Broken Wings (32 page)

Wind was more like it. Raea spread her
wings and caught an updraft that carried her above the two
men.

There, about a mile away. The black
disk in the sky pulled the clouds to it in a spiral. The Starfire
portal, her gateway home.

["Raea!"]

She twisted. Leksel flew up before
her, and she faltered with surprise as another figure caught
him.

Corsa! He wrestled with her
momentarily while falling, and pulled away.

Cris flew up beside Raea. ["Keep
going! He'll distract her."]

He was right, but… No buts. They had
sacrificed everything to get her home, to help her escape the
Shirukan. Holding back would waste the trouble they'd gone
through.

It wasn't over yet. A vessel
approached from an angle, a dark, sleek shape that sliced through
the air. That had to be the Shirukan Saffir warned them
about.

A shriek carried over her
tri-comm, startling her.
Leksel!
She twisted to find him.

He dropped but spread his wings and
glided. That was the least of her worries. Corsa aimed for
her.

["Fly! Go on ahead."] Cris pulled
back. ["We'll take care of her."]

He'd get no argument from her. Raea
flew to the black disk with the lightning flashing around its
edges. The ship approached quickly. She swore it changed its
trajectory to intercept her.

Why couldn't Saffir have opened the
portal closer?

Duh. Gravity. The spiraling of the
clouds proved it. The ferocity of the wind picked up, challenging
her flight.

What about Leksel and Cris?

Safe. Actually following her. Corsa
flew close behind them, though.

["Keep going, Raea."] A shot flashed
past Cris.

Corsa behind and the Shirukan ahead,
between her and her escape. How was she going to get out of
this!

A touch on her ankles made her
jerk.

["It's just me."] Leksel. Thank
goodness. Raea caught her breath. ["Cris is distracting Corsa. He's
good at taunting."]

That she believed.

A shadow fell over them. Raea looked
up to a ring of lights spraying across the dark underside of a ship
larger than the one spewing black-clad figures. The city-sized
vessel descended slowly. It had to be at least two miles
across.

["Leks, we have company,"] Cris
said.

Her heart sank. They'd never make it.
The black-clad birds of prey—or they could as well have been—formed
into wedges meant to intercept her. It would be close, but she
might make it to the portal before them. The race was
on.

["Damn! She's shooting to kill now."]
Cris's voice.

What? Raea hesitated and glanced back
and aside at Cris. The smooth line of flight feathers broke near
his body. He'd had a close call.

["Are you all right?"] she
asked.

["I'll be fine. It's almost easier to
avoid than being neutralized."]

She glanced aside at the ominous
flying wedges. So close, but she could make it if—

["Crystal fire!"] Cris. What now?
["Leks!"]

["Raea, keep going,"] Leksel
said.

Keep going, alone? What about the
Shirukan ahead? They'd be surrounded. She didn't want to leave
them, but if she didn't go now, she might not make it
home.

The larger ship stopped on the
opposite side of the portal from the Shirukan ship. Men and women
dropped from the ring of light sunken into the underside of the
ship. Their uniforms were different. They weren't Shirukan. The
gold stripe down the center of their chests stood out against the
darker color of their uniforms, which weren’t black. The soldiers
formed into wedges, but they didn't fly towards her.

["I think help has arrived."] Leksel
flew up beside her. She hadn't even noticed that she'd slowed
down.

["Where's Cris?"]

["A little busy,"] Cris said. ["I'll
be fine. Take care, Raea."]

["You too."]

Now to get past the entanglement ahead
without getting hit. This would be interesting.

* * *

["Estimate Crystal Keeper is two
minutes from portal,"] the young lieutenant reported from his seat
at the sensor controls.

Valdas watched the numbers
tracking the images on the display, including the new arrivals.
["The
Kerannis.
"]
She tapped the tri-comm on her perfect cheek.

["Dallars. Shourees. Flank
positions."]

["Yes, sir."]

On the display, the two armies headed
for one another. They would need all the support they could get.
With the defenses on Tower Two down, they could send a breach team
in to capture Saffir, while the other Crystal Keeper flew right
into her hands.

Two more ships popped into
existence next to the larger
Kerannis.
In seconds, flyers dropped
from the lower bays. The larger ship dared not fire on them.
Starting a shooting war in the atmosphere of their world would be
devastating. If a wild shot hit the searoot of the nearby islands,
the premature dropping of an island would disrupt their food and
raw materials supplies. Not even their empress was foolish enough
to risk damage.

The reason why full operation of
Heffin's Gate meant so much. Whole cities could be destroyed
without risk to the fragile resources of Inar'Ahben.

Valdas muted the tri-comm. ["Keep me
informed."]

["Yes, sir."]

She glanced out at the battle. Her
army engaged the enemy, while the forces commanded by Dallars and
Shourees formed up to flank them. Very good.

At the central holographic display,
she touched the green dot marking the Crystal Keeper. The view
ballooned to show her the girl and her escort.

Her escort. Him! Rage boiled up within
her. He was the one who knifed her. He led the rebels who stole the
girl. Valdas noticed her wings up and pulled them close. She wanted
to fly out and confront him herself, to repay him for nearly
killing her.

She passed her hand over the scar on
her cheek. Their medics could only do so much in an emergency;
saving her life had been the priority. Maybe when this was over,
she would have it removed. Maybe. It had come to represent the
sacrifice she made for her empress, and she appreciated the greater
respect of others. It should never have happened.

Her nails scraped the metal of the
control panel around the projector. He was in the open, but she was
stuck in the ship overseeing the entire operation.

["One minute, sir."]

Not enough time for face-to-face
combat.

But she had one other option. It would
be risky, but worth it. One shot was all she needed.

["Weapons. Give me firing
control."]

["Sir?"] The woman turned from her
seat across the command deck.

["Do it!"] She wouldn't
miss.

* * *

["Cris!"]

Raea caught a flash from the corner of
her eye and flapped to halt her forward momentum. Corsa.

The resonance warmed with
only a thought.
Don't kill
her
, she said to herself
.
She lifted her hands. Cris dropped
away.

Left with a clear shot, Raea released
the energy. The hit sent Corsa spinning away and
plummeting.

["Thanks."] Cris gasped.

["You're all right."] Relief poured
through her with the chill of using the Starfire.

["Of course I am. Now get moving."] He
flapped to swoop up, while Corsa continued to fall behind
him.

Raea twisted and caught a smile on
Leksel's face, but he said nothing. Ahead, the two armies
approached. Several of them opened fire. Those couple of seconds
might have cost her the opening she needed.

["Up."] Leksel flapped to climb. Raea
saw it immediately. Of course! They could come in from above the
portal if they had to.

A flash of light temporarily blinded
her, the crack of thunder ringing in her ears.

["Leks!"] Cris screamed over the
tri-comm.

Raea blinked away the spots, her wings
spread to glide. Two dark brown sets of wings dove, one after the
other. No. The spots in her eyes only made it seem that way. She
caught one folded set of wings and only one and a partial wing on
the other, if it was that. The frame of a wing was there, but
hardly any feathers.

["Cris."]

["I got him. Raea. Get to the
portal!"]

["But Leksel—"]

["I'll take care of him."] Cris caught
Leksel and opened his wings to stop falling. ["Go on. Get
home."]

A second shot flashed behind her. The
thunder vibrated through her.

Again it happened, but she saw it this
time, and this time, the larger ship fired on the smaller
ship.

["It's only a warning."] Cris panted,
his words seeming more for himself. ["They wouldn't dare fight in
atmosphere."]

No way did she want to get between the
leviathans. Raea held steady. She was so close now. A head on
flight and in a minute she'd be home free.

["Raea…Go. Now…They're too stunned."]
Leksel's voice was hoarse between breaths.

She swallowed her hesitations. Leksel
was right, and he was alive. ["Thanks for everything."]

__________

Homecoming

"This is so weird. A cool kind of
weird. You know?"

Yeah. Elis knew. Josh had said it
something like half a dozen times throughout the evening. He should
be up in his room on the computer, digging for information. Instead
he sat on the sofa in the front sitting room, next to Josh with
Nare on the opposite end.

"I didn't know killing aliens could be
so much fun," Nare said.

As Raea would say, whatever. He didn't
need Nare's sarcasm. She should have returned to Colorado already,
but that would defeat her purpose. She intended to stay until she
antagonized him to death. He could make that happen sooner if she
really wanted, or if she gave up her oath of tying him to the bed
if he tried.

Did the temperature go up in the
house? He warmed suddenly.

"Your hands are glowing," Josh
said.

The Starburst marks, but he didn't
seek the resonance. Nare held her bare hands out to check her
faintly glowing marks. A second later, she met his eyes with the
confirmation he expected.

His heart thumped against his chest,
yanking him to his feet.

"What is it?" Josh followed him out of
the room.

Elis nearly slammed the closet door
open.

"A Starfire portal." Nare reached past
for her leather jacket.

"A what?"

"The Shirukan are back." His fingers
couldn't work fast enough to tie his shoes. His chance for revenge
had come. Whatever they wanted, he'd make sure they didn't get it.
But what more could there be, unless…

Impossible!

Emotions choked him. What if he was
right?

He finished tying his shoes and
noticed his jacket in the air next to him. Nare smiled.
"Maybe."

"Maybe what?" Josh gasped. "You don't
think—Raea!"

Elis left his jacket open and raced
out the front door, pulling his gloves from his pocket as he ran
past the blue house on the corner and crossed the street to the
field beyond. The stars crept over the east, but the red glow of
the sun lingered in the west. The black disk hovered in the
southeastern sky. So far nothing came from it. What was going
on?

He ran over the hill and called on the
resonance. His back ached with the rapid growth of wings, but it
didn't stop him. He flapped hard in his anxiety.

Raea. Please let it be
you.

A glimpse of white-blue flashed
beneath him. Nare followed.

Could the portal have opened any
farther away? It took forever to even get close, like a dream where
the target moves farther the faster one runs towards it.

Was it Raea? Was it the Shirukan? Was
it someone else? Who would come? Or was it Saffir waiting for him?
Had something happened?

Please be all
right.

The winds swirled stronger the closer
he flew. He adjusted without problems, shifting his wings to stay
balanced. The resonance kept him warm, but the evening was warmer
than usual too. It wasn't a dream. The portal was real.

A lone figure emerged. Not the
black-clad figure he feared, but one of lighter clothes.

Elis angled slightly, gaining momentum
with the gravity. That figure struggled against the turbulence
caused by the portal, heading straight for him and growing more
familiar with the shrinking distance.

His breath froze in his lungs. It had
to be! Raea.