Broken Wings (27 page)

Home. How sweet a word! When she
returned, she would practice day and night forming a portal until
she got it.

Raea sank back against the cushions of
the seat, relieved to feel the seat press up against her as the
island sank away. Now, she could relax. Soon she would be home and
back with Elis. Excitement charged through her.

["Well, someone's happy."] Cris sat
with his arms crossed, grinning at her. ["You could teach Leksel a
thing or two."]

Leksel…No. She had Elis. Leksel was
nice, and attractive, but too old for her. Besides, her heart
belonged with her black-winged savior.

["I'm going home."]

["Wonderful."] His smile dropped and
he turned to the two in the front.

Whatever. He could sulk if he wasn't
happy for her. Still, his interest flattered her.

She fell back into the headrest and
closed her eyes. Not long now…

The medallion clattered to
the platform at the commander's sandaled feet. The green glow in
the center faded, but the engraved gold around the center shimmered
in the lights of the airlock.

["Starfire!"] Salera
rubbed her hand, the marks fading.

Wincing in pain, Talea
reached for it. Vodin snatched it and put it in her bloody
hand.

["How is this
possible?"]

Still leaning against the
general, Talea pulled her other hand from the bloody shoulder. The
white bandage from her palm was gone. In its place beneath the
smeared blood, a small sun of aquamarine sprayed its tentacles out
an inch, nowhere near to the edges of her palm. ["Not a Keeper…but
more than
meistal
."]

["I've never heard of
anyone—"]

["Probably not."] Talea's
tone snapped Salera quiet. ["You weren't…"] She stiffened, her
breathing labored.

["You weren't supposed to
know."] Vodin finished her statement and helped her sit up. ["The
Starfire asked to be left on this world. That was our mission. No
one else knows, except you…now. No one knows of any more than four
shards, because the others have been hidden, protected. A war is
coming."]

["Another
war?"]

["Another war, Keeper
Salera. The Starfire invites trouble wherever its power is known.
Heffin's Gate must never reach full capacity, or our world is
lost."]

["This is the last
shard."] Talea gazed at it. ["It asked to be left here, on Earth. I
couldn't disobey their wishes. But neither could I allow the humans
to use it. It's sealed from any detection…"] She looked up at
Salera, a cold glint in her amber eyes. ["Except by a Keeper. No
one must know. You must swear to say nothing."]

Salera hesitated, but
nodded. ["I understand."]

["Do you?"] Talea shifted
and contorted her face in pain.

["Here. I'm not useless."]
Salera laid her hands on the commander's shoulder. The light of the
Starfire glowed brightly for a few seconds and faded. She sat back,
leaving the commander to breathe deeply.

Vodin stood and helped her
to her feet.

["I'm all right."] Talea
winced and fell against him. Vodin put an arm around her for
support, and she hung her arm around his neck with the medallion in
her hand, her injured shoulder away from him. ["Thanks."] Her eyes
lifted to Salera. ["To you too, more if you say nothing about
this."]

Salera gave a nod and
watched the general help the commander disappear through the
airlock.

Raea blinked, her surroundings
coalescing around her. The revelation of the vision caught up to
her. More than four shards! How many were there?

No one else knew, or she hoped not,
unless Saffir had some knowledge. Did she dare say anything? No one
should have that knowledge. If Saffir didn't know, then she wasn't
meant to. Why would the Starfire show this to her, though? What did
it want from her?

Cris sat with his eyes closed, his
head sideways.

Neither Leksel nor Corsa said anything
but sat quietly at the controls in the head of the
shuttle.

["How far is it?"]

Leksel twisted around. His eyes passed
over Cris and fixed on her. ["Not far. We should be there in a
couple hours."]

Hours? Damn. More waiting.
Then again, after all the flying that day, she welcomed the chance
to rest. But resting from flying and sitting were two different
kinds of rest. She'd prefer to walk.
No
different than visiting Grandma and Grandpa Dahlrich.
Jamestown was a good two-hour drive from
McClarron. Sitting in a car for two hours with Dave would aggravate
a clam into leaving its shell. This was nothing.

Leksel turned forward
again, meeting a sideways glance from Corsa with a scowl.
Get over it!
Man, he had a
suspicious mind.

Raea would be grateful if it wasn't
directed at Corsa. She couldn't change him, though. The only thing
she could do then was to wait and relax. Corsa would prove herself.
Then he'd see how wrong he was and have to apologize; if he would.
Maybe. He apologized to Cris after beating the crap out of
him.

Whatever. Raea sighed and leaned back.
Two hours until they reached Starfire Tower. Two hours until she
met Saffir, the other Crystal Keeper. Then home.

And Elis and Debbie and Josh
and…

The people she loved and cared about.
She couldn't wait to tell them about all this; they'd be
fascinated. Elis would understand; she could just see his smile as
she told him about her adventures. She missed that smile, his
touch, the gentle words of encouragement and support, the faint
musky scent that lingered on his coat…

She didn't have that anymore. They'd
taken it off her and probably thrown it, along with her cell phone.
Debbie was going to kill her. At least spring was coming to the
northern plains. The winter coat could be replaced, but she
wouldn't need it anyway. The cell phone would be another story,
especially combined with her clothes.

She closed her eyes and imagined Elis
holding her in the quiet of the shuttle.

Two hours passed amid fond
memories, not only of Elis, but also of Josh, Linds, and Jess. She
would see them again soon. This whole adventure would be over.
She'd learned so much during her short time with Leksel, Cris, and
the others, particularly about the Shirukan. But she still lacked
in her understanding of
what
she was. Hopefully Saffir could help her before
she went home.

A hint of regret slipped into the
memories. She'd be leaving Leksel, Cris, and Corsa. In only a few
days, she'd come to appreciate their company, despite their
quirks.

["Identification accepted. Platform
two is clear."]

Raea blinked from her thoughts—or had
she dozed again?—and looked out the front view visible between
Corsa and Leksel. A lone trio of tiered, rounded towers of white
hovered in the distance, four paddle-shaped platforms visible at
different levels amid spirals of balconies and windows. Starfire
Tower wasn't a single tower, but a miniature fortress of three
skywalk-connected towers alone in the sky. Still, it awed her. She
had caught only a glimpse of Naviketan from the outside while
fleeing the Shirukan, but only the bottom of the city. She could
only imagine the magnificence of an Inari city from above, and the
heart of an empire at that.

Raea sat forward, watching the three
closely connected towers grow until they merged in the view into a
single wall of white.

The nearest tower rose until an arched
set-in doorway appeared where a platform joined one of those
towers. The shuttle bumped slightly and the scene froze. The faint
hum of the engines whined down in pitch.

["We're here."]

She turned to Cris, surprised to see
him awake, though not so much by the grin on his face. But it
wasn't his usual grin. He looked disappointed in a way.

Leksel and Corsa unstrapped and
stepped into the passenger area. Raea released the central buckle
holding the harness around her and stood with the
others.

What was with all the grim
faces?

The door hissed and split apart.
Bright sunlight washed across the steps that lowered, the fresh air
whispering across her face. Freedom never smelled
sweeter.

["Wait here."] Leksel shoved past her
and stepped out. What now? The man was too paranoid. A few seconds
later, he motioned for her to follow. ["It's safe."]

["Of course it's safe,"] Cris
said.

Oh, no.
Please don't start an argument here.
Hadn't Cris learned his lesson about provoking his
brother?

Cris followed behind her, his eyes on
Leksel. ["You warned them we're dressed like Shirukan?"]

["No."]

Great. What kind of reception would
they get?

["Raea. Pull your gloves off,"] Corsa
said.

Right. Yes. Excellent point. The
Starburst marks would confirm who she was. Besides, she was tired
of wearing the black gloves. The air was always warm where they
went, and, although the gloves were a light material, combined with
the jumpsuit and jacket, she was too warm.

Raea finished pulling the second glove
when the door ahead opened. Three people in gray flightsuits
stepped out, all of them with Starburst marks on their hands. A
black-winged woman and two others of different shades of brown—one
of them a man with white flecks in his feathers and the other a
woman of about the same shade as Raea but much
older—approached.

Her heart beat hard against
her chest.
Calm down.

Their eyes scanned her group, not a
smile emerging. The black-winged woman tightened her wings. ["What
are the Shirukan doing here?"]

Oh, no. She knew that look. Leksel
clamped his jaw, biting his tongue no doubt.

Raea swallowed and stepped forward.
The tension in the air was palpable. She had to do something. ["We
had to take their uniforms to escape."]

The woman's purple eyes dropped to
Raea's hands. ["Who are you?"]

What? Leksel and Corsa didn't tell
them? ["Ra— Shartrael Raea."] They wouldn't know her human
name.

The lines of the woman's angular
features softened. She brushed aside a length of black hair and
took Raea's palm in her hands. ["So it seems."]

The woman set her palm on Raea's. A
second later, the resonance warmed through Raea with the flash of
glow from the woman's hands. Whoa! The voices of the Starfire burst
into a cacophony in her head. Her heart caught in her throat. A
second later, it all faded. Just in time to avoid a
headache.

The woman dropped her hand, her wings
lifting with her smile. ["Welcome Keeper Raea."]

The two with her relaxed their stances
and stepped forward.

["I'm Sarilov Tennara. It's an honor
to meet you and your companions..."] Her tone hinted of asking for
names.

Raea twisted to the three patiently
waiting. ["Corsa and Leksel and Cris."]

["No familiar names?"]

["Not among the rebel groups,"] Leksel
said.

["I see. Will you be staying or
returning to Naviketan?"]

Leaving already? They
couldn't.
Please stay.
She wasn't ready to say good-bye.

Cris met Leksel's cold gaze with the
calm patience only a brother could accept. ["We came this far. I'd
like to be sure she gets home."]

Yeah. She'd bet he would, probably his
home.

["I have no intention of abandoning
Raea."] Leksel met her eyes with something more than the cold
determination of a man on a mission.

Warmth rose within her. She turned
away to hide the blush stealing up. She imagined it. No way did she
want him to think she liked him either. She wasn't just another
woman who would give in to his charms, if one could call it
that.

["Neither do I,"] Corsa
said.

["If you'll follow Raldin and Mara,
they'll show you to the guest quarters."] The man and woman smiled
and stepped inside the door so it stayed open.

Cris put a hand to her shoulder.
["You'll be all right now. I'll see you later."] He winked and
followed the others through the door.

He could be all right
sometimes.

* * *

Lights glimmered in the night from the
city outside the command center. Valdas stared out at the quiet sky
lanes, the towers floating serenely over their anchor positions. A
hundred thousand Inari lived in the city surrounding Heffin's
Gate.

["Sir. Message from Lieutenant
Sandral."]

She dropped her eyes to the
technical officer seated at the panel below the window. A message
scrolled across the screen:
[Will be at
Starfire Tower in minutes. Commence preparations.]

A smile spread across her cheeks. The
scar pulled a little, but it didn't bother her. Starfire Tower
floated in stationary position on the current daylight side of the
world.