Arundia Returns Read online

  Finally, it shone so brightly I had to open my arms. It floated away from me. As the blue light moved away, cold blackness swallowed me.

  Chapter 16

  Alexis Night Runner

  I awoke to whispers. Though I strained my ears to parse out the voices, they blended into a stew of sounds. Finally, they went away and sleep overtook me again.

  The next time I woke, a weight sat on the middle of my chest. My eyes flew open though nothing computed, except that someone restrained me. Panic stabbed my chest. Blindly, I fought against the hands.

  “Easy does it, Captain,” Nikki’s voice cut through my panic. “Easy does it. Kira’s working on you. You need to lie still for a little while longer.”

  A feeling of safety settled over me. Nikki’s here. She won’t let anyone hurt me. With that thought, sleep once again claimed my conscious mind.

  ****

  A shaft of yellow-white sunlight speared through the window and pried my eyelids up. It took a moment to recognize the cubicle as the one where Kira had lain. I turned my head, eyes searching for Kira’s cot.

  Gone! Oh, Great Goddess! It can’t be. My heart thudded as I swung my legs over the cot’s edge and staggered to my feet. Stumbling, I made it to the cubicle’s curtain door and flipped it out of my way.

  Someone sat on a chair to the left of the makeshift entry. The woman startled to her feet and caught me as I swayed. “Whoa there, Captain. Nikki will skin me alive if I let you fall and bruise something. I shudder to think what she’d do if I let you break something.”

  “I’d skin you alive and stake you out over a red anthill.” Nikki strode into sight and settled her gaze on me. “Let’s get you back to bed, Captain.” She heaved my other arm over her shoulder. Between the two Warriors, they dragged me back to the cot and sat me down.

  “Kira, where’s Kira? This was her cubicle,” I croaked.

  Nikki grabbed a glass of water from a small table next to the cot. “Wet your throat, Captain, and stop with all that fretting. Kira’s fine. Matter of fact, she is the one who worked on you, once she came out her state of suspension.”

  I sipped water while Nikki continued, “She said that’s what happens when you use up too much energy--you fall into a state of suspension. That was one of the things she read in the books Matriarch lent her once she decided not to kill us all that time we snuck into the House of Females.”

  “Did Kira say...” My throat felt scratchy and I coughed. “Did she say how you get someone out of the state of suspension?”

  “Only two ways, Captain,” Kira grinned at me from the doorway. “Nearly kill yourself giving them your Energy or give them supportive therapy while they naturally replenish themselves.” She moved the rest the way in and sat down on the cot next to me.

  All levity left her face. “Of course, if you go the natural way, you run the risk of their Spirit being too exhausted to find its way back to the living. That’s when the person dies. I would have died if you hadn’t come for me. My Spirit light had started flickering.”

  “Serena?” I rasped.

  “She’s doing well. Once I regained consciousness and could walk without falling on my face, I worked on you and then went to Serena. Unfortunately, the Energy required to break that water spell drained all three of us dangerously near to Spirit extinction. I fed Serena a little of my Energy then went and did the same for Sheena. It stabilized them enough that I could eat and rest for a day before working on them some more. It took me four days to do for them what you did for me in less than two hours.”

  “I...felt so cold.”

  “That’s because you nearly drained yourself. Matriarch warned me that a healer pulls Energy from the world around us; but we have to be careful. If we try to rush the healing, we are in danger of draining ourselves and dying.”

  She patted my arm. “You are incredibly strong, Captain. But, you obviously don’t know how to pull Energy from your environment. The Energy you used all originated within you, and you still brought me back.”

  I held up my bandaged right hand. “What’s this?”

  Kira’s eyes darted away then returned to mine. “You lost part of your right little finger. I'm sorry. I couldn’t save it. You gave so much of your Energy saving me that you starved your own body. The blood flow became too restricted in the first digit of that finger. The rest of the finger is fine, though.”

  A tired smile tipped the corners of my mouth. “Kira, since that is all that I lost, I feel extremely blessed. I only hope we have enough time to get rested up before the next crisis tsunami slams into us.”

  Ariel bounced into the room and flung herself at me. I barely had time to raise my injured hand out of the way. “You saved my mom! I love you!”

  I wrapped my good arm around the child. “Whoa there, young lady. Kira saved your mom; not me.”

  Ariel leaned back and stared into my eyes. “If you hadn’t gone in and gotten Kira from that cold place, she wouldn’t have been around to save my mom.”

  Kira chuckled as she got to her feet. “Irrefutable logic, Captain.”

  I opened my mouth to respond, but Kira had already walked out of the cubicle.

  Ariel sprinted for the door. “Kira, wait up!” She dashed out from behind the curtain. As I swung my legs back on the cot, Ariel stuck her head back in. “I’ll see you later,” she called then disappeared.

  With a slight shake of my head at her exuberance, I lay back down. My eyes had started to drift closed when Ri’s voice echoed in the larger room beyond the curtain. Swinging my feet back over the edge of the cot, I waited for the werepanther.

  “Stop!” The Warrior’s voice held naked threat.

  “Let her through,” I called out.

  “There’s two...” A grunt and something crashed as Ri burst through the curtain, the mountainous Sven close behind.

  Anger flashed through me. “For your sake, Sven, I hope you did not harm my Warrior.”

  Ri shot a glare at Sven then turned toward me. “She’s not harmed. He shoved her and she wasn’t expecting it. She stumbled into her chair.”

  “I'm all right, Captain. Nothing but my pride hurt.” The Warrior stepped through the curtain, hand on her short sword. She jerked her chin toward Sven. “Do you want this big lug in here or not?”

  Ri whirled and faced the werepanther. With a stiff arm, she pointed her finger toward the curtained entry. “Leave.”

  He narrowed his gaze at me then folded his thick arms across his massive chest. “My Queen, I cannot. It is my duty...”

  “It is your duty to obey your queen.” Anger sketched taut lines on her body.

  His arms dropped and his mouth opened as if he wanted to argue. Another glare from her and he stomped out. “I’ll be right outside the curtain, Magic User.”

  As soon as he cleared the curtain, I tipped my head toward the Warrior. “I’ll call if I need you.”

  She ducked her head in obedience and left.

  I waved at the clothes stacked neatly on a wood chair off to one side. “Grab my clothes and give me a hand getting dressed. If I'm going to have company tramping in and out, I want to have on something more than an oversized tee shirt.”

  Ri stepped across the small space and retrieved the clothes.

  I struggled into my shirt. “What does Sven think I'm going to do to you?”

  With a slight one-shouldered shrug, Ri steadied me while I stepped into jeans. “All he knows is you can use magic. He doesn’t understand magic and it scares him, I think.”

  “Scares lots of people,” I muttered. With a tired huff of breath, I sank back onto the cot. “You didn’t come storming in here so we could talk about Sven. What happened?”

  A deep sorrow overwhelmed the young panther’s eyes. She blinked rapidly several times to keep the moisture gathered there from escaping. “Two of our panthers went totally bonkers. According to the guards, they yelled something about seeing Elder Coahoma’s chest moving then they threw themselves at the bed.”

/>   A grimace twisted Ri’s features as she obviously recalled the incident all too well. “The electrical current snagged them. It...didn’t kill them right away. I heard the screaming and ran upstairs.” She swallowed convulsively. “We had a hella time keeping their friends from trying to grab them. Sven finally knocked the two loose by hitting them with a couple of chairs.”

  I dreaded hearing the conclusion. “Dead?”

  “One died before we got her knocked loose. The other...” She drew a deep breath and shoved it out. “The other one is burned beyond recognition, but somehow she is still alive.”

  “Can she Shift to heal herself?”

  “She’s hurt too bad to Shift. I came to ask for your healer’s assistance. I heard that she has been under a lot of stress, and I wouldn’t ask but...” Her lips became a tight slash, holding in her emotions.

  I stood. “Give me a couple of minutes to get my feet under me.” I swayed a couple of times then caught my balance. Taking careful steps, I exited the cubicle with Ri close beside me. “Warrior, find General Trueson and Kira and have them meet us in the living room.”

  Fortunately, the living room was only two doors away. I cringed to think about trying to navigate the Admin Building’s five sprawling floors and basement. Feeling weak, I flopped onto the couch and wondered if I would have the strength to return to my cot, much less travel to the werepanthers’ village.

  Kira arrived with a pot of herbal tea that she set on the coffee table in front of me. “If you’re going to insist on traipsing all over the building, you need to drink this, Captain.”

  As the first finger of steam reached my nose, my face scrunched. “You have got to be kidding. This smells like dirty socks.”

  Kira crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “You can always go back to bed and rest, like you should.”

  With a scowl at the smaller woman, I tossed back the first cup of tea, ignoring the burn as it hit like a fireball in my gut. “Yuck!” I glanced up at the determined look on Kira’s face and poured another cup of tea. “I'm drinking it, okay?” I hoisted the second cup and downed it.

  Nikki handed me a roast beef sandwich on rye bread. “Eat this. It’ll take away the nasty taste.”

  I took a big bite of the sandwich. “Wow! Love that horseradish sauce.” After I swallowed the food in my mouth, I asked, “Kira, are Serena and Sheena stable enough for you to leave for a few hours and do a werepanther healing?”

  Kira’s eyes skipped between Ri and me. “Yes, I think they are.”

  I turned a questioning gaze toward Gregory. “If we left Nikki temporarily in charge, could you teleport Kira, Ri and me to the werepanther village?”

  Behind the chair where Ri sat, Sven rumbled low in his chest. “I will not leave my queen’s side, Magic User.”

  Exasperated, I snapped, “I don’t know if Gregory can teleport three of us, much less four of us with one of the four being as big as a small car.”

  Sven snarled. “I will not allow you to teleport my queen into danger.”

  Ri twisted her head to look at Sven. “Hush, Sven. No one is teleporting me into danger. I’ll be going home.” She turned and looked over at Gregory. “Can you teleport the three of us to the village?”

  He gave a nod. “However, three passengers is the limit.”

  Sven’s nostrils dilated as his eyes narrowed. “We cannot allow a vampire to teleport into our village, Queen Rianna.”

  Ri spun up and out of the chair. Body vibrating with barely controlled anger, she pressed into Sven’s body space. He held her eyes for the space of three heartbeats then ducked his gaze. Voice a low growl, she said, “You are a guard, Sven. You do not decide what can and cannot be allowed.”

  “Queen Coahoma did not even allow the vampires to visit our village to treat with her. Now you propose to allow them to teleport into it? In case you have forgotten, my Queen, our village was attacked by rogue panthers led by bloodthirsty vampires.” A silent snarl twisted his lips even though his eyes dared not meet hers.

  She stepped forward. He bent fractionally away from her. “Yes, I seem to recall that. After all, I was there,” she snapped sarcastically. “Perhaps, it is not my memory that is faulty, but your own. Have you forgotten that we have an alliance with First Councilwoman Longer’s People?”

  “I have not forgotten that the so-called alliance has yet to be formalized. Care must be taken...”

  “Sven, if General Trueson agrees, I intend to have him teleport Alexis, Kira, and myself into our village. Once there, I will avail our People of the healing Power of that,” she pointed a finger toward Kira, “vampire-human hybrid healer so that our grievously injured panther might have a chance to recover. You, Sven, will take the car and return to our village by road.”

  His eyes flashed amber as he glanced toward Ri. “Queen Rianna....”

  Her eyes flashed a more brilliant amber and her voice lowered to a dangerous rumble. “If you continue to argue, I will replace you as my personal guard and as Head of Guards. Do I make myself clear?”

  He gave a slight dip of his chin though his words hissed from his mouth. “Yes...my Queen.”

  Gregory called in five Guardians. “Lieutenant Howitter will be in charge while I am gone. You are to obey her orders until I return.”

  “General,” one Guardian’s upper lip curled in contempt. “She’s...she’s a human, and a wanton, sir.” He spit out the word as if it were a label akin to slut.

  Gregory scowled. “Wantons have filled an honorable place in our society for hundreds of years, Guardian Melville. They risk their lives to nurture ours; however, that is neither here nor there. Lieutenant Howitter is not a wanton; she is one of Artemis’ Warriors. You will treat her with the respect she deserves, or you shall answer to me.”

  “But, sir...”

  Gregory slashed his hand through the air and let his eyes connect with each of the Guardians standing before him. “All Guardians shall answer to Lieutenant Howitter in the absence of Captain Night Runner and me. You five shall enforce that decree. If you, or any Guardian, disobeys Lieutenant Howitter about so much as how many pieces of toilet paper should be used, that Guardian will answer to me personally. If anything untoward should happen to Lieutenant Howitter, those who did not die in her defense shall wish that they had done so. Do I make myself clear?” Again he let his eyes roam across the faces of the Guardians, catching and holding each of their gazes before moving on.

  Eyes dropped to the floor as they chorused, “Yes, sir.”

  Gregory led the way out of the building. The day had slid into a soft twilight on Lost Man Mountain. I stopped next to him, inhaled the pine sweet air and bent my head back to stare up at the darkening vault of the sky. “I'm glad we came back here.” Gaze dropped from the limitless heavens, I caught his eyes. “No other place has ever felt like home to me.”

  He held his hand out to me. I clasped it firmly while Kira grabbed his other hand. Ri entwined her fingers with mine. Ri’s eyes held curiosity, but no fear.

  I gave Gregory’s hand a squeeze. “Ready when you are, General.”

  Without further ado, Gregory pulled us into a black, soundless void.

  Nothingness. I thought the Cold-Between had held nothingness, but even there I could feel the wind on my face; could hear the roaring of it in my ears; could be touched by the bitter cold.

  Here there was Nothingness. True emptiness. Did I still breathe? I couldn’t tell. Couldn’t feel the movement of my chest as my lungs pulled in and pushed out air. Could I see? I thought I could, yet I couldn’t see my own hands; couldn’t feel them either. Did panic or fear cause my heart to thunder, sounding like Niagara Falls? No way to tell. Detached; disconnected from my body, from the world, from life. Neither curious nor anxious. My emotions reflected the Nothingness that wrapped around me. Only my mind continued to catalogue the experience.

  A minute, an hour, a week, a lifetime later a pop sounded in my ears like someone had pulled the cork from a bottle. I blinked. Twilig
ht surrounded Elder Coahoma’s mansion. Ri let go of my hand and fell to her knees, retching.

  My head swam. I bent over at the waist, heaving. Afterwards, I spit. “How come only Ri and I upchucked?”

  Gregory grunted. “Neither of you are vampire.”

  “Neither is she; at least, not completely.” I tipped my head toward Kira.

  “Her biology’s close enough for teleportation not to affect her adversely.”

  “Gee, thanks for the heads-up, Gregory,” I groused.

  “Would it have made you remain behind had you known?”

  A chuckle trickled from me. “Not hardly.”

  Panthers surrounded us by the time Ri pushed to her feet.

  I tilted my chin toward the house. “Let’s head upstairs to Elder Coahoma’s room first. I want to check on her.”

  Upstairs, the bloodred streaks of electric bolts seemed more pronounced, as if the destruction it had wreaked had fed it. Energy. Of course, the dead panther’s life force fed it.

  Kira stared at the crackling dome and the still, bloody form on the bed. “I can see the dome.”

  I shrugged. “Probably because you use Energy in your healing magic.”

  She frowned. “You aren’t in any shape to be wrestling with anyone’s negative Energy spell.”

  I studied the dome. “I don’t think this Energy is inherently negative, Kira. I think it is simply Energy formed into a dome.” After a long moment, I added, “I manipulate Energy. Why couldn’t I simply manipulate this Energy? Cause it to disburse like when I release the Energy of fireballs. I form it then I push it away.”

  Face aghast, Kira gasped, “You can’t be serious! You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  Determination hardened my resolve. “Can you think of another way? As long as this dome holds Elder Coahoma’s body, more werepanthers will attempt to breach the magic and rescue their queen.” I caught and held Kira’s gaze. “I can’t stand by and let them throw their lives away if I might be able to stop it from happening.”

  “There has to be some way other than you throwing your life at it, Captain. Research it until you find a way to dismantle it safely. Have Ri set up more guards to keep her People away from it until you find a solution. It isn’t like its throwing out noxious fumes.”