in a strange place. Travelers use the phrase it’s the water for every ailment ever encountered on a trip. There’s even a beer company that uses it in its slogan. This is the first time I’ve ever heard of anyone getting well from drinking strange water.”
JarDan shook his head at her humor. The joke must be indigenous to Earth. He certainly didn’t see anything funny about the situation.
“Come, my love.” His voice dropped to a sexy drawl. “We have two hours to test the theory of Sladal’s discovery. Is it the water -- or does it take something more?”
“Oh, I definitely think it’s something more.” She whispered, sliding her hand down the front of his body. “A lot more.”
The End
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The Men of Andreas:
TALON
The Men of Andreas:
DAK, THE PROTECTOR
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The Marine’s Queen
by
Susan Kelley
Chapter One
“We’ll have heat for one more night.” Yalo swept her gaze across the stark landscape stretching toward the brightening horizon. “Then we’ll freeze and die.”
Queen Callie Adell shaded her eyes against the glare and stared at the wreckage of the military cruiser sitting nearly a half of a mile from their own crash site. “Maybe we should have tried to walk out of here.”
“You made the right choice to stay, my queen. The heat limits travel to a few hours in the morning and evening. Once out of the ship, we wouldn’t have anything to protect us from the heat of day or cold of night. Even if we did, our water would have run out before we reached the little speck of greenery I spotted on the scanners before they went dead.”
The dawn lit the interior of the ship enough for Callie to see that the cold had roused all the others. Four year old Grace had cried off and on all night, sobbing complaints no one could answer. Not even those broke Callie’s heart as much as the frightening silence from Riba’s infant, Sally. Her hungry wails had stopped hours ago.
Yalo sat up in her seat. She’d positioned herself nearest the broken door as if her strength could keep out the killing temperatures. She stretched her arms over her head with a great yawn and then the desert rose up behind her and pulled her out of the hatch. Her startled yelp ended in mid shriek.
Callie rolled out of her chair, her legs tangling in the pile of coats and blouses she’d used as blankets. Screams echoed inside the ship from the other women, but Callie couldn’t make a sound over her shock.
A tall figure shaped like a man but covered with sand sprang into the doorway. It moved aside and another similar but shorter being joined it.
Callie finally found her feet and pushed the others behind her. Riba and Grace hushed their children as they could, but Sally’s mews continued. Her weak cries stabbed through Callie’s terror of the aliens looming a few steps away.
The first invader called out to something or someone outside the ship, using a dialect unknown to Callie but speaking in a human voice.
Human. Callie found she could talk. “What do you want?”
The first one, she guessed it was the leader, looked in her direction. The growing light revealed the material covering its head and the entirety of it body appeared to be a suit and not sand at all. Its colors swirled sickeningly to match the sand outside the open hatch and the walls of the ship with some type of camouflage technology. Protective goggles covered its eyes.
The leader spoke more strange words, and the second alien skirted around them. It moved with animal ease around their belongings and into the guts of their ship. Callie stood in silence between her people and the leader while the other one searched their vessel.
Callie’s anger and despair rose above her fear of the strange interlopers and the odd weapons they held in their gloved hands. “Who are you, and what gives you the right to enter my ship?”
“Are there no men among you?” the leader asked in the common language of the Alliance.
Callie hesitated to give her answer to the fearsome apparition. At least it understood her words.
“Does no one guard you?” it asked.
Callie gestured toward the hatch where Yalo had disappeared. “That woman is my guard.”
Sally whimpered in the silence, her tiny voice sounding frail after the deep tones of the stranger. The first rays of the morning sun edged in the door and brought a welcome warmth.
“Tar,” the leader said over his shoulder. “Bring the woman in.”
A third alien lifted Yalo in the hatch and then sprang up beside her. It released her immediately and drew back to the edge of the opening.
“How did you come to crash on this planet?” The leader seemed to be speaking to Callie, but the angle of its head indicated it tried to look behind her at Riba and Sally.
Callie shifted so she blocked her cousin and her baby from view. “Tell me who you are before we answer anymore questions.”
Again its full attention swung to her. She lifted her chin and glared at it despite her pounding heart. What type of humanoid might this be? She hadn’t believed any of the rare creatures lived anywhere in this civilized quadrant of space.
It swung its weapon around to its back using a long strap she hadn’t noticed. It pulled off its gloves revealing long-fingered human hands. The skin appeared sun-darkened at it tugged off its dark goggles and then its tight head covering. Eyes bluer than the cloudless sky of the desert planet stared at her. Short hair, dark as the bottom of a mine, stuck out at odd angles.
“Joe.”
“What?” Callie managed around her shock. No grotesque being stood before her but a man with the face of a god. No artist could have created more perfect lines to his jaw and cheekbones. Intelligence gleamed in his compelling eyes.
“My name is Joe.” He gestured toward the other two men who had also removed their headgear. “Roz and Tar.”
Callie nodded at the other two men, each as perfect in his way as Joe. If it weren’t for the heat already building uncomfortably inside her damaged cruiser she might have thought she had died and gone to the afterlife. These men certainly reminded her of the glorious servants of the Spirit Father as depicted in paintings.
“Roz and Tar? Are those their first names or last names?” Callie knew there were more important questions to ask, but she wanted to proceed diplomatically.
Joe’s expression didn’t change but Callie could see thoughts moving behind his eyes. Finally he answered. “Only.”
Yalo edged away from Tar and took up a protective stance in front of Callie. “Get out.”
“Yalo.” Callie placed her hand on her guard’s trembling shoulder. Or was it her own fear coursing across her nerves?
“Get back, your highness.” Yalo shot Callie a wide-eyed glance. “Don’t you know what these creatures are? One name like a pet or a savage guard hound?”
Wondering if the fall out of the hatch had rattled Yalo’s head, Callie spoke as calmly as she could. “They’re men, Yalo. Maybe they can help us.”
“Men?” Yalo might have meant her laugh to be mocking but it sounded hysterical. “They’re not men! They’re recon marines.”
“Fash take me!” The science officer, Acacia, swore from behind Callie.
Sally fussed again, and Riba hushed her with a quiet shaky voice.
Joe took a step forward and reached for something hanging from his belt. Yalo started for him, but Callie took a firm grip on her guard’s arm. The marine unhooked a small sack and lifted it toward them.
“Water with amino acids and electrolytes dissolved into it.” His smooth expression revealed no emotional reaction to Yalo’s harsh words.
Callie took the water bag, her mouth salivating at the thought of a drink. They’d given the last of their water to Riba and little Glory last evening. Callie handed it to Riba who took it with an eager hopeful smile.
The other two men hesitated only an instant before offering their water containers.
“Vin?” Joe said over his shoulder.
“Here,” a fourth marine answered from outside.
“Water.”
No one else spoke as the women passed the sacks around. Yalo continued to glare at the men, but she didn’t pass up the water. A quiet quarter of an hour went by before another beautiful man hopped in through the hatch. He carried more sacks of water and a few other packs.
Vin opened one of the packs and pulled out long stalks of some type of dried fruit or vegetable. He offered it to Yalo and Callie first. When they hesitated he took one of the stalks and bit off the end.
Callie reasoned the marines could kill them at will and weren’t likely to poison them after sharing their precious water. She followed Vin’s example. The food seemed a sour fruit and took a lot of chewing before it could be swallowed.
The o
ther women each took a small piece, but four year old Glory walked a few brave steps forward and held out her hand. The marines didn’t move back, though they appeared to lean away from the child. A tension as if they thought to flee grew around them. Roz knelt slowly, staring at Glory. He pulled a short wicked knife from his boot and cut a piece of the fruit. With a strange wariness he held it out to the child.
Callie held her breath, while Glory walked closer to the marine. Sleep had left the child’s chestnut curls in tangles, and her eyes looked as large of coins. She took the fruit and put it in her mouth, all the time watched by the four marines.
Glory’s nose crinkled at the tart taste, but then a large grin spread across her face. “Thank you, sir.”
Roz stood quickly and retreated to his leader’s side.
“Attend,” Joe snapped, his voice quiet but seeming to shout all the same. The marines all snapped to stiff stances, though Roz stole another glance at Glory. “Who are you?”
Callie understood Yalo’s reaction to the men as she met Joe’s stare. She saw no emotions in his expression and an emptiness behind his eyes where a man’s soul should reside. But he had given her people food and water.
“I’m Queen Callie Adell of Giroux.” Callie stepped forward and offered her hand in the way of interplanetary greeting. Joe ignored it. “Yalo Pangol, my personal guard. Riba Adell, minister of interplanetary diplomacy and her baby, Sally.”
The three marines flanking Joe took an actual step back when Riba moved up beside Callie. Their leader held his ground, but he didn’t even glance toward the baby. Callie continued despite their odd behavior. “Acacia Kesol, my science advisor. Grace Fozell works as my trade minister and you’ve already met her daughter, Glory.”
The Men of Anderas I: Jardan, the King Page 27
