Rayne’s Return

The Hearts of ICARUS Book Three

by

Laura Jo Phillips

Copyright © 2015 by Kathleen Honsinger

Cover art/design Copyright © 2015 by Kathleen Honsinger

All rights reserved.

DEDICATION

For my family.  This has been a long year of sadness and loss for us all.  As this year closes it’s getting a bit easier to look back with more joy than loss.  Day by day we heal, as is right.  Those we’ve loved and lost will forever have a place in our hearts, and thus live on through us, never to be forgotten.

For Mom.  My best friend, biggest fan, constant supporter, and the best listener ever, not to mention the best Mom anyone could ever ask for.

I love all of you, and appreciate each of you every single day.

And, as always, for Mom, Grandma, and Great-Grandma---Thank you all for the creativity you passed along to me, as well as the heart to do something with it.  There is a little bit of each of you in these books, just as there is a little bit of each of you in me

Look for previews and coming release announcements at:

Website:

www.laurajophillips.com

Facebook:

facebook.com/laurajophillipsauthor

Other Books by Laura Jo Phillips

The Dracons’ Woman

Book One of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Lobos’ HeartSong

Book Two of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Katres’ Summer

Book Three of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Bearens’ Hope

Book Four of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Gryphon’s Dream

Book Five of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Vulpiran’s Honor

Book Six of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Falcorans’ Faith

Book Seven of the Soul-Linked Saga

The Tigrens’ Glory

Book Eight of the Soul-Linked Saga

Quest for the Moon Orb

The Orbs of Rathira, Book One

Quest for the Sun Orb

The Orbs of Rathira, Book Two

Quest for the Heart Orb

The Orbs of Rathira, Book Three

Secrets Kept

Mixed Blood, Book One

(Available under the name Kathleen Honsinger)

Secrets Told

Mixed Blood, Book Two

Nica’s Legacy

Hearts of ICARUS, Book One

Tani’s Destiny

Hearts of ICARUS, Book Two

Rayne’s Return

Hearts of ICARUS, Book Three

Coming Soon

Salene’s Story (Not yet titled)

Hearts of ICARUS, Book Four

Books by Harvey Phillips and Paul Honsinger

To Honor You Call Us

Man of War, Book One

For Honor We Stand

Man of War, Book Two

Visit the home of the Soul-Linked Saga online at:

www.laurajophillips.com

or email Laura Jo at:

laurajophillips.books@gmail.com

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Afterword

Chapter 1

Rayne Dracon sat on a large boulder at the edge of the mesa above the caves where the Khun still made their homes, watching the festivities below.  Tani and Steel’s wedding ceremony had been beautiful in its simplicity, but the celebration afterward had been long and, for Rayne, exhausting.  She was never comfortable in large crowds, particularly when a large number of the guests were people she didn’t know.  She’d kept her partial shield up for hours in order to hide her true emotions from her family, and her full shield up for the past hour so she could sit on the mesa alone, and in peace.

A day after the Ugaztun reached Garza with the Dracons, Nica’s ICARUS vessel, Nica’s Legacy, had arrived.  The day after that had seen the arrival of the Bearen-Hirus’ Armadura, the Katre’s Vyand, the Falcoran’s Eyrie, the Gryphon’s Razor, and the Tigren’s Triskele.  Tani had been truly shocked by the number of Clan Jasani who’d come rushing to aid her the moment they’d learned she was in trouble, and that had saddened Rayne.  She’d never understood just how much of an outsider her youngest sister had felt, especially after learning she wasn’t a berezi.

So many changes had taken place on Garza in the past few weeks.  The first time Rayne stepped foot on the planet it had been a dry, dead world.  Now, it was beautiful, and growing more beautiful by the day.  A river teeming with fish ran through the grassy valley below, and the mountain behind her was covered with thin saplings that would one day grow into a rich, green forest.  Brightly colored birds filled the skies during the day, and the sunsets were always breathtaking.

She watched as Tani and Steel shifted into their enormous alter-forms; the deep red dragon Queen, and the glossy black dragon King of the Khun.  They leapt into the sky side by side, and tears pricked her eyes as she thought of the happiness that now lit her youngest sister’s face.  When they were gone, Rayne looked around for Salene.  After a few moments she found her standing in the valley with her Gryphons around her.  In a couple of weeks, after everyone returned to Jasan, there would be a mating ceremony for them.

Rayne was as happy for Salene as she was for Tani, but at the same time, she couldn’t help wondering who her own male-set was, or where they were, or why they hadn’t found her.  She wasn’t jealous of her sisters’ happiness, but she very much wanted some of that happiness for herself.  Of the three of them, she was the one who’d dreamt of finding her Rami and having a family above all things.  How ironic that she would be the last to fulfill that dream.  Maybe she really would put in for a spot at Arima House when they got back home.

She took a deep breath and started to sigh, then swallowed it when she heard footsteps approaching from the cliff face.  Not wanting to answer questions about why she was there alone, she checked the psychic shield that prevented people and electronic devices from noticing her.  It didn’t truly make her invisible, but it might as well have.  When raised fully not even her sisters or her parents could sense her presence by scent or sight, but it didn’t work with sound, so she had to be very quiet.

She had to bite back a startled gasp when the Bearen-Hirus arrived on the mesa.  They weren’t quite as tall as some of the other Clans, but at six and a half feet they still towered over her.  They had massive shoulders, arms and necks.  Even their faces looked strong with well-defined cheekbones, boldly curved noses, and high foreheads that rose almost straight up over remarkably beautiful eyes.  Landor’s were violet, Con’s were jade green, and Ari’s were amber.  Their hair was not as long as most Clan Jasani preferred, hanging just past their shoulders in a thick, shining black fall, though Con’s, she noticed, was pulled back in a low ponytail.

As Rayne took in the details of their appearance, she couldn’t help but wonder when they’d become so devastatingly hot to look at.  She thought back, surprised to realize that she hadn’t actually seen them for years.  How odd.  As a child she’d thought of them as almost-uncles, like Jackson, Clark, and Rob Bearen, though she’d seen them rarely and had never known them very well.  Landor, Condor, and Aridor had once been heads of security for the Jasani spaceport, but now they worked for ICARUS.  She remembered that they used to make a point of greeting the Dracon girls whenever they passed through the skyport on their way to or from school, but the last time she could remember seeing them was when she was in her early teens.  Thirteen or fourteen, she thought.

“Where could she have gone?” Landor asked with an edge of frustration in his voice.

“I don’t know,” Ari replied, impatiently pushing a lock of hair off of his forehead.  “We’ve checked every cave for her scent, as well as the entire valley.  I even went so far as to ask if she’d transported up to the Ugaztun already.”

“How long are we going to play this charade?” Con asked.

“It’s not a charade,” Landor said.  “She sees us as uncles.  We all agreed to wait until she matures, and is able to see us as men.”

“How long will it take for her to mature?”

“That I cannot answer.”

“Do you intend that we wait forever?”

Of course not,” Landor said, absently twisting the heavy gold ring he wore on his left forefinger.  “Just until she grows up.”

“In that case, we’re in for a much longer wait than we expected because as far as I can tell, Rayne Dracon is as much a child now as she was when she was ten,” Con said.

“I know,” Landor conceded with a sigh.  “Let’s return to the valley.  Perhaps she’s down there somewhere and we just missed her.”

Rayne sat motionless on the boulder as the Bearen-Hirus climbed down the cliff face, so shocked she could barely suck air into her lungs.  It wasn’t easy to wrap her mind around the fact that the Bearen-Hirus were meant to be her Rami.  The moment she did accept it, pain followed.  How long had they known? she wondered.  A long time, from the sound of it.  Probably for as long as it’d been since she’d seen them, which had to be six or seven years.

Her eyes widened in shock.  From all she’d heard, seen, and been taught, male-sets had a very difficult time staying away from their berezi once they identified her.  Judging by how long it had been since she’d seen them, they hadn’t had much trouble staying away from her, and that hurt.  That hurt a lot.  So much so that she deliberately reminded herself of what they’d said about her being immature, relieved to feel anger grow over the pain.

She remained on the mesa, alone, until the celebration below began to wind down.  By the time she stood up she’d made a decision.  If the Bearen-Hirus wanted to wait, then she’d give them something to wait for.  There was a spaceport midway between Garza and Jasan that her parents always stopped at because they had friends there.  When they reached it, she’d leave the Ugaztun and purchase a ticket to whatever destination looked good to her at the time.

She saw that the Bearen-Hirus were still down in the valley, but there was no help for it.  She had to lower her shield before requesting transport to the Ugaztun or Jawn Lobo wouldn’t be able to get a fix on her.  She dropped her shield and pressed the transport button on her wrist band.  The Bearen-Hirus looked up at her just as a green light on her wrist band flashed, warning her that transportation would begin in five seconds.  Then she felt the disorienting sensation of being transported from one place to another, along with a healthy dose of relief to be out of the Bearen-Hirus’ sight.

***

Landor, Con, and Ari were nearing the point of panic, an emotion none of them had ever experienced in their nearly three hundred years of existence.  They’d looked everywhere they could think to look twice over, but they found no sign of Rayne Dracon anywhere.  They couldn’t see her, smell her, or feel the persistent calm she always displayed no matter the situation, which became more and more troubling as the crowd thinned.

They’d been careful to keep their distance from her for years, so their connection to her was practically nonexistent.  But they could feel her well enough that they should have been able to find her.  Just as they began to discuss raising an alarm, they were hit with a mix of strong emotions.  Sadness.  Hurt.  Anger.  They looked up in the direction the feelings were coming from and saw Rayne standing on the mesa, her long, red gold curls shining in the moonlight.

“She knows,” Ari said softly.

“Yes,” Landor agreed just as she transported, vanishing from sight.  “She must have overheard us.”

“But, how?” Con wondered.  “We checked.  There was no one else up there.”

“Yes, and we just spent the last hour searching for her and she was right there, on the mesa, probably the entire time,” Landor pointed out.  “Obviously she can shield herself.”

They all thought back to their conversation on the mesa, remembering what they’d said.  “I’m sorry she heard me,” Con said with a heavy sigh.  “I was frustrated, but that’s no excuse.  I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

“I’m sorry that our words were so harsh too, and that she heard them,” Landor said.  “But it doesn’t change the fact that she’s not yet ready for us.  We’ve only reacted to her scent once, and that briefly.  In addition, her constant contentment is a clear sign of her immaturity.  Only children wander through the world unaffected as she does.”

“She’s certainly not unaffected now,” Con said.

“Actually, I can’t feel her at all now,” Ari said.  “She just transported up to the Ugaztun, but as strong as her emotions were, we should still be able to feel her.  Shouldn’t we?”

Landor and Con both reached for Rayne.  “She must have shielded herself again,” Con suggested a few moments later.

“She must have,” Ari said slowly.  “But why would she shield herself on the Ugaztun?”  They stood thinking for a few moments, but none of them could come up with an answer to that question.

“What I don’t understand is, even with a shield hiding her presence, why didn’t any of us catch her scent up there?” Con asked.

“Maybe she can hide her scent, too,” Landor suggested.

“I’ve never heard of such a talent,” Con said.

“She’s a Dracon Princess,” Landor pointed out.  “It shouldn’t be a surprise to find that she’s powerful.”

“Do you really think that’s possible?” Ari asked.

“Yes, I do,” Landor replied.

“If that’s true, it could explain why we don’t react to her scent.”

“I’ll bet it does,” Con said with a hint of hope in his voice.  “The Dracons aren’t planning to return to Jasan for a few days.  Since she overheard us tonight anyway, we should just tell her she’s our berezi, and ask her if she’s shielding her scent.”

“You’re right, Con,” Landor said, nodding.  “That’s exactly what we’ll do.  She’s an adult now, and finished with her schooling, so there’s no reason for secrets anymore.”

“Excellent,” Ari and Con said together, then smiled.

“We might as well return to the Armadura now,” Landor said.  He raised one wrist to activate his transport beacon, then all three of them froze as they felt a fresh wave of emotions from Rayne.  This time it was chaotic and fragmented, consisting of so many different emotions it was impossible to know which was strongest.  Fear.  Determination.  Worry.  Confusion.

They looked back up at the mesa and saw a figure standing where Rayne had stood just a couple of minutes earlier.  Oddly, even though their eyes told them it wasn’t Rayne, every other sense that they possessed told them that it was.  As they stood there trying to work through their confusion, the figure crumpled to the ground.

They immediately took off running across the valley and up the cliff face, dodging the few Khun who were still up and about, moving so fast that they were only a blur to the few people who noticed them at all.  When they reached the mesa, they gathered around the figure lying on the ground, so stunned by the sight before them that for a long moment they couldn’t do anything but stare.

It was definitely Rayne Dracon.  There was no longer any doubt of that.  How she came to be bald, emaciated, covered in wounds in various stages of healing, and dressed in nothing but a coarse, ill-fitting gray shift in less than three minutes was beyond their ability to comprehend.  Even her scent was different.  She still smelled like honeysuckle, but it was faint beneath the bitter scent of fear and the sour scent of weakness and poor health.  As they stared, her blue-green eyes opened and she looked up at them.

“You are…the Bearen-Hirus,” she whispered, her eyes going slowly from Landor, to Con, and then to Ari.  “Is that right?”

“Yes,” Landor replied, kneeling down on the ground beside her.  “That’s right.”

“Where am I?”

Landor exchanged quick looks with his brothers who knelt down opposite him.  “On Garza,” he replied.

“What day is it?”

Landor gave her the date and, on impulse, added, “This is the day of Tani’s wedding.”

Her eyes closed and they all felt the enormity of her relief.  “A full year,” she whispered.  “It really worked.”

“What worked?” Landor asked, though he had a good idea what she meant.  It was impossible, of course.  He knew that.  They all knew that.  But, impossible or not, Rayne Dracon was lying on the ground before them, looking very different from the Rayne Dracon of three minutes earlier.  A person did not undergo such changes in that short of a time without some serious technological or magical interference.

Her confused expression changed to one of fear as she looked past him at the dark, starry sky overhead.  “This isn’t safe,” she whispered, struggling to sit up.

Landor reached out to help her into a sitting position.  “Not safe from what?” he asked, keeping his voice low and, he hoped, gentle.

“From them,” she replied with a hard shudder that would have knocked her flat if not for Landor’s support.  “Can you take me to my parents without anyone else seeing me?  That’s very important.  No one else can know I’m here.”

The very thought of letting Rayne out of their sight on top of their shock at her poor physical state, and the scent of her fear, nearly sent all three of them into a blood rage.  But it was those same factors, combined with their instinctive need to care for and protect her that allowed them to maintain an outward appearance of calm.

“We could request transport to the Ugaztun,” Landor said, “but we could not do so without others seeing you.”

Her eyes filled with tears that she swiped at impatiently with a shaking hand.  “I’m sorry, but I don’t know where to go, or who to trust.”

Landor brushed her cheek lightly with his fingertips, a gesture filled with such warmth and tenderness that she blinked up at him in surprise.  “You can trust us, Rayne.  We’ll take you to the Armadura, and we’ll keep your presence a secret, on that you have our word.  Once you’re safe, warm, and comfortable, we can discuss what to do next.”

Rayne knew very little about the Bearen-Hirus.  She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d seen them.  But something inside of her urged her to trust them.  “All right,” she whispered, relief washing through her the moment she agreed.  “Thank you.”

Landor was so relieved by her agreement that he felt a little light headed.  He slipped one arm beneath her legs and the other around her back, then rose to his feet, lifting her with exquisite care.  She was so thin, so wounded and fragile in his arms that it nearly brought tears to his eyes.  “Con, go to the ship, clear the transport room, then bring us up.”

Con nodded, slowly reached out toward Rayne, then let his hand fall back to his side without touching her.  “Thank you for trusting us,” he said softly.  He pressed the transport key on his wrist band and, a few seconds later, vanished.

“We should take you to the infirmary,” Ari said, moving close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body against her side.

“No one else can know I’m here,” she whispered tensely, looking up at Landor.  “You promised.”

“Don’t worry,” he said.  “We will do nothing without your agreement.”

“We could summon Tani,” Ari suggested.

“If this is her wedding day, it’s also her wedding night,” she whispered.  “Food.  That would help.  Can I have some food, please?”  The hopeful note in her voice put a lump in Ari’s throat, and made Landor want to roar.

“Of course,” Ari replied.  “You can have anything you want.”

“Broth and green tea?”

“Of course.  As soon as we get to the ship I’ll get it for you.”

“Hold on, Rayne,” Landor warned.  “We’re transporting up now.”  She gave him a barely perceptible nod and checked her shield, stiffening when she realized it was all the way down.  She raised it enough to hide her fear, then closed her eyes just as the disorienting sensation of transportation hit all three of them.  A moment later they were in the transport room of the Armadura.  Landor looked around, relieved to find the room empty except for Con.

“Keep your eyes closed,” he said to Rayne.  “We’re going to move really fast now.”

Another tiny nod was her only response.  He took off with Con right in front of them, moving quickly enough that they were no more than a blur to anyone who might see them, making it impossible for anyone to spot Rayne let alone recognize her.  A minute later they stopped in front of Landor’s stateroom door.  Con opened it and Landor carried Rayne straight to his bed where he laid her down with as much care as he’d used in picking her up.

“Where’s Ari?” Con asked.

“He went to get her broth and tea from the cafeteria,” Landor said as he studied the ugly gray shift that she wore.  Sleeveless and shapeless, it hung on her small frame like a coarse, stained sack reeking of fear and desperation.  He hated it.  “Rayne,” he said softly.  She opened her eyes and looked up at him.  “Would you mind changing into one of my shirts?  That thing you’re wearing is…it can’t be comfortable.”

She glanced down at herself and grimaced.  She couldn’t remember why she was wearing the rough gray garment, but she certainly had no objections to being rid of it.  “Not at all,” she said, then stilled.  “Wait, there’s something…,” she trailed off, her forehead wrinkled in thought.  “Don’t throw it away,” she said finally, unable to grasp the memory that had flitted through her mind.

“Why not?”

“I can’t remember,” she whispered.

At first, Landor had thought she was whispering out of exhaustion, or fear, or both.  He now realized that there was something wrong with her voice.  It was on the tip of his tongue to ask her about it, but he held back, deciding to tackle one thing at a time.

“We will not dispose of it,” he promised, even though he wanted to set fire to the thing, watch it burn, then blow the ashes out the airlock.  He crossed the room to a dresser built into the wall and opened a drawer.  A moment later he returned with a clean white t-shirt and shook it out.  “If you prefer, we can try to find something else for you to wear.”

“No, that’s fine.  Will you help me sit up, please?”

“Of course,” he replied, placing the shirt on the bed.  He reached for her, sliding his hands carefully beneath her shoulders.  She was so small and so weak that he could have snapped her bones with a simple twist of one hand, a thought that literally made him queasy.  When she was sitting up he released her slowly, half afraid that she’d topple over without support.

When he was sure she was steady, he reached for the hem of the rough, scratchy gray shift, promising himself that if he had anything to say about it, nothing like it would ever touch her skin again. “Ready?”

Rayne started to nod, then realized that she was sitting on a bed in a room with two men she barely knew, and was about to let one of them take off the only article of clothing she wore.  “I should do this myself,” she said.  “In private.”

Landor was startled that he hadn’t even considered her modesty.  He wondered why he hadn’t felt her embarrassment before she’d said anything, and automatically reached for her emotions.  All he sensed was the same calm contentment they’d always felt from her, which was confusing since she was anything but content.  It was then that he realized he could no longer smell her.  He started to wonder when she’d done that, and why, then gave his head a little shake as he set those questions aside for later.

He took a moment to study her facial expression and body language, and found what he was looking for.  She was exhausted, confused, and definitely embarrassed.  He debated with himself for a moment, then made the only decision he could since leaving her alone was not even remotely an option.

“Con, please turn around,” he said.  Then, in a low voice, he added, “I will not look.”  She gave him another one of those barely perceptible nods, but she remained tense.

Deciding to get it over with quickly, he removed the shift and dropped it on the floor before reaching for the t-shirt.  He slipped the neck hole of the t-shirt over her head while keeping his eyes averted partly for her sake, and partly for his own.  He’d seen enough wounds, scabs, bruises, and scars on her already.  If he saw much more he was afraid he’d go into a blood rage, and that wasn’t something Rayne needed to deal with at the moment.  She was their berezi, and her needs came first even though she either didn’t remember that fact, or she hadn’t overheard them on the mesa as they’d suspected.

Once the t-shirt was over her head, Rayne raised her arms and slipped them into the sleeves which hung past her elbows.  She pulled the shirt down, sighing as she ran her trembling hands over the thick, soft cotton.

They all heard the door knob turn and, in a flash, Con and Landor stood crouched at the foot of the bed, glaring at the door.  Only when they saw that it was Ari did they relax.

While Ari carried a tray to the bed, Con locked the door behind him.  Landor piled pillows behind Rayne, and Con got an extra blanket from the closet to cover her legs.  Ari then put the tray over her lap and lifted the cover off of a steaming bowl of broth.  Landor poured her a cup of tea from a porcelain pot, and Con offered her a small bowl containing various sweeteners, his brows raised in question.

“No, thank you,” she whispered, staring at the three of them with wide eyes, shocked by their attentiveness.  It took a few moments to remember that their behavior was no different from what she’d expect from any Clan Jasani male-set in the same situation.  But it felt…alien…to her.  She couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been a very long time since she’d been treated so kindly.

She turned her attention to the steaming broth on the tray in front of her, her stomach cramping just from the aroma.  She picked up the spoon lying on the tray beside the bowl and dipped it into the broth, but her hand shook too much for her to carry it to her mouth without spilling it all over herself and the soft, clean t-shirt she now wore.  She put the spoon down with a regretful sigh.  Maybe one of them would pour it into a cup for her.

Before she could ask, Landor pulled a chair up close to the side of the bed and picked up the spoon.  She watched silently as he dipped it into the broth and carried it to her mouth.  Feeling both grateful and embarrassed at the same time, she opened her mouth, needing the nutrition too badly to even consider declining it.

She ate about a third of the bowl before signaling that she needed to stop.  She leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes for a moment, struggling to keep the hot liquid in her stomach.  When she was sure it would stay there, she opened her eyes and reached for the cup of tea.  Con lifted the cup from the tray for her and placed it in her hands.  She savored the warmth of the cup against her palms, the simple sensation so amazingly good that it made her eyes sting, though she didn’t understand why.  She raised the cup to her lips and sipped, swallowing the sudden lump in her throat along with the tea.

“That’s a big cut on your arm, and it looks fresh,” Con said.  “We don’t have enough Water magic to heal, but we have enough to take some of the pain away.  It should be cleaned and bandaged, too.”

Rayne frowned, not knowing what he was talking about.  She followed his gaze to her left arm but she didn’t feel any pain there.  She returned the cup to the tray, then turned her left arm until she could see the long cut on the back of it that ran from her wrist almost to her elbow.  There was dried blood on her skin, but it wasn’t bleeding and it didn’t look deep.  She stilled as that same memory tickled her mind again.  Instead of chasing it, she relaxed and waited for it to come to her.  “The shift,” she said, looking up at Landor.  “Where is it?”

Landor reached down to the floor where he’d dropped it and picked it up, holding it gingerly between two fingers.  “Inside,” she whispered.  He frowned, but turned the stiff garment inside out and immediately saw that there was writing on the fabric.  It wasn’t very neat, the letters uneven and thick, obviously written with something other than a conventional writing instrument.  He stared at the dark rusty red letters, then raised the garment to his nose and sniffed.

“This is written in blood,” he said, his eyes going to the wound on her arm.  “Your blood.”

Rayne nodded as once again a fragment of a memory slipped through her mind too quickly for her to grasp.  “What does it say?”

“You don’t know?”

“No,” she whispered, her brow furrowed in thought.  “I know that I was sent back in time one year, that memory loss is a temporary side effect, and that my presence here, in this time, must be kept secret.  And I think I remember less now than I did when I first…arrived.”

“So, you used your own blood to jot down a few reminders?” he asked stiffly, his jaw clenched so hard he could barely speak.

“Apparently,” she replied, frowning at him before putting his tension down to typical male Clan Jasani protectiveness.  “Can you read it?”

“The first line says Buhell III C 8 days, need BS,” he said, then looked up at his brothers.  Ari shook his head, but Con had a thoughtful expression on his face.

“The first part of that is familiar, but I’m not sure why,” he said.  “Give me a minute.”

Landor nodded, then looked back at the garment.  “The second line says CTRL #57.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Ari said.

“Why not?” Rayne asked.

“CTRL is an abbreviation for Control,” he replied.  “I suspect that note refers to people who’ve been implanted with Controllers, something we’ve been seeing a bit too much of lately.  Maybe there are fifty seven of them, or maybe the fifty seventh one is important in some way.  Something along those lines.”

“When we found you, you asked to be taken to your parents,” Landor said to Rayne.  “Do you think that there might be someone with a Controller on the Ugaztun?”

“I’m sorry, but I just don’t remember,” she said, tensing at the thought of her parents in danger.

“Don’t worry, Rayne,” he assured her quickly.  “If there’s a spy on the Ugaztun, the Dracon Princes are more than capable of defending themselves.  I’ll go over there in the morning and discuss all of this with them while you remain here where no one can see you.”

“Thank you,” she said, easing back against the pillows.  “Is that all it says?”

“No, there’s a third line.  I’m not sure, but I think it says Doffle.  That doesn’t mean anything to me.”  Ari and Con both shook their heads, but this time it was Rayne who frowned.

“May I see it?”  Landor held the shift up and turned it so that she could see the letters clearly.

“It’s not Doffle,” she said, her mouth suddenly dry.  “It’s Doftle.  I don’t know what it means, but I feel like I should.  And it frightens me.”

“It took a lot of blood to write all this,” Landor said, carefully folding the garment which had gone from an object of disgust to one of significance in the space of a few moments.  “I’d say that means these bits of information are very important.”

“I just wish I could remember what they mean.  It doesn’t do much good to leave myself reminders that I can’t understand.”

“Since you knew ahead of time that your memory would be impaired, maybe the notes were meant to be understood by others,” Landor said.  “Not you.”

“But you don’t understand them either,” Rayne whispered.

“We have a few ideas,” Con said.  “We’ll do some research and see where it takes us.”

“You don’t have any idea who took you, or where you’ve been?” Ari asked.

“Aside from what I’ve already told you, my last clear memory is of going to bed the night before Tani’s wedding,” she said.  “I don’t remember the wedding itself, or anything about that day.  Was I here for that?”

“Yes, you were,” Landor said.  “In fact, no more than three minutes before you arrived on the mesa, we saw you transport away from the same exact spot.  We assumed you were going up to the Ugaztun, but apparently that wasn’t the case.”

“I wonder why I can’t remember that day?” she murmured, then shook her head.  “I don’t suppose it matters.”

“If it does, I’m sure you’ll remember it in time,” Landor said soothingly, alarmed by how pale she’d gotten while trying to remember.  He searched for a way to change the subject.  “Would you like more soup?”

“I think I can do this myself now,” she said, reaching for the spoon.  She dipped it into the broth and carried it slowly to her mouth, then smiled at her success.

Landor returned her smile, but inwardly he was fighting to keep tight leashes on his tongue and his temper.  The sight of Rayne in such horrific shape after seeing her healthy and well just an hour or two earlier had him nearly wild with fear and worry.  Not knowing who took her, why they’d done it, how they’d done it, or how she’d been returned, made him feel off balance and uncertain.  For all he knew, she could be snatched away again at any moment.  The helplessness of that thought nearly caused him to shift involuntarily into his bearenca alter-form, something he hadn’t done since he was a toddler.

“Why can’t you speak above a whisper?” Ari asked.

She stiffened, one hand going to a thin scar on her throat even as she shook her head.  “I don’t remember.  I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize, please,” Landor said, his heart twisting in his chest at the lost expression on her face.  “I think not remembering everything right away is a blessing, all things considered.”

Rayne nodded though she wasn’t sure if she agreed or not.  She set her spoon down a moment later, too full for even one more swallow.

Landor frowned, wishing she’d eaten more, but this was not the time to badger her.  “If you’re done eating, I think you should try to rest now.”

“Yes, I’m very tired,” she said, then yawned.  “Where will I sleep?”

“Right where you are,” Landor said.

“But, this is your room, isn’t it?”

“It is.  How did you know?”

“Because you took your t-shirt out of a drawer over there,” she replied, dropping her eyes as she double checked her shield to be sure her true emotions were hidden.  She hadn’t lied, but she hadn’t told the whole truth, either.  She didn’t want to admit that the room, the bed, even the t-shirt she wore, all smelled like him, like oak and fresh lime, or that the scent comforted her.  There was something going on here that she was too tired and too confused to grasp at the moment.

“There is no reason to move you now that you’re settled and comfortable,” Landor said.  He read the hesitation in her eyes.  “Besides, no one on this ship save the three of us would dare enter this room for any reason without a direct invitation from me.”

“All right, you convinced me,” she said, unable to argue with that.  She started to reach for the stack of pillows behind her but Con got there first, rearranging them for her while Ari removed the tray from the bed.  She laid down and Landor straightened the covers over her.  The thought of being left alone caused her heart to race, but she had plenty of experience in hiding the outward signs of her true feelings.  It required little effort to keep her expression stoic, and her shield firmly in place.

Landor looked into her eyes, having learned in the past hour that they were truly the windows to her soul.  He was surprised at how little she gave away with her facial expressions and body language.  But it was all there in her eyes.  Fear.  Confusion.  Exhaustion.  And loneliness.  Deep, abject loneliness unlike anything he’d ever witnessed before.

“Don’t worry, Rayne,” he said.  “We will not leave you alone and unguarded while you sleep.  I promise.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“Is there a chance that whoever took you before can do it again?” Ari asked, unable to stop the question from leaving his lips.

“I don’t know,” she said wearily, trying not to be irritated.  She’d already told them all that she remembered.  Didn’t they believe her?

“We’re sorry, Rayne, we don’t mean to press you,” Landor said.  “You’re safe now.  No one will find out you’re here if there’s any way for us to prevent it, and as long as no one knows you’re here, they can’t take you.  Try to get some sleep.”

Rayne knew that there was no such thing as safe, but her eyes closed as she was trying to form the words to say so.  Landor’s t-shirt was soft against her skin, the bed was comfortable and warm, and she had hot food in her stomach, even if it was only broth.  She didn’t know why those simple things felt like luxuries to her, but they did.  All she wanted to do at the moment was relax and enjoy them.

“This is so…startling,” Ari said softly a few minutes later, when they were certain she was asleep.

“That’s an understatement,” Landor said.  “If you’d asked me two hours ago whether time travel was possible I would have said absolutely not.  But the proof is before us.”

“I’m usually excited to come across new phenomena,” Con said.  “But not this time.  I don’t like this at all.”

“I strongly suspect that the alternative would be waking up tomorrow to find that she was missing,” Ari said.  “All things considered, this is better.”

“I agree that having her here right now is better than what our future must have held in a different time,” Landor said, then shook his head.  “That’s a difficult concept to comprehend.  What troubles me is, if the future Rayne is here right now, then where is the Rayne we saw transport away before this one arrived?”

“That’s a worrisome question,” Con said.

“It is, and as far as I’m aware, there’s no answer to be had,” Landor said.  “Unless, and until, Rayne regains her memory.  With any luck she’ll be able to answer that question along with the other two or three hundred I have bouncing around in my head.”

“Just to be clear, we’re not going to report this to ICARUS headquarters, right?” Ari asked.

“Of course not,” Landor said.  “For one thing, I promised Rayne that we wouldn’t tell anyone about her, other than her parents.  For another, the investigation for spies on New Ugaztun is still ongoing, so their security isn’t to be trusted.”

“Agreed,” Con and Ari said together.

“Speaking of spies,” Ari said, “I think we should consider checking our crew for Controllers.”

“You don’t think that warning was for the Ugaztun?” Con asked.

“Maybe, maybe not, but with Rayne here, I don’t think we should take any chances.”

“We’ll talk to Pip about it tomorrow,” Landor said.  “Hopefully he’ll be able to come up with some method of performing that task that doesn’t involve too much time or fuss.”

“I wish we knew how she was taken in the first place,” Ari said.

“I think it happened when she transported to the Ugaztun earlier,” Landor said.  “If memory serves, I believe the Xanti did something like that years ago.”

“Yes, I think so too,” Con said.  “I also remember reading that the Khun females held by the Nomen at the mine were starved, some of them to the point of death.”

Landor nodded.  “That’s right.  They were.”

“All of the Nomen were bald, as well,” Con added.

“You think Nomen are responsible for what happened to Rayne?” Ari asked.

“I have no idea who’s responsible,” Con replied.  “I’m just pointing out similarities.”

“The name she wrote on the shift was Doftle, not Nomen,” Landor reminded them.

“True, but the Nomen are clones,” Con said.  “That means someone made them.”

“Ari, if you’ll remain here, with Rayne, I think Con and I need to go catch up on our reading.”

“Reading?” Con asked.

“Over the past few weeks several reports have been filed on the Nomen, the android, the liquid metal found on Garza, and the Khun,” Landor said.  “We’ve skimmed most of them, but I think it’s time for us to sit down and read them carefully.  There might be something there that will help us understand what happened to Rayne.”

“Agreed,” Con said.

“Wait,” Ari said, stopping them as they turned to leave.  “I have a question.”

“Yes?” Landor asked.

“When we reached Rayne on the mesa I could scent her clearly.  The entire area around her smelled like honeysuckle and fear.”  He looked at his brothers questioningly, and they both nodded. “By the time we got her in here, her scent had vanished again.”

“Yes, I noticed that as well,” Landor said.  “It seems our theory that she shields her scent and emotions is correct.”

“I agree, but my question is, did either of you have a sexual response to her scent before it went away?  Because I didn’t.”

“Neither did I,” Con said in a low voice.

“Considering the shape she’s in, it would have been surprising if we had,” Landor said.  “Our greater instinct at the moment is to care for her and protect her.”  Con and Ari both relaxed a little at that.  “When she gets better, I’m sure our responses to her will be all we expect them to be.”

“Good,” Ari said, relieved.  Then another thought occurred to him.  “When are we going to…,” he paused, glanced at the sleeping figure, then looked back at his brothers and lowered his voice.  “When are we going to tell her those things that she doesn’t appear to remember?”

“Soon,” Landor said.

“I suppose there’s no way around it,” Con said with a sigh, earning surprised looks from Landor and Ari.  “We hurt her feelings.  I hurt her feelings.  I’m not looking forward to doing that again.”

“It wasn’t just you, Con, it was all three of us,” Landor said.  “As much as I hate the idea of hurting her again, we can’t lie to her, either.”

“I know,” Con agreed.

“But,” Landor added, “I don’t think it’s something she needs to deal with right now.  When the time is right, we’ll know.”

“As long as we don’t wait too long,” Con said.  “The longer we wait, the more difficult it’ll be for us all.”

They fell silent as Rayne shifted in her sleep, then watched for a few moments to be sure she hadn’t awakened.  After a few moments they relaxed and Ari turned to his brothers.  “Give me a moment to get the first aid kit from the bathroom.”  They nodded and he hurried away at blurring speed.  A couple of seconds later he returned with the kit in his hands.  “Go on, now.  I won’t leave Rayne alone for a single moment, I promise.”

Chapter 2

360 Days in the Future

Rayne was drifting somewhere deep within her mind, floating just above a sea of black despair, and below full awareness.  It would be so easy to just let go and sink down into the cold, dark depths of her mind, releasing reality and sanity altogether.  And yet, every time she thought about giving up, the faces of three men appeared in her mind.  Three men with black hair and striking eyes that she barely knew and would probably never see again.  They gazed at her in absolute silence, but their eyes begged her to hang on, to be patient, to wait just a little longer.  She’d tried countless times, but she could never bring herself to deny them no matter how much they’d hurt her.  This time was no different.

There they were, exactly as they’d been the last time she’d seen them.  Ari with that stray curl falling over his forehead no matter how many times he pushed it back.  Con with his solemn green eyes and a crease in his brow, his hair pulled back in a low ponytail.  And Landor, twisting the heavy golden ring on his finger, his violet eyes fixed on her unwaveringly.

As an adult she’d only seen them that one time on the mesa, in the dark, on Garza, and she’d been more preoccupied with their conversation than their appearance.  Because of that, she strongly suspected that she’d manufactured all of those details about them in her own mind, but there was no way to be sure.

After a time, the images faded, as they always did once the urge to give up had passed.  After a few moments she turned her attention to the music she’d been working on for what seemed like forever.  There was something about the crescendo that she wasn’t quite satisfied with yet.

“Are you awake Tanjelia Dracon?”

Rayne’s eyes flew open, her heart going from a calm beat to a thundering gallop in an instant.  It wasn’t the strange voice so much as the fact that it had spoken her sister’s name that fully awakened her.  The idea of the little blue thugs getting their hands on one of her sisters was absolutely terrifying.

She looked from side to side as best she could from her prone position, seeing nothing but the same array of monitors and machines around her that had been her only view for so long that it was sometimes difficult to remember a time when they weren’t there.  She tried to move even though she knew perfectly well that, except for her eyes and facial muscles, nothing would respond.  Finally, she reached out with her senses, searching for Tani while at the same time hoping she wouldn’t find her.

“Whom do you seek?” the voice asked, startling her again.  This time she realized that the unfamiliar voice with its unfamiliar accent was in her mind, not her ears.

Rayne had always been able to feel her sisters, but she’d never communicated using only her mind before.  Her parents communicated that way when they were in their alter-forms, and most male-sets did as well, but she had no idea how it was done.  She concentrated, trying to think her words in the same way she’d speak them.  “Who are you?” she asked.

“My true name would be impossible for you to pronounce,” the voice replied.  “You may, however, call me Wolef.”  Rayne was surprised and pleased with her success, but still wary.

“Where are you?”

“In the Facility, of course,” Wolef replied.  “Like you, I’m a prisoner here.  I must say that I was somewhat saddened to find one who is honored by all dragons in this place.”

Rayne relaxed.  Her sister hadn’t been abducted after all.  “I’m sorry to disappoint you, Wolef, but I’m not Tanjelia.  My name is Rayne.  Tani’s my sister.”

“Are you certain?” he asked.  “Perhaps you’ve forgotten yourself during your long…stay…here.  It wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened.”

If Rayne could have smiled around her feeding tube, she would have.  “Yes, I’m certain.  Except for the color of our eyes, my sisters and I are identical triplets, but we are definitely different people.”

“I see,” Wolef said.  “Well, this is disheartening, I daresay.”

“But you just said you were sad when you thought I was Tani,” she pointed out.

“Dragons are extremely intelligent beings, and therefore capable of more than one emotion at a time,” he said stiffly.

“I apologize, Wolef,” Rayne said, hiding her surprise at learning that a dragon was a fellow prisoner.  “I meant no offense.”

“Your apology is accepted,” he said.  “I’m aware that Tanjelia has a psychic ability.  Are you as alike in that aspect as you are in your brain waves?  And if so, will you share its nature with me?”

Rayne hesitated.  In the first two weeks of her imprisonment the short blue people who’d abducted her had used every means their devious, sadistic, ruthless minds could come up with in their attempts to force her to shift.  Once they’d accepted that she couldn’t shift, they’d turned their attention toward getting her to reveal her psychic ability.  It took two more hellish weeks for them to concede defeat on that subject as well.

She’d discovered a few things about herself during that time, the most important being that she was much tougher than she’d ever imagined.  She’d always thought of herself as the weak sister, and in some ways, she was.  But that didn’t change the fact that the harder they tried to force information from her, the stronger her determination to resist became.

The question at the moment was whether or not this was a trick.  Her intuition told her that Wolef was to be trusted, but the little blue thugs were awfully clever.

“You are wise not to trust too easily,” Wolef said before she’d made up her mind.  “Would you object to telling me instead whether or not your ability, whatever it might be, would be useful to you if you’re given the opportunity to escape?”

“Escape?” she asked, shocked.  She hadn’t even considered escape in so long that the word seemed almost alien to her.  Rescue, yes.  She constantly hoped and prayed for rescue.  But escape was impossible.

“Yes, escape,” Wolef replied.  “I know that you’ve been here for one Standard year, so I assume that your physical condition is not optimal at this time, though your mental state appears to be surprisingly good.  What I don’t know is if your condition is so bad that it precludes an attempt altogether, or if it can be worked around.”

“I’ve been here for a year?”

“Almost, yes,” he said.  “Three hundred and sixty of your “standard days,” to be exact.  You didn’t know that?”

“I lost track a long time ago.  A year.  It feels like it’s been so much longer, and at the same time, it’s hard to believe I’ve lived like this that long.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Wolef said.  “So will it?”

“Will what?” she asked, confused.

“Will your psychic ability aid you in an escape attempt?” he asked with just a hint of impatience.

Rayne thought about that for a moment.  It would still give away a lot to answer that question, but after spending what she now knew was eleven months on her back, unable to move, attached to machines that did everything but allow her the luxury of true unconsciousness, she had little to lose.  “Yes, Wolef, my ability would help a very great deal.”

“Oh, that is excellent news, indeed,” Wolef said.  “Just a couple questions more, if you don’t mind.”

“I have a dinner date this evening, but my activity calendar appears to be clear until then.”

“Ah, humor,” Wolef said.  “I haven’t experienced humor in a very long time, but it’s a good sign, I warrant.  Yes, yes, a very good sign.  It is my understanding that Tanjelia is a woman of great honor.  Are you alike in that manner as well?”

“I’d like to think so, yes,” Rayne replied, trying not to be insulted.

“If you swear an oath, will you keep your word, no matter the difficulty in doing so?”

It took a lot more effort not to be offended this time.  “I’m not the warrior my sister is, but if I give my word I will keep it or die trying.”

“Very good, yes, very good indeed,” Wolef said, sounding quite pleased.  “We shall proceed.”

“Proceed with what?”

“Planning your escape, of course,” he replied.  “What else?”

The nice thing about communicating with thoughts, Rayne decided, was that it required her to think carefully about each word before speaking them in her mind.  It took longer, but it prevented her from saying things that might not have been received well.  In this case, she had to rethink her response several times before deciding not to respond to his last question at all.

“You probably don’t know this, Wolef, but they keep me drugged with a paralytic agent.  I can move my eyes, but that’s about it.  Just between us, I’ve been working on a really good glare for a long time now, but I think I should save it just in case things get really desperate.”  She heard Wolef chuckle in her mind, and tried to send him a smile back.

“Yes, I know about the paralytics,” Wolef said.  “I also know that tomorrow you’ll be removed from the machines you’ve been connected to for all these months, and placed in a cell not far from the one I currently occupy.”  Rayne was so startled by that bit of news that for a long moment her mind went blank.  “Rayne?”

“Do you know why they’re moving me?”

“From what I overheard it’s because their experiments have succeeded,” he replied.  “I don’t know what experiments they were referring to, however.  Do you?”

“No, I don’t,” she said.  “I know they’ve been performing experiments on me, of course.  There’s no missing that, and believe me, I’ve tried.  I just don’t know the purpose of any of them.”

“Do you want to know?”

Rayne thought about that.  Whatever the little blue thugs were up to, it wasn’t good.  If she had no hope of stopping them, she might have chosen not to torture herself with the knowledge.  But if she could escape, if there was even a chance, then she needed to know as much about what they were doing, and why, as possible.  “Yes, I want to know.”

“Then I’ll try to find out,” Wolef said.  “In the meantime, remember not to cause any trouble when they move you.  They’ll keep you in case they need you again, so there’s no need to worry that they’ll kill you.  But if you’re uncooperative they’ll put you back on the machines, and if that happens, escape will be impossible.”

“Death would be better than this,” Rayne said.

“You wish to die?”

“No, I don’t wish to die,” Rayne said.  “I just want to be able to live.”

“In that case, I believe that we can help each other gain what we want most.”

“What is it that you want most, Wolef?”

“Unlike you, I do wish to die.”

Rayne had no idea how to respond to that.  Asking him why he wanted to die seemed too personal, and every other comment that came to mind could be seen as judgmental.  If there was even the slightest chance he really could help her escape, the last thing she wanted to do was offend him.

“How do you know what they’re doing?” she asked instead.  “Can you read their minds?”

“No, thank the Creators,” Wolef replied.  “I just have extremely good hearing, which is a mixed blessing in places like this.  In this case, however, I was not displeased to overhear the one called Weeble give an order for you to be moved tomorrow.”

“Weeble?  Who is that?”

“Weeble is by far the most dangerous being I’ve ever had the misfortune to come into contact with.  He is frightfully cunning, and almost supernaturally intelligent.  He is also, in my opinion, completely and irredeemably insane.  I advise you to never, ever underestimate him.”

If Rayne’s body had been capable of movement, she would have shuddered from the warning in Wolef’s tone.  “I won’t, Wolef.  I promise.”

“Excellent,” Wolef replied.  “Now then, do we have a deal?”

“A deal?”

“Yes, a deal,” Wolef said.  “I will aid you in escaping the Facility.  In exchange, you will come back and destroy it.”

“Don’t you want me to free you first?”

“I’m afraid it’s far too late for that.  The only freedom I can possibly attain is death.”

“You want me to destroy this place with you still in it?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I want.  Will you agree?”

“Yes, Wolef,” she said, wondering why she felt like crying.  “If that is what you want, then I swear to do all in my power to fulfill my end of our bargain.”

Chapter 3

Rayne’s eyes flew open and her body jerked so hard she nearly fell off the bed.  She froze in surprise when Ari’s face suddenly appeared above her, his long black hair brushing her cheek before he pushed it back out of the way.  Her heart was racing and her breath was coming in short, rapid pants, making her dizzy.  She forced herself to take long deep breaths and after a few moments the dizziness retreated.

“Bad dream?” he asked sitting back down in the chair beside the bed once she began to breathe normally.  She nodded.  “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I don’t remember it,” she whispered, the shadowy images fading as she spoke.  “Is it morning?”

Ari glanced at the device on his wrist that, among other things, displayed the time.  “Yes, it is, though it’s very early.”

Rayne placed her elbows on the mattress and started to push herself up.  Before she had a chance to exert much effort Ari was there again, helping her into a sitting position.

“Thank you.”

“Would you like some breakfast?”

“I think I better stick to broth and tea,” she said wistfully.

“How about I get the broth and tea, and anything else I see that might be easy on the stomach?”

“Thanks, Ari,” she whispered.  “I’d like that.”

“No problem,” he said.  “I won’t be long.”

She watched him leave, then nodded to Landor and Con who were standing at a table on the far side of the room, staring at her.  They nodded back and bent over the table to continue their discussion in voices too low for her to catch.  Con shook his head at something Landor said, his brow creased over serious eyes.  She shifted her gaze to Landor, who stood twisting a ring on the forefinger of his left hand, the muscles in his arms bulging with every movement, stretching the quarter sleeves of his dark blue t-shirt to their limit.  She frowned, wondering why they seemed so familiar to her when she couldn’t remember having seen them since her early teens.

Her stomach growled, reminding her that there were a few things she wanted to do before Ari returned with breakfast.  She pushed the blanket off and slid her legs over the edge of the bed very slowly until she was standing.  The back of the gigantic t-shirt she was wearing caught behind her for a moment, then came free, falling to below her knees.

“Where are you going?” Landor asked, startling her so badly that she jumped.

“Rayne?”

“Bathroom,” she whispered calmly, as though she hadn’t just overreacted and nearly fallen on her face.

Before she knew it Landor was in front of her, and then she was in his arms.  “I can walk,” she said, though she wasn’t sure whether or not that was true.  She didn’t know if the weakness she felt in every muscle and joint was due to traveling through time, or something she’d done before traveling through time that she couldn’t remember yet.  She just knew that moving took a lot of effort.

“You need to conserve what little energy you have,” Landor said.  He set her on her feet in the bathroom, hovering close until he was as sure as he could be that she wouldn’t fall over.  “Is there anything you need?”

“A toothbrush?” she asked hopefully.  He opened a drawer, selected a disposable brush from a tray of them, and placed it on the counter in front of her.

“While you were sleeping we wove a shield around you,” he said, watching her try to open the brush’s wrapper.  “You can’t be transported unless we remove the shield first.  You should be safe alone for a few minutes.”

Rayne’s relief was so great that she had to drop the toothbrush and grab onto the counter to keep herself upright when her knees started to buckle.  “Thank you,” she whispered, a little ashamed of herself for being so afraid, especially since she couldn’t remember what it was she was afraid of.  When she was steady again she checked her shield, relieved to find it in place even though she’d forgotten to check it when she woke up.

“If you need anything, just call out,” he said, picking up the toothbrush and removing the wrapper for her.  “At least one of us will remain right outside the door.”

“I can’t call out,” she reminded him, dropping her eyes to the sink in front of her.  “I can only whisper.”

“Then knock on the wall or the counter, or clap your hands,” he said.  “Anything you can think of to make noise.”

“Of course, I should have thought of that.”  She hated that she needed so much help, but she was grateful for it.  “I really appreciate all that you’re doing for me, especially since you barely know me.  I’ll be out of your hair as soon as my parents can come and get me.”

“Let’s discuss that later, all right?”

“Um…sure,” she replied, uncertain what he meant since there wasn’t really anything to discuss.

“Make noise when you’re finished and I’ll carry you back.”

“I will,” she agreed.  Landor stared at her for a moment, then turned and left, closing the door behind him.  She frowned after him, wondering what he’d been thinking as he stared at her, then she blushed.  She didn’t know what she looked like, exactly, but she did know that she was too thin and had no hair, so he probably hadn’t been admiring her beauty.

She dropped her eyes to the bathroom counter and gathered her nerve.  After a few moments she gritted her teeth, and looked up at the long mirror over the sink for the first time since entering the bathroom.  She’d been prepared for it to be bad, but not so bad that she didn’t recognize herself.

The first, and most shocking thing she noticed was how thin she was.  She’d known she was too thin, but not this thin.  Not skeletally thin.  It took her a few moments to absorb the initial shock of that and look beyond it.  When she did, she almost wished she hadn’t looked at all.

Her cheeks were sunken, there were deep, bruise colored hollows under her eyes, her skin was chalky, and the whites of her eyes had an unhealthy yellow tinge.  Her lips were pale, rough, and peeling, her bald head made her ears look enormous and, just slightly less shocking than her thinness, she had scars and scabs everywhere she looked.  Some were straight, even lines, some were jagged, and still others looked like gouges, as though chunks of her flesh had been removed.

She’d seen the marks on her hands, wrists, and arms the night before, but now she saw several on her throat, face and head, and when she pulled the neck of the t-shirt aside she saw more on her shoulders.  She released the t-shirt, deciding that she’d seen quite enough.  She picked up the toothbrush and turned on the faucet with shaking hands.

How had the Bearen-Hirus even known it was me lying on the mesa last night? she wondered.  Sudden tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.  She was alive and, judging from her appearance, she thought that might be something of an achievement in itself.

She looked back down, avoiding her reflection as she finished brushing her teeth and washed up.  She looked longingly at the deep bathtub and the gleaming shower stall, but her stomach growled again, reminding her that food was higher on the list than bathing at the moment.  Once she got back to the Ugaztun she could spend all day in the tub if she wanted.

By the time Landor carried her to the bed and set her down amongst a stack of pillows, she felt weak and tired, but in firm control of her emotions.  When she was settled, Ari put a tray over her lap that held broth, tea, scrambled eggs, a bagel, and several tiny dishes holding condiments.  Her stomach growled so loudly at the sight of the food that she blushed.

“Thank you, Ari, this is wonderful,” she said, reaching for the fork and stabbing a chunk of egg.  She put it in her mouth and chewed.  It was the most delicious thing she’d ever tasted.

“I remembered a few things,” she said, stabbing another bite of egg.  She paused before putting it in her mouth.  “You guys aren’t eating?”

“We already ate,” Landor said.  “You go ahead.”  She nodded and took another bite.

“What did you remember?” Con asked.

“I have to leave here as soon as possible,” she said.  “I have to go to that place I wrote on the shift, and I have to get there in eight days.”

“Buhell III C,” Con said.

“Yes, that’s it,” she said, setting the fork down and reaching for the tea.  “Did you find it?”

“I did,” he replied.  “I also found out why it sounded familiar to me.  About eighteen years ago a man named Eric Kick stowed away on the Falcoran’s ship, the Eyrie.  He attacked and nearly killed Faith Falcoran.  Exhibiting a level of restraint that I can’t even imagine, the Falcorans didn’t kill him.  Instead, they stranded him alone on Buhell-III C, which is a small moon with no sentient life, but a large number of dangerous animals.”

“I remember reading about that, now that you mention it,” Landor said.  “It’s on the other side of Known Space, isn’t it?  Near Onddo?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Con replied.

“Oh no,” Rayne whispered, her face draining of all color.

“What is it?” Landor asked.

“Unless I’m mistaken, we’re about three weeks away from the jump point that would take us to Onddo.  It’ll be impossible to reach Buhell in eight days.”

“Not any more,” Con assured her quickly.  “Arima Faith found a new jump point from here to Earth right after they arrived for the wedding.  From Earth it will take four more jumps to reach Onddo, and from there to Buhell is just a couple of days.”

“So, it’s possible to get there in eight days?”

“Yes, easily,” Con assured her.  “Six days should do it.  Maybe five if we don’t get hung up waiting in jump lines.”

“The clock is already ticking,” Landor said.  “We’ll have to leave as soon as possible.”

“We?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes, we,” Landor replied.  “We’ll take you wherever you need to go, and help you with whatever you need to do.”

Rayne frowned, wondering why the very suggestion made her feel anxious and tense.  “That’s very kind of you, and I appreciate the offer, but my parents will help me with whatever comes next.”

“Of course your parents can join us, if that’s what you wish,” he said.

“What about ICARUS?”

“ICARUS?” Landor asked blankly.

“This is an ICARUS ship, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s not,” Landor replied.  “The Armadura is owned by Clan Bearen.  We accept assignments from ICARUS when our security expertise is needed, but we are not under contract with them, nor do we have any obligations to them, or anyone else, at this time.”

“I think I remember Nica saying that you were going to assist the Khun with setting up planetary security for Garza.”

“We’ve already submitted our detailed recommendations, and we supervised the installation of the first level of security before the wedding.  It will not be difficult for others to step in and finish carrying out the plan.”

Rayne sighed.  Landor seemed to have an answer for everything, leaving her no choice but to tell him something else she’d remembered, but had intended to keep to herself.  “I don’t remember why I have to go there, or what I have to do.  But I do know that it’ll be dangerous.  Very dangerous.  There’s no reason for you to risk your lives to accompany an unknown person for an unknown cause.  I’m truly grateful for all that you’ve done for me, but you don’t have to do any more.”

“Nonetheless, we will remain with you.”

Rayne didn’t understand why he was so set on this and, for that matter, why she was so set against it.  She was missing something, but what?  She studied Landor for a long moment, then turned to see the same guarded expressions on Ari’s face, and then Con’s.  She thought about their behavior since finding her on the mesa; their attentiveness, their worry, their tension, and some of the things they’d said.  And she thought about her own reaction to their scent, her unquestioning trust of them and, lastly, her horror at the thought of them being in danger.

She shook her head at herself, surprised that she hadn’t figured it out before.  Even taking her current weakness into account, it should have been obvious to her.  “I’m your berezi, aren’t I?”

They stared at each other, then her, but this time she couldn’t decipher the expressions on their faces.  After a pause that lasted a few beats too long, Landor answered.  “Yes, you are.”

“Why didn’t you want me to know?” she asked even as one hand rose half way to her head.  She remembered her reflection in the bathroom mirror and, suddenly feeling unspeakably sad, she let her hand fall back to her lap.

Not wanting them to know how she felt, she checked her shield to make sure it hadn’t slipped, then stilled, realizing that she’d been keeping her shield up since shortly after arriving in this time.  Before this moment, there’d been no reason for her to think that the Bearen-Hirus could feel her emotions.  So why had she hidden them?

“With everything else you’re trying to deal with right now, we didn’t think the time was right,” Landor said, answering the question she’d momentarily forgotten she’d asked.

“This is why you want to take me to Buhell, isn’t it?”

“Not entirely,” Landor said.  “Even if you weren’t our berezi, we wouldn’t simply turn our backs on you and walk away.”

“We would not have had you find out this way,” Con said, his brow creased more deeply than usual.  “But, now that you do know, it certainly makes this situation easier.”

“Does it?”

“Of course,” he said, surprised.  “You must understand now why we can’t let you go to Buhell without us.”

There were so many thoughts racing through Rayne’s mind that she couldn’t seem to latch on to any one of them.  She pressed her fingers against her temples and closed her eyes.  It didn’t help.

“Rayne,” Landor said, then waited for her to look up at him.  “You don’t have to say or do anything.  We didn’t tell you about this because we didn’t want you to worry about it right now, and that hadn’t changed.  When you regain your health and strength, then we’ll revisit this subject.  Agreed?”

Rayne stared into his eyes for a long moment, but all she saw was honest concern.  She took a slow breath and nodded.  Landor smiled at her but he didn’t like the ashy color of her skin or the guarded withdrawal in her eyes.  “You said that you remembered a couple of things,” he said, changing the subject.

“Yes,” she replied.  “I remembered that the BS after Buhell stands for Blind Sight.”

“Blind Sight?” Con asked, frowning again.  “The old Xanti technology?”

“I suppose.”

“What about it?”

“Whatever ship takes me to Buhell will need it.”

“Do you know why Blind Sight is needed?” Landor asked.

“No,” she replied.  “I just know that without Blind Sight, there’s no point in going at all.  Is there no way to get one?”

For one brief moment Landor was relieved by the thought that Rayne wouldn’t be able to return to Buhell because they didn’t have Blind Sight, and getting one would be impossible.  Then Con spoke.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I think we can get one.  I’ll go down to Garza and speak with Khurda about it.”

“Khurda?” she asked.

“One of the Khun,” he replied.  “He knows more about Blind Sight than anyone I’ve ever heard of.  I think he’ll be able to help us with this.”

“In addition to keeping Rayne’s presence secret, we should also keep any plans we make to ourselves,” Landor said, letting go of his momentary hope.  “You’ll need to find a way to convince Khurda to help us without telling him why we need it.”

“Khurda is a good man,” Con said.  “As long as I can assure him that there’s no impending threat to his people, he’ll respect my need for secrecy without becoming offended or inappropriately curious.”

“Be very careful that no one overhears you,” Rayne warned.  “They have spies everywhere.  If they get even a hint of my presence here, in this time, or of a ship heading in their direction, they’ll move the Facility and we’ll never find it.”

“Who are they, what’s the Facility, and what sort of spies do they have?” Con asked.  Rayne blinked in surprise at the rapid fire questions, unconsciously leaning away from him and into the pillows behind her before shrugging helplessly.

Landor shot a look at Con that was unnecessary since he’d already realized his mistake and regretted it.  Landor turned his attention back to Rayne.  “Why won’t we find this Facility if it moves?” he asked, trying one question instead of three.

“Because it’s hidden with Blind Sight,” Rayne replied, not knowing the answer until he’d asked the question.  She smiled, but it faded quickly when she saw the expressions of surprised concern on the men’s faces.  “What is it?”

Landor picked up the napkin from her tray, then leaned over to dab at her upper lip with it.  It was only when she saw the bright red blood against the white of the napkin that she realized her nose was bleeding.  She touched her upper lip with one finger, relieved to find that there was no blood on it when she looked.

“It was just a little,” Landor said.  “Does your head hurt?”  She shook her head.  “We need to put you in a healing tank, Rayne.”

“No healing tank,” Rayne declared as firmly as she could in a voice that refused to rise above a whisper.  “I can’t remember anything if I’m in a healing tank.”  All three men stared at her, but she could do stubborn with the best of them when she had to.

“Then you must allow us to summon Tani,” Landor said.  “I know you don’t want to take the risk of others knowing about your presence here, but you need to be healed, and I think you can trust your sister.”

“Of course I trust my sister, but she’s on her honeymoon and I’m not interrupting that.”

Landor exchanged looks with his brothers that, once again, she couldn’t interpret.  “Do you accept the fact that we’ll be taking you to Buhell?”

Rayne hesitated, but she knew that on this subject, stubborn would get her nowhere.  These were Clan Jasani males, and she was their berezi.  There was nothing short of death that would prevent them from accompanying her no matter what she said or where she went.  That made her choice fairly simple.  Take her parents and the Bearen-Hirus into danger, or just the Bearen-Hirus.  She had no desire to see any of them come to harm, but going with the Bearen-Hirus was the smarter choice simply because it put fewer people at risk.  “Yes, I do.”

“Thank you,” he said softly, then cleared his throat.  “Do you still want to see your parents before we leave?”

“Yes,” she replied.  “I remember how difficult it was for them when Tani went missing.  I’m not going to do that to them if I can help it, and I know they’ll keep the secret.”

“Good,” Landor said.  “I suggest that we ask their advice in the matter of your health.”  Rayne nodded her agreement.  “When do you want to see them?”

“This morning, if possible,” she replied.  “Since they can speed travel, I think it would be safest for them to come here.”

“Agreed,” Landor said.  “Do you want to meet with them in this room?”

Rayne looked around, realizing that the room was too small for eight people, especially since six of them would be large Clan Jasani males.  “Is there a better place?”

“We could use a conference room, but I think you’d be more comfortable in the master suite,” Landor said.  “It’s also a lot easier to keep the meeting private if we do it there.”

Rayne had been about to tell him she preferred the conference room, but his comment about privacy changed her mind.  “I’d like to bathe first, if that’s all right.  And um…I’d appreciate it if you’d warn them about how bad I look,” she whispered softly, dropping her eyes to the tray in front of her.  “I don’t want to upset them more than I have to.”

“Of course you can bathe,” Landor said.  “And don’t worry about your parents.  I’ll prepare them.”

“Thanks,” she replied.

“What’s bothering you?” Ari asked.

There were several things bothering her, which gave her the opportunity to choose the one they were least likely to argue with her about.  “I’m not looking forward to causing my parents more worry and fear.”

“We don’t have to tell them,” Con said.  “Everyone is going to have to believe that you’ve been abducted anyway.”

“No, I’m not putting them through that,” Rayne said, reaching for the spoon on the tray.  “They deserve the truth.”

Landor watched as she ate, pleased to note that she’d finished the egg, and that her hand barely shook until she was nearly half way finished with the broth.  When she set the spoon down and reached for the tea, he could tell she’d eaten all she could.  It wasn’t very much, but it was more than she’d been able to eat the night before which was a good sign.

“I’m concerned about the second line you wrote on the shift,” he said.  “The one referring, we suspect, to Controllers.  Do you have any further memory of that?”

“No, I don’t,” she said.  “Do you think my parents are in danger?”

“Not exactly,” he said.  “My concern has more to do with your comment earlier that there are spies everywhere.  We need to find a way to warn everyone, without giving away too much in case the person warned turns out to be a spy.”

“Yes, I see what you mean,” she said.  “I don’t think it should be put off until after…whatever I have to do.”

“I agree,” Landor said.  “This is information that must be shared, especially since it isn’t a question of trust, but of whether or not a particular person might have had a Controller placed in them without their knowledge.  I don’t think any of us are immune to that.”

“Actually, we are,” Ari said, surprising everyone.  “One unused Controller was found in the safe of the mining office on Garza after the Nomen were killed and the android deactivated.  That Controller was taken to Jasan, where one of the Council members voluntarily injected himself with it.”

What little color Rayne had regained after the revelation that she was their berezi once again drained from her face, but this time it was accompanied by a wave of sick fear.  Since her shield was up and Landor’s and Con’s attention was on Ari, her reaction went unnoticed.

“How long have you known about this?” Landor asked.

“About an hour,” Ari replied.  “It was in a report I finished reading just before Rayne woke up this morning.

“Did the Controller work?”

“Yes, actually, it did,” Ari said with a tiny smile.  “Until he shifted.  After he took his alter-form the liquid metal that the Controller nano-bots are made of was left in a small puddle on the floor.”

“Excellent,” Landor said.

“Rayne?” Ari asked worriedly, finally noticing her reaction.

“What’s the matter?” Landor asked, moving closer to the bed and touching the back of her hand with his fingertips.  When she looked up at him, the sheer terror in her eyes nearly sent him over the edge.  He forced his mind to go back over the past couple of minutes in search of an explanation for her fear.  Ari found it first.

“You’re worried that they put a Controller in you,” he said.  Rayne nodded her head jerkily.

“More than that,” Landor said.  “You’re afraid the warning you wrote on your shift was about you.”  She nodded again.  “It’s all right, Rayne.  We can find out right now.”

“You can?” she whispered so softly that he didn’t hear her so much as he read her lips.

“We are strongest in Fire and Air, but we do have some strength in Water.  I don’t think it’ll be too difficult to determine whether or not you have metal in your body.  Hold still for just a moment and try to relax, all right?”

Relaxing was impossible, but Rayne made herself be so still that she barely breathed.  Then the Bearen-Hirus looked into her eyes, focusing their energy on her.  She returned their gazes steadily, one at a time, beginning with Ari, then Con, and then Landor, surprised to feel an immediate connection with each of them.  Before she had a chance to figure out what that connection was, exactly, they all relaxed and looked away.

“There’s no metal inside of you that we can find,” Landor said.  “I think it’s safe to say you don’t have a Controller.  Your fathers have much stronger Water magic than we do, so we’ll ask them to check as well, just to be certain.”

“Thank you.  That helps.”

“If you’re finished eating, we can take you to the master suite now.”

“Yes, please,” she replied.  All three of them leapt into action.  In just a few moments she found herself in Landor’s arms, wrapped in a thick, fluffy comforter, and moving up the corridor to the master suite at blurring speed.

“This is beautiful,” she said, when Landor crossed the threshold.  The room was done in shades of blue from dark navy to pale blue, with thick carpeting, an enormous four poster bed with curtains tied back at each corner that matched the deep blue velvet comforter, and so much more that it was impossible to take in everything with a single look.

“We’re glad you like it,” Landor said as he carried her into the bathroom, which matched the bedroom in various shades of blue.

Con started the water in the tub, then added something to it that caused the water to foam, and filled the room with a light flowery aroma.  “Honeysuckle,” she said, smiling.  “That’s my favorite fragrance.”

“Is it?” Landor asked, not quite meeting her eyes.  He set her on the counter and unwrapped the comforter.  Then he reached for the hem of her shirt, preparing to pull it up and over her head.  She placed her hands over his, stopping him.

“I can do this by myself.”

Landor didn’t bother reaching for her emotions, certain that if he did all he’d find was the same calm they always felt from her, just like they couldn’t smell her, except on a few rare occasions.  Instead, he looked into her eyes, not too surprised to find fear and embarrassment.  The embarrassment was easy to understand but, unfortunately, her eyes couldn’t tell him what it was that frightened her.  “We can’t leave you alone for that long, Kisu.”

He nearly swore when the fear in her eyes doubled.  “You told me that I was shielded when you left me alone in the bathroom earlier.”

“Yes, and you are shielded,” he assured her.  “You can’t be transported off this ship unless we remove it, I promise.”  Rayne relaxed a little, so he continued.  “But I only left you alone for a couple of minutes.  You’re going to want more time than that, and I’m not sure we’re capable of staying away that long.”

“I don’t understand,” she said.  “Why not?”

Landor didn’t want to point out just how poor her physical condition was, so he said the only other thing he could think of that was also true.  “We’re just not capable of letting you out of our sight for that long.”

“What does Kisu mean?” she asked, buying time to think the situation over.

“It means rain, but more than that, it means the type of rain that falls in summer, soft and cool on the skin.  The kind of rain that makes you want to go outside and stand in it with your face turned up to the sky.”

“I like that,” she whispered, then gathered her courage one more time.  “It’s being naked in front of you that bothers me.  I never thought of myself as being particularly shy before, but I don’t look like me, and that makes it more difficult than I’d like it to be.”

“You’re our berezi, Rayne,” Landor said.  “There is no reason for you to be self-conscious with us.”

“Nevertheless, I am.”  If she hadn’t been staring into his eyes when she spoke, she would have missed the brief flash of pain her words caused.  She patted his hand lightly.  “I’m self-conscious about looking at myself right now, so please don’t take it personally.”  Landor looked into her eyes for a long moment, then sighed and looked away.  “What is it?” she asked.  “Tell me, please.”

Landor glanced over at Con and Ari, who were both watching and listening.  They moved closer so that they all stood in front of Rayne, then he took a calming breath, knowing he had to be as honest as she was being.

“Even though you can’t yet remember what you’ve been through, there is evidence enough to tell us that you’ve traveled through nine levels of hell and back again.  You’ve been so strong for such a long time, and you’ve been through so much.  All of it alone.  Since what happened to you occurred in our future, there’s nothing we can do to change the fact that we weren’t there for you when you needed us.  All we can do is ask that you allow us to help you now, while it is within our ability to do so.”

The sincerity in his violet eyes touched Rayne in a way she couldn’t ignore.  Suddenly, the idea of refusing their help when it clearly meant so much to them seemed petty and selfish.  What difference did it make if they saw her naked, anyway?  It couldn’t be much worse than what they’d already seen.  “Of course you can help me,” she said, patting his hand again.

“Thank you,” Landor replied hoarsely, then cleared his throat.  “I think we can compromise, if you’re willing.”

“Compromise how?”

“Con and Ari will leave now.  I’ll help you into the tub without looking at you any more than strictly necessary, and then I’ll leave as well.  You can take your bath in privacy, but we’ll keep the door open just enough so that we can hear you if you need us.”

“All right,” Rayne said, nodding.  It seemed like a good solution for all of them.  “Do you guys mind?” she asked, looking at Con and Ari.

“Not in the slightest,” Con assured her.  “We want what’s best for you, Rayne.  That’s all this is about.”

“Thanks, Con,” she whispered.

“Relax and enjoy your bath,” Ari said.  “We won’t go far.”

“Dim the lights on your way out, would you please, Ari?” Landor asked as they turned to walk away.

“Of course,” he replied.  The lights dimmed until it was almost too dark to see.  Then a small light flared and Rayne looked around Landor to see Con placing candles on the edge of the tub.  He gave her a quick smile, then left the room behind Ari.

When they were alone, Landor reached for the hem of her shirt again and lifted it over her head in one smooth motion.  In spite of their agreement, her first reaction was to raise her full shield so that he couldn’t see her, but she stopped herself just in time.  They didn’t know about her shields.  If she suddenly vanished, he might very well assume she’d been transported away, and she couldn’t do that to him just because she was embarrassed.

She couldn’t help but cross her arms over her breasts, even though she trusted him to keep his word and not look.  He scooped her up and carried her to the enormous tub meant for four, and lowered her into the water, releasing her only when he was sure she was settled securely on one of the built in seats.

“How’s the temperature?” he asked, reaching for the washcloth and body wash Con and Ari had placed nearby for her.

“It’s a little warmer than I expected but it feels wonderful.”  She looked down, relieved when she saw that the foamy bubbles hid her all the way up to her shoulders, then accepted the items Landor held out for her.

“I can add more cold water,” he offered.

“No, this is fine,” she said, setting the body wash on the edge of the tub.  She reached up with one hand to touch her scalp.  “I don’t suppose I’ll have much use for shampoo any more.”

“It won’t grow back?” Landor asked.

“Maybe, but I don’t think so,” she said.  She tried to sound as though she didn’t really care, but Landor had no trouble seeing the sadness in her eyes that she otherwise hid so well.

Several responses went through Landor’s mind but he remained silent.  There’d been enough emotional talk for one morning already, and he wanted her to relax and enjoy her bath.  He touched her cheek lightly with the tips of his fingers, then stood up.  “If you call us and we don’t come, clap your hands, or bang the bottle of body wash on the edge of the tub,” he said.  “We’ll hear that for sure.”  Rayne nodded, then watched as he left, leaving the door open just a few inches, as agreed.

She turned her attention to bathing, surprised at how relieved she felt to know that she wasn’t alone, and yet at the same time, they weren’t watching her.  That knowledge allowed her to lean back and enjoy the luxurious sensation of being immersed in hot, scented water.

While she soaked, she thought about the Bearen-Hirus.  They were certainly beautiful to look at, and she’d caught herself staring at them more than once.  But good looks had never been all that high on her Rami wish list.  It was much more important to her that they’d been very kind, unfailingly gentle, and completely honorable.  And, for just that one moment, she’d felt a connection with each of them.

Unfortunately, they weren’t physically attracted to her.  She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she did.  She knew how bad she looked, and if they’d been human men that might have been a factor.  But they weren’t human.  They were Clan Jasani.  She’d never heard of a male-set not reacting sexually to their berezi unless she was too young, and her appearance had nothing whatsoever to do with it.  The act of identifying their berezi was, in itself, a sexual response for a male-set.  It was supposed to be, anyway.

In addition, there was something warning her to hold her feelings back.  The harder she tried to understand what that something was, the sadder she felt.  After a few minutes she decided to let it go.  The answer would come to her eventually and when it did, she’d deal with it.

She stayed in the tub until the water began to feel uncomfortably cool before deciding it was time to get out.  She’d already eyed the steps that led up and out of the tub and come to the inescapable conclusion that it wouldn’t be very smart to try them on her own.  She called Landor as loudly as her whispery voice would allow, relieved when he heard her on the second try because the idea of clapping her hands to summon him made her cringe.

“Finished?” he asked, entering the bathroom with his face turned away from her.

“Yes, I think so,” she replied, watching as he grabbed a towel from a stack on the counter, shook it out, and approached the tub.

“Can you stand up or would you like a little help?”

“I can stand,” she said, then held her breath as she pushed herself up to her feet and climbed the first two steps so that the water reached just to her knees.  There was one moment of wobbliness but it passed after a moment.  Landor was holding the towel up like a curtain, blocking his view of her, which made her smile though she didn’t know why.  She reached for the top edge, and he lowered it, then helped her wrap it around herself before he lifted her up and out of the tub.  He carried her to the counter, set her down on the comforter that was still there, then reached for another towel and began drying her legs and feet while she handled the rest.  When she was dry Landor shook out a clean t-shirt and helped her on with it before removing the last towel.

“I need to get my things from the Ugaztun,” she said, tugging the t-shirt down, secretly relieved that the new shirt smelled like the first one had.  Like him.

“I’ll mention that when I speak with your parents,” Landor said as he lifted her off the counter and carried her into the bedroom where Ari and Con were waiting.

“Do you want to rest now?” he asked, stopping beside the bed.

“Yes, I do,” she said.  “I know I haven’t done anything but I’m really tired for some reason.”

“Your body has been through a lot,” Con said, watching as Landor lowered her to the bed they’d turned down for her.  “It needs rest to get better.”

“While you were bathing Con set up a meeting for me to speak with your parents,” Landor said once she was settled.  “I’ll transport over to the Ugaztun now, and Con and Ari will watch over you while you sleep.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m sure you have more important things to do than stand around and watch me sleep all the time,” she said.  She was still afraid to be alone, but they didn’t need to know that.  And besides, she wasn’t as afraid as she’d been the night before.  “No one knows I’m here, so I should be okay alone, right?”

“Probably, but we’re not taking any chances,” Con said.

“That reminds me,” Landor said, “you have a choice to make.  You can either stay here, in the master suite, or you can have the room directly between mine, and Con’s, and across the hall from Ari’s.  Whichever one you choose, we’ll install an alarm system and weave a shield around it so you’ll be able to sleep without us watching you.”

“I’d prefer the smaller room,” she whispered.

“Good, that’s settled then,” Con said.  “We’ll prepare it for you later, but for now, you’re stuck with us.”

“Thanks, guys.”

“You’re welcome,” Landor said.  “Is there anything in particular you’d like me to say, or not say to your parents?”

“No,” she said, then covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned.  “I suggest you speak with my Dads, without Mom.  Otherwise they’ll probably get angry with you for upsetting her.  Plus, they’ll be able to break the news to her themselves, in private, which they’ll appreciate.”

“Good advice,” Landor said.  He leaned down to kiss her gently on the forehead.  “Rest, Kisu.”  She was surprised by the kiss, and smiled up at him before she could stop herself.  Then she closed her eyes and sighed tiredly.  Moments later her breathing evened out, and they knew she was asleep.  Landor gave each of his brothers a long look, a silent reminder not to leave her alone for a single moment.  Then he turned, and left.

***

“Do you know why Landor wants to speak with us?” Trey Dracon asked his eldest brother.

“No idea,” Garen replied.  “I know only that it’s important, and extremely private.”

“Sounds like they’ve finally decided to tell Rayne that she’s their berezi,” Trey said with a smile.

“About damn time, too,” Garen said.  “I don’t know why they waited this long.”

“I don’t know how they waited this long,” Trey said.  Then he frowned.  “On the other hand, if that’s what he’s coming to tell us, why is he coming alone, and why is it extremely private?”

Garen’s head tilted to one side, listening.  “We’re about to find out,” he said just before the door opened.  A young man stepped inside with Landor just behind him.  He opened his mouth, but Garen raised a hand to stop him.  “It’s all right, Timothy, we don’t need an announcement.”

The young man bowed, then turned and left the small, informal conference room, closing the door as he went.  Landor bowed politely.  “Greetings, High Prince, Prince Trey,” he said.

“Greetings, Landor,” Garen said.  “Please, sit.  We can do away with the formalities.”

Landor released a pent up breath and took a seat at the small table.  “Is this room secure, Highness?”

“That serious?” Garen asked as Trey got up to turn on the security field that would prevent sound from escaping the room and jammed every known form of monitoring device.

“I’m afraid it’s more serious than you can imagine,” Landor said.  “I’ve been trying to think of the best way to break this news to you all night long, but I’m afraid there is no such thing.”

“You’ve got our curiosity sharpened, if that’s what you intended,” Trey said, studying the man across from them carefully, noting the dark circles beneath his eyes and the rumpled state of his clothing.

“It wasn’t, I assure you,” Landor said.  “First of all, I should tell you that Rayne is our berezi.”  Neither of the Dracon’s looked surprised.  “How did you know?  We’ve never told anyone.”

“She’s our daughter,” Trey said simply.  “Of course we know.”

Landor nodded.  He still didn’t understand how they knew, but it really didn’t matter.  “Last night, around midnight, Rayne was abducted,” he said abruptly.  The Dracons instantly stiffened, but Landor held up one hand in a silent request for patience.  Garen nodded and he continued.  “Three minutes later, she returned.  But, the Rayne that returned looked nothing at all like the Rayne we’d seen transport away minutes earlier.  She was emaciated, her hair was gone, she was so weak that she couldn’t stand unaided, her body covered with wounds raging from a fresh cut to fully healed scars, and her voice was but a whisper that we had to strain to hear.”

“Wait,” Garen said, frowning in confusion.  “What are you saying, exactly?”

“I’m saying that Rayne was abducted, and that she was gone for one year.  One year and three minutes, actually.  By means she has not yet been able to remember, she was sent back in time one year, to last night, just after the time of her abduction.”

Garen and Trey stared at Landor for a long moment as they struggled to accept what they’d just been told.  Finally, Garen nodded.  “Tell us the rest, please.”

Landor told them the little they’d learned so far.  When he was finished, he stood up and began pacing.  “Rayne wants you to know because of what you’ve just gone through with Tani’s disappearance.  But her existence here and now must be kept a closely guarded secret.  If whoever abducted her finds out that she’s here, in this time, there is no telling what they’ll do, or how much that will change whatever is in Rayne’s past.  I’m afraid that you’re all going to have to pretend that she’s missing.”

“She has no idea who took her, or why?” Trey asked.

“Not yet, no,” Landor replied.  “But, Con and I went over the reports filed regarding Garza, and we found some disturbing similarities.  Rayne’s hair has been removed, as I mentioned, and she is extremely thin.  We don’t know what they fed her, but whatever it was, it was not enough.  And, of course, with all of the Jasani ships currently in orbit around Garza, it makes no sense that none of us spotted an alien vessel.  Our guess is that whoever took her has Blind Sight.”

“You think Nomen had something to do with this?” Trey asked.

“That, or whoever created the Nomen.  It’s all speculation of course.  We have to wait for her to regain more of her memory to know anything for certain.”

“Of course,” Garen said.  “But I agree that the similarities are suspicious.  Do you have any images of the Nomen?”

“We have those included with the reports, yes.  When she regains some of her memory, we’ll show them to her.”

“We’ll send you more,” Trey said.  “Those included with the report are fine, but we have some with the Nomen walking and talking in a more natural setting that may make him more easily recognized.”

Garen stood up and approached Landor, placing one hand on his shoulder.  “We thank you, Landor, for taking care of our daughter, and for telling us this in private so that we can break it to Lariah in our own way.  Please give us an hour.  Then we’ll speed travel over to the Armadura.”

“Of course,” Landor said.  “Please speed travel directly into the master suite.  That way no one will know you’re there.”

“You have her in the master suite instead of the infirmary?” Trey asked in surprise.

“Aside from you, she’s refused to allow anyone else to see her for any reason, and we gave our word to abide by her wishes,” Landor said.  “She won’t agree to being placed in a healing tank, or even to let Tani see her even though she’s very ill and weak.  We put her in the master suite this morning because it’s the only room we have that’s large enough for all of us, and still allows her to remain in bed.  She agreed to ask you for advice on the matter of her health when she speaks with you.”

“Very well,” Garen said.  “We’ll meet you there in one hour.”

Landor bowed, then left the room, anxious to get back to Rayne.  Garen and Trey stared at each other, then sighed reluctantly.  It was time to tell Lariah and Val that yet another one of their daughters was in trouble.

Chapter 4

361 Days in the Future

Even though Wolef had warned her ahead of time, Rayne still got nervous when several of the short blue men she thought of as little blue thugs began bustling around her, disconnecting her from the machines that had fed her, monitored her, and kept her alive and paralyzed for eleven months.  She pretended to be unconscious so that she didn’t have to look at them, or their eyes.  She hated their eyes.  In an effort to distract herself, she called out to Wolef.  “May I ask you some questions, Wolef?  I know we talked a lot last night and you’re probably tired of me already, so don’t hesitate to say no if you want.”

“On the contrary, I find you to be very agreeable company, and I have no desire to refuse you.  Ask what you will.”

“How long have the little blue thugs kept you prisoner here?”

“Little blue thugs,” Wolef repeated slowly.  “How very apt that is.”

“They never told me who they are, what they are, or where they’re from, so that’s what I call them.”

“They call themselves the Doftle, but I like little blue thugs ever so much better,” he said.  “I’ve only been here, in the Facility, for fourteen months.  However, if your intention was to ask how long I’ve been a prisoner, the answer is just a bit over five hundred years.”

“How is it that you’re still sane?” she asked, appalled.

“Unfortunately, dragons do not lose their sanity, no matter how much they might wish otherwise.”

“Why didn’t you speak to me before now?”

“I was…hibernating.”

“Hibernating?”

“That’s the best word I can think of for it in Standard, yes,” Wolef replied.  “When I was first brought here, to the Facility, I attempted to communicate with the other prisoners as I am now communicating with you.  Since none of them responded with anything close to sanity, I chose to hibernate.  It passes the time, you see.  I awoke yesterday and reached out again, surprised to find brain waves that matched those of Tanjelia Dracon, who I’d heard of some time back.  Even though you are not Tanjelia, I must say that it’s very refreshing to speak with someone who hasn’t gone completely ‘round the bend.”

“Um…thank you,” Rayne said uncertainly.  “How did you hear about Tani from here?”

“Information important to dragons is put out into the universe for all to find,” he said.  “And before you ask, no, I can’t call for help in that way.  Such messages can be sent only by dragons who no longer reside upon the living plane, and even then, only when the message affects all dragons.”

“What sort of dragon are you?”

“Does it matter?  No offense Rayne, but you’re human.  I doubt you know anything about dragons that isn’t human folklore which is, frankly, anything but reliable.”

“It would be more accurate to say I’m humanoid,” she corrected.  “My parents are dracons, and of course Tani is now a dragon.  They’re all shifters, so they’re still humanoid most of the time, but their alter-forms are very much a part of their natures.”

“If your parents are shifters, then why aren’t you?”

“Females aren’t usually born shifters.  We have to wait until we find our soul mates, and then they change us so that we can shift into whatever clan they belong to.”  Sadness filled her as she thought about the Bearen-Hirus’ rejection, but it was worth it just to have someone to talk to.

“I am, much to my surprise, inordinately interested, something that hasn’t happened in more years than I like to contemplate,” Wolef said.  “Would you mind telling me more?  If it’s too personal, I will understand.”

“No, I don’t mind at all,” Rayne replied.  “But I’d like you to answer my question, first, if you will.”

“Ah yes, I’d nearly forgotten,” Wolef said.  “I am a golden dragon.”

“I’ve never heard of a golden dragon.”

“That’s not surprising as there are very few of us,” Wolef said.  “Only one in every twenty generations or so is born golden.  We are the largest of all dragons, and we each have one extraordinary magical ability in addition to the usual.  In short, we are different from our brethren.”

“Different isn’t always a good thing to be,” she said gently.

“No, it is not.”

“Thank you for answering my question, Wolef,” she said, the sadness in his tone convincing her that a change of subject was in order.  “Now it’s my turn.”

She began to explain all of the different aspects of Clan Jasani physiology, and the changes they’d undergone over the centuries, glad for the distraction from the Doftle still buzzing around her.  She even managed to forget about them for a few minutes.

“Fascinating,” Wolef said when she was finished.  “Might I ask who it is that you call out to?  The impression I’ve gotten from your calls was not of dragons, but of another type of creature.”

Everything within Rayne stilled in shock and embarrassment.  After a time she said, “I’m sorry, Wolef.  I didn’t know that anyone could hear me.”

“Your apology is accepted, though not necessary,” Wolef replied.  “In return, I apologize if my curiosity is untoward.”

Rayne hesitated, then figured it didn’t really matter what she told Wolef.  “I was calling to the Bearen-Hirus, the male-set destined to be my mates.  What we Jasani call Rami.”

“Bearen-Hirus?”

“They’re the third highest ranked male-set of Clan Bearen,” she explained.  “Hiru means three.  The alter-forms of Clan Bearen are much like bears.”

“I don’t know where Jasan is, I’m afraid,” Wolef said.  “But I do know that it’s very difficult to send or receive calls such as yours over great distances.”

“I know how slim the chances are that they’d ever hear me, but I can’t seem to make myself stop trying.  My sister, Salene, has a gift for feeling people she’s connected to across enormous distances, but she hasn’t responded to my calls, either.”

Wolef heard the sadness and the worry in her mental voice, but had no idea how to help her so instead he changed the subject.  “Were you taken from your home world?  When the little blue thugs abducted you, I mean.”

“No, I was on Garza at the time.  Tani got married and a number of Jasani attended the ceremony.  I was taken the night of her wedding, actually.”

“I know Garza.  It was once a beautiful world filled with dragons.  Then the Xanti destroyed it.”

“Yes, I know,” Rayne said.  “It was a dry, dead world the first time I saw it.  But, from the moment Tani unlocked the magic of the dragons buried deep within the planet, it began to live again.  It was amazing to witness its transformation as, day by day, it became more and more beautiful.”

“Garza lives again,” Wolef said softly.  “I thank you, Rayne, for telling me that.”

“You’re welcome, Wolef.  Do you know where we are now?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Wolef replied.  “From the information I’ve gleaned from the Doftle’s conversations, the Facility has been orbiting a moon they call Rigus Xen for the past two decades.  They prefer to keep their space stations in the least populated regions of the galaxy, so I suspect that wherever we are, it’s some distance from the nearest inhabited world.”

“I had no idea that we were on a space station.  I’ve never heard of Rigus Xen, either.”

“You wouldn’t,” Wolef said.  “It’s a Doftle name, and I’ve yet to hear them refer to it by its Standard name.  If it even has one.”

“Do you know of any other worlds nearby?”

“Why so interested?”

“If I don’t know where I am, how am I to find my way home, or back again, if I do manage by some miracle to escape?  I cannot fulfill my end of our bargain if I can’t find this place.”

“Finding your way home will not be an issue,” Wolef said.  “However, you make a good point about finding your way back.  I will concentrate on listening to those Doftles who operate the Facility and see what I can come up with.”

“All right,” Rayne said.  “It feels like they’re about to move me now.”

Wolef heard the fear in her voice and tried to think of a way to abate it.  “Have you considered how best to present yourself to the Doftle once the paralytics wear off?”

“No,” Rayne replied.  “You have though, haven’t you?”

“I confess that I have,” Wolef replied.  “I believe it would be wise to behave as though you have some level of mental impairment.  Enough that you don’t react to anything they do, but not so much that you’re incapable of performing minor tasks, such as feeding yourself.”

“You want me to put them off guard,” Rayne said thoughtfully.  “To make them think I’m the absolute least of their problems.”

“Precisely,” Wolef replied.  “Would you be willing to do that?”

“Why do you sound doubtful?”

“Because I’ve heard the Doftle mention that you have a history of being somewhat unpredictable,” Wolef replied.

“I’m not sure I deserve that,” she said with just a trace of irritation.

“No?”

“No,” she replied emphatically.  “After all, if you lock a person in a room, torture her for a month, then leave a scalpel within arm’s reach, I think it’s incumbent upon you to expect her to use it.  So no, unpredictable is definitely not deserved.”

Rayne heard a deep rumbling sound that reminded her of rocks grinding together and smiled to herself, glad that she’d made Wolef laugh.

Chapter 5

The first thing Rayne saw when she woke up from her nap was her mother’s face mere inches from her own.  Her eyes immediately welled up.  “Hi Mom,” she whispered.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Lariah said.  Her emerald eyes were a little too bright, but otherwise she appeared calm and composed.  “You’re looking a bit worse for wear.”

“I know, but I’m still alive,” Rayne said.  “I’ve decided to focus on that since it appears to have been something of an accomplishment.”

“Good idea,” Lariah said.  She leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, then pulled something from her pocket and held it up.

“Where did you get that?” Rayne asked in surprise.

“It’s been sitting in a drawer in our stateroom aboard the Ugaztun for years,” Lariah said.  “Ever since your brothers sneaked into your room and gave you and your sisters haircuts.”

“That was a long time ago.”

“Yes, it was, but my children would still be at war with each other to this day without this thing.  I promised to always have one handy, and I do try to keep my promises.  I packed up all the things you had in your stateroom aboard the Ugaztun and brought them over.  If you want anything from the cartons in the cargo hold, let me know.  Now, take a minute to greet your fathers, then we’ll get to the bottom of all this.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Rayne said, then tried to push herself up to a sitting position.  Trey was there in a flash, helping her up, while Val arranged the pillows behind her.  When she was settled comfortably she looked around, but the Bearen-Hirus weren’t there.  She reached out with her senses, momentarily forgetting that with her shield up she wouldn’t be able to feel them.  Her hands clutched the blanket covering her lap as fear spiked adrenaline flooded her system, and she dropped her partial shield in pure desperation.  A couple of seconds later the door flew open and Landor, Con and Ari rushed into the room.

“What’s wrong?” Landor asked, going straight to Rayne’s side so fast that for a moment he was just a blur.

“Nothing, I just… I couldn’t find you,” she said breathlessly, blushing with embarrassment.

“We wanted to give your parents some time alone with you,” he said.  “We’ll be right outside, I promise.”

“There’s no need for you to leave,” Garen said.  “Your absence will make her nervous even if she knows where you are, as is to be expected under the circumstances.  She doesn’t need any unnecessary stress right now.”

“Thank you, Ata,” Rayne whispered.  Landor moved to stand at the foot of the bed with Con and Ari, watching while she received hugs and kisses from each of her fathers.  When the Princes were settled on the chairs that Con and Ari had set out, Lariah pulled her chair closer to the bed and turned on the hair follicle restorer that Doc had created years earlier.

“Do you want it as long as it was?  Or longer?  We can make it however you want.”

“I’d love it back the way it was, Mom, but I think it’s best if I look as little like myself as possible for now,” she said.  “Shoulder length, I guess, and I should change the color, too.”

“Yes, I suppose you should,” Lariah said.  “What do you think about brown?”

“Brown is fine,” Rayne said.  “I should get colored contacts for my eyes, as well.  The only other person I know of with my eye color is Dede, which makes them too recognizable.”

“What will you tell the crew?” Garen asked Landor.

“That we’ve found our berezi, a young woman we call Kisu,” Landor replied.

Garen nodded.  “Clever.”

“Why is that clever?” Lariah asked after setting the hair wand to Brown and Straight.

“Because Kisu means rain,” Garen replied.  He eyed Rayne carefully, hiding his shock, horror, and fury at what he saw.  Her appearance was so drastically different from when he’d seen her the evening before that it felt surreal.  He was doubly grateful to Landor for doing such a good job of warning them, but even so, mere words could never have prepared them for the reality of seeing one of their baby girls in such a horrific state.  “Are you up to this now, Daughter?  Because we can wait, if you’d like.”

“No, Ata,” Rayne said.  “I can do this.  If I get too tired, I’ll let you know.”

“All right,” Garen said, nodding.

“Besides, there’s really very little for me to tell you,” she added.

“Landor has already told us that you were abducted last night, and that you returned a couple of minutes later to this time after what was a year’s absence for you.  He also said that you have few memories, and that you cannot speak above a whisper, but don’t remember why.”

“That’s right,” she said.  “I remembered this morning that I have to leave as soon as possible for a place on the other side of Known Space.”

“What place?” Trey asked.

“It’s a moon a couple of days from Onddo,” Con said as Landor retrieved the sealed, clear plastic bag containing the shift Rayne had worn.  He handed it to Garen.

“The lettering is written in Rayne’s blood, so we assume they were the most important items she could think of before losing part of her memory.”

“This is where you’re going to go?” Garen asked, passing the shift to Trey.

“Yes,” Rayne replied.  “I don’t remember why yet, but I know that if we don’t go there, if we don’t…,” she paused, searching for whatever word came next, but there wasn’t one.  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what it is I have to do.  I just know that something very bad will happen if I don’t go.  Something that will affect not only the Jasani, but all of the people of the Thousand Worlds, too, and not in a good way.”

“Is there any reason why we can’t all go?” Trey asked, passing the shift to Val after one quick glance.  The sight of their daughter’s words written in her own blood on the coarse fabric was too much for him.  If he looked at it for too long, he’d lose control of himself, something he hadn’t done in so long that he no longer remembered the last time it had happened.

“If they have even the smallest hint that anyone is aware of their location, they’ll move and we’ll never find them.  Only ships that have Blind Sight can go, Dede.”

“The Armadura is equipped with Blind Sight?” Trey asked Landor in surprise.

“It is now,” Con answered.  “The one that was used to hide Garza is being installed by Khurda as we speak.  In absolute secrecy.  It’s larger than we need to fully hide the Armadura, but the others he has are too small.”

“We have cloaking devices on our ships, of course, but not Blind Sight,” Garen said.  “It was a deliberate decision to shun Xanti technology that I fear we will now pay for.”

“What is a Doftle?” Val asked, staring down at the plastic wrapped garment in his hands.

“I don’t know, Popi,” Rayne said.  “But whenever I hear that word I get a picture in my mind of big oval black eyes.  Soulless eyes.”  She shuddered uncontrollably.  Con went to a tray on a nearby table and poured her a cup of tea from a fresh pot, then handed it to her.  She smiled her thanks and sipped it, the warmth of the cup in her hands soothing her.

“Whoever they are, whatever they are, they absolutely cannot find out I’m here, in this time.  I don’t know, or remember, what they’d do, but I know that it would be very bad.  And they’d move.  If they do that, we’ll never find them in time to stop…whatever it is they’re doing.  Or planning to do.”

“Then they will not find out,” Garen decreed.  “It will be hard on your sisters and brothers, but with so much at risk, we have no choice.”

“We can’t tell Tani or Salene?” Lariah asked.

“No, Sharali, I’m afraid not,” Garen said.  “If they’re not upset at the news of their sister’s abduction, people will be immediately suspicious, and none of our children are skilled liars.”

“You’re right,” Lariah agreed with a sigh.  “But we will not tell Tani until she and Steel return from their honeymoon.  Salene we can tell when we return to the Ugaztun.”

“Cukier,” Rayne said suddenly, earning surprised looks from the Bearen-Hirus and, surprising them further, faint smiles from her parents.

“What is it?” Garen asked.

“Salene,” she replied.  “We need to rethink this.”

Landor was confused when the Dracons all nodded knowingly.  “What’s the problem?” he asked.

“You will soon be family,” Garen said, catching and holding Landor’s gaze.  “That means that our family’s secrets must become yours.”

Rayne bit her lip as she watched Landor, Con, and Ari raise their right fists to their hearts.  While they gave her fathers their oaths, she struggled between two opposing reactions.  She was irritated that they’d told her parents that they were her Rami without giving her a chance to either do it herself, or at least be present while they did it.  And she was relieved that she didn’t have to explain to her parents why she’d agreed to let the Bearen-Hirus take her to Buhell.  Not wanting her parents or the Bearen-Hirus to feel her scattered emotions, she raised her partial shield.

When they finished their oaths, she noticed that her fathers were staring at her expectantly.  Apparently it was her task to tell them about Salene.  “Salene can feel people that she’s close to, or has a connection with,” she said.  “If they aren’t too far away, she can even tell where they are.”

“How far is too far?” Landor asked curiously.

“When we were on Edu-12 and her Gryphons, Talus, Jon, and Kar, were on Jasan, she could feel them,” she said.  “But when they went to Earth on ICARUS business, she couldn’t.”

“The distance between Jasan and EDU-12 is enormous,” Ari said, impressed.  “Nearly half the width of the Thousand Worlds.”

“Why didn’t she find you when you went missing?” Con asked Rayne.

“I don’t know,” she replied.  “Maybe she did and I don’t remember, or maybe the distance between us was too great for her to feel me.”

“Buhell is further from Garza than EDU-12 is from Jasan, that’s true,” Landor said.  “But, I think Buhell would be within her range from Jasan.”  He tilted his head as he studied the set of Rayne’s shoulders, the slight frown on her mouth, and most importantly, the expression in her eyes.  “You don’t think distance is the explanation.”

Rayne shook her head slowly.  “No, I don’t, though I don’t know why.”

“I too sense there is something more to this,” Garen said.  “Something troubling.”

“What are Salene’s current plans?” Rayne asked.

“I don’t think she has any, other than to accompany us when we leave for Jasan in two days,” Lariah said.  “What’re you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that she needs to do something other than whatever she currently plans to do,” Rayne said.  “Is that possible?”

“The Gryphons are leaving tonight for ICARUS headquarters to handle an errand for us,” Val said.  “After that, they’ll go straight home to Jasan to prepare for their binding ceremony.”

“We’ll request that they take Salene with them,” Garen said.

“You’ll have to tell her the truth about me, too,” Rayne said.  “Otherwise, she’ll try to find me when she learns I’ve gone missing, and when she feels me she won’t know to keep it secret.”  She sighed heavily.  “I’m sorry for all of this.”

“Do not be sorry,” Lariah said.  “I much prefer this over suffering with the knowledge that you’ve been stolen away from us.  All of us will do what we must and, in time, everyone will know the truth and understand why we had to keep this secret.”

“As much as I dislike this, I cannot see a way around it,” Garen said reluctantly.  “We’re going to have to let you and the Bearen-Hirus handle this matter on your own, Rayne.”

“We could leave the Ugaztun here and travel with them on the Armadura,” Lariah suggested.

“We could, but how would our absence be explained?” Garen asked.  “One of the three things Rayne wrote on that shift was a warning about Controllers.  We have to take that warning seriously.”

“Yes, of course we do,” Lariah agreed.

“It’s clear to me that our role in this matter is to stay back and make sure that there’s no reason for the slightest suspicion to be cast on Rayne, or the Bearen-Hirus,” Garen continued.  “While we wait for their successful return to Jasan, we’ll organize and conduct a search for those who’ve been implanted with Controllers.”

“Wait,” Rayne said, tilting her head slightly.  A thought had flitted through her mind while Garen spoke, and she was waiting for it to return.  “Ata, will you please say that again?  That last sentence?”

“That we’ll search for people with Controllers?”

Rayne waited a few moments for the thought to return and was rewarded.  “Be very careful with your search, Ata.  Changes have been made to the Controllers that make them very dangerous.”

“Dangerous how?” Trey asked.

“If it realizes you intend to neutralize it, it’ll force the host to commit suicide.”  Rayne frowned.  “I see the words in front of my eyes.  It’s a new protocol that allows the device to remain intact, but inaccessible.  Once the host is dead and no longer being monitored, it will use stored electrical energy to send out a signal.  A return signal will activate a data transfer from the Controller to whoever controls them.”

“You read this somewhere?” Lariah asked quietly as she continued stroking Rayne’s head gently with the hair wand.

“Yes, I did.  There was…a list?  Yes, a list of names.”

“Names of people with Controllers?” Garen asked.

“No,” Rayne said, her forehead wrinkled as she struggled to see more, not even noticing when she began pressing her fingers to her temples.  “The names are…locations?”  She looked up, startled to see concern on the faces around her.  Landor moved first, grabbing a tissue and leaning over the bed to dab at her nose.

“Bleeding again?” Rayne asked, embarrassed.

“Just a little,” Landor said as he gently wiped the blood away.  “I think you’ve remembered enough for now.”

“I agree,” Garen said, unable to hide the worry in his eyes.  “I can see that you’re growing tired, Rayne, so we’ll cut this visit short so you can rest.  We’ll go back to the Ugaztun and begin telling everyone that you’re missing.”

“I wish there was another way,” Rayne said.  “I know it won’t be easy for any of you.”

“It’ll be far less difficult than what you must do,” Garen said.  He leaned forward in his chair and caught Rayne’s gaze with his own.  “Before you awoke we checked to be sure you didn’t have a Controller, and you don’t.  But, we saw enough to know that you desperately need to be healed.  Whatever it is that Fate has in store for you, beloved Daughter, it would be unwise to face it in your current condition.  One week is simply not enough time for you to regain your health unless you’re healed first.”

“Ata, I can’t interrupt Tani’s honeymoon, and we don’t have enough time to wait for her return.  A healing tank won’t work because it will prevent me from remembering those things that I have to remember before we get where we’re going.”

“I understand all of that, and I agree with your reasoning,” Garen said.  “But the Tigrens have not yet left for Jasan.”

“The Tigrens!” she said in surprise.  “I’d forgotten about them.”

“Will you allow them to heal you?”

“Yes, of course,” she said without a moment’s hesitation.  “Thank you, Ata.”

“Excuse me, Highness,” Landor said.  “There’s something you said that I don’t understand.”

“Yes?” Garen asked.

“You said one week wasn’t enough for her to regain her health unless she’s healed first.”  Garen nodded.  “Near starvation is obviously a big component of her overall poor health right now, and I don’t understand how that can be healed at all, let alone in a week.  It’ll take many weeks for her to regain the weight she’s lost, won’t it?”

“No, Landor, it won’t,” Garen replied.  “Rayne was born a Clan Jasani female, which affords her certain benefits that we’d forgotten about over the centuries.”

“Benefits?” Landor asked.

“Yes,” Garen said, half smiling.  “She doesn’t have the ability to self-heal, but she does have a health baseline that her body maintains, and will seek to restore in the event she falls below it, as she obviously has.”

“How will it seek to restore that baseline?” Landor asked, intrigued.

“As long as she consumes enough of the right vitamins, minerals, protein and other nutrients, and as long as she gets enough rest, her body will work to restore her to her appropriate health baseline as fast as possible.  It’s much like what your own body would do if you were to get scratched.  The wound would begin healing instantly and take mere moments to complete.  The more severe the injury, the longer it would take you to heal, but it would still heal remarkably fast.  The same is true for Rayne’s physical baseline.  Given the right materials, it’ll return to its prior state of health and strength extraordinarily fast.

“Unfortunately, she’s been starved for so long that many of her organs are weak, and a few have shut down altogether.  Her bones aren’t in good shape, and her muscles and tendons are severely atrophied.  Her body cannot rebuild itself in its current condition.  She must be healed first.  Once she is, the rest will take very little time.”

“I’ve never heard of this before,” Landor said.

“Few of us had,” Garen said.  “The Tigrens told us about it some years ago.   Since it only applies to females born as Clan Jasani, and only before they’re linked, we know of only a handful of cases where the phenomenon has occurred.  It was included in a report that was posted for all to read on the Council’s announcement board.”

“I suppose we missed it,” Landor said.

“Don’t feel bad,” Rayne said to Landor.  “I didn’t know about this either and it’s my body.”

“I’m sorry, Rayne,” Garen said.  “It never occurred to us to tell you since your health was never at issue.”

“It’s all right, Ata,” Rayne whispered tiredly.  “I’m just happy to know about it now since seeing my own skeleton when I look in the mirror really freaks me out.”

“I would imagine so,” Lariah said softly.

“I’ll go get the Tigrens,” Trey said, standing up and walking to the side of the bed.  He bent down and wrapped his arms around Rayne, taking care not to hug her too tightly.  “I love you so much, Rayne, and I could not be more proud of you.”

“Thank you, Dede, I love you, too,” Rayne replied, tears stinging her eyes.  Trey kissed her forehead, released her and straightened up.  Then he stepped sideways, and vanished before his own tears could fall.

***

“Now that all the men are gone, how do you feel, really?” Lariah asked while she helped Rayne rearrange the pillows behind her so she could sit up after the Tigrens left.

“Tired, but otherwise much better than I did before the healing,” Rayne said.  “It’s really nice to have a voice again.”

Lariah smiled and reached for the hair wand.  “It’ll only take a few more minutes to finish this.  When I’m done, I’ll leave this with you so you can use it again if you decide to restore your hair to what it was.”

“How do I return my hair its natural color?”

“Just set the dials to Natural,” Lariah said.  “Now, tell me about the Bearen-Hirus, please.”

Rayne’s eyebrows rose.  “What do you want to know?”

“Let’s start with how long you’ve known that you’re their berezi?”

“A couple of hours.”

Lariah bent to look into her daughter’s eyes, then frowned.  “What have they done to upset you?”

“Nothing,” Rayne replied.  “Why do you ask that?”

“Because you, my lovely daughter, have dreamed of finding your Rami since you were old enough to know what the word meant,” Lariah said, returning to her task.  “That, and having lots of children of your own.  I’d have thought it would make you the happiest young woman in the Thousand Worlds to find them, no matter the circumstances.  But you’re not happy at all, and that worries me a great deal.”

“I don’t know, Mom,” Rayne said.  “It’s just…when I finally realized they were treating me a little like the Dads treat you, I asked them if I was their berezi.  When they admitted that they were it made me sad, and I can’t figure out why.”

“They didn’t tell you until after you asked them?” Lariah asked, hiding her displeasure.

“They said that with everything else I was dealing with, they didn’t want to add to it.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Lariah conceded.  She ran the hair wand slowly over Rayne’s scalp twice before giving in to the urge to ask the question burning in her mind.  “You said they admitted that you were their berezi.  Does that mean they aren’t happy about it?”

“We haven’t really talked about it yet,” Rayne hedged.

“And you don’t know why you’re sad?”

“No,” she replied, then looked up at her mother with hope in her eyes.  “Do you know if something happened between me and them?”

“I thought you had all of your memories up to the night before Tani’s wedding,” Lariah said, frowning.

“I think I do,” Rayne said, “but how would I know if I don’t?”

“Good point,” Lariah replied.

“So, is there anything you can think of?  Any incident at all?”

Lariah took a few moments to think about her answer, knowing how important it was.  “I’m sorry, honey, but I can’t think of anything.  What do you remember about them?”

“Not very much,” Rayne said.  “The last time I remember seeing them I was about fourteen years old.  They were always quiet and reserved, but they were also kind and seemed to really enjoy being around kids.  We never knew them all that well, but I don’t remember anything negative about them.”

“You don’t remember being at Tani’s wedding, or anything else about yesterday at all?”

“No, nothing.”

“Maybe something happened yesterday that you haven’t remembered yet.”

“Maybe.”

“Rayne,” Lariah said, sitting down again so she could look into her daughter’s face.  “Everything else aside, the Bearen-Hirus are your Rami, and they are good men.  If I didn’t believe that, if your fathers didn’t believe that, and if we didn’t know that this is your destiny, not ours, we would never stand aside and let you make this journey without us.  But, if you want us to remain with you, then all you have to do is say so and we will.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Rayne said.  “I appreciate that more than I can say.  But no, I don’t want you to come.  For one thing, your absence would raise too much curiosity and suspicion.  For another, I don’t know where this is going to lead me, but as you said, it’s my destiny.  Mine, and the Bearen-Hirus’.”

Lariah nodded, then leaned forward to hug Rayne tightly.  After releasing her she turned the hair wand off and set it on the bedside table.  “I think you need to ask the Bearen-Hirus if something happened yesterday that could account for your feelings.”

“Yes, I think you’re right,” Rayne said with a sigh.  “But maybe not today.”

“I agree, today has been busy enough for you.  I think the best thing you can do right now is lay down and rest.”

“That sounds really good,” Rayne said.  “Thank you Mom, for everything.  I wish we could spend more time together.”

Lariah heard Rayne’s unspoken words, and understood her fears.  She sat back and, ignoring her daughter’s too thin body, the scars, and the pale complexion, she stared into her eyes.  After a few moments she smiled.  “You are so strong, Rayne.  Far stronger than you know.  Whatever it is you have yet to face, you’ll face it with courage and dignity.  I know this.”

“How?” Rayne asked curiously.

“I see it in your soul,” Lariah said, brushing back a lock of straight brown hair.  “All you have to do is continue to believe in yourself.  It’s gotten you this far.”

“I suppose,” Rayne said doubtfully.  “I just wish I could remember it.”

“You don’t remember learning to walk, but what difference does that make?  You can still do it.”

Lariah’s heart lightened when Rayne grinned at her.  “I love you, Mom.”

“I love you too, so very much,” Lariah said, hugging her again.  “Rest now, and try not to worry.  All will be well.”

***

“How is she, Kyerion?” Landor asked when the Tigrens joined them in an empty guest room a few doors down from the master suite.

“She’s better,” Kyerion said, his calm voice belying the signs of strain around his mouth and eyes.  Kirk and Cade bore the same marks of stress and exhaustion, which immediately cranked up the Bearen-Hirus’ worry.

“Relax, please,” Kyerion said, holding up one hand when he sensed their distress.  “Rayne truly is better.”

“Is she alone?” Con asked, already moving toward the door.

“No.  Princess Lariah is with her.”  Con nodded and sat back down.  “I apologize for allowing our own feelings to show so clearly, but it was a difficult session for us,” Kyerion continued.”  I cannot imagine what it must be like for the three of you to see your berezi in such a state, but Rayne Dracon is much tougher than she appears.”

“So we are learning,” Landor said.  “Can you tell us what you found?”

“Yes, but it would be wise for you to prepare yourselves first.”

“We’ve been taking turns running off our anger and frustration in the Roar Room since last night,” Landor said.  “We’ll be fine.”

Kyerion studied the Bearen-Hirus for a long moment, then nodded his agreement.  “The wounds on her body range from healed scars about a year old, to those that appear to be a week old, at most, with the exception of a fresh wound on her forearm.  Those you know about.”  The Bearen-Hirus nodded.  “What you don’t know is that beneath the external scars are corresponding internal scars on her organs, muscles, even her bones in a few places.  In several places we found the beginnings of organ death, which we were able to heal completely.  Her ovaries are also scarred, which is troubling, but they are fully functional.”  Kyerion paused to evaluate the Bearen-Hirus’ emotional state, impressed with how well they were holding up.

“In addition, her entire body is weak, and all of her muscles are atrophied, indicating a long period of time with very little exercise.  We healed and strengthened them as much as possible, and we did the same with her bones, organs, and digestive system.  Everywhere we found weakness or damage, we corrected it to the best of our ability.  The nose bleeds were caused by a vitamin deficiency combined with episodes of distress and unstable blood pressure, which is easily corrected.  Now that she’s fully healed, her biggest problem is her weight, which is severely below her baseline.”

“Yes, Prince Garen explained that to us,” Landor said in response to Kyerion’s questioning brow.

“Excellent,” he said.  “We’ll return to the Triskele and make some sasuna for her, a drink specifically designed to return her to full strength and health as quickly as possible.  We’ll bring over enough to see her back to normal, which should take no more than five to ten days provided our instructions are followed.  She’ll need to consume the drink several times a day at regular intervals, and it won’t hurt her to eat as much food as she can also.  Do not be alarmed to find that when she’s not eating, she’s sleeping.  That’s perfectly normal.”

“The sasuna will contain whatever she needs to prevent further nosebleeds?” Con asked.

“Yes, it will,” Kyerion replied.  “You shouldn’t have any trouble getting her to drink it.  Once her body gets the first or second dose of nutrients, it’ll set up a craving for more.  When her craving begins to slow, then stop, you’ll know she no longer needs it.  She indicated that she enjoyed chocolate, so we’ll use that to flavor the sasuna to make it more palatable for her.”

“Thank you, Kyerion,” Landor said.  “Is there anything else we should know?”

“I’m afraid so, yes,” Kyerion said.  “It concerns her reaction to pain.”

Landor frowned.  “What do you mean?”

“Have you seen her react to pain?”

“No, we haven’t,” Landor replied after thinking about it carefully.  He looked at Con and Ari, who both nodded their agreement.  “However, just between us, she has the ability to shield herself, something we’ve just discovered, but haven’t spoken to her about yet.  When her shield is up we cannot feel her true emotions, nor can we scent her.”

“Don’t worry, Rayne’s secret is safe with us, as is yours,” Kyerion said.  “I’m quite glad to know about the shield since it explains why we didn’t sense any pain from her, either.”

“I don’t understand,” Landor said.

“We found damage that should have had her in constant pain ranging from mild to severe in several different areas of her body, and yet she displayed very little sign of it.  When we asked her about it, she said that she had some discomfort and weakness in certain areas, but no real pain.  Even so, we should have sensed, or smelled some level of pain coming from her, but we didn’t.  Her shield seems to explain that.”

“Did they do something to her so that she no longer feels pain as she should?”

“If they did, we could find no sign of it, and we looked very carefully.”

“What do you think the problem is, then?”

“We think she’s become dissociated from pain to what may be a high degree, which isn’t good.  Pain tells us when something is wrong with our bodies.  Without it, she could become seriously ill or injured and she wouldn’t know until the pain became excruciating, which could be too late.  You’re going to need to keep a close eye on her and pay attention to what she says.  For example, if she complains of discomfort, or weakness, or dizziness, take it very seriously.”

“You can’t heal whatever is wrong?” Ari asked.

“No, I’m afraid not,” Kyerion replied.

“This isn’t a physical problem,” Kirk said.  “There’s no point in trying to talk to her about it, either, since she has no memories yet.  When she does remember, you can try discussing it, but go slowly and don’t push too hard.”

“You believe something traumatic caused this,” Landor guessed.

“Absolutely,” Kirk nodded.  “Try to imagine what it would take for your mind to switch off your ability to see, even though your eyes are perfectly healthy.  What horrors must you witness in order to force a self-preservation response that drastic?”

“I don’t think I want to imagine anything that horrific,” Ari said quietly.  “I especially don’t want to imagine Rayne suffering to that degree.”

“I don’t blame you in the slightest,” Kyerion said.  “But for Rayne’s sake, you can’t afford the luxury of hiding from it.  She needs you to keep tabs on whatever her body can no longer tell her.”

“We understand, and we’ll keep a close eye on her,” Landor promised.

“What about her voice?” Ari asked.

“To be honest, that also baffles us,” Kyerion admitted.

“Why?” Landor asked in surprise.

“Despite all of the physical damage she suffered, we saw plenty of evidence that whoever had her made every effort to keep her alive.  And yet her throat, including her vocal cords, has been cut.”

“Were you able to correct the damage?” Landor asked tightly, trying hard not to put images to Kyerion’s words.

“Yes, to some extent,” he replied.  “It’s an old wound so there’s scarring, which made it impossible for us to restore her voice fully, but she can speak above a whisper now.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” Con said, appalled by all they’d just heard.  Seeing the scars on Rayne’s skin was one thing, but they’d had no idea of what lay beneath them.  He almost wished he still didn’t know.

“Neither do we,” Cade said, speaking for the first time.  “Rayne suffered a very great deal, that’s obvious.  But the scars on her skin do not represent the worst of her wounds.  When her memories come back, she’s going to need you three to be very strong.  She won’t have the physical or emotional resources necessary to deal with three mature Klanaren males going into blood rages every time she remembers a bit more of what happened to her.”

“We can’t promise to never go into a blood rage,” Landor said.  “But we can, and do, promise to make every effort not to.  Rayne is our berezi, and she comes first in all things.”

“No more could be asked of any male-set,” Cade said, nodding.

“If…when…we soul-link with Rayne, it should erase all of the damage done to her body, correct?” Ari asked.

“Hopefully, yes, though you know as well as we do that there are no guarantees,” Kyerion replied.

“Of course,” Landor said.  Each time a male-set converted their berezi they kept a record of the process so that others might know what to expect.  There wasn’t a single unmated male-set who didn’t read each and every report submitted to the ever-growing database.  “Kyerion, why do you think there are scars on Rayne’s ovaries?”

“I believe they’ve harvested her eggs,” Kyerion replied, relieved that Landor had gone back to that subject rather than hide his head in the sand.  “Not just once or twice, but many times.  As often as they could, is my guess.”

“This grows worse and worse,” Con growled.  “Who are these Doftles, and what were they trying to do?”

“Two questions that we’d all like answers to,” Kirk replied.  “We searched for a way to speed up the return of her memories, but like her pain response, we could find no physical cause for it.”

“How is she right now?” Ari asked.

“She’s healed, but tired and weak.  She needs time to recover from the healing itself, though we bore as much of the burden as we could.  She should sleep for a few hours.  By the time she awakens, you will have the sasuna we promised.”

“Thank you,” Landor said.  “We appreciate your efforts to heal Rayne more than we can say.”

“We’re glad we were able to help her,” Kyerion said as they all stood up.  “We understand that you must go alone on this mission to Buhell, and that stealth is vital.  We would have you know that, while you’re gone, the Klanaren will not be sitting idle.  We will seek out and neutralize whatever spies we can find, and we will do so quietly and carefully so as not to endanger your mission.  We’ll also begin preparations for whatever is to come.”  Then Kyerion, Cade, and Kirk raised their fists to their hearts in a warrior’s salute.  “Silent stalking, Brother Warriors,” Kyerion said as they bowed.

Landor, Con and Ari returned the salute solemnly.  “Silent hunting, Brother Warriors,” Landor replied.

***

Rayne woke up to the sound of her name.  She checked her shield almost without thought, relieved to know that it remained in place even while she slept.  She knew it was Landor who’d spoken her name by his scent and his voice, and she was not disappointed when she opened her eyes to find him kneeling at the side of the bed.

“Hi,” she said, her voice soft, but no longer a whisper.

“Nice voice,” Landor said, smiling.

She returned his smile before she could stop herself.  “What’s going on?”

“We’ve got your new room ready for you.”

“Thanks,” she said.  “What time is it?”

“It’s dinner time,” he replied.  “The plan is for me to take you to your room where we’ll all have dinner, and then let you sleep for the rest of the night.”

“Sounds good to me,” she said, pushing the covers back.  “I’m starving.”

“That happens when you sleep through lunch,” he said, sliding his hands beneath her.

“Maybe I should walk,” she said just as Con entered the room.

“Not yet,” Landor said, lifting her into his arms.  “Tomorrow is soon enough for that, after you’ve had some real food, one or two of the Tigrens’ special drinks, the sasuna, and a good night’s sleep.”

Con opened the door for them, then closed it before hurrying ahead so he could open another door not far from the master suite.  Landor carried her to the bed where pillows had already been arranged for her.

“Bathroom first, please,” she asked quietly.

“Of course,” Landor said, changing direction.  He set her down in the bathroom and left, closing the door behind him.  A few minutes later she opened the door and he hurried to pick her up again.

“The food smells wonderful,” she said after Landor set her down on the bed.

“Give us just a moment to get a plate ready for you,” Con said from the table where he was helping Ari unload two large trays.

“I’d like to sit at the table if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Landor replied, pleased by this small sign of her growing strength.  He picked her up again and carried her across the room to the table.

“I think I could have managed a few steps from the bed to the table,” she said.

“You can start walking tomorrow,” he said, lowering her to a chair.  “After you’ve recovered from the healing session.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Rayne said, watching the men arrange the food on the table, fill glasses with juice, set out plates, utensils and napkins.  Once they were all seated with heaping plates of food in front of them, and a tall glass of what appeared to be a chocolate shake next to her juice, silence fell while they ate enough to take the edge off their appetites.

Rayne wasn’t sure why, exactly, but she had the strangest feeling that, aside from the egg that morning, this was the first real food she’d eaten in a very long time.  She ate slowly, taking her time and enjoying each bite thoroughly, but she still felt full far too soon.

“Rest a bit,” Landor suggested, watching as she set her fork down with a wistful expression on her face.  “You really need to drink that glass of sasuna before going to bed tonight.  Two would be better.”

“I’ll start with one,” she said, reaching for the glass and taking a sip.  “This is good,” she said, then took a larger drink.  When she set the glass back down, she saw the worried expressions on their faces.  “Don’t worry.  I’d drink every single one without complaint even if they didn’t taste good.”

“Good,” Landor said, “Because they want you to drink four glasses a day minimum.  Six if you can manage it.  We brought in a chiller and stocked it with sasuna, so you’ll always have plenty on hand.” He gestured to a corner of the room near the table and she nodded after spotting the chiller.  “You also need to eat real food three times a day.”

“Wow, that sounds like a lot,” she said, eyeing the tall glass doubtfully.  Then she shrugged.  “So long as there’s no need to drink them fast, I should do okay.”

“How would you like a little good news?” Landor asked.

“Good news is always welcome no matter its size.”

“This is Con’s news to tell.”  Rayne looked expectantly at Con.

“The Armadura is now fitted with Blind Sight,” he said.  “It’s been thoroughly tested, works perfectly, and no one knows about it save your parents, the Tigrens, and Khurda.”

“That is good news,” Rayne said, then frowned.  “Are you certain that Khurda will refrain from telling anyone about it?  If the little blue thugs get so much as a hint that a Jasani ship even has Blind Sight, they’ll scramble every single one of their space stations and we’ll never find them.”  She gasped softly as she realized what she’d just said.

“Little blue thugs?” Con asked.

“Yes, that’s what I called them,” she said, trying not to think about her answers before saying them.  “They never told me anything about themselves, so I just thought of them as little blue thugs.  Someone else was surprised by that too, but I can’t remember who.”

“Are these little blue thugs the Doftle?” Landor asked.

“I think so,” she replied, then nodded once.  “Yes, that feels right.”

“What was that about space stations?” Ari asked.

“Oh,” she said, her eyes widening in surprise.  “That’s right!  I wasn’t on Buhell.  I was on a space station orbiting Buhell.”

“Why a space station?” Con asked.

“Security,” she said, once again saying the first thing that came into her mind.  “If anyone gets too close, they just move.  With Blind Sight, they can never be found.”

“They have Blind Sight too?” Landor asked.

“Yes, they do.”

“Then how will we find them when we get there?”

Rayne opened her mouth, but it seemed the answers had stopped coming.  “There must be a way, otherwise this is all for nothing, but I can’t remember what it is.”

“You will,” Landor said without a trace of doubt in his voice.  “We’ll just have to be patient.”

Rayne nodded and sipped her drink again.  She put the sasuna down and picked up her fork.  “I think you should consider checking your crew for Controllers.”

“We already have,” Landor said.  “Considered it, I mean.  Our physician is working on a method of conducting a search without making it obvious what he’s looking for.  Have you remembered something more on that subject?”

“No, but it keeps nagging at me.  I have a strong feeling that you should do this before you tell everyone where we’re going.”

“We won’t be sharing our final destination with anyone for a few days yet,” Landor said.  “But we’ll do what we can to move a Controller search along more quickly.”

Rayne nodded, took a bite of her baked potato and chewed while she tried to think of another topic.  The first one that came to mind was the one she’d spoken with her mother about, but she wasn’t ready for that so she chose the second one she thought of instead.  “Now that I’ve been healed I really want, and need, to build my strength and stamina up as quickly as I can.  Any suggestions on the best way for me to do that?”

“We have a wide selection of music on the ship’s mainframe, and you’re free to use one of the training rooms as a dance studio,” Ari said, surprising her.  “The blade room might work best as it has mirrors and a hardwood floor.  It won’t take long to have the barre installed.”

“You have a barre?” Rayne asked in surprise.  Ari just nodded, as though every Jasani war ship had a ballet barre in their equipment hold.

“Dancing is too strenuous to start off with,” Con said.  “I spoke with Kyerion on the subject and he suggested that you begin by walking slowly, either up and down the corridors or on a treadmill, no more than half a mile to start with.  You don’t want to burn up the calories your body needs to repair itself, but you do need some mild exercise.”

“Thank you, Con,” she said, speaking carefully because her lips were suddenly numb.  She stared at the food on her plate without seeing it as her mind raced, putting together bits and pieces of a puzzle she hadn’t even been aware existed till this moment.

“Rayne?” Landor asked.

“How do you know that I like ballet?”

“You’ve always liked ballet, since you were a child,” Landor replied.

“We know a lot about you, Rayne,” Ari said.

“Do you?” she asked, as she began moving the food around on her plate, although she no longer had a desire to eat any of it.  “Like the fact that honeysuckle is my favorite scent?”

“Yes, like that.”

“Or that my favorite color is blue?  Like the master suite.”  She wondered why she hadn’t caught this stuff before.  It was so obvious.  “What else do you know about me?”

“We know that you write music, and that you’ve sold several of your compositions,” Landor said.  That shocked her into glancing up at him.  She didn’t think anyone outside of her immediate family knew that.  “Our favorite is a beautiful piano sonata performed by the Intergalactic Philharmonic’s star pianist, but we have copies of everything you’ve written that’s been recorded, and we listen to them all the time.”

“We have a piano onboard, in case you wish to play,” Ari added.

“We know that you love anything chocolate,” Con put in, “and that you love dogs, cats, and horses, but don’t like talking birds.”

“The little buggers freak me out,” she said, not realizing that she’d bitten the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood until she tasted it on her tongue.

“We also know that you’ve never come across a computer system that you can’t make sit up and do tricks for you,” Landor said with a note of pride that she missed completely.

When she continued to stare at the plate in front of her, Landor reached across the table and touched the back of her hand lightly, hoping that she’d look up.  She looked at his fingers on her hand for a long moment, then back to her plate.  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

“I’m just…I don’t,” she paused and took a breath.  “How…no, why do you know so much about me?”

“You’re our berezi, Rayne,” Landor replied.  “The one woman created just for us.  We’ve waited nearly three centuries for you.  There’s never been anyone or anything that holds more interest for us than you, and there never will be.”

Rayne could hardly breathe around the enormous lump in her throat.  She saw that she was holding a fork in one hand and couldn’t remember why.  She set it down with deliberate care, her eyes still glued to her plate as a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions spun through her mind.

Landor wished he could tell what she was feeling, but her shield was up, her head was bowed, and her eyes were down, so there was nothing giving her away.  “Please tell us what we said that upset you?”

“I’m just…surprised,” she said in a choked voice that they had to strain to hear.  “More than surprised.”

“Surprised about what?” Landor asked.

Rayne gathered her courage and raised her head so she could see all three of them.  They stiffened at the stark pain in her eyes.  “I thought you’d just discovered I was your berezi last night, when you found me on the mesa.  But from what you’ve just told me, it’s quite clear that you’ve known for a long time.”

“Yes, we have,” Landor admitted, wondering how they could have made such an enormous mistake.  But what was done was done.  “We discovered you were our berezi when you were fourteen years old.”

Rayne’s head jerked as though his words had physically struck her.  Fourteen.  The last time she remembered seeing them had been when they’d realized she was meant for them.  “I have no memory of this.”

“That’s because we never told you,” Landor said.  “You were a child, Rayne.  We had to wait until you grew up.”

“I’ve been grown up for a while now.”

“Not really,” Con said.  “You just graduated from college.”

“College has nothing to do with this,” she said, frowning at him.  “According to Jasani law I’ve been an adult since I turned eighteen.  That means you’ve had four years to tell me.”

The three of them exchanged silent looks before Landor responded with heavy reluctance.  “We just thought it was best, Rayne.”

“Why?”

“Even if we’d told you, you still would have needed to finish your schooling,” Con said.  “Nothing would have changed for you either way.”

“I disagree.  Salene knew that she was the Gryphons’ berezi for three years before we graduated.  That knowledge made her happier than I’ve ever seen her, even though it had never been her dream to find her Rami as soon as she came of age.”

“We did what we thought was right, Rayne and whether it was or not, we cannot change it now,” Landor said.

“I understand that, but it still doesn’t explain why you chose not to tell me,” she said, refusing to let them put her off.  “I want to know.”  She watched as they exchanged looks yet again.  “Please.” Landor looked into her eyes and saw how important it was to her.

“Before you appeared on the mesa last night, we’d never been in your presence for more than a few minutes at a time since before you were fourteen,” he began.  “We kept our distance for our sake, as well as for yours, but our curiosity about you was insatiable.  We learned as much about you as we could over the years, which is why we know so much about you now.  But the one thing we never suspected was how talented you are at hiding.  Even now, when we can easily see how upset you are, we feel nothing but a sense of peaceful calm coming from you.”  Rayne frowned, uncertain where he was going with this, or why an uncomfortable roiling sensation began growing inside of her.

“In our experience, only children spend the majority of their time in a state of contentment, punctuated by occasional fits and spurts of high emotion.  That, and the fact that we’d never reacted to your scent except for one brief moment yesterday, during the wedding.  Those things indicated to us that you were not yet ready for us to claim.”

Rayne bit her lip hard as a sensation of cold started at the top of her head and trickled down over her face before spreading to the rest of her body.  Shock, she thought.  She was experiencing some form of mild shock.

Con held up one hand, interrupting Landor.  “Let me tell this part, please,” he said.  Landor nodded, and Rayne turned her head slowly so that she faced Con on the other side of the table even as she wondered whether or not she wanted to hear any more.

“Last night, before you reappeared on the mesa, we were looking for you,” Con said in a low voice, not quite meeting her eyes.  “We climbed up to see if you were there, but the area was deserted, or so we thought.  I allowed my frustration to get the best of me, and I made a comment or two about your immaturity that I should not have made.”  He looked up and, finally, met her gaze.  “I know you don’t remember it, but I’m sorry anyway, Rayne.  I called you an immature child, and it was not only wrong of me to say, it was also untrue.”

Rayne could only nod her acceptance of his apology because she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.  When Landor opened his mouth to speak again, she decided that she’d heard enough for the time being.  She held up one hand, a silent plea for him to stop, which he did.

“I think I’d like to go to bed now, if you don’t mind,” she said.  “Or, if you want to finish your meals, I can sleep somewhere else.”

“No, Rayne, that’s not necessary,” Landor said, keeping his voice gentle.  When he saw Con open his mouth, he shook his head sharply.  Con closed his mouth, though it was obvious he wasn’t happy about it.  Landor turned his attention back to Rayne.  “We’ve installed a security system on this room, and we’ve woven a shield all the way around it, including the bathroom, just as we said we would.  You’ll be perfectly safe in here on your own.  Do you need help with anything before we leave?”

Rayne shook her head, keeping her eyes on her hands which were now folded in her lap.  “Con and Ari unpacked the things you’re mother brought over so if there’s anything you can’t find, let us know,” Landor said as he placed a vox on the table beside her plate and stood up.  “This is preprogrammed with our private numbers.  All you have to do is say one of our names if you want or need us for any reason.”

“Thank you,” Rayne said, her hands clenching into fists now.  Every second they delayed was more difficult for her to get through.  She listened to Ari and Con stand up, and then begin to walk toward the door.  They both paused behind her, and for a long moment she was afraid they’d touch her.  If they did, she feared she would shatter into a million pieces.  After a few seconds they continued walking, and she allowed herself to breathe again.

“Please try to finish the sasuna,” Landor said softly from somewhere behind her.  “Don’t forget, there’s more in the chiller if you can manage two.”  She nodded slowly.  A moment later the door closed, and the lock clicked as it was engaged.  She waited a few more seconds, then looked up to be sure that she was completely alone.  Only then did she allow her tears to fall.

***

“That didn’t go very well,” Ari said as they stood together in the corridor outside of Rayne’s room.

“No, it certainly didn’t,” Landor agreed.

“We shouldn’t have left things like that,” Con said, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.  “We should’ve stayed until she understood why we did what we did.”

“I don’t agree,” Landor said.  “She indicated she didn’t want to talk any more, and we will abide by her request.  This is about what she needs, Con.  Not what we want.”

Con nodded reluctantly.  “You’re right, of course.”

“She’s been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours,” Landor continued.  “The least we can do right now is give her a little breathing room.”

“What will we do in the meantime?” Ari asked.

“I intend to light a fire under Pip and get that Controller search moving,” Landor said.  “Rayne thinks it’s important, and that raises a red flag in my mind.”

“Khurda and I were talking about breaking through Blind Sight systems and he gave me some data he’s been working on.  I think I’ll feed it into the Armadura’s mainframe and see what I can do with it.”

“Excellent idea,” Landor said.  “Ari, would you object to keeping an eye on Rayne’s door?  I think it would be best if she doesn’t know you’re watching.  I told her she’s safe, but I’m afraid that if she sees you, she’ll doubt it’s true.”

“I’ll put a micro cam on my door which will give me a view of her door on my hand terminal.  That way I can watch her from inside my room and she’ll never know.  While I’m doing that, I’ll continue my search for the Doftle.”

“Sounds good,” Landor said.  “Give one of us a call when you get tired.”

“Of course,” Ari agreed.  He stood watching as his brothers headed up the corridor toward the elevator, then turned to unlock his own door directly across the hall.  He had a feeling that it was going to be a long night.

***

Rayne didn’t know how long she sat at the table crying, but it was long enough that when her tears stopped flowing it was because she had no more, not because she felt better.  She understood now why she’d felt so sad about the Bearen-Hirus.  She’d waited her whole life for the one male-set meant just for her, and when she’d finally discovered their identities, it was only to learn that they didn’t want her.  Even though the memory was gone, the pain and sadness she must have felt after hearing them talk about her must have been so strong, and so deep, that it had surpassed memory and embedded itself in her heart.

They thought they’d misread her, and they had.  Their mistake was in concluding that she was the serious, mature woman they’d obviously hoped for.  But she knew better.  Beneath her shield, she was exactly what they didn’t want.  She wondered if they would have ever revealed themselves to her at all if she hadn’t landed on that mesa the night before, and reluctantly concluded that they probably wouldn’t have.  After four years of keeping the secret, she supposed she should feel grateful that they hadn’t just left her there.

She picked up her napkin and dried her tears, determined to cry no more.  She had some serious decisions to make, that much was clear.  But they’d have to wait.  She was too tired and emotionally wrung out to think any more.

She picked up the sasuna and made herself finish the entire glass.  Then she stood up and began gathering the dinner plates together.  She felt a twinge of guilt for interrupting the Bearen-Hirus’ dinner, but it didn’t last long.  They could go to the cafeteria and eat whenever they wanted to, so they certainly weren’t going to go hungry.

After stacking everything neatly on the trays they’d been carried in on, she went to the chiller and refilled her glass from the large pitcher she found there, then carried it into the bathroom, mildly surprised by how steady she was on her feet.  She had to move slowly, and she had no strength at all, but she felt healed.  There was no imbalance, no shakiness, and just a little weakness compared to what she’d felt that morning.

A little while later she left the bathroom wearing her own pajamas instead of Landor’s t-shirt.  She tried not to miss having his scent wrapped around her, but every breath she took reminded her of its absence.  She looked at the half empty glass of sasuna with a grimace and set it down on the bedside table, too full to drink even one more sip.  Then she climbed into bed, turned off the light, and laid down, looking forward to the oblivion of sleep.  After half an hour of tossing and turning, she threw the blankets back, got out of bed, and made her way slowly into the bathroom.  She grabbed Landor’s t-shirt from the counter where she’d left it and carried it back to bed where she rolled it up in a ball, tucked it against her chest and wrapped her arms around it.  A couple of minutes later she was sound asleep.

Chapter 6

362 Days in the Future

“How far away from you am I now?” Rayne asked after the maintenance Doftle who brought her breakfast had left her cell, and the door had slid shut and locked itself behind him.  He hadn’t said a word, or even looked directly at her, which was fine by her.  She was following Wolef’s suggestion regarding her behavior, and it appeared to be working surprisingly well.  It was easy enough to pretend to be mildly catatonic, and it really seemed to put the maintenance Doftles whose job it was to take care of the prisoners at ease.  She used the toilet in the corner of her cell without prompting, and she fed herself when they placed food in front of her and a spoon in her hand.  She never looked directly at them, she never spoke, and if they asked her to do something she obeyed immediately, but kept her movements slow and wooden.

It felt strange to have control of her own body after so long.  Strange to hold a spoon and feed herself from the bowl of tasteless, watery gruel intended to pass for a meal.  She remembered it from her first weeks as a prisoner and it hadn’t gotten any better in the months since.  But it was a lot better than a feeding tube.

“I know that we’re on the same level because I heard them bring you down,” Wolef said.  Besides, this is where they put all of the samples when they aren’t actively using them.”

“Samples?”

“That’s what they call us,” Wolef replied.  “They collect samples of different species and study them.  Minutely.  For decades or centuries, however long the sample remains alive, which is something they’ve learned to extend and maintain a bit too well.  The Facility is fairly new, not quite twenty years old, and different from their other space stations in that it’s dedicated to genetic sciences and experimentation.  That’s why there aren’t many of us here.”

“Genetics?” she asked in surprise.  “Is that the purpose of all the experiments they performed on me?”

“I don’t know for certain,” Wolef said.  “Since Weeble is involved, and since that’s his particular interest, I think it’s safe to assume that at least some of them were, yes.”

“Do you know why they brought you here?”

“Weeble has decided to try injecting some of my DNA into his cloned embryos.”

“They brought you here for that?” she asked.  “Not that I’m complaining since I’m very glad you’re here, but why wouldn’t they just bring samples of your DNA?”

“Weeble prefers to have his living samples at hand,” Wolef replied dryly.  “He enjoys being thought of as eccentric.”

“What does he hope to achieve by using your DNA?”

“He wants to make his human clones bigger, stronger, more formidable, and most importantly, more difficult to kill.  I’m surprised he didn’t think of it sooner, to be honest.”

“Human clones?” Rayne asked in surprise.  “Are the Doftle the ones who cloned the Nomen?”

“I’ve heard that name,” Wolef replied.  “I don’t know who or what they are, but I have heard the name Nomen.  Who are they?”

“The short answer is that they’re cloned humans.  I could give you the long answer if you like.”

“I’m having my scales polished and my claws sharpened at the moment so I might as well listen while I wait.”

Rayne sent the dragon laughter which, she could tell, pleased him.  “After the Xanti wiped out Garza, they kidnapped a tribe of humans who called themselves the Khun, and set them down on Garza along with a number of Nomen, human clones belonging to the Xanti.  The Nomen were in charge of the Khun for centuries, treating them as slaves and forcing them to mine the liquid metal that the Xanti wanted.  That metal is the reason they destroyed Garza to start with.

“When the Xanti were destroyed, everything they owned, including their slaves, either died or ceased to function because of something the Xanti implanted in them.  All of the Nomen on Garza dropped dead in the same instant, and for the next decade and a half or so, the Khun were free.  Then, a couple of years ago, the Nomen returned.  They still called themselves Nomen, and they were still clones, but the template, the source of cloned material, was different.  The new Nomen enslaved all of the Khun that they could capture and reopened the mines.  Tani helped the Khun free their people from the mines and destroy the Nomen.  Of course the big question was, and maybe still is, since the Xanti are dead, who cloned the new Nomen?”

“The Doftle, obviously,” Wolef said.  “Do you know why the Doftle would want the same metal that the Xanti wanted?”

“Yes, actually, I do,” she replied.  “They use it to make Controllers, and androids that pass easily for humans.”

“What is a Controller?”

“It’s a device that, when implanted in a person’s brain, takes over their body without them even knowing it.”  Rayne frowned.  “I know that they used the Controllers on some of the Nomen, but I don’t know how many.  It could have been all of them or just a few.”

“To clarify, the Doftle can exercise absolute control over any creature they create by means of one of these Controllers.  Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” Rayne replied.  “What’s the matter, Wolef?”

“Can you imagine the Doftle in complete control of a dragon such as myself, or even a creature containing dragon traits?”

Rayne swallowed hard and put down her plastic spoon even though she hadn’t quite finished her breakfast yet.  “Yes, unfortunately, I can,” she replied.  “I really hope Weeble fails.”

“If our plan succeeds, he will.”

“Yes, the plan,” she said, picking the spoon up again and forcing herself to eat the last of the gruel.  “I suppose it’s time I learned what that is, exactly.”

“I was wondering when you’d ask.”

“I wanted to wait until I was actually off the machines and in a cell,” she said.  “I prefer to take things one step at a time and, besides, I didn’t want to get my hopes up for no reason.”

“That’s certainly an interesting way of looking at things,” Wolef said politely.  “In short, I will send you back in time.”

“You can do that?” she asked, shocked.

“It wouldn’t be a very good plan if I couldn’t, would it?”

“How far back can you send me?”

“At one time, the answer to that question would have been limitless,” Wolef said wistfully.  “Unfortunately, after centuries spent under the not so tender mercies of the Doftle, one fold will be the best I can manage.  However, I’m afraid there’s a bit of a catch.  Or two.”

“Just two?” she asked.  “What are they?”

“The first one is that I must have physical contact with you for it to work, and since I am incapable of movement, it will be up to you to come to me.”

“I can do that, but it’s going to take me a little time to prepare myself.”

“Prepare how?”

“My body is weak from not being used for so long.  Just being taken off the machines and moved into this cell was so exhausting that I slept the rest of yesterday and last night.”

“Yes, I noticed.”

“It’s been just as long since I used my psychic ability.  I’ll have to practice with it for a while.”

“How long?”

“I don’t know, a few days, at least.  Is that too long?”

“As long as a few days is no more than four, including today, no,” Wolef said.

“Why the deadline?”

“That, I’m afraid, is the second catch.  As I mentioned, I can only fold time once, which means I can only send you back one year.  That’s one year exactly, give or take a few minutes.  After the fourth day from today, sending you back one year will put you right into the Doftles’ hands.”

“Four days it is,” Rayne said.  “I better start working with my psychic ability and walking around this cell, too.  I have to build-up some stamina.  Surprisingly, my muscles don’t feel anywhere near as atrophied as they should be.”

“They’ve been injecting you with a drug that reduces muscular and skeletal deterioration and atrophy,” Wolef said.  “I heard them talking about how well you responded to it.”

“As much as I hate their experiments, I think I must be at least a little grateful for that one.”

“You are far more generous than I could ever be, I daresay.”

“Don’t misunderstand me, Wolef,” she said.  “I’m not grateful to the little blue thugs.  I’m grateful to the Creators, or the Fates, or the powers that be.  Whatever force is responsible for that small stroke of luck.”

“Ah, I understand,” Wolef said.  “Thank you for explaining, Solin.  For a moment there I feared for your reason.”

“There’s no need for that,” Rayne replied lightly.  “I lost it months ago.”  She smiled at the deep rumbling laughter that filled her head.

“I am relieved to know it’s not in danger,” he said.  “Anyway, I do not believe in luck.”

“No?”

“No,” Wolef replied emphatically.  “Luck is a random, nonsensical concept.  I prefer to put my faith in the universe at large.”

“I see,” Rayne said.  “Just a moment, the Doftle is here for the bowl.”

She sat unmoving, her eyes staring straight ahead and unfocused as the same Doftle entered the cell, collected the bowl and spoon, slid the tiny tray table three feet back to its place against the wall, then backed out just as he’d done earlier.  When she was certain he was gone, she stood up, placed one hand against the wall, and began walking slowly around her tiny cell.

“Why do you call me Solin?”

“Because it means sunshine, and I find it incongruous that someone who radiates so much warmth and light is named rain,” he replied.  “You’ve made me smile, and even laugh, Rayne Dracon.  I’d nearly forgotten such things existed.  Do you mind?”

“No, Wolef, I don’t mind,” Rayne said, touched.

“Now, back to the subject of your physical strength,” he said somewhat gruffly.  I believe that, when the time comes, I can help you with that.”

“Really?”

“Of course, really,” Wolef said.  “There’ll be a price to pay afterward, though.”

“Tell me what it is and I’ll see if I can squeeze it into my budget.”

“Put simply, I’ll give your body strength that it’s not actually prepared for,” Wolef said.  “You’ll be able to push past your body’s true limits, but you’ll be very tired, weak, and sore for a few days afterward.”

“So, it’s a loan with interest,” she said.  “I can swing that.  Is there anything else I should know?”

“When you return to the past, you’ll have some temporary memory loss that will begin within seconds of your arrival,” Wolef said.  “It shouldn’t last more than a few days at most, but you will not remember why you feel weak and tired at first.  Are you willing to accept that?”

“To be honest, Wolef, there’s very little I wouldn’t accept in exchange for a chance to escape from this place.  However, I must point out that you said there were only two catches.  This makes three.”

“Memory loss is not a catch,” he said.  “It’s a side effect.”

“Interesting distinction,” Rayne said, sending him soft laughter.  “How many of these cells are there?  Do you know?”

“Twenty,” Wolef replied.  “As far as I can tell, nine are currently in use, including yours.  This is only a guess, but from the sounds I’ve heard, I believe that there are two rows of cells that are connected at some point.  If I’m right, whichever cell you’re in will be relatively close to mine.”

“Close is good,” Rayne said as she leaned against a wall to rest.  “Have you learned anything about that successful experiment they did on me?”

“Not yet,” he replied.  “I shall continue my efforts to discover that information.  Unfortunately, if no one speaks about those things, then there is no way for me to overhear them.”

“I know,” she said with a disappointed sigh.  “I’d love to get my hands on one of those little hand terminals they all carry around.”

“What is a hand terminal?” Wolef asked.

“Do you know what a computer is?”

“Yes,” he replied.  “I’ve never used one, of course, but I do know what it is, and I understand how they work.”

“Well, a hand terminal is a hand held computer.  Every Doftle I’ve seen carries one, and I’ve seen them update themselves from a local mainframe lots of times.  I bet the answers to at least some of our questions are on one of those things, if not all of them.”

“You may need to make the acquisition of one of those hand terminals a priority.”

“I know,” she said, swallowing her fear.  The Doftle were short, but they were very strong, and very tough.  Even at full strength she’d been no match for them.  But Wolef was right.  She needed to get her hands on one.  Unfortunately, that meant she was going to have to come up with a way to get the better of at least one Doftle, and that wasn’t going to be easy.

“You still haven’t told me what your psychic talent is, but if it’s something that can be viewed on a camera, you might wish to be careful,” Wolef said.

“I always know when I’m being watched, and right now, I’m not,” Rayne said.  “They haven’t watched me for months.”

“No, but until now, you couldn’t move, either.  Don’t get careless.”

“I won’t, I promise,” Rayne said as she raised her full shield for the first time in a year.  It was a little harder than it should have been, but she was able to do it and that’s what mattered.  “Wolef, what can you tell me about the Doftle?  Where they’re from, or why they’re doing the things they’re doing?”

“Not much, I’m afraid,” Wolef said.  “They don’t spend a lot of time talking about those things.  Not now, anyway.  They did for a while, when they were trying to resurrect the Xanti, but that was a few years back.”

“They tried to resurrect the Xanti?” she asked, stunned into dropping her shield.

“Yes, for about ten years, I think it was,” Wolef said.  “They failed, of course, since all the Xanti remains they had were neuter males.  There’s something in their basic biology which prevents them from living without a queen.”

“Thank the Creators,” she said feelingly.  “Were the Doftle slaves of the Xanti?”

“I’ve heard them claim that to be the case, but it’s not true.”

“Where are they from?” she asked, raising her shield again.

“Another galaxy, though I don’t know which one,” Wolef said.  “The Doftle consider themselves the most intelligent species ever created in any galaxy, which proves that their egos are even bigger than their bulbous heads.  They’re always experimenting with one thing or another, and they do not bother themselves with annoying obstacles like morality.  Right and wrong mean nothing to them.”

“I suspected as much, but I was concerned about making an unfair rush to judgment.”

Wolef’s laughter cut short.  “Your shield is slipping.”

“Yes, I know,” Rayne replied, smiling to herself as she pulled it back into place.  “You could have just told me that you knew.”

“I wanted to see if you’d trust me just because I asked.  I’m quite pleased that you didn’t.  It’s not a good idea to trust too easily.”

“No, it isn’t,” Rayne agreed.  “How did you know?”

“When we first began speaking to each other you had a tendency to project more than you intended.  You’re much better now though.  I nearly always get no more than you intend.”

“Nearly always?” she asked, frowning.

“I suggest you try holding it part way,” Wolef said as though he hadn’t heard her.  “You’ve done that before, haven’t you?”

“Yes of course,” Rayne said, letting it go since she wasn’t altogether sure she wanted to know what else he’d gotten from her mind without her knowing.  “I used to be able to hold it up for hours without having to think about it much.  I just wanted to see how long I could hold it up all the way.”  She paused a moment, then said, “There, that’s better.”

“I wish that I had enough strength to send you some healing energy,” Wolef said.  “A century or two ago, I could’ve done so.”

“As long as you’re strong enough to send me back in time, that’s all that really matters,” Rayne said.  “

“Do not concern yourself about that, Solin,” Wolef said.  “I will conserve enough strength for that, I promise.  But it will take a great deal of effort on your part to reach me, no matter how close you are, and if you fail in that, then there is no point to any of this.  I cannot send you healing energy, but I can send you power.  Not a lot, I’m afraid, but it may make the difference between success and failure.”

“Are you sure it won’t weaken you too much?”

“If it does, it will not matter.  Once you’re gone, I’ll have no more need for power.  It’ll be up to you to find your way back here.”

“I’m worried about that,” Rayne said as she laid down on the small cot that was the only furniture in the cell the Doftle had locked her in aside from the tiny tray table.  It bothered her that she was so tired after just a few laps of her cell, but she kept that to herself.

“Worried about what, exactly?”

“About my return to the Facility.  Assuming I get the name of whatever planet we’re orbiting from a hand terminal, I doubt that the Doftle will just sit back and let me destroy this place.”

“It’s going to be even more complicated than that, I’m afraid,” Wolef said.  “Have you ever heard of something called Blind Sight?”

“Yes, I have,” Rayne said.  “It was technology the Xanti used and, more recently, the Nomen used it on Garza.”

“The Doftle are the ones who created Blind Sight for the Xanti, and they make extensive use of it themselves.  Everything they have, ships, yachts, space stations, even their base world, are all protected by Blind Sight.”

“That’s bad, Wolef,” she said worriedly.  “Jasani ships have cloaking devices, but as far as I know, there’s no way to break through a Blind Sight system.  A ship could be in the same orbit as this space station for a year and never find it.”

“One thing at a time,” Wolef said.  “First, a cloaking device may not be enough.  I will not say a cloaked ship cannot escape detection.  I can say, however, that the Doftle have spotted cloaked vessels in the past, more than once.  Only Blind Sight will allow you to hide from the Doftle as well as the Doftle hide from everyone else.”

“Tani told me that there were a couple of Blind Sight systems on Garza, including one big enough to hide the entire planet.  I should be able to borrow one for a time since they aren’t using them.”

“Excellent,” Wolef said.  “Now, the second problem is, how will you find the Facility while it’s being hidden by Blind Sight?”

“I hope you have an idea because I’m tapped.”

“Actually, I do,” Wolef said.

“I’m listening.”

“If you happen to be orbiting close enough to the Facility, we might be able to communicate with each other as we are right now.”

“And if not?”

“In that case, feelings travel much further than words.”

“Feelings?”

“Yes, feelings.  Emotions, particularly extreme emotions, travel for quite some distance.”

“You’re going to send out emotions for me to find you by?” Rayne asked, confused.  “I’m not sure if I’m capable of picking up on that.  I can feel my sisters, but only if they’re within a few miles of me.  My sister Salene can feel people she’s connected with from very far away, but I don’t have that talent.”

“That’s fine as that is not what I intended.  I can duplicate the calls you sent out for your bears.”

“You can do that?”

“You sent them loud and clear.  I’ll have no trouble duplicating them, I assure you.”

“What good will it do?” Rayne asked.  “They never came, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Since they’re most likely on the far side of Known Space, I cannot imagine how they could possibly have heard you.  I’m more surprised that your sister hasn’t come if she has such a talent for it.”

“I must be too far away for her to feel me, too,” Rayne said.  “If everyone is too far away to hear the calls, I don’t know what good it will do for you to send them.”

“You will bring your bears with you when you return, of course,” Wolef said.  “I’ll wait a few days after you leave since it will surely take some time for you to return.  Then I’ll begin sending out calls to your bears on a regular basis.  A couple of times every four or five hours should be sufficient.”

“Wait,” Rayne said.  “If I’m a year in the past, then how will you know to send out calls when it’ll be another twelve months before you even speak to me?”

“I have the ability to fold time, so I’m also capable of maintaining several different timelines at once.”

“I don’t understand what that means.”

“Do you understand the precise mechanics of how we’re communicating with each other right now, mind to mind?”

“No, I don’t.”

“And yet, we’re still doing it.”

“Point taken.”

“There are many issues that you’ll be forced to deal with on your own, Rayne Dracon.  Leave matters concerning time travel to me.  Just bring your bears with you when you return.”

“Wolef, I’d really prefer not to bring the Bearen-Hirus back with me.”

“Why not?”

“I just…don’t want them involved,” she replied.  “And I really don’t think it’ll work.  Imitating the calls I sent won’t be the same as me calling them and I don’t know if they’d hear me even if they were in the cell next to me.”

“I will duplicate your calls, and your brain wave patterns, exactly,” Wolef said.  “They will feel them as clearly as they would feel them coming from you.”

“But they didn’t feel them from me,” Rayne said again.

“I’d no idea you could be so stubborn,” Wolef said.  “I admit to being somewhat surprised.”

“I don’t know whether that’s a compliment or an insult.”

“No?” he asked.  “Tell me, Solin, do you have a better idea?”

“Yes, I do,” Rayne said, letting the evasion go since she really didn’t want to discuss it.  “I’ll send out a call for my sister Salene that you can duplicate.  Then I’ll bring her back with me and she’ll hear you when you repeat it.”

“How will you get here?”

“I may have failed to mention the fact that my parents are the Princes and Princess of Jasan.”

“Yes, I believe you did let that bit of information slip your mind,” he said dryly.

“My point is that I will not suffer from a lack of resources or aid,” Rayne said.  “My parents could bring me.  Or the Gryphons.  Or the Katres.  There were a number of trustworthy people visiting Garza for Tani’s wedding at the time I was abducted.  Any of them would be willing to bring me back, I’m sure.  All I need is for you to send me back no less than ten minutes after I was taken.  Can you do that?”

“Why ten minutes?”

“Because when I was taken the Bearen-Hirus were looking right at me.  I’m sure they thought I’d transported up to my parents’ ship since that’s what I thought I was doing.  Ten minutes should be long enough for them to have left Garza and transported up to their own ship.  I’ll find my parents, or my sisters, or someone to help me.  Someone that isn’t them.”

“Forgive me, Solin, but I’m confused,” Wolef said.  “Are they not your mates?”

“No, they’re not,” she said sadly.  “They’re meant to be, but they don’t want me.”

“I do not understand,” Wolef said.

“Please, Wolef, I really want to leave them out of this,” Rayne said.  “I’ll come back here with Salene, find the Facility, and vaporize it.”

“I do not think this is a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’ve told me already that your sister has a talent for feeling those she loves, and yet she has not found you.”

Rayne’s stomach did a slow roll of fear.  “You think something has happened to her.”

“I think it’s a possibility that should not be ignored,” Wolef replied.  “I propose that you call Salene so that I can duplicate it.  Then I will send out calls to both your bears, and your sister.”

“Thank you, Wolef,” she said.  “Will it take too much extra energy for you to do that?”

“No, Solin, it will not,” Wolef said.  “Go ahead now and call to your sister.”

Chapter 7

Rayne held up her favorite work-out leotard and frowned as she thought of how pale, thin, and scarred she was, and how little the leotard would hide.  On the up side, less than twenty four hours had passed since the Tigrens had healed her, and she was frankly amazed at how much better she felt.  She thought she even looked a bit better already.  At least the whites of her eyes were actually white now.  As for the scars…well, all she could do about those was learn to live with them.

She returned the leotard to the drawer and selected a pair of black stretch pants instead.  She opened another drawer and reached for a t-shirt, pausing as her fingers touched the cotton.  Had Landor’s t-shirt really been so much softer than her own?  Or did it just seem that way?  She looked over her shoulder at the bottom drawer of the bedside table where she’d put Landor’s t-shirt when she’d made up the bed, but resisted the urge to take it out for comparison.  Instead, she removed her shirt from the drawer and raised it to her face, inhaling deeply.  Her shirt smelled like cotton.  His shirt smelled a little like cotton, but also of oak and lime.  Like he smelled.  Like all three of them smelled, in fact.  Con smelled a bit more of oak, and Ari a bit more of lime.  Not a lot, but enough for her to know the difference between them without having to think about it.

“What am I doing?” she asked herself.  She shook her head and closed the drawer a bit harder than strictly necessary.  “Thinking about the Bearen-Hirus is on the to-do list for later,” she told herself firmly as she changed out of her pajamas, then sat down to put on her sneakers.  Her stomach rumbled but she’d already drunk one glass of sasuna.  What she wanted now was real food, but it would have to wait.  Exercise first, breakfast later.

She stood up and walked to the door, unable to stop herself from wondering when the Bearen-Hirus generally woke up and where they might be.  Her heart skipped a beat before she reminded herself that, since Landor told her that her room was protected and safe, they probably weren’t going to be in the corridor outside.

“Whether they are or aren’t, it doesn’t matter,” she told herself firmly.  “I’m not a prisoner, I want to use the treadmill, and I don’t need anyone’s permission to leave this room.”  She raised her full shield, turned the door knob, and pulled the door open, releasing a slow breath when she saw that the corridor was empty.

Thanks to the vid-terminal in her room she knew exactly where the equipment room was, and how to get to it.  She walked slowly, took the stairs instead of the elevator, and kept close to the wall, but she didn’t see anyone else along the way.  A few minutes later she was walking on a treadmill in an otherwise vacant equipment room, feeling proud of herself even though she still had her shield fully up.  While she walked, she let her mind wander.

Her mother hadn’t exaggerated when she’d reminded Rayne that she’d spent her entire life dreaming of the day she would finally meet her Rami.  It was true, and she didn’t mind admitting it.  But it was also true that dreams didn’t always work out the way you expected, and just because something was meant to be, didn’t mean it would be.

Arima House, the place where confirmed berezis went to find their future Rami, was on Dracon Ranch, and had been one of her favorite places to spend time when she was a child.  She loved watching male-sets and berezis meet each other for the first time, which literally happened almost daily at Arima House.  But, while it was true that most of them fell in love and went happily off to link with each other, there were exceptions.

She’d seen women take one look at their destined male-set and run for the first transport home.  She’d seen male-sets choose to spend the remainder of their lives alone and childless rather than link with the one woman destined for them.  And, perhaps worst of all, she’d seen women and male-sets who had no liking for each other decide to link anyway on the premise that, since they were destined, they’d eventually find a way to make it work.

Rayne accepted that there were no guarantees.  Some people just didn’t hit it off with other people and it didn’t matter if they were supposed to be together or not.  She’d decided years earlier that if such a thing happened to her, she’d fulfill her dreams of having lots of children through adoption instead.  She would never commit herself to a lifelong relationship with anyone that she didn’t love, or who didn’t love her.

So, the first and most important questions were, could the Bearen-Hirus ever love her as she was?  And could she love them?

They’d hurt her feelings.  A lot.  But, she also had to admit that their actions since finding her on the mesa had been all that any woman could ask of her Rami-to-be.  They’d been kind, gentle, considerate, and protective.  Had all of that just been a Clan Jasani male-set’s protective nature toward any woman in distress?  Or was there more to it?

She wanted to think there was more to it, but it wasn’t easy when she knew that they’d avoided her for four years.  Their explanation for what they’d done, and why, had made sense, and Con’s apology had seemed sincere.

On the other hand, they’d admitted that they’d only responded to her scent once.  She’d never heard of such a thing, and wasn’t sure what to think of it, but she supposed it had something to do with why they weren’t sexually attracted to her.  She still didn’t know how she knew that, but she was sure of it.  There’d been a few times, when Landor had brushed his fingers on her hand or cheek that she’d sensed…something…, but it was gone too fast for her to be sure.  There’d also been a few instances when she thought she’d felt attracted to them, and she definitely liked the way they looked, but again, she didn’t really know anything for certain, and that bothered her too.  These things were supposed to be instantaneous and absolute.  Weren’t they?  Maybe there was something wrong with her.

They needed to get to know each other, she decided.  They had to see her as she truly was, and she needed to find out who they were, too.  Once they got to know each other, then they could decide what to do next.

By the time she’d made her decision she’d walked half a mile, and her legs were trembling.  Half a mile wasn’t very much, but it was a start, and she was pleased with herself.  She turned off the treadmill and sat down, resting until the trembling stopped.  The walk back to her room was a little harder than the walk out had been since this time she climbed up the stairs.  She had to stop several times to rest, but she was determined not to use the elevator.  When she reached her room she went inside and locked it behind her before letting her shield down enough that she could be seen, while still hiding her emotions.

***

“That was…odd,” Con said, stepping into the hall a few moments after Rayne closed and locked her door.

“What was odd?” Landor asked from his own doorway.

“The camera showed her door opening, then closing, but there was no sign of her or anyone else.  Just like earlier.  The alarm went off again too.”

Landor nodded as he glanced at his hand terminal.  He’d heard the alarm himself, which was why he’d opened his door.  “We need to check that alarm system.”

“I’ll do it later,” Con said.  “When she’s finished being angry with us.”

“What makes you so sure she’s going to finish?” Ari asked.

“You don’t think she will?” Con asked with a worried frown.

“I honestly don’t know, Con.”

“What do you think, Landor?” Con asked.

“I don’t think anger is her strongest emotion at the moment,” Landor replied.  “I think she’s hurt.  Deeply hurt.  And for damn good reason.”

“We hurt her?” Ari asked.

“Yes, I think we did,” Landor said.  “Think about what she said to us last night.  That she’d been an adult for four years, and how happy Salene was to know that the Gryphons were her future Rami even though she hadn’t wanted it to happen so soon.”

“But she wasn’t ready for us,” Con began, then froze.  “Oh squilik shit.  We only thought she wasn’t ready for us.”

“Exactly,” Landor replied.  “I think that she was not only ready, but waiting.”

“Waiting?” Ari asked.

“Yes, waiting,” Landor said.  “Remember how we felt watching everyone around us find their Arimas and have children while we hoped and prayed for the same?”  Con and Ari both nodded.  “Well, Rayne just watched Tani get married, and Salene will soon be officially mated to her Gryphons.  Then she finds out that the men meant to be her Rami spent seven years, four of those after she reached adulthood, staying as far away from her as we could get.  Forget about our reasons for a moment and put yourself in her place.  How would you feel?”

“I don’t much care for the picture you just painted of us,” Ari said.  “But I can’t argue with its accuracy.  How could we be so blind?”

“It’s worse than that,” Con said.

“What do you mean?” Landor asked.

“We spent years gathering every scrap of information we could find about Rayne to satisfy our curiosity, to make ourselves feel better about having to wait for her.  We had our reasons, I know that, and it was logical to us at the time.  But that doesn’t change the fact that we satisfied our needs without even considering hers.  If she spent the past four years waiting for us, it’s our own damn fault that we didn’t know because we never once bothered to speak to her, let alone get close enough to look into her eyes.  We violated one of our most sacred laws against the woman meant to be our Arima, and we didn’t do it just once.  We did it over and over again for years.”

“I never thought of it that way, but you’re right, Con,” Landor said.

“Is there no hope, then?” Ari asked.

“Yes, I think there is,” Landor replied.  “Despite what we’ve heard, I really don’t think Rayne is the type to hold a grudge.”

“No, I don’t think so, either,” Con said.  “But I can’t think of a single reason why she should forgive us.”

“And yet, I think she will if we give her a reason to.”

“Then we better get busy finding a reason,” Con said.

“I agree, but I want to make one thing clear,” Ari said.  “Whatever we do, it has to be to her benefit, no matter the cost to ourselves.”

“Agreed,” Landor said.  “If she is to be our Arima, she has to know us, and want us for who we are.  And we have to know her, too.”

***

When Rayne stepped out of the shower she caught her reflection in the mirror over the sink and flinched, then looked away.  It wasn’t just her hair, though it was certainly startling to see shoulder length, straight brown hair in place of her long red gold curls.  Or the scars that covered her from head to toe.  Literally.  It was how thin she was.  It was almost painful to look in a mirror and see what appeared to be every bone in her body poking sharply against her pale skin.

She dried off quickly, then pulled on her favorite underwear, not doubting her feeling that it had been a year since she’d worn something as basic as panties.  Then she reached for her jeans and a chocolate brown sweater, smiling at the feel of her own clothing on her body even though everything was far too loose.  She combed her damp hair out, reminding herself that if she followed the Tigrens’ directions, she’d be back to her normal size and health very quickly.

She opened a drawer and reached for the box of brown contacts that one of the med techs on the Ugaztun had created for her mother using the medical tele-fabricator.  She popped them in, not really minding the feel of them, though she was startled anew to see brown eyes looking back at her rather than the blue green she was used to.  Then she reached for the make-up case her mother had brought along with her other things from the Ugaztun.

She looked through the different bottles and jars for a minute, then glanced at herself in the mirror again with a sigh.  Her cosmetics had been chosen for her usual complexion, which was several shades deeper than the pasty white she now saw in the mirror, and her natural hair and eye colors.  She’d look ridiculous if she followed her old makeup routine.  She almost closed the case and walked away, but another glance in the mirror changed her mind.  The Bearen-Hirus had seen her at her absolute worst, and while there wasn’t enough makeup in the Thousand Worlds to make her look good, there had to be something she could do to improve her appearance.  At this point, even a little self-confidence would go a long way.

She emptied the makeup case onto the counter and took a closer look at what she had.  A few minutes later she studied her reflection critically and concluded that the makeup helped a great deal more than she’d expected.  At least she now appeared to have a little color in her cheeks.  She looked like a stranger to her own eyes but, she reminded herself as she applied some tinted moisturizer to her lips, that was the whole point.

She put everything away, hung up her towel and left the bathroom, then stood for a moment, nonplussed, uncertain what to do next.  She was really hungry after her long walk, and she had a distinct craving for another glass of sasuna.  She hesitated before remembering that Cade had told her to drink as much as she wanted as often as she wanted, so long as it was no less than four glasses a day.  She went to the chiller and poured herself a glass while trying to decide whether or not to go to the cafeteria alone.  As much as she wished otherwise, she reluctantly concluded that it wouldn’t be a good idea.  At least she had a voice now so she could call the cafeteria and ask for a tray to be brought to her room.

A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and set her heart racing.  It was the Bearen-Hirus.  She knew that without a doubt.  She took a deep calming breath, checked her shield, and reminded herself that she needed to get to know them, and that meant actually spending time with them.  Then she walked to the door and opened it, not at all surprised to see all three of them standing in the corridor.  She was surprised, however, by the strength of her visceral reaction to them.

They were just so beautiful in their black jeans and snug t-shirts, their black hair gleaming, their brightly colored eyes fixed on her.  Even though she knew she was too thin and pale, the way they were looking at her made her feel…warm.  And wanted.  It also caused a strange tingling sensation deep inside of her.

“Good morning, Kisu,” Landor said.

“Good morning,” she replied, not quite meeting their eyes.  “I’m really sorry about last night.”

“Don’t be,” Landor said.  “You needed time.  It was a small thing to ask for, and we do not regret giving it to you.”

“Thank you,” she said, relieved.  “Um…would you like to come in?”

“Thank you, but no,” Ari replied.  “We came to ask if you’d like to have breakfast with us in the cafeteria.”  She looked up in surprise.  An invitation to breakfast was the last thing she’d expected.

“Do you think that’s a good idea?” she asked, unaware of the hope that lit her face.

“We think it’s an excellent idea,” Ari said.  “It’ll do you good to get out a little.”

“There’s no reason to worry that you’ll be recognized,” Con said.  “You don’t look anything like yourself.  I barely recognize you myself.”

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” Landor said.

“In that case, yes, I’d like some breakfast,” she decided.  “And coffee.”  She stepped out of her room and pulled the door shut behind her.

Landor moved to stand close beside her while Con and Ari took up positions behind them.  She bowed her head, hiding her rush of pleasure when they began walking up the corridor in the traditional, protective formation used by all male-sets when walking with their woman.

“Is this your first glass of sasuna today?” Landor asked, gesturing to the tall glass she carried.

“No, it’s the second,” she said.  “I was told it was fine to drink as much as I wanted.”

“As were we,” Landor said, wincing inwardly at the defensive note in her voice.  He changed the subject.  “Even though we prefer your true hair and eye colors, you do look beautiful this morning.”

“Thank you,” she said shyly.  “I think it’s an overstatement, but I’ll take it anyway.”

“It is not an overstatement,” he said.  “You have a bit of color in your face.”

“That’s either makeup, or from walking this morning.  Probably a combination of both.”

“Walking?” Ari asked in surprise.

“Yes, I went down to the gym after I woke up.”  She saw Landor’s jaw tighten and her eyes narrowed.  “I went slowly and stopped at half a mile.”

“It’s not the exercise that concerns us,” Landor said.  “It’s knowing that you were wandering around the ship alone that worries us.”

“The alarm on your door should have gone off when you left your room,” Ari added, frowning.

“Alarm?”

“Yes, I told you we added security to your room, remember?” Landor said.  She nodded and looked down, not wanting him to see the blush that heated her cheeks.  “It went off twice this morning, but we saw no one in the corridor either time.  Now you tell us you went out, but the alarm didn’t go off.  There must be a malfunction, which is not acceptable.”

“I’ll go over it after breakfast,” Con said.  Landor nodded his agreement.

“Oh gula,” Rayne muttered softly.  She’d never told anyone outside of her family about her partial shield, not even her sisters, so she didn’t feel guilty for not sharing the information with the Bearen-Hirus.  But, she couldn’t let them waste their time trying to fix something that she knew wasn’t broken.

“What’s the matter, Rayne?” Landor asked as they stepped into the elevator.  “Is it about last night?”

“That’s not what I’m thinking about at the moment, no.”

“There’s one thing we want you to know, and never forget no matter what happens,” Landor said.

“What’s that?”

“You can trust us.  Always.”

Rayne stared into his eyes for a long moment, then nodded as something inside of her relaxed.  She really could trust them.  They would never, ever betray her, no matter the circumstances.  “I have to tell you something, but it’s very important to me that you don’t share it with anyone.”

“In that case, we shouldn’t discuss it now,” Landor said as the elevator door opened.  “After breakfast, we’ll go somewhere private.  Unless you want to go back to your room now?”

“No, after breakfast is fine,” she said.  “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For taking me seriously when you don’t even know what the subject is.”

“You needn’t thank us for that,” Con said.  “We ask that you trust us and in return, we trust you.”  Rayne looked back over her shoulder and smiled warmly at him, causing his breath to catch.  Then they turned into the cafeteria, ending conversation for the moment.

It was past breakfast time, so there were few people in the cafeteria, leaving the majority of the tables free.  She noticed several quick glances from the other diners, but no one stared for more than a moment before quickly looking down again.  She didn’t have to look to know that Landor, Con, and Ari were glaring warnings at their crew, which helped her to relax.  Landor selected a table in a far corner away from everyone else, and they all sat, one on each side of a square table, Rayne with an inward sigh of relief that she was careful to hide.  The walk from her room to the cafeteria wasn’t terribly long, but added to her walk on the treadmill, and going down and up a couple of flights of stairs, and it left her feeling a bit shaky.

Rayne finished the sasuna after they placed their orders, then took a few minutes to savor the first cup of coffee she’d had in she didn’t know how long.  “Have we left Garza yet?”

“Yes, we made the jump to Earth last night, several hours ahead of schedule, which is good since it will be another couple of hours before we’re able to jump to Teira,” Con replied.

“Will we still reach Buhell in time?” she asked worriedly.

“Yes,” Con replied.  “Even accounting for the possibility of more jump point delays, we’ll arrive with no less than two days to spare.  Three isn’t out of the realm of possibilities either.”

“That’s great news,” she said.  “What about the Gryphons and Salene?  Did they get off all right?”

“Yes, they left Garza shortly before we did,” Landor replied.  “Don’t worry, Kisu, everything is going smoothly so far.”

“We have something for you,” Con said, sliding a small, flat box across the table toward her.  She looked at him in surprise, then reached for the box.  When she picked it up she felt something slide inside of it, raising her curiosity.  She took the lid off the box, revealing a blue-green briolette crystal that exactly matched the color of her eyes, hanging from a platinum chain.

She lifted the necklace from the box, smiling as the light caught on the multitude of facets, flashing blue-green fire.  “It’s so beautiful,” she said softly, her eyes sparkling more brightly than the crystal.

“I’m glad you like it,” Con said, smiling at her reaction.  It had been even better than he’d hoped.  “But it’s more than a pretty necklace.”

“It is?”

“It has a micro-dot cam inside that’s virtually impossible to detect.  And, if you press firmly on the bottom where it comes to a point, it will set off an alarm on each of our voxes and our hand terminals.”

Rayne placed her thumb on the bottom of the pendant where Con indicated and pressed.  All three of their voxes began beeping immediately.  She smiled happily as they turned off their devices.  “When you do that, we’ll get more than an alarm,” Con continued.  “We’ll also get a signal identifying your exact location, no matter where you are, or how far away from us you’re taken.”

Her eyes teared up so fast she had no chance to stop them.  She opened her mouth, then closed it, unable to speak.

Con looked at Landor, horrified by her tears.  “Rayne?” Landor asked uncertainly.  She looked up at him, her tears overflowing.  “We just wanted to be able to find you if something happened, and we thought it would help you feel better knowing we could.  If you don’t like it, you don’t have to wear it.”

“Oh, no,” she said, shaking her head as she wiped at the tears on her cheeks.  “I love it.  I really do.  I’m just…overwhelmed.”

“Overwhelmed?” Landor asked.

“That you…,” she hesitated, realizing what she was about to say, and changed her response.  “I’ll just feel safer with this.  Knowing that you can find me if…well…if you need to.  Like you said.”

“What were you going to say?” Landor asked.

Rayne dropped her eyes to the crystal in her hand.  “I was going to say that it tells me that you care about what happens to me.”

“We care more about what happens to you than anyone, Rayne,” Ari said quietly.  Then he smiled.  “Would you like some help putting it on?”

“Yes, please,” she said.  He stood up and she handed the necklace to him.  A moment later she felt the cool metal against her skin and reached up to wrap her fingers around the pendant.

“Thank you, Ari,” she said, smiling up at him as he returned to his seat, then smiled at Landor and Con, too.  “I love it.  It’s absolutely perfect.”  She tilted her head at Con.  “You made this, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did.  How’d you know?”  She smiled at him, then dropped her eyes to the crystal once more.

The waiter arrived with their breakfasts just then, diverting all of her attention to her stomach.  The food looked and smelled and tasted so wonderful to Rayne that she barely knew what to start with.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t hold nearly as much as she wanted, and had to stop before she’d done much more than taste.  She set her fork down and reached for her coffee, watching absently as the Bearen-Hirus ate.

“Rayne?” Ari asked.  She looked at him in surprise.  “You appear to be trying to make up your mind about something.”

“I am,” she replied.  “I just remembered a few things.”

“Just now?” Landor asked curiously.  She nodded.

“It’s odd, but as I was eating I suddenly realized that I had some memories that I didn’t have before.”

“Do you want to share them with us?” Landor asked.

“I’m not sure if you’ll want to hear them.  They aren’t really…significant.”

“Significant?” Ari asked.  “I’m not sure I understand what you mean by that.”

“I didn’t remember any more about those messages I wrote on the shift, and I didn’t remember how I was sent back in time, or by whom, or even who abducted me or why.”

“What did you remember?”

“The first few weeks after I was taken,” she said.  “I don’t know if it would upset you to hear about it, and I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.”

“If it concerns you, it concerns us, Rayne,” Landor said.  “We want to hear everything you remember.  It’s all significant to us because it happened to you.”

Rayne was surprised, and touched by his words, but she was still concerned about their reactions.  “What if you get…upset?”

“We had some bad moments after we found you that first night,” Landor admitted.  “Since then, we’ve been taking turns running off our emotions, so we should be all right.  If necessary, we’ll go to the Roar Room.  It’s on deck five, at the opposite end of the corridor from where our staterooms are located.”

“All right,” she said, nodding.  She was still a little worried, but if they thought they could handle it, she wasn’t going to contradict them.  “The first thing I remember is waking up in a small white room.”  Con, Ari, and Landor all stilled, watching and waiting for her to go on.  She waved at them to keep eating, and continued.  “The only object in the room aside from myself was the cot that I was lying on.  I was wearing a gray shift, like the one I was wearing when I returned.  All of my hair was gone, my clothes were gone, and my wrist communicator was gone.  Everything was gone.  It was just me, alone, in that small room.”

The Bearen-Hirus nodded, but continued eating their meals for fear she’d stop talking if they didn’t.  “I tried to get up, but I couldn’t.  I wasn’t completely paralyzed.  I could turn my head, I could talk, I could move my eyes and fingers, but that was all.  I couldn’t lift my head, or move my arms and legs.”

She raised her cup, proud of how steady her hands were as she sipped her coffee.  “I was terrified.  I had no idea where I was, why I was there, or even how I got there.  After a while two male humanoids entered the room.  I’d never seen anyone like them before.  They were short, three and a half to four feet tall, had abnormally large heads, pointed ears, no hair, bright blue skin, and oval black eyes so big that they took up half of their faces.

“I started asking them questions.  Where was I, why was I there, who were they, but they ignored me completely.  They spoke to each other in Standard, so I knew they could understand me, but they never acknowledged my presence in any way.  I gave up asking for information and focused on what they were saying to each other instead, hoping I could learn something that way.”

She set her cup down with hands that had suddenly begun to tremble.  “They were discussing various methods of forcing me to shift.  One thought that burns would cause the most pain, and would therefore be the most effective.  The other one favored the idea of using a scalpel on specific nerve centers.  I told them that I couldn’t shift, rather stridently in fact, but they continued to ignore me.  After another minute or two they left.  I told myself that they were just trying to scare me, but about an hour later I discovered that wasn’t the case at all.  They’d been completely serious.”

Landor, Con, and Ari were motionless, not even pretending to eat now, but they didn’t look as though they were on the verge of a blood rage.  Landor, reading her concerns in her eyes, reached out and touched the back of her hand with his fingertips.  “We’re all right, Kisu,” he said.  “Please continue.”

Rayne nodded and swallowed hard. “I lost count a few times, but I believe they spent about two weeks trying to force me to shift out of sheer desperation before concluding that I couldn’t.  They left me alone for a few days, and then, for the first and last time, one of them actually spoke to me.  I don’t know who it was because the voice came over a speaker somewhere in the room.  All he said was that I had fifteen minutes to reveal my psychic talent.  If I didn’t do it in that time, they would proceed with a series of procedures designed to convince me to rethink my decision.”

“Did you tell them?” Con asked in a low, growly voice.

“No,” she replied.  “I told them I didn’t have a psychic ability, just like I wasn’t able to shift, and nothing they did to me would change that.”

“And their response?” Ari asked.  She looked at him, startled to find that his eyes, usually such a bright, beautiful amber, were now dark brown with a distinct red cast.

“The next couple of weeks were about the same as the first two,” she said with as little emotion as she could manage.

“You should have told them,” Landor said.

“No, I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not?” Con asked.

Rayne hesitated.  It wasn’t hard to see how tense they were, or how hard they were struggling to hold their tempers in check.  For their sakes, she searched for a way to break the tension.  After a few moments she shrugged nonchalantly and said, “Because they didn’t say please.”

Their eyes widened in surprise, and then they smiled.  Not big smiles, but a slight lifting of their lips that told her she’d succeeded.  “Tell us, Kisu, if they’d said please, would you have told them what they wanted to know?” Landor asked.

“No, I wouldn’t have,” she admitted.  “I had nothing to gain by it.”

“They might have quit torturing you,” Ari said, but she shook her head.

“No, they wouldn’t have,” she said flatly.  “If I’d given in, they would’ve just moved on to the next item on their agenda.  They wouldn’t have stopped.”

“How do you know that?” Con asked.

“Partly because they enjoyed it too much.”  She lifted her cup and emptied it, then set it down on the table with far more care than was required.  “More importantly, I’d figured out by then that they’d never release me, regardless of my level of cooperation.  Telling them what they wanted to know would have done nothing but reward them for torturing me.  Instead, every time I had a chance to make a pain of myself, I did.”  She smiled at the looks of pride she received from all three of her men.  Then she sighed.  “Maybe it wasn’t the best way to go, but I felt like if I quit fighting it would be the same as giving up, and I…,” her voice trailed off, her eyes widened, and she gasped softly.

“Kisu?” Landor asked after she remained silent for a few moments.  She swallowed the lump of tears that had risen in her throat.

“Sorry.  I just remembered…something.”

“What?” Landor asked as gently as he could with his curiosity raging as it was.

“Whenever I thought about giving up, I saw the three of you standing in front of me, staring at me.  I couldn’t give up with the three of you looking at me.”

“You remembered knowing about us,” Con said.

“Only that, so far, but yes.”

“It’s a start,” Landor said.  “Please, go on.”

Rayne sipped her coffee and gathered her thoughts.  “One day, after I’d been there for about a month, I got my hands on a scalpel and attacked one of them with it.”

“What happened?” Landor asked, already knowing by the expression in her eyes that it wasn’t going to be good.

“I discovered that their skin is very tough,” she said quietly.  “That scalpel was razor sharp, but it barely scratched him.  Unfortunately for me, the Doftle decided that I was too much trouble to be allowed any freedom of movement.  At all.”

“What does that mean?” Con asked warily.

“It means that they drugged me so that I couldn’t move anything from my neck down, and then connected me to a bank of machines that did everything for me but think.”

“How long did they keep you like that?” Landor asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, frowning.  “That’s all I remember so far.”

“It’s enough for now,” Ari said.  Rayne nodded, then picked up her fork and tried eating a little more of her omelet.

“The only people I can think of who have bright blue skin, and a high degree of intelligence, are the Garakai,” Con said thoughtfully.  “But they had multiple arms and legs and you said the Doftle are humanoid.”

“That’s right,” she said.  “Two legs, two arms, only three fingers and a thumb on each hand but they’re definitely humanoid.  I hated their eyes.  I remember that.  They don’t blink.  Ever.  I’m not sure they even have eyelids.”

“You said that they’re small,” Ari began, but paused when Rayne shook her head.

“No, I said that they’re short, not small.  They’re very muscular and solid, with thick, heavy limbs and bodies.”

“You don’t remember what their purpose was?” Landor asked.  “Why they tried to make you shift, or why they abducted you?”

“No,” she said slowly, “but I remember they….”  Once again Rayne trailed off, but this time her eyes went distant and glassy.  After a few moments her face turned gray, and one hand rose to the scar on her throat.  She blinked, lowered her hand, pushed her chair back and stood up, her movements carefully measured and deliberate.  “Excuse me,” she whispered, then turned and crossed the cafeteria as fast as she could without breaking into a run.  By the time she reached the corridor, Landor, Con, and Ari had joined her.  They didn’t ask her any questions, which she was thankful for.  Landor simply picked her up, tucked her close, and began moving at blurring speed through the ship until they reached her room.

Con opened the door and Landor carried her inside, setting her down in an overstuffed chair.  She looked up at him and swallowed repeatedly, fighting the urge to be sick.  Landor went to his knees in front of her and took her hands in his while Con and Ari knelt on either side of her.  “Tell us,” he said.

“I know why I couldn’t talk,” she whispered, then shuddered.

“All right,” he said, his eyes never leaving hers.

“It’s really bad.  Much worse than anything I’ve told you so far.”

“Your warning will help and, if necessary, we’ll go to the Roar Room,” he said.  “It’s just at the other end of the corridor.”

Rayne had to force herself to speak.  “They performed experiments on me,” she said so softly they had to strain to hear her.  “Lots of them.  That’s where the scars and wounds came from.  I was paralyzed from the neck down, so they didn’t have to worry about me moving around and messing up whatever they were doing.  I couldn’t move, but I could still feel just fine.  At first they didn’t care that I was in pain, but after a couple of experiments they began to find my screams annoying.”  She took a deep, shuddering breath.  “I was nothing more than a lab animal to them, so instead of anesthetizing me, they just cut my vocal cords.”

For a long moment no one made a sound.  They didn’t even breathe.  Then Landor, Con, and Ari rose to their feet and bowed stiffly.  “Please excuse us,” Landor said.  “We need to run for a few minutes.”

Rayne nodded, watching helplessly as they all hurried out of her room.  The moment they were gone her tension began to rise.  She got up and started pacing, surprised at how shaky she felt.  She’d definitely pushed her body beyond its limits for the day, but she couldn’t make herself stop.  She had to move, or go crazy.

After a few minutes she realized that what she really wanted to do was go to the Roar Room and check on the Bearen-Hirus.  But, what if they didn’t want her there?  What if seeing her only made things worse for them?  Landor said they just wanted to run, so they weren’t in a blood rage, which meant she wasn’t needed.  She looked around the room as she paced, searching for some way to distract herself, but it was no good.  She needed to go to them, and the longer she resisted, the worse she felt.

She walked to the door, raised her shield all the way, then left her room and turned up the corridor, walking as fast as she could on increasingly unstable legs.  Before she’d gone as far as the elevator bay she was walking with one hand on the wall in order to maintain her balance.  Another dozen steps and her legs were shaking so badly that she had to lean against the wall to stay upright.  It slowed her down, but it didn’t stop her.  By the time she reached the Roar Room her heart was racing, she was gasping for air, and her entire body was trembling so hard that it required all of her concentration to remain upright.

She pulled the door open, wondering in passing why it was so heavy, then stumbled across the narrow ante room.  Half way across she tripped and fell forward, raising her hands just in time to prevent herself from smacking into the viewing window face first.  She leaned against it, glad it was there because without it, she’d have been on the floor.

Panting harshly, she watched Landor, Con, and Ari race around the enormous white padded room.  She’d never seen their bearenca alter-forms before, and could only admire the three nine foot high bear-like creatures with foot long fangs, fifteen inch claws, and thick coats of shiny black fur.  If they rose up on their hind legs, they’d be about eighteen feet tall, she guessed.  Even though they were identical except for the color of their eyes, she had no trouble telling them apart even when they had their backs to her.  Nor did she have any trouble hearing the fury and sorrow in their roars, though there was another emotion she couldn’t identify.

As she watched, the strength and depth of their emotional pain touched her even through her shield.  They weren’t just running off their anger, she realized.  They were in a full out blood rage, which explained her inability to remain in her room.  She heard a particularly sorrowful roar come from Landor, and suddenly understood what that other emotion was that she hadn’t been able to identify.  It was guilt.

With a choked sob, she immediately dropped her shield, then fell to her knees when the full power of their emotions crashed over her like a tidal wave.  Her first instinct was to protect herself by raising her shield, but her need to help the Bearen-Hirus was greater.  She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, letting their sorrow, guilt, horror, and fury pound into and through her while tears streamed unchecked down her face.

She told herself that all she had to do was to get through these first few moments.  Then the initial shock would ease up, and she could go into the shifting chamber and try to sing them through their blood rage.  Her voice was soft and weak, but there was nothing that said the singing had to be loud, or even good.  The only requirement was that it had to come from her.  Only an Arima, or berezi, could sing her male-set out of a blood rage.

As she’d hoped, it started to get a little easier to deal with the flood of emotions, though she had no real idea of how long it took.  She opened her eyes, placed her palms against the floor, and pushed.  Nothing happened.  She pushed harder, but it made no difference.  Her body was simply too weak to obey her.  Before she could make another attempt she was in Landor’s arms with Con and Ari crowding close.

“What happened?” she asked, surprised when her words came out in a slurred whisper.

“You lowered your shield,” Con said.

“And we felt your struggle to deal with our emotions,” Ari added.

“We had to pull ourselves out of our blood rage for your sake,” Landor said.  “You matter to us above all things, Rayne.  Without exception.  We can only hope that one day you’ll believe that.”

“You’re making it a little impossible for me not to believe that,” she thought, but couldn’t find the energy to say.  Instead, she focused what strength she had into reaching up and cupping his jaw with her hand.  “I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Landor said.  “You warned us ahead of time, and that’s all you could have done.  Please tell us why your body is trembling so hard and your face is so gray.”

“I ran here,” she whispered, letting her head fall against his shoulder because she couldn’t hold it up any longer.  “Tired,” she murmured against his neck.

“I’m sure you are,” Landor said, already moving.  After what felt like just a moment or two to Rayne, he laid her down on her bed.  Con grabbed an extra blanket and covered her with it, then tucked it in around her body with gentle fingers.  “We thank you for helping us, Rayne,” Landor said.  “You need to rest, now.”

Rayne was surprised to find that her eyes had closed, but she had one thing she had to say.  She had to concentrate to force them back open.  “Not your fault.”

Landor shrugged, but Rayne’s strength was gone.  Her eyes closed and darkness engulfed her.

“Is she going to be all right?” Ari asked worriedly.

“She should be fine after she’s rested,” Landor said, stroking her cheek lightly with his fingertips.  “She didn’t have the strength to do what she did and yet, somehow, she did it anyway.”

“She should not have lived through what was done to her, either,” Con said.  “But she did.  I’m beginning to see how strong she truly is, and it shames me that we never bothered to look before now.”

“It shames us all,” Landor said.  “But we must put our feelings, and our regrets, aside now, and focus on Rayne.”

“You’re right, of course,” Ari said.  “But I have to first say that, as selfish as this may be, I can’t help but feel that there’s hope for us now.”

“She put us first,” Con said, nodding.

“It’s the first time anyone has put us first since we were small children,” Ari said.

“Yes, it is,” Landor agreed.  “It’s a good feeling.”

“To say the least,” Con said, then frowned.  “Are you sure she didn’t hurt herself?”

“Her shield is all the way down,” Landor reminded them.  “Did either of you sense any pain coming from her?”

“No,” Ari said, “But there’s plenty of fear and exhaustion.”

“Yes,” Con agreed.  “It occurs to me that we now know why she dissociated herself from pain.”

Landor stiffened.  “It is difficult knowledge to possess, but we must accept it, and use it in our efforts to help Rayne.”

“Agreed,” Con said tightly, struggling to block the thoughts and images that kept trying to push their way into his mind.  “I need to run a bit more.”

“Me too,” Ari agreed.

Landor nodded, taking a moment to smooth a wrinkle on the blanket covering Rayne’s shoulder, then place the pendant she now wore so that they could see her on their hand terminals while she slept.  “Sleep well, Kisu.”

Chapter 8

363 Days in the Future

Rayne waited until the lights went out, then sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the narrow cot that served as her bed.  She pushed herself to her feet, holding onto the thin mattress until she was sure she had her balance.  Her body was telling her loud and clear that she’d over done the exercise the night before.  She felt weak and shaky, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.  She didn’t know how far she’d have to walk to find Wolef when she escaped from her cell, and she had so little time to prepare.  She knew she was lucky to be able to stand up at all after spending so much time immobile, and that she owed that to the drug the Doftle had given her.

“Wolef,” she said as she took her first step of the night.  “Feel like talking?”

“I am happy to distract you while you pace your cell in order to gain strength for the benefit of us both,” he replied.  Rayne sent him a smile.  “Did you have a particular subject in mind?”

Reaching out to place one palm against the wall for balance, she stepped around her cot.  “Would you tell me how they managed to capture you?” she asked hesitantly.  “I know how powerful Tani and Steel are in their dragon forms.  It’s hard to imagine how the little blue thugs could have bested a dragon.  If you’d rather not, I understand.”

“It wasn’t my finest hour, I admit,” Wolef said.  “But, strangely, I do not object to sharing the story with you.”

“Strangely?”

“I’ve never shared it with anyone before,” Wolef said.  “But then, no one has ever asked before, either.”

“Well, I’m asking,” Rayne said.  “When I get out of here, I intend to make sure that your name is remembered, and that it’s high on the list of crimes laid at the Doftle’s feet.”

“You are very kind, Rayne Dracon.  I like the idea of being remembered by one such as you once I’m gone.”  There was a long silence, but Rayne didn’t break it, understanding that the dragon was gathering his thoughts.  “I encountered the Doftle five hundred years ago.  They sent out a call for help, claiming that a fire dragon had been in battle against an entity that had tried to destroy their world.  The call indicated that, although the dragon had won the battle, he was near to losing his life.  I answered the call, following it to a distant planet.  The moment I landed, a Doftle walked out to meet me.

“While listening to the Doftle, the one called Weeble, tell his story about the wounded dragon, I sensed that something was amiss.  Unfortunately, I was rather young and foolish, and did not act on my feelings when I should have.  Seconds later a large number of Doftle suddenly popped up out of the ground where they’d been hiding and shot me with dozens and dozens of tranquilizer darts.  I fought off the effects at first, but there were simply too many of them and before long I succumbed to the drug.

“The next time I awoke, it was to discover that I was no longer able to fly, move, open my eyes or do any of the minor magics common to dragons, such as call down lightning to destroy my enemies.  Or myself.  They’d mutilated my body, and they’d cut into my brain, deliberately causing irreparable damage.  In time I overheard enough to know that I was the third dragon they’d captured, but the only one who survived what they referred to as modifications.  I also discovered that they thought me to be completely brain dead.  In fact, that was their intention.  They wanted a dragon body, but they did not want the risk that even a disabled dragon would present to their safety.”

“But you can still fold time, right?”

“Yes, I can do that,” he assured her.  “That ability is located in a different part of my brain than the area they destroyed.”

“Why didn’t you call for help, Wolef?  If you can duplicate my calls, surely you could’ve called to your own people.”

“I considered it, of course,” Wolef replied.  “But I could not lure another dragon to share in my fate.  Instead, I sent a death call, so that none of my people would risk themselves attempting to trace me.”

“Five hundred years all alone, a prisoner not only of the Doftle, but of your own mind and body as well,” Rayne said, silent tears running down her face.  “And here I was, feeling sorry for myself because I’d been here for one lousy year.”

“You are too hard on yourself, Solin,” Wolef said.  “Anyway, I did not spend all of that time alone.”

“No?”

“For the first hundred years after my capture they moved me around from space station to space station every decade or so.  I was something of a curiosity that everyone wanted to study, you see.  On occasion I was able to find other prisoners to speak with, which was usually a nice diversion, but it never lasted long.  Either I was moved, or they were, or they lost their minds, which happens sooner or later with most Doftle captives.  About two centuries after I was captured the Xanti destroyed a world called Jotunn.  Have you heard of it?”

“I know that it’s one of the worlds destroyed by the Xanti, as you said,” Rayne replied.  “But aside from that, I know nothing about it.”

“The Jotunn are magical creatures, which drew the unwelcomed interest of the Xanti.  The Doftle captured a few of them before the Xanti annihilated their planet for refusing to cooperate with them.  One of the Jotunn, a fellow by the name of Jinjie, was taken to the same station where they were keeping me, and managed to escape his cell shortly thereafter.  No prisoner had ever escaped before, and it drove the Doftle to distraction as they tried to figure out how he’d done it, and where he’d gone.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t actually escape from the station itself even though the Doftle eventually concluded that he had.  We spent years trying to find a way to do it, but it’s impossible.  The only way to leave a space station is to transport from the station to a nearby ship, and the only ships nearby are always Doftle ships.  Jinjie hid in my cell for a century or more, and we kept each other company.”

“Are Jotunn naturally long lived, or did the Doftle do something to him?”

“It’s natural for them as it is for most magical beings, including dragons.”

“What happened to him?” Rayne asked.

“I don’t know,” Wolef replied sadly.  “I was moved to another station, but there was no way for Jinjie to accompany me without being caught.  As far as I know, he’s still there.”

“You couldn’t send him back in time, could you?”

“No, I couldn’t,” Wolef said.  “He’s a magical creature, so his magic automatically defends against other magic, and he did not have the ability to release it long enough for my magic to work on him.  We made many attempts over the years, but without success.”

“I’m sorry, Wolef,” Rayne said.  “If you tell me where your friend is, I can try to rescue him.”

“I know only the Doftle’s terms for the station, and the world it orbits, and I don’t know if it’s still in the same place after all this time anyway.  But I thank you for the thought, Solin.”

“Wolef, why did the Doftle capture you?  And the Jotunn?  And me?  What is their purpose in all of this?”

“What their ultimate purpose is I do not know,” Wolef said.  “What I do know is that they are in a competition, of sorts, and they mean to win it.”

“Competition?” Rayne asked, stunned.  “Do you mean…like a game?”

“As I understand it, yes.”

“What do we have to do with their game?”

“We’re the game pieces.”

“That’s not funny, Wolef,” she said, feeling sick at the thought.

“It’s not meant to be,” Wolef said.  “I’m quite serious, I assure you.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“The Doftle here, in the Thousand Worlds, are all part of what they call a Tentacle.  There are other Tentacles in other galaxies and, perhaps, in other regions of this galaxy, but I don’t know how many, or where, exactly, they are.  And before you ask, no, I don’t know where the Doftle are from, either.”

“They don’t even discuss their home world among themselves?”

“Once, about three hundred years ago, I overheard a conversation between several Doftle.  One of them was bemoaning his fate at being sent here, to the Thousand Worlds, and at one point came very close to naming his home world.  Before he got the word out of his mouth, his friends killed him.”

“They killed him for nearly speaking the name of their planet?”

“Yes,” Wolef said.

“Why not just tell him to hush up?  I don’t understand.”

“Neither did I, to be truthful, but that is the Doftle for you.  It was a difficult blow for me as I’d been trying to learn that bit of information for a very long time, but at least I learned why nobody spoke about it.  They are very protective of information regarding their origins.”

“So it would seem,” Rayne said, sitting down on her cot to rest her trembling legs for a few minutes.  “What is this game you were talking about?”

“”From the bits and pieces I’ve been able to put together I believe that these Tentacles are in competition with each other.  The Tentacle here, in the Thousand Worlds, was very excited for a few decades because they felt that they were on the cusp of winning, but something went wrong and it set them back.  I don’t know what their objective is, nor do I know what their reward for winning would be.  The Doftle are gifted manipulators, though.  They’ve been here, in the Thousand Worlds, for more than ten thousand years and yet only those of us who’ve been so unfortunate as to become their prisoners know of their existence.”

“That’s quite a feat for a technologically advanced race,” Rayne said.

“Indeed,” Wolef replied.

“Wolef, is the Weeble who lured you into a trap the same Weeble that’s here, now?”

“Yes, he is.  They live an extraordinarily long time but it’s not natural for them.  They’ve either discovered how to extend their lives themselves, or they’ve stolen the knowledge.”

“Have you ever seen or heard of a female Doftle?”

“No, not once.  I’ve never even heard them speak about females.”

“The one thing I’ve learned about Doftles is that there are more questions than answers,” Rayne said with a frustrated sigh.  “It sure would be nice to know what it is they’re trying to accomplish.”

“Yes, it would be,” Wolef agreed.  “But after five centuries of eavesdropping, I’ve yet to discover that.”

Chapter 9

Before Rayne opened her eyes she knew that she wasn’t alone.  She raised her shield automatically and sat up, already knowing from the unique combination of oak and lime that it was Ari who sat in the chair near the bed.  “Hi,” she said.  “How do you feel?”

“We’re all fine,” he said.  “You?”

“Hungry again,” she said.  “Or maybe I should say still hungry.  It seems like all I want to do is eat and sleep.”

“That’s good,” he said.  “It’s exactly what your body needs right now, especially after pushing yourself so hard today.”

“What time is it?”

“Dinner time,” he said, just as the door opened.

“I slept all day again?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes, you did,” Ari replied as Rayne turned to watch Landor and Con enter, both carrying big trays.  “We tried to wake you up for lunch, but you were too tired, so we let you sleep.”

“We brought dinner,” Landor said, setting a tray down on the table before turning to face her.  “I know it’s forward of us to invite ourselves to dine with you, so please don’t hesitate to kick us out if you want.  We’ll understand.”

“No, please stay,” she said, getting off the bed.  “I’d rather not eat alone.  Will you excuse me for a minute?”  They nodded and she crossed to the bathroom on legs that still felt a little shaky, but much better.  By the time she came back out, the table was set, drinks were poured, and they were waiting for her.

“This is nice,” she said as she took her seat and reached for the glass of sasuna.  “Thank you.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Con said.

“Ari said you were all fine, but are you?  Really?”

“We are, really,” Landor said, glad that she’d taken off the brown contacts.  The brown hair didn’t bother him so much, but he didn’t like the contacts.  He’d come to rely on her eyes to tell him the truth of her feelings, but the contacts hid everything.  “Thank you for helping us, Rayne.  I thought we’d be able to control ourselves enough to avoid a blood rage, but it was more…difficult…than we expected.”

“I know.  I’m just glad I was able to help.”

“What about you?” Landor asked.  “How do you feel?  Are you in any pain?”

She looked up at him in surprise, then shook her head and picked up her fork.  “I feel a little weak still, but that’s all.”

“You look tense,” Con said.

“I am, a little,” she admitted.  “Earlier today I said I wanted to tell you something, and I think now’s the time.”

“If it’s making you tense, maybe now isn’t the right time,” Ari said.  “There’s no need for you to rush anything, Rayne.”

“Thank you, Ari, but I really do need to do this now.”  She frowned.  “I guess I should first ask if you tried to fix the alarm system while I was sleeping.”

“No, we didn’t want to wake you up, so we decided to do that after dinner,” Con said.  “Why?”

“Because there’s no need,” she said.

“Why not?” Landor asked.

“I suppose you’ve already figured out that my psychic ability is a shield.”

“We’ve come to that conclusion over the past couple of days, yes,” Landor replied.

“Because you can’t always tell what I’m feeling?”  They all nodded.  “That’s just what I call my partial or half shield.  When it’s all the way up, I can’t be detected by sight or scent, and not even my sisters can sense the most extreme emotions from me.  I don’t make myself invisible exactly, but when my shield is fully up not even electronic components register my presence.

“It sounds like a personal Blind Sight,” Ari said.

“Not quite,” Rayne said.  “I can’t hide sound.”

“But we can feel emotions from you,” Landor said.  “Now that we’ve spent time with you it’s easy to see that the unruffled calm we always feel coming from you doesn’t match what we see on your face or in your eyes, which is confusing as hell, but we definitely feel you.”

“I know,” she said.  “That’s another component of my shield, one I’ve never told anyone about.  Until now.”

“You know you can trust us, right?” Landor asked.

“Yes, I know that,” she said, smiling a little.  “When my sisters and I were very young, one of the first skills my parents tried to teach us was to control our emotions.  It was more important for my younger brothers of course, as it is for all male Clan Jasani, but they wanted us to develop the ability, too.  Tani and Salene didn’t have any trouble with it, but for me, it was impossible.  If I was sad, or scared, or angry, then that’s the way I felt.  I couldn’t change that just by wanting to no matter how hard I tried.  So, I taught myself to raise my shield just enough to hide my emotions, but nothing more.  That didn’t work out so well because not even my sisters could sense anything from me, which gave away the fact that I was using my shield.  I kept working at it until I discovered a way to hide my true feelings, and at the same time project an aura of calm.  What you call contentment.

“Part of the reason I felt I needed to tell you this is that I can’t watch you waste time on the alarm system when I know it’s not necessary.  I went out this morning, and then returned, and I had my shield all the way up the entire time so no one could see me.  That should have kept the alarms from tripping, so I’m guessing that the alarm was on the door itself, which would explain why it went off.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Con said.  “Thank you for saving us a lot of time and frustration.”  Rayne nodded, then took a bite of her dinner.

“You said that the alarm system was only part of the reason you wanted to tell us about your shields,” Landor said.  “What’s the other reason?”

Rayne finished chewing, put her fork down and gathered her courage.  “I know I’m not what you had in mind for an Arima, and I know you’re disappointed, but the fact is that I’m your berezi and we need to face that.”

“We’re not disappointed,” Landor said, interrupting her.  “We just made a mistake.  We were so focused on restraining ourselves, so worried that we’d claim you before you had a chance to grow up, that we stayed away from you far more than we should have.  If we hadn’t, we would have noticed that the emotions displayed in your eyes didn’t match the emotions we could feel coming from you.  It was an enormous error on our parts, and we’re very sorry for it.  Hurting you is the last thing we wanted to do.”

“I understand,” Rayne said.  “But I’m afraid you’ve made another mistake that you aren’t even aware of.”

“Which is?” Landor asked.

“You thought I was immature, as you put it, because I seemed to be calm and unaffected all the time.  Once you realized that my true emotions were different from what you sensed, you swung a bit too far the other way.  Even though your reasons for thinking I was immature were wrong, your conclusion was not wrong.”  She waved a hand at their surprised expressions.  “Oh, I know that right now I’m a bit of a mess.  But when all of this is over and I’m back to myself again, you’ll see that what you label immaturity really is a big part of who I am.  I don’t think immaturity is the right word for it, but I’m sure that once you get to know me, that’s what you’ll think.”

“I’m afraid we don’t understand,” Landor said, frowning.  “Why would we think that?”

“I like to be happy, I love to laugh, and I always try to see the good side of things if at all possible.  I love to write music, and I have enough talent that I’ve been told, more than once, that I’m a fool for not pursuing a career with it.  But I don’t want a career.  Not a full time one, anyway.”

“What do you want, Rayne?” Landor asked.

“I want a warm, loving relationship like my parents have with each other, and a big, happy family with lots and lots of children,” she said, her eyes lighting up as she spoke, giving her a glow that had them momentarily captivated.  “That’s what I’ve always wanted.  I want it so much that I’d decided to put my name on the list for Arima House as soon as I got back to Jasan after Tani’s wedding.”

She paused and studied their faces for a long moment, but she couldn’t tell what they were thinking or feeling.  But she’d started this, so she was going to finish it.  “I know you think I’m hurt because you thought I was too immature for you, but it’s not true.  Believe me, it’s not the first time I’ve been called that.  But I am hurt that you rejected me without even giving me a chance because of it.

“That said, I also have to say that I know I’m not the only one with dreams, and I truly am very sorry to have disappointed you in yours, especially now that I’ve come to know you a little.”  Landor opened his mouth but she hurried on.  “Please, don’t misunderstand me.  I’m sorry about it, but I’m not willing to pretend to be other than I am to fit your ideal.  Even if I were willing, I very much doubt that I could.  So if that’s what you have your minds set on, then we have a problem.”

“We’ve certainly made a mess of things with you,” Ari said sadly.  “But you’re wrong in thinking that you’re not the type of woman we wanted.  We’ve always known that our Arima could be anyone, so we were careful not to set our hearts and minds on any particular trait.  All we wanted was a woman to love, who would love us in return, and one who, we hoped, would want a big family.”

“We stayed away from you because we thought you weren’t ready for us,” Landor said.  “Not because we didn’t like you.”  She raised her brows and he shrugged.  “Okay, yes, we were frustrated by the fact that it seemed to be taking so long for you to grow up, but that’s not the same as disliking you.”  She thought a moment, then nodded, accepting that.  “We ask that you give us a chance to get to know you.  And we ask that you take time to get to know us, as well.  Will you agree to this?”

Rayne’s heart leapt.  She was so happy that he’d suggested the same thing she’d been about to suggest.  It told her that they wanted to make things work between them as much as she did, and that went a long way toward healing her hurt feelings.  Just as she started to agree wholeheartedly, a thought entered her mind, instantly dampening her enthusiasm.

There was one very important issue that they hadn’t mentioned, so it looked like it was up to her to bring it up.  Unless she could prod them toward it.

“I do want to get to know you, and it makes me happy that you want the same thing.  But, I think we should put any other concerns we might have on the table before we come to an agreement,” she said, then looked at them hopefully.  Landor frowned, getting that she had something specific in mind, but unable to imagine what it was.  He looked at Con, and then Ari, but they appeared to be as clueless as he was.

“We have no further concerns at the moment,” he said.  “If you do, we would hear them now.”

Rayne hesitated, then lifted her chin.  “I know that you don’t have a…,” she paused, searching for a word that was less embarrassing that what she’d almost said.  “I know you don’t have a physical attraction to me.”  She paused, so relieved to have that part out that she missed Landor, Con, and Ari’s surprised reactions.  “I’m concerned about that because I was taught that identifying your berezi was, for male-sets, a…well…physical…thing, and you told me that you didn’t have that…reaction.”  She pressed her palms to her cheeks, wondering if it was possible for them to actually catch fire due.

Landor reached across the table and brushed her hand with his fingers.  “Don’t be embarrassed, Kisu,” he said.  “You’re right that this is a subject that needs to be addressed.”  Rayne took a deep breath and blew it out, then reached for the sasuna, hoping the cold drink would help cool her face.

Landor decided that she deserved to know everything.  From the beginning.  “One day you and your sisters were crossing the spaceport on your way home for a school break.  We always went down to greet you when your transport came in, so we’d seen you, and scented you, countless times before.  But on that day, at the exact moment your honeysuckle scent hit us, so too did the knowledge that you were our future.  Why it happened when you were barely fourteen years old, we don’t know.  We didn’t have a sexual reaction to you of course since you were still a child, but we knew, and it was one of the greatest moments of our lives.  But, we also knew that you had many years to go before you’d be ready to be claimed.  So, we decided it would be best for us all if we put distance between us.  The next day we resigned our positions at the spaceport and volunteered to handle security related issues for ICARUS.  It was the most difficult thing we’d ever done, but we knew then, and still believe now, that it was the best thing for you.

“After your eighteenth birthday, when you were legally an adult, we began allowing ourselves to get close enough to feel you and scent you during public occasions, when we knew there would be a lot of other people around to camouflage what we were doing.  We never had any reaction to your scent, never even scented you at all, actually.  We thought that meant that you were not yet mature despite your age.  And we also thought that you lacked emotional maturity, as we’ve already explained.  So we’d go back to work for ICARUS for another year or so before trying again, and again.  It was always the same though.  Every time.

“When we got the invitation to Tani’s wedding, we were very excited.  Tani was getting married, and we knew that Salene was planning to formally link with the Gryphons.  We told ourselves that had to mean that you’d be ready to be claimed, too.  During the wedding we caught your scent as you passed by us and we were in no way disappointed by our sexual reaction to you.  It was everything it should have been.  Next to identifying you as our berezi, it was the happiest moment of our lives because, finally, the waiting was over.

“Imagine our confusion when, a little while later, we couldn’t catch your scent at all.  We got as close to you as we could, as close as we are right now, but there was nothing.  No scent, and no reaction.  That’s partly why we were so frustrated when we reached the mesa that night.  We didn’t understand what was happening, or what it meant.”

“Wait,” she said, frowning.  “You could see me, but not smell me?”

“That’s right,” Landor said with a little smile.  “When we can’t feel you, we can’t smell you, either.  We realize now, of course, that that’s why we never reacted to your scent before.  You must use your shield a lot when you’re surrounded by a lot of people.”

Rayne dropped her eyes.  “I do,” she agreed.

“Why?” Ari asked.  “I know it’s off the subject, but I’d like to know, if you don’t mind telling us.”

Rayne hesitated, then nodded.  “Of course.”

“No, Rayne,” Landor said, stopping her.  “You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t mind telling you guys,” she said.  “It’s just a little embarrassing.  When Salene, Tani, and I were really little, just toddlers, we were walking with our mother across a field.  I don’t remember much, but I do remember the feeling of being surrounded by sunshine, tall grass, and Mom’s laughter.  Then all of a sudden a stranger came out of nowhere, grabbed my arm and yanked me up into the air.  She stabbed me with something sharp, then just let go of me, letting me fall to the ground.  I wasn’t seriously injured, but the incident terrified me and I never forgot it.”

“We weren’t there that day, but many were, and we were told about it,” Landor said.  “I don’t understand why it embarrasses you though.”

“I’m not embarrassed about that part,” Rayne said.  “When I got older I learned that the woman was after a blood sample, and even though she was carelessly cruel about it, she didn’t intend to cause me any real harm.  But, knowing that didn’t help, even though my parents seemed to think it should have.  I’ve tried, I really have, but I can’t change the fact that I don’t like being in large crowds, especially when there are a number of people I don’t know, because it’s difficult for me to keep an eye on whoever gets close to me.  It’s exhausting, stressful and, I know, foolish, and that’s what’s embarrassing.

“I keep my shield up in those situations so my sisters, my parents, and anyone else who might be able to pick up on my emotions will think I’m calm instead of terrified.  That’s why I was on the mesa the night of Tani’s wedding.  I was exhausted from trying to look relaxed all evening and I just needed a break.”  She sighed and shook her head.  “I’m so sorry.  I know that my full shield hides my scent, but I promise, I had no idea my partial did as well.”

“We figured that much out,” Con said.  “There’s no need to apologize.”  Rayne tried to smile, but she still felt terrible.

“Rayne, there’s no reason to be embarrassed, and we certainly don’t think you’re foolish,” Landor said.  “Your secret is safe with us and what’s more, we will help you in those situations by adding our diligence to yours.”  She looked at him in surprise, and he smiled.  “We don’t want people we don’t know getting too close to you, either.”

“Thanks,” Rayne said, and this time her smile was real.

“Regarding our reaction to your scent,” Landor said, and her smile faded.  He reached out to touch her hand again.  “Since your return, our sexual response to you has been muted because of your health, which is perfectly normal.  We’ve caught your scent a few times over the past couple of days, this morning in the Roar Room for example, and I assure you that as your health improves, our sexual response will become stronger.  It’s not going to be a problem for us, Kisu.”

“Thank you for clearing that up,” she said, blushing again, this time at the depth of her relief.  Then she thought of how long the Bearen-Hirus had suffered, and how hard it must have been for them.  “I feel so bad for you guys.  You’ve been through so much for so long, and here I was feeling hurt and sorry for myself.  I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything to be sorry for, Rayne,” Ari said.  “You had every reason to feel as you did.  We made a lot of mistakes, but what matters to us is that you understand that we made them while trying to protect you.”

“Yes, I do understand that,” Rayne said.  “I didn’t at first, and that hurt, but I get it now.  I really do.”

“Thank you,” Ari said.  “That means a lot to us.”

“Are there any other concerns you can think of?” Landor asked.

Rayne thought for a moment, then voiced her only remaining concern.  “What will you do when you discover that I really am just as immature as you feared I was?”

“What will you do when you discover that we’re hopelessly old fashioned?” Landor countered.

“Old fashioned?”

“We’re nearly three hundred years old, Rayne.  We’ve always been considered old-fashioned, even among our contemporaries.”

“Why?”

“Initially we were labeled old fashioned because we refused to engage in sexual activities during those years when it was possible for us to do so, before we fully matured.”

“Wait,” Rayne said, holding one hand up.  “Are you saying that you’ve never had sex?  Ever?”

“No, we haven’t,” Landor said.

“Don’t worry though,” Con said, smiling, “we’ve done lots of research on the subject.”

Rayne smiled until she saw that Landor was frowning at her.  She looked at him questioningly.  “Rayne, abstaining was a choice that we made between ourselves, for our own reasons, centuries before you were even born.  Please don’t think it means that we’d think badly of you if chose not to abstain yourself.”

“I’m glad to hear that because, truly, it would be enormously unfair on your parts if you did.  But, the truth is that I’m just as old fashioned as you, apparently.  On that subject anyway.  And you might as well know that aside from what Mom taught us, I haven’t done any research on the subject.”  She looked down at the table, her cheeks heating yet again.  “I could though, if you want.”

“No no, that’s not necessary,” Con said quickly.  “We prefer to teach you ourselves.”

“Good, so would I,” she said with a relieved smile.  “So, no more secrets?  No hiding?”

“No hiding?” Landor asked.  “Does that mean you’ll lower your shield?”

Rayne’s eyes widened in surprise, but after a moment, she nodded.  “Yes, of course, that’s only fair.”

“Wait,” Ari said, holding up one hand.  “Don’t do this if you’re not comfortable with it, Rayne.  We can wait until you’re ready.”

“Thanks, Ari, but Landor’s right.  No hiding means no shield.”

“When your shield is up, can you feel us?” Con asked.

“No, if you can’t feel me, I can’t feel you, and that’s not the way it’s supposed to be for Clan Jasani,” she said.  “Although, I can smell you with my partial shield up, which is why it never occurred to me that my scent was blocked.”  As soon as she finished speaking, she dropped her shield completely.

A moment later they all smiled at her.  “Thank you,” Landor said.  “For lowering your shield, and for agreeing to give us a chance to get to know each other.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” Rayne said.  “I want to make this work as much as you guys do.”

“We’re glad,” Landor said, then picked up his wine glass.  His relief was so strong that he needed a moment to let it settle.  He took a healthy drink, then put the glass down with a smile.  “We have some good news for you.”

“Is it that I can leave the rest of my vegetables and skip to that chocolate pie before I get too full?”

“Not even close,” Landor said, grinning.

“Don’t be mean, Landor,” Con said as Ari whisked her plate away and put the dessert in its place.  Rayne laughed as she picked up her fork.

“Thanks, guys,” she said before taking a bite.  She closed her eyes to savor the taste of cool rich chocolate.  She swallowed and opened her eyes with a sigh, then laughed when she saw that Landor, Con, and Ari were all watching her with grins on their faces.  “What was it you wanted to tell me?”

Landor blinked and gave his head a little shake as he tried to remember.  “Oh yes, good news,” he said.   “Pip scanned everyone onboard for Controllers, and the results were negative.”

“Pip?  Do you mean Ric’s son, from Dracon Ranch?”

“Yes, that’s him,” Con said.  “He’s the Armadura’s physician now.  I thought we told you that.”

“I don’t think you mentioned his name, but if you did, it didn’t register at the time.  Are you sure he scanned everyone?”

“Positive,” Landor replied, the sudden change in her demeanor causing him to frown.  “We even double checked the personnel list to make sure no one, human or Clan, was missed.  We had him scan the three of us too, just to be safe.”

“What’s bothering you, Rayne?” Ari asked.

“I don’t know why, but I have a feeling that there’s someone on the Armadura with a Controller.  A strong feeling.”

“I suppose we could ask Pip to scan everyone again,” Landor said.

Rayne stilled as once again a thought barely tickled her mind, then vanished.  Having a phrase repeated had done the trick before, so she decided to try it again.  “Say that again, please.”

“What?  That we can ask Pip to scan everyone again?”

Rayne’s head tilted slightly as she waited for the thought to come back.  When it did, she nearly dropped the drink she was holding.  Thanks to Con’s fast reflexes, she was spared a lap full of juice, but she barely noticed.  “Caxap!” she swore, startling the men.

“What is it?” Landor asked.

“Pip scanned everyone,” she said.  “You, the crew, everyone on this ship, right?”

“Except for you, yes, that’s right,” Landor replied.

“Who scanned Pip?”

Landor, Con, and Ari all froze for a long moment.  “I don’t remember seeing his name on the list,” Con said.

“Me neither,” Ari said.  They both stared at Landor who took another moment to think back.

“No, it wasn’t there,” he said finally.  As soon as the response was out of his mouth, all three of them started growling softly, causing the hair on the back of her neck to rise and cold chills to race down her spine.

“Wait,” she said urgently, holding her hands up to get their attention before their sudden anger got out of control.  “This isn’t Pip’s fault, and he didn’t betray you.  You have to remember that.  If he does have a Controller, then he’s a victim.”

“You’re right, of course, Kisu,” Landor said, visibly relaxing.  Rayne released a relieved breath.  “Thank you for stopping us before we lost our senses again.”

“I’m a little surprised,” she said.  “Why did this set you off?”

“Good question,” Con said, turning to Landor.  “Do you know why?”

“It’s not that this is worse than what happened to you, because it doesn’t even come close,” Landor said.  “I think it’s a cumulative effect.  Each bad thing just adds to the growing pile.”

“I see,” Rayne said.  “It’s like that old saying, the straw that broke the camel’s back.  Right?”

“I think so,” Landor said, then shrugged.  “I’ve no idea what a camel is but if my assumption that it’s a beast of burden is correct, then it sounds right.”

Rayne started to laugh, then froze.  “Straw,” she said suddenly.  “That’s it!”

“What?” Ari asked.

“That’s what I used to write those messages on the shift,” she said.  “I used straw.”

“Where did the straw come from?” Landor asked.

“I’ve no idea,” she said.  “I’m glad I remembered that much.  I’ve been wondering about it.”

“In that case, I’m glad you remembered, too,” Landor said, smiling.  His smile faded as he thought about Pip.  “Do you have any suggestions on how to handle this situation with Pip?  We like him well enough so far, and he’s a great doctor, but he’s only been with us a couple of months.  You’ve known him most of your life, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I’ve known Pip since we were kids,” she said.  “He was the eldest of the children on the ranch by a few years, but he was so small that he blended in with the rest of us.  He was really smart, usually serious, and always studious, but he was gentle and kind, too.  The last time I saw him he was working with Doc.  He’d finished his schooling and was officially a doctor, but he said that he’d never be able to call himself a real doctor until Doc said he was, and Doc wanted him to train with him for a few years first.”

“We knew he’d been trained by Doc,” Ari said.  “It’s perhaps the largest factor in our decision to grant him the post of Chief Medical Officer on the Armadura when our previous doctor retired.  We didn’t know much more than that, though.  From what you just told us, I suspect that this is going to be difficult for him.”

“Yes, I think so too, but it can’t be helped,” she said.  “The Controller has to be neutralized, but don’t forget what I told Ata.”

“About?”

“If a Controller realizes you’re trying to neutralize it, it’ll force the host to commit suicide, and it won’t stop until it succeeds.”

Landor nodded.  “That’s why Pip came up with a hand held metal scanner to check the crew, so they wouldn’t know what he was looking for.  He stuck a colored light on one end and told everyone it was a virus scanner.  We can’t use that on him, obviously.”

“Then you’ll need to find a way to neutralize him before that impulse or order or whatever it is gets activated.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Landor said.  “You’re starting to droop, Rayne.  Are you finished eating?”

“I wish I could eat more of this pie, but I can’t, so yes, I’m finished, and yes, I’m tired even though I slept most of the day.” she said.  “I’m not going to bed yet, though.  I want to take a long hot bath, first.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Landor said.  “Do us a favor though, please, and take that vox with you.  We have to work tonight, so don’t hesitate to call us if you need anything at all.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine, but I’ll take it, I promise.”

“I’d be glad to start the bath for you before we leave,” Ari offered.

She looked at him in surprise.  “That’s not necessary, Ari, but thank you.”  He nodded, but now that her shield was down she had no trouble feeling his disappointment.  “What did I miss?”

“Miss?” Landor asked.

“When Ari just asked me if he could fill the tub, my reaction was that I could do it myself and that he…all three of you…had much more important things to do than run a bath for me, especially when I can do it myself.  But I felt his disappointment when I declined his offer.  I don’t understand it.”

“For one thing,” Landor said, “there is nothing and no one in this or any other universe that is more important to us than you.”

“For another thing,” Ari said, “we’ve waited centuries to have a woman we can do things for.”

Rayne understood that, or thought she did.  But it still didn’t make sense to her.  Reading her confusion correctly, Ari leaned forward and placed his fingers over her wrist.  He stroked his thumb lightly across the pulse point, sending a startlingly intense thrill through her.  “For me, running your bath would be…enjoyable.  First, I’ll make sure the tub is spotlessly clean because nothing less will do for you.  Then I’ll start the water, making sure that it’s hot enough to be relaxing, but not so hot that it’s uncomfortable for your delicate skin.  I’ll add some honeysuckle foaming oil to the water because you like it, and because it matches your natural scent which we love, and because it’ll keep the water from drying your skin out.  I’ll go through all of the towels in the cabinet and pick out the thickest, softest, plushest ones I can find, and I’ll set them out for you.  I’ll put your body wash and shampoo on the ledge, along with some extra washcloths and whatever else I can think of that you might want or need.

“And then, for the remainder of the night, no matter what else I’m doing, a part of my mind will be thinking of you.  I’ll imagine you sitting in the bath that I prepared for you, using the things I set out for you, wrapping your body in the towels I selected.  And even though I’ll be wishing more than you can possibly imagine that Landor, Con, and I were there, in that tub with you, just knowing that you enjoyed a bath that I created for you will give me pleasure.”

“Oh,” Rayne said, feeling a little flushed at the image he’d created in her mind.  Her face heated but she pretended not to notice while she struggled for a response.  Finally she shrugged and said, “If it means that much to you, I certainly don’t have any objections.”

Ari’s hand tightened briefly on her wrist, and she looked up at him, their eyes locking.  “I’ll do it under one condition.”  There was something different about his voice.  It was deeper, more resonate, and somehow, warmer than before.

“What’s that?” she whispered.

“I want you to promise that while you’re in the tub, you’ll think of us.”

Rayne nodded slowly, mesmerized by the growing heat in his amber eyes.  “I don’t think that’ll be a problem.”

“You two are killing me,” Landor said hoarsely.  Rayne tore her gaze from Ari and watched in surprise as Landor shoved his chair back, stood up, and rounded the table with quick steps, stopping beside her.  He reached down, placed his hands at her waist, lifted her straight up out of her chair, and pressed his mouth to hers.

She was so startled that at first she didn’t do anything at all.  Then she began to register the intense sensations of his lips against hers.  The softness.  The heat.  The taste that matched his scent.  The overwhelming intimacy of their mouths pressed together.  She cupped his jaw with one hand, and was distracted for a moment by the texture of his skin, so different from her own.  Then his tongue slipped into her mouth and caressed hers, and she knew instantly that this was something she’d never get enough of.

For years she’d tried to imagine what it would feel like to kiss a man.  Unfortunately, the idea of having someone else’s tongue in her mouth wasn’t remotely appealing, and she’d never been able to imagine it in a way to change that opinion.  She knew it had to be a lot more enjoyable than it sounded, otherwise people wouldn’t do it.  After Salene experienced her first kisses with the Gryphons, she’d asked her about it, but Salene had only told her that it was something she had to discover for herself.  She was more than willing to follow her sister’s advice, but the only men she had any interest in experimenting with hadn’t yet made an appearance.

Landor took his time exploring her mouth, causing hot chills to race over every inch of her skin.  She was mildly surprised to realize that she was getting wet, her nipples had hardened, and her body had gone limp.  She spared a moment to acknowledge the fact that Salene had been right.  It was definitely something she’d had to experience for herself.  Then Landor growled softly when she stroked her tongue along his, and she stopped thinking and let herself get lost in the moment.

Rayne felt Con press up against her back and knew that both he and Ari were watching intently, their pleasure and arousal rising with hers and Landor’s.  When Landor raised his head, breaking the kiss, they were both panting a little, but she felt a sudden, intense need for Con and Ari.  Before she had a chance to process the feeling she was in Con’s arms, his jade eyes glowing with heat as he lowered his mouth to hers.  Her tongue met his eagerly, as though she’d been craving his touch and taste for hours instead of just a few seconds.

She was surprised all over again when she found that Con’s kiss was nothing like Landor’s at all.  Landor had been patient, giving her time to explore and experience her first kiss fully.  Con was more intense and powerful, thrusting his tongue into her mouth and claiming it in a way that caused shivers to race up and down her spine.  By the time Con broke the kiss she was gasping, her eyes wide and her cheeks flushed, only this time embarrassment had nothing to do with it.  At the same time she felt an indescribably strong need for Ari that went beyond simple desire.

Then she was in Ari’s arms, staring into his hot, amber eyes, and all thought vanished again as he slowly lowered his mouth to hers.  One hand lightly stroked her throat while he kissed her, causing her skin to pebble and her nipples to harden even more.  She pressed her body tightly against his, not even hearing her own moans as he stoked her passion higher and higher by the moment.

And then, it was over.  Ari raised his head and gazed into her eyes as they both struggled to pull air into their lungs.  When she was breathing almost normally again, he set her back down in her chair, leaving her staring up at the three of them in confusion.

Landor spoke quickly to head off the hurt feelings he saw coming.  “We want you, Rayne,” he said, brushing a few strands of hair from her cheek.  “More than you can imagine.  But you’re not ready yet, so we need to leave before we go too far.”

“Why am I not ready?”

“Because you’re still much too weak for what all of us want,” Con said.  “But there’s no rush.  We know that you’re ours, and you know that we’re yours.  We can wait and, in the meantime, get to know each other as we agreed.”

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to run your own bath after all, though,” Ari said.  “I’m not altogether sure I can do that without…well, it would be best for us all if I don’t.  I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right,” she said, her fingers going to her lips.  “I appreciate that you’re thinking of my well-being.”  She smiled.  “At least you’ve given me something to think about while I’m sitting in there, all alone, covered in nothing but hot water and bubbles.”

Con laughed softly, then bent down to kiss her gently on the lips.  “Tease,” he whispered.

“We had that coming,” Landor said, then brushed her cheek with his fingertips.  “Enjoy your bath, Kisu.”

Rayne sat staring at the door after they left, committing as much of her first kisses to memory as she could.  Then she got up and went into the bathroom to start the water in the tub with a smile on her face that didn’t fade even when she caught sight of herself in the mirror.

***

“Did we really just walk away from her?” Con asked as the three of them stood in the corridor outside of Rayne’s room.

“I’m not sure that I’d call that painful looking hobble of yours walking, but yes, that’s what we did,” Landor replied.

“It’s the right thing to do for Rayne,” Ari said.

“I know it is, otherwise I’d still be in there,” Con said.  “I just can’t quite believe we actually had the strength to do it.”

“Well, we did, and if we’re going to stay away, we need to get busy with something other than standing out here wishing…,” Landor paused and cleared his throat.  “Con, you and I will go see Pip.  Ari, please keep an eye on things here.”

“Of course,” Ari replied.  “I’ve got some work to do anyway.”

“We’ll fill you in when we get back,” Landor promised, then turned and began walking toward the elevator with Con at his side.

“How do you want to handle this?” Con asked as he and Landor stepped into the elevator.  He pressed the button that would take them to the deck where the infirmary was located and they both watched as the doors slid shut.

“I’m not certain,” Landor replied as the elevator doors opened a moment later.  “Follow my lead.”

Con nodded and walked beside Landor in silence as they crossed the waiting room, then pushed through the swinging doors into the triage area.  The head med tech, a man named Blake Henry that they’d known since his boyhood, was stocking a supply cabinet.   He looked up and smiled as they entered.  “Hi Landor, Con.”

“Hello, Blake,” Landor said, returning his smile.  “Is Pip around?”

“He just stepped away for a moment.”  They all looked up when a door opened at the other side of the room, and the slender young doctor entered.

“Good evening Landor, Con,” Pip said.

“Good evening Pip,” Landor said, then turned to Blake.  “Would you mind giving us a few minutes with Pip?”

“Not at all,” Blake replied, closing the cabinet.  “I’m done for the night anyway.  Goodnight, Pip,” he said, then exchanged friendly nods with the Bearen-Hirus and left.

“Is something wrong?” Pip asked, his brown eyes worried.

“Not exactly,” Landor said.  “We need your assistance with something, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” Pip replied.

“We have a human male that we want to sedate, but not injure in any way,” Landor said.  “Hopefully you can tell us what to use, and how much.”

“Is it a healthy man?”

“Yes, I believe so,” Landor said.

“How long do you want him out for?”

Landor glanced at Con, who shrugged.  “Three or four hours should do it.”

“That’s simple enough,” Pip said.  “Do you want an injectable or oral medication?”

“Whatever works fastest,” Con said.  “Speed is important.”

“In that case it’ll have to be injectable.”  Pip went to the pharmaceutical cabinet and unlocked it by pressing his thumb to the security scanner.  “How big is the man?” he asked while reaching inside for a bottle of pale yellow fluid.

“I’d say he’s about your size, Pip,” he said.  “What do you think, Con?”

Con studied Pip for a moment, then nodded.  “Yes, that’s about right.”

Pip removed a syringe from a drawer, popped off the sterile cover, filled it with the drug, and then replaced the cover.  He relocked the cabinet and handed the syringe to Landor.  “Inject that into his upper arm, and in less than five seconds he’ll be out for about four hours.”

Landor looked at the syringe for a moment, then handed it to Con.  “Thank you, Pip, this will help us out tremendously.

“You’re welcome, Landor,” Pip said, smiling before turning around to go back to whatever he’d been doing before they arrived.  He made two steps before Con injected the drug into his arm.  Pip gasped in surprise, then slumped over so quickly that Con barely had time to catch him.  He picked him up and laid him on a medi-cot while Landor locked the infirmary doors.

“Should we restrain him?” Con asked.

“Not unless we’re forced to,” Landor replied.  “Go on and give it a try.”

“Controller, open eyes,” Con said.  Nothing.  “Fifty seven, open eyes.”  Still nothing.

“Try it the way Rayne wrote it,” Landor suggested.

“Controller fifty seven, open eyes,” Con tried, then grimaced.  “It’s a good thing we knocked him out first.”

“Yes, and if we can’t get control of this thing, we’ll have to keep him knocked out until it can be removed,” Landor said.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Con said.  He frowned in thought.  “Number fifty seven, open eyes.”

“No, that’s not exactly what she wrote,” Landor said.  “Remember the pound sign?”

Con nodded.  “Controller pound fifty seven, open eyes.”

“No, Con.  The pound sign is indicative of a number.”  He looked at Pip.  “Controller number fifty seven, open eyes.”

Pip’s eyes popped open.  Landor and Con exchanged looks of surprise.  They’d suspected this, had even expected it, but somehow, it still surprised them.

“Any ideas on what to ask?” Con wondered.

“Controller number fifty seven, deactivate host suicide program.”

“Invalid command protocol,” Pip said in a flat voice.

“Great,” Con muttered.  “Looks like Pip’s going to be in a hibernation tank until we get back to Jasan.”

“Not so fast,” Landor said.  “Controller number fifty seven, state command syntax to deactivate a core program sequence.”

“Syntax to deactivate a core program sequence is as follows,” Pip said in a chilling monotone.  “Controller number state controller number access core program sequence control.  When controlled host responds core program sequence control accessed, then state execute core command deactivation then state name of program to be deactivated.”

“Okay, let’s run with that,” Landor said as much to himself as to Con.  “Controller number fifty-seven, access core program sequence control”

“Core program sequence control accessed,” said Pip.

“Execute core command deactivation—host suicide program,” said Landor, who then held his breath waiting for a response.

After a two-second-long eternity, Pip said, “Command accepted.  Host suicide program is now in inactive mode.”

“Very good,” Con said.  “That was clever of you.”

“Thanks, now let’s see if it’ll tell us why it was planted here,” Landor said.  “Controller number fifty seven, state last operational orders received.”

“Covertly obtain genetic material from prime subjects and transport to secondary coordinates,” Pip’s voice replied.

“Controller number fifty seven, identify prime subjects by name,” Landor ordered.

“Landor Bearen-Hiru, Condor Bearen-Hiru, Aridor Bearen-Hiru.”

“Squilik shit,” Con whispered.  “Controller number fifty seven, did you carry out that order?”

“Affirmative.”

“Double squilik shit,” Landor said hoarsely.  He cleared his throat, then asked the next question.  “Controller number fifty seven, when did you carry out that order?”

Pip named a date and time a week past.  Three days before Rayne was abducted, in fact.  A suspicion began to grow in Landor’s mind.  A suspicion that made him ill to think of.  He wasn’t altogether sure he wanted to know if he was right, but he had to ask.  “Controller number fifty seven, how long have you been aware that Princess Rayne Dracon is the prime subjects’ berezi?”

“Thirty eight days, fourteen hours, seven minutes,” Pip’s voice replied.

Landor’s face paled and he thought, for a few moments, that he was going to actually throw up, something he’d never done in his entire life.  He looked at Con, who didn’t look much better than he felt.

“Controller number fifty seven,” Con said, his voice barely above a whisper, “did you provide that information along with the genetic material?”

“Affirmative.”

“Damn,” Landor whispered.  “She was taken because of us.”

“No, Landor,” Con argued.  “She was taken because of her connection to us, but that is not our fault any more than it’s her fault.”

“It’s our fault we weren’t careful enough with the information,” Landor retorted.

“We never told anyone,” Con said.  “The only way this thing in Pip’s head could have found out was by spying on us.”

Landor took a deep breath and tried to calm himself.  “Controller number fifty seven, what is the identity of those you take orders from?”

“This controller does not possess sufficient data to provide a meaningful response.”

“Controller number fifty seven, how do you receive your orders?” Con asked.

“Via encrypted text encoded in routine transmissions to this vessel.”

“Controller number fifty seven,” Landor said, his hands clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his palms, “there is currently a security lock out blocking all signals to and from any transmitter installed on the Armadura.  Are you still able to send and receive transmissions?”

“Negative.”

Landor released a sigh so deep it felt like it came from his toes.  “Thank the Creators for that much,” Con said hoarsely.

Landor could only nod as he struggled to regain some semblance of calm.  After a few moments he sighed deeply, then crossed the room for a chair which he carried back to where Pip now laid.  “We might as well get comfortable, Con.  We’re going to have to hit on the right questions to get whatever information this thing has, so we’re probably going to be here for a while.”

“The first of which should be how to deactivate the Controller permanently,” Con said, grabbing his own chair.

“Good idea,” Landor said.  “We’ll ask that right after we find out how to get it to respond without having to preface every question with Controller number fifty seven.”

.

Chapter 10

364 Days in the Future

“Wolef, I’m not going to be able to get out of this cell without killing a Doftle,” Rayne said right after the maintenance Doftle had taken away her empty breakfast bowl.

“That won’t be easy,” Wolef warned.  “They’re very strong and difficult to harm.”

“I know, but I see no alternative.”

“Please explain.”

“My initial plan was to wait for the evening maintenance Doftle to leave, make myself unseeable when he turned his back, then slip out the door right behind him.”

“Good plan.”

“Except that, now that I’ve been here a few days, I see that it won’t work,” she said.  “The Doftle never look right at me, but they don’t turn their backs to me, either.  Each time a Doftle comes in, the door automatically closes and locks behind him.  When he’s ready to leave he slides his card through the reader without turning his back to me, then the door slides open and he backs out.  I hoped one of them would break that routine once they got used to my borderline catatonic behavior, but they never do.  If I make myself invisible, the Doftle will see me vanish and immediately raise an alarm.  I’d never be able to stop him because they’re far too strong, and I’m far too weak.”

“I certainly see your problem,” Wolef said.  “But how will you manage to kill one when, as you just pointed out, you’re weak and they’re strong?”

“I’m going to need a weapon.  I’ve got an idea or two about that.”

“Have you ever killed before?”

“No, never.”

“Are you certain that, when the time comes, you’ll be able to do it?”

Even though Rayne had given this question serious consideration already, she took a moment to consider it again because it was a question worthy of careful thought.  “Yes, Wolef, I can kill a Doftle without hesitation.”

“If you fail, they’ll hook you up to those machines again, and we’ll lose our chance at freedom.”

“I know, but I don’t see what choice I have.  Tomorrow is the last day, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Wolef said.  “After tomorrow sending you back in time will only land you in the Doftle’s custody.”

“Then it’s this, or nothing,” she said.  “I’d rather try and fail than give up.”

“I’d prefer that you try and succeed, but I do see your point.”

“Is there a particular time we should do this?”

“The closer to the time you were abducted, the better.”

“It was at night,” Rayne said, closing her eyes as she tried to remember the image of her wrist device when she sent her transport beacon to the Ugaztun.  After a few moments she smiled.  “A couple of minutes short of midnight.”

“Very good,” Wolef said.  “That means you can wait until after the nightshift begins, when there are far fewer Doftle on duty.”

“Wait, Wolef,” she said, frowning.  “It’s highly unlikely that midnight here, on the Facility, is the same as midnight on Garza.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Wolef said.  “It’s matching the time in your own mind and body that matters.”

“So if it’s midnight for me here, now, then it’ll be midnight where I end up?”

“Yes, something like that,” Wolef replied. “It’s the same reason I’m sending you back exactly one year in your calendar, a length of time of no particular significance to the galaxy as a whole.  How do you feel?”

“I’ve been practicing with my shield so I can keep it up without much effort, and I’ve been walking my cell to build up my stamina.  I’m probably going to need a little help from you with that, though.”

“Don’t worry.  I’m prepared for that.”

“I suppose the time has come for me to ask you a couple of questions about time-travel.”

“I’d wondered when you’d get around to that.”

“It’s easier for me to take one new scary thing at a time.  It helps me to focus on what I need to be doing instead of worrying about whatever’s coming later.”

“I’m sure that in some cultures, to some people, that’s a perfectly sensible way of looking at things.”  Rayne sent him an image of her rolling her eyes, which made him chuckle.  “What question do you wish to begin with?”

“Since I’m going back in time, there will be two of me in existence at once, correct?”

“Of course.”

“Won’t that cause some sort of…anomaly?”

“You have two identical sisters,” Wolef said dryly.  “Does that cause an anomaly?”

“It’s not the same thing and you know it.  We’re different people with different minds, souls, and personalities.”

“You got to the crux of the matter even more quickly than I expected,” Wolef said.  “Good for you.”

“Thanks, but what do you mean?”

“I mean that, in this case, the number of bodies you have doesn’t matter.  Bodies are simple.  Aren’t the Nomen clones you spoke of identical to one another?”

“Yes,” Rayne said slowly.  “But this is different, isn’t it?”

“Indeed it is.  Each body is allotted its own individual soul, even clones.  But I’m not going to duplicate you.  I’m going to send you back in time which will cause there to be two Rayne Dracons in existence at once.  Not you and a copy of you, but two of you.”

“That’s not an easy concept, but I think I understand.  What’s the downside?”

“Downside?”

“What’s the thing you haven’t told me yet?”

“Ah, yes, I see what you mean,” Wolef said.  “You were granted one soul, Rayne.  To my knowledge a soul cannot be duplicated, and there is nothing in the Thousand Worlds or beyond that would ever entice me to try.”

“I’ve got no argument with that,” Rayne said with a shudder.  “So what does this mean for me?”

“It means that even though two of you will exist, there will still only be one soul.  If I don’t send you back with that soul, an empty shell will arrive in the past and that won’t do at all.”

Rayne took one full turn around her cell while she turned Wolef’s words over in her mind.  “You’re telling me that there will be another version of me that remains a prisoner of the Doftle, but it will have no soul.”

“No soul, and no conscious or subconscious mind,” Wolef said.  “The very instant that you arrive in the past, the body that the Doftles have in their possession will become an empty shell.”

“When I come back here and destroy the Facility, that body, the empty shell, will be destroyed too, obviously.  When that happens, will I die, too?”

“If it did there’d be little point in any of this for you.”

“That’s not an answer, Wolef,” she said.  Wolef did not respond, so she took another few minutes to think over everything he’d said.  “I know that the future isn’t set.  If it was, then sending me to the past wouldn’t change anything.  And, even though I’ll try to change what happened the first time, I won’t know what the results will be until they occur, and that includes the question of whether or not I’ll survive.”

“Precisely,” Wolef replied.

“I get it, Wolef.  I take this risk with a clear understanding that there are no promises.  If I die as a result, then that’s my fate, but at least I’ll have a chance to warn people about the Doftle.  That’s enough for me.”

“I’m glad to hear you say that, Solin, because the truth is that I don’t know the answer to your question.  The power to fold time is one rarely granted, and even more rarely used.  When it is used, a traveler is sent back only to a time before their birth so that there can be no overlapping.”

“Then you don’t really know if this will work, do you?”

“On the contrary,” Wolef said.  “I know with certainty that it will work.  What I do not know is what will happen to you when the body of your past self is destroyed.”

“How do you know…,” she trailed off as the answer to her question came to her.  “You’ve done this before, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have,” Wolef admitted.  “On three different occasions.  I made the same deal with them that I’ve made with you.”

“And yet, you’re still here,” she said slowly.  “Did they all break their promises to you?”

“Perhaps,” Wolef said.  “It’s possible that they didn’t survive long enough to return and keep their end of our deal, or even that they tried, but failed to find their way back.  Who can say?”

Rayne shook her head, not buying that for a moment.  “You know,” she said.

“Yes, I do,” Wolef agreed with a chuckle.  “One intended to return, but the Doftle’s experiments had caused too much damage to his body, and he perished before he was able to fulfill his end of our bargain.  The other two never tried.”

“It’s a wonder you’d trust anyone again.”

“For a couple of hundred years I didn’t,” Wolef said.  “But I trust you, Rayne Dracon.  You will not break your word.  If I never see you again, I will know that it’s because you didn’t live to find your way back, or that you couldn’t find the Facility.”

“Thank you, Wolef.  It means a lot to me that you trust me that much.  I won’t let you down, either.  If I have to spend whatever remains of my life searching for you, that’s exactly what I’ll do.”

“I know that you will,” Wolef said.  “I also know that I should tell you to quit looking if you don’t find me within a reasonable period of time.  Apparently I’m more selfish than I thought because I can’t bring myself to do it.”

“It wouldn’t matter if you did,” Rayne said.  “As I said before, I will keep my promise, or die trying.  I’m curious though.”

“About?”

“About why you haven’t used your ability to fold time to send yourself back so that you can escape the Doftle.”

“One who holds the power to fold time cannot perform that magic upon themselves,” Wolef said.

“Why not?”

“It would be like standing in two places at once,” Wolef said.  “If I’m the one being sent back, how can I perform the magic at the same time?”

“I wouldn’t know since I can’t do magic,” Rayne said.  “If I could, I would take you away from this place with me.”

“I appreciate your desire to see me free, Solin,” Wolef said after a short silence.  “It touches me.”

“But?”

“But freedom has a different meaning for me than it does for you.”

“I don’t understand.”

“My soul is trapped, Rayne.  Trapped in a body that exists only because the Doftle will not allow it to do otherwise.  A machine makes my heart beat and my blood flow.  Air is forced into my lungs.  Nutrients are pumped into my stomach.  My body exists, but it does not live, and it never will again, but I cannot escape it.  I will be free only when it’s destroyed.”

Chapter 11

The next couple of days passed uneventfully on the Armadura.  The only time Rayne used her shield was when she left her room alone to use the treadmill in the mornings, and that only because she’d promised her men that she would.  She had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the Bearen-Hirus, during which they enjoyed long, comfortable conversations about whatever came to mind.  She discovered that they had a dry sense of humor that, surprisingly, complimented her own quirky humor perfectly, and that their dreams of family and children were the same as her own.

After dinner each evening they took her for long slow walks through the ship, showing her everything from the bridge to the flight decks.  She discovered more about who the Bearen-Hirus were as individuals, and the more she got to know them, the happier she became.  The rest of the time she slept.

There were several light kisses, usually before she went to bed, but they were careful to keep things from growing hot and passionate again.  She understood that it was important to them to wait until she got stronger, and she accepted that since when she wasn’t with them or eating, she was sleeping anyway.  She also understood how much more difficult it would be for all of them if they didn’t keep a little distance between each other.  What mattered most to her was that she’d begun to think of them as her men, and she had no doubt that they wanted her as much as she wanted them.  It was enough.

She drank the sasuna every day as prescribed and was stunned by the results after just a few days.  She was still too thin, but her body was filling out, her muscle tone was improved, and her color was returning.  She had a little way to go yet before she was back to normal, but she no longer doubted that she’d get there.

She’d been sad when Landor and Con had told her that Pip had a Controller, but at the same time it relieved her worry on that subject.  It was unfortunate that they hadn’t been able to learn much from it, but at least they’d been able to order it to deactivate the suicide protocols.

As she’d expected, Pip had been devastated to learn he had a Controller.  Since he didn’t completely trust that it would remain inactive, he’d confined himself to his quarters and asked that guards be posted outside his door, just to be safe.  He communicated with his medical staff through Blake and the vid-terminal, and refused to let anyone visit him except for Landor, Con, and Ari for fear that the Controller might use him to harm someone.

The bulk of her memories seemed to be returning in chronological order which was beginning to frustrate her since her newly surfaced recollections were of experiment after experiment being performed on her while she was helpless to do anything but scream in silence.  She saw no reason to upset Landor, Con, and Ari with the details, so she glossed over them, saying only that the Doftle had done a lot of experiments.  She was relieved that they didn’t try to press her, and happy that they trusted her to tell them anything they needed to know.  She just hoped that she’d get past this phase of her captivity soon so she could remember something helpful.

On the day they reached Onddo she woke up feeling completely rested for the first time since her return.  She also had a new memory that did not include an experiment, but she wanted time to think about it before she shared it because it made so little sense to her.  She drank her morning sasuna, took her walk on the treadmill, then showered and dressed before meeting the guys for breakfast, following their newly established routine.  Seeing that she was preoccupied, they spoke quietly among themselves throughout the meal.

“Thanks, guys,” she said when they got up to leave.

“You’re welcome,” Landor said.  “What are you thanking us for?”

“For being so patient,” she said.  “I love how you always give me time to think about things without pushing or rushing me, even though I know your curiosity must be about killing you.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s killing us,” Landor said, opening the cafeteria door and waiting for her to step through.

“I would,” Con said with a deep scowl.  Rayne laughed at him, then went up on her toes to give him a quick kiss.  He had to bend down so she could reach him, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“That’s not fair,” Landor grumbled.  “Why does he get a kiss when I was clearly much nicer?”  Rayne rolled her eyes, then kissed Landor and Ari.

“Now, if everyone’s happy for the moment, I have a question,” she said.

“Certainly,” Landor said.  “What is it?”

“I seem to remember you telling me that you had a piano onboard.  Was that a dream, or do you really have one?”

“It wasn’t a dream, and we do really have one,” Landor replied, turning to walk up the corridor with her at his side and Con and Ari behind them.  “Would you like to play?”

“Yes, I would,” she replied.  “I’ve had this bit of music playing over and over in my mind since I woke up, but I couldn’t remember at first where it came from.  It was familiar, but not.  Do you know what I mean?”

“Sort of,” Ari said, pressing the elevator call button.  “Did you remember where it was from?”

“Yes,” she said quietly as they entered the elevator.  Landor felt her worry even though she did a good job of hiding it even without her shield.

“We’re all right, Kisu,” he reassured her.

She looked into his eyes for a long moment, then nodded.  “I kept thinking that I’d get past the memories of the experiments and remember more important things.  Well, I did remember more, at least.  But what I remembered is that I was kept immobile and connected to those machines for eleven months.”

“Eleven months,” Con said softly, shaking his head as they all stepped out of the elevator, then paused in a small group to continue their conversation.  “Were you conscious the entire time?”

“Yes,” she said simply, and left it at that.

“How did you keep your sanity?” Ari asked.

“That’s where the music comes in,” she said.  “I wrote a full concerto.”

“You wrote music in your mind and memorized it?” Ari asked.  “An entire concerto?”

“That was part of the challenge I set for myself.  To write it, and remember every note.  Unfortunately, I only remember a small bit right now, but I’m hoping that if I play it, that the rest will come back to me.”

“If it doesn’t, it still served its purpose in keeping you sane,” Con said.

“Yes, it did,” she agreed.  “I recall thinking it was pretty good though, so I’d really like to remember it.  Do you have something I can use to record what I play?  Just so I don’t forget again before I get a chance to write it down.”

“Knowing that you enjoy composing, we’ve had a full recording system installed, including a program that will convert whatever you play into written format,” Landor said.

“You guys really went all out,” she said, smiling up at him.  “Thank you so much.”

“It was our pleasure, Kisu,” Landor said, turning her gently with a light touch of his fingers, then guiding her up the corridor.  He stopped just a couple of doors away from the master suite to let Ari unlock the door and open it.

“Oh my,” she whispered as she entered the room.  The history of keyboard instruments, particularly the piano, had been a hobby of hers since she was a child, and she knew immediately that the full sized grand piano in the center of the room was something special.  The deep blue lacquer finish gleamed in the soft overhead lights as she walked all the way around it, inspecting each detail, shocked by the slow realization of what she was looking at.  When she returned to the front of the piano and raised the fall to confirm her suspicion, she gasped aloud and stepped back, almost afraid to touch it further.

“This isn’t a copy,” she said.  “This is an original Steinway Starshine circa 2200, Earth.  If I remember correctly, there were only twenty five of this particular design made, and fewer than half of those are still in existence today.  The inlaid stars are rhodium with diamond accents and the keys are hand carved…where did you find this?”

“You like it?” Ari asked, grinning at the expression of wonder on her face.

“Like it?” she asked.  “I’m in awe of it.  I’m not sure I’d have the nerve to play it though.  This instrument deserves a gifted pianist, which I’m not.  I only play well enough to write music for gifted pianists.”

“It would be a shame if you didn’t play it since it belongs to you,” Landor said.

“Me?” she squeaked.

“Of course,” he replied, smiling down at her as Ari and Con chuckled.  Her reaction was all they’d hoped for, and more.  “We certainly don’t know how to play.”

“It’s too much,” she said.  “I don’t need anything this rare and beautiful.”

“As you are rare and beautiful to us, we find that it suits you perfectly,” Con said.  “Also, it’s a work of art.  We hoped it would inspire you in the creation of your own art.”

“I don’t know the right words to thank you for this,” she said.  “A simple everyday thank you just isn’t enough.”

“Yes, it is,” Landor said.  “Well, that and the sparkle in your eyes.”

She smiled, then sighed as she watched Ari pull the bench out for her.  “It seems that I’ll be spending the remainder of my life aboard this ship just so I can play this instrument whenever I want.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Con said.  “There’s another piano already installed in our home for you.”

“You can’t possibly mean another one like this,” she said.  “Can you?”

“The shape is similar,” he replied, “but it’s made of Favlian glass.”  He grinned when her mouth fell open in shock.  “It has honeysuckle imbedded in the glass, and to be honest, it’s my favorite of the two.”

“Are you serious?” she asked.  “True Favlian glass?  Really?”

“Yes, really, and yes, it’s true Favlian glass,” Landor said, all three of their faces lit with happiness as they watched her responses to their gifts.

“Favlian glass pianos are considered to be the finest keyboard instruments ever created in the Thousand Worlds, past or present,” she said.  “They’re not actually glass at all.  They’re a unique type of crystal which gives them a depth and richness of tone that cannot be reproduced by even the most advanced synthesizers.”

“Which is exactly why we procured one for you,” Landor said.  When she opened her mouth to argue, he silenced her with a touch on the cheek.  “We didn’t do this because we think you expect it, Rayne.  Nor did we do it to impress you.  We did this because we wanted to see the look on your face when we showed them to you, and because we want you to have the best, most beautiful instruments in the galaxy.”

“Well, you certainly got that part right,” she said.  “Thank you.  So much.  I never would have dreamed that I would one day have the opportunity to touch a Favlian glass piano, let alone play one.  And this Steinway.  How did you manage to find this?”

“It took a couple of years, actually, but eventually we found one owned by a collector on Terien who was willing to sell,” Ari said.  “It wasn’t in very good shape, but it was a certified original.  We had it sent to the Steinway factory on Earth, and they restored it using the original design plans, which took another couple of years.  Like the concerto you wrote, this project gave us something to do while we were waiting for you.”

“And the Flavian piano?” she asked curiously.  “Is it an antique as well?”

“No, that one we had designed specifically for you by none other than the great Johannis Turner,” Landor replied.  “We purchased the rights to the design, too, so no one else in the Thousand Worlds will have that same piano.”

She swallowed hard, struggling to hold back tears.  “It’s beyond words,” she said, hugging Landor, then Ari.  “Thank you will never be enough.”

“The expression on your face and in your eyes is all the thanks we could ever ask for,” Con said after she hugged him.  “Come, sit down and play for us.  We had it tuned just before leaving Jasan, and this room is climate controlled, so hopefully it will sound as it should.”

Rayne gave him a brilliant smile, then sat down on the bench and took another moment just to admire the keyboard.  Then she raised her hands, laid them lightly on the keys, and began to play.  The notes were so rich that it almost surprised her into stopping.  She’d played good instruments before, even owned a synthesizer that mimicked the tones of different types of pianos almost perfectly, but nothing she’d ever played came close to matching the warmth and beauty of the Steinway in sound, touch, or sight.

The melody that had been running through her mind all morning seemed to flow through her fingers, and into the piano, filling the room.  But as she tried to remember what came next, she faltered.  She began again, this time closing her eyes and letting herself relax into the music, feeling rather than thinking, and it came to her.  A few minutes later, when she was finished with the first movement, she stopped and looked up at the Bearen-Hirus who stood along one side of the piano, watching her.

“You wrote that music while unable to move, completely under the Doftles’ control?” Landor asked.

“Yes,” she replied, unable to decipher the expressions on their faces, and too nervous to remember she could reach for their emotions.  “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, Kisu,” he said.  “It’s beautiful, as is everything you write.  But what you just played is joyful and lighthearted.”

“Good,” she said, smiling.  “That’s what I hoped for.”

“I don’t understand how you could write something that evokes such happiness when you were in a place where such feelings could not have been yours.”

“That was the whole point.”

“Meaning?” Ari asked.

“It would have been easy to write music that was sad, devoid of hope, or even tragic,” she said.  “Since the reason for doing it at all was to occupy my mind, I needed to do something difficult, something I really had to work at.  So, I wrote music that was happy and uplifting.”

“I can’t imagine how difficult that must have been for you,” Con said.

“It wasn’t easy, I admit,” she said.  “But based on what little I remember so far, I think I might have succeeded.”

“You certainly did,” Landor said.  “Is that everything you remembered when you woke up?  The music, and the time you spent immobilized?”

“Yes, but I remembered more while I was playing,” she said, closing the fall and getting up from the piano.  She slid the bench back into place and turned to face them.  “I remembered Wolef.”

“Who is Wolef?” Landor asked, trying not to scowl.

“He’s a dragon.  He could talk to me, in my mind I mean, and I could talk to him, too.  The first time he spoke to me was just a few days before I returned.  I was still connected to the machines at the time, and had no idea how much time had passed, or how long I’d been there, until he told me.”

“Was Wolef a prisoner too?” Landor asked.

They all felt her deep sadness as she nodded slowly.  “He’s been a prisoner of the Doftle for five centuries.”

“Until Wolef, you had no one to talk to at all for that entire year, did you?” Ari asked in a low voice.  Rayne could only shake her head.  She had no words to describe the loneliness that she now remembered, and didn’t really want to try.  She wasn’t lonely now, and that’s what mattered.

“If Wolef was there for so long, why hadn’t he spoken to you sooner?” Con asked.

“He’d only been at the Facility about two months longer than me.  When he first got there he couldn’t find anyone sane to talk to, so he went into what he called hibernation.  The first time he spoke to me, he thought I was Tani.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Because all dragons know about Tani and what she did for Garza, and our brainwaves are very much alike.”  They nodded.  “Wolef is a golden dragon, the rarest of all dragons.  They possess amazing powers which differ from one to another.  His special power was the ability to manipulate time.”

“He’s the one who sent you back,” Landor said.

“Yes, he is,” she replied.  “Without Wolef, I never would’ve escaped.  I would have been there for whatever remained of my life.”

“Then we owe Wolef the golden dragon a very large debt,” Landor said.  “Have you any idea how we might repay him?”

“Not yet,” Rayne replied.  “But I will.”

Chapter 12

365 Days in the Future

Rayne sat on the edge of her cot, meticulously going over her concerto.  She imagined each note, chord, and bar as though she could see the music written on paper before her, while at the same time imagining the way it would sound when played.

She’d done all she could to prepare for what was coming.  She’d walked endless laps around her tiny cell, and she’d worked with her shield enough that it was as easy as ever to keep it up and in place without thinking too much about it.  There was nothing more she could do but rest, try to relax, and wait.

The familiar thunk of the locking mechanism on her door came exactly when she expected it to, though she didn’t indicate that she was aware of it by the tiniest flicker of an eyelash.  When the door opened and the small blue figure dressed in the yellow uniform of the maintenance crew stepped inside, her eyes didn’t move, nor did her breathing change.

The Doftle entered, carrying her evening meal in one hand, then paused just inside to wait for the door to automatically close and lock behind him, a routine that no Doftle had veered from even once.  He set a bowl down on the little tray table, slid the table across the almost three feet of floor space to a spot directly in front of where she sat, and put a plastic spoon in her hand, closing her fingers around the handle.  As soon as he stepped back she began to feed herself as she’d done every time she received food since being placed in the cell.  The Doftle backed up to the door, slid his card through the reader and backed out.

She ate the gruel methodically, spoonful after spoonful until it was gone, just as she always did.  When she was finished she reached down to the metal frame of the cot beneath the thin mattress where she sat, and began sawing the handle of her spoon back and forth over the sharpest edge she’d been able to find, her movements quick and short in order to build up as much heat and friction as possible.

“This is your plan?” Wolef asked in surprise.  “You’re going to use the end of a plastic spoon as a weapon?”

“Yes,” she replied simply as she rotated the spoon in her hand and began rubbing the other side against the bed frame.

“It’s not going to work,” he said with clear disappointment.  “Doftles have tough skin.  No matter how sharp you make it, I doubt very much that it will penetrate.”

“Since I don’t intend to use it on his skin, that won’t be a problem.”  Her arm began to grow tired but that didn’t deter her.  She continued the rubbing motion, turning the spoon in her hand when it became too warm.

“What do you intend to do with it then?”

“I intend to plant it as deeply into the Doftle’s brain as I possibly can.”

“You cannot be serious,” Wolef said, shocked by her response.  “As tough as their skin is, it’s nothing compared to their bones which, by the way, includes their skulls.”

“Now you’re just being insulting,” Rayne said, turning the spoon over again.

There was a brief moment of silence, then a deep rumbling sound filled her mind.  “I amuse you?”

“Amuse?” Wolef asked thoughtfully.  “No, I don’t think that’s the word I’d use.  But you certainly do entertain.”

Rayne started to respond when the thunk of the door lock sounded again, a bit earlier than she expected.  It didn’t matter though.  She was as ready as she ever would be.  She ran her thumb over the end of the spoon handle, satisfied that there was enough of a point for her purposes.  She didn’t need it to be sharp.  Just pointed.

She gripped the plastic spoon in one fist, the spoon end showing at the top, the sharpened end at the bottom and hidden from view by the rough gray shift she wore.  Then she reached for the deep well of fury that she’d kept buried for so long, deliberately reminding herself of all that they’d done to her.  It only took a few moments for her heart rate to speed up as it reacted to the adrenalin pumping into her blood stream.

Doftles were extremely strong, a lesson she’d learned early and well.  As far as she’d been able to tell, their only shortcoming was that they weren’t very fast.  As weak as she was, she had no chance of overcoming one without a weapon.  But a weapon alone wouldn’t be enough.  She also needed guts, guile, and determination.  She had the determination, she had the guile, and now she had a weapon.  Whether or not she had the guts to follow through on her plan remained to be seen.

She waited patiently for the Doftle to enter the room, then pause while the door closed and locked itself before approaching her, his gaze fixed on the empty bowl.  When he realized that the spoon was not in the bowl, he looked up, already reaching to take it from her hand where he fully expected it to be since she’d held onto it this way a couple of times before.  He froze in surprise to find the space where she’d sat a bare second before suddenly empty.

That one brief moment of shock was all Rayne needed.  Without a single moment’s hesitation she raised the plastic spoon and stabbed the pointed end into the center of one of the Doftle’s hated, soulless black eyes with all the adrenaline fueled rage she could summon.  If her guess was right, there’d be orbital openings in the Doftles’ thick skulls behind their eyes.  Openings which would allow access to their brains.

She released the spoon when her grip prevented her from shoving it further in, then hit the end still protruding with the flat of her hand as hard as she could.  When she could see only a tip of the white plastic protruding from the bloody black orb, she knew she’d pushed it as deeply as she could.  She could only pray it was enough.

She waited, watching warily as the Doftle stood motionless for what seemed like a long time but was barely half a dozen heartbeats, during which she forgot to breathe.  Then he fell over, hitting the floor with a heavy thud.  She released the air in her lungs but continued to watch him for a count of thirty before accepting that he was well and truly dead.

Only then did she kneel down on the floor and reach for the hand terminal hanging from his belt, along with the ID card clipped to his chest that doubled as a key card.  Then she grabbed the pain baton he wore at his hip and immediately dialed it up to the highest setting.  Something inside of her relaxed just a little at the knowledge that she was now armed with a real weapon.  She sat back down on the cot, laid the baton across her knees, and turned on the hand terminal, taking slow deep breaths to calm her racing heart while waiting for it to boot up.  She jumped an inch off the mattress when the device emitted three loud beeps.  She fumbled for the sound control and turned it off, her heart racing even faster now than before.

Even though the security on the hand terminal was low level and basic, it still took precious seconds for her to break through it, then more seconds went by as she searched for a layout of the Facility, but it was unavoidable.  She had no idea where anything was, and didn’t have the physical strength to go running pell-mell through the place in hopes of stumbling across Wolef’s cell.  She needed to know exactly where she was going before she stepped out of her own cell.

It didn’t take very long to find what she wanted.  She studied the map for a few moments, surprised at the sheer size of the Facility.  Satisfied that she had an idea of where she was and where she had to go, she clipped the hand terminal to her shift, and picked up the pain baton.

Illegal throughout the Thousand Worlds, they were horrific weapons, but very effective.  Before her abduction, she’d only ever seen one pain baton, that one belonging to her Aunt Summer and fully disabled.  Since her abduction she’d experienced their effect first hand.

“I’m impressed,” Wolef said.  “Very impressed.  Even if you do not get past where you are right now, I want you to know how proud I am of you, Rayne.”

“Thanks, Wolef, but I will get out of here, and I will find you.  Don’t doubt it.”

“If ever there was a chance that I would doubt you, Rayne Dracon, you just obliterated it,” he said.  “Did you find a floor plan?”

“Yes, I did,” she said.  “This place is enormous, but it looks like all of the cells on this level are in this one area, and they’re connected, just as you said.”

“Good,” Wolef said.  “Give me a moment to make sure no one else is out and about before you open the door.”

“All right,” she agreed.  It took only a few seconds, but Rayne’s heart counted each one with a hard thud in her chest as she stood up, stepped over the Doftle without a glance, and crossed to the door.

“It’s clear,” Wolef said.  “But don’t forget to raise your shield before you step out of your cell.”  Rayne sent him an image of herself rolling her eyes.  Then she raised her shield and slid the card through the reader.  She waited for the familiar thunk of the lock, then watched the door slide open.  She stepped out and waited for it to close behind her, letting out a soft sigh of relief when the locking mechanism engaged.

“I’m out,” she said to Wolef while she looked down the dim corridor, trying to get her bearings.

There were five doors on each side of the corridor, then a sharp turn and, according to the layout, another ten doors.  She already knew from Wolef that half the cells were unoccupied, but she was surprised to find that her cell was the only one occupied in this section.  The doors were open on the rest of the cells, making it obvious that they were empty.

She made her way down the corridor, doing her best to ignore the icy cold floor against her bare feet that soon had her teeth chattering.  She turned the corner and stopped at the first door.  Using the card key, she opened the door and looked inside.  A man, apparently human, lay on a medi-cot connected to a collection of machines that she recognized all too well.  There was something vaguely familiar about the man, but she couldn’t place him.  After studying him for a few moments to fix his image in her memory, she closed the door and moved to the next one.  “What do you look like?” she asked Wolef as she stared at the occupant of the next cell.

“I’m a dragon,” Wolef said.  “You know what dragons look like.”

“Yes, I do, and I also know that dragons come in all sizes and colors,” she said, as she closed the door on a motionless being that looked more like a tree than a person.  She paused for a few moments, leaning her back against the wall to rest.

“What’s the matter?” Wolef asked worriedly.

“The cold floor has me shivering, and that’s draining my strength faster than I anticipated,” she said.  “I’ll be okay in a minute.”

Sudden warmth rushed from her feet up to her head, along with a fresh wave of energy.  “Thanks, Wolef,” she said, pushing herself away from the wall.  “Just be careful of your own strength.”

“Do not worry about me, Solin,” Wolef said.  “I will take no risks.  Unfortunately, you will pay a price for this later.”

“As long as it gets me to you, I don’t care,” Rayne said as she walked to the next door, opened it, looked inside, then closed it again before moving to the next, and the next, finding unfamiliar creatures in each room.  They were all either unconscious, or not lucid enough to acknowledge her presence, just as Wolef had warned her.  It took her a while to notice that her face was wet with tears.

“All of these cells are the same size, Wolef, and none of them are big enough for a large dragon,” she said as she crossed the corridor.

“My cell was once three separate cells.  It’s large enough only because I cannot move.”

“From out here the doors are all evenly spaced,” she said stopping in front of the last door on the left side.  “There’s nothing to indicate a larger cell.  Luckily there are just a couple more doors left.”  She slid the card through the reader, waited for the door to slide open, stepped inside, and froze.

***

Landor sat up in bed, instantly wide awake, Rayne’s mental screams resonating in his mind.  He tossed the covers back and ran for the door, fighting the nearly overwhelming urge to shift into his bearenca.  He threw his door open and stepped into the hallway just as Ari and Con did.  Con had managed to pull on a pair of pants and Ari wore a robe, but Landor hadn’t even considered clothing, and he certainly wasn’t going back for it.  He hurried to Rayne’s door and raised his hand to knock when she screamed again.  This time they heard it with their ears as well as their minds and hearts.  Even though her voice was weak, the anguish in it nearly knocked them to their knees.

Landor used Air to crush the lock on the door, terrified that somehow, despite their carefully woven shields, someone had managed to get to her, and was even now preparing to spirit her away from them.  Just the thought of it caused his jaw to elongate, black fur to sprout from his skin, and long curved claws to burst from his fingertips, making it impossible to turn the doorknob.  He roared with frustrated fury and slammed one shoulder into the door, snapping the hinges as though they were made of paper and sending it flying against the far wall with a crash.  He ran three steps into the room, salivating with the need to get his claws into a real, flesh and blood enemy, but all he saw was Rayne curled in a tiny ball in the middle of her bed, eyes wide and unseeing, cheeks pale and wet with tears, her slender body shaking so hard he feared for her delicate bones.  He ran toward her, reversing the partial shift he’d undergone in his distress.  The moment his claws withdrew he reached out, snatched her up, and pulled her tightly to his chest.  Ari and Con crowded close, each of them placing a hand on her, needing the connection as much as he did.

Ari and Con fought against their own shock to send waves of calm and comfort to Rayne while Landor rocked her gently.  “It’s all right, Kisu,” he crooned.  “You’re safe here, in our arms.  We won’t let anything happen to you.”

After a while Rayne’s body began to relax, and she came back from wherever she’d been.  She blinked a few times, but couldn’t stop the tears running down her face.  Landor turned and headed for the door.  “We’ll take you to the master suite where we can all be comfortable,” he said.  “Then you will tell us what has put this look of horror in your eyes.”

He left Rayne’s room with Con behind them, while Ari hurried ahead to unlock the door to the master suite at the end of the corridor.  Landor went straight to the massive bed and climbed onto it with Rayne in his arms, moving to the middle before leaning against the headboard.  Ari turned on the bedside table lamp, then untied the heavy curtains on the right side posts of the bed, while Con untied those on the left.  Like many of their fellow Clan Bearens they had a strong preference for small, enclosed spaces at times.  This was one of those times.  Once the curtains surrounded the bed, creating a small, cave-like environment that was dimly lit by the bedside lamp so Rayne could see, they climbed in and settled themselves against the headboard on either side of Landor.

They waited patiently while Rayne struggled to find the words to tell them what she’d remembered.  She couldn’t seem to approach it head on, so she side stepped it a little bit.  “I know why it’s so important that we get there before the eighth day.”

Landor waited.  He didn’t care if it took her an hour, a day, or a week to get this latest horror out.  They would let her get to it in her own way, in her own time.

“They got Salene,” she said, the words bursting from her lips in a rush.

“When?” Landor asked, confused.

“Shortly before I returned to the past I accidentally discovered that Salene had been there nearly as long as I had.  She was shot in the head during a battle that took place during her kidnapping.  She should have died from the injury, but the Doftle kept her alive with their infernal machines.”

“That happened in the other timeline, Kisu,” he said.  “Not this one.  In this timeline, Salene is safe.  She left Garza with the Gryphons a couple of hours before we did.”

Rayne thought about that for a few moments then shook her head.  “That doesn’t matter.  The order for Salene’s abduction went out eight days after I was abducted, and she was shot two days after that.  She’s the reason I have to reach the Facility in eight days or less.”

“But you warned your parents to alter Salene’s plans, and they did,” Landor pointed out.  “That should change things, shouldn’t it?”

She shook her head.  “The Doftle took her from the Ugaztun in the other timeline, so I don’t see them balking at taking her from the Gryphons in this one.”

“How did you learn all of this?” Con asked.  “When the order went out, or when she was shot?”

“I don’t remember,” Rayne said.  “I just know that if we don’t get there in time, Salene will be lost forever.”

“If it can be done, we’ll do it,” Landor promised.  “We’ll be there nearly two full days ahead of time.”  He looked at his brothers.  “Con, prepare an encrypted message to be sent out to the Ugaztun and the Razor, warning them that an attempt will be made to kidnap Princess Salene.”

“No, you can’t,” Rayne said with panic in her voice.  “We have no idea who the spies are on the other ships.  If the Doftle discover that we know there’s a plot in place to take Salene before the order is even given, the first thing they’ll do is take precautions and that means they’ll move.  If that happens we’ll never find it.”  Rayne swallowed hard.  “I can’t fail my sister.  I just can’t.”

“You won’t,” Landor said.  “We’ll make sure of that.  Now, I think you’ve remembered enough for one night.  It’s time for you to sleep.”

“Here?” she asked, then covered her mouth with her hand as she yawned tiredly.

“Unfortunately in my eagerness to get to you, I um…damaged the door to your room so yes, you’ll need to sleep here tonight.”

“Damaged?” Ari asked archly.  “Turned to kindling and toothpicks is more like it.”  The mental image of three enraged Bearens crashing through the door in response to her screams made Rayne feel protected and cared for.

“Do you mind spending the night here?”

“Not unless you plan to leave me alone.”

“I doubt we could leave you alone right now even if you wanted us to,” he said softly, sending a thin thread of Water into her.  “Sleep in peace, Kisu.  We will hold the dreams at bay.”

“You can do that?”

“We can try.”  The corners of her mouth lifted just a little.

“You three never try anything,” she whispered, her eyes closing.  “You always do.”  Landor leaned down to press a gentle kiss on her forehead.  “I love you guys,” she murmured as she slid gently into a deep, dreamless sleep, leaving the three of them breathless for a long moment.  When she snuggled in Landor’s arms and turned her face into his chest in an unconscious gesture of trust, he thought his heart would burst with happiness.

“She said she loves us,” Ari whispered.  “Right?  Did you hear it too?”

Landor glanced up at Con and smiled at the emotion on his face.  “Yes, we heard it too, Ari.”

“I almost wish we could wake her so we could tell her how we feel,” Ari said, then smiled at the warning look Landor flashed at him.  “Almost, big brother.”

“We should all try to get some sleep,” Landor said, then gave his head a little shake.  “Con, we need to send that message to the Ugaztun and the Razor.”

“Good, because I was going to ask you to rethink that decision,” Con said with relief.

“I just didn’t want Rayne any more worried than she already is.  Flag the message ULTRASECRET-EYES ONLY, double encrypt it using our most recent protocols, and suppress the point of origin code.  We don’t want these Doftle to suspect we exist, let alone that we’re heading in their direction.  While you’re at it, tell the Dracons that Rayne is doing well.”

“Of course,” Con said, already up and walking toward the door.  “I won’t be long.”

***

Rayne woke up when Con climbed back into bed a while later.  She was startled at first, but some part of her knew that she was safe, so she didn’t panic as she might have done otherwise.  She heard the soft murmur of Con’s and Landor’s voices, too low for her to make out what they were saying because the sound of Landor’s heart beating in her ear drowned out their words.

Landor’s hands were warm and gentle against her back, Con’s fingers stroked her arm lightly and Ari ran his fingers along a strand of her hair while they spoke.  A minute or two later they fell silent, and another minute or so after that, their hands stilled.  She felt a sense of loss that surprised her and, before she could talk herself out of it, she raised her head up from Landor’s chest and stared steadily into his violet eyes.

His chest stilled beneath her as he stopped breathing for a moment, then his hands tightened on her just enough to pull her further up his body.  She never took her eyes from his, though her heart was suddenly racing with an odd combination of fear and anticipation.

When he could reach her mouth with his he kissed her, but it was much different this time than before.  The first time they’d kissed, he’d been patient and gentle.  This time he kissed her with heat and passion, communicating the intensity of his desire with his lips and tongue, and with his hands as they ran from her shoulders to the small of her back before pressing her body more tightly against his, ensuring that she felt the full effect of his naked arousal through the thin fabric of her pajamas.

She stilled in surprise at the realization of what she felt pressing into her stomach.  It was hot, hard, and much larger than she expected, which instantly raised her curiosity.  She was an educated woman and she certainly knew how things worked.  Partly because sex was not a taboo subject in the Clan Jasani culture, but mostly because Lariah Dracon was not one to flinch away from any subject she felt her children needed to know about, not even when it came to the subject of sex.  She’d made certain that her daughters were fully informed.

But, knowing and experiencing were not the same, and she had no experience at all.  She’d never even been kissed before escaping from the Facility.  She knew other girls who were destined to one day be Arimas who didn’t feel the need to wait, and there was nothing wrong with that.  The only time sex between consenting adults was considered wrong was if a person had sex outside of a committed relationship, and that went for both Clan Jasani and Citizen Jasani.

“Rayne?” Landor asked.  She blinked, realizing that she’d spent the last couple of seconds in thought.  She smiled, then leaned down to kiss him again, but he stopped her.  “Tell me what’s wrong, please.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she said. “I was just a little surprised.”

“Are you sure about this?”

For one brief moment Rayne was afraid that they weren’t ready, that they didn’t want her the way she wanted them after all.  She glanced to the right where Ari was watching intently, then to the left where Con was doing the same.  Then she looked back to Landor just as a wave of raw need radiating from all three of them hit her.  She gasped, then shuddered, her skin pebbling as her nipples hardened and moisture flooded her pussy.  “Wow,” she said softly when she could form words again.  “What was that?”

“We sensed your worry,” Landor said, his voice husky and hot.  “So we released the need we’ve been holding back.”

“Holding back?”

“We had to wait for you, Kisu,” he said.  “We just need to know you’re ready for this.”

“Oh, I’m ready,” she whispered, then leaned down to kiss him again.  She was so lost in the taste and feel of his mouth against hers that she barely noticed when he wrapped his arms around her and sat up.  Then he grasped the hem of her sleep shirt and raised it slowly up her body, pausing just beneath her breasts until she broke the kiss for some much needed air.  Then he pulled it off over her head and tossed it aside.

“You’re so beautiful,” he growled as he cupped her breasts in the palms of his hands and brushed his thumbs over her hardened nipples.  Rayne’s breath caught in her throat as pleasure arced from her nipples straight to her pussy.  When she opened her eyes again she realized that both Con and Ari were no longer in the bed.  She looked around, instantly frantic.  Where had they gone?  Why had they gone?  Had she done something wrong?

“Easy, Kisu,” Landor said, frowning.  It was normal for her to want all three of them to be there, but her reaction seemed extreme.  He could actually hear her heart pounding.

“We’re right here,” Ari said from the bottom right corner of the bed where he was tying the curtains back.  She was relieved when she spotted him, but didn’t relax until she turned and saw Con at the other corner.

“Missing us already?” Con asked as he climbed back onto the bed and rose up on his knees beside her.

“Yes, I was,” she replied, her eyes catching on the play of muscles in his chest as he moved.  Unable to resist the temptation, she reached up and ran her palms over his smooth warm skin.  She smiled when she saw that her fingers left goose bumps behind wherever they touched.

Then Con placed his hands on her shoulders, bent his head, and kissed her.  His mouth was hard against hers, his tongue thrusting in and out of her mouth with increasing urgency.  She was still sitting on Landor’s lap, her legs around his waist, his cock pressed tightly against her lower belly, so she felt him harden further as he watched Con kiss her.  When they broke apart they were both panting as though they’d run a mile, and Rayne’s entire body was shivering with need.  She looked up to see Landor’s eyes watching intently, his cock throbbing insistently against the cotton of her sleep shorts, the only barrier between them now.  Then Ari’s hand slid into her hair and she turned toward him.  She was surprised when he nipped her bottom lip, and even more surprised when it sent electric pleasure shooting through her entire body.  His kiss was slower than Con’s, but no less heated.

She loved the differences in the way each of them kissed her.  She loved that they all tasted almost the same, but different, just like their scents.

“You’re trembling,” Ari said, his lips moving against hers as he spoke.  She could only nod.  Then Landor’s hands grasped her waist and lifted her up.  He turned her and lowered her so that she was lying across his lap, his cock now pressing against her hip.

Con and Ari shifted their positions and she watched with wide eyes, suddenly realizing that they were all naked.  “Oh,” she said softly as her eyes wandered up and down their hard bodies.  Their cocks fascinated her.  They were thick and heavy with broad heads and tightly stretched satiny skin, their testicles swaying heavily as they moved.  She had to force herself to tear her gaze away, but that wasn’t much help.  They had muscles everywhere she looked, and yet they were so gentle with her that it brought tears to her eyes.

Con waited until Rayne shifted her gaze from him to Ari, then moved so that he could reach the waistband of her pajama shorts.  He slid them down to her hips, then looked up to find her watching him.  She smiled, then arched her back and lifted her bottom so that he could slide the shorts off more easily.  He immediately pulled them down her legs and off, dropping them absently, his eyes already gazing their fill of her bare body for the first time.

She was petite, but beautifully proportioned with high breasts, a tiny waist that flared out to sweetly curved hips and slender, defined legs.  She was still a little too thin, but her curves were back and, most important, she looked healthy.

Landor reached down and slipped his fingers into the crease between her legs.  Sensing what he wanted, Rayne immediately parted them, and the scent of her arousal, light before, now flooded their senses.

Con moved without thought, suddenly finding himself lying on the bed with his head and shoulders between her legs.  He took a moment to admire the pink, glistening folds of her delightfully bare pussy, then he closed his eyes and inhaled, drawing her deeply into his lungs before giving her one long, loving swipe of his tongue.  Rayne’s deep moan was music to his ears so he repeated the action, releasing a groan of his own.  He found the little nub of her clit and flicked it before sucking it gently between his lips.

Rayne had never imagined such pleasure existed.  The sensation of Con’s mouth on her pussy, his silky hair, now free from his usual ponytail, brushing the tender skin on her inner thighs, his strong hands holding her hips in place was almost too much.  She wasn’t sure what to do with the rapidly increasing pleasure that seemed to be winding her nerves tighter and tighter by the second.  Then Ari bent to take one nipple into his mouth while Landor squeezed the other one, tugging gently.  Her entire body arched upward, her head went back and her mouth opened as her eyes squeezed shut.  Violet, green, and amber sparks flashed behind her eyes as hot, intense pleasure engulfed her.

The next time she opened her eyes it was to see three sets of intense eyes watching her.  “What?”

“How do you feel?” Con asked.  “Are you all right?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Orgasms affect the entire body,” Landor said.  “We just need to be sure you’re well.”

“I’m fine,” she said.  “I’m better than fine.  That was really amazing.”

“No, you’re amazing, and so beautiful in your pleasure,” Landor said, smiling down at her.  “Perhaps we should try to sleep now.”

Rayne stiffened.  “What?”

“Sex is strenuous,” Con said.  “We should take this slowly.”

“Why would you do this to me?” she asked, her voice trembling as every muscle in her body instantly began to knot up, doubling her tension, then quadrupling it.  “Please, don’t do this.  I don’t think I can stand it.”

Landor frowned when he realized she was near tears.  He reached out with his senses, shocked by the sheer intensity of her arousal.  “It’s alright, Kisu, we won’t leave you like this.  I promise.”

“What?” Con asked, confused.

“I’m not certain,” he said, frowning.  “Her level of arousal is far higher than it should be.”  Con and Ari immediately checked her with their own senses.

“I didn’t release any pheromones,” Ari said.  “Did either of you?”

Con shook his head as Landor said, “No, I didn’t, and I think we all need to be careful not to.”

“That might be difficult,” Con said.  “But I’ll certainly try.”

“This is for Rayne,” Landor said, catching and holding Con’s gaze.  “Releasing pheromones at this time would be very bad for her.”

“Yes, of course,” Con said.  “You’re right.  For Rayne’s sake, we will not release pheromones.”

“If any of us does release them, let the others know right away,” Landor said.

“What’s wrong?” Rayne asked.

“Nothing is wrong, Kisu,” Landor said.  “You’re just very aroused, and we don’t want it to become uncomfortable for you.  You are precious to us.”

Rayne blinked away sudden tears.  Had it only been a handful of days ago that she’d thought they might never be able to love her?  Or even want her?  Now he was saying she was precious to them, and she knew he meant it.  Her eyes grew wide.

“What is it?” Landor asked.

“I feel you,” she said.  “When you just said I was precious, I knew you were telling the truth.  Only it wasn’t just because I could sense your sincerity.  It was because I felt it.”

“You felt my emotions,” Landor repeated slowly.

“Yes, as clearly as I feel my own, except that I knew they were your emotions.  Just like right now I can feel your surprise.”  She looked at Con.  “I can feel your confusion, too.”

“And you feel our arousal, don’t you?” Landor asked.  “That’s why it’s so intense for you right now.”

Rayne took a moment to think about that.  “I honestly don’t know,” she said, not realizing that her entire body was trembling in Landor’s arms.  “There’s too much of it.”

“We need to talk about this later, Landor,” Con said.  Landor nodded, then laid Rayne down on the bed, positioning her so that she was lying with her legs hanging over the side.  Ari and Con laid down on either side of her, and Landor knelt on the floor between her thighs.  He raised her legs, hooking them over his shoulders, then parted her labia with his fingers, exposing her fully to his gaze.  He leaned down and growled with his first taste of her.

Ari and Con stroked and petted her, running their fingers over her skin as though they wanted to memorize every inch of her.  Their mouths followed where their fingers led, kissing and licking, pausing occasionally to note her reactions.  She was surprised to find that, aside from the obvious erogenous zones, she felt intense pleasure when they kissed her neck, ran their fingers along the line of her throat, and when their slightly rough tongues licked the point where her neck met her shoulders.  When Ari encircled her wrist with his fingers and tightened them, her hips arched off the bed and her entire body shuddered.

“I want to touch,” she whispered hoarsely.  Ari’s amber eyes, dark and smoldering, met hers, then he looked down to see Landor’s head between her thighs and smiled.  He slid further up the bed until his groin was within reach of her hands.  She immediately reached up to touch the thick cock with its broad mushroom head, then hesitated, suddenly uncertain.

“Wrap your fingers around him, just below the head,” Con said into her ear.  “It’s all right, you won’t hurt him.”

Rayne bit her lip and did as Con said, wrapping her fingers around the throbbing length of hard, surprisingly hot, flesh as far as she could.  She rubbed her thumb over the head, picking up a bead of moisture seeping from the slit at the tip.  Without thinking, she released him and brought her thumb to her mouth.  She sighed softly, knowing she’d forever remember this first taste of Ari.  She reached for him again, only this time Ari wrapped his hand around hers and showed her how to stroke him.  She liked the way he felt, the way he tasted, and the way that Landor was making her feel, but something inside of her was growing tense and uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?” Landor asked, raising his head to study her the instant her tension reached him.  Rayne looked toward him, and he saw the budding desperation in her eyes.

“Did either of you release pheromones?” he asked.

“No,” Ari said, and Con shook his head.

“Neither did I, but she needs more,” he said.  “Quickly.”

“More what?” Ari asked, worried by Rayne’s growing tension.

“More stimulation,” Landor said.  “She’s so small that I have to stretch her before we can enter her.  If I don’t, I’ll tear her for sure.”

Con nodded, then raised himself up on one elbow so he could look into her eyes, shocked by the raw power of her sexual need.  “Rayne,” he said.  “Would you like to have Ari’s cock in your mouth?”  Her eyes widened but he felt her sudden interest.  “Ari?” he asked.

Ari shifted his position again, this time so that she could easily reach his cock just by turning her head a little.  She wrapped her fingers around him, then guided him to her mouth.  She took one long, slow lick, then placed the head of his cock between her lips and moaned at the taste and feel of him against her tongue.

“That’s right,” Con said, watching closely.  “Swirl your tongue around the head, then suck on it.”  Rayne followed his instructions, her eyes closing as she felt Landor’s fingers enter her pussy at the same time.  She licked and sucked on Con’s cock with growing fervor, taking more and more until she felt the head touch the back of her throat.  She moaned around him, causing a vibration that tore an answering moan from him.

Rayne reached up with her other hand to gentle caress the heavy testicles, rewarded by another moan.

“Close your lips around his cock and relax your mouth,” Con said.  Again Rayne did as instructed, then moaned when Ari began thrusting slowly in and out of her mouth in a steady rhythm.  He never went too deep, stopping just before reaching the back of her throat.  She wrapped her hand around the portion of his cock that wouldn’t fit in her mouth and stroked it, matching his rhythm, while at the same time she began caressing him with her tongue.  He began thrusting faster, his cock becoming impossibly harder and bigger in her mouth.

“He’s going to come in a few seconds,” Con said.  “You need to release him so he can pull out, otherwise he’ll come in your mouth.”

Rayne moaned at the thought, the vibration once again dragging an answering moan from Ari, but she made no move to let him go.  She wanted him to come in her mouth.  She wanted not only to taste him, but to fill all of her senses with him.  His scent, the sound of his moans, the silky texture of his cock against her tongue, and the quickening pulse that she felt against her lips.  “He’s gonna come, Rayne,” Con warned once more.

She felt Ari’s increased excitement when he realized she wasn’t going to pull back, that she wanted him to come in her mouth.  A moment later he shouted, then his cock began jerking against her tongue, releasing spurt after spurt of seed.  She swallowed as fast as she could, determined to get every drop, her own excitement so high that her entire body shook with it.  Con leaned down and took one nipple in his mouth while grasping the other one between his fingers, and Landor sucked her clit into his mouth and lashed it with his tongue while thrusting two fingers in and out of her.  Her eyes squeezed shut as another orgasm exploded inside of her, this one more intense than the first.  She shivered as wave after wave of pleasure rolled through her.

When she opened her eyes again she was surprised to find that Ari was still in her mouth.  She gave him one last, warm lick and released him to collapse on the bed beside her.

She’d barely caught her breath when she felt Landor stand up, then press something large and hot against her pussy.  There was pressure as her body stretched around him, but she was surprised and distracted by how quickly her desire rose again.  Within seconds it had grown much more intense than what she’d felt before, and this time there was an edge of urgency in it that wasn’t at all comfortable.  She needed, and she needed now.  She arched her hips in an attempt to speed Landor’s progress, but he held her too tightly for that, determined to stay in control for fear she’d harm herself.  She dug her nails into the sheets and whimpered, tears of frustration stinging her eyes.

“What’s happening?” Ari asked, moving back down beside her when he sensed her growing distress.

“Have either of you released pheromones?” Landor asked again.  Ari and Con both shook their heads.  “I didn’t think so, but I had to ask.  She’s feeling our arousal in addition to her own, and it’s too much for her.”

“What do we do?” Ari asked anxiously.  “We have to do something.  This isn’t pleasure she’s feeling right now.  Not completely.”

“We need to come,” Landor said, then gasped as he pushed another inch deeper into her hot, tight passage.  “Her need will only continue to intensify until ours is satisfied.”

Ari placed gentle fingers on Rayne’s jaw and turned her head so that she faced him.  “Do you want Con in your mouth now?”  She nodded.  Ari kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth as deeply as he could, then withdrawing, then thrusting again while Con repositioned himself.  When he saw that Con was ready, he pulled back and looked into her eyes.

“Do you want to take Con’s cock all the way into your throat?” he asked, his own cock jerking at the thought.  Rayne looked surprised, but she nodded eagerly.  “Start by taking him into your mouth, but stop before he touches your throat.”

Rayne turned her head and lifted Con’s cock to her mouth.  She licked the head, sighing softly at the taste of him which was similar to Ari’s, but uniquely Con.  Then she took him between her lips, swirling her tongue around the head before coaxing him deeper.  Before he touched her throat she stopped.

Landor watched, enthralled by the sight of Rayne taking Con into her mouth, her sweet pink lips wrapping tightly around his cock.  He shuddered hard, pushing himself deeper inside of her until he felt her hymen.  Then he made himself stop.

“Take a deep breath,” Ari said.  “When Con thrusts forward, swallow, but don’t panic.  He’ll pull back before you need to breathe again.”

“Her sweet little pussy just gushed around me,” Landor said, his voice raspy.  “She loves the idea of having cock in her throat.”

Ari’s cock hardened to the point of pain at Landor’s words and he reached down to stroke himself.  “Ready?”

Rayne moaned her assent.  Then she took a deep breath through her nose and felt Con pull back, then thrust forward gently but steadily.  She swallowed hard and was rewarded by the feel of Con’s cock sliding into her throat.  He pulled back almost immediately but she placed one hand on his hip and pulled him back to her.  He thrust gently and she swallowed again, taking him even deeper.  She kept her hand on Con’s hip while holding herself motionless, focusing on the unexpected and surprisingly erotic sensation of having her throat stretched and filled.  When she couldn’t hold her breath any longer she pushed gently against Con’s hip and he immediately drew back.

“The next time you’re in her throat, I’m going to break her hymen,” Landor said, his entire body trembling with the effort of holding himself back.  “Just don’t wait too long, please.”

Con thrust forward and Rayne swallowed, but this time he pushed himself even further, groaning as she took his cock so deeply that his balls hit her chin.  At the same moment, Landor slammed into her with a shout, breaking through the barrier as though it didn’t exist and stopping only when he was buried fully inside of her.

The double penetration sent Rayne’s senses reeling.  Her pussy squeezed Landor’s cock so hard that he thought his head would explode.  At the same time, her throat gripped Con’s cock so tightly that he knew it would hurt her if he tried to withdraw.

“You’re so damn hot,” Ari said, pumping his cock harder.  He reached up with his other hand and stroked her throat lightly.  “Relax a bit so Con can withdraw now.”

Rayne swallowed again, which relaxed the grip her muscles had on Con.  He withdrew, paused for a moment so both he and Rayne could catch their breath, then thrust deeply again.  Landor began fucking her slow and deep in an alternating rhythm.

“You’re so beautiful with Landor and Con fucking you at the same time,” Ari said, now cupping her throat with one hand.  “I love seeing and feeling Con’s cock fill your throat.  Wait until all three of us take you at once.  It’ll be just like this except that one of us will be in your ass.  We’ll be connected to each other, with you and through you.  Moan for me if you like that, Rayne.”

Rayne immediately moaned and felt Con’s cock grow impossibly harder and thicker as he slid deep again.  A moment later he pulled back and stilled.  “Take a good breath,” Ari said.  “He’s going to bury himself deep and he’ll stay there until he’s done coming.”

Rayne moaned in anticipation, then took a long deep breath.  Con thrust and she swallowed hard over and over again, knowing now that each time she did, her throat muscles caressed his cock.  Ari moaned beside her and she felt the warm splash of his come on her hip and, at the same time, she felt Con throbbing and pulsing as he shot his seed down her throat. He remained there until he finished coming, just as Ari had warned, nearly making her come again, but not quite.  A few moments later he withdrew and collapsed on the bed beside her.

Suddenly, even though her body was still almost painfully aroused, she felt tired.  She needed more than she’d ever needed anything in her life, but the pleasure was fading fast, leaving her frustrated, unsatisfied, and discouraged.  Landor was still pounding her hard and deep, stoking her need higher and higher but for some reason, it no longer felt the way it had moments earlier.  She whimpered, not understanding what was happening, surprised to realize that what she really wanted was to push Landor away and go curl up in a ball somewhere.

“Release some pheromones, Landor,” Ari said.  “Just a little.”

Landor immediately did as Ari said without stopping to question him.  Rayne’s eyes widened and her back arched as the pleasure returned, then sharpened.  She arched her hips upward, seeking deeper, harder stimulation.  Within moments she found herself on the cusp of another orgasm, a bigger, deeper, more explosive one than before.  But she couldn’t quite reach it.  Tears streamed down her face as her body strained for release, but instead of coming closer, it began to slip away.  Feeling her distress, Con and Ari began sucking hard on her nipples while Con reached down to rub her clit and Landor pounded into her as fast and deep as he could.

Rayne’s head flew back and forth on the bed as the pleasure became desperation.  Con sensed her growing need to escape the escalating tension and thought back to all of the reading they’d done over the years while waiting for her.  Sometimes, he remembered, a woman needed something a bit…more.  He grasped her clit between two fingers and tugged it firmly.  When that didn’t send her over, he held his breath and gave it a sharp pinch.

Rayne screamed hoarsely, her back arching so high that only her head touched the bed while her orgasm ripped through her in wave after wave of bone melting pleasure.  Landor thrust deep until his cock lodged tightly against her cervix, and joined her, roaring as his seed filled her womb.  When the orgasm released its grip on her, her body relaxed and fell back against the bed, her arms and legs limp, her eyes closed.  Landor withdrew, then climbed onto the bed, still panting.

Con raised himself up on one elbow and, starting with Rayne’s face, began searching for signs of discomfort, injury, or distress.  She appeared to be fully relaxed and dozing lightly, her breathing returned to normal, and her body satisfied.  He slid off the bed and went to the bathroom, returning a few moments later with warm washcloths and a towel.

Landor and Ari were both sitting up by then, so the three of them washed her body slowly and gently, taking their time, enjoying the soothing ritual.  Rayne awoke about half way through and watched them through slitted eyes, her heart swelling with emotion at the expressions on their faces.

“That was a truly memorable experience,” Ari said, smiling down at her.

“Yes, it was,” she agreed.  “I didn’t expect to feel so…tense, though.”

“We didn’t expect it either,” Landor said, frowning.

“That’s not a good frown,” she said, reaching around for something to cover herself with.  Ari pulled the sheet up and covered her with it.  She smiled her thanks, then turned back to Landor, who was still frowning.  “Feeling you guys the way I did isn’t common, or I think I might have heard something about it.  So, is it a bad thing?”

“No it’s not bad,” Landor said.

Rayne waited, but it seemed he wasn’t going to say any more.  “Tell me, please.”

“Are you sure you want to hear this now?” Landor said.  “It’s getting late and you need sleep.”

“I’d like to know.”

“All right,” Landor said.  “But only if you drink some sasuna while we talk.”

“Sure,” Rayne agreed since her body was telling her she needed one anyway.  She started to get up, but Con shook his head.

“Stay there.  I’ll be right back.”  She nodded, but he was already gone.  Seconds later he was back with the pitcher from her chiller, and a glass.  He filled it and handed it to her.

“Thank you, Con,” she said before taking a long drink.  “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Do you remember when we kissed you a few days ago?” Landor asked.

“Of course.”

“After I kissed you, did you feel as though you needed Con or Ari to kiss you?  Not just wanted, but needed.”

“Yes, I did,” she replied.  “Is that wrong?”

“No, of course not,” Ari said, reaching out to stroke her hair.  “It’s just that we’ve never heard of any female experiencing pre tri-phase symptoms in…well…ever.  We know from some of the ancient material we have from before the Dark Time that it was once common, but that was a very long time ago.”

She stared at him blankly for a long moment, having no idea whatsoever what he was talking about.  She looked hopefully at Con.  “Pre-what-huh?”

“Pre tri-phase.”

“Which is what?”

“Let’s say that you’re standing in a room alone, and you’re frightened about something.  Then I enter the room.  I can sense your fear.  I can smell your fear.  But I can’t feel your fear.  With tri-phase, I could choose to feel your fear exactly as you feel it.”

“The way I felt your arousal,” she said.  Con nodded.  “I don’t think I like that.  I don’t want you three feeling everything I feel.”

“Why not?” Ari asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, frowning.  “I just don’t.  Please don’t take this wrong but, to be honest, it wasn’t that great feeling your arousal and mine at the same time.  Anyway, I thought that’s what pheromones were for.  To increase a woman’s desire so that she can handle three men.”

“We are not offended, nor would we have had that happen to you, especially during our first time together,” Landor said.  “And you’re right about the pheromones.  But increasing your desire is not the same as experiencing the desire of three other people.”

“No, I don’t suppose it is,” Rayne said.  “Is that going to happen to me every time?”

“Not necessarily, but it’s impossible to say for certain,” Con replied.  “Tri-phase consists of three different and distinct parts, or phases.  The phases are sexual, emotional, and physical.  When fully developed, which occurs only after soul-linking, we can choose to feel what you feel sexually, emotionally, or physically, and you can choose to feel what we feel in the same way.”

“But I didn’t choose to feel your arousal.”

“No, you didn’t,” Con said.  “You experienced what’s known as pre-tri-phase.  Early signs of tri-phase that are uncontrolled and random.  Once we link, that should cease to happen.”

“Should?”

“No one in living memory has experienced tri-phase,” Landor said.  “I’m afraid we can’t predict what’ll happen for certain.  We can only guess.”

“Will you three have the same random experience that I had?  Will you feel my arousal?”

“No, we won’t,” Con replied.  “Tri-phase is grounded in Clan females who are born with the ability.  It only begins to manifest after she meets her Rami, and she shares it with them only after they are linked.  It no longer exists because our females have been human for so long.”

“Until now,” Rayne said.

“Yes, until now,” Landor agreed.

“I don’t recall reading anything about tri-phase in the conversion reports for the other Clan born females who’ve linked so far,” Ari said.

“No, neither do I,” Landor replied, then shrugged.  “There’ve been many changes with the Klanaren in the past few decades, and we don’t always have explanations for them.  We can only do our best with whatever happens.”

“Once we link, then I’ll have control of what I feel from you guys, right?”

“If this really is tri-phase, and we think it is, then yes, that’s exactly right,” Landor assured her.  “We can link anytime you want, Rayne.  We could do it today, or tomorrow.  All you need do is tell us.”

Rayne dropped her eyes, knowing that Landor had little trouble reading her true feelings through them.  She wished more than anything that they could link right that very moment.  But she couldn’t.  She needed to remember…something…first.  “I won’t say that I’m not intrigued, because I am,” she said finally, deciding not to address the subject of linking.  “I can see that it would be fun sexually if we can control it.  But it scares me a little too.  I don’t like the idea of you guys suffering because I’m sick or in pain.”

“Unfortunately, Rayne, none of us has a choice in this,” Landor said, hiding his disappointment.  “We must wait and see what happens, then deal with it in the best way we can.”

“You’re right,” she said, nodding.  Then she yawned widely.  “Sorry.  Guess I’m getting tired now.”  She bit her lip again.  “We’ll all sleep in here, right?”

“Unless you don’t want us to,” Ari said.

“Of course I want you to,” she said in surprise, then yawned again.  “You’re my Rami, aren’t you?”

“Yes, we most definitely are,” Landor said, taking her empty glass and putting it on the bedside table.  When he turned back to her, she had a strange expression on her face.  “What are you thinking?” he asked, climbing into bed.

“I was thinking that, in spite of everything, I’m happier right now than I’ve ever been, and that I like the way you three look at me.”

“Which way is that?” Con asked, lying down on the other side of her.

“Like…you’re happy, and relaxed, and…,” she trailed off, frowning.  “I don’t know.  Something I can’t describe.”

“Love,” Con said, smiling at her.  “What you can’t describe is us loving you.”

“You love me?”

“Of course we love you,” Ari said.  “You’re absolutely perfect for us in every way.  You’re smart, beautiful, courageous, funny, and have enough stubbornness to keep us from rolling right over you.”

“You don’t want me to change?” she asked doubtfully.  “Not even a little?”

“Not even a little,” Landor said, then held up one finger.  “I take that back.  There is one thing I’d like you to change, but if you choose not to it won’t change my feelings for you.”

“Okay,” she said, bracing herself.  “What is it?”

“Your swearing.”

“My swearing?” she asked with an unreadable expression on her face.

“Please don’t be offended,” Landor said, “but it just doesn’t suit you.”

Rayne smiled, which surprised them.  They expected her to be embarrassed, and were prepared for her to be angry, but they didn’t expect her to be amused.

“I suppose I should be glad that we didn’t hurt your feelings,” Landor said stiffly.  Rayne’s smile widened.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I’m not smiling because I’m amused.  I’m smiling because I don’t swear at all.  Ever.  I never have.”

Landor, Con and Ari exchanged confused looks over her head.  “What does gula mean, then?” Ari asked.

“It means sugar.”

“Sugar?”

“Yes, sugar.  All of the words you hear me use when you think I’m swearing mean sugar in a different old Earth language.”

“But…why?” Con asked.

“Because I can’t bring myself to swear,” she admitted, her cheeks turning pink.  “It’s stupid, I know.  People swear all the time.  They’re just words, right?  Sounds put together like any other word.  But for some reason, I can’t make myself say swear words and frankly, I don’t want to.”

“We don’t think it’s stupid at all,” Landor said.  “We think it says something about you.  Something we like.  But it doesn’t explain why you say sugar in different languages.”

“Peer pressure,” she said.

“Peer pressure?” Landor asked doubtfully.  “Aren’t you a little old for that?”

“I am now, yeah,” she said.  “But you try going to boarding school at the age of twelve with a bunch of girls who think you’re a baby because you can’t, or won’t, swear the way they do.  Not fitting in with your peers can be a big problem at that age.  I got around swearing by making the other girls think I was swearing.  When I refused to tell them what the words meant, it made me seem mysterious rather than babyish.  As I got older it became a habit that I never tried to break because I still couldn’t bring myself to swear, and it was a good substitute.”  She shrugged lightly.  “Most people who know me are aware that I’m only saying sugar and that’s all I care about.”

“In that case, I withdraw my request that you change it,” Landor said.  “And I apologize.”

“There’s no reason to apologize.  You thought I was swearing, which is what I wanted people to think when I came up with the idea in the first place.  I can hardly blame you for that.  I am curious though.”

“Yes, we do swear occasionally,” Ari said, already knowing what she was going to say.

“Bit of a double standard, don’t you think?”

“I can see how it would appear that way if you don’t know all the facts,” Con said, winking at her.

“Good point,” she replied.  “So what’re the facts?”

“We don’t object to women swearing as a general rule.  Some it suits, some it doesn’t.  It’s the same for men.”

“We don’t think swearing suits you, but we’d never try to tell you how to talk, or try to govern the words you use,” Landor added.  “Like I said, we’re just a bit old fashioned.”

“I like that kind of old fashioned,” she said.  “Anything else about me you’d like to change?”

“I’m looking forward to the day you return to your previous hair length and color,” Ari said.

“And I don’t like those contacts you wear,” Landor added.  “They hide your true self from me.”

“That’s it?” she asked in surprise.  “Truly?”

“There may be things we don’t like now and then,” Con said.  “But that’s true of all people.  I’ve no doubt at all that my bad habit of saying things I don’t mean when I’m angry will irritate you on a fairly regular basis.  So, no, we truly don’t want you to change at all.”

“I love you guys,” she said, smiling happily.  They returned her smile, but said nothing.  She frowned.  “How do you already know that?  It isn’t that tri-whatever it was you talked about earlier, is it?  Did you forget to tell me you can read my mind or something?”

“No we can’t read your mind, and no, it’s not tri-phase,” Landor said, his smile widening to a grin.  “You told us you love us earlier, before you went to sleep.”

“Well, that’s all right then,” she said, then yawned so widely that her jaw made a popping sound.  Landor laid down on his back and pulled her over on top of him.  Con raised the blanket to cover her back, and she snuggled in, closed her eyes, and let sleep take her away, secure in the knowledge that her men would never let anything harm her.  For the first time in a year, she felt truly safe.

Chapter 13

365 Days in the Future

Rayne knelt in the straw beside the once magnificent golden dragon and wiped her face.  She’d cried so many tears since discovering Salene that she was surprised she had any left.  She turned off the hand terminal, then stared down at it, thinking.

“Can you send the hand terminal back with me, Wolef?”

“No, Solin, I’m afraid not.”

“A lot of new jump points have been discovered in the past decade or two, so it might be possible to return and destroy this place in less than eight days.  For my sister’s sake, I must try.  But I can’t afford to waste any of that time trying to remember all of this first.”

“You required less help from me tonight than I expected, so I have some energy left,” Wolef said thoughtfully.  “Enough, I think, to send you and that garment you’re wearing, along with a simple memory or two.”

“Would a memory of Salene and what happened to her be too complicated?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.  I could insure that you remember you traveled back in time one year, though.”

Rayne stood up, then bent to brush the straw from her knees.  She paused with one stiff stalk in her hand, then straightened slowly, spinning it between her fingers.  “I could use this straw to write a message for myself.”

“On what?”

“It would have to be on this shift, since it’s the only thing you can send me back with.”

“And what will you use as ink?”

“The only fluid I have at my disposal,” Rayne said, walking around to the front of the dragon whose snout was nearly as high as she was tall.  “I can use one of your claws to scratch my arm deeply enough to make myself bleed.  What do you think, Wolef?  Will it work?”  She waited a moment.  “Wolef?”

“I apologize, Solin,” he said.  “I’m just a little overwhelmed by the quality of your courage.”

“It’s just a little blood,” she said, embarrassed.  “Do you think it’ll work?”

“Yes, Solin, I do believe it will,” he replied.  “I suggest you write your message on the inside of your shift, however, in case the Doftle catch you.”

“You think they’ll catch me?” Rayne asked, her heart skipping a beat in fear.

“Unfortunately, someone has noticed that the maintenance Doftle on duty tonight is missing.  He doesn’t suspect foul play as yet, and is on his way to check the restrooms and cafeteria.  We have a little time before they begin searching for him in earnest, but I’ve no doubt that when they do they’ll begin with the cells.”

“Then I best hurry,” she said.  She bent and quickly selected several strands of hay and twisted them together to form a stiff bunch.  She pulled off her shift, turned it inside out, and spread it out on the straw.  Then she chose the smallest claw on one of Wolef’s front feet and, without hesitation, dragged her left arm across the point.

It took much longer to write the messages than she’d expected, and a lot more blood, too.  “They’ve found the dead Doftle in your cell, Solin,” Wolef announced just as she finished.  Rayne gathered the shift, pain baton, card key and hand terminal together, then froze as the sound of voices reached her.

“Climb in between my forelegs and hide beneath my neck,” Wolef said urgently.  She immediately did as Wolef said, ducking down into the tight space just as the cell door lock thunked, then slid open.  Heavy footsteps approached the dragon, paused, then walked all the way around him.  Rayne kept her head down and her eyes squeezed shut, hardly daring to breathe.  Finally, the footsteps went back toward the door.  She heard the door slide shut, then the thunk as the lock engaged, but she continued to wait for Wolef to tell her it was safe.

“They’ve searched all the cells but they suspect you’re still on this level,” Wolef said after a few moments.  “They’re going to activate the cell cameras.  It’s time to send you back.”

Rayne pulled the shift on over her head, then stared at the objects she’d stolen from the Doftle she’d killed.  “What should I do with these?”

“Would you like me to send them to the past?”

“Do you think I’ll need them?”

“Anything is possible,” Wolef replied.

“Then yes, please,” she said.

“Tuck them in between my toes.  The webbing will prevent them from slipping to the floor when they change the straw.”  Rayne did as he asked, making sure they couldn’t be seen.  “What memories would you like me to send you back with?”

Rayne had been thinking about that.  “You said one or two, right?”

“Three if they aren’t complicated.”

“All right then, I’d like to remember that I was sent back in time, that no one can know I’m there, and, if possible, that my memories will soon return.”

“Good choices,” he said.  “They are simple enough that I should be able to send all three of them with you.  You do realize that you’ve no choice now but to bring your bears back with you, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do,” she replied.  “That’s why I included the voice key to the Controller spy on the Armadura with my reminders.”

“Very good,” Wolef said.  “Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she replied calmly even though she felt scared and nervous.  “Thank you, Wolef.  For all that you’ve done, for giving me this chance, but mostly for being my friend.  I swear I will come back.”

“I know you will,” he said.  “Brace yourself.”

***

The first thing Rayne noticed when she woke up to the sound of Landor and Ari talking was that her bed felt a little warmer, and a lot lumpier, than usual.  Not in a bad way though.  She was more comfortable than she could remember being in a very long time.  The second thing she noticed was that there was a strange thumping sound that she couldn’t identify.  The harder she focused on it, the louder it seemed to get.  By the time she realized it was a heartbeat, she was almost fully awake.  She breathed Landor’s scent deeply into her lungs and smiled before the question of what she was doing sleeping on top of him hit her.  Her eyes flew open and she lifted her head, surprised that she’d forgotten the previous night’s events for even a moment.

“Good morning,” Landor said from above her.  She turned to look up at him and smiled even though she knew her face had to be pink with embarrassment when she realized she was naked, and so was he.  Suddenly she stiffened, then sighed.

“What’s the matter?”

“I just remembered something and even though it’s something you guys need to know, I kind of wish I hadn’t.”

“That bad?” Landor asked.

“Not really,” Rayne said.  “I mean, it’s not bad in the way that my other memories have been bad.”

“Oh,” Landor said.  He glanced at Ari who was standing beside the bed, tying the belt on his robe.  Ari shrugged, so Landor looked back down at Rayne and told the truth.  “I don’t understand that at all.”

She sighed heavily and pushed herself up.  Landor immediately helped her to move off of him so that she was sitting beside him and Ari handed her one of his clean t-shirts.  She pulled it over her head just before Con entered with a heavily laden tray.  A few minutes later they were all sitting on the bed eating pastry and drinking coffee.  Even though Landor displayed no impatience at all, she knew he was worried so.

“Do you remember when you asked me how we’d be able to find the Facility once we got to Buhell?”

“Yes, of course,” Landor replied.  “You didn’t remember.”

“I do now.  I wish I didn’t have to tell you this, but I do.”  She sipped her coffee, then turned the cup in her hands nervously.  “Wolef said that…,” she paused, then cleared her throat before beginning again.  “When we were trying to come up with a way for me to pinpoint the exact location of the Facility when I returned, he told me that he could duplicate the calls I sent out, down to my brain waves.”  She took another sip of her coffee and waited, hoping she didn’t have to be more specific.

“I’m sorry, Rayne, but I don’t …,” Landor trailed off as the truth hit him.  “Oh hell,” he said hoarsely.  “You called for us all that time, didn’t you?”  She nodded.  “Even after hearing our stars be-damned conversation on the mesa, you still called for us.  You needed us, and we never came.”  He shook his head.  “I don’t understand why you wouldn’t want to tell us this.  You should be furious with us.  You should want us to know how badly we failed you.”

“Landor, this is Rayne you’re talking to, remember?” Ari said.  “She didn’t want to tell us for our sakes.”  Rayne nodded but kept her eyes on the cup in her hands.

“I don’t understand,” Landor said.

“She didn’t want us to know how desperately she tried to reach us because she doesn’t want us to feel badly about it.  She’s protecting us.”

A heavy silence fell as all three men tried to absorb the fact that their berezi had been in dire need, and her calls had gone unanswered.  It was unthinkable and yet, it had happened.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am that we failed you so badly, Rayne,” Landor said.  “But it’s not your responsibility to protect us.  It’s ours to protect you.”

She raised her head at that, her blue green eyes flashing at him.  “Firstly, you didn’t fail because you haven’t even lived that year yet,” she pointed out.  “Secondly, we have no idea what you did after I was taken in that other timeline, but knowing you as I do now, I suspect you spent every minute of that year searching for me.  And thirdly, I’d love to hear you tell my mother that women aren’t supposed to protect their Rami.  Let me know when you plan to do that, would you?  Because I’d like to sell tickets.  The Jasani Women’s Sanctuary could always use a hefty donation.”

“We are more than happy to contribute to the Sanctuary whenever you like, but that is a discussion that can wait for another time,” Landor said.  “Right now, I’d like to discuss the matter of you calling for us, and us not responding.”

“Why?” she asked.  “In this timeline, where we are right now, it never happened.”

“Not for us, no, but it did happen for you, Rayne, and you were deeply hurt by it.”  Rayne stared down at her coffee again.  “You needed us, and we weren’t there for you, and that’s a part of you now.  It’s engraved on your mind and in your heart, and it always will be.  That’s the reason you hid your emotions from us after you arrived.  Your subconscious remembered, even though your conscious mind did not.”

“Wolef told me I was being unreasonable,” she said softly.  “He said that my calls weren’t very strong, and that it would have taken a miracle for you to have heard me beyond even a short distance, and he was right.”

“No, he wasn’t, and you know that,” Landor chided gently.  “If we’d claimed you when you became an adult, we’d have been soul-linked when you were taken.  No amount of distance would have prevented us from knowing how much you needed us.  We might not have been able to find you, but we would have tried, and you would have known we were trying.”

Rayne felt the regret and guilt radiating from Landor, Con, and Ari, and wished she knew how to convince them to let it go.  But she didn’t.  “We need to move past that now,” she said.  “I wouldn’t have told you about this at all but I had to because Wolef will be copying my calls and sending them out.  If it works the way he said, you’ll think the calls are coming from me.  Hopefully we’ll be close enough for you to use those calls to pinpoint the location of the Facility.”

“Wait,” Ari said frowning.  “How will the current version of Wolef know who you are, or that you’ve gone back in time when you won’t even meet him for another year from now?”

“When I asked him that question, he said that he was capable of maintaining several different timelines at once.  Even though I didn’t understand it, and still don’t, all that really matters is that he can do it.”

“That’s true,” Con said.

“Just remember that when you hear what sounds like a distress call coming from me, that it’s not me.”

Chapter 14

Rayne watched her men through the Roar Room’s viewing window as they as they burned off some energy in their bearenca alter-forms.  As beautiful as they were, and as much as she loved to watch them, she’d grown more worried, and more preoccupied, since remembering that Salene had been taken by the Doftle.

“What’s the matter, Kisu?” Landor asked, startling her as they entered the ante room.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your run.”

“We were finished anyway,” he said.

“When will we reach Buhell?”

“In about twelve hours,” Con answered.  “Early in the morning.”

Rayne sighed heavily as she crossed her arms tightly in front of herself and started pacing back and forth with quick steps.

“We thought that would make you happy,” Landor said, frowning as her frustration increased.

“It does, but I’m also worried because I don’t remember enough yet.”

“You’ve remembered a lot,” Ari said.  “You remembered why we needed to get there so quickly.  You remembered who abducted you and what they did to you.  You remembered who sent you back in time.  What else do you need to know?”

“I need to know the most important thing, which is why they abducted me in the first place,” she said.  “I don’t know why it’s so important to know that before we reach Buhell.  I just know that it is.”

“We know,” Landor said, an expression of regret on his face.

“You know what?” she asked blankly.

“We know why you were abducted.”

“I don’t understand.  How could you possibly know that?”

“We got information from Pip’s Controller that we didn’t tell you about,” Landor admitted.  “We should have, but we didn’t want to add to the burden you already carry.”

“Wow,” she said softly, looking from one of them to the other.  She understood them now, so she knew that they wouldn’t have kept anything from her without a really good reason.  “This must be really bad.”

“It is,” Landor replied, wishing he didn’t have to tell her this.  “It’s our fault that you were abducted.”

She stared at him for a long moment, so astonished by his statement that she couldn’t think of a single thing to say.  Then, several responses flashed through her mind one after the other, ranging from outright laughter to flat disbelief.  “I don’t see how you, or anyone else, could have stopped it,” she said finally.  “I was transported away without warning, Landor, and they use Blind Sight.”

“That isn’t what I meant,” he said.  “I meant that it’s our fault you were targeted in the first place.”

Stunned, she could only form one word.  “How?”

“According to the Controller in Pip’s head, he transported genetic material he’d collected from the three of us to an unknown location three days before you were abducted.  Along with the material he included the information that you are our berezi.”

Rayne felt the blood drain from her face as the memory she’d been waiting for exploded in her mind like a bomb, set off by Landor’s admission.  She clapped her hands to her mouth and spun around, her eyes frantically searching.  Seeing that she was about to be sick, Landor picked her up and sped her to the restroom just outside the Roar Room, reaching it just in time.

A few minutes later she was sitting on the floor, her forehead resting against the cool wall beside her, eyes closed.  She was annoyed that the three of them refused to leave her alone so she could be sick without an audience, but she didn’t have the energy to argue about it further.

“Here,” Ari said, gently lifting her head so that he could pat her face with a cold washcloth.  The cold helped tremendously.  She took the cloth from him and held it against her forehead, her eyes still closed as she struggled not to think about what she’d remembered.  When the washcloth warmed she pulled it away and opened her eyes.

“Thanks,” she whispered tiredly.  When she moved to stand, Landor stopped her by simply picking her up and setting her on the counter next to the sink.  Con handed her a disposable toothbrush from a drawer, and a glass of water.

Once she’d brushed her teeth and washed her face she felt better, but the memories Landor had unintentionally unlocked kept crowding to the forefront of her mind.  She looked at Landor, Con, and Ari, tears filling her eyes even though she fought to hold them back.

“Wait until we get back to our room where we have more privacy, Kisu,” Landor suggested, picking her up once more.  She nodded and rested her head against his shoulder as he carried her out of the restroom, up the hall, down two flights of stairs and into the master suite, moving at a normal walking speed to give them all time to settle down a little.

Once they reached the master suite Landor set her on the bed while Ari retrieved a clean shirt from the dresser that, just that morning, she’d moved her things into.  She smiled her thanks and changed out of her sweat dampened shirt, wishing she could shower.  But that would have to wait.  Landor removed her shoes, picked her up again, and sat down on the bed with her in his lap.  Con and Ari untied the bed curtains, then climbed up to join them.

“We’re ready whenever you are,” Landor said.

“I don’t know how to say this,” she said.  “It’s truly…I don’t think there’s a word for how bad this is.”

Landor’s arms tightened around her.  “Just say the words,” he said into her hair.  “We will deal with it together.”

Rayne reached out with both hands, one to Ari, and the other to Con, needing a closer connection with all three of them.  When they took her hands in theirs, something inside of her relaxed a little.  Not much, but enough that she could say what had to be said.  “The Doftle took eggs from my ovaries, and fertilized them using sperm from their Nomen clones.  Clones that they’d genetically enhanced using dragon DNA from Wolef.  Out of twenty eight eggs, they ended up with thirteen viable embryos which they implanted in artificial wombs.  Then they injected the embryos with a mixture of DNA from the three of you, and…,” she paused, swallowed hard, then started over.  “A mixture of DNA from the three of you, and male Xanti.”

White hot fury blasted into her so suddenly and with such force that for a few moments she couldn’t even breathe.  She attempted to let the Bearen-Hirus’ emotions roll through her the way she’d done before, but they were far too strong this time.  She felt herself being pulled into a well of inky darkness and was helpless to stop it.  Panicked, she screamed, which yanked Landor, Con, and Ari back to their senses.

“Raise your shield, Rayne,” Landor said through clenched teeth.  “Hurry!”

Wondering why she hadn’t thought of it herself, she reached for her shield and slammed it in place, cutting off the overwhelming emotions coming from her men.  “Okay,” she gasped.  She looked up at them, startled to find that their eyes were nearly black, their bodies stiff, their teeth and nails too sharp, and their jaws too heavy.

She waited patiently, giving them back some of the time they’d always given her, surprised to find how difficult it actually was.

“We’re all right,” Landor assured her finally.  “That was close.  Too close.  We’re sorry, Rayne.”

“What happened?”

“We started going into a blood rage right here, with you between us,” Landor said, his face turning pale at the thought.  Rayne felt a little sick herself.  If they’d spontaneously shifted into their bearencas while crowded close against her as they were, it probably would have killed her.  “We’re so sorry, Rayne.”

“It’s my fault,” she said.  “I should have suggested we stay at the Roar Room before I told you, and I didn’t even think about raising my shield until you told me to do it.”

“We should have thought of that ourselves,” Landor said.  “We were all in shock, I think.”

Rayne shrugged, then smiled, surprising all three of them.  “I have good news.”

“Good news would be welcome,” Con said.

“It hasn’t happened yet,” she said.  “What I just told you about the embryos hasn’t happened.  What’s more, it won’t happen for about a year from now.  Their first success, the survival of four of those thirteen embryos, occurred shortly before they took me off of the machines.  That’s why they took me off, actually.  That was five days before my return.”

“You’re right,” Con said, smiling back now.  “That’s very good news.”

“This is why you traveled back through time,” Ari said.

“No, it’s not,” Rayne said, shaking her head.  “I didn’t find out about the embryos until after I accidentally discovered Salene, which was about an hour before Wolef sent me back in time.  I’d stolen a hand terminal and was using it to find out how long Salene had been there, among other things, when I stumbled over my own file.  I’m Sample F415 by the way, nice to meet you.”

“Sample?” Landor asked.

“That’s what they call their lab animals,” she said.  “Samples.  Anyway, that’s how I discovered the reason for a lot of the experiments they’d done on me.  Wolef and I spent a long time trying to think of a way to save Salene and prevent the experiments from succeeding.  By the time the dead Doftle was found in my cell the only solution we’d come up with was for me to return to the Facility and destroy it before the order for Salene’s abduction was given.  That would also prevent them from doing experiments on me since they didn’t start those until after I’d been there for about a month.”

“There was a dead Doftle in your cell?” Con asked, his voice faint.

“Yes,” she said absently, focused on the memories suddenly flowing through her mind.  “I took his hand terminal from him after I killed him because we didn’t even know the Standard name for where we were and…oh!…that’s right…that’s also where I read about the Controller spies and found out that number 57 was onboard the Armadura.

“Wolef warned me that I’d have trouble remembering things right away, so I used one of his claws to cut my arm so that I could write those messages to myself using some of the straw in his cell.”  She looked up at them apologetically.  “I realize I could have been clearer, but I was writing in blood on the inside of my shift, just in case the Doftle caught me before Wolef could send me back in time.”

“Wolef couldn’t send the hand terminal back with you?” Landor asked.

“No,” she replied.  “It took extra effort on his part to send the shift back with me along with the three simple memories that I had.  He truly did the best that he could.  In fact, he gave me the strength I needed to reach his cell after I escaped mine.  That’s partly why I was so weak and exhausted when I came back.  He warned me there’d be a price to pay.  I would still be there if not for him.”

“We understand,” Landor said.  “I promise you, we do not mean to malign him.”

“I’m curious about something,” Ari said.

“Which is?”

“What about Wolef?”

Rayne frowned.  “I don’t know what you mean, Ari.  What about him?”

“He’s been a prisoner for centuries, and he has the power to travel time.  He must have tried sending others back before you.  Please don’t take this wrong, Rayne, but what does he get out of this?”

“You’re right, he did,” Rayne said.  “Three different times he connected with other prisoners and made a deal with them, just like the deal he made with me.  One failed to keep his end of their bargain because he died.  The other two chose not to keep their word.”

“What is this deal, exactly?” Landor asked.

“He sent me back in time one year, freeing me from the Doftle.  In return, I agreed to make my way back to the Facility as quickly as I could and destroy it.  And him.  I always intended to return to the Facility.  My discovery of Salene just meant I had to get there a lot faster than either of us expected.”

“Shouldn’t we try to rescue Wolef?” Ari asked.

“No,” she replied sadly.  “It’s far too late for that.  The Doftle have done some truly horrific things to his body, and his brain.  He’s completely trapped within his own mind.  He can’t even open his eyes.  I secretly hoped that when the time came, when I returned to the Facility as I promised, that I’d be able to convince him to let me try to rescue him.  But, once I actually saw him, I understood why he wanted his existence on this plane to end.  Rescue is not an option for him.  I have to do as I promised, and I will do as I promised.”

“Now that you remember so much, there’re a couple of questions we hope you can answer for us,” Landor said.

“I will if I can,” she replied.

“You’re here, with us,” he said.  “But where is the version of you that’s only been in the Doftle’s hands for a week?”

“It’s there, in the Facility,” she replied.  “But it’s an empty shell now.  My soul and my conscious and subconscious minds, all that makes me who I am, is right here, in this body, in this place, in this time.”

“What will happen to you when that shell is destroyed?” Con asked.  Though his voice was low, Rayne felt the tension he was trying to hide.

For half a second she considered lying to them.  It would be so much easier for them if she could just say that nothing would happen.  That the destruction of her other self would have no effect on her at all.  But she couldn’t bring herself to do it.  “I don’t know,” she admitted.  Their tension rose, as she’d known it would.  “Wolef told me that there were certain rules, or guidelines, regarding time travel for those few who were capable of wielding that magic.  One of those rules was that they never sent anyone back to a time that occurred after their own birth which, of course, is exactly what he did with me.  He warned me not to come into direct contact with my other self, but he didn’t know what would happen if I did, nor did he know what’ll happen when the other version of myself dies.  It was a risk that I understood clearly before I chose to take it.”

“I’m not sure we can agree to take that same risk,” Landor said.

Rayne tensed.  “That’s easy to say from your position.”

“I suppose it is,” Landor said.  “But it doesn’t change anything.”

Rayne pushed herself away from him and climbed off the bed.  She paced the room for a few moments, trying to imagine herself in their place.

“I understand how you feel, I really do,” she said, turning so she could see all three of them sitting on the bed, watching her.  “Believe me, now that I’ve found you, the last thing I want to do is lose you.  But I made an informed decision, and I gave Wolef my word.  I will keep it.”

“Why can’t we bring your other body over to the Armadura before we destroy the Facility?” Ari asked.

Rayne shuddered.  “It’s an empty shell, Ari.  Why would you even want to do that?”

“To ensure that you remain alive,” Landor answered.

“No, I don’t want some…some…backup version of myself existing on machines forever,” she said.  “I lived that way for nearly a year, remember?  No.  It’s a disgusting idea and I’ll never agree to it.”

“We could simply refuse to destroy the Facility,” Con said.

“Then the Doftle will have my body, with all of its DNA, and eggs, to do with as they wish, for as long as they wish.  The four embryos that they absolutely will create will mature, and whatever they turn out to be, they’ll be under the control of the Doftle.  And, I will have failed to keep my word to Wolef.”  She saw the stubbornness in the set of their jaws, and the way their arms were crossed over their chests.  She understood what she had to do, and it made her sad.  But they weren’t leaving her any choice.  She could not allow those events to come to pass.

“As a princess of the royal house of the Nine Clans of the Jasani, and the highest-ranking Clan Jasani onboard, and in the face of clear and present danger to all Klanaren, I formally assume command of this vessel and order that I be taken to Jasan with all possible speed.”

“Princess Rayne, we acknowledge your authority and will loyally obey your orders, but, may I ask what purpose this will serve?” Landor asked.  “What about Salene?”

“The closer we get to the Doftle, the greater the risk that they’ll discover us,” she said, refusing to let her tears fall.  “If they suspect our presence they’ll move the Facility, and since you will not help me do what I must, it is a chance I cannot take.  The only path open to me now is to get another ship from Jasan, and come back here with it.  That will put me beyond the eight days so if history repeats itself, there will be no point in trying to rescue Salene.  If an ordinary cloaking device will let me get close enough to the Facility to destroy it, thereby preventing them from creating those four embryos, then that’s what I will do.”

“There must be some way around this,” Ari said.  “A way for you to destroy the experiments, save Salene, and keep your word without risking your life.”

“If you can think of one, I’d love to hear it,” she said, then sighed.  “I’m sorry, but stopping the creation of those monsters…monsters grown from eggs that should have become our children…is more important than your feelings, or mine.  The Facility has to be destroyed for the good of all and I will see it done.”

“I almost wish I didn’t agree, but you’re right, Kisu,” Landor said heavily.  “It must be destroyed.”

“I don’t agree,” Con said stubbornly, following Landor and Ari as they climbed off the bed and stood facing her.  Landor looked at Con for a long moment, then reached out to place one hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“Con,” he said softly.  “Imagine, for just a moment, the monster that will emerge from the embryos Rayne spoke of.  Part Rayne, part us, but also part Clan Bearen, part dragon, and part Xanti.”

Con squeezed his eyes shut against the image that appeared in his mind, then opened them and looked at Rayne, his jade eyes bright with unshed tears.  “It cannot be allowed.”

“No, it can’t,” Rayne agreed, then stepped forward to wrap her arms around his waist.  “I’m so sorry.  So very, very sorry.  But we have no choice.  We have to stop this before it happens.  Before the first embryo is created.”

“We will do what must be done,” Landor said.  “And your word will be kept.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

“My agreement comes with a condition,” Con said.

“Which is what?” Rayne asked warily.

“I want to know more about this Doftle you killed.”

Rayne looked up, smiling at the deliberately playful tone of his voice.  “I’ll agree to that, but I have my own condition,” she countered.

“Which is?” Con asked with an arched brow.

“Food,” she said.  “Lots of food.”

“Agreed,” Con said at once.  “Do you want to go to the cafeteria?”

“No, thank you,” she said.  “I prefer to stay here, with just the three of you.  Do you mind?”

“Of course not.  What do you want?”

“What don’t I want would be easier to answer,” she said wryly.  “I’d love a salad.  A big salad.  And a sandwich.  BLT on whole wheat.  And dessert.  Chocolate.  Cake, cookies, or ice cream, I don’t care which, just as long as it’s chocolate.”

“To drink?” Ari asked, smiling down at her.

“Hmmm…iced tea,” she decided.

Con bent down and kissed her on the forehead, then stepped back so that Ari could kiss her too.  Her breath caught in her throat at the gentle warmth of their soft lips against her skin, and then they were gone, moving too fast for her to see.

“My turn,” Landor said, then bent his head to kiss her on the forehead too.  When he raised his head his eyes were so bright they seemed to glow as he stared down at her.

“I’m sorry for threatening to make you break your word,” he said.

“Don’t be, I understand,” she said.  “I would have done the same thing if our positions were reversed.”

“I guess that means you love us,” he said, moving to the chiller they’d installed for her sasuna.  He poured her a glass, then handed to her quietly, noting the thoughtful expression on her face.  She looked like she was trying to work through something in her mind.  He went into the bathroom and washed up, and by the time he came out she was obviously ready to talk about it.

“I almost forgot.  I relinquish command.”  When Landor nodded, she continued.  “I remember something, but I’m not sure what it means, or if it means anything at all.”

“Do you want to wait for Con and Ari?”

“Do you think I should?”

“Not necessarily,” he said.  “We can fill them in when they get back if you want.”

“If it was a personal thing, I’d wait, but it’s not,” she said, then sipped her drink while he pulled a chair out at the table across from her and sat down.  “I was in a cell in a lower level of the Facility,” she began.  “That’s where they put me when they took me off of the machines, and that’s where Wolef was held.  There were two rows of cells in an L shape, twenty cells altogether but less than half of them in use.”  She looked at Landor who nodded that he was following her.  “Neither Wolef nor I knew what cell either of us was in, but in order to send me back in time he needed physical contact with me.  Since he couldn’t move at all, I had to escape my cell, then open the other cells one at a time to find him.  That’s how I found Salene.  But before I found her, I found others.  Six others, actually.  None of them were coherent, most were like Salene, with what Wolef called a void where their minds should have been.”

“Is that why Wolef didn’t tell you sooner that your sister was a prisoner, too?” Landor asked gently.

“Yes,” she replied, nodding.  “I was angry with him about that at first, until I realized she was brain dead.  He had no idea who she was.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting,” Landor said.  “Please go on.”

“One of the voids was a man, human I think.  Maybe humanoid.  He was bald and thin like the rest of us, but there was something familiar about him.  I remember taking a few moments to study his face, committing it to memory, and I can see him clearly in my mind.  But I still can’t remember why he was so familiar.”

“You think he’s important somehow?”

“I think identifying him is important somehow,” she clarified.  The door opened and Con and Ari came in carrying loaded trays.  Rayne excused herself and went to the bathroom.  When she returned, Landor had filled Con and Ari in on what she’d told him.

“Thanks for doing this,” she said to Con and Ari before taking her seat at the table.

“We prefer having you all to ourselves anyway,” Con said, smiling at her.  She smiled back and they ate in silence for a few minutes.

“Can you describe the man you saw that you think is familiar?” Ari asked.

“No, I don’t think that I can,” she said.  “He had no hair and his eyes were closed.  He was also lying down, and was very thin.  I know the face in my mind, but I don’t think I could describe it.  I’m sorry.”

“I have an idea,” Con said, setting his fork down and reaching for the hand terminal at his belt.  He turned it on, tapped a few keys, then smiled when he found what he was looking for.  He handed the device to Rayne, who took it, then looked down at the screen.  Her eyes widened.

“Is that the same man?” Con asked.

“Nearly,” she said, studying the enormous, bald man on the screen.  “It looks very much like him, but it’s not.  He wasn’t this big, even accounting for the weight difference, but it’s close.”

Con held his hand out and she returned the hand terminal to him.  He tapped a few more keys, then handed it back to her.  This time the image was of a handsome man with sandy colored hair, blue eyes, and what appeared to be a warm smile, though it gave Rayne the chills.  There was something in the man’s eyes that was downright scary.  “That’s him,” she said, handing it back.  “I don’t honestly know how I know that for sure since the guy in the Facility looks so different, but I just know it’s him.”

“I’ve no doubt whatsoever that you’re right,” Con said.  He noticed that Landor and Ari were both giving him impatient looks so he held up the hand terminal so they could see.  “This man, that she identified, is Eric Kick.”

“Now that’s interesting,” Landor said, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully.

“More interesting than you know,” Con said as he lowered the hand terminal and again began tapping at keys.  “We received an information packet before leaving Garza that I forgot about until this morning.  When I opened it I discovered that Arima Faith Falcoran had transported over to the Ugaztun to comfort Princess Lariah after learning about Rayne’s disappearance.  While she was there, she saw this man in the transport room.  He was being taken down to Garza, under guard, for some exercise.”  He held the hand terminal up and showed them the first image he’d shown to Rayne, which was of the sole surviving Nomen of Garza.  “Arima Faith thought he was Eric Kick at first, before realizing he was too big.  The Falcorans agreed.”

“This proves that the Doftle are connected to the Nomen,” Landor said.

“The man in the Facility is the man that was stranded on Buhell?” Rayne asked.  They nodded.  “The one who almost murdered Aunt Faith?”  They nodded again.

“I suddenly don’t feel so sorry for him anymore.”

“No, neither do we,” Landor said.  “So, the Falcorans strand him, and the Doftle decide to use him as the template for their newer, enhanced clones, and keep his body alive just in case they need more source DNA.”

“They then send the clones to Garza because they need that liquid metal for the Controllers they’re planting everywhere,” Ari said.

“Well, it’s nice to know that we’ve connected the Nomen to the Doftle, but it still doesn’t tell us what the Doftle want, or what their ultimate goal is,” Landor said.  “Unless you remember something that might help with that?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Rayne admitted.  “Wolef told me that after five hundred years of eavesdropping on the little blue thugs, he didn’t know the answer to that question, either.”

Chapter 15

The next morning Rayne stood before the enormous floor to ceiling viewport in the Armadura’s observation deck with the Bearen-Hirus, looking out at the moon known as Buhell III C in the distance.  “We can’t get any closer until we have a better idea of the Facility’s location,” Con said.

“Have you felt Wolef’s call yet?” she asked.

“Not yet, but we’ve only been here for an hour,” Landor said.  “Would you like to get some breakfast?”

“Yes, I would,” she replied, then grimaced.  “At this rate, I’ll be too big for you to carry soon.”

Landor laughed softly as they left the observation deck and headed toward the cafeteria.  An hour later they were on their way back to the observation deck when all three men stilled right in the middle of the corridor.  Rayne turned around and stared at their distant eyes and pale faces.  “Wolef,” she whispered.

Her voice broke the spell they seemed to be under, and their eyes grew fierce as they stared down at her.  Without warning, Landor grabbed hold of her, his heart racing as he pulled her against his chest in an iron grip.  Ari and Con were both growling as they crowded close, and when she looked up at them she was startled to see that their teeth were bared.

Their reaction to her call for help healed the old wound she’d been carefully hiding from them, and brought tears to her eyes.  She brushed them away impatiently and reached out to touch her men.  “I’m right here,” she said.  “I’m not in danger.  Feel me, please.”

As she watched, the light of anger in their eyes dimmed and they made visible efforts to relax.  Just when they were beginning to look more like themselves, Wolef must have repeated the call because they all tensed again, and Landor’s arms tightened around her to the point of discomfort.

“Wolef,” she called silently, reaching for the familiar path in her mind.  “We’re here, Wolef.  Can you hear me?”

“Of course I can hear you, Solin,” Wolef said sniffily, but she knew him well now, and caught the strong undercurrent of relief and worry.  “Did you bring your bears with you?”

“I did,” she said, “and your calls are working a little too well.  Please don’t send out any more.”

“Of course,” Wolef replied.  “I hope their reactions were everything you hoped they’d be.”

“And a bit more,” she replied.

“Rayne?” Landor asked.

She opened her eyes.  “I’m speaking with Wolef.  I thought it would be good if he stopped sending out those calls.”

“Yes, thank you,” he said, setting her on her feet before they resumed walking toward the observation deck.

“I am quite glad that you returned so quickly,” Wolef said.

“Wolef, what’s wrong?” she asked, speaking out loud so her men could hear at least half of the conversation.  “You’re tense and worried.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I can feel you, Wolef,” she replied.  “Tell me, please.”

“Very well,” Wolef said after a short silence.  “I’m afraid I have some rather difficult news for you.”

“Then it’s best to get it over quickly.”

“I’m not sure I see the logic in that statement, but I don’t suppose this is the best time for a debate.”

“Stop stalling, Wolef,” she said.  “You’re scaring me.”

“I apologize,” Wolef said.  There was a short pause, then he said, “Your sister is here.”

Rayne’s entire body jerked hard as though she’d been struck.  She locked her knees, refusing to give into emotion.  “Which one?”

“Salene.”

“How did this happen?” Rayne demanded.  “I don’t understand.”

“How did what happen?” Landor demanded, fists clenched at his sides in an effort to prevent himself from snatching her up into his arms again.  They could feel her shock, and knew she was holding on to a thin semblance of calm with everything she had.

“Salene is there, in the Facility,” she said, her face white.  “It makes no sense.  The orders weren’t supposed to go out for another two days.”  She held up one finger when he started to ask a question, then reached for Wolef again.  While she spoke silently, Landor guided her into the observation deck and Con closed the doors behind them.

“Everything is different than before,” she said after a long silence.  “Wolef says she just arrived at the Facility yesterday, less than twenty four hours ago.”

“We made good time getting here from Garza,” Con said.  “The Doftle’s ships must be much faster than ours.”

“What else is different?” Landor asked.

“She doesn’t have a head injury this time, and they’re trying to force her to shift.  That’s what they did to me.”  Her eyes widened in sudden understanding.  “Sukari!” she hissed.  “This is my fault.  When I came back in time, my soul came with me, leaving a mindless shell behind.  They couldn’t torture a vegetable into shifting, so they abducted Salene sooner than they did in the other timeline so she could take my place.”

“That doesn’t make it your fault, Rayne,” Landor said.  “Don’t worry.  We’ll get her back.  Con?”

Rayne turned to Con who was doing something on his hand terminal.  He looked up and nodded.  “Wolef’s calls were successful.  We can feel him strongly enough to use him as a transportation target.  We’ll need him to call again two or three times when we get to the transport room so that we can plot the Facility’s orbit.”

“And then what?” Rayne demanded.

“Then we’ll transport to the Facility, find Salene, and bring her back here,” Landor said.

“No, you can’t,” Rayne said as icy fear raced through her veins at the thought of her men in the Doftle’s hands.  “It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“For starters, they’ll track your transport signal the moment you send it.  It has to be me.”

“Absolutely not,” Landor said, fear making his words harsher than he’d intended.

“Of the four of us, which one is capable of making herself virtually invisible?  Which one of us is familiar with the Facility, and the Doftle?  Which one can communicate with Wolef?”

“The answer to all of those questions is you, Rayne, of course,” Landor said, making an effort to gentle his tone.  “But it doesn’t change the fact that you will not go into that hellish place again.  We are incapable of sending you there.”

“I’ll send myself,” she said.  “I know the way to the transport room and I know how to run the console.”

“I’m sorry, Rayne, but no.”

“This is not your decision to make,” she said with tears of frustration in her eyes.

“As Commander of this ship, it is,” Landor said.

Knowing there was nothing she could say that would change his mind, she spun around and left the observation deck without another word.  She walked quickly up the corridor to the elevator, her mind racing as she tried to think of a way to do what she knew she had to do.

“I believe that I have the strength to bring you here, since you’re so close,” Wolef said.

Rayne stopped in her tracks.  “Really?”

“Why do you always say that?”

“What about the shields they’ve woven around me?” she asked, ignoring the question.  She heard a door open behind her and immediately raised her partial shield, blocking her men from sensing her emotions.  Without looking back to see who was following her, she pressed the elevator call button and waited.  A moment later she was in the elevator and the doors were closing, cutting off her momentary view of Ari’s worried face.  She waited until she was in the room she’d used when first arriving on the Armadura, with the newly replaced door locked behind her, before reaching for Wolef again.

“Can you get through the shields?” she asked impatiently.

“They are well woven, but they guard against technology, not magic.  They pose no problem.”

“Were you able to send the hand terminal and the card key back in time to yourself?”

“Of course,” he said.  “I have the pain baton as well.”

Rayne reached up to touch the pendant that Landor, Con, and Ari had given her, then wrapped her hand around it, blocking the micro cam’s view.  “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Close your eyes and hold onto your stomach,” Wolef warned.  “I’m afraid that this may be somewhat rough.”

She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw tightly just before the world began twirling around her at stomach churning speed.  The door opened, Ari shouted something that she didn’t quite catch, and then her senses were filled with the familiar scents and sounds of the Facility.

When the sensation of moving ceased, she opened her eyes and blinked back instant tears at the sight of the horrifically mutilated dragon before her, releasing the crystal so that her men could see what she saw.  “Thank you, Wolef,” she whispered softly, reaching out to touch the tarnished scales on his enormous head.

“You’re most welcome, of course,” he replied.  “I do hope that your bears will be able to transport you out of here when you find your sister.  I expect this place, along with myself, to be vaporized long before I can possibly regain the strength to repeat that exercise.”

Rayne heard the question hidden in his words and immediately sought to reassure him.  Touching the crystal around her neck lightly, she decided to continue speaking out loud so that her men could hear.  “I haven’t forgotten my promise, Wolef.  I’m very grateful that you told me about Salene so that I can try to rescue her, but whether I succeed or not, I will keep my promise to you.”

“I know you well enough by now to know that,” Wolef said stoutly.  “Please excuse my curiosity, but how long has it been since you returned to your past?”

“Six days.”

“I’m very impressed,” he said, surprised.  “The difference in your overall physical health in so short a time is remarkable.”

“I was fortunate enough to be healed by men who have a very strong talent for it,” Rayne said as she walked around to the front of the once magnificent creature, her boots crunching in the dry straw.  “How long did you have to wait before you were strong enough to send these things back to yourself in this time?” she asked, reaching in between Wolef’s great clawed toes for the items she’d hidden there a year in the future.

“A few months,” he replied.  “I expected to be transporting them to you, not transporting you to them, however.”

“I know,” she said.  “I’m just glad they’re here.”  The first item she removed was the key card, which went into a pocket of her jeans. The second item was the pain baton.  She dialed it all the way up to Kill, then slipped her hand through the loop of cord at the end.  She gripped the handle tightly enough to depress the switch hidden there, and touched the end to the floor briefly.  The resultant shower of sparks indicated that it was still fully charged.  Relieved that she had a functioning weapon, she released the handle, letting it hang safely from her wrist, then removed the hand terminal from its hiding place.   Just before she turned it on Wolef stopped her.

“You might want to reconsider turning that device on.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s from an alternate timeline.  There may be information in it that can aid you in discovering what the Doftle will do in the coming year before they actually do it.”

Rayne was stunned by the magnitude of the idea, and mortified by how close she’d come to destroying what might well be priceless data the moment the device updated itself from the Facility’s mainframe.  She slipped the hand terminal into her pocket with trembling hands.  “The only problem now is, how do I find Salene?”

“I overheard someone say she’s on Level 3,” Wolef said.  “I’ve no idea how you can reach that level, but perhaps you can procure another hand terminal.  You’re so much stronger now than you were before, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you with your shield fully up.”

“Excellent idea, Wolef.  That’s exactly what I’ll do,” she said, then switched to silent communication.  “Do you know where the other version of myself is being kept?”

“I do not recommend that you approach your past self too closely, Solin.”

“I don’t intend to,” Rayne replied.  “I only want to know so that I can better avoid such an occurrence.”

“Good,” Wolef said, relieved.  “As far as I can determine, it’s either in the same cell you occupied, or very close to it.”

“That’ll be easy to stay away from,” she said.  “Wish me luck, Wolef.”

“I do not believe in luck, Solin, as well you know,” Wolef said.  “However, I shall happily wish you all the positive energy the universe can send your way.”

“That’ll do,” she said.  She stepped up close to Wolef’s head, raised herself up on her toes as far as she could, and kissed him on the cheek, just below one of his eternally closed eyes.  “I can never thank you enough for all you’ve done not only for me, but for my bears, and for all Jasani.  All I can do is renew my promise that you will soon be freed from the prison your flesh has become.”

“That is all the thanks I desire,” Wolef said.  “Now, off with you, and be careful.”  Rayne patted him once more, then crossed the room, removed the key card from her pocket and slid it through the reader.

The lock on the door thunked, causing chills to raise along her arms.  She returned the card to her pocket and raised her shield fully before stepping through the doorway.  Realizing that she was hunched over, she forced herself to stand up straight.  She was not a prisoner any more.  She was here to free her sister, and if she didn’t believe in herself, she would not succeed.

“Just so,” Wolef said in response to her thought.  She nodded, her confidence rising at the knowledge that he was with her.  Raising the pain baton to a ready position, she walked quickly and quietly up the corridor.  When she reached the point where the two corridors intersected she turned left and walked past the cell that had once been hers without a glance, continuing on to the end and turning once again, leaving the cells behind her.

She approached a Doftle sitting at his post, arms crossed, eyes closed, proving to her that they did have eyelids after all.  She spotted his hand terminal lying on a table near his elbow so she picked it up and turned around, retracing her steps until she rounded the last corner.  The moment she touched the hand terminal it became as unseeable as she was, but the first hand terminal she’d used had chimed when she booted it up, and she couldn’t hide sound.

Hoping she’d gone far enough to prevent the sound of the hand terminal’s chime from being overheard, she turned it on, wincing at the soft electronic beeps even though she’d expected them.  She remembered how she’d broken through the security on the first device, so it didn’t take long for her to do it again.  A few moments later she had full access to the hand terminal, and by extension, the Doftle’s mainframe.  She muted it, then pulled up a floor-plan.

“I’m not far from the elevators,” she said to Wolef.  “With my shield up I shouldn’t have any trouble getting to Level Three, but it’ll take time to discover which room she’s in.  Do you know that by any chance?”

“No, I’m afraid not,” Wolef replied.  “I don’t think you’ll need that information though.”

“Why not?”

“I’m sorry, Solin, but I’m afraid that you’ll be able to hear her.”

Wolef’s words summoned a memory that had her fighting back sudden nausea.  “Then it’s a good thing I’m here to get her.”

“Indeed.”

She tucked the hand terminal into another pocket of her jeans, suddenly glad that they were still a little too big for her.  When she was transported back to the Armadura, the hand terminals, along with all the information they contained, would go with her.  She walked around the corner again, passed the sleeping Doftle with just a quick glance, and kept going up the corridor and around yet another corner.  She entered a large area that contained a long circular counter.  Behind the counter sat two more Doftles, both working industriously at their vid-terminals.  She walked around the counter to the elevator on the opposite side, wondering how she’d call it without attracting their attention.

After a moment she shrugged, reached out, and pressed the call button.  The doors slid open almost immediately and she stepped inside, not even bothering to look at the Doftles to see their reaction.  She suspected that they’d be confused, perhaps assume that the elevator was suffering some sort of glitch.  But it didn’t matter.  Whatever their reaction was, it wouldn’t stop her.

She pressed the button for the third level and waited for the doors to open again.  When they did, a startled Doftle looked up from a desk, then frowned and muttered something too softly for her to catch.  She stepped out of the elevator and turned right, then left, then another left, allowing the increasing volume of Salene’s screams to guide her, growing angrier and more determined with every step.

She finally reached a corridor lined with doors, but she knew immediately which one Salene was behind.  There were two Doftles standing guard in front of it, both smiling at the sound of Salene’s screams, a sudden and graphic reminder of how sadistic the Doftles were.

Rayne had to force herself to take slow, deep breaths in order to shake off her fury, reaching instead for the cold calm she’d been taught since childhood to attain before battle.  Of the three Dracon sisters Tani was the undisputed warrior, and Salene the undisputed brain, while she’d always been considered the artsy one.  But they’d all been taught how to handle themselves in case the need ever arose.

She raised herself up on the balls of her feet, gripped the pain baton firmly, and moved up the corridor in absolute silence.  When she was just a few feet away from the Doftle guards she paused to study their positions.  Then she took two quick steps forward and jabbed the first Doftle in the neck with the end of the baton and held it there.

His mouth opened in a silent scream, his eyes rolled up in his head, and he fell heavily to the ground.  The second Doftle reacted in a way she didn’t expect.  Instead of surprise, or concern for the sudden and unexplainable collapse of his fellow guard, he immediately stepped away, crouching warily as he reached for his vox instead of his weapon.  Rayne hurried forward and jabbed him in the neck with the pain baton just before his hand touched the vox.  The Doftle stiffened, then fell to the floor, joining his companion.

Rayne knelt down beside the first Doftle and began searching his pockets, noting with some surprise that he was still alive even though the pain baton had been set on KILL.  She collected his hand terminal, then moved to the second one, wondering why the pain baton hadn’t killed them.  As soon as the question entered her mind, she knew the answer.  Doftles were always very cognizant of their own safety.  They’d never use weapons that were capable of killing them in the event one of their samples got their hands on one.  Like a scalpel.

She stood up and stuffed one of the two newly acquired hand terminals into her last empty pocket, and the other under the waist band of her jeans.  Then she removed the card key from her front pocket and slid it through the reader, but it didn’t work.  She tried again, but nothing happened.  She knelt back down beside the guards and began searching for their card keys.  She didn’t find one on the first Doftle, so gave up and tried the second.  When she found one, she allowed herself a tiny sigh of relief.  She stood up again and started to slide the card through the reader when she suddenly realized that Salene’s screams had stopped.  A heartbeat later the doors slid open.

She froze in surprise at the sight of a Doftle unlike any she’d seen before.  It looked normal from the hips up, but instead of the usual short humanoid legs that other Doftles possessed, it had ten shiny metal legs that eerily resembled the legs of a spider.

“No”, Wolef whispered.  “Those are the legs of a Xanti.”

She shuddered in disgust and fear, but managed, barely, to hold back the gasp that rose to her lips.  The Doftle had to turn sideways and straighten some of its legs to get through the door, which gave her just enough time to step back out of the way, carefully avoiding the Doftle behind her.

“What is this?” the strange Doftle asked when he spotted the guards lying on the floor unconscious.  The familiar sound of the Doftle’s voice forced Rayne to bite back another startled gasp.  She couldn’t place it, but she’d heard that voice before.  Many times.

“It’s Weeble,” Wolef supplied.  “Be very careful, Solin.”

Two more Doftle, these with normal legs, followed him into the corridor as the first one spoke again.  “We have either an intruder, or a traitor.  Dwee, contact the Facility Captain and tell him to move to a new site within the hour.”

“It’ll take that long just to fire up the engines, Lord Weeble,” Dwee said.

“Which is why I’m allowing him so much time,” Weeble snapped coldly.

Dwee bowed deeply, his hairless blue head nearly touching the floor.  “As you command, Lord Weeble,” he replied shakily, then straightened and took off at an odd shambling run.

“Fool,” Weeble muttered.  “Mewell, remind me to recycle him later.”

“Yes, Lord Weeble,” the other Doftle said, bowing nearly as deeply as the first one had.  Weeble stared at the unconscious guards for a moment, tapping his chin thoughtfully with one thick finger.  Then he turned and began walking up the corridor in the direction of the elevator with Mewell a careful step behind his rear legs.

Rayne hesitated, struggling between getting to Salene, and finding out what this Weeble creature was planning.  After a moment’s debate she decided that learning what Weeble was up to was worth the risk.  She followed them on silent feet, listening carefully as Weeble continued speaking.

“I suspect that the Facility is no longer completely safe for an important personage such as myself,” he said.  “Nor is it safe for my samples.  You will personally transport them onto my yacht, Mewell.”

“Yes, Lord Weeble, at once,” Mewell replied, then started to turn back toward Salene’s room before Weeble stopped him.

“I am not finished, Mewell,” he warned in a tone that caused Mewell to turn nearly purple with fear.

“First, inform Cuwell that my yacht will depart the moment I transport aboard and give the order.  If it isn’t ready, I shall recycle him alongside Dwee.  After you do that, see to it that my other samples are transported to my yacht before I get there.  Except for the little princess.  I will see to her personally.”

Rayne watched as Mewell bowed again, then hurried away, while Weeble turned and headed back the way he’d come, straight toward Rayne.  She backed up carefully, keeping her eyes on him.

So this…thing…is Weeble, she thought.  The one responsible for both her and Salene’s abductions.  The one who would create monsters from her eggs.  The one responsible for all of the pain and horror she’d suffered for an entire year.  And now, as she watched, he was moving back toward Salene, intending to take her somewhere else.  If she didn’t stop him, it was unlikely she’d ever see her sister again.

Before she knew it, she was running straight at him, holding the pain baton as though it was a sword.  She leapt upward since his legs made him so tall, and jabbed it at Weeble’s neck, but something warned him at the last possible moment and he ducked the blow while at the same time raising two of his metal legs to knock her backward.  She stumbled sideways, fighting for balance, and smacked her head into the wall hard enough to cause her vision to gray out for a moment.  Then Weeble reached down and grabbed her arm in a grip so tight that she feared her arm would break.

He gave her a hard shake, then lifted her effortlessly to his level so he could get a better look at her.  She didn’t know if it was because of her anger, or her head hitting the wall that caused her to drop her shield, but it was too late to do anything now.  Or, was it? she wondered, realizing a little belatedly that she still held the pain baton in her right hand.  She raised it up and swung with all of her might at Weeble’s face.  It was a glancing blow, but it delivered enough of a jolt to force him to release her other arm.  She fell to the floor and immediately struggled to stand while she fumbled for her shield.

She managed to get to her feet, but her shield eluded her in her panic.  She took one step, and then one of Weeble’s metal legs kicked out hard, striking her in the back.  She flew several feet up the corridor, landing hard enough to lose her grip on the pain baton.  Weeble rushed her just as she got to her knees and kicked again, hitting her so hard that it knocked the air from her lungs and sent her sliding another few feet up the corridor.  She was on her stomach, both hands pressed to the floor, trying to focus so that she could raise her shield as the tap tap tapping sound of the metal legs came closer.  Using every last ounce of strength in her already depleted body, she pushed herself up to a crouch, only to have Weeble kick her yet again.  This time she smacked her head against the door leading into the room where Salene was being kept.  Her vision grayed out again but she gritted her teeth, refusing to pass out.  She raised her head high enough to see Weeble standing a couple of feet away from her, a grin on his face, his hateful black eyes fixed on her with cold malice.  Remembering that the pain baton was attached to her wrist by a cord, she fumbled for it without taking her eyes off of Weeble.

And then she couldn’t see Weeble at all.  Instead, she saw Landor, Con, and Ari standing with their backs to her, forming a wall of muscle that blocked the corridor between her and Weeble.  Con turned around to face her, his eyes so filled with fury that she flinched involuntarily.  He knelt down and lifted her as gently as he could, but the movement still caused a wave of nausea to roll through her.

She took a slow, cautious breath, then gasped in surprise when Landor shifted into his bearenca alter-form.  He was so big that his sides pressed against the walls of the corridor, and he was forced to keep his head low so it didn’t crash through the ceiling.  His roar shook the walls around them.

“I look forward to getting one of you to study,” Weeble said, causing her to shudder so hard Con had to tighten his hold to prevent her from tumbling out of his arms and onto the floor.  Landor roared once more, then shifted back into his human form.

“Where’d he go?” Ari asked.

“I don’t know,” Landor replied.  “He transported himself away.”

“How are you, Kisu?” he asked, brushing her cheek with his fingertips.

“Alive,” she gasped breathlessly.

“You will stay that way,” he ordered, then looked at Con.  “We have little time before that creature brings help.  I should not have allowed him to get away but the walls pressed too tightly against me for much movement.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Con said.  “They would have tracked our transport signal in just a few moments anyway.”

Landor nodded, then looked back to Rayne.  “Do you have a key for the door?”

“I think so,” she replied, reaching into her pocket for the card she’d taken from one of the guards.  She noticed a bit of weakness in her arm and wondered if Weeble might have damaged it, then forgot about it as she handed the card to Landor.  “Just slide it through the reader.”

Landor did as she said and much to her relief, the door opened.  He looked inside, then gestured for them to follow.  They entered the room just in time to see Weeble appear on the far side of the metal table that held an unconscious Salene.  He was clearly surprised to see Landor, but didn’t let that stop him from trying to get one hand on Salene.  He had something strapped to his hand that they all suspected was a transport device.  If he touched Salene and activated the device, they would lose her.

Landor immediately leapt over Salene, his head and shoulders shifting at the same time.  He growled furiously and snapped at the hand holding the transport device with his long, glistening fangs, forcing the Doftle to stumble backwards.  Weeble hissed angrily, pressed the button on the device, and vanished from the room before Landor lunged again.

“Let’s get out of here before anyone else decides to visit,” Ari said, reaching out to touch Salene.  Landor reversed his partial shift and placed one hand on Salene as well, then they all pressed the transport beacons on their wrist bands.  A moment later they felt the nauseating sensation of being transported across space, and then they were all blinking their eyes in the transport room aboard the Armadura.

“We have to destroy the Facility right now, before Weeble escapes,” Rayne insisted as Con set her down.  She was surprised to find that she felt wobbly and off balance, and wondered if those knocks on the head were responsible.

“Are you all right, Rayne?” Landor asked, interrupting her thoughts as he placed Salene on a waiting stretcher.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she replied, watching as the med techs ran out of the room with her sister.

“Do you know where your other body is on the Facility?”

“Yes,” she admitted.  “But it doesn’t matter, Landor.  There’s no time.  The Facility is preparing to move to a new location.  We have to destroy it now, before it’s too late.”

“I know, Kisu,” Landor said, touching her crystal lightly.  Then he sighed heavily.  “Your word is our word.”

“Thank you,” she said so relieved she actually felt dizzy for a few moments.

“Con, give the order, then join us on the observation deck,” he said, swinging Rayne up into his arms.  Con tapped his vox and Landor took off, too distracted by what they were about to do to notice how pale Rayne had gotten when he’d picked her up.

Moving as quickly as he could, they reached the observation deck in seconds with Ari behind them.  Landor set her down in front of the viewport which presented them with a view of nothing but space and stars.

“The Facility is right there,” Ari said, pointing.  “If we get any closer we’ll be able to see it, but then they’d be able to see us, too.  We won’t have any trouble seeing the explosion though.”

Con entered the room and hurried to stand with them.  “Sixty seconds,” he said, glancing at his wrist band.

“If you pass to the next plane, Rayne, wait for us,” Landor said, shocking her.  “We’ll be along shortly.”

“No,” she said, suddenly more afraid than she’d been when Weeble was kicking her up the corridor.  He placed a gentle finger to her lips as Ari and Con crowded close.

“We all must do what we must do,” Con said, then leaned down to kiss her gently.

“We waited three hundred years for you, Rayne,” Ari said.  “Now that we’ve finally found you, we will not let you take the next journey without us.”  Rayne wanted to argue with them, but there was no time.  She lifted her chin and said, “It won’t matter because I’m not going anywhere.  We’ll have long and happy lives together on this plane before we have to think about the next.”

“Then all of our prayers will be answered,” Landor said.  “Perhaps you should let Wolef know that the time has come.”

“Thirty seconds,” Con said.

She nodded, then reached for the golden dragon.  “The Facility will be destroyed in half a minute, Wolef,” she said.  “I hope you’re ready.”  She felt a wave of relief, and knew it was a deliberate effort on his part to convince her that he wanted this.  “Thank you for helping me save Salene.”

“You’re welcome,” he replied.  “I thank you, Rayne Dracon, and your bears, too.  I know this is difficult for them, and I truly am sorry for that.”

“We are grateful for the time we had, Wolef,” she said.  “Time we would never have had if not for you.  There is nothing for you to apologize for.”

“I hope you don’t mind if I take a bit of your warmth and light with me as I travel to the next plane.  Never in my existence have I encountered such, and I am loath to let it go.”

“Of course I don’t mind,” she said, struggling to speak around the lump in her throat.  “I’ll miss you, Wolef, but I promise that I’ll never forget you.”

She felt Wolef brush her mind, and then the viewport lit up with white fire so bright she had to squeeze her eyes shut against it.  In seconds the fire was gone, and there was nothing left of the Facility, the Doftle within it, the prisoners, or of her friend, a golden dragon named Wolef.

When she opened her eyes again it was to see three sets of bright, glowing eyes staring down at her with a combination of hope, fear, and love that filled her heart with happiness.  “I’m here, guys,” she whispered, wiping the tears from her cheeks.  “I’m not going anywhere.”  She blinked, and found herself in the center of a small circle with all three of them holding her at once.  It felt so good that she laid her head against Con’s chest and closed her eyes, just soaking in the relief and the love coming from all of them.

“That was not an experience I wish to repeat,” Landor said when they released her.

“No, me neither,” she said, looking out through the viewport again.  “I wonder if we got Weeble, too.”

She looked down, almost surprised at the sight of the pain baton still looped around her wrist.  She removed it, turned it off, and crossed the room to place it on a table, then added the two card keys, and three of the four hand terminals she’d collected.  “Those might come in handy,” she said, then held up the last one.  “But this is the most important one.”

“Why is it important?” Landor asked.  Each of the hand terminals looked the same except for a few scratches, rub marks, and other signs of use.

“Because this one contains data from an alternate timeline,” she said.

“That’s the one you took from the Doftle you killed when you escaped?” Con asked.

“Yes, it is,” she replied.  “Wolef warned me not to turn it on at the last moment.”

“Why?” Ari asked.  “What would have happened?”

“Whenever you turn one of these things on the first thing it does is search for the nearest Doftle mainframe and update itself, a process which includes deletion of unnecessary data.”

“Are you saying that everything the Doftle will do for the coming year is on that device?” Landor asked.

“Yes,” Rayne said.  “We’ve changed some things, of course, so what happens for the coming year may not match the data on this thing exactly.”

“But, everything the Doftle did for that year is there,” Ari said with a wondering expression on his face.  “Places they’ve gone, people they’ve abducted, spies they created with their Controllers and placed among our people, and on our ships.”  He smiled.  “How odd is it that I’m referring to things that haven’t happened yet in the past tense?”

“I know exactly what you mean,” Rayne said dryly.  “The more I remember, the more confused I get about the right words to use to tell you about it.”

“It doesn’t matter what words you use, we understand you,” Landor said.  “Will you try turning it on now that there’s no Doftle mainframe nearby?”

“No, I don’t think so,” she said.  “I’m good with computers, but I think it would be safer to let Aunt Summer work her magic on this, just to be safe.”

“That’s probably wise,” Landor agreed with obvious disappointment.

“Cheer up,” Rayne smiled.  “We’ll be able to prevent so many things from happening, and the Doftle will never know how we did it.”

“You did very well,” Landor said.  “Even though you went over there against our wishes, I admit that I should not have pushed you into a corner the way I did, and we should have discussed the matter with you.  My only excuse is that we were afraid to lose you.”

“I know, and I understand,” Rayne said.  “I promise you, the last thing I ever wanted was to go into danger, but it really was the only way.”

“You certainly think well under pressure,” Ari said, glancing at the hand terminals she’d collected.

“I shouldn’t have gone after Weeble the way I did.  That was a mistake.”

“You must have had a reason for doing it,” Con said, raising one brow in a silent question.

“The first and biggest reason was that he was on his way to get Salene and transport her to his private yacht,” she said.  “In addition, he’s the one responsible for all of this.  He ordered that Salene and I be kidnapped for his experiments.  He created the altered embryos…or would have, in time, if allowed.  And I recognized his voice.  It took me a while to place it, though I don’t know why now that I remember so much.  He performed many of the experiments on me himself.  He’s the one who gave the order for my vocal cords to be cut.  I have no memory of having seen him before, but Wolef confirmed that it was him.”

“I see,” Con said, his voice mild, but the tension in his body telling her that he wasn’t unaffected by what she’d said.  She looked at Ari, then Landor, and saw that they were all furious.

“I wish we’d known that sooner,” Landor said.  “I would have made a stronger effort to kill him.”

“Then he would have gotten exactly what he wanted,” Rayne said.  Landor frowned down at her in confusion.  “The moment you touched him with any part of your body, he would have transported himself, and you, away to his private yacht.  He was waiting for it.  Why else would someone of his size taunt an enraged bearenca?”

“He would have risked losing his life in hopes of capturing me?” Landor asked, surprised.

“Oh yes, absolutely,” Rayne said.  “Never doubt it.  That’s why I didn’t want you going there.  I knew you’d underestimate him, and he knew it too.  Wolef told me that Weeble was the most dangerous being he’d ever known, that he’s extremely intelligent, and completely insane.  He advised me to never underestimate him, and I promised that I wouldn’t.  I don’t think you should, either.”

“We won’t,” Landor said.  “Do you remember everything now?”

“I think so, yes,” she said.  “Did you watch the whole time?”

“Yes,” Ari replied.  “We saw everything you saw, and we heard what you heard.”

“When we saw what they’d done to Wolef, we understood why it was so important for you to keep your word to him,” Landor said.

“Thank you,” she said.  “I know it wasn’t easy to do what you did.  I’m not sure I would’ve been able to do it were our positions reversed.  But I’m grateful that you did.”

“All we ask in return is that you never make a promise like that again.”

“I think it’s fairly safe to agree to that,” she said, smiling up at him.

“Before I forget,” Con said, “what was the setting on that pain baton when you hit those Doftles with it?”

“I put it on Kill, but it didn’t kill them,” she said, turning to look at the pain baton as a wave of nausea and nearly overwhelming weakness rolled through her.  She breathed silently for a few moments until it eased off.

“This’ll give us a good idea of their strength,” Con was saying.  “I’m glad you brought it back with you.”

“How’s Salene?” she asked, unable to put it off any longer.  “I didn’t get a chance to look at her.”

“She’ll be fine,” Landor said.

“You might as well tell me the truth because I’m going to go see her in a minute anyway.”

“I had only a moment to assess her condition, but I saw what appeared to be burns all over her body, some quite deep,” he said, his voice getting deeper and growlier as he spoke.  “I can’t imagine for the life of me how they can possibly refer to torture as experimental, or what they hoped to accomplish by their actions.”

“They were trying to force her to shift, just like they did to me,” Rayne said.  Three sets of eyes went immediately to her face.  She returned their gazes calmly while wishing she’d thought before she’d spoken.  “Forget all of that.  I’m here with the three of you, and this is where I will remain.  There’s no reason to get upset.”

“I do hope this isn’t a bad time,” Wolef’s familiar voice said.  Only this time, she knew she wasn’t the only one who could hear his voice in her mind, since Landor, Con and Ari all turned around when she did.

“Wolef?” she asked in surprise when she saw a large, glittering gold dragon floating mid-way between the floor and the ceiling, taking up a large portion of the enormous room.

“Do you know more than one golden dragon?”

“Of course not,” she replied, speaking out loud so her men could hear her as well as Wolef.  “I never imagined you looked like this.  You’re beautiful.”

“Five hundred years in the hands of the little blue thugs doesn’t do much for one’s appearance,” he said dryly.

“No, it doesn’t,” she agreed, remembering her own reflection.  “Are you…all right, Wolef?”

“Yes, Solin, I’m very much all right, thanks to you and your bears,” he replied.  “That is one of the reasons I wished to speak with you now, while I have the chance.  Firstly, I wanted you to know you did the right thing for me, and for the others who were kept there for so long.  We are free to move on now, thanks to you.”

“I’ll try to remember that,” she said.

“I must say that I’m extremely relieved to find that the destruction of your soulless body had no effect on you,” he said.  “I was somewhat worried about that, to be honest.”

“I’m relieved too,” she said.  “But it was a chance worth taking.”

“I’m glad you still think so,” Wolef said.  “You should know that the Doftle named Weeble escaped before the explosion, along with his samples.  It is a shame.  He lacks sanity of any sort, and has far too much power.”

“Wait a minute,” Rayne said, frowning.  “What samples?  You said my other body was destroyed, and we have Rayne here.”

“I don’t know who they were,” Wolef said.  “They had a barrier in their minds that I could not break through.  I felt their presence strongly enough that I sensed them leaving the Facility before it was destroyed, but that is all that I know.”

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Rayne said.

“Why?” Landor asked.

“I don’t know, exactly.  Just a bad feeling.  Wolef, how many of them were there?”

“Three.”

“Do you know if they were male, or female?”

“No, I’m sorry, but I’ve told you all that I know.”

“I’m grateful that you came back to tell us this, Wolef,” she said.

“You’re welcome of course,” Wolef said, then shifted his gaze to the Bearen-Hirus who stood beside her.  “Are you not curious as to why Weeble has metal legs like a Xanti?”

“Yes, we are,” Landor said.  “Very curious, in fact.”

“I suppose you could say that the Xanti were Weeble’s pets,” Wolef said, shocking all of them.  “He was quite attached to them, and was extremely disappointed when he failed to resurrect them.  He created the Xanti legs for himself and sacrificed his own legs for them.  By law, a law Weeble wrote, of course, only four Doftle will be allowed to have Xanti legs, and the other three must be selected by him.”

“The biggest question all thinking people have about the Xanti is, and always has been, how did they manage to do what they were not meant to do,” Landor said.  “Are you telling us that the answer to that question lies with the Doftles?”

“Yes, most assuredly,” Wolef replied.  “This knowledge is my gift to you, Landor, Condor, and Aridor Bearen-Hiru, for your roles in today’s events.”

“It is a gift worthy of great thanks, and more,” Landor said.  “If there is anything further that we can do for you, please name it.”

“All I can think of to ask is that you love and protect Rayne as she deserves,” Wolef said, tilting his head slightly as he looked back to Rayne.

“That is an easy promise to make,” Landor replied.  “We will honor and cherish her exactly as she is for all of our days.”

Wolef bowed his head, accepting Landor’s promise.  “My time runs short, so I must get on with this.”  He raised one foreleg and waved it toward Rayne.  A moment later she held four golden scales in her hand.  One was as large as the palm of her hand, but the other three were tiny, barely an inch across.

“Are these your scales?” she asked.

“But of course,” he said.  “Why would I gift you with the scales of another?”

Rayne rolled her eyes, and Wolef chuckled.  “Place the large one over the back of your right hand, then cover it with your left hand and hold it in place for a few moments.”

“All right,” Rayne agreed readily, offering the three small scales to Ari to hold for her.  Landor wanted to ask Wolef what would happen, but held his tongue, knowing without a moment’s doubt that Wolef would never do anything to cause Rayne the slightest harm.

Rayne stood with her hands together as Wolef had instructed for several moments.  The back of her hand grew warm, then almost hot before cooling again.  “Now,” Wolef whispered in her mind.  She lifted her hand away slowly, and smiled when she saw that the scale had melded with her skin, becoming a part of her own flesh.

“The scale will remain a part of you for the remainder of your life, Rayne,” Wolef said.  “Never again will Doftles, or anyone else, transport you against your will.  Never again will technology or magic be used against you without your willing consent.  It has other properties as well, but I’ll let you figure those out on your own.  That’s the fun of it, right?”

“I suppose it is,” Rayne said, running her fingers over the golden scale that now felt like her own skin.  “What are the smaller scales for?”

“Those are for your daughters,” Wolef said, shocking them all.

“Um, Wolef, we don’t have any daughters,” she said.

“Of course you don’t,” he said, rolling his large eyes in imitation of her.  “However, since there is a limited time frame in which I’m able to manifest these scales from my physical body, I thought it best to give them to you now.”

“Good thinking,” Rayne said, grinning up at him.  “Do you happen to have any idea when these daughters of ours will arrive?”

“I know exactly when they’ll arrive,” he replied.  “But again, I think it best that you find that out for yourself.  That’s the fun of it, right?”

Rayne laughed.  “Thank you, Wolef.”

“You are most welcome,” Wolef said, dipping his head.  “Know that your name will be added to your sister’s as one to be honored by the souls of all dragons, wherever they might be in time and space.”

Rayne’s eyes blurred as they filled with tears.  Before she could think of a response, Wolef faded away, leaving empty air behind.

“I think it’s time to take you to the infirmary,” Landor said after giving Rayne a moment to compose herself.  She wiped her eyes and nodded, suddenly feeling very tired.  But she wasn’t done yet.

“Yes, I need to see how Salene is doing,” she agreed, then gestured to the table where the objects she’d brought from the Facility lay.  “We need to put these things somewhere safe.  And the scales, too.”

“I’m more concerned about making sure you’re all right at the moment,” Landor said.  “You’re looking quite pale, and it occurs to me that we haven’t checked to see how badly Weeble injured you.”

“I’m fine,” she said, waving a hand dismissively.  “You showed up before he could do any real damage.  Let’s go, please.  I want to speak with my sister before they put her in a healing tank.”

“They won’t put her in until you’ve had a chance to try to talk with her first,” Landor assured her.

“Ari and I will take these to the master suite and meet you in the infirmary,” Con offered.

“Thank you,” Landor said, his eyes narrowing as he watched Rayne walk toward the door.  He caught up with her and scooped her up into his arms.  “I will carry you.”

“Yes, I noticed,” she said with a sigh, unwilling to admit how relieved she was.  She was growing weaker and weaker for some reason, but she wasn’t going to admit it yet because she didn’t want Landor’s overprotective nature to get in the way of her need to speak with Salene.

When they reached the infirmary he put her down gently, but it took her a moment to get her balance.  She looked up to find Landor staring intently at her and sent him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.  Then she crossed the room to the healing tank that was lying prone on a low table with Salene inside of it.

The med techs had already put her in a thin leotard embedded with hundreds of tiny sensors that would transmit every possible bit of data from Salene’s body to the tank’s computer.  Even though her body was covered, Rayne had no trouble identifying the burns through the fabric, sad to see that one of the worst was a three inch long, one inch wide diagonal that cut across Salene’s left cheek, just missing her eye.  Luckily the wounds were fresh, and she’d be in a healing tank in plenty of time to prevent scarring.  Her hair was gone of course, as was usual with the Doftles, but that was easily remedied once she was removed from the tank.

Rayne leaned over the tank and froze for a moment as her vision swam, making everything blurry.  She blinked several times and although it didn’t clear completely, it cleared enough for her to place one hand gently on her sister’s shoulder.  “Salene, wake up if you can,” she said softly.  “It’s Rayne.  You’re safe on the Armadura now.  Please open your eyes for me.”

“Rayne?” Salene whispered so softly that if she hadn’t been so close, she’d have missed it.

“Yes, it’s me, I’m right here.”

Salene opened her eyes slowly, as though she didn’t quite trust her ears.  Rayne understood that completely.  “It’s really me, Salene, I promise.”

Salene blinked, then let out a soft sigh when she saw Rayne leaning over her.  “Hi,” she said, trying to smile.  “What have you done with your hair?”

“That’s a story for another time,” Rayne replied.

“I felt you, in that place,” she said.  “Didn’t I?  Or did I dream it?”

“No, you didn’t dream it,” Rayne said.  “I was there, and so were the Bearen-Hirus.”

“Thank you for getting me out of there.”

“I’m sorry we didn’t arrive sooner,” Rayne said.  “They’re going to put you in a healing tank now.  When you get out, you’ll be your old self again.”

Salene’s eyes widened suddenly and her face turned white.  “The Gryphons.  Did you get them, too?”

“What?”

“My Gryphons, Talus, Jon, and Kar,” Salene said urgently.  “They were there, in that place, where I was.”

“Are you sure?  All three of them?”

Yes, I’m positive,” Salene replied, grabbing Rayne’s hand and squeezing tightly.  “We have to go back, Rayne.”

Rayne looked up, her heart in her eyes.  Landor knelt down beside her and brushed her cheek lightly with his fingers, reassuring her.  Then he turned to Salene.

“Please tell us what you remember,” he said, keeping his voice gentle even though Rayne saw the worry in his eyes.

“There’s no time, we have to go back now.”

“We can’t go back, Salene,” Rayne said.  “We destroyed the Facility.”

Salene went completely still for a long moment, not even breathing as her eyes glassed over.  Then she blinked and shook her head.  “I feel them.  They’re getting further and further away by the second but they’re alive.  All three of them.”

“They must be the ones Weeble took with him,” Rayne said.

“Yes, of course,” Landor said, then turned to Salene.  “Please tell us what you can remember about what happened.”

Salene looked at Rayne, who understood the silent question.  “Trust them as you trust me, Salene.”

Salene nodded.  “Mom, Ata, Dede and Popi told us what had happened to you, Rayne, so my guys wove a shield around me, to protect me from being transported away like you were.  Then we left Garza for New Ugaztun.  The second day out we were sitting in the cafeteria when all of a sudden Talus, Jon, and Kar felt a pull on the shield they’d put around me.  They immediately began strengthening the shield.  While they were doing that, they vanished, one at a time.  First Kar, then Jon, then Talus.  A minute later they got me.”

“How is that possible?” Rayne asked Landor.

“I don’t know,” he replied.  “Maybe they left themselves open somehow while working on her shield, but that’s just a guess.  I’ve never heard of anything like that happening before.”

“I’m sorry, Salene, please go on,” Rayne said, turning back to her sister.

“I landed in a room with five or six short blue men with big heads surrounding me.  I could feel Talus, Jon, and Kar, but I couldn’t see them anywhere.  They were furious and frustrated beyond anything I’d ever felt from them before, but I didn’t know why.  There was one blue man with metal legs, like spider legs.  He gave an order for the ship to be destroyed.  When I protested, one of them gave me an injection and I passed out.”

“They destroyed the Razor?” Con asked, surprising Rayne since she hadn’t realized they’d returned while Salene was talking.

“The order was given,” Salene replied.  “That’s all I know.”

“It will not be difficult to confirm either way,” Landor said.  “We’ll send messages to your parents and the Gryphon consuls right away.”

“Can you still feel them, Salene?” Rayne asked.

“Yes,” she said.  “They’re moving away from us, and they’re in distress, but they’re definitely alive.”

“Do you think you could you lead us to them?” Con asked.

“You’ll go after them?  Now?”

“Absolutely,” Landor said.  “As long as you can guide us toward them, we’ll follow.”

“I can do that,” Salene said, nodding quickly as tears overflowed her eyes.  She ignored them as she turned to Rayne.  “Help me up, please.”

“No, Salene,” Rayne argued.  “They’ve just prepared you for a healing tank.”

“No, no healing tank,” Salene said firmly.  “We must find my men and free them.  That’s all that matters.”

“Your health matters,” Rayne argued, then blushed when Landor, Con and Ari all arched brows at her.  “I know, I refused a healing tank too, but this is different.  Salene is in much worse shape than I was.”

“That’s categorically untrue and you know it,” Landor said.

“How bad am I?” Salene asked quietly.

“You have a lot of burns all over your body, and some of them are very deep.  But you shouldn’t have any scars when you get out of the tank since the wounds are fresh.”

“I can live with scars, Rayne,” Salene said, her golden eyes filling with more tears.  “But I cannot live without Talus, Jon, and Kar.”

Rayne looked at Landor, then Con, and finally Ari, trying to imagine herself in Salene’s place, and her men in the hands of the Doftle.  Her stomach rolled.  “I understand,” she said.  “Let the med techs dress your wounds and give you something for the pain.”

“Of course,” Salene said with relief.  Rayne started to help her up, but Landor got there first.

“You are still recovering your strength, Kisu,” he said.  “Let us help our future sister.”  Rayne nodded and moved back out of the way.  She watched Landor gently lift Salene from the tank and carry her to one of the medi-cots on the other side of the room.

“We will wait outside for you,” he said to Rayne.  She rose up on her toes to kiss him, then did the same with Con and Ari before they left the room, shocked by how much effort it took though she was careful not to give her weakness away.  She’d make sure that Salene was all right, and then she’d tell them how badly she was feeling.

Three med techs were already working on Salene’s numerous wounds by the time her men left, so she walked to the other side of the medi-cot and stood near her sister’s head.  She swallowed hard as a fresh wave of dizziness washed through her, followed by intense nausea.  She closed her eyes and breathed through it, glad that her men didn’t seem able to pick up on how sick she felt.  Otherwise, she knew they’d have her in bed already.

“You love them,” Salene said, surprising her.  She opened her eyes and smiled down at her sister.

“So much,” she replied, nodding.

“You haven’t linked yet.”

“No, not yet.  I had things to do, first.”

“They love you, Rayne.”

“It’s that obvious?”

“Yes, it is,” Salene said, then reached over and grasped Rayne’s hand tightly.  “Don’t waste a single moment, Rayne.  Not one.”

“I won’t, Salene,” Rayne said, seeing the pain and regret in her sister’s eyes.  “I promise.”

“Good,” Salene said, releasing her hand.  “There’s no need for you to watch this.  Why don’t you go see your men?”

Rayne frowned and caught the eye of the head med tech after reading his name embroidered on the pocket of his tunic.  “How long will this take, Blake?”

“An hour, maybe,” he replied.  “After we dress the burns we’ll give her an injection to help speed up the healing process.  That’ll probably put her to sleep for a few hours.”

“You won’t do that until after I’ve spoken with the Armadura’s Commanders,” Salene said, using her best Dracon Princess tone while meeting the med tech’s eyes and holding them.

“Of course not, Highness,” Blake replied with a faint smile.  Salene nodded and relaxed.

“I’ll ask them to come back in an hour,” Rayne said.  “In the meantime, try to relax and do what they tell you, all right?”

“I promise,” Salene said.  “Now go.”

Rayne bent down to kiss her sister on the cheek and the room spun around her so fast that she had to grab hold of the medi-cot to stay on her feet.  “Rayne?” Salene asked uncertainly.

Rayne swallowed, then opened her mouth to speak, but words refused to form.  She couldn’t quite decide what she wanted to do most.  Breathe.  Throw up.  Or lie down.  While she was still trying to make up her mind her vision grew dark, and she collapsed.

“Rayne!” Salene exclaimed as she immediately attempted to get off the medi-cot to help her sister.  The med techs held her back just as all three Bearen Hirus entered the room in a blurring flash.

“What happened?” Con asked while Landor knelt down to pick Rayne up.

“She got really white, seemed to lose her balance, then passed out,” Salene said quickly and succinctly, never taking her eyes from her sister’s face.

“Over here,” Blake said, leading the way to a medi-cot beside the one Salene occupied.  Landor laid her down carefully, but didn’t step away, and Blake didn’t waste time asking.  He reached up and activated the overhead scanner, then turned to the computer beside the bed to check the data being fed into it by the medi-cot.

“Her blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature are all low and dropping rapidly,” he said.  “If you have any ideas about what might have happened to her, I need to know right now.”

“She was kicked by a creature with metal legs,” Landor said, watching an image from the scanner appear on the vid screen.  “We don’t know how many times, but we suspect three.  She said she felt no pain.”

Blake studied the scans for a few moments, then turned to look at Landor.  “I don’t know how that’s possible.  From what I can see, the pain should be excruciating.  I don’t know how she even walked in here.”

“How is that possible?” Con asked, his face going white.  He reached out with his senses.  “Her shield is not up.”

“No, it’s not,” Ari confirmed.  “But I scent no pain at all from Rayne.”  They both looked at Landor who had a shocked expression on his face that probably matched their own.

“I feel her, I smell her, there’s no pain,” Landor said.  “I’ve checked several times.  Her shield has not been up since we returned to the Armadura.  I’m certain of it.”

“Oh hell,” Con hissed.

“What?” Landor demanded.

“I understand, I just wish I didn’t.”  He squeezed his eyes shut, then met Landor’s terrified gaze with his own.  “We thought she had some level of pain dissociation, but we were wrong.  It’s absolute.  She doesn’t feel pain at all.”

Landor wanted to kick himself but Rayne didn’t have time for him to indulge his temper.  “How bad is it, Blake?”

“Very, I’m afraid,” Blake replied.  “She has a small tear in her right lung, some bleeding and extensive bruising.  Her right kidney is bruised, and her left kidney is almost destroyed.  But the worst is that her liver is ruptured in several places and her spleen is shattered beyond any hope of repair.”

“What can you do?”

“She’s been bleeding internally for damn near an hour and her injuries are catastrophic,” Blake said, his voice heavy with regret.  “Her internal bleeding and shock have been so severe for so long that she’s already in almost complete organ shutdown.  She doesn’t have enough time left for me to do anything.  A minute or two.  No more.  I’m sorry, Landor.”

“What do we do?” Con asked, more frightened than he’d ever been in his entire life.

“Link with her,” Salene said sharply.  “Right now.  Hurry!”

“She’s right,” Landor said, already stepping closer to the head of the bed.

Blake’s eyes widened in surprise.  He’d figured out from the conversation he’d overheard while treating Princess Salene that the woman now on the medi-cot beside him was Princess Rayne.  He certainly hadn’t known that she was the Bearen-Hirus’ berezi, but the knowledge gave him instant hope.  “You need to do this fast,” he said urgently, turning back to the scans.

“But…,” Ari began.  Landor cut him off sharply.

“Get in place, right now,” he barked, brushing the hair from Rayne’s neck with trembling fingers.  Ari nodded and reached for Rayne’s right wrist while Con went around the medi-cot and picked up her left wrist.  They pushed the sleeves of her sweater back, then waited for Landor’s signal.

“Now,” he said softly, then lowered his mouth to Rayne’s neck and bit down gently, sliding the needle sharp mating fangs into her soft skin.  Con and Ari bit into her wrists at the exact same moment, and they all waited, barely breathing as their serum flowed from their fangs into Rayne’s sluggish blood stream.  They all raised their heads at the same exact moment, and licked the tiny wounds they’d made, sealing them.

“Step back from the medi-cot,” Blake ordered as soon as they were finished.  Landor looked up at Blake in surprise, but stepped back and gestured for Con and Ari to do the same.  As soon as they were clear, two IV bags rose from the sides of the medi-cot.  Blake tapped at the buttons on the panel in front of him and a moment later two computer guided needles entered the veins in Rayne’s wrists.  Blake turned to check the needle placements and made sure the fluid was entering her body.  “She’s lost so much blood that I was worried the serum wouldn’t spread fast enough,” he explained as he turned back to the computer.  “The fluids will help.”

“Good thinking, Blake, thank you,” Landor said, his voice shaking as he stared at the shallow rise and fall of Rayne’s chest.  “I don’t understand how we missed this.”

“Will you please tell me what’s happening?” Salene asked quietly.  “I heard what you said about her not feeling pain but I don’t understand it.  How could such a thing happen?”

“While she was a prisoner of the Doftle, Rayne underwent eleven months of experimental invasive procedures,” Con said.  “Without anesthetic.  They drugged her so she couldn’t move, and they cut her vocal cords so that she couldn’t scream.”

“May the Creators have mercy,” Blake said, feeling sick to his stomach.

Con opened his mouth to continue, but couldn’t seem to find his voice.  Landor placed one hand on his shoulder and squeezed, then picked up the story.  “When the Tigrens healed her, they told us that they suspected she had pain dissociation to some degree and that it was dangerous.  We promised to keep an eye on her.  But we failed, obviously.”

“Why do you say that?” Salene asked, ignoring the tears streaking her own cheeks as she watched Rayne breathe.

“We didn’t scent any pain coming from her,” Landor said.  “We assumed that even if her brain didn’t register the pain, her body would still react to it and give off the scent we associate with pain.  But from what we just saw, Rayne doesn’t have a reduced pain sensation.  She has no reaction to pain at all.”

“Then it’s a damn good thing you guys are here to link with her,” Salene said.  “From now on, her inability to feel pain will be a little less dangerous, thanks to you three.”

“You’re being awfully kind,” Ari said from where he stood beside Rayne, never taking his eyes from her chest as she breathed, just like Salene was doing.

“No, you’re being too hard on yourselves.  You’re not to blame for what the Doftle did to Rayne.  The Doftle are.”

Landor nodded, then took a long, deep breath in an effort to loosen the tightness in his chest.  “Blake, do you think that linking will fix this dissociation?”

“I don’t know, Landor,” Blake said.  “But my guess would be no.”

“Yes, that’s what the Tigrens said too.”  He turned back to Rayne.  “We should have checked her.  I should have checked her, rather than believe her claim that she was fine.  It was careless and foolish not to.”

“It’s not your fault, Landor,” Con said, trying not to think of the internal injuries Blake had described.  “None of us could have foreseen this.  I’m certain that Rayne doesn’t realize it herself.”

“I know, and we have to tell her,” Landor said.  “But we still should have checked her ourselves to make sure she was all right.  We didn’t.  If she dies, it will be our fault.  My fault.”

“She’s not going to die,” Ari said.  “Look, her breathing is better all ready.”

Landor and Con both stared, watching her breathe in and out for a full minute before allowing themselves to relax a little.  “Blake, scan her again, please,” Landor said.

Blake entered a command on the control panel and a moment later the scanner lowered from the ceiling.  They waited tensely, barely daring to breathe.

“The tear in her lung is almost healed, her kidneys are repairing themselves, her liver is nearly back to normal, her spleen is almost completely reconstituted, and general organ function is returning,” Blake said, his voice thick with emotion.  He’d known the Bearen-Hirus his entire life.  Aside from his mother, they were the only family he had, and he not only respected them, he loved them.  He understood fully how important this woman was to them.  He cleared his throat.  “The bleeding has stopped and her blood pressure is climbing.”

“That’s a lot faster than I expected,” Landor said, moving closer to the medi cot so he could touch Rayne’s hand.

“She’s going to be all right?” Salene asked.

“Yes, thanks to you, she’ll be fine,” Landor said, looking over at Salene.  Her bald head and pale face reminded him all too clearly of what Rayne had looked like when she’d first returned to them.

“I didn’t do anything,” Salene said.

“You told us to link,” Con said.  “Personally, I was too close to panic to think clearly.  We might not have thought of it until too late.”

“He’s right,” Landor said.  “You have our eternal gratitude, Highness.”

Salene’s cheeks turned pink when Landor, Con, and Ari all bowed to her.  “Thanks, but since you’re about to be my brothers, no more of that highness jazz if you don’t mind.”

Ari grinned.  “You sound just like your mother.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Salene said.

“You should,” Ari said.  “That’s how it was meant.”  Salene smiled, forgetting the deep burn on her cheek.  She winced at the pain it caused, took one more look at Rayne, then let her head drop back to her pillow.

Landor returned his attention to Rayne, surprised to see that she had some color in her cheeks.  He looked up as the scanner over the bed began moving again.  After waiting for the scanner to complete its pass, he waited another minute to give Blake time to read the scan.  He was just about to ask Blake to tell him what the hell was going on when the IV needles slid out of her skin.  Then Blake turned to face them with a big smile.  “She’s doing wonderfully,” he said.  “Her blood pressure is normal, her temperature is a little high, but that’s to be expected given the amount of healing her body is doing.  Her lung and liver show no signs of injury at all and the kidneys as well as all the other internal traumas are improving.  At this rate, I’d say she’ll be fully healed in another fifteen to thirty minutes.  Even though I expected it, it’s still amazing to see.”

“What’s amazing?” Rayne asked weakly.

They all looked down at her in surprise.  Lander brushed a strand of hair from her cheek with trembling fingers.  “Your body is self-healing,” he said, then swallowed hard.  “We almost lost you.”

“What?” she asked, confused.

“You heard me right,” Landor said.  “If you hadn’t passed out right here in the infirmary you would have died.”

“From what?” she asked, trying to raise one hand to touch Landor’s face.  When her arms refused to obey her, immediate panic gripped her.

“What’s wrong?” Con demanded as her eyes dilated with fear and her breathing became shallow and rapid.

“Why am I tied down?” she demanded hoarsely.

“You’re not tied down, Kisu,” Landor said, reaching for one wrist and raising it high enough for her to see.  The panic in her eyes receded.  “Your body is just really weak right now, but you’re healing fast.  Give it a few minutes and you’ll be able to move just fine.”

“Sorry,” she said, embarrassed.

“Don’t be,” Ari said, rubbing his thumb back and forth over her right wrist.  “You have good reason for your reaction.”

Rayne tried to relax but knew that until she could move again, it wasn’t going to be easy.  She needed a distraction.  “Salene?” she asked.  “Where is she?  How is she?”

“She’s right here and she’s better off than you at the moment,” Salene said.  Rayne turned her head and smiled with relief when she saw her sister, then looked back at Landor, Con and Ari.

“Why am I here?  What happened?”

“When Weeble attacked you with his metal legs he caused serious damage to your internal organs,” Ari explained.  “One kidney was nearly destroyed, the other seriously damaged, your liver ruptured, your spleen wrecked, not to mention a tear in one lung.  You were seconds from complete organ shutdown.”

“I don’t understand,” Rayne said, frowning.  “I felt a little tired and weak, and there was some dizziness, but I thought I’d just pushed myself too hard.  There was no pain at all.”

“How long has it been since you’ve felt pain?” Landor asked.

Rayne frowned.  “That’s an odd question.”

“Please, bear with me, Kisu,” Landor said.  “Think back.  Can you remember the last time you felt pain?”

Rayne did as Landor asked and took a few moments to think back.  Finally she shook her head.  “I’m sorry, I just can’t remember.  What difference does it make?”

“Try this,” Con said.  “Think back to when Weeble attacked you.  Do you remember what you felt when he kicked you?”

“Well, the first time he kicked me I hit my head on the wall and was afraid I was going to pass out,” she said, speaking slowly as she thought.  “That’s when I dropped my shield.  One kick knocked the wind out of me and I had a hard time breathing for a few moments.  I felt weak, and dizzy, I remember that.  I couldn’t get my shield back up and that’s never happened to me before but I was panicking, so I’m sure that’s why.  I couldn’t seem to stand up, either.  I kept trying but he’d kick me again before I managed it.  Then you guys were there.”

“When we got back to the Armadura, did you feel any pain or discomfort at all?” Ari asked.

“No, just tired and weak, like I said.  A bit dizzy a few times, but I didn’t want to tell you because I was worried you wouldn’t let me see Salene before carting me off to bed.”

“Is that all?  You didn’t feel anything else?” Landor asked.

“No, I didn’t,” she said, frowning.  “But with injuries like that, I suppose I should have.  Shouldn’t I?”

“Yes, Rayne, you should have,” Con said.

“How is this possible?”

“You experienced a lot of pain when the Doftle did their experiments on you.  Your mind found a way to dissociate itself from that pain, which probably saved your sanity.”

“After healing you, the Tigrens warned us that your ability to feel physical pain was greatly reduced,” Landor said.  “It never occurred to any of us that it was completely gone.  We assumed that if you were in pain, we’d be able to smell it, but we didn’t.  That assumption damn near cost you your life.”

“I’m still not sure I understand,” Rayne said, frowning.

“Rayne, you have no reaction to pain at all,” Landor said gently as he stared straight into her blue green eyes.  “None.  Your brain doesn’t recognize it, and neither does your body.  If you’d been bleeding externally we would have known you were injured sooner, but since your injuries were all internal, we had no idea, and neither did you.”

“We’re going to have to be much more careful with you from now on,” Ari said. “And so will you.  You’re going to have to remember that you don’t feel pain as you should.”

“How could I not be aware that I don’t feel pain?” she asked.  “That’s just…stupid.”

“No, it’s not,” Landor said.  “Give yourself a break, Rayne.  You went through hell.  Not being able to feel pain isn’t a good thing, but it could have been so much worse.”

A faint smile turned up the corners of her mouth.  “As Wolef said, I could have gone completely round the bend,” she said, imitating the dragon’s accent.  “So um, how did you manage to save me?”

“We began the linking,” Landor said.  “I’m sorry, Rayne, but it was the only way.”

“Please don’t apologize for keeping me alive.  You’ll make me think you don’t want me.”

“You know better than that,” Con said.  She smiled up at him.

“Maybe you should take the rest of this someplace a little more private,” Salene suggested.

“That sounds like an excellent idea to me,” Landor said.  “Blake?”

“Let me scan her again,” he said, already pressing buttons.  “Just to be safe.”

Rayne remained perfectly still as the scanner passed over her body, but she wasn’t worried.  She might not be able to feel pain, an idea she was having trouble accepting, but she could feel herself growing stronger by the minute.

“The healing is still progressing at a remarkably fast rate,” Blake said.  “Go ahead and take her, but no exertions for at least another half hour, keep a close watch on her, and let me know if you see any signs of deterioration.  And um…congratulations.”

“Thanks, Blake,” Landor said, sliding his hands beneath Rayne and lifting her from the medi cot.

“I’ll be along in a minute,” Con said.  “I want to get a direction from Salene first, but call me if anything happens.”

“I will,” Landor promised, then carried Rayne from the infirmary with Ari leading the way.

Rayne rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes as they walked at a normal speed down the corridor.  “Now, tell me the part you were holding back in there, please.”

Landor sighed, but he didn’t try to put her off.  “We didn’t want to talk about your shield in there, so we held back the fact that we told the Tigrens, under strictest confidence, that you were able to hide your scent and your emotions behind a shield.  Because of that, they assumed, as did we, that you felt at least some pain, but that you were hiding it.  If we hadn’t told the Tigrens about the shield, they might have figured out right away that you don’t feel pain at all.”  They paused in front of the elevator and Ari pressed the call button.  Once they were inside and the doors slid shut, Landor looked down at her again.

“I’m so sorry, Rayne,” he said.  “We knew that creature kicked you.  We should have checked you for injuries right away.”

“I wish so much that you’d stop blaming yourselves.  I didn’t know I was injured.  I’m not sure how you were supposed to know.”

“We have enough Water magic to have discovered you were hurt,” he replied with an edge in his voice.  Rayne opened her eyes and looked up at him, then raised one hand and placed her palm against his cheek.

“What else?” she asked.  “What’s the other thing worrying you right now?”

Landor started to deny that anything was bothering him, but one look down into her blue green eyes stopped him.  “You’re a witch, aren’t you?” he said, the corners of his mouth kicking up in a tiny smile.  “Of all the things we learned about you these past years, no one ever told us that.”

“We witches keep our secrets well,” she said.  “Tell me, please.”

Landor stepped into the elevator and waited for Ari to press the button for their deck and the doors to close.  “We had to begin the linking process to save your life, and I’m not sorry for that.  I’m just worried that once you have time to think about it, you’ll wish we hadn’t.”

“Why would I wish that?” she asked, surprised.

“We’ve attempted to bring the subject up,” Ari said.  “When we spoke about tri-phase.  Do you remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” Rayne said with a soft sigh.

“You made it clear to us, in the nicest way possible, that you weren’t ready to discuss it.”

The elevator stopped and the doors slid open.  Landor and Ari stepped out and walked up the corridor toward the master suite in silence.  Once they were inside and Landor set her down on the bed, she’d decided they deserved to know the truth.  Before she got the first word out the door opened and Con stepped inside.

“That was fast,” she said in surprise.

“I was in a hurry,” Con said.

“Do we have a direction?” Landor asked.

“Yes, we do,” Con replied, as he took in the solemn expressions on everyone’s faces.  “She pointed us to Onddo, and that’s where we’re headed.  She’ll let us know if there’s a change.  What’s going on here?”

“I just told Rayne that we were worried about her reaction to us starting the linking without her consent,” Landor said.

“You’re upset about it?” Con asked her.

“No, I’m not,” she said.  “In fact, I was going to ask you three if we could link today anyway.”

“You were?” Ari asked.

“I don’t understand,” Landor said.  “Don’t be offended, but are you just saying that to make us feel better, or do you really feel that way?”

“I really feel that way,” Rayne said calmly.  “I don’t want another day to go by without us being linked.”

“Not that I’m complaining, but why?” Con asked.  “You didn’t seem to want to discuss it before.”

“When the subject came up before something inside of me warned me that the time wasn’t right.  I didn’t remember why, which is why I didn’t want to discuss it.  I wanted to link with you more than I can say, but I couldn’t and I had no explanation for it.”

“And now?” Landor asked.

“Now I know that it was because I was afraid, but I don’t have to be afraid any more.”

“Afraid of what?”

She crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the headboard.  “Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters,” Landor replied.  “A great deal, in fact.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“No, we’re not.”

Rayne nearly smiled.  She knew them well enough by now to know that if she asked them to let it go, they would.  They’d be unhappy about it, but they’d do it if that was what she wanted.

“I was afraid that if I died when my other self on the Facility was destroyed, that you three would die too, if we were linked.  I hoped that since it was so…,” she paused, shook her head, and started over.  “Since you didn’t have too much trouble staying away from me for all those years after learning that I was your berezi, I hoped that it wouldn’t be much different for you if I died, so long as we weren’t linked.”

“Do you think it was easy for us to stay away from you?” Ari asked.

“I don’t have any idea what it was like for you,” she said.  “I just know that you did it, and I hoped that if I died, you’d be able to do it again.”

“Whether we could or not is irrelevant,” Landor said.  “We’d never let you travel to the next plane alone, Rayne.  Not ever.  Linked or not.”

“We made that promise to each other from the beginning,” Con said.

“The beginning?” she asked.

“Right after we discovered that you were our berezi.”

“That was the first time,” Ari said.  “We renewed the promise when you turned eighteen.”

“I don’t understand,” Rayne said.  “You didn’t even know me.  Why would you make a promise like that?”

“Our soul belongs with your soul, Rayne,” Landor said.  “We were made to be together, our souls were meant to be linked.  Once we’d found you, there was nothing that could have convinced us to remain on this plane while you traveled to another.  Now that we know you, and love you, our feelings on the subject are even stronger.”

“I love you three just as much, and I don’t even want to imagine a single day without you.  I thought I was protecting you, but I understand now that I was wrong.  Seeing Salene’s pain, and fear, and regret was an eye opener.  I suddenly realized that I had it all backward.”

“Backward?” Ari asked, confused.  “What did you have backward?”

“Not linking won’t make it easier for those left behind if one of us dies.  Linking does.”

“While we agree that not linking won’t make anything easier, I’m afraid we still don’t understand what it is you’re trying to tell us,” Landor said.

“Salene regrets not linking with the Gryphons because now, if one of them dies, their souls won’t be linked together the way they’re meant to be.  They’ll be set adrift.”  She swallowed hard.  “They’ll be separate, and alone.”  She took a deep breath to clear the tears from her throat.  “I don’t want that to happen to her, or the Gryphons, and I don’t want it to happen to us, either.  I want to know from this day forward that if one of us passes to the next plane, we won’t get lost.  We’ll be able to wait for each other because our souls will be connected together as one, and no force on any plane is capable of tearing a soul apart against one’s will.”

“Thank you, Rayne,” Landor said.  “I wish I had more eloquent words than that, but I don’t.  We’ll never forget this moment.”

“Nor will I,” she said, then took another deep breath.  “So, what next?”

“That will depend on you,” Con said.  “If everything goes as we expect, our bodies, and our mating fangs, will respond to whatever your body needs.”

She nodded, but that wasn’t what she meant.  “I know, but I was wondering more about how long the self-healing will take, and whether or not I’ll be able to feel pain when it’s done, and if I’ll have time to bathe before we get to the linking part.”

“Ah,” Landor said, frowning thoughtfully.  “In that case, I don’t know, I’m not sure, and I have no idea.”

“Good answers,” she laughed.  “Would you mind checking to see if I’m still healing?”

“Of course not,” Landor said.  Rayne remained motionless while they sent their Water magic into her.  A few moments later they all smiled.  “I think you can get up and move around if you like.  Do you really want to take a bath?”

“Weeble touched me, so yes, I do,” Rayne said, pushing herself out of Landor’s lap and inching her way to the edge of the bed without accepting help from her men who were all holding their hands out to her.  “Thanks guys, but I got this.”  They moved back, giving her room as she swung her legs slowly off the bed, and then stood up.  “I think I’d like a sasuna while we’re in the tub,” she said, changing direction.

“No, I’ll get it,” Ari said, redirecting her toward the bathroom.

“Thanks,” she said, rewarding him with a brilliant smile.  Con ran ahead to start the tub and Landor walked beside Rayne, not rushing her as she slowly crossed the room and entered the bathroom.  He helped her to undress, pausing to examine her back which still showed a few faint signs of bruising.  After helping her into the tub, Ari handed her an icy glass of sasuna, and they all undressed and joined her.  For several minutes they all relaxed in the steaming water, lost in their own thoughts.

“Why are you sad, Rayne?” Ari asked.

“I’m worried about the Gryphons,” she said.  “I’m sorry.  This is an important time for us and I shouldn’t be thinking about my sister and her men.”

“If you weren’t worried about them, you wouldn’t be you,” Landor said.

“Salene says that they’re alive,” Con said.  “Do you not believe her?”

“Of course I believe her,” she said.  “But I know a good bit about the Doftle, and I know a thing or two about male Clan Jasani, too.”

“What do you mean?” Landor asked.

“The Doftle go to extraordinary lengths to keep their captives alive,” she said.  “There’s no need to worry that they’ll kill the Gryphons because they never will.  But, the Doftle are very cautious when it comes to their own safety.  They will inflict deliberate, and probably irreparable, damage to the Gryphons if they’re afraid of them, or if they believe them to be a significant threat.”

“What sort of damage are you talking about?” Ari asked.

“I couldn’t begin to guess what they’d do to the Gryphons,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest in an unconscious protective gesture.  “But I can tell you what they did to Wolef.”

“If it upsets you too much, then don’t,” Landor said.

“No, I want you to know this.  Everyone has to know what the Doftle are capable of.”

“All right, Kisu, go on.”

“The Doftle sent out a distress call for an injured dragon.  When Wolef arrived in answer to that call they ambushed him, hitting him with dozens of tranquilizer darts all at once.  While he was unconscious they cut into his brain, forever taking away his ability to move his own body.  They didn’t even wait to see if he could be subdued by some other means.  They knew he was strong, powerful, and magical, all of which made him far too dangerous to them.  They wanted his living body.  They didn’t care about anything else.  Their intention was to destroy Wolef’s mind entirely and they believed that they’d succeeded.  They never knew his mind was still intact.”

“That’s…I don’t know what to call it,” Ari said.  “There’s no word I know of to accurately describe that.”

“I know,” Rayne said.  “Which is why I’m worried.  You know as well as I do that if given the slightest, slimmest chance, the Gryphons will act aggressively against the Doftle.  When and if they do, the Doftle may decide that their brains make them too dangerous.”

“Your concern is certainly understandable,” Landor said.  “If there was any way for us to warn them against such behavior, we would, but as it is, all we can do is try to get to them as quickly as possible.”

“I know,” Rayne said, then made herself set that subject aside.  “I have a question.”

“Which is?” Ari asked.

“When we’re finished with this, after we get the Gryphons and return home to Jasan, what happens then?”

“What happens?” Landor asked blankly.  “I’m not sure I understand what it is you’re asking.”

“I know that you do work for ICARUS, traveling all over the Thousand Worlds, and if that’s what you want to keep doing then of course that’s what you should do.  I’m just curious about what I’ll do.  Will I go with you, or will I have to stay on Jasan while you’re gone?”

Landor, Con and Ari exchanged looks, something she was growing accustomed to.  Then Landor turned to her.  “We’ve had a long time to prepare for our future with you, Rayne.  We purchased a large bit of farm land that includes a mountain overlooking a forest with a big freshwater lake, all within a few hours of Dracon Ranch.  We built a house on the mountain for us, but we kept it rather small.  Kitchen, living room, master bedroom and one guest room.  An office for us, a music room for you, and a nursery.  We know we’ll all want more rooms, hopefully many more rooms, but we thought you’d like to take part in deciding where the additions will be and how they’ll look.  The foundation and the existing structure are designed so that many more rooms can be added.”

“It sounds wonderful,” Rayne said, picturing it in her mind.  “We’ll live there?  All the time?”

“Yes,” Landor said.  “We never intended to continue our work for ICARUS after claiming you.  That’s why we didn’t sign a contract with them.  Our priority is you, Rayne and like you, we want a family.  We’ve waited a long time, and we intend to be there, with you, raising our children together.”

“Oh yeah?” she asked with a mischievous sparkle in her eye.  “Does that include diaper changing duties?”

They all laughed.  “It includes diapers, drool, spit up, long sleepless nights and endless exhausting days,” Landor said.  “We want it all, Rayne.  Every single moment.  Our only concern now is that we don’t want our enthusiasm to make you feel rushed.  Our future is in sight.  We can wait.”

“I don’t think you could rush me even if you tried since I have no desire to wait.”  They all looked at her intently.  “What?”

“Do you mean that, Rayne?” Ari asked.

“Absolutely,” she said, then dropped her eyes.  “If you guys want to wait a bit, I’ll understand, of course.”

“No, no no no and no,” Con said emphatically.  “Landor?”

“You know we don’t have the power to…change…anything, Con.”

“I know, but we can look,” Con said.  “Just to see if it’s possible.”

“Yes, we can do that,” Landor said.  “What do you think, Rayne?”

“I think I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“We want to take a peek to see if pregnancy is possible right now,” Landor said.

“Oh yes, please do check,” she said excitedly.

“Try to relax,” Landor said, pleased to see that her excitement was equal to their own.

“Okay okay, I’m relaxing.”

“No, you’re not,” Landor laughed.  “Try to be still anyway.”

“I can do that,” she said, then leaned back and went perfectly still.  She watched as an expression of utter calm came over their faces.  A few moments later they blinked and both Ari and Con looked at Landor and frowned.

“Frowns aren’t good,” she said worriedly.  “What is it?”

“Nothing bad,” Con said quickly.  “We just aren’t sure.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have any experience in this, something we should have thought of before getting our hopes up,” Landor said.  “We think things look…right.”

“Oh well,” Rayne said.  “I guess we’ll just have to hope for the best and wait to see, like most people.”

“We’re just glad that you want the things we want,” Ari said.

“Me too,” Rayne replied.  She raised one hand to brush the hair back from her face, then lowered it halfway back to the water before pausing.  She turned it over, her eyes traveling over the myriad scars that marred her skin.  They didn’t stand out too much since she was still very pale, but she was an outdoor girl.  When they got home and she started getting a little sunshine, that would change.  “I wonder, do you think the conversion will take away my scars?”

“We don’t know,” Landor said quietly, trying to gauge her feelings as they watched her.  “You and your sisters are the eldest of the Clan Jasani females, and you’re still young.  To our knowledge there’ve been only three conversions of Clan born females so far and there was no mention of scars in the reports.”

“Well, I guess we’ll see, won’t we,” she said, lowering her arm back into the water.

“Do they bother you so much?” Ari asked.  “The scars?”

“Yes, and no,” she said, frowning as she tried to understand her own feelings.  “I’m vain enough to wish I didn’t look like I went through a shredder, but what bothers me most is what they remind me of.”

“Then let them remind you of your courage, and strength, and determination,” Con said.  “Let them remind you that no matter the odds, no matter the circumstances, you never gave up and you never gave in.”

“If our children have even a fraction of your heart, and will, and honor, they will be the most blessed children on all of Jasan,” Ari said.

“They’re going to be amazing, that’s for certain,” Landor said.  “I cannot wait to meet them.”

“Thank you, guys,” Rayne said, touched almost beyond words.  “I can’t wait to meet them, either.”

“Now that we’ve destroyed the Facility, and isolated the Controller on board,” Landor said, “it should be safe for you to be yourself, right?”

“Yes, I think so,” Rayne said, smiling.  “No more contacts, and no more brown hair.”

“Will you return to your natural color?” Ari asked.  “And length?”

“That’s what I planned,” Rayne said.  “Did you have something else in mind?”

“No!” Ari exclaimed, then smiled.  “Sorry.  It’s just that I’ve had dreams in which your long silky curls played a major role.  I’ve heard that living your fantasies is never as exciting as the fantasies themselves, but I’m looking forward to finding out for myself whether or not that’s true.”

“So am I, now.  Unfortunately, it’s not easy to use that hair wand on yourself.  My arms get tired really fast, so it might take a few weeks to get it back to what it was before.”

“That’s all right,” Ari said, waggling his eyebrows.  “Anticipation isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

“Yes it is,” Con said.  “Anticipation is just a fancy word for waiting, and I don’t like waiting.  I vote that we take turns with that hair wand until Rayne’s hair is back the way it should be.”

“Good idea,” Ari said at once.  “You got my vote.”

“You get my vote as well,” Landor said, then held up one finger.  “But only if we can make it a little longer than it was.”

“Done,” Ari and Con said at once.

Rayne laughed again, then raised one hand to her throat and began rubbing at the scar there.  After a moment she frowned, then used her other hand to scratch at a scar on her shoulder while still scratching the one on her throat.

“What’s happening?” Landor asked, moving closer and leaning down so he could see her face.

“I just feel itchy.”

“Itchy?” Con asked in surprise.

“Yeah, this scar on my throat itches like crazy, and so does this other one,” she said, scratching hard enough to raise red welts on her skin.  Before Landor could begin to contemplate the reason for her sudden itchiness, it escalated.  Within moments she was scratching frantically at herself, her hands flying from one scar to another, in some places breaking the skin with her blunt nails.  Her distress grew as fast as the itching until she had tears streaming down her face that she couldn’t stop scratching long enough to wipe away.

Not knowing what else to do, Landor picked her up and carried her out of the tub.  Con hurried ahead, grabbed a towel, shook it out, and laid it on the counter.  Landor set her down on it and reached for another towel to dry her off with.  By then Rayne was making soft, whimpering sounds that she didn’t even notice as she struggled to reach all of the places on her body that itched.

“Look!” Con said in surprise, pointing at her throat.  One of Rayne’s hands flew to her throat while the other scratched at a long scar that spanned her stomach from her right hip to the middle of her left ribcage.

“What?” she asked.  “What is it?”

“Nothing,” Con said.  “I mean, there’s no scar there now.”

Rayne’s eyes widened in surprise even as she realized that the itching on her throat was gone.  She immediately resumed scratching at other scars on her arms and stomach and legs, but she was reining in her panic now that she suspected what was happening.  “Are any of the other scars going away?”

“Yes, that big one on your shoulder, and that long one on your stomach are gone,” Landor said.  “Others are fading as I watch.”

“At this rate, the itching shouldn’t last much longer,” Ari said.

“No, it’s a lot better already,” Rayne said, her scratching becoming less frantic.  Landor and Con began rubbing her all over with towels, which helped a lot.  A short while later she took a deep breath and relaxed.  “It’s gone now,” she said, looking down out herself in wonder.  She turned her hands and arms over, shaking her head in surprise.  Even the scratches and welts she’d inflicted on herself were gone.  “I guess this answers my question about scars.”

“I’d wager that the other females who’ve been converted had few, if any scars,” Landor said.  “They probably just experienced a little itchiness, and didn’t think any more about it.”

“Probably,” she said, watching as Ari handed Landor a white tube.  Landor squeezed a mound of white cream onto the palm of his hand, then handed it to Con who did the same.  They began rubbing the cream into her skin, soothing away the last vestiges of itchiness.  “I wasn’t ashamed of my scars,” she said, staring at the smooth, blemish free skin on her arms and hands.  “But I’m glad they’re gone.  I guess I kind of know how Aunt Darlene feels.”

Landor frowned as he glanced at Ari, then Con, but they were clueless too.  “In what way, Kisu?”

“Well, she has all of those scars, you know?”  They nodded.  “She told me once that they were a part of her, and that the reason she had them was a part of her and that she was grateful that she had them because otherwise, she wouldn’t be who she is now.  She just doesn’t like drawing people’s attention because of them.”

“So, you’re not ashamed of your scars, but you don’t want them to define you in other people’s eyes,” Con said.  Rayne smiled at him brilliantly.

“I love you, Con, and yes, that’s it exactly.”

“Excuse me just a moment,” Ari said, then left the bathroom.  He was back a few seconds later with a length of shimmering, blue green fabric draped over his arm.

“What’s this?” she asked when he stopped in front of her.

“It’s a bathrobe,” Landor said, watching Ari shake it out and hold it up for her to see.  “We had it made for you.”

“It’s so beautiful,” she said, reaching out to touch the fabric, surprised to find that it was silky soft.  “That color matches my eyes.”

“Exactly,” Con agreed.  “We searched for that color, with just the right touch of shimmering light, for a long time before giving up and having it made.”

Landor helped her down from the counter, and Ari helped her on with the robe.  She tied the belt around her waist and smiled happily.  “Thank you so much,” she said.  “It’s absolutely perfect.  Not too long, or too heavy, and I don’t even have to roll the sleeves up to find my hands.”

“Always a plus in a garment, I would think,” Ari said with a grin.

“A plus, yes, but not so easy to find,” she said.  “Well, what now?”

“We’ll go into the other room and wait for the next stage,” Landor said.  Rayne nodded and followed as he led her to the far side of the bedroom where four overstuffed chairs sat in a cozy circle with small tables and reading lamps.  She sat down in one and leaned back, surprised to find that she was nervous.

“How about a little wine?” Landor offered.

“Yes, please,” she said.  “That might help.”

“Do you want something to eat?” Con asked.

“You have food?” she asked.

“We’ve had years to plan for this,” Ari said as he turned to follow Landor and Con to the wet bar set up in one corner of the room.  “We’d decided on specific wines, appetizers, main course, dessert, music, lighting, every possible detail was considered, mulled over, sometimes even argued about.  After all of that, here we are with nothing but crackers, cheese and a bottle or two of fairly ordinary wine.”

“Crackers, cheese, and ordinary wine sound great to me,” Rayne said, smiling.  She watched as Ari prepared a plate with crackers, and the cheese he’d taken from the chiller under the bar while Landor opened a bottle of wine.  Just as Con placed four wine glasses on the bar, a wave of heat raced through her veins, causing her skin to pebble.

She shivered as her body went from relaxed to aroused in what felt like the blink of an eye.  Her breasts swelled, her nipples hardened, and her pussy clenched and released in a hard spasm, lubricating itself with a surge of molten fluid.  The ultra-soft fabric of her new robe suddenly felt rough against and irritating.  She fumbled with the belt, frantic to get it off.

“Rayne?” Con asked, spotting her distress just before the scent of her arousal reached them.  They all rushed to her side in a blur.  Con placed gentle hands on her wrists, stilling her futile efforts with the belt.  “What’s the matter?”

“It hurts,” she gasped.

Con untied the belt with deft fingers and Landor pushed it back off of her shoulders.  Rayne pulled her arms from the sleeves and stood up, anxious to get away from it.  “I’m sorry,” she said, surprised to find that she was panting.

“It’s begun,” Landor said.  Rayne stared at him uncomprehending for a long moment.  Her distress had been so great that she hadn’t even considered the reason for it.

“Yes,” she said.  That one small word was like a shot going off for the Bearen-Hirus.  They instantly went into high-speed, all but ripping their clothing off and tossing it aside.  Fresh waves of heat washed over her as she watched them bare their hard bodies one article of clothing at a time, their muscles bunching and flowing beneath smooth velvety skin.  By the time they were fully naked, their thick cocks jutting out away from their bodies, their testicles swaying heavily, the level of her arousal had doubled and a knot of fear began to grow deep in her belly.

Her heart was racing, her blood felt too hot in her veins, and every nerve in her body was hyper stimulated.  It wouldn’t be long before arousal turned to pain.  She knew perfectly well that arousal of the sort she was experiencing could kill if allowed to continue unabated for very long.

Landor, Con, and Ari raced around the room, locking the door, turning down the bed, and lighting candles in preparation for the soul-link triad to come while she stood, her teeth clenched so tightly that her jaw was locked shut, preventing her from speaking.  She felt as though she’d been standing there for a long time, though less than a minute had passed from the moment they began removing their clothing.  They all spun toward her, their eyes wide in shock as the scent of her fear, hidden beneath her arousal, finally hit them.

“Great Gods,” Ari whispered as they rushed toward her.  “It’s too much.”  Rayne’s fear increased at the near panic in Ari’s voice.  Landor shot his youngest brother a quelling look.

“It’s all right, Kisu.” he said as he scooped her up and carried her to the bed.  “We’ve got you.”  Rayne stared into his eyes and saw that he was tense, but not afraid, and that helped a great deal.  “Con, get the salve from the bathroom,” he said as he sat down on the edge of the bed with her in his arms.  “Ari, get the cushion.”

Ari moved to the closet in a blur of speed, retrieved a thick cushion and blurred back, placing it on the floor at Landor’s feet.  Landor turned Rayne in his arms so that she was straddling him, but with her knees on the bed rather than with her legs around his waist.  She heard a soft whimpering sound and wondered where it was coming from.  When she realized it was coming from her, she pressed her lips together in an effort to stop it.

“It’s all right,” Landor said again.  “Make all the noise you want.”  He reached down and caressed her pussy, groaning at the hot, throbbing wet heat.  Rayne grabbed onto his shoulders and a moment later her back arched as she tried to press herself harder against his hand.  He stroked his thumb over the hard nub of her clit several times, relieved when her entire body clenched in a hard, quick orgasm.  She leaned forward and kissed him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth and her fingers into his warm, silky hair.

Con arrived from the bathroom with a jar in his hands and a look of near panic on his face.  “Sorry, I couldn’t find it,” he said as he twisted the lid off and tossed it aside.  He dipped trembling fingers into the thick lubricating ointment created especially for this most important of rituals, then dropped to his knees on the cushion between Landor’s feet and began to apply it with gentle fingers.

Rayne pulled her mouth away from Landor’s, her eyes enormous.  She wasn’t surprised by Con’s touch in that place where no one had ever touched her before.  She knew what was coming, and she wasn’t afraid of it.  What surprised her was how intensely pleasurable his touch was.  She hadn’t expected that.

Landor grasped her waist, distracting her as he lifted her up, then lowered her onto his cock.  She instantly tried to press herself down, wanting nothing more than to impale herself on him, but he held her back, biting the inside of his cheek hard enough to draw blood as he forced both of them to go slowly.  By the time he was fully inside of her hot, slippery channel, they were both panting harshly and Rayne had tears running down her cheeks.

“Hurry up, Con,” Landor bit out, holding Rayne’s hips firmly so that she couldn’t move.  If she started fucking him, he’d never be able to bring himself to stop her, and that would be disastrous for all of them.

“Almost there,” Con said tightly.

Ari climbed up onto the bed beside them and brushed Rayne’s sweat dampened hair back off of her face.  She looked down at his cock which was dripping with pre-cum, and shuddered with the overwhelming desire to take him into her mouth.  Just as she started to reach for him her eyes closed of their own accord and she sucked in a deep breath, then arched her back again.  Landor and Ari watched Con as he slowly pressed his cock into her ass, his head thrown back and muscles taut with the strain of holding back against the nearly irresistible desire to slam himself all the way into her hot, dark channel.  By the time he was fully seated he was panting harshly, struggling to find the strength to remain still for just a few moments, which wasn’t easy with Landor’s throbbing cock just one thin layer of  tissue away, intensifying the heat and tightness of Rayne’s flesh around him.  For a moment or two he didn’t think he’d be able to resist the call of so much overwhelming pleasure, but thinking of Rayne, and what could happen to her if he didn’t, helped him to win the battle.  He looked up at Ari and spoke through clenched teeth.  “Your turn.”

Ari stood up on the bed, grasped his weeping cock in one hand and held it so that Rayne could easily reach it just by turning her head, which she immediately did.  He pressed himself against her lips and she opened them, taking him all the way to the back of her throat before his hand prevented her from taking more.  The moment she had all three of them inside of her body, something within her relaxed just enough to dull the sharp edge of desperation.

Con raised her right arm up and Ari took it with his free hand, still holding his cock to prevent her from taking it into her throat too soon.  Then Con raised her left wrist to his lips while Landor leaned forward and kissed the side of her neck.  “Go ahead,” he said to Ari.

Rayne took a long deep breath as Ari pulled back, then thrust forward until his entire cock was buried in her throat.  “Now,” Landor said as soon as he saw her throat bulge, and they all sank their fangs into her flesh.

The moment their fangs penetrated her skin, Rayne was surprised to find that she could actually feel the serum flowing into her veins.  Serum that would change her body so that she could shift into a bearenca and, most importantly to her, allow her to bear her Rami’s children.  As the serum began to spread through her bloodstream, she realized that she could feel it leaving her men’s fangs.  She focused on that sensation, understanding that what she felt wasn’t coming from her since she didn’t have fangs, but from Landor, Con, and Ari.

By the time they slid their fangs out of her flesh the serum was already working.  She no longer had to hold her breath as Ari began thrusting in and out of her throat in time with Landor’s thrusts in her pussy and Con’s in her ass.  Having all of her men inside of her at the same time was incredibly pleasurable, but feeling what they felt at the same time seemed to stifle her ability to think.

She felt the sensitive skin of their cocks as they plunged into her, the heat of her body clamping tightly around them, the strange heaviness of their balls as they drew up tighter and tighter with every thrust.  At the same time she felt her body stretch and tighten around them as their cocks filled her, then withdrew, only to fill her again, rubbing sensitive nerve endings with each and every stroke.  She wanted to move with them, but that was impossible.  All she could do was relax and let herself get lost in the pleasure that built higher and higher by the moment.

She felt what they felt when they came, an explosive sensation that began in the base of their spines and shot through their balls sending their hot seed blasting into her.  Helpless before the sheer intensity of their orgasms as well as her own, she could only let it take her to a place where there was no thought, just intense, deep, mind numbing pleasure.  How long it lasted she didn’t know, but just as she began to hear and see and feel the world around her again, something else started to happen.

A ball of blue-green light shot through with violet, green, and amber sparks grew inside of her, becoming so bright so fast that she squeezed her eyes shut even though she wasn’t really seeing it.  It was her soul, she realized.  Her soul brightened and strengthened by the love of her men, and her love for them.  Hot tears seeped from the corners of her eyes as she promised herself to never, ever, forget this moment.  If she’d had any lingering questions about their love for her, this was proof that could not be doubted or argued against.

Three strands of light broke away from the main orb and traveled back through her body to each of theirs.  She felt the strands…her soul…enter Landor, Con, and Ari as they’d entered her, then call to the fragments of their shared soul.  She smiled to herself when each one of them accepted her invitation without a moment’s hesitation, grabbing onto her soul and letting it pull them into her body through their cocks, following the paths their seed had taken, magically created paths that had not existed before this moment, and that would never exist again.  The moment their souls melded with hers, finally and at last, they all felt it.  Their eyes opened and they gazed at each other in a moment of shared wonder that they’d never forget.  Rayne felt three tiny parts of her soul leave her body and settle into theirs, replacing the bit they each gave to her.  She felt a warm tingling sensation as they became a part of her flesh, just as her soul became a part of theirs.  Lau-lotu.  Binding marks, visual reminders that their souls were forever linked together.

Its task complete, the orb of light within her began to fade, and her men began driving their cocks into her again.  There was so much hot, erotic sensation that it was impossible to separate which of them was feeling what, so she leaned her head back against Con’s shoulder and just let herself feel.  It didn’t take long before all three of them slammed into her one final time, pushing their cocks as far inside of her as they could before they all roared with the pleasure of releasing their seed.

This was the moment when, for the very first time, pregnancy was possible.  It was also the only time that a pregnancy could be achieved through the three passages opened by the magic of the triad.  The thought of starting new life at this most important moment in all of their lives set off Rayne’s orgasm, which was so intense that every muscle and nerve in her body tightened and strained with it.  Then darkness descended and she felt herself slip into a warm, cozy darkness.

Ari gently withdrew from Rayne’s mouth before slumping to his knees on the mattress beside Landor.  Then Con withdrew, stood up, and pushed the cushion away from the bed with one foot so that Rayne wouldn’t trip over it if she got up.

“Look,” Ari said, gesturing to Rayne’s right arm which now held an image of his amber eyed bearenca that stretched from her upper arm to her wrist, perfect in every detail.  Con smiled at the image of himself on her left arm, then raised his own arm to get his first look at Rayne’s bearenca.

“Stunning,” Landor whispered as he studied the red gold bearenca with blue-green eyes on Con’s arm.

“I’m looking forward to seeing her shift,” Ari said, lowering his arm.  He felt hot tears sting his eyes, and blinked them back.  “I’ll go get some warm cloths,” he said and started to climb off the bed.

“Wait,” Landor said softly, placing one hand on Ari’s shoulder.  “Don’t be ashamed of your tears, Brother.  We all have them, and why not?  We’ve just linked our souls together with each other, and with Rayne, who we love beyond all things.  Thanks to her, we are standing at the beginning of the life we’ve always dreamed of.  Never forget this moment.  Never forget how you feel right now.  Never forget how much it means to us.  Never forget, and never take it for granted.”

“That is a promise I can easily make,” Con said, blinking back his own tears.  Then he smiled, his jade eyes lighting up.  “Our lives will never be the same again.”

“Thank the Creators!” Ari said, and they all laughed softly, careful not to wake Rayne.

“We need to take care of our Arima,” Landor said, then grinned.  “How wonderful that sounds.”

“Indeed,” Con agreed as he followed Ari into the bathroom.

Landor lifted Rayne off of his softening cock, then shifted her until she was lying sideways across his lap.  He stood up, turned around and laid her gently on the bed, smiling at the image of his own bearenca that was now draped across the back of her neck and shoulders.

“That was far more intense than I expected it to be,” Con said from beside him.  “And I was expecting quite a lot.”

Landor glanced at his brother, then back to Rayne.  “Did you feel her?”

“Yes,” Con replied without having to ask what he meant.  “Toward the end, after our souls linked.”  He paused.  “It’s so incredible, being linked.”

“I know what you mean,” Landor said.  “How about you, Ari?  Did you feel her too?”

“Yes, I did,” Ari said.  “It really is tri-phase, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Landor said.  “It really is.  I don’t think anyone ever imagined something like this happening.  Not even the Tigrens.”

“You sound…worried?” Con asked.

“I’m just imagining her feeling what we feel if we get hurt, or sick.”

“She doesn’t have to feel those things,” Con said.  “We can choose what we want to feel, and what we don’t, right?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Landor replied, smiling. “Can you imagine our Rayne choosing not to share in our pain?”  Con sighed.

“I, for one, am thrilled that we’ve been blessed with the ability to feel Rayne,” he said.  “Especially since she cannot feel her own pain.”

“You’re right, Ari,” Landor said.  “It is a blessing for that reason alone.”  He reached for one of the cloths that Ari was holding and climbed onto the bed where Con and Ari joined him a moment later.  Together they washed Rayne, their strokes light and gentle as they cleansed her from head to toe, making sure that she was unharmed.  Con covered her with a sheet and watched over her while Landor and Ari went into the bathroom to wash up, and when they came back, he took his turn.  Landor climbed onto the bed and, moving carefully so as not to wake her, he shifted her so that she was lying on top of him, her cheek resting against his chest.  Con and Ari laid down beside them, each placing one hand on Rayne’s body.  Connected in every way possible, they all fell asleep.

Chapter 16

Rayne stood in front of the mirror admiring her binding marks with an enormous smile on her face that widened when she heard Landor call her name.  “In here,” she replied, turning from side to side so she could see as much of Landor’s bearenca as possible.  When Landor, Con, and Ari all entered the bathroom a moment later she looked at their reflections, then laughed out loud as she turned around and grabbed hold of Con’s arm to get a closer look at their lau-lotu.

“You didn’t see them when you woke up?” Ari asked.

“No, I was too worried about waking you guys,” she said.  “So that’s what I’ll look like.  I don’t remember seeing a red gold bearenca before.”

“That’s because there isn’t one,” Landor said, smiling down at her.  “The only bearenca whose coloring comes close to yours is Arima Hope’s.”  Rayne clapped her hands in delight, earning indulgent smiles from her men that she missed when she turned to admire her own lau-lotu in the mirror again.

“You don’t appear to dislike your binding marks,” Con said, smiling at her in the mirror.

“Dislike them?” she asked in surprise.  “I love them!  They’re beautiful and perfect and they’re you.  All three of you.”  Her voice dropped as she ran her fingers over the image of Ari on her right arm.  “No matter what happens, I’ll have you with me all the time now.  I’ll never be truly alone again.”

“No, you won’t,” Landor said.  “Not on this plane or any other.”  She smiled up at him and opened her mouth to speak when her stomach growled.  “It’s obviously time to put some food in you.  And in us, too.”

“Sounds wonderful to me,” she said, then turned toward the sink and opened a drawer for her toothbrush.

“What would you like for breakfast?” Con asked.

“Everything,” she said, her eyes dancing.

“Excellent idea,” Landor said.  “We’ll give you a few moments of privacy while we call down and request that the cafeteria be delivered to our room.”

“Don’t forget to order something for yourselves, too,” she said with a grin.

Twenty minutes later Rayne was sitting at the table in her new robe, sipping coffee while she watched her Rami load her plate with enough food to feed three of her.  Or one of them.  She didn’t say anything though.  She’d grown up watching her fathers do the same thing to her mother on a daily basis.  It gave her a warm feeling inside to see her men do it for her.

“What’s that look for?” Con asked as he set her plate down in front of her.  She looked at the plate which held a waffle covered with sliced strawberries, a cheese omelet, ham, bacon, a croissant, and…were those blueberries scattered over everything?  She looked up, grinning.

“I see you took me literally when I said everything,” she said.

“Not quite,” Ari said.  She arched a brow at him.  “They were out of cinnamon rolls.  Sorry.”

“I think this might be enough,” she said happily, watching them fill their own plates before picking up her fork.  “Did any of you check with the infirmary to see how Salene’s doing?”

“Yes, we did,” Con said.  “Blake said that she didn’t sleep well.  Salene insisted that it was because she didn’t like being watched while she was trying to sleep and requested a private room.  We told Blake to put her in the room you were using.”

“Thanks,” she said, her smile slipping for the first time that morning.  “I should go visit her.”

“Blake said one of his conditions for releasing her from the infirmary was a promise to take something to help her sleep, which she did.  He told me that she’ll probably sleep the entire morning, if not the entire day.”

“What about you guys?” she asked, cutting into her waffle.  “Do you have to work this morning?”

“We’ll have to check in with the captain this afternoon I’m afraid,” Landor said.  “But the morning is ours to do with as we wish.”

“Would you mind showing me how to shift?” she asked.

“Mind?” Landor asked.  “We’re looking forward to it.”  Rayne looked up, surprised by his vehemence.  “We’ll be a lot happier knowing that if anyone attacks you with metal legs again, you’ll be able to rip them off with one bite and spit them out.”

“The image you just painted is kind of gross, but at the same time, appealing.  I’m looking forward to having that kind of strength and power.”

“So are we,” Landor said.  They all fell silent while they ate, but after a few moments they sensed that Rayne was worrying about something.

“Share with us, Rayne,” Landor said.  “Please?”

“Of course,” she said, putting her fork down and reaching for her juice.  “Last night I felt you guys again, kind of like before, but this was much stronger.  It wasn’t just your arousal I felt.  I felt what your bodies felt.”

“We felt you the same way,” Landor said.

“Tri-phase?”

“Yes, as unbelievable as it is to us, that’s the only explanation we can think of,” Ari said.  “Do you feel us now?”

“Well, I can tell that all three of you are a little wary right now, and I guess it’s because you’re worried about my reaction.  But other than that, no.”

“Reach for us,” Landor suggested.  “Imagine yourself feeling what one of us feels right this moment.”

“Okay,” Rayne said.  She closed her eyes a moment, then reached out with her feelings.  A moment later she smiled.  “I feel how happy you are.  I can’t quite separate you from one another, but I feel your combined happiness the way I feel my own.”

“That’s just the beginning,” Landor said.  “As we get better at it we’ll be able to feel more with less effort.  We’ll practice with it later, all right?”

“Sure,” she said before popping a strawberry slice into her mouth.  She chewed slowly, as a new thought entered her mind.  “What about my inability to feel pain?”

“What about it?” Landor asked.

“Well, the soul-link triad took away all of my scars,” she said.  “I just wonder if it took that away, too.”

“Anything’s possible, I suppose,” Con said.  “Even time travel.  But we don’t think it’s probable.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re inability to feel pain isn’t a physical problem.  It’s in your mind.”

“You think I’m crazy?”

“Not remotely,” Landor said.

“What then?” she asked.  “Maybe if I understand what I did, I can undo it.”

“We don’t know for certain, Kisu, we can only guess,” Landor said.  “The Tigrens checked you carefully but could find no physical reason for your inability to feel pain.  It was a mystery to us all until you told us about the experiments that were done on you without anesthetic.  We suspect that a part of your brain stopped registering pain in a desperate act of self-preservation.  We have no idea if it can be reversed.  Perhaps Jareth will be able to help with that when we return to Jasan.”

“In the meantime?” she asked.  “I don’t want to repeat what happened yesterday.”

“Thanks to tri-phase, we can already feel a bit of what you feel.  With practice, the ability will strengthen so that even if you can’t feel your pain, we’ll be able to do it for you.”

“No, I don’t want you feeling my pain,” she said adamantly, her eyes wide with horror at the thought.

“Rayne,” Ari said, his voice so gentle that she couldn’t help but look at him.  “If I were shot or stabbed, and I fell unconscious, would you use your ability to feel my pain to determine how badly I was injured?”

“Of course I would,” she said with a reluctant sigh.  “Okay, I get it.”

“I believe that the Fates gave us tri-phase because you can no longer feel your own pain,” Con said.  “But, no matter the reason, it’s a gift, and we are grateful for it.”

“I know, and I’m grateful too,” she said.  “I really am.  It’s just going to take me a while to adjust to it.”

“It’ll take all of us a while to adjust to this,” Landor said.  “Just remember that feeling each other is a choice, and we can stop it the moment we want to.”

“Good point,” Rayne said.  “I wonder if my shield will block your ability to feel me, or my ability to feel you guys.”

“That’s easy enough to determine,” Ari said.  “Raise your shield and we’ll try it.”

Rayne nodded, then raised her shield just enough to block her emotions.  Then she reached out for her Rami again.  Nothing.  She tried again, then shook her head.  “It’s not working for me.  How about you?”

“No,” Landor said, then looked at Con and Ari.  They both shook their heads.  “This could be a problem.”

“How?” Rayne asked in surprise.

“If we’re in a situation where you have to hide behind your shield, we won’t be able to determine if you’re hurt,” Landor said.

“I wonder if I can fix that,” she said thoughtfully.

“Fix what?” Con asked.

“I was born with the ability to fully shield myself, I told you that,” she said.  “But the partial shield, that I’m using now, was something I taught myself to do with lots of practice.  Maybe I can figure out how to let you three feel me, while blocking everyone else.”

“Do you really think you can do that?” Ari asked in surprise.

“I won’t know until I try,” she said.  “Since we’re linked now, I think there’s a chance, at least.”

“Then we’ll work together on that, too,” Landor said.  “You about finished?”

“I am,” she said, setting her fork down.  Even though she’d taken no more than a bite or two of everything on her plate, she was stuffed.  “I’ll go put some clothes on.”

“Good idea,” Landor said, grinning at her. Rayne rolled her eyes at him as she got up and hurried to her dresser.  She grabbed the first items she touched, then went into the bathroom.  She came out a few minutes later in a pair of stretch pants and a t-shirt, her hair pulled back into a short ponytail, and her body nearly vibrating with excitement.

“Do you know how shifting works?” Landor asked as he bent to put his boots on.

“What do you mean?  Physically?”

“No, I meant do you know how to shift.”

“Ah,” she said.  “My understanding is that my humanoid form and my alter-form both exist, but only one can manifest at a time.  When I call my alter-form forth, I become myself as a bearenca.”

“Excellent,” Landor said, smiling proudly at her.  She rolled her eyes.

“I did grow up with shifters, you know.”

“Yes, but witnessing something and actually doing it are not the same,” Con said, opening the door for her.

“That’s true,” she said, stepping into the corridor.  “May I ask you guys a personal question?”

“You may ask us anything you like, Kisu,” Landor said as they started walking toward the Roar Room.  “You are our Arima.  We will not keep secrets from you.”

“I appreciate that.  But if I ask something you don’t really want to talk about, please promise to just say so.”

“We will consider that option,” Con said.  “What would you like to ask?”

“Aside from Clan Bearen, do you have any close family?  Brothers or parents?”

“No, Rayne,” Con said with a sad smile.  “Our mother died when we were little more than babies.”

“I’m so sorry,” she said.  “I shouldn’t have brought this up.”

“It’s all right, Rayne,” Ari said.  “It was three hundred years ago and we were very young.  Sadly, we barely remember her.”

“What happened?”

“It was a simple accident,” Landor said.  “She was an artist, and had just finished a painting of us with our fathers.  She had it framed and was standing on a ladder in our father’s office trying to hang it.  It was a surprise, and she wanted to see how long it took them to spot it.  She lost her balance and fell.  It wasn’t a long distance, just a couple of feet, but she hit her head on the corner of the desk.  That was it.  She was gone.”

“Your fathers must have been devastated,” she said, imagining how her own fathers would feel if they lost her mother.

“They were,” Con agreed.  “Even though she was not their Arima, they loved her deeply.  After she died, they became like ghosts of themselves.  They stuck it out for a few years, then they took us to the Hidden City and left us with their brothers.  We never saw them again.  When we were older, we were given a letter from them, admitting that they’d promised our mother that if she died, they’d raise us to adulthood before following her to the next plane.  It was a promise they could not find the heart to keep.”

Rayne bit her lip hard in an effort to hold back her immediate response, momentarily forgetting how easily they could feel what she felt.  “We agree,” Landor said.  “It was dishonorable of them to break their word to the woman they loved.  Aside from ourselves and our uncles, no one knew about the promise, but that didn’t make it any easier for us to come to terms with it.”

“What did your uncles think about it?”

“They didn’t like it, and they didn’t understand it,” Con said.  “It made them angry, but they hid that from us as much as they could.  When we were twelve years old they fell in love themselves and were mated.  Aunt Belinda was a wonderful and sweet woman.  She filled a place in our hearts that we hadn’t realized was empty before she came along.  When we were in our late teens she got pregnant, which she and our uncles had been trying to do for years.  They were so happy.  We were happy for them.  Then, about half way through her pregnancy, something went very wrong.  She died, and our uncles followed soon thereafter.”

Rayne saw the sadness in their eyes, but more than that, she felt it.  She felt their loss, their heartache, their loneliness, and their despair.  She understood that at least part of their determination to wait for their Arima was grounded in the fact that the two women they’d loved as mothers had been human, and had both died in ways that might not have killed a female Clan Jasani.  She saw no reason to point that out to them, though.  They were intelligent men, and unless she missed her guess, they’d already figured that out for themselves.

They stopped in front of the Roar Room and Landor opened the door.  Once they were all inside the ante chamber and the door was closed, she turned to face them.  “I know this is probably not the time for this, but I have to ask.”

“No need,” Landor said, a sad smile on his face.  “Even though we’re now beginning to understand the reason our fathers did as they did, it doesn’t change the fact that they dishonored themselves and our mother by breaking their word.  We would never do that to you, Rayne, nor would we put our children through what we experienced.  If we’re blessed with children, and you are taken from us, we will remain on this plane until they’re fully grown and no longer in need of our guidance before we rejoin you.  On this you have our most solemn vow.”

“If that happens, never forget that I will wait for you, no matter how long it takes,” she said.  She blinked away her tears and took a deep breath.  “Okay, let’s go do this.”

“Yes, let’s,” Con said, opening the door into the shifting chamber.  Rayne went through the door and stumbled the moment her foot sank into the deep padding.  Landor caught her before she fell and carried her into the center of the room.

“Wow, graceful start.”

“Everyone stumbles the first time the floor sinks under their feet,” he said as he set her down, then hovered until he was sure she would remain steady.

“Thanks,” she said.  “Now what?”

“Imagine your bearenca in your mind and call to her,” Ari said, holding his arm up so that she could see what her bearenca looked like.

Rayne nodded, took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and imagined herself as a bearenca.  She felt an odd pulling sensation that she didn’t recognize and opened her eyes.  Just as she started to ask Landor what it meant, she realized that she was no longer in her human form.  For one thing, she was taller than her Rami which was just plain weird.  For another, she was standing on four feet.  She looked down, grinning inwardly at the long sharp claws curling out from toes covered in red gold fur.

“Wow,” she thought, “I’m in desperate need of a mani.  Or is it a pedi?”  She raised her nose to the ceiling and laughed, then froze, startled by the odd sound that came out of her mouth.

“Was that supposed to be a laugh, Kisu?” Landor asked.  Because of her experience with Wolef, she immediately understood that he was speaking to her telepathically.  She looked around and saw that all three of them had shifted and took a moment to admire them.  Then she did an odd little hop and leap of excitement and took off running.  She was surprised by how fast she moved, and how powerful she felt.  She caught something out of the corner of her eye and glanced that way, smiling inwardly to see Landor loping along beside her.  She looked to her other side and saw Con, and sensed that Ari was right behind her.  Without warning, she put on a burst of speed and outdistanced them by several paces for just a few moments before they caught up.  She was laughing delightedly when the part of her mind that was now purely bearenca spoke to her for the first time.  She stopped so suddenly that she flipped head over heels a few times before coming to a skidding stop on the thickly padded floor in her humanoid form.

“Rayne?” Landor asked, bending over her with worry in his eyes.  “Are you all right?”

Rayne looked around to see Con and Ari standing close by, their worry as deep as Landor’s.

“I’m fine,” she said.  “Better than fine.”

“What happened?” Ari asked.  “You were running along fine and then you just fell.”

“I got…distracted,” she said as she struggled to her feet.  “And surprised.”

“What surprised you?” Landor asked softly while noticing at the same moment that she had a tiny smile playing around her mouth.  He reached for her feelings.  “You’re excited about something.”

Con and Ari looked at Landor, then reached for Rayne themselves.  They found what Landor was talking about just before she clapped her hands together and laughed.  “Yes, I’m excited,” she said.  “Very excited, but you have to guess why!”

Ari and Con shook their heads even as they smiled at her antics, but Landor’s expression went from curiosity to speculation to shock.  “Are you sure?” he whispered.

“Positive!” Rayne exclaimed then leapt into his arms so fast he nearly failed to catch her.

“Let us in on this, please,” Ari asked, then stilled as an idea blossomed in his mind.  “Oh,” he whispered.  “Really?”  Rayne laughed again, nodding at him, her eyes sparkling.  Ari threw his head back and let out a wordless shout of joy.  Then he looked at Con, who was beginning to look a bit testy.

“We’re going to be fathers, Con,” he said.  “We’re going to have babies to love and care for and teach and raise.  We’re going to be a family.”

Con’s mouth dropped open, then he reached over and pulled Rayne from Landor’s arms.  He spun her around in circles before pulling her close against his body and wrapping his arms around her.  “I love you so much, Rayne,” he said into her hair.  “So very much.  Thank you for this.”

She leaned back and looked into his eyes, then stretched up to kiss him.  “I love you, too, Con.  I love all of you.  After linking with you, this is the happiest moment of my life, but you needn’t thank me.  As I recall, we were all there at the time.”

“A triad pregnancy,” Ari said, holding his arms out to her when Con released her.  He didn’t spin her around because he could feel her lingering dizziness and didn’t want to make her sick.  He wrapped his arms around her and closed his eyes as their hearts beat in tandem.  When he released her she laughed and clapped her hands again, hardly able to decide what to do with herself.

“Rayne, how do you know?” Landor asked, then shook his head.  “Never mind, I know the answer.  Your bearenca told you.”

“Yes, she did,” Rayne agreed, placing her hands gently on her lower abdomen.  “Girls.  We’re going to have girls.”

***

Later that afternoon Rayne took the follicle restorer to Salene’s room up the hall from the master suite, the same room she’d used, and started to knock.  She paused, then reached out with her senses for Salene, something she’d gotten much better at over the past week with the Bearen-Hirus.  She felt her sister sleeping, so she turned and went back down the corridor to the music room instead.

She went inside and took a moment to just stare at the piano in admiration.  Then she pulled the bench out and seated herself before opening the fall, revealing the long row of black and white keys. Once again she had a bit of music repeating itself over and over in her mind that she couldn’t place.  With all of the other exciting events of the day she’d been able to shunt it aside several times, but as soon as her men left after lunch to attend to some duties, it had come back again.  It didn’t belong with the concerto she’d written, that much she was certain of.  But, at the same time, she couldn’t help feeling that she’d written it during her time with the Doftle.  So it should have been part of the concerto.

She shook her head, set the confusing thoughts aside and reached up to the little electronic control panel setting on top of the piano and turned on the recorder.  Then she placed her hands lightly on the cool, glossy keys, closed her eyes, and played the snippet that had been repeating itself to her on a seemingly endless loop.  She played it twice before something in her mind seemed to click, and then the music began to flow through her fingers to the piano.  While she played, images began to roll through her mind, choppy and disjointed at first, but gaining clarity as the music unlocked one final memory.  By the time she finished the finale and the last notes faded into silence, her face was wet with tears.

“There’s a story there,” Salene said knowingly, startling her.  She wiped her tears with the sleeve of her sweater, then turned around to see her sister sitting on the edge of a chair near the door, and her Rami standing near her with expressions of worry on their faces.  She gave them a watery smile then took a moment to study Salene.  She wasn’t looking very good.  The burn on her cheek was an angry red, contrasting sharply with her pale complexion, and there were dark circles of pain and worry under her golden eyes.

“Should you be up running around?”

“I’m a long way from running,” Salene said dryly.

“How did you know I was in here?”

“I felt you, of course,” Salene said.  “And your sadness.”

“It’s an old sadness,” Rayne said, glancing at Landor, Con, and Ari as she spoke.  “I just uncovered one last memory.”

Salene nodded, then pushed herself to her feet with effort.  “I can see this is going to be a private conversation, so I’ll just take myself back to bed.”  She walked slowly to the door, then paused to look back for a moment.  “That was really beautiful, Rayne.  Heart-rending, but beautiful.”  Then she opened the door and was gone.

Rayne stood up, turned around and pushed the bench back in place, then closed the fall and turned off the recorder.  While she did that, she felt her men approach so that when she turned around again, they were right in front of her.  “Salene’s right,” Landor said.  “It was beautiful.  And sad.  Do you want to tell us about it?”

“Of course I do,” Rayne said, smiling up at them.  “I want to share all things with you guys.  Don’t you know that?”

“We do, but it’s nice to hear anyway,” Ari said.

“You remembered hearing us on the mesa the night the Doftle took you,” Con guessed.

“How’d you know?”

“The music told us.”

Rayne nodded, then stepped closer to Landor.  He picked her up, understanding what she needed because he needed the same thing.  He cradled her in his arms so that Ari and Con could crowd close.  When they were all touching each other, she spoke.  “The first week or so that they had me, I focused every scrap of energy I had sending out mental calls for you day and night.  I knew it was useless, I knew you’d never hear me, and I knew help wasn’t going to come.  But at the same time, it gave me something to do.  Something to think about and hope for.  After a few days I realized that I needed to get a grip on myself.  I couldn’t stop sending out calls, because that would feel too much like giving up.  So I put a limit on myself as to the number of times I could call, and how often.  That worked out all right as far as it went, but I needed something else to occupy my mind while I was waiting for time to pass between calls.  That’s when I first got the idea to write music and memorize it, and that piece I just played was what I wrote.”

“We didn’t hear the entire thing,” Ari said, “but we felt what we did hear.”

“I didn’t remember more than a few bars before I started playing it, so I recorded it.”

“We’ll listen to it later,” Landor said.  “Right now I’m more concerned with how you feel after regaining that memory.”

Rayne smiled up at him, then stretched up to kiss him quickly.  “You guys told me what happened on the mesa that night, and you were honest and thorough.  Because of that, it wasn’t the big shock to me it would otherwise have been, and I’m very grateful to you for that.  It was sad to remember how I felt when I wrote that particular bit of music, but I don’t feel that way now.”

“You should publish it,” Ari said.  “I think it might be the best thing you’ve ever written.”

“Really?” Rayne asked.  He nodded.  “I was just focusing on the memories and remembering the music, so I don’t really know.  I’ll listen to it later.  Now, what are you guys up to?”

“We came down because we felt your sadness, but we need to go back to work for a couple of hours,” Landor said.  “What about you?”

“I intended to visit Salene but she was sleeping, so I came in here instead.  I guess I’ll go have that visit now.”

“We’ll walk you,” Landor offered, setting her on her feet.

***

Rayne waited until her men were gone, then knocked on Salene’s door.  A moment later her sister answered, appearing even more pale and tired than she had in the music room.  But her eyes lit up when she saw Rayne and they hugged each other tightly.  Then Rayne stepped inside and closed the door.

“Your hair is back to its normal color and it’s curly again,” Salene said.  “It looks great and oh my goodness!  You’re lau-lotu are so beautiful!  Why didn’t I notice them in the music room?  Were you hiding them?”

“No,” Rayne said, holding her arms out so she could see Con and Ari.  “I can’t quite believe how lucky I am to have them so I haven’t even considered hiding them yet.”

“It’s not luck, Rayne,” Salene said solemnly, her smile fading.  “I know a little of what you went through.  Enough to know that you bought and paid for every single moment of happiness you have now, or will have in the future.  I can’t tell you how happy I am for you, or how proud of you I am.”

“Thank you, Salene,” Rayne said, then hugged her again, careful of her injuries.

“Okay, enough with the weepy,” Salene said, leading the way to the sitting area of the room where they both sat down in overstuffed chairs.  “By the way, thanks for the clothes.”

“You’re welcome, of course.  If you need anything else, let me know, okay?”

“I can’t think of anything, but thanks.”

Rayne reached into her back pocket and pulled out the hair wand.  “I thought I’d start work on your hair,” she said.  “But I’m not so sure you’re up for it.”

“I’m just a little tired is all, and you should be spending time with your Rami right now, not fussing over me or my hair.”

“They’re working,” Rayne said.  “And they know where to find me if they want me.”  She turned the hair wand on and got up, moving to stand behind Salene.  Using gentle, slow strokes she began running the device over her sister’s scalp.  “Now, tell me how you really feel, please.”

“I’m tired and the burns hurt, but the salve keeps the pain from being too bothersome,” Salene said.  “Please, tell me what you know about my guys.  Are we still following them?”

“Yes, we are, and my understanding is that we’re not too far behind them.  I don’t know whether you’re aware of this or not, but this ship has Blind Sight now, just like the Doftle have.  They don’t know we’re following them, and they won’t know until we suddenly show up and take your men back.  In the meantime, maybe just one day in a healing tank would make a difference for you.”

“No, Rayne,” Salene said, shaking her head.  “What if they change direction?  Or stop?  The only way to know where they are is for me to feel them, and I’m not taking any risks with their lives.”

“I understand,” Rayne said.  “I don’t blame you, either.  I’d do the same thing.  I’m just worried about you.”

“I’m being well taken care of by Pip and his med techs, particularly that one named Blake.  Which reminds me.  What’s going on with Pip?  He won’t even enter the same room with me.  I’ve spoken to him on the comm a couple of times, but when I asked him what was going on he put me off.”

“Pip has a Controller,” Rayne said, shocking Salene.  “Landor, Con, and Ari have given it orders to shut down, but Pip is worried that it might kick in and do something that he can’t prevent.  He’s keeping tabs on everything from a vid-terminal, but won’t actually enter a room with a patient.  On top of that, he’s asked Landor to assign Clan guards to watch him around the clock.  He’s really afraid of the Controller taking over.  For good reason, too.”

“Why do you say that?” Salene asked.

“It’s a very long story,” Rayne replied.  “You up to hearing it right now?”

“Sure,” Salene said.  “But first, are you going to make your hair long again?”

“Yes, I am,” she replied.  “Well, Landor, Ari, and Con will, to be specific.  They returned the color and curl before lunch and said they’ll do the length tonight.”

“That’s a relief,” Salene said.  “You didn’t look bad or anything, but it was weird to look at you and not recognize you.”

“It was weird to look in the mirror and not recognize myself,” Rayne said with a smile.  While she continued to run the hair wand over Salene’s head, she told her most of what had happened to her in the past year, and the past week, too.  When she was finished Salene had several inches of curly red gold hair, and they both decided that was enough for one day.

“I’m sorry about your dragon friend,” Salene said when Rayne sat back down.  “The Doftle have so much to answer for.”

“They do,” Rayne agreed.

“I have a couple of questions,” she said.  “Do you mind?”

“Not at all,” Rayne replied.

“Mom said that you needed to reach the Facility in eight days, but that you didn’t know why.  Did you do whatever it was you had to do?”

“Yes, and no,” Rayne said.  This was one of the things she hadn’t mentioned yet, and she was glad Salene brought it up.  “I remembered, finally, that the reason I had to reach the Facility in eight days or less was so that I could destroy it before the order went out to abduct you.”

“Oh,” Salene said, frowning.  “But they attacked us two days after we left Garza, not eight.”

“How long did they have you at the Facility?”

“I’m not entirely certain, but I think it was a day.”

Rayne nodded.  That was what Wolef had told her.  “Some things got changed by my return to the past.”

“Changed how?”

“Just before I was sent back a year, I stumbled across you lying in a cell, connected to a bunch of machines that were keeping you alive.  You’d been shot in the head, and you were brain dead.  The only way I could think of to save you was to destroy the Facility before the order for your abduction went out, which would have happened eight days after my abduction, which is tomorrow, actually.”

“How did things get changed?” Salene asked.

“When I was sent back, I took my soul and my conscious mind with me.  That left the Doftle with a version of me that was, essentially, an empty shell.  My guess is that, since they couldn’t try to force an empty shell to shift, or to reveal a psychic ability, they decided to abduct you sooner than they otherwise would have.  I’m sorry, Salene.  It’s my fault you suffered as you did.”

“Nonsense,” Salene said.  “I much prefer what I went through to being brain dead, and besides, I know you suffered in their hands for an entire year.  Thanks to you, I only had to put up with it for a day, which I’m grateful for.  I am curious about the Gryphons though.  Were they taken the first time, too?”

“I don’t know what, if anything, happened to the Gryphons in the first future, but since your original plan was to return to Jasan with Mom and the Dads, I kind of doubt it.  I asked that your plans be changed on a hunch, though at the time I didn’t know why.  I don’t know if my interference caused them to be abducted when they otherwise wouldn’t have been, but I think it did.”

“Rayne, you didn’t cause any of this,” Salene said gently.  “Since we’ll never know, there’s no point in speculation.”

“Actually, that’s not true,” Rayne said.  “When I came to the Facility to get you yesterday, I brought back four hand terminals.  Three of them are from this timeline that we’re in now.  The other is from the other future.  They’ll tell us what happened in both timelines.  If I’m responsible for the Gryphons being taken, I’m sorry.”

“Stop that,” Salene said, her voice soft, but her golden eyes letting Rayne know how serious she was.  “The Doftle are responsible for all of this, not you.  Please, don’t ever think that again.”

“I’ll try,” Rayne said.  “Thanks, Salene.”

“It’s me that thanks you, Rayne,” she said, leaning her head back against the chair.  “You saved my life and right now your Rami are trying to save my men’s lives.”  She grimaced and sat up straighter.  “Please tell me that the one with the metal legs was in that space station when it was destroyed.”

“I wish I could,” Rayne said.  “Unfortunately, he got away and, even more unfortunately, he’s the one we’re chasing now.”

“He’s got my men,” Salene said slowly, her face paling.  “Well, since the alternative to that would be for them to have been destroyed along with the Facility, I suppose it’s…well, I can’t bring myself to say it’s good.”

“No, I wouldn’t be able to say that either,” Rayne said.  “How about the lesser of two evils?”

“That works,” Salene agreed.  “That one with the metal legs.  He’s very scary.  There’s something really messed up about him.”

“There’s something messed up about all of them,” Rayne said.  “But him more than the others, I agree.  I want him dead, and I never imagined that I could want another living being dead before.”

“If it helps, you’re not alone,” Salene said.  “I want him dead, too.  And it’s not all about revenge either.  He’s a very dangerous creature.”

“That’s an understatement if ever I’ve heard one,” Rayne agreed.  They sat in silence for a few minutes, each lost in their own thoughts.

“Do you want to tell me about that music you were playing?” Salene asked, breaking the silence.

“I wrote it when I was first abducted,” Rayne said, hoping Salene would leave it at that.

“I think it’s the best thing you’ve ever written,” Salene said.  “So far.”

“Ari said that too.  Maybe when this is all over and we get back home I’ll think about publishing it.”

Salene understood that Rayne didn’t want to talk about the events behind the music, so she let it go.  She was looking at Rayne while trying to think of another topic when something caught her attention.  She narrowed her eyes, studying her sister more intently as she tried to figure out what it was.  After a few moments it struck her that there was a glow of happiness in Rayne’s eyes that she’d never seen before.

“Being linked has made you very happy,” she said, smiling.  “In fact, I’ve never seen you this happy.”

“It’s wonderful,” Rayne said, struggling to restrain her joy for her sister’s sake.

Salene’s heat tilted.  Rayne sighed.  She’d never been able to hide anything important from Salene.  She was the eldest sister and, while the relationship between Clan Jasani female triplets was not the same as it was for males, there were similarities.  Salene’s bone deep need to watch over and protect Rayne and Tani was a good example.

After a few moments Salene arched a brow and Rayne gave up.  “All right, I’ll tell you, but…well, here goes.”  She paused to take a breath, then froze when Salene’s eyes widened.

“Oh-my-goodness-you’re-pregnant!” she shouted while pushing herself out of her chair to hug Rayne who stood up and hugged her back.  “I’m so excited for you!”  She stepped back so she could look into Rayne’s eyes, then she laughed.  “You goof.  How could you think for even a moment that your happiness would cause me pain?”

“You’re scary sometimes, you know that?” Rayne asked with a mock scowl.

“Yes, I know,” Salene said, returning to her chair.  Rayne frowned at how pale she looked, but Salene waved a hand, dismissing it.  “I’ll go take a nap in a few minutes, but I want to explain something to you first.”

“Okay,” Rayne replied, sitting back down.

“I love you, you know that.  For that reason alone I’m over the moon happy for you.  But, on top of that, I’m happy for me, too, because you’ve given me hope.”

“Hope?”

Salene smiled.  “After all that you’ve suffered, with all that you went through, you’re still here, and you’re still you.  You fell in love, you’re linked, and now you’re going to have the first of what will undoubtedly be lots and lots of happy, drooling little babies with pudgy cheeks and bubbly dispositions.  You won, Rayne.  They did their worst to you, and their worst was horrific, but you won.  I love that.  I needed to know that.  I know now that if I don’t give up, I can win, too.”

Rayne went to her knees in front of Salene’s chair, then wrapped her arms around her.  They stayed that way for a long time, giving and receiving the comfort that only sisters can share with one another.  Then she leaned back and looked steadily into Salene’s eyes.

“We will get your men back, Salene,” she said.  “Believe it.  We won’t stop until we do.”

“I believe you,” Salene said softly.

“Now, go get yourself back into bed or I’ll stuff you into a healing tank myself.”

***

Rayne turned her face up into the full spray of the showerhead and sighed with pleasure as the hot water cascaded over her.

“Now there’s a sight to behold,” Landor said from the entrance to the enormous blue tiled shower.  Rayne wasn’t startled because she’d felt her men enter the room a few moments earlier, and knew they were looking for her.  She was already starting to get the hang of this tri-phase thing.  The trick, she’d discovered, was in turning it on, getting a quick sample, then remembering to turn it off again right away.  Otherwise she became overwhelmed by the incoming feelings and sensations from her men.

She looked at Landor over her shoulder and gave him a slow smile as she let her eyes rove up and down his beautiful…and naked…body.  “Care to join me?”

“Oh, I think I can be talked into it,” he said, stepping into the shower.  “Why do you have just the one shower head on?”

“Because I wanted to shower, not drown,” she replied archly.  Landor smiled, but she could tell he didn’t quite get what she meant.  “These other showerheads spray water directly into my face.”

“We’ll have to do something about that,” Con said as he and Ari joined them.  Rayne took a few moments to appreciate their bodies, then frowned as a thought occurred to her.  After a moment her smile returned, bigger than before.

“What was that about?” Ari asked as he selected Rayne’s shampoo from a built in shelf and poured some into his hand.

Rayne’s cheeks grew warm and her men watched with appreciation as the pink flush ran from her face down to her breasts, which caused her to turn an even deeper pink.  Ari stepped around behind her and applied the shampoo to her hair, then began to gently massage it in.  Embarrassment forgotten, Rayne’s eyes closed with pleasure and her head tilted back.

“Come on, tell us,” Ari whispered into her ear, his cock pressing hotly against her back.

“I was just wondering if the sight of the three of you would always make me feel the way it does now,” she said.  “Or if it would fade in time.”

“And your conclusion?”

“I remembered my parents,” she said, smiling again.  “The way my mom looks at my dads sometimes, and the way they look at her, is almost embarrassing to watch.”

“Embarrassing?” Landor asked, lowering himself to his knees in front of Rayne with a sponge holding a dollop of her favorite body wash.  Starting at her hips, he began working his way down one leg, leaving honeysuckle suds behind.  “Why is it embarrassing?”

“Because it feels I’m intruding on something personal and private.  I swear they can talk to each other with their eyes.  They don’t need words.”

“One day we’ll be like that,” Con said.  He’d poured some body wash into his hands, rubbed them together to work up a lather and turned to run his hands over her breasts.  The suds made his hands slippery as they rubbed over her hard nipples, then wandered down to caress her belly over the place where their tiny daughters rested, then back up to her breasts.  She shivered and her nipples tightened further.  Then Landor ran one sudsy hand slowly along her pussy, pausing to stroke her clit with his thumb.  Her knees buckled, but her men kept her from falling.

“You’re so wet, Kisu,” Landor said, rising to his feet.  “And I don’t mean from the shower.”

“Time to rinse,” Ari said from behind her.  Rayne opened eyes that she hadn’t quite realized she’d closed and started to turn, but Con lifted her up instead.

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he said.  She immediately complied, placing her hands on his shoulders for balance.  “I love the way you feel in my arms,” he said, leaning down to nuzzle her neck, his tongue leaving chills behind as it traced a path from her ear, down to her throat, and then back up to her other ear.

“I want you,” she said, her voice deep and sultry with need.  “Inside me.  Please.”  Con’s hips surged forward in automatic response to her desire.  He released her waist with one hand and reached down to position his cock when, without warning, Rayne’s body jerked hard enough that he nearly dropped her.  He looked up and saw that her pupils were dilated, her face and breasts were flushed, and she was panting softly.

“What happened?” he asked.

“I released pheromones,” Landor said tightly, angry with himself for the lapse in control.  Rayne’s request for Con to be inside of her had been so hot, and so unexpected, that he’d responded involuntarily.  He simply hadn’t been able to help himself.

“So did I,” Ari admitted.

“Please,” Rayne moaned, her head thrown back, her hips moving in search of what she’d desired a moment earlier, but now desperately needed.

Con let go of her again, grasped his cock with one hand and positioned it at her entrance, groaning at the silky, liquid heat of her.  He arched his hips, entering her, gasping at the incredible pleasure that engulfed not just his cock, but his entire body.

Rayne pressed down eagerly, wanting all of him inside of her at once, but she was too small, and he was too large to move that quickly without causing her pain, something Con would never do even if she couldn’t feel it.  He held onto her hips firmly, controlling his penetration carefully.

“Lean your head back so I can rinse your hair,” Ari said in an effort to distract her a little.  At first she didn’t seem to hear him, but when he placed his hands on her shoulders and coaxed her back, she went along with it.  When she was leaning back too far to keep her hold on Con’s shoulders, Landor slid his arms beneath her, supporting her weight while Ari used a hand sprayer to rinse the soap from her hair.

Her position made it almost impossible for her to push against Con, giving him better control.  He relaxed a little and began to fuck her slowly and gently, entering her a little bit further with each thrust.  “She needs more,” Landor said after checking the state of her arousal and finding it almost as intense as when they did the soul link triad.

“I’m all the way in now,” Con said with a gasp.

“Good,” Landor said, already lifting Rayne back up so she could wrap her arms around Con’s neck.  “Fuck her hard now, Con.  She needs it hard and fast.”

Con didn’t need to be told twice.  He turned around, leaned Rayne’s back against the shower wall, and began thrusting hard and deep.  Rayne’s legs tightened around his waist, shifting their angles just enough that his cock now stroked her clit with each pounding thrust.  Seconds later Rayne threw her head back, her mouth opened wide in a silent scream as her entire body tightened, then exploded into an orgasm that sent lightening quick shocks of pleasure through her body.

When Rayne came, her velvety soft sheath tightened around his cock like a fist, holding him fast as it rippled around him, drawing his orgasm out of him in a blinding rush so intense that for a long moment he couldn’t even breathe.  When his heart started beating again he let his head fall forward just above Rayne’s as they both gasped for air while ripples of pleasure continued to race over them both.

Before he’d caught his breath Rayne was moving restlessly against him, already in need of more.  He raised his head, lifted Rayne carefully away from the wall, and handed her to Landor.  “You don’t have much time,” he said.  Landor nodded, then carried Rayne out of the shower with Ari behind him.

Chapter 17

“They’re so close,” Salene said, staring through the observation port aboard the Armadura at a small, uncharted moon.  “Very close.”

After chasing Weeble’s yacht for ten days through an area of space unfamiliar to them, Salene had announced, finally, that the Gryphons were no longer moving away from them.  They’d thought Weeble meant to use the jump point near Onddo, but he’d continued on, passing Onddo without even slowing down.  When Salene felt them stop, Landor immediately ordered the Armadura to a halt.  Then, with Salene guiding them, they’d cautiously proceeded until spotting a small, uninhabited moon that didn’t even show up on their star maps.

Salene was positive that the Gryphons were either still on Weeble’s yacht and orbiting the moon, on a space station orbiting the moon or, least likely, on the moon itself.  When they got closer, she was able to rule the moon out altogether, which left Weeble’s yacht, or a space station.  Rayne had no doubt whatsoever that a Doftle space station, hidden by Blind Sight, was orbiting the moon since there was no other reason for the yacht to stop there, and the Bearen-Hirus agreed.

“We’re too new to speed traveling to do this without a clear destination point,” Con said.  “Especially since we can’t see anything with our eyes or our sensors.”

“We need one of the hand terminals I took from the Facility,” Rayne said.  “Not the future one, though.”

“What good will that do?” Landor asked.

“Wolef told me that these Doftle space stations each have their own mainframes.  If we get close enough for a hand terminal to connect to a mainframe, you can follow its signal to the space station, right?”

“You’re brilliant,” Con said, grinning at her.  “I’ll go get one of them.”  He stepped sideways and vanished.

“Landor…,” Rayne began, but he stopped her with a gesture of his hand.

“You and Salene are not going alone, Rayne, so please do not suggest it,” he said.  “It’s hard enough for us to know that you’re going over there at all.  Please do not ask us to watch you do it alone again.”

“I had no intention of suggesting such a thing,” she said.  He arched a brow.  “When I went into the Facility alone I knew that Wolef was there to help me, that I had a weapon, a key card, a hand terminal, and the ability to make myself invisible to the Doftle and all of their sensors.  And let’s not forget that you couldn’t speed travel then, either.  You can now, and that makes a big difference.  As for my going, you already agreed that there wasn’t any way around it.  Salene has to go to point the way toward the Gryphons, and you can’t make her invisible.  I can.”

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” he said.  “Please continue.”

Rayne reached out and gave his arm a gentle squeeze of understanding.  “I just wanted to say that the Doftle are very advanced, and very security conscious.  I suspect that an off ship data request will set off some sort of alarm, and that they’ll be able to trace it right back to us.  We’ll need to speed travel out of here as soon as you pick up on the signal source.  If we do it fast enough, they might not notice it.  Or if they do notice it, they might put it down to a glitch.  But only if it’s very brief.”

“You’re right, of course,” Landor said.  “Con and I’ll pay close attention when you begin.”

“What about Ari?”

“Ari will remain here and keep an eye on you through your crystal in case we have to leave you at any point.  When we find the Gryphons, he’ll speed travel over to us to help bring everyone back.”

Con reappeared and handed her one of the Doftle hand terminals.  She checked to make sure it wasn’t the future one, then booted it up.  The first thing it did was search for the nearest mainframe, just as she’d known it would.

“I can feel the source of that signal now,” Landor said immediately after the mainframe responded to the hand terminal’s request.  “How about you guys?”  Ari and Con both nodded.  “Let’s go,” he said, then placed one hand on Rayne’s shoulder, stepped sideways and disappeared.  Con placed one hand on Salene’s shoulder and followed, leaving Ari alone on the observation deck with his hand terminal so he could watch and listen through Rayne’s crystal.

Rayne and Salene shuddered uncontrollably the moment the scents of the Doftles’ space station reached them, but otherwise neither of them visibly reacted.  They found themselves in a sealed room lined with shiny white tiles.  The only object in the room was an enormous ball made of a clear, hard substance that looked like glass, but was more likely something much more durable.  Inside the ball was a constantly shifting mass of silvery liquid metal.  This was the mainframe.  The heart of the space station.

Landor and Con walked all the way around it, but there were no openings, no ports, no panels, nothing that would give them access to the interior.  It was far too big to move, and they couldn’t attempt to destroy it until after they found the Gryphons and escaped the space station.  They returned to where they’d left the women and waited tensely for the hand terminal to finish its update.

“Okay, it’s done,” Rayne whispered.  Now familiar with the Doftle’s computer system, it took just a few moments to pull up a station floor plan.  She and Salene studied it for a moment.  “Which way are they?” Rayne asked.

“Up,” Salene said, pointing to a level near the top of the space station.  “About there, I think.”

Rayne nodded, tapped the screen to mark a location, then handed it to Landor.  “That room is labeled Supply Closet, but it looks awfully big.  If it really is a closet, I think we should go there next.”

“I’ll go up and check it,” he said, handing the hand terminal to Con before vanishing.  Con studied the floor plan for a few moments, then returned the hand terminal to Rayne.  They waited silently for Landor to return which, luckily for their nerves, was just a few moments.

“It’s a really big supply closet, with three separate aisles and high shelves,” he said.  “If a Doftle happens to go inside, there’s plenty of room to stay out of their way so long as you keep your shield up.”

“Let’s go,” Rayne said.  Landor placed his hand on her shoulder, and Con did the same with Salene.  A couple of seconds later they all stood in the dimly lit room with floor to ceiling shelves holding thousands of linens, uniforms, and cleaning supplies.  Landor led them toward the furthest aisle from the door and they huddled together in a tight circle.

“Where next?” Rayne asked, offering Salene the hand terminal.  Instead of taking it, Salene closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.

“They’re on this level,” she said after opening her eyes a few moments later.  “They’re conscious and growing increasingly distressed.”

“They probably sense you,” Landor said.  Salene nodded.  She’d already thought of that, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it.  She could sense them, and if their emotions were strong enough, she could feel that, too, but that was all.  She couldn’t communicate with them, she couldn’t feel what they felt, and she couldn’t tell why they were distressed.

“Show me,” Rayne said, holding the hand terminal out again.  Salene took it, turned it so that the orientation was correct, studied the floor plan for a moment, then tapped the screen and handed it back.

Rayne looked at the screen and bit her lip with worry.  “This whole section at the opposite side of this level is labelled Tank Labs.”

“Tanks,” Con growled softly.  “It’s the only way to hold a Clan Jasani male captive without killing him that I’m aware of.”

“Apparently, the Doftle know that,” Rayne said.

“But, that can’t be right,” Salene said.  “They’re conscious.  I’m certain of it.  They can’t be conscious while they’re in tanks, can they?”

“We’ll soon find out,” Rayne said, breaking the silence that had fallen as everyone tried not to imagine being conscious in a hibernation tank.  “We need to find out which one of those eight rooms they’re in.”

“We’ll go check each room until we find them,” Landor said.  “Then we’ll have a focus point so that we can speed travel both of you directly to them, wherever they are.”

“Be careful, please,” Rayne said, unable to prevent herself from saying it.

“Don’t worry, Kisu,” Landor said, smiling indulgently.  “We will not risk our future with you and our daughters can it be helped.  Please put your shield up before we leave.”

Rayne forced herself to return his smile, then she raised her shield, checking to be sure she was covering Salene, too.  When they could no longer see Rayne or Salene, Con and Landor stepped sideways, and were gone.  Shortly after the men left, Rayne and Salene saw a large shadow appear on the wall in front of them.  Whatever it was, it had long, pointed horns that stood straight up from the top of its head, and a thick, squat body.

Rayne grabbed Salene’s arm and backed up slowly, their eyes glued to the shadow which came closer and grew bigger with each step it took.  Rayne glanced behind them, and saw that they’d backed themselves into a dead-end aisle.  There was nowhere for them to go.  She considered trying to shift into her bearenca, but there wasn’t enough room to do it without breaking a lot of shelves, which would make a tremendous amount of noise.  Worse, it would leave Salene exposed.

She double checked her shield to be sure it was all the way up, and placed one finger to her lips, warning her sister to be silent.  Salene nodded, and they did the only thing they could, which was wait, and hope that being virtually invisible would be enough to convince whoever it was that they weren’t there.

When the owner of the shadow finally rounded the corner they both frowned, squinting in the dim light to see the tiny creature that now stood at the far end of the aisle.  It was only about five inches high, had a humanoid body with short arms and legs, a wrinkled face, enormous round brown eyes, and bright orange cone shaped horns that stood straight up from its head at least four inches, nearly doubling its height.  It was dressed in a black tunic that fell to bare feet that were as wide as they were long.

“Me cannot see you, but me know you do be there,” the tiny…being…said in a deep, gravelly voice that sounded like it belonged to someone much larger.  Rayne shuffled through all that she’d learned about different planets and sentient beings in the Thousand Worlds, but she couldn’t remember anything remotely like this tiny creature.  She looked at her sister who shook her head.  Since he didn’t appear to be immediately dangerous, Rayne lowered her shield.

The tiny being looked at them for a long moment during which Rayne felt that she’d been weighed, measured, and judged.  “Me do be Jinjie,” it said, breaking the silence.  “Be you who?”

“I’m Rayne, and this is my sister, Salene,” Rayne replied.  As she spoke, a small cloud appeared in the air above Jinjie, then slowly took the shape of a familiar golden dragon in miniature.  “Hello, Wolef.”

“Greetings, Solin,” Wolef replied.  “I apologize for getting here late.”

“Good thing too since I expected you at half past not-at-all,” Rayne said.  “What’s going on?”

“This is Jinjie of the world once known as Jotunn,” Wolef said.  “He was my companion in this place for many decades.  I told you about him, remember?”

“Yes, I remember,” Rayne said, then bowed her head to the diminutive Jotunn, greeting him formerly.  “I am honored to meet you, Jinjie of Jotunn.”  Jinjie’s eyes widened in surprise before he bobbed his head quickly in return.

“Honored do be Jinjie,” he said.

“Jinjie knows a great deal about the Doftle, Solin.  If he decides to trust you, he will remain your companion if you take him from this place.”

“It would be my honor to take you away from here, Jinjie.  Afterward, if you wish to remain with us, you may.  Otherwise, I will see that you’re taken wherever you wish to go.”

Jinjie studied her intently for a long moment.  “Jinjie do be touch Rayne?”

Rayne frowned as she ran that through her mind a couple of times.  “You want to touch me?”

“Jinjie do?” he asked again.  Rayne knelt down and held her hand out.  Jinjie laid both of his tiny hands on her forefinger, then went still, his large brown eyes going glassy.  He blinked, released Rayne’s finger, and grinned, displaying large square white teeth.

“Jinjie do be Rayne friend,” he declared.  “Jinjie do be pledge Rayne.”

“Pledge what?” Rayne asked in surprise.

“Jinjie,” he said solemnly.  “Do be Rayne vizier.”

Rayne blinked as she struggled to decipher his meaning.  “A vizier is a high ranking and trusted advisor,” Wolef explained, speaking only to her now.  “He wants to pledge himself and his magic to you, and he wants to act as your advisor.  If you agree, he will remain your companion for life, or until you release him.  You should know, just between us, that his magic is very weak at the moment.  He’ll grow stronger when he’s freed from this place.”

“Thanks, Wolef,” Rayne said silently, then looked back down at the Jotunn.  “I would be honored to have you as an advisor, Jinjie, but I have one condition before agreeing.”

“Condition do be what?” he asked warily.

“The condition is that the moment you wish to leave, you must tell me so that I can release you.”

Jinjie smiled brightly, nodding his little head so quickly that she decided his horns had to be hollow.  Otherwise she didn’t see how he could have held his head upright, let alone move it that quickly.

“Thank you, Wolef, for your help,” she said, rising to her feet.

“Thanks are not needed, Solin,” Wolef replied as he began to fade.  “It is my pleasure to help Jinjie, and you, in this small way.”  Rayne sighed softly as Wolef vanished.  She’d wanted to ask him a couple of questions, foremost of which was, why was he there?

“That was…interesting,” Salene said in a low voice.

Rayne looked at Salene apologetically.  “I’ll explain it all later, okay?”

“Of course,” Salene agreed just as Landor and Con appeared at the opposite end of the aisle where Jinjie had been a couple of minutes earlier.

Jinjie’s reaction was shocking.  He bared his teeth, which were rapidly morphing from blunt squares into sharp glistening daggers, and snarled while spinning around to face the newcomers.  The air around him came alive with bright orange sparks and his shape changed from a tiny humanoid to a cat-like creature that stood as high as Rayne’s knees.  The sparks faded and they all stared, none of them having ever seen or heard of a creature that looked quite like the one that now stood before them.  It had long bright orange fur that stuck straight out from its entire body, and there was something about the glistening tips that warned that they would be not only sharp, but possibly venomous as well.  The creature had blood red eyes, four sets of long, curved claws and a wicked looking stinger on the end of its bushy tail.

Rayne was so shocked that it took her a moment to realize that Jinjie was growling at her men, and they were returning the favor, with interest.  “Stop it,” she said sharply.  “Landor, Con, this is Jinjie of Jotunn.  He was Wolef’s companion in this place, and he’s been trapped here for a few centuries.  He’s agreed to act as my adviser concerning the Doftle.  Jinjie, these men are my Rami, my mates.  Please stop threatening them.”

Jinjie immediately changed back to his tiny humanoid form and looked up at her with his soft brown eyes.  “Jinjie do be no harm Rayne’s mates.  Jinjie do be take threatenings back.”

“Our apologies, Jinjie,” Landor said, eyeing the tiny being carefully.  “I have many questions for you, but they must wait.”  He looked up at Rayne and Salene.  “We found them.”

“We need to leave now, Jinjie, but one of us has to be touching you or else you’ll be left behind when my Rami speed travel us to our next destination.”

“Jinjie do be pledge Rayne,” Jinjie said, emphasizing her name.  Rayne understood that he meant no one else could touch him.  Not yet, anyway.  She knelt down again and placed her hand on the floor, palm up.  Jinjie hopped on without hesitation and she rose, careful not to jostle her hand too much.

“Are my men all right?” Salene asked Landor while watching Jinjie climb onto Rayne’s shoulder and sit down, making himself comfortable.

“They’re alive and, as we suspected, in hibernation tanks,” Landor said, then turned to look directly at the crystal pendant Rayne wore.  “Ari, as soon as we reach the tank room, speed travel over to us.”  Then he placed one hand on the shoulder not holding Jinjie, stepped sideways, and vanished.  A moment later they were standing in what appeared to be a medical lab with six hibernation tanks lined up against one wall.  A second later Con and Salene joined them, and a moment after that, Ari did as well.

While Rayne introduced Ari to Jinjie, Salene went straight to one of the tanks and bent over it.  “They really are awake in there,” she said, horrified by the sight.  “How is this even possible?”

“Doftle do be cruel,” Jinjie said sadly.  Rayne turned her head so that she could see Jinjie where he sat on her shoulder.

“Why would they want someone to be awake in a hibernation tank?”

“Doftle do be like pain, fear, despair,” Jinjie said with clear disgust.

“Do you mean that they enjoy those emotions in others?” Landor asked with a growl in his voice.

“Crave,” Jinjie said, nodding.  “Doftle do be mind twisted.”

“To say the least,” Rayne agreed.

“This is not ordinary hibernation gel,” Con said, plucking an empty container from the waste receptacle.  “There’s an ingredient list on the side and a fair amount of material inside.  We should take this back to Jasan for the council.”

“I’ll take it,” Salene offered, accepting the container from Con.

“Let’s get them out of here,” Ari said, going to stand beside another tank, this one containing Kar.

“Tanks do be alarmed,” Jinjie warned, startling all of them.

“Do you know how to disable them?” Landor asked.  Jinjie didn’t respond to Landor.  Instead, he looked up at Rayne with a questioning expression on his little face.

“Please?” she said, uncertain what he was waiting for.

That seemed to be it because Jinjie looked toward the tanks, raised one hand, and pointed his finger at those that held the Gryphons, one at a time.  Then he waved his hand in a wide arc and the air around the tanks lit up with orange sparks.  A moment later they all heard a faint buzz and the sparks vanished.  “Alarms do be dead.”

Rayne peered at him from the corner of her eye.  “That took a lot of energy from you, Jinjie.  Please don’t do anything that will hurt you.”

Jinjie looked at her in surprise, then smiled slowly.  “Jinjie do be not harmed, Lady Bear, but do be thanking for care.”  Rayne smiled, wondering how he knew she was Clan Bearen, then looked back to the hibernation tanks.

“Is it safe to remove them from the gel like this?” Con asked.

Rayne looked down at Jinjie again, who shrugged.  “Jinjie do be not know.”

“It’s either that, or leave them here,” Landor said, his eyes on Talus’s through the plastic of the tank and the clear gel.  “We will open the tanks, then speed travel them directly to the infirmary.  Con and I will return for Rayne and Salene, and Ari will remain with the med techs on the Armadura to explain their condition.”  He saw Talus’s eyes widen, and understood.  “Maybe we should take Rayne and Salene back to the Armadura first.”

“No,” Salene said in a tone that brooked no argument.  “Take them first.  Rayne can shield us so no one will know we’re here.”

Landor had grounds for refusing to obey Princess Salene’s command, and there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was a command.  But they simply didn’t have time to stand around arguing about it.  “Rayne, raise your shield now, please.  If you do have to fight, use your bearenca.”

“I will, I promise,” she agreed.  “Go now.”

They each opened the tank they stood next to and, without hesitation, they dipped their hands and arms into the gel so they could get a good hold on the Gryphon within.  Rayne heard her men hiss softly, but before she could ask what the problem was, they vanished.

“I hope it doesn’t take them long,” Salene said, suddenly nervous.

“It won’t,” Rayne said after raising her shield.  “Stay close to me, Salene.”

Salene nodded absently as she began reading the writing on the side of the container Con had given her.  Rayne looked around the room, searching for anything that might provide them with information on the Doftle, what they were doing, perhaps even how they did things.  Anything at all would be helpful.  She reached for a cabinet door and opened it, smiling at the array of bottles, jars, and instruments inside, all labeled in an unfamiliar language, but that didn’t deter her.  If necessary, she had no doubt at all that her Aunt Aisling would be able to translate it.  She just needed to make it easily transportable.

She opened three more cupboards before finding one filled with stacks of linens.  She took one that looked like a sheet and spread it out on the floor, then gathered armfuls of items from the first cabinet and piled them into the center of it, moving as fast as she could.  When she’d moved everything she could reach, she gathered the corners of the sheet together and tied them into a knot.  She dropped the knot just as the door slid open, revealing the Doftle with ten metal legs.  Weeble.

Rayne looked behind her, searching for Salene as Weeble walked through the doorway, his eyes down, apparently lost in thought about something.  Her shield was still up, but she was horrified to see that Salene hadn’t stayed close to her after all.  She was on the other side of the lab, frozen in the act of filling a transparent container with gel from one of the hibernation tanks that the Gryphons had been in.

Rayne watched as Weeble looked up and spotted Salene just as the lab door closed behind him.  She saw his surprise change to confusion, then speculation, before a cold smile stretched across his face.  Suddenly, he rushed across the room on his ten metal legs, straight at Salene, who seemed frozen in place, kneeling on the floor.

With no time to do anything but act, Rayne called forth her bearenca and lunged at Weeble while her transformation was still taking place.  Before Weeble had a chance to register the fact that he was not alone with Salene, her bearenca’s powerful jaws clamped down on his left arm and pulled just in time to stop him from reaching Salene.  She saw the transport device strapped to the palm of his right hand and knew that she had no more than a second or two before he hit the button and transported himself, and her, out of the lab.  But he didn’t.  She was trying to understand why when she noticed the metal leg closest to Salene rising slowly.  If he stretched it out, he’d be able to not only reach Salene, but stab her with the pointed tip.  Then all he’d have to do was activate his transport device and he’d have them both.

She bit down harder on the dense flesh of the Doftle’s arm and twisted it with every scrap of strength her bearenca possessed, surprised when the arm remained firmly attached to its owner.  It must have hurt though, because Weeble squealed loudly and stumbled sideways, but he did not give up the fight to reach Salene.  Just when Rayne thought she’d dragged him far enough back, he struck out with a different leg, hitting Salene in the thigh.  It was a glancing blow, barely enough to slice through her pants and break the skin, but not enough to impale her as he intended.

Terrified by how close he’d come, Rayne dug her claws into the tile floor and pulled harder, putting all of her bearenca’s weight into it, and yet she barely managed to force him far enough from Salene to keep her safe.

Seeing that Salene was lost to him, Weeble turned his head and smiled into Rayne’s eyes as his thumb pressed the transport button strapped to his right palm.  He vanished, leaving Rayne standing in the lab with his unattached arm in her mouth.  She spat it out in disgust and shifted back to her human form just as Landor and Con appeared.

“What in the seven hells?” Con demanded hoarsely.

“Who’s bleeding?” Landor asked.

“I am, but it’s not bad,” Salene said.

Rayne watched her sister stand up without any trouble and relaxed.  She turned back for the bundle of items she’d gathered and glanced quickly at her shoulder, surprised to see the tiny Jotunn still hanging on.  “You all right, Jinjie?”

“Jinjie do be not harmed,” he said calmly.

She nodded in relief and grabbed the knotted sheet.  “Will you please get that arm, Landor?  It belongs to Weeble.”

“Of course,” he said, picking it up while Con took a quick look at the wound on Salene’s thigh which had already stopped bleeding.  Rayne dragged the bundle across the floor to where Landor stood and smiled, suddenly feeling very tired.

“I think we should leave now,” she said.  “Before Weeble sends more visitors our way.”

Landor nodded, then frowned at the little line between her brows that generally indicated tension of some sort.  Using tri-phase, he reached for Rayne’s physical sensations.  His left leg immediately buckled, the pain flooding his nervous system so shocking and unexpected that he had no time to react.  He landed hard on his right knee, but barely felt it under the enormity of Rayne’s pain.

“Landor?” Rayne asked in surprise.  He cut off his connection with Rayne and climbed to his feet, then grabbed hold of her without a word and transported back to the Armadura.

The moment they were all back on the observation deck of the Armadura he put her down, then knelt in front of her.  From this distance and angle it was easy to see that the black denim was darker over her upper thigh than elsewhere.  He grabbed the waist band of her jeans and ripped them straight down the side, revealing a gaping wound which had bled heavily enough to stain her entire leg, right down to her ankle where it had turned the cuff of her sock red before soaking into her boot.

“Where did that come from?” Rayne asked, paling with shock as she looked into Landor’s blazing eyes.

“Weeble stabbed you with one of his legs, when you were in your bearenca alter-form,” Salene said.  “Don’t you remember?”

Rayne shook her head slowly as she stared down at the wound.  This was the first time she’d actually been faced head on with her inability to feel pain.  She could see the wound, she could see the blood, but she didn’t feel anything.  No pain, no discomfort, nothing.

“Salene,” Landor said calmly, “perhaps it would be a good idea to go check on the Gryphons.  I’m sure your presence would help calm them.”

“Yes, of course,” Salene said, setting her containers down on a table.  “Excuse me.”

Rayne looked up at Salene and nodded slowly to her sister’s silent question.  Salene nodded back, then left the observation deck.

“You don’t feel this, do you?” Con asked as he knelt beside Landor and started unlacing her boot.

“No,” she whispered shakily.  “I can feel your hands on my foot, but I feel nothing on my thigh.”

“It’s all right,” Landor said.  “The wound is self-healing.  Another minute and it’ll be gone.”

“I didn’t know it was there,” Rayne said.  “I didn’t feel any pressure when it happened, nothing at all.”

“And yet, when I used tri-phase to see if you had any pain, it knocked me to my knees,” Landor said.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“I’m not,” Landor replied.  “I’m relieved to know there’s a way for us to discover if you’re in pain, and how much.”

“There’s got to be a way to fix this,” she said miserably.

“If there is, we will find it,” Con said.  “The wound is almost fully healed, so all is well.”  A minute later the wound vanished completely, leaving nothing behind but the blood.  Landor stood up and wrapped his arms around her, forgetting about Jinjie who leapt to the floor.  A moment later Con pressed against her back and they stood that way until Ari joined them.  Con quickly told Ari what had happened, then they moved apart so he could hug her, too.

“Black heart,” Jinjie said.  “Him follow not?”

Rayne looked down at the Jotunn, surprised to find him standing in front of the viewing window, staring out.  “No, Jinjie, he wouldn’t dare to follow us here, even if he could.  The Armadura is protected with Blind Sight.”

“Black heart do be dare anything,” Jinjie warned.  “Only Blind Sight do be make safe.  Jinjie mean you do be not follow Black heart?”

“Oh,” Rayne said.  “Why do you ask?”

“Black heart do be leaving,” Jinjie said gesturing out the view port.

They all hurried to look where Jinjie indicated.  “We don’t see anything,” Landor said.

“Do be not see,” Jinjie said.  “Black heart do be have Blind Sight.  Jinjie feel.”

“You can feel Weeble?” Rayne asked.

“Jinjie do be feel evil,” he clarified.  “Black heart do be evil.”

“Could you guide us after him?” Landor asked.

“No,” he said after a moment’s thought.  “Black heart do be too far now.”

“That’s too bad,” Con said.  “I think we should destroy that place like we destroyed the Facility.”

“Jinjie, are there others on that space station like the Gryphons?” Rayne asked.  “Innocents, I mean.”

Jinjie thought a moment, then turned around and leapt from the floor up to her shoulder, surprising everyone.  She watched from the corner of her eye as he reached up to place one hand at her temple.  Her mind was suddenly filled with images of people and creatures that Jinjie had witnessed going through the station.  After the first few seconds, she closed her eyes to better see the images he was sending into her mind.  There were so many different people, animals, creatures both humanoid and not, that they started to blend into each other.  And then he showed her something that made her gasp and open her eyes as she fought back sudden nausea.

“Rayne, what’s wrong?” Landor said, moving to stand in front of her and reaching for her hands.

“This station is not the same as the Facility,” she said.  “It has laboratory equipment, but it’s not a lab.  It’s more like a storage facility, which is why they have so many hibernation tanks.  The only reason the Gryphons were there is that we destroyed the Facility, where they intended to keep them.”

“What made you gasp?” Landor asked again.

“There’s a room filled with row after row of stasis units,” she swallowed hard.  “Every one of them contains a Xanti.”

“Dead Xanti, right?” Con asked.

“Xanti do be dead,” Jinjie confirmed.  “Black heart do be use evil for evil.”

“Would we be killing innocents if we destroy the place?” Landor asked.

“No,” Rayne replied, then looked at Jinjie for confirmation.

“No do be prisoners what could be saved,” he confirmed.

Landor tapped his vox and walked away, giving orders.  “Do you think this is the wrong thing to do, Jinjie?” Rayne asked.

“No, this do be good, Lady Bear,” Jinjie said.  “Xanti do be evil, dead or no.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Rayne said.  A moment later Landor rejoined them and they stared quietly through the observation window until they saw a bright white flash of light that nearly blinded them for a few moments.  By the time their vision cleared, there was nothing left to see.

“What happened over there?” Landor asked.  “After we left with the Gryphons.”

“Rayne do be mighty she-bear in fang and claw and heart,” Jinjie said.  “Jinjie do be most honored to see.”

“We could not agree more,” Con said proudly.

“Thanks, Jinjie,” Rayne said.  “Mostly, I was scared out of my wits, though.”

“Fear do be not make courage less, Lady Bear,” Jinjie said with a shrug.  “Fear do be make courage greater.”

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Landor said.  “But I’d still like to know what happened over there.”

“You left, I put my shield up and asked Salene to stay close, then I started looking around for something to bring back that might be helpful.  Aside from whatever data might be in those hand terminals, we don’t know anything about these Doftle.  I figured I might as well see what I could find.  I grabbed what I could out of a cabinet and tied it up in that sheet, and then the door opened and in walked Weeble.”  She told the rest of the story quickly, then said, “I had no idea that he wounded me.  I felt nothing at all.”

“Luckily you’re now Clan Bearen, so you self-healed quickly,” Con said, but the fear in Landor’s eyes remained.  Rayne knew what he was thinking because she’d had the same thought.

“I’m all right,” she said softly.  “He hit my leg, not my stomach.  Our daughters are safe, and so am I.”

“I know, Kisu, but we will take no more such risks,” he said gruffly.  Rayne smiled.

“Of course we won’t.”  Landor relaxed and took a breath when he realized she didn’t intend to argue with him.

“Where’s the arm?” she asked.

“There,” Landor said, pointing to the table where it lay beside the sheet wrapped bundle.  “Why did you want to bring it back?”

“Because not even my bearenca could do much more than break the skin, and that not very deeply.  Not only that, but it took every ounce of strength my bearenca had to keep him from reaching Salene, which makes no sense to me.  I thought the composition and density of their flesh, not to mention sequencing their DNA, might help explain something about them, maybe even tell us where they’re from.  If not, it’ll at least be of interest to some of the council scientists.”

“I’m certain you’re correct,” Landor said, looking at her with love in his eyes.  “You do think well under duress.  We didn’t even consider that, and we should have.”

“Well, you had your own tasks to focus on,” Rayne said.

“If you couldn’t bite deeply, how did you manage to sever the arm?” Con asked as he bent to look more closely at it.  “And why isn’t there any blood?”

“Good questions,” Rayne said.  “Now that I’ve had a little time to mull it over, I think I might even know the answer to one of them.”

“We’re listening.”

“Wolef said that his scale would prevent me from being transported against my will.  Apparently it works in both my human and bearenca forms.  When Weeble transported, I was holding onto his arm, and he was smiling at me because he thought I’d be forced to transport with him.  Since I couldn’t be transported, he was transported without the arm that I was holding.  I bet he was surprised.”

“It makes as much sense as anything,” Con said.  “It looks like the wound has been cauterized.”

“This limb is going to give us a lot of data about the Doftle,” Ari said after examining it without handling it more than necessary.  “But how are you?  Did you get hurt anywhere else?”

“I’d say no, but I didn’t know about the thigh wound,” she said.

Landor gazed intently at her for a long moment, then smiled.  “You’re not in any pain, but you are very tired.  We’ll take you back to our room in a few moments.”  He kissed the top of her head, then turned to Ari.  “Let’s get a few of the lab techs here to bag and preserve these things.  We need a stasis bag for the arm, and I think we should leave that bundle Rayne collected as it is.  We’ll just lock everything up so no one can tamper with it.  It goes straight to the Council as soon as we get home.”

Ari kissed Rayne, then speed traveled away while Con began inspecting the containers Salene had brought.  “This is the one I took from the waste receptacle.  What’s the other one for?”

“Salene put some of the gel that was in one of the hibernation tanks into it,” Rayne said.  Con nodded.  “Good thinking.  The med techs were in such a hurry to wash the gel off of everyone that they didn’t think about saving any of it until it was nearly too late, and much of what they did save is contaminated with water and soap now.”

“Why were they in such a hurry?” Rayne asked.

“The gel in the hibernation tanks contains high levels of radioactive material, which is why it burned us when we touched it.”

“It burned you?” Rayne asked, shocked.  She immediately grabbed Landor’s arm and began pushing at his sleeve, but he put a hand over hers, stopping her.

“We rinsed it off as soon as we got here,” he explained.  “That’s why it took us a bit longer than it should have to return.  We’ve already healed, so there’s nothing to see.”

“Why would they do that?” she asked, then shook her head.  “Was it just to cause pain?”

“From what we’ve learned about the Doftle so far I would guess that had something to do with it,” Con said.  “But on the practical side, it kept them from shifting, and drained their energy, making them very weak.”

“How are they?” Rayne asked.

“They’re not in very good shape.  The med techs were still rinsing the gel off last time I checked.  They’re entire bodies are one big radiation burn which is, of course, incredibly painful.  Blake suggested putting them in hibernation tanks until their bodies heal, but they objected to that.  Strenuously.”

“Isn’t there anything else that can be done for them?” Rayne asked.

“No,” Landor replied.  “Drugs won’t work, as you know, and neither will healing tanks.  Their bodies are too weak and their injuries are too great for them to self-heal quickly.  As long as the radioactive material is completely removed, they’ll eventually be able to self-heal.  It’ll just take time.”

“How far are we from the nearest jump point?”

“A week,” Landor replied.  “Once we reach it, we’ll only be a day from Jasan.  Then Jareth can heal them.  We’ll send a message ahead to let them know we’re coming.”

“I guess it’s a good thing we can’t follow Weeble any more, otherwise we’d be really unhappy right now,” she said.

“Yes, it would have been difficult to let Weeble go, but we would never sacrifice our own,” Landor said.  “Thanks to you, we don’t go home empty handed.  We have the hand terminals, Weeble’s arm, all the things you took from the lab.  The Council will be ecstatic.”

“Don’t forget about Jinjie,” Rayne said, turning her head so she could see him still sitting on her shoulder.  “You know a lot about the Doftle, don’t you?”

“Jinjie do be know many things,” the Jotunn agreed.  “But Jinjie do be know Doftle names only.”

Rayne smiled.  “Since we now have several Doftle hand terminals, I don’t think that’ll be much of a problem anymore.”

Afterword

Salene stopped the treadmill and reached for the towel draped around her neck.  After drying the sweat from her face she reached for the bottle of water hanging from her hip.  She took a long drink, then recapped the bottle, catching a glimpse of herself in the mirrored wall to her left.  She stepped off the treadmill and walked toward it, studying her reflection.

Her hair was back to normal, thanks to Rayne, and her burns were nearly healed.  She had a dozen unsightly scars, and another dozen less unsightly, but except for the rather large one on her cheek they weren’t readily apparent so long as she wore long sleeves and pants.  She’d chosen to stay out of a healing tank so that she could follow the Gryphons, and she didn’t regret that choice.  Unfortunately, it was beginning to seem as though the scars were an issue for her men, and that was a wound that she couldn’t hide beneath her clothing.

The door opened and Rayne stepped into the room, closing the door to insure their privacy.  “Talk to me, Salene, please.  Tell me what’s going on.”  Salene shrugged, but Rayne wasn’t giving up that easily.  “I hope you don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you wear your hair covering half your face.  The scars are bothering you, aren’t they?”

“Not me, no,” Salene said, turning away from the mirror.  “But I think they bother Talus, Jon and Kar.”

Rayne frowned.  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It doesn’t?  Even you have to admit they’re ugly.”

“So what?” Rayne asked.  “I had scars everywhere and I do mean everywhere.  It didn’t bother my Rami in the slightest.  At least, not in the way you mean.”

“The Bearen-Hirus are good men, Rayne,” Salene said.  “You’re lucky.”

“I am,” Rayne agreed.  “I think that if the Gryphons weren’t good men too, you wouldn’t love them so much.”

“Maybe I didn’t know them as well as I thought I did.”

“Please, Salene, tell me what’s going on?” Rayne asked again, begging now.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Salene said.  “That’s the trouble.  They left the infirmary yesterday morning.  You know that, right?”

“I know they asked for a private male-set room, so I assumed as much, yes.”

“I didn’t know about it until I went to the infirmary to visit after breakfast and they weren’t there.  I found out what room they were in and went to see them, but they wouldn’t let me in.  Talus wouldn’t even open the door.  He just told me through the door that they needed to sleep, and that it was easier for them to do it without an audience.”

“I remember you saying much the same thing to Blake,” Rayne pointed out.

“I did, but I was talking about people I didn’t know.”

“What else?”

“They won’t look at me,” Salene said so softly it was nearly a whisper.

“They won’t look at you?”

Salene shook her head.  “They each took one look at my face a few days ago, when they were well enough to get up and start moving around, and that was that.  Ever since, they look at my feet, their feet, the floor, the ceiling, anything but me.”  She shrugged.  “They won’t look at me, they won’t let me into their room, and now they won’t talk to me.”

“Is that so?” Rayne asked, coldly furious.

“Rayne?” Salene asked, then reached out, but Rayne shook her head.

“No, Salene, this is not acceptable.”  With that she spun around, yanked the door open, and marched up the corridor with Salene trailing behind her.  She passed the elevator and entered the stairwell, ran up two flights, then pushed the door open so hard it slammed into the wall, displaying a temper that Salene had never once in all their lives witnessed in her middle sister.

Suddenly, Landor, Con, and Ari appeared in the corridor, blocking Rayne.  “Kisu, what’s wrong?” Landor asked.

“Please move aside, Landor,” Rayne bit out between clenched teeth.  Landor felt her fury, and a glance at Salene’s pale face a few feet behind her told him the subject, if not the precise reason.  They’d tried getting the Gryphons to talk a few times but had gotten nowhere.  If Rayne could rattle them enough for some sense to seep in, then they weren’t going to stand in her way.

Landor stepped aside, and Ari and Con followed, allowing Rayne to continue her march up the corridor.  She stopped in front of the Gryphons’ room and started pounding on the door with her fist, not stopping until it opened.  Talus stood in the door way, glaring down at Rayne until the Bearen-Hirus’ warning growls forced him to moderate his expression.  Rayne shoved the door open and marched straight in, forcing Talus to back quickly out of her way.

“What’s going on?” he asked warily, carefully not looking at Salene which only added fuel to Rayne’s fury.

“You three are the biggest, most selfish, self-centered, self-serving assholes I’ve ever had the displeasure to meet, and since I spent an entire year in the Doftles’ hands, I’ve met quite a few,” Rayne growled, shocking everyone, including her Rami.  It was the first time in Rayne’s entire life that she’d ever used a swear word.

“My sister chose…chose…to suffer through the pain of burns that went to the bone…to the bone!...knowing she’d have horrific scars afterward only because she wanted to save your sorry butts.  Her words were I can live with scars, but I can’t live without Talus, Jon, and Kar.”  The Gryphons went pale, but Rayne was too upset to notice.  “You repaid her sacrifice by ignoring her, avoiding her, refusing to even so much as look at her or talk to her because she’s no longer pretty and perfect enough for you.  How dare you treat her this way?  You’re are not worthy of Salene’s sacrifice, and you’re definitely not worthy of being her Rami.  Not even a tiny bit.”

By the time Rayne paused to take a breath her Rami were growling furiously, their anger equal to hers after hearing what she’d said.

“If this is true, your transgressions are worthy of moztu-oku,” Landor said coldly, naming the ancient ritual of denouncement considered to be a fate worse than death for any Clan Jasani.

“No!” Salene said, stepping forward.  “It’s not that important.”

“It is important, Highness,” Con said.  “A male-set who dishonors their woman to this extent cannot be allowed to continue life as one with the Klanaren.  I know that you, too, would suffer, and for that my heart aches with sorrow, but it does not change what they’ve done.”

“Wait wait wait!” Talus said, holding up both hands, palm out.  “It’s not what you think.”  Everyone turned to stare at Talus, waiting silently for what he had to say.

“We don’t look at your face, Salene, because our shame is too great,” Talus said, addressing Salene, but not looking at her.  “Not because you bear scars earned on our behalf.  Princess Rayne is correct in one thing and that’s that we are not worthy of you.  We were warned ahead of time, and yet we still failed to protect our crew, our ship, and most importantly of all, you.”

“What good does it do to push Salene away?” Rayne asked, calmer, but still angry.  “What good does it do to compound what you see as failure by hurting her?”

“It does no good,” Talus said, his shoulders slumping.  “But it’s unavoidable.”

“Meaning?” Salene asked softly.

“We’ve decided that we will hunt this Doftle called Weeble,” Talus said, lifting his chin.  “We will destroy him and as many of his kind as we can.  After we’ve done that, our honor will be restored, and we can return home with our heads high and be the Rami you deserve.”

“Is that so?” Salene asked, her own anger finally kicking in.  “You’ve just decided this is what you’ll do, and when you’re done doing it, you’ll come back and pick me up from wherever you drop me and…what?  Just get on with things?”

“Well, um…yes, I suppose,” Talus said slowly, more shocked by Salene’s anger than Rayne’s.

“Good plan,” Salene said, reaching up to grab a pendant hanging around her neck on a slender chain.  She gave it one hard tug, snapping the chain, then dropped it to the floor without looking at it.  “You’ll have to rethink the part where you take me back though, because I will not be available.”  Then she turned around and walked out of the room.  Rayne shot Talus, Jon, and Kar a withering look, then she followed Salene.

“What just happened here?” Talus asked, watching Kar kneel down to pick up the necklace Salene had dropped.  “I don’t understand.”

“That’s obvious,” Landor replied, studying the Gryphons.  They still had radiation burns on their exposed skin, and they hadn’t regained much of their strength yet.  What caused him to relax his stance against them was their age, not their physical condition.  They were so young, barely over a hundred.  Mere teenagers for Clan Jasani.  “You have a choice to make.”

“We’ve made our choice,” Jon said softly.

“Wait, Jon,” Talus said.  “I would hear what Commander Landor has to say.  What choice do you speak of?”

“You must choose who you wish to devote your life to,” Landor said.  “Salene, or the Doftle.”

“We can’t do both?”

Landor arched a surprised brow.  “In case you weren’t listening, your berezi made the answer to that question exceedingly clear.  It was no.  You can’t do both.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Jo lives in the Arizona desert with her loving husband, their two children, one very large dog and two interesting cats.  Laura Jo loves to hear from her readers.  Visit her website at www.laurajophillips.com to see when the next installment in the Orbs of Rathira series is coming, and sign her guestbook.   Or, email her directly at laurajophillips.books@gmail.com

While you are there, take a peek at the ever growing Handbook of the Thousand Worlds which details lots of interesting information about the people, technology,  governments, and other interstellar information about the worlds the Hearts of ICARUS, the Orbs of Rathira, and the Soul-Linked Saga take place in.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2 360 Days in the Future

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 361 Days in the Future

Chapter 5

Chapter 6 362 Days in the Future

Chapter 7

Chapter 8 363 Days in the Future

Chapter 9

Chapter 10 364 Days in the Future

Chapter 11

Chapter 12 365 Days in the Future

Chapter 13 365 Days in the Future

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Afterword

ABOUT THE AUTHOR