Burning Stone (4 page)

How hard could that be?

* * * *

Sleeping with her hands curled on her chest had been restoring enough for the skin. She felt the outer shell of her skin and her fingerprints were back in their proper order. When she lifted her hands above her to get a good look, there was no trace of the burns.

“Not bad.” She got out of bed and pulled on a new set of clothes while she tucked the others into the solar laundry. A quick flash and they were done, so she hung them up and made sure she was decent before heading to the galley for breakfast.

It took her a while but she got the machine to spit out a heated ration pack for her, and she stumbled to the table while she waited for her tea.

She heard the approaching footsteps before she saw Bohr enter the galley. She waved at him and kept eating. He brought her tea over and set it on the table in front of her.

“Sleep well?”

She raised a hand and tilted it to one side and then then other in a so-so motion. “My hands are better and I feel energized enough to take on my next assignment.”

He took the hand that wasn’t holding the eating prong and examined it. “Amazing. I have only seen this sort of thing once before.”

That sparked her curiosity. “When?”

He smiled. “A long time ago.”

“Will you tell me about it?”

“Not yet. You need to learn more about the universe and the creatures inside it before I start corrupting your mind with my history.”

She blinked at the descriptor that he used. “I see.”

He grinned and released her hand. “How are you feeling, in other senses?”

“Good. Refreshed. When do we land on the next world?”

Bohr inclined his head. “As soon as you are ready. You slept the entire journey.”

She looked up in surprise. “Well, that would explain why I am so hungry. Really, the whole way?”

“Indeed. I checked in on you at times and you were resting heavily.”

“You mean I was snoring?” She felt heat touch her cheeks.

He shrugged. “I have heard far worse.”

She sighed. “I wouldn’t have slept so heavily but that sleeping Drai was still singing in my mind. It blurs my ability to calculate time while I sleep.”

“You are hearing what?” He blinked in surprise.

“Didn’t Halwis-Iskan tell you? I am hearing the song of a Drai on a world near Iskan. That is what she says, anyway. I will believe it when I see it, and I don’t intend to see it for some time.”

“That is fascinating.”

She finished her meal and put her tray and implement away. Leyhara returned to the table and cupped her hands around her cup, smiling when the heat didn’t prickle against her skin.

“I don’t know the details, and I am guessing that I won’t know them until I meet him and discuss things with him.”

He looked amused. “You plan to negotiate?”

“No. Discuss. There is a difference. Iskan told me that the treaties that bind the chosen mates of the ancient Drai mean that every government within a dozen worlds of the chosen spot of the sleeper upholds them. It means that the laws of the Iskan Citadel bind me, and if I don’t agree to them, I need to find somewhere far away and that isn’t really my current inclination. I like the friends I have made, the comfortable feel of Iskan and her new people.”

He blinked. “Well, in that case, are you prepared for our next assignment?”

Leyhara finished her tea and nodded. “Take us down and let’s get this started. I will have time to rest while the rock cools.”

She followed him to the command deck and watched their approach to the world painted in shades of gold and brown.

As they approached, a large golden city gleamed in the white light. Leyhara leaned forward and watched the buildings with their whizzing transports and elaborate electrical displays.

“Why do they need me? They have the tech to do this.”

Bohr sighed. “You didn’t read the file.”

She blushed. “Not really. I focussed on what needed to be done, not why.”

“They have a migratory season for young citizens. They need to get to the grounds on the other side of that mountain range, but they can’t just skip over them to the other side. There are plants and mineral deposits that they must stop at. Currently, there is only a forty-five percent survival rate. A tunnel that takes them through the necessary territory but doesn’t exhaust them could help replenish their population levels. Simply flying from site to site doesn’t work. They need some physical effort but not enough to kill them. Hopefully, the tunnels will give them the respite they need.”

Leyhara blinked and focussed on the mountain range that expanded in the distance. “Right. This isn’t playtime. Thanks for going over it again.”

He gave her a nod and set the shuttle down. The large reptiles emerged from buildings near the tarmac and approached their vessel. It was time to meet her current employers.

Wearing her robes was not an option. The heat of the place was oppressive.

The Kremlod bowed low when they saw Bohr. He was greeted with sibilants that she couldn’t make out and treated with extreme respect.

When one of the representatives flicked a tongue close to Leyhara, Bohr responded with a short, sharp shout. The Kremlod pressed his head to the ground in front of her.

“He is waiting for you to accept his apology.”

She blinked. “Oh, apology accepted. Can we work on the tunnel now?”

One of the huge lizards lumbered forward, edging the citizen on the ground to one side. He opened a carefully crafted object and showed her the heading she needed to keep to.

She draped the huge compass around her neck by the ribbon he had provided her.

The leader walked slowly until they touched the rock face in the direction indicated on the compass. He drew an arc with a rock to show her the size.

Leyhara looked down at the compass and aligned herself to the designated direction, and she raised her hands. A quick look told her that the watchers were too close.

“Back them up, please, Bohr.”

He nodded and herded the Kremlod away from the rock.

“There is going to be some flare back. Keep yourself safe, please.”

“Do not worry about me.”

She didn’t argue with him, but she did worry. Once again, she raised her hands, centered herself on her target, and shot a pinhole of heat through the stone at her head height.

Once she didn’t feel resistance to her pressure, she eased up and widened the hole. She swayed a little when she finally had enough space to see through the wound in the stone. She grinned. “And now I start in earnest.”

Bohr made a strangled noise behind her and he gasped out, “You burned a hole through the mountain range.”

She nodded. “I did. It is just for me to keep a straight line. I mean there is the curvature of the globe to attend to but that can be worked with as long as I keep this hole at my eyes’ height.”

The Kremlod were making noises as well, looking at each other and lining up to take a look through the hole. Sighing, she stepped aside and took a seat on a nearby rock.

Bohr handed her a pack of water and said, “Drink.”

She sipped while the five large lizards looked into the hole and murmured softly.

“Why can’t I understand what they are saying?”

“I believe your mind has ignored many of the languages as unimportant. We will try to reapply the information when we get back to the shuttle. I think they are done. Would you like to continue?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Take the compass and hold it for me. Call me if I go off course. This next part is going to be a little weird.”

Leyhara handed the compass to Bohr and lined up with her hole. With nothing on her that could not stand the heat, she turned up her power and moved forward step by step. The doorway in the stone began to appear and she continued to expand her aura of heat while she walked. It was slow going but a steady pace once she got started.

The key to her walk was to keep the stone flowing back and away from her, out the doorway and into the pathway where she had entered the stone.

The heat around her grew and she took strength from it. Her feet bore her through the growing cavern and she continued her steps until she broke through the kilometer of stone, setting the air aflame as she emerged between mountains.

Leyhara sat on a nearby rock and let her heat fade to normal body temperatures. Heat pulsed and curled out of the cavern. She was proud of her work. To the naked eye, it looked smooth, but she had filled the curve of the ceiling with arches built in to support the stone and keep the pressure even and flowing around the passage.

It was a masterpiece of passageways, and she only had seven more of them to do in three days.

The height of the opening surprised her. She knew that it had needed to be fifteen feet or more, but that she had walked through it with only the pinpoint of light leading her, she was amazed. It had worked.

She clamped her hand over her mouth and stopped herself from giggling.

When the stone had cooled, she turned her back on it and powered up again, walking toward her mark with the melt radius set to burn the stone and create a pathway.

The second path went quicker than the first, but when it was done, she had to skate back through them in order to meet up with Bohr again.

The heat wrapped around her and squeezed, but she absorbed what she could and ignored the rest, the cushion of air beneath her propelled her forward.

The trip through the first segment was a walk through smooth and glassy walls. It was rather pretty if a little overwhelming.

When not burning, she wasn’t comfortable with the confines of the tunnel. Leyhara skidded out into open air with a quiet sigh of relief.

“Hara, how are you?”

She smiled at him. “Fine. A little tired. Can I get some sleep? The light is too dim for me to see my marks and I am a little wiped out already.”

She stumbled and he lifted her up. The Kremlod walked with them and set up guard positions around the shuttle as he took her inside.

The moment the door sealed behind them, she squirmed to be put down. “I am fine. I am just a little tired. I absorbed a lot of energy, but it makes me a little giddy.”

He set her down, and she wobbled to the galley, stumbling and ordering up a meal, including dessert.

She held it carefully and Bohr watched her as she tiptoed across the galley.

He watched her and he cocked his head. “You are drunk!”

She frowned at him. “Shhhhh.”

He sat across from her, and she saw a shimmer behind him again.

“That is weird.”

“What is?”

“There is something behind you.”

“You don’t say.”

She dug through her dessert first and then moved into the entrée.

“There is. Any time I am sleepy, your back is all sparkly, like there is a ball of glittery fog right behind you.” She giggled at the image.

“So, you don’t need to eat after you use your talent?”

She shook her head and then paused while her head spun. “I get a kind of power backlash, a heat rush. I am full of energy.”

“So why are you eating?”

Leyhara grinned. “It tastes good.”

“Good reason. Come on. You are finished and it is time for bed.”

She beamed at him. “Okay.”

He got up and slipped an arm under hers. “We will try the language flash in the morning.”

He pulled her up with the arm around her waist, and he walked her to her quarters.

Leyhara stumbled inside with a bright, “Thank you!”

She sat on the edge of her bed and picked at the lacing that closed her top. Her fingers weren’t up to it so she yelled. “Bohr! Help!”

The door opened in seconds and he was next to her. “What is it?”

She frowned. “I can’t undo my laces.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“Why don’t you sleep in your clothing?”

“I can’t. I can’t sleep with anything on.” She gave him a serious look, trying to get her point across.

He muttered something about tortures of the damned and unlaced her top, gripped her boots and tugged them free. “You are on your own with the briefs. My self-control doesn’t extend that far.”

She smiled. “Thank you. Did you know your ears are pointy?”

She reached out but he leaned back.

“I was aware of it. It goes back to the creatures that my kind evolved from.”

“What were those creatures?” She stared at him as he blurred in her vision.

“Something with pointy ears. Only call me if you are on fire. I need some sleep as well.”

She nodded and gave him a small smile. “Thank you, Bohr.”

He stood and narrowed a look at her. “You are welcome, now go to bed.” He left her room and the door closed behind him.

Leyhara peeled off what was left of her top and she shimmied out of her briefs before tucking herself into bed. For a moment, she thought about covering herself with flame and calling Bohr in again, but she fell asleep giggling.

* * * *

Torment. He was in for weeks of torment. Bohr breathed in and caught nothing but Leyhara’s scent. She was everywhere in his ship, and it was not doing his self-control any good.

Her skin was far softer than he had imagined and getting close had pushed the bounds of his logical mind over his instinct. Iskan had offered him this chance to court and become a partner to Leyhara. If he pushed too hard, his maiden would draw back, and right now, that was her opposite direction.

Her overtures were gratefully received but pulling back and not encouraging her to continue her innocent flirtations had cost him. Knowing that there were two or three more nights of the same, he felt like weeping.

Sighing, he set the security systems for the night, grabbed his own meal and headed to bed. If he was able to sleep, he would dream of Leyhara, but in the meantime, he sang her to dreams of her own.

Leyhara is standing on a volcanic field with jets of fire spurting up all around her. The heat waves ripples her skirt and tugs at her hair.

She hears the song and follows it. Her feet float her above the roiling heat as she seeks the point of origin for the music that plays in her thoughts.