Shadows of Mallachrom, Book 1: Blue Fire

by Michelle Levigne

  Rhianni ran. Hard. The river was a murky, slate gray surface through the trees, maybe fifty meters away. She heard the animal breaking through the forest, scattering stones, digging up moss and crashing into trees as it ran after her.

  Pango. It had to be a pango. Nothing else attacked for no reason.

  Pangos were terrified of running water. Her mother had told her so. Her mother had told her how she had run, her heart in her throat, and Rover Captain Joras Day had saved her life.

  Rhianni strained her ears, trying to gauge the distance between her and the pango. She had no one to protect her but herself. She doubted she could stop, face down the charging beast and let it get close enough so she could shoot it.

  She would try to make it to the river--only twenty meters away now--and let the running water protect her.

  A root caught her foot. She went down, tearing her hands while she scrabbled at the branches to keep upright. Her knee screamed as she hit square on a slab of rock. The soil here was loose, full of rocks and sand. Somehow, she didn't lose her grip on her gun. Time slowed. It felt like she moved through mud as she struggled to turn over and face the pango. She raised the gun and thumbed the control switch.

  For two seconds she watched the pango come, and those two seconds lasted forever. Dirty gray, yellow and silver as its scraggly fur shifted from winter to summer coloring. A meter tall at its hunched shoulders. It had bloody red eyes and three curving, sharp horns. Pangos were born half-mad. Once they sighted a target, they stopped for nothing but death or water.

  Rhianni shifted to her knees for a better shooting angle. Her knee tried to fold under her. The pango gained five meters in those seconds.

  Her finger closed smoothly on the trigger. Twice. Three times. Four times. She changed the ammunition fill from tranquilizer darts to exploding tips. Fired. The pango shrieked and tumbled to the ground as her fifth dart hit square and shattered its knee.

  Shuddering, Rhianni held her breath and waited for the animal to get to its feet. It struggled, three good legs waving convulsively for a few beats. It let out a furious squeal, the sound breaking and then dying. The tranquilizers had kicked in.

  Silence.

  She started to lower the gun when a prickle ran down her back. Something else waited out there.

  "Wait a minute," she whispered. Rhianni swallowed hard with a suddenly dry mouth. "Pangos always--"

  The pango's mate squealed and charged from the shadows behind her. Rhianni lunged sideways. A heavy body hit her arm, numbing it from the shoulder down, and knocked the gun from her hand. She turned the sprawl into a tumble and leapt to her feet.

  "Anni, run!" Petroc shouted. "Cross the river!"

  I know that! She didn't have the breath to shriek.

  From seemingly twenty thousand kilometers away, Petroc and Gan splashed across the shallows of the river. Rhianni drew her knife as she ran.

  Her knee gave out.

  A shadow passed over her. Rhianni felt the breeze of a body brushing by. The pango squealed rage. The shadow turned into Starfire as bodies collided with a ground-shaking thud. Massive Shadow jaws clamped around the pango's scrawny neck. Hind legs dug through moss into the rocky soil while front legs tore at the belly of the squealing, writhing pango.

  "Anni," Petroc gasped in her ear. He hooked his arm around her waist and yanked her to her feet. Gan appeared a second later and looped his arm under her shoulders.

  Petroc's eyes glowed electric blue like a Shadow's eyes. Then Rhianni stumbled and she was too busy trying to get her legs under herself to stare.

  They dragged her backwards to the river for nearly three meters before she got her feet under herself and moved by her own power. Petroc kept his arm around her. She dug her fingers into his coat, holding tight to him. Gan walked backward, gun out and aimed at the battling animals. They kept moving, into the shallows, across to the other bank.

  Petroc cradled her close, rocking her as they sank to the pebbly wet ground. Rhianni closed her eyes when the trembling caught her. Tears ran down her cheeks. The sounds of the battle far behind began to die.

  "It's all right," Petroc whispered, wiping tears off her cheek. He kissed her forehead, like her father used to when she had bad dreams. All was quiet on the other side of the water. His arms tightened around her, shifting her to a more comfortable position on his lap. He kissed her cheek. His breath smelled sweet and warm.

  A trembling moved through her that had nothing to do with her brush with death under the pango's claws.

  "Is he all right?" Rhianni asked, hating how her voice broke. Her clothes were soaked. Her leg burned. Petroc's hands scorched through her clothes, into her skin. She felt his heart racing, he held her so close.

  "I've never seen a Shadow that couldn't take a pango." Petroc leaned back a little and his comforting embrace turned stiff. He slid her off his lap. "I'll go check."

  "No, I'll go." Gan gestured for Petroc to stay there.

  Rhianni couldn't see Petroc's face as he stood, but whatever expression he wore, it made Gan step backward and let him walk into the river to cross.

  "Well, medic, you found your first patient." Gan settled down next to her. "Bad?"

  "Doesn't tickle." She reached for her belt pouch of medicines and then groaned. "I dropped my medic kit."

  "Be glad that's all you lost. I'll be right back." He patted her shoulder and splashed into the river.

  Rhianni watched him as he reached the opposite bank. He drew his gun and looked in all directions before he disappeared into the trees. She searched for signs of trouble so intently, she jumped when a cold nose touched her hand.

  Starfire settled down next to her. Blood streaked the animal's muzzle and legs. He breathed heavily, sides heaving, and gazed at her. She read satisfaction in those too-intelligent, luminous, electric blue eyes.

  "Thanks." She reached out to stroke the soft fur behind his ears. Rhianni gasped as a thin thread of pain arched across her chest. It stopped when she took her hand away from the Shadow. He looked at her, unblinking. Rhianni shook her head, sure it was her imagination. She touched his head and the sensation returned.

  "What's going on?"

  Blue eyes blinking once, the Shadow rolled over on his side. The movement exposed his belly. The pango's claws had ripped away fur and grazed the flesh in a narrow line a handspan long.

  "What are you doing to me?" she whispered. "Do you want my help?" No response except another blink.

  Rhianni drew her knife and cut the bottom off her wet shirt. She braced herself for more pain and started to clean the wound. There was little pain if she was prepared for it. Something to think about later, when she could think clearly.

  Starfire lay still under her ministrations, not even twitching an ear. When Rhianni finished, the animal got to his feet with an agility that belied the injury. He licked her hand and gazed into her eyes. Before she could follow his movements, the Shadow vanished. She shivered, but the cold came from inside, not her clinging damp clothes.

  "Excuse me." Rhianni took handfuls of Petroc's and Gan's jackets and pulled hard, breaking into their discussion. "Don't you think you should ask me what I want to do about this little problem?" She grimaced at her leg, bared from the knee down, wrapped in clean bandages and salved with moriphus.

  "Could you just trust us for a change?" Petroc knelt next to her. He fought not to smile when she glared at him. "All right, I admit you could keep up with us. This isn't a forced march, so why risk more injury? I mean, it's not like you'll be alone anymore--"

  "I'm not afraid of being alone. Besides, Starfire is still around."

  "Lucky for us." Petroc fought the temptation to wipe a stray strand of hair out of her face.

  The last bitter tang of Rhianni's pain hung in the air with the acid sweet smell of moriphus. His brain knew she could take care of herself without help, but his heart did the majority of the arguing inside him.

  "I hate giving up," she muttered, looking away.

  "Give up
on what? We thought you were camping." Gan dropped to his knees next to her, his gaze direct and challenging. Petroc held his breath, waiting for her to come up with another lie, or snap at them, or laugh and tell them what she was really doing out here.

  "Some camping trip, with you two following me."

  "Look, we promised Burkan we'd look after you and we'd only interfere if you needed help. Just stay off your leg and let us look after you. I'll walk back for our sled, then we'll fly you to yours. If your leg isn't better by then, you'll let us fly you back to QSE. Deal?"

  "You know something? I hate a man who talks common sense." Rhianni offered a crooked grin.

  "Well, it's out of your hands now. You just sit here and do what Petroc tells you." Gan stood up, dusting off his knees. "Just think of me, wandering around all by myself." He made a comical grimace of suffering and stepped over to the pile of their backpacks. He picked up his, lightened for the quick journey, and slung it over one shoulder. With a jaunty salute, Gan started off down the riverbank.

  Petroc watched him go to keep from staring at Rhianni. She had changed since she left QSE. Her scent, pure and sweet, showed she had been living off the land and detoxifying her system. She had re-connected with Starfire. Had she been changed, as if she were a Taken? Or was he looking at her differently?

  Petroc relived that thrill that had pulsed through his body when she clung to him and he had been able to wrap his arms tight around her without fear of what people would think.

  Now he had to worry about what he was thinking, too. Only one answer for that. He had to get away from Rhianni and get his mind on something else. Fortunately, the adrenaline rush of the pango attack had drained them all and gave him a ready excuse.

  "I'm going foraging. Don't go anywhere."

  "Very funny," she muttered, but Petroc knew she smiled even without looking at her. He felt the tension in the air drop.

  When he came back less than an hour later, he found the Shadow keeping Rhianni company. She talked to it, her words barely distinguishable and he waited. He didn't know what the Shadow's presence meant for her, but he knew how the people in Core, especially her grandmother, would react if they knew. They would try to convince her the Shadow had instigated the pango attack. They would insist she had been ill and imagined the animal's protection.

  How many of his friends had suffered under the 'help' of counselors who tried to convince them they were wrong? Rhianni was a Rover. Would that make her stronger, more sure of what was real and true? Or would it just make the measures used against her more severe, to break through her Rover training? He had to warn her, but how?

  "I thought I heard you come back," Rhianni said, glancing over her shoulder. As she spoke, the Shadow slipped away. "What did you get?"

  "The lady sounds hungry." He squatted next to her and put down his sack, which bulged with roots, gisseg and two grounders he had caught. He grinned and pulled out his knife. "How good are you at skinning?"

  Dusk filled the clearing by the time they finished eating. The meal had been quiet, but Petroc didn't mind. He liked the silence that meant people were comfortable together. He remembered quiet hikes and long hours of peaceful fishing, when he and Rhianni had been children. He appreciated someone who could be quiet and feel the world's pulse.

  "Where are you going?" he asked, startled when Rhianni began to get to her feet. In answer, she held out her greasy hands. "I'll get you some water."

  "My leg isn't broken!"

  "Fine, slow the healing and let Burkan really chew you up and down the walls when we get back," he teased. Rhianni sighed and nodded, giving in.

  Petroc went to the water, kneeling on rocks to refill his canteen. There were some bushes between him and Rhianni but he could sense her presence. He liked being aware of her.

  He frowned and tipped the canteen back so it filled slower, giving him time to think. He had to control himself better than he had done already. There was nothing he would like better than learning the feel and taste of her mouth in a real kiss. That could lead to mountains of trouble.

  He held the canteen for her, spilling a slow trickle over her hands while she rubbed them with a piece of scrubber root. The sap cut the grease of the meat and left them clean and disinfected. She wiped her hands on her jacket and settled down more comfortably. Rhianni seemed distracted. Her eyes had a distant look. Petroc watched her as he put another piece of wood on the fire.

  "What are you thinking?" he finally asked.

  "I can feel things from others." Rhianni shivered. "I felt pain from Starfire."

  "Starfire?"

  "He was hurt, fighting the pango. When I touched him, I felt it."

  Petroc nodded, his thoughts spinning. "It makes sense," he began. What had the Shadow done to her? And how far did the change extend?

  "Not to me."

  "There are some things you don't know about this planet. One of them is empathy."

  "Maya said Cianna was an empath," she murmured, nodding. Petroc imagined the thoughts whirling through her mind. "The change the Shadows bring on is beneficial. I'll bet there are lots of things Taken can do, but because of the prejudice and the way the administration bungled things after the Talroqi were routed..." She sighed and frowned in frustration.

  "You should be a little worried, Anni," he couldn't help saying.

  "Starfire adopted and protected my mother. Maybe the Shadows changed me when I was a baby, and it's only showing up now. Mama always believed the Shadows were sentient and the best friends Humans could have on this world. She would be furious if she knew the smear campaign against Shadows and Taken."

  "You think this is bad? You don't know half what's going on." He tried to keep his voice calm. It was hard, when he wanted to grab her shoulders and shake her.

  "Then I wish somebody would tell me. I thought we were friends. I thought you trusted me."

  "Rhianni..." He closed his eyes and bit his tongue to keep from retorting. "The people I work with can't afford to trust anybody."

  "Are you the leader of the Taken? Not just at QSE, but pretty much through the colony?"

  "What brought that on?" Petroc tried to grin.

  "Just answer me."

  "All right." He looked into her eyes and saw nothing but his best friend from childhood. If he couldn't trust Rhianni, despite the intervening years, who could he really trust? "I guess I am. I don't want to be, but somebody has to figure things out and coordinate. I'm the leader."

  "Good. I can help."

  "You don't want to tie your life too closely to Taken."

  "If I'm an empath, and it only happens to the Taken, then that makes me one!" She froze, her eyes glazing again. A sigh escaped her, and her mouth dropped open. "What if my mother was a Taken, the first Taken?"

  "She didn't--"

  "Petroc, just listen! My mother died of a wasting illness that began less than a Standard year after we left Mallachrom. When I read about the Taken who died when they left the planet, I was scared sick because so many details were like my mother's death. They could never figure out what killed her. If Mama was a Taken, then so am I."

  "But you didn't die."

  "Maybe you have to be second generation or something to be able to leave Mallachrom without dying. I bet Danil can leave Mallachrom without getting sick. Maybe something in me had to wait to return to Mallachrom before it activated."

  "Rhianni--"

  "I can help. More than you can ever imagine." She wriggled a little, like she used to do when she had a brainstorm. Most of the time, Rhianni's childhood brainstorms had led to fun adventures. Petroc tried not to remember those few times her ideas got them into trouble. "It all makes sense now. Starfire knows--he has to know why I came home to Mallachrom. I swear, the Shadows can read our minds. That's why he led me to the poachers, so I could send to the Star Sword and capture them."

  "Your friend Nureen's ship? It's still in orbit?"

  "It was. It'll be back." Rhianni shook her head, her grin widening a litt
le. Petroc could almost hear the circuits clicking through her head as she thought.

  "How long ago was this? What happened? You mean the poachers back along the river?" Someone had reported that the poachers had vanished, but the news had been submerged in the greater concern over the Black Pit expanding.

  "You knew about them? Why didn't you report them?" She glared at him.

  "Who believes Taken? Especially when those poachers probably have government support?"

  "Oh." Her glare faded into a tired, slightly sick expression. She nodded. "That's what I was afraid of."

  "What happened back there?" Petroc demanded.

  Now he had that itchy feeling, the sense that they were on the verge of something momentous. He held himself still while Rhianni told him about Starfire leading her to the poachers, how she called the Rover ship and the raid that took place with almost comical efficiency. He was pleased, but not for long. Her story simply raised more questions.

  "I don't care about anything else," he said, and caught hold of her hand to emphasize his words and keep her attention. Rhianni sat up straight, as if the touch of his hand was an electric jolt. Petroc fought against the thrumming that centered in his chest, and kept up their contact. "You listen to me, and listen good, Rhianni Day. You can't go around telling people you're a Taken. It'll get you killed. If you insist you've been changed by a Shadow, you'll be in danger. People will examine you until you want to crawl away and die. It happened to a lot of us."

  "We could use the secret to our advantage."

  "Yeah, we could. But you could be a danger to us."

  "I have friends who can protect all of you."

  "It isn't that easy."

  "Rovers can do anything."

  "We're not Rovers!"

  "I can teach you. You wanted to be a Rover, when we were little."

  "What does that have to do--"

  "I'm a Rover captain, Petroc. My assignment is to help the Taken. Did you know the Council claims Taken are mutants, and if not mutants, then mentally and emotionally damaged by the Shadows?"

  "Of course we're damaged. We saw our parents die and our homes destroyed. Then we were locked up in tiny white rooms by people who told us we imagined everything. People who drugged us until we either started dying or we told them everything that happened to us. And they still didn't believe us. We're trying to protect the whole planet, maybe the entire galaxy, and nobody will listen to us!"