The Entean Saga - The Complete Saga

by C B Williams

  As she moved toward the door, she paused to look at Genji. Something made her want to memorize his features, which looked younger in sleep. Gently, she stroked his cheek. It was rough. A face in need of a shaving stone. She marveled at the dark, rough shadows covering his lip area, chin, and all the way up his cheeks. She decided she liked it. Her people had very sparse facial hair. She touched his hair. Silky. The strands curled softly and intimately around her fingers.

  Genji’s face relaxed and he sighed, mumbling something in his sleep.

  With reluctance, she turned away.

  At the room’s entrance, she paused and waved her hand over the panel the way she had seen the others do. The door slid open. Magic lived within these walls!

  She paused again in the hall. Left or right? She moved right, moving silently and as swiftly as a reptile. She marveled at the smoothness of the cool floor. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a window. A window in a cave? She stopped to look through.

  And hissed and leapt back.

  This could not be so!

  Was she still dreaming?

  She began to tremble all over, and sweat, and wanted to shift. Burst through the metal wall, take flight, and escape.

  No! No! Stop, she silently commanded. She could overcome this. She knew how. She closed her eyes and willed herself to become like her mother, a queen, like Longwei, the Goddess.

  Fearless. Bold and strong.

  It helped. She was calm again. Could think again.

  She looked out the window once more. From her calm state, the view was lovely. Her home was lovely, round and blue, floating in the black. The legends she had danced since childhood sang to her, filled her with their stories. And she smiled.

  “The Ancestors,” she whispered. They couldn’t be anyone else. They’d returned. And they were nothing like what she’d danced. Nothing like what the long, history songs told.

  She must go to Longwei, the Goddess, tell her of The Ancestors’ return.

  Tomorrow.

  Kalea passed her hand over the magic doorway, waited for it to open, and slipped back into the room She removed her clothes, refolded them as they had been, slipped the translator within the folds, and slid back into bed to wait for morning.

  Morning. She wondered how she would know without a sunrise.

  Although there was no sunrise, the lights in the room brightened. But Kalea had dressed long before that. She’d been sitting for what seemed like another full day, waiting for Genji to wake. How could someone sleep so long?

  “Please return me where you found me,” Kalea demanded the instant she sensed Genji was awake.

  “Wh-a?” Genji yawned. He sat up, his chest bare.

  She wondered at her increased heart rate. Bare chests were commonplace among her people, male and female alike.

  He caught her staring, and she lowered her gaze.

  When she looked up again, he was still yawning, but he had put on a shirt and was looking around for something, ignoring her completely. He finally got off his cot and began digging into drawers until he produced a box similar to the one she had stolen. He turned it on and addressed her once the translator was activated. “You found your clothes, I see. How are you feeling?”

  “I am healed. You need to put me back. Now.”

  He frowned “Let me scan you before I agree to anything.”

  She nodded and waited for him to come to her pallet.

  Instead, he sat on his own and blinked at her.

  She cocked her head. “Genji?”

  “Oh,” He swiped his hand across his face. “Sorry. I’m not a morning person.” He eased himself off his pallet. “Let me wash my face and get some strong tea.”

  She sighed and watched him wander to the door panel, pause, set down the translator on a counter near the opening, and exit.

  He returned later with two cups of tea and handed her one. “Not that you need it to wake up,” he told her, and nodded at her foot tapping the pallet’s leg, “Thought something hot would be nice.”

  She waited to see what Genji did. When he blew on the liquid in his cup, she did the same and tasted it, a surprising flavor bursting in her mouth. “It’s sweet.”

  “Hope you don’t mind. I like my tea sweet, and I didn’t know how you took yours.

  “It’s nice.” She took another sip. She’d never had hot liquid before.

  He set his cup down and picked up the scanner. “Let’s see what we’ve got here. No, stay where you are. Enjoy your tea. There’s no need to lie down now that I’ve located your injuries.” He passed the scanner over her knee and shoulder. Looked at the scanner, shook it, and tried again. “This says you’re nearly healed.” He shot her a questioning glance.

  She nodded. “I heal quickly. I want to leave now.”

  He nodded.

  She thought he looked a little sad.

  He set down the scanner. “I’ll just remove your bandages, then.”

  “No, don’t. I need them as proof.”

  “Proof?”

  “My family won’t believe me unless I have proof.” She gestured at her clothing. “These and the bandages are my proof.” She ignored the guilty twinge. She failed to mention the translator. “When do I go?”

  “I…I…don’t you want to stay a few days? To make sure you’re one hundred percent? We could talk, learn about how each of us lives.”

  This kind man likes me. Why should that make her so happy? She shook her head sadly. “I cannot, Genji,” she told him quietly, feeling as disappointed as he looked. “I would like to very much, but I cannot. It’s my Calling Moon. I’ve only a moon’s time to find my Calling. I must go.”

  “Can you at least tell me a little now?”

  She felt weak when she looked into his expressive eyes. She’d never seen their color before. Like the back of a sea turtle mixing with the ocean. Always changing. “I live in a large village by the sea,” she told him. “My mother is the queen. My father―”

  “You are a princess! I knew you must be someone special.”

  She laughed. “I am a princess, yes, but I still must work hard like the others. I have a sister and two brothers. My brothers are supposed to guard and protect me during my Calling Moon. If they don’t, they will be punished. I don’t want them to be punished.”

  “I understand.” He hesitated. “You realize you’re not on your planet, don’t you? That you’re on a starship orbiting your planet?”

  “A starship,” she repeated and then nodded. “I found out last night when I tried to leave and looked through a window.”

  His eyes widened. “Weren’t you frightened? I would be terrified.”

  “I was, but I calmed myself,” she said. “And remembered your kindnesses. You must put me back where you found me. Please. It’s important.”

  Genji nodded. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “Thirty minutes, Aiko. Please. Drop me off and pick me up in thirty minutes. That’s all I ask.”

  “Genj, she knows what she’s doing. It’s her planet. You’re asking me to drop you off on an active volcano with a toxic smoke plume on a planet you know nothing about.”

  “That’s not true. We’ve done three fly-overs. I’ve studied the data…not all, but enough. I can take precautionary equipment, and besides, what can happen in thirty minutes?”

  “The lizards. You’re forgetting about the lizards. They can happen in thirty minutes.”

  “I’ll take precautionary equipment for them as well. She’s my patient. She’s barely healed. We found her unconscious, remember?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “And those reptilians were after her, remember that? If anything were to happen to her, I’d feel responsible. In thirty minutes, I’ll be able to assess if she really is well enough to be on her own.”

  Aiko shook her head. “It’s her planet, Genji. She’ll be fine.”

  “She’s my patient, Aiko. I’m responsible.”

  Aiko looked at him and sighed. “Why are yo
u always so damned stubborn? If—and it’s a big if—I were to do this, then I want you to take some on-ground readings of this volcano. I want you to determine whether you can predict an eruption and the lava flow’s direction, and if there are other potential rifts and vents, so I can recommend a spot for Eloch and Wren’s base camp. Now Kalea’s better, they’ll be anxious to get started.” She threw her hands in the air. “Why is everyone wanting off my ship? Stardust is safe. Longwei? Not so much.”

  “I can do that,” Genji said. “I can be ready in an hour.”

  “I didn’t say you had your thirty minutes!’ Aiko called after him, but she knew it was useless to try and stop him. He was a walking question, always seeking answers. And the girl obviously intrigued him.

  Genji waved at Aiko’s worried face as the shuttle rose and re-cloaked. He heard it accelerate to shoot out of the atmosphere, back to the Stardust, where Wren and Eloch were waiting. The two would be with Aiko when she returned to collect him and his data, because they wanted Genji and Aiko’s opinion about the areas they’d targeted as potential encampments.

  Aiko had dropped him and Kalea above the spot where he rescued the girl, and then Aiko did several passes, probably making sure no lizards were lurking. Genji quickened his pace to catch up to Kalea and nearly ran into her when she suddenly stopped. With an effort, he skidded to a halt, the loose pumice pebbles and his pack throwing him off balance.

  She turned, her dark eyes serious. “I must go alone,” she told him, nodding in the direction of the summit.

  It was a barren and starkly beautiful place, with a worn path curling around its flank.

  She tore a strip of fabric from her new clothes and tied it to the branch of a twisted tree to join other such offerings. She looked at him, “Go now. I must prepare myself.”

  He swallowed. “But I thought we would talk a little more.”

  She shook her head. “I must speak with Longwei, Genji.”

  “Will I see you again?”

  She reached out and touched his face, allowing her palm to linger. “No, Genji, you will not. Thank you for your healing kindness.”

  He closed his eyes and absorbed her gentle touch. “I will never forget you, Kalea, ever.”

  She tried to remove his hand but he covered hers with his own, held it in place. “Genji—”

  “Wait, please. I…I need to tell you this.” He swallowed, glanced at her, and closed his eyes, pressing her hand more firmly against his face. “You’ve done something to me, Kalea.”

  He opened his eyes again and looked into hers. “You woke something deep within me. I don’t know what. I’ve never felt this way before. I…I’m a man of science, n-not emotions. But...but I’m very much afraid when you move your hand away, that something will once more go dormant. And it makes me very sad.”

  It was his small, apologetic smile that broke her resolve, and she flung herself into his embrace, allowed him to wrap his arms around her and hold her so close she felt his heart beating against her own. She was surprised when it was he who first pulled away.

  For a moment he simply held her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes. Then he dropped his arms and stepped away.

  “Goodbye.” He sighed and turned back the way he had come, back to the rendezvous point, to set up his equipment and take the readings. Maybe he should have argued with Kalea, begged her to take him with her, but he knew he was only putting off the inevitable. It was best to get on with his analysis. After all, he now had less than thirty minutes to provide Aiko with her answers.

  Kalea forced herself to forget him, but when she stretched out her senses in preparation to call the Goddess, his essence kept presenting itself to her. He must be thinking about her, she surmised. It made her rather sad, and she wondered why they had been thrust together by Longwei, for surely it was Her doing. Had the volcanic plume not shifted at that exact moment, she would never have flown lower to escape its deadly gasses. She would never have hit the invisible something, would had never been injured by the impact.

  Then, she had only yearned to discover her Calling. Now, she had come to tell Longwei of The Ancestors’ return. Perhaps Longwei already knew. If the Goddess already knew, then Kalea wanted to know what the Goddess wanted of Kalea. What was her role in all of this? Could it be her Calling? Her heart thumped harder. If it was her Calling, then perhaps she would see Genji again.

  She continued to stretch out her senses as she began to disrobe and carefully fold her clothing to be collected later. When she was once more naked, she began to chant quietly, sinking into a half-trance, hoping Longwei heard her call, hoping Longwei would grant her an audience. She began to gently sway to the chant, opening further to hear the Goddess.

  The ground jolted and the resulting rockslide jerked her from her trance.

  She hissed in frustration before a sense of impending doom engulfed her.

  But not her doom.

  Kalea tensed, on full alert.

  There! The soft whisper of scales on rock.

  Her brothers.

  Hunting.

  “No!”

  She shifted and flew.

  The volcano was more active than Genji had first suspected. He was now glad Aiko had asked him to research it because the ground readings indicated the whole mountain was a shell. Rivers of lava could erupt anywhere, at any time, and in any direction.

  But most likely they would follow the old trails and lava tubes. Just like water, the molten rock would find the path of least resistance and what would be easier than flowing along the old channels? Unless, of course, those tubes had collapsed; but he had enough information to plot trajectories, should that happen.

  He also had enough information to find a safe encampment for Wren and Eloch. On the beach. Definitely by the ocean. When they arrived with Aiko, he’d take a look at what they had chosen before he presented his case.

  The earthquake threw him to the ground. He found it unnerving when the solid ground moved, so he waited until he was sure the tremor had passed before he got to his feet. He had just begun to dust himself off when he was struck down again, flat on his back and gazing at the sky, dazed and winded. He craned his neck to see what hit him.

  Ahead, with its back toward him and wings spread wide, stood one of the reptilians, its tail whipping. Genji gasped and the reptile glanced back at him. Did he detect intelligence in that dark reptilian eye? It whipped its head forward, rose on its hind legs, and hissed a challenge at something he couldn’t see from where he lay, so he sat up.

  A hiss answered the creature’s challenge. Genji peered under the wing of the one standing in front of him and saw two others. One hissed threateningly while the other snaked its neck and spat. The flames would have consumed him had not the enormous reptilian, the one protecting him, blocked the flames. It cried out in pain―nearly a human cry to Genji’s ears―and staggered backwards.

  The attacking lizard hissed and shimmered as it shifted into a man, naked save the tattoos that covered one side of his body. “Kalea!”

  The other lizard shimmered and shifted as well. A slightly larger man with similar tattoos.

  And finally, the third one―the one that had been injured saving his life―shimmered as well...

  ...and turned into...

  Kalea?

  “Impossible,” Genji gasped as he struggled to make sense of what he was seeing.

  “Haku, stay back! I warn you!” Kalea shouted. She hissed.

  “But Kalea, this is the one who took you from us! He stole you from your home! A thief! And you, a princess! He cannot be allowed to live! It’s the law. Stand aside, Sister. Let me finish my duty.”

  “He healed me, too, Haku.” She wavered on her feet. “He may need to heal me again, now.”

  The larger lizard man shouted her name.

  “You, too, Pika,” Kalea warned. “Do not move.”

  “But Sister, you’re wounded!”

  “And who wounded me?” she yelled. “Who?”

 
; Genji slowly got to his feet and stood behind Kalea. “Lean against me,” he told her when she wavered again. His translator was shut off. He touched her arm as he turned it on and repeated his offer.

  She glanced at him and shook her head, turning to face her brothers again.

  “Go tell our mother I am well.”

  “But you aren’t well!” Haku said, the tears shimmering in his eyes. “I hurt you.”

  “Go tell our mother I am well, and my Calling is going well,” she repeated. “Genji will heal me.” She glanced worriedly behind her and relaxed when Genji smiled gently and nodded. “Go! Now!” she commanded.

  “But when will you be back?” Haku wondered.

  She reached behind, felt for Genji’s supporting arm. Her brothers must not see how weak the pain made her or they would never leave. They would kill Genji and take her with them. She felt the warm strength in his arm, welcomed it.

  “When Genji has healed me, when I have spoken with Longwei, I will come home.”

  “But―“

  With the last of her strength she straightened. “Do you really want to risk my anger? A priestess of Longwei? You, who must shift before you breathe your fire? Go, I say. I am safe.”

  The two brothers shot Genji glares as sharp-edged as daggers and hissed in unison. They started to shimmer. Once more there were two reptilians, magnificent reptilians unfurling beautiful black and red wings with patterns echoing the flow of lava. They leapt into the air, circled once, and headed west toward the coast.

  Kalea stood tall until her brothers were mere dots on the horizon. Then she sank to the ground, leaning against Genji as he sank down with her, supporting her the best he could.

  “You must be very frightened of me,” she told him, “and now I have burdened you with me again. Please,” she said when he moved to answer, “I wish to explain. My brothers have high tempers. It would have taken little to provoke them. I had to make them leave before they killed you.”

  “You risked your life for me. How could I be terrified of you?” he replied as he reached for his med tech kit and pulled out the scanner. But she was not in her reptilian form. He would be lying if he said it didn’t matter what form she was in. The reptiles and what they could do terrified him. But a naked woman who was injured? He only wanted to heal and to comfort. He unzipped his flight jacket and put it around her shoulders.