Dragon-Ridden (28 page)

She flapped a hand weakly. “Fine.
He can come, but he’s you’re responsibility.” Dewdrop pumped his hand in
victory. “I expect to hear the entire story when I’m rested. Oh, and I get the
bed”

 “I can live with that,” he
said, reaching down and pulling her to her feet.

They stepped out of their little
hole and into a warmly glowing cavern that was nearly tall as it was long. It
soared high above their heads, so high that the roof was partially lost to
shadow. Nature had created a gentle recess in the cliffs eroding it little by
little over the course of a thousand years. What weather may have once started,
human hands had taken one step further by erecting sweeping walls that arched
up to meet the natural stone ceiling along with other human touches in the
chamber. The resultant creation was half natural wonder and half human
ingenuity. They’d taken the materials nature had provided them and made a
masterpiece with it.

“Where are we?” Tate whispered in
awe.

Night shook his head, as lost as
her.

“It’s a temple dedicated to the
Saviors,” Dewdrop said, pulling her along when she tried to stop and look
around.

It was more than that. It was a
piece of art. Four large statues had been carved into alcoves, each with
candles glittering with flame at their feet. Their faces towered high above
their worshipers, almost touching the ceiling. Benches, where people could rest
while in the midst of prayers, were arranged in neat rows at the feet of each
monument.

The footsteps of Tate’s group were
muted in this vast space as if it was too holy for mundane noise to tarnish. An
air of calmness and serenity lay over the cavern touching Tate’s soul on a
visceral level. Even the dragon stopped pacing up and down her arm since her
rescue paused and to take in the atmosphere.

Tate peered at the statue closest
to her, inexplicably fascinated. The male god hadn’t been carved elsewhere and
then placed in his alcove. Instead, the statue had been carved directly from
the rock. He towered above them, and if Tate had been standing at its base it
would have been impossible to discern its individual features. Given her
distance from it she could see the impact of the whole, from his loose clothing
to his features worn smooth by time.

 Her mouth parted at the sense
of bone deep recognition she felt as she examined his face. She couldn’t get
over the fact that she’d seen this face before. Somewhere, somehow. It hadn’t
been when she was on the Marauder. She’d have remembered that. This recognition
came from before. But when?

Distantly she was aware of Dewdrop
halting, as a man stopped him, “Travelers, may the Saviors smile upon your
journey. I can’t help but feel you may be in need of help at this late hour.”
His eyes strayed to Tate’s form draped over Dewdrop’s back. She was utterly
absorbed in the statue and took no notice.

While Dewdrop explained they were
just passing through, Tate puzzled over the face as she tryed to remember.
Where had she seen that face before?

She gasped. Her dream. It was the
face from her dream. “Jax?” she whispered almost soundlessly.

She shook her head slightly. It
wasn’t possible. The man from her dream was no god, just a regular flesh and
blood person that may or may not have been real.

At the name the man made an abrupt
movement and eyed Tate sharply taking quick note of her pacing dragon and lack
of dress. Dewdrop’s arms tightened around her, and he shifted back.

At Dewdrop’s movement Tate focused
on the man in front of her, sensing danger. For a moment he looked startled at
the sight of her, but the look was fleeting and immediately smoothed into a
neutral pleasantness. His actions sparked Tate’s curiosity and led her to ask
sharply, “Do you know me, sir?”

She thought he was going to respond
yes, until he bowed formerly and said, “I’m afraid not, Traveler.”

She regarded him suspiciously
before losing interest. Oh well, it had been a long shot. Meeting Ai had made
Tate paranoid and convinced clues to her past lay in every new meeting. She
wanted to laugh at her naivety. Her past wouldn’t be so easily discovered.

She turned back to the statues.
They really were masterpieces of human talent. Their faces actually looked like
they had seen the march of time and unlocked the secrets of life. It would have
taken years to carve a single one, let alone all of them.

“Do our monuments to the Saviors
please you?” the man asked.

Tate made a noncommittal sound.
She’d never paid much attention to the religion of this world she’d found
herself in and was largely unaware of the myths and stories concerning them.

“Why do you call them Saviors?”
Tate asked.

By no word or action did the man
let them know if he thought her question strange. “They saved us when our
creators would have enslaved and destroyed us.”

She looked back at the statue. “Was
a model used for its face, or did they simply guess at what the god looked
like?”

“No, Traveler, his face is based on
records we have from when he walked this planet.”

“So not a god,” Tate mused.

The man smiled softly and opened
his hands. “Whether they started as Gods, I do not know, but it is believed
that they still guide us with their wisdom and teachings. They are thought to
have been created by the universe at a time when the first people needed them
most.”

“People don’t worship just the
Saviors,” Dewdrop told her. “Any ancestor can provide wisdom and protection and
each family has their own set they look to for guidance and prayer. Everybody
worships the saviors, though, no matter what country they live in.”

Tate’s eyes were drawn back to the
four statues whose lives had had such an impact on the world around them. “They
must have been some amazing people.”

The man nodded gently. “Indeed.”

She attempted to bow, but since
Dewdrop still supported much of her weight it was more of an awkward incline of
the head. “I meant no disrespect, sir, with my questions and if I’ve offended
you in any way I apologize. I am a stranger here and do not know the customs.”

His eyes were watchful as Tate
straightened. He didn’t seem overly disturbed by her lack of dress nor the
blood that had dried on her skin. More, it seemed as if he was analyzing her,
comparing her to some picture in his head.

“Please forgive her, Guardian. Pain
has loosened the bonds she normally keeps on her tongue,” Dewdrop added.

Tate shot him a glance. He was a
surprise in a night full of them. At first she’d thought he was just some
generic pickpocket, but now she found him speaking intelligently and respectfully
with an entirely different sort of person than he’d normally meet in his street
life.

Through it all, Night crouched
behind them shielding his cubs from the man’s gaze while Tempest kept his head
bowed. Both seemed content to let the two of them carry the conversation.

She’d lost track of the
conversation again as she pondered the many mysteries of Dewdrop and was
startled when the man bowed shortly in dismissal.

She couldn’t help a sense of loss
at leaving the cavern for she hadn’t finished with the statues. Casting one
last look at the one that reminded her of Jax, she supposed given its size it
wouldn’t be going anywhere. When she had healed and didn’t feel like a half
dead lump of meat, she’d come back and study them more.

Her eyes caught briefly on the man
who had stopped them. He’d stopped and turned to watch as they limped their way
out of the holy space.

She leaned her head against
Dewdrops shoulder. “You’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

 “Looks like I’m not the only
one,” he said, pinching her tattoo.

“Ouch, can’t you see that I’m
wounded here?”

His laugh wheezed from him in an
out-of-breath pant. “You talk an awful lot for someone who’s supposed to be
hurt.”

“Just trying to stay distracted.”
She moaned as a movement jostled her. “It’s not the pain that’s killing me,
though that’s bad enough. It just feels like someone sapped all the strength
from my body. I don’t understand it.”

They had finally made it to the end
of the chamber and back onto Aurelia’s streets. Chilled air caressed Tate’s
exposed skin making her shiver. It was dark outside, the kind that comes right
before the dawn. All three moons had already set so there was no moonlight to
show their surroundings. Already portions of the sky had started to lighten,
but it would be an hour or more before the sun was fully up.

It’s the mind meld
, Night
said.
It saps your energy in a way physical torture doesn’t because your
mind’s been violated. It’ll get worst over the next couple of hours, but with
plenty of rest, the effects should wear off in a day or two.

After that, the rest of the journey
was made in silence. Tate was too tired to carry on a conversation and Dewdrop
was out of breath from having to support her. She was content to let the boys
decide the best route back to her room, while she drifted in and out of
consciousness.

Every time she blinked the scenery
would shift, and she’d be in a place different from before. It was during one
of those long blinks that she found herself in the stairwell leading up to the
apartment.

She shook herself awake. It was an
effort and already she could feel herself starting to fade again.

You said you knew where she
lived
, Night rumbled.

“I do,” Dewdrop said. “I just don’t
know which apartment is hers.”

“How does that help us then?”

They’d stand there all night
arguing if Tate let them. Fortunately, she had other plans.

“Boys.” She said it again louder
when it seemed they were going to continue their conversation. She pointed with
a shaky finger to Ryu’s door.

They stumbled their way down the hall,
making enough noise to wake the dead. Once there, Dewdrop let Tate slide down
to a sitting position. She tilted sideways until she was lying on the floor,
her eyelids felt like they had weights attached to them.

Someone shook Tate awake and she
blinked blearily up at him. Dewdrop’s face was so concerned, she thought as her
eyes slid close again.

“Tate. Tate. TATE,” he shouted.

She woke with a start, looking
around. They were in a hall. What were they doing here?

Tate tried to think but it proved
impossible. The last thing she remembered was a door opening and a pair of
boots stopping in front of her. Then the blackness reached up and swallowed her
whole.

She stumbled down a hallway, the
lights flashing angrily. Her leg was broken, but she couldn’t stop. She was
being hunted. Terror beat at her as she fell once more. She crawled a few
meters, sobs choking her throat, before pushing herself back to her feet. Only
death awaited her here. She needed to get out, back to the others. To Jax, and
Suse, Kenneth and Trace. She couldn’t die here. They were waiting. She’d
promised she’d get out. She’d promised.

She turned a corner. The beast
was gaining on her. It had killed the rest, absorbing them into it somehow.
Now, it targeted her. What had these people create? A monster, that’s what. It
had eaten them and now all of her team. Its designers were fools mostly, bent
on creating a better race, a better weapon. Oh, it didn’t matter now. Their
arrogance had killed them.

A roar shook the air. It must
have discovered her little trap. That would only slow it down for a little
while but every second counted. She turned another corner and came to a dead
end. No. This couldn’t be, there were supposed to be two more turns and then
she’d be at the escape hatch.

The ground shook as the labs
exploded. Good. She hoped their research died with them. Most of the
experiments had already been rescued, all that was left were dangerous ones
that couldn’t be allowed to survive, and the final blast should take care of
those.

She turned back the way she’d
come. She’d just taken a wrong turn. She’d backtrack and find the right one.
She still had time.

Her next turn led her into a
sterile chamber that had been used to put the experiments into slumber. One had
already been prepped and lay in its tube, mortally wounded. Blood pooled
beneath it from an unclosed incision. Its wings draped oddly around it like
they had been broken.

“Chamber will be closing in
twenty seconds.”

She needed to leave! But what
about the wounded body? If she left it, the explosion would kill it.

She hurried over to it and
picked it up, turning to make her way out of the chamber.

“Chamber door closing.”

She watched, horrified, as her
only exit shut, sealing her inside.

“No. No. NO. NONONO,” she
screamed, limping over to it and pounding on the glass with a fist. “Let me
out. You can’t do this. Let me OUT!!!”

With a start and heart pounding,
Tate sat up in bed, startling the two cubs sleeping beside her. They lifted
their heads and blinked at her, their feline eyes still hazy with sleep. With a
yawn that showed their cat-like tongues, they snuggled back down and drifted
off to sleep.

“Unpleasant dreams?” Ryu sat up
straight from where he’d been napping in one of his chairs.

She blinked at him. “How did you
get in here?”

“This is my room.” He crossed his
arms and leaned back on the chair’s legs.

Oh right. She’d forgotten that
she’d told the others to get her to him.

She vaguely remembered passing out
at the end just as someone opened the door. She didn’t remember what came after
that, though.

“Where’s Night and Dewdrop?” she
asked.

“I assume those are the street
urchin and feline you had with you when I found you,” he said, letting the
chair fall back onto all four legs. “I let them stay in my room while you were
asleep.”