by C B Williams
She hissed in pain.
Genji winced. “I’m sorry, but you need to keep covered. You could go into shock.” He scanned her with the reading device.
“I am not what I seem…and,” she hesitated, “I would ask you to tell no one of this.”
He frowned at the readouts. “You are severely burned. Are still burning!” He grabbed a cold pack, bared her injured shoulder, and gently began to pat the pack on her burned back and arm. “He burnt your wing,” he added.
“In my other form, yes.”
“Interesting. Does that feel better? The cold?”
“Yes. Thank you, Genji.”
“Aiko should be back shortly. I want to give you something for the pain. It may make you woozy.”
She nodded. “But promise me you will keep my secret safe.” She saw his expression. “At least until I speak with Longwei.”
“The Goddess?”
“Yes.”
“I can promise you that, Kalea.”
“I am grateful, kind Genji.”
He nodded as he injected her. “Rest. Aiko should be here soon. I need to pack up, so I’m going to lie you on your undamaged side. It won’t be very comfortable, but it won’t be for long.”
He pulled out an emergency blanket from the med kit, bundled it into a pillow and helped her lie down, careful not to snag the long hair fanning around her. He pulled out a second blanket and tried to avert his eyes as he covered her long limbs. He was unsuccessful. After all, he was a man, and she was beautiful.
“Rest,” he said again before he turned to his equipment.
“My new clothes,” she said after a few moments.
“We can give you more.”
“I took a translator.”
“We have more of those, too. Rest, now.”
As they waited, neither thought to look up the slope. Had they happened to glance up, they would have seen a tall and graceful woman with lovely, broad features, a woman not unlike Kalea. She was dressed in a flowing skirt, with a wreath of flowers in her hair and another encircling her throat, covering her breasts. In her hand she held a translator. In her eyes, fire danced.
Chapter 6
Discoveries
“And you say Kalea is well?” Queen Ululani asked as she exited her hut.
“Quite well. She told us to tell you her Calling is going favorably and as anticipated,” Haku answered.
The queen narrowed her eyes. “Then why aren’t you back there standing watch to ensure she remains so? When a priestess is in her trance, she’s unaware of her surroundings and very vulnerable.”
Pika hung his head, his toes curling in the sandy dirt. “We thought you would like to know she is safe. And we wanted to know how Makini is healing.”
Ululani gaze softened. “You are both good brothers. Makini is healed and going about her duties. The crystal took away her pain, and she healed quickly after that. In fact, I’ll send her out to you with food and supplies. Where will you be?”
“The cliff on the south ridge near the Goddess Trail,” Pika told her.
“Look for her late this afternoon. She will need to be home by sundown.”
“She will be,” Haku said, then shifted into his Nuri form and flew back the way he’d come.
Pika hugged her. “Don’t mind him, Mother. He’s just tired of women giving him orders. First Kalea insisting we come here, then you insisting we be there.”
Queen Ululani cupped her son’s face. “You’re a good son, Pika. Take care of each other.”
He flashed her a boyish grin before shifting and vaulting into the sky to follow his angry brother. He caught up with Haku as they neared the tree line of the mountain, a wide, broad area of grasses and shrubs interrupted by thick ribbons of old lava flow.
Pika hissed to get his brother’s attention and banked before landing near a small spring. It was already cooler and not nearly as humid. He hoped his mother would send a blanket or two with Makini. He didn’t want to spend another cold night out on the ledge shifting back and forth from his human to his Nuri form to stay warm. He’d kept shifting back into human in his sleep and waking up cold.
“We should have thought to bring blankets with us,” he commented when Haku settled and shifted beside him.
Haku grunted. “I don’t mind staying Nuri for the night. Why’d you land?”
“Because I think this is the area where the other crystals might be.” He pointed to one of the gentle ridges that flanked them. “See how that ridge forms two perfect bumps?”
“Like a woman’s breasts?”
“You would think of that,” Pika scoffed, “but yes, exactly like a woman’s breasts. The Goddess’s breasts. See the way the lava flows around them? That’s what’s described in the dances. It’s Her hair. And where the Goddess’s hair ends is where I think the crystals are. And,” he swept his hand across the landscape, “this is where the hair ends.”
Haku looked around. “Then where are the crystals?”
Pika shrugged. “I never said it was going to be easy. We’re going to have to dig for them.”
“I just need one, Pika. Let the off-worlders dig up the rest.”
“Where do you think they’re from? The off-worlders, I mean?”
Haku picked up branch and knelt down to dig. “Some tribe across the sea of stars, I suppose,” his stick broke and he threw it away. “This is ridiculous! I’m switching to Nuri and using my claws.”
Pika followed Haku’s lead, shifted, and found a section of earth to tear into. As he worked, he tried to imagine what it would be like to live in that distant tribe across the sea of stars. Until two nights ago, it had never occurred to him that others lived differently. And not just across the sea of stars. What of those who lived across Longwei’s seas? Right then, he decided he was very glad he was a younger son and free to explore his world. Who cared if nobody had done it before? He’d be the first.
Haku hissed and shifted. “What are you kicking up there?” he asked, distracting Pika from his thoughts.
He shook the earth from his claws and shifted with a laugh. “Crystals! A whole bed of them!”
Haku leaned down and picked one up, cleaned it against his thigh and held it to the light. It glowed red at its heart. “It doesn’t look like the healing crystal at all,” he said excitedly. “I think you found them, Pika.” He tossed it to his brother.
Pika examined it closely. “I can’t think what else it could be, Haku. I don’t know how to test it, or how it explodes. But this is definitely not a healing crystal.”
Haku raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “And you got all this from the dances,” he said thoughtfully. He bent down and gathered more into a pile. “We’ll need something to put them in. We’ll ask Makini to bring something.” He looked around and put a branch over the spot where he’d piled the crystals. “Let’s go wait for her.”
“I want out now, Haku. I found them, and now I want out, as we agreed.”
His brother’s expression was replaced by a scowl. “And you’ll tell no one about this? Even Mother?”
“You know me better than that, Haku. I gave you my word. But from here on out, I want nothing to do with your plans.”
Haku nodded. “As we agreed, then. Makini will help me.”
Pika held up his hand. “Not another word, brother.”
Eloch jumped out of the shuttle and helped Genji lift Kalea.
“Careful,” Genji warned. “Keep her on her left side. She’s burned on the right.” He climbed in behind her. Eloch handed him his equipment, which Genji hastily stored under a seat.
“Burned!” Aiko exclaimed. “It was those lizards, wasn’t it?”
Wren moved to the shuttle’s floor so her lap could pillow the sleeping girl’s head. “Fly nice, now, Aiko. Kalea and I are unstrapped back here.”
The men strapped themselves in. The shuttle door closed.
“What happened?” Aiko asked as she “flew nice” back to the Stardust.
“I’
m not sure,” Genji said. “She fell, I’m assuming, and got burned on cooling lava.”
“Not lizards? Cooling lava?”
“Couldn’t have been anything else. If it had been flowing, I think she’d have been burned alive.”
“How bad is it?” Wren asked, stroking Kalea’s forehead. It felt warm.
“Bad enough that I can’t treat her on the planet. I’ve got a cold pack to take the burn away, but I need more than what’s in the kit.” He looked down at Kalea, his expression softening. “She’s a fast healer. She should be fine.”
“What was she doing so close to the lava flow?” Eloch wondered.
Genji glanced again at Kalea, hoping he wasn’t about to break a confidence. He had promised not to mention her shape-shifting abilities, a fact that still left him riddled with questions, but that was all he had promised. He looked at Eloch. “I think she might be the planet’s Champion.”
Eloch lifted an eyebrow. “How so?”
“She calls herself a Priestess, and she was on her way up the mountain to speak with Longwei.” He shrugged. “Sounds like a Champion to me.”
Wren glanced at Eloch. “Sounds like one to me, too. Interesting how she just fell in our laps so to speak, even before we touched down.”
“She’s not in my lap,” Aiko said, “She’s in yours. I’m up here ‘flying nice.’”
Wren chuckled and glanced at Genji. Aiko’s comment had even coaxed a weak smile from his troubled countenance.
“I’ll look forward to talking to her,” Eloch commented.
“Only, the Priestess bit?” Genji looked over at Kalea. “Don’t mention that, please. I’m not sure if I’m betraying a confidence.”
Eloch nodded. “I’ll be discreet.”
Chapter 7
The Nuri
Jocko whistled, “Would you look at that!” He nudged Grale and stood.
Grale looked up and slowly rose to his feet as well. He wiped the grease from his hands with the rag he’d been holding. Automatically, he draped the rag over the fender of the mining digger. “I never thought they’d be back,” he said, now acutely aware that he was weaponless.
“It’s like she just walked out of my fantasies. All that hair. I could bury myself in that hair. And in her.”
“Easy, stud. Don’t forget what she’s riding. And we’re unarmed.”
They studied each other, the girl who sat quietly on the monster, her lush curves tattooed on one side, and Grale. The markings disappeared under her skimpy wrap and reappeared on her thigh, just beneath where the wrap ended. He yearned to trace those marks. Why her gaze burned him to the core, Grale didn’t know. What he did know was there was no way in hell Jocko would touch a single strand of that hair. She was his, every inch of her lush body was his.
“I don’t think they’re here to attack us, Jocko. See how calm they are? Just standing there waiting? Stay here,” he ordered. “Don’t move a muscle, and make sure nobody else does, either.”
He took a step forward. The monster hissed, and Grale held his hands out to show he was unarmed. He took a few more slow steps to the base of the crater and looked up at the pair, waiting.
The girl dismounted and stood aside while the monster transformed into a man, the one they’d held prisoner, the negotiator. “So he was one of those things,” he said to no one in particular. Turning on his translator, he watched the man―a kid really, when he compared him to his own age…just barely whelped―wrap cloth around his loins. Then he and the girl walked silently down the cinder trail to where he stood. The kid nodded and reached for the small sack the girl handed him.
“Here’s proof there’s another crystal bed,” he said and handed the sack to Grale.
Grale reached in and pulled out a crystal. The moment it flashed red in the sunlight he recognized it. Recognized its value. At one time these crystals had been quite plentiful and used for deep space mining because they didn’t need oxygen to detonate. It only required freezing to set them off, the kind of cold found in space.
Later they’d been converted into weapons because there was no long-term damage to the atmosphere or planet when they exploded. Unlike the healing crystals he was currently mining, the crystal in his hand wasn’t reusable. Therefore, its value increased exponentially. He poured out the rest of the sack’s contents into his palm, did a quick calculation, and felt a flutter in his gut. In the palm of his hand lay a small fortune.
“Do we have a deal?” the kid asked.
Grale looked up with a brisk nod. “Oh yeah, kid, we’ve got a deal.”
With Wren’s help, Genji coated the burn with a special antibiotic ointment he’d developed himself. After wrapping Kalea’s side and shoulder, he and Eloch placed her on her uninjured side so she could sleep off the effects of the injection, after which he excused himself, claiming there were reports he needed to file. It was the only excuse he could think of. In reality, he desperately needed time to think through what had happened on the mountain.
He hesitated at the doorway. “I don’t want her to be alone when she wakes. Would one of you stay?”
“We’ll both stay,” Wren said. “Go do what you need to do. We’ll call you when she wakes up. Shoo!” she said, waving him off when he didn’t move. “She’ll be fine.”
With one more look at Kalea, Genji left the room.
“Why didn’t he just stay?” Wren mused as she sat in the chair Eloch placed next to Kalea’s bedside for her. “He sure acts like he wants to.”
“You don’t think he has reports to file?” Eloch asked as he settled in a chair next to her.
“None that couldn’t wait. Something’s upset him.”
“Maybe seeing Kalea injured so soon after she just recovered?”
“Maybe.”
The two lapsed into a companionable silence.
Wren grimaced. “We should move her out of here. Find her a normal recovery room.”
“It’s just a room, Wren,” Eloch said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Your life was saved in this room.”
She shook back her coils. “Yeah.” A pause. “Yeah, well... I’ve been in nicer rooms.”
Eloch pulled her closer.
“She sure is lovely,” Wren mused. “I wonder if all the people on this planet are as attractive. I can’t get over how her hair never seems to tangle. She’s got masses of it.”
“You have masses of hair.”
“True, but mine’s all tangled into coils.”
Kalea opened her eyes to look at Wren’s hair.
“You’ve been listening!” Wren accused with a grin.
“You’ve been talking about me.”
“Fair enough.” Wren leaned forward as Eloch withdrew his arm. “How do you feel?”
Kalea thought a moment. “Better.” She reached over to feel her shoulder. “It is no longer as hot.”
Wren nodded. “Good. Genji applied some of his special ointment. It’s amazing stuff. It’s especially a good infection fighter. Would you like to sit up?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t try on your own, that’s what we’re here for,” Wren said. Being mindful of the burn site, Wren slipped an arm around Kalea’s waist and helped her scoot herself up.
“Would you like anything? Food? Water?” Eloch asked as she leaned on him while Wren placed pillows behind her.
“Both?” added Wren. “Oh, sorry,” she said when Kalea winced. “Here, lean more on Eloch. Good,” she said, then stepped back. “There now, lean back. How’s that feel?”
Kalea leaned back and sighed. “This is nice. Thank you.”
“And now you’re sitting up high enough to eat, would you like something?”
“Food or water?” Eloch asked again.
Kalea thought back to the last time she’d eaten. She couldn’t remember. She hadn’t been hungry the last time she was on The Ancestors’ starbird. She’d been too anxious to return to Longwei and her Calling Moon. “Both, please.”
“I’ll go,” Wren
said brightly as she stood and headed toward the exit.
“Where’s Genji?”
“Filing reports. I’ll bring him back, too,” she called right before the door swooshed shut.
Kalea eyed Eloch, who had reseated himself at her bedside. “You wish to talk to me,” she stated. “It’s why she left in such a hurry.”
He nodded and smiled. “You don’t miss much, do you? Yes, I do wish to talk to you, Kalea. I want to understand your people and your planet. May I ask some questions?”
Head cocked to the side she nodded slowly.
“Please, who is Longwei?”
“The Goddess,” she answered, and looked at him sharply. “She made our world. She made us.”
“And what’s the name of your world?”
“Longwei, too. She dwells within Her creation.”
“And what do you call yourselves? Longwei’s People?”
She shook her head. “My family and I are Nuri, but not all are Nuri.”
“What makes you different?”
She shrugged. “We are the ruling class. We speak for the Goddess.”
“Then the Nuri are priests and priestesses of Longwei?”
“Longwei selects a priestess from each of the Nuri tribes, usually the daughter of the king, like me.”
“Your father is a king?”
She hung her head. “Was. My father is dead.”
“I’m sorry, Kalea. It’s hard to lose someone you love. How did it happen?”
“He did something foolish.” She fisted her hands.
Eloch let it go. “You say you speak for the Goddess, for Longwei. How do you know what She wants?”
“She tells us. But She doesn’t interfere with our lives unless we ask, and sometimes even when we ask She will not interfere.”
