Grai's Game (First Wave) (22 page)

Reaching his hand back, he felt the fist sized, tender mass on the back of his head. He had felt the impact before he landed on top of
Balduen, and everything went black.

“Yeah, that was a hell of a hit you took. Flying debris from the helicopter. One of the skids to be exact, according to Traze.
” Tricia said, wiping his face with a soft cloth. “You hit the fuel line, fuel tank… fuel something, and it exploded. Everyone said if you hadn’t you, and Balduen would have been dead anyway.”

Grai could see the tears threatening in her eyes again and hushed her
, not wanting her to be upset anymore. The dark circles under her eyes and the worry etched in her face were breaking his heart.

“H
ow is Tristan? Is the list getting bigger?” Grai asked with a smile as, he gently cupped her cheek and brought her gentle brown eyes to his own.

He felt a little better when she smiled and nodded her head. “He’s so beautiful baby. Because of
Gibly, we actually talk now. Through Gibly, but still… it’s beautiful.”

“What do you mean?” Grai asked, her soft voice easy on his aching head, he wanted to hear as much as he could.

“The other morning I told him I loved him, and Gibly said that Tristan said he loved me too. So I asked if he wanted to go to the waterfalls to play, and he told Gibly that he wanted to sit with you instead. We’ve been talking, baby.” Tricia said excitedly as she gently squeezed his hand.

Grai swallowed the lump that suddenly formed in his throat and reached for the glass of water he saw beside his bed. Tricia grabbed it first and handed it to him. He swallowed the whole thing and two more before he felt better and slumped back onto the bed.

“Where is he?” Grai asked, trying to keep his suddenly heavy eyes open.

“He’s in our room with Gibly and Maggie. I’ll bring him by later after you get some sleep. Rest and heal, baby.” Grai fought the blackness as he listened to Tricia’s soft voice; but lost.

*****

Grai awakened with a jolt in his mind. Opening his eyes he looked around the MedLab room and saw Dread, Tristan and Tricia talking quietly.
Gibly was walking between everyone’s legs as if playing a game. Sifting through his mind, he discovered the source of what awakened him so suddenly.

“What
do you want?” Grai growled through the rarely used path in his mind.

“Ah there you are brother! I had hoped that the eerie silence was an indication that you were gone and your band of misfits in disarray. But alas, you are a resilient bastard aren’t you?” Dagog’s sneering voice echoed hollowly in his head.

Grai didn’t realize he had growled aloud, until Tristan came over to him and gently grabbed his hand.

“Go fuck yourself!” Grai growled back at his brother. Looking at Tristan’s swirling golden eyes, he gently held the
boy's hand as Gibly jumped up onto the bed with him.

“Tristan doesn’t like your brother taunting you and upsetting you. If he doesn’t behave he will be punished.” Gibly said with a satisfied twitch of his whiskers.

“Wha…” Grai began to ask before Dagog interrupted his thoughts.

“Oh tsk, tsk brother, such language! Mother would be horrified! She did raise you better than that, didn’t she?” Dagog said laughing at the
pain, he knew that would cause Grai.

Grai was getting ready to respond when his hand began to feel really warm, turning to look he saw Tristan’s hand turn a bright pink. Using the hand not holding his fathers, Tristan began making jerking, yanking motions with his hand in the air.
It was nothing like the beautiful and graceful movements he normally made.

“Uh, oh!” Gibly said, his tail twitching rapidly.

“What the hell!” Dread whispered quietly.

“You do realize, brother…” Dagog said the word with a sarcastic sneer before continuing. “That little attack does not
win you the war. I will…”

One-minute
Dagog was railing at him in his mind, and the next there was silence. Afraid he’d lost his ability to use the Shengari’ again he tried to speak to Dread.

“Can you hear me?” He asked through their connection.

“It’s not you, or your abilities. Your son just severed Dagog’s connection to you, and anyone here. Permanently.” Dread said with a little awe in his voice as he looked at the child who was still making the jerking motions in the air.

“Then what is he doing now?” Tricia asked, looking at her obviously angry little boy. Grai looked to Dread for an answer as well.

“He destroyed every connection he have to the Shengari’. Make it so he can only talk to himself. For good.” Gibly said with a huge grin on his face.

“What?” Grai asked in
shock; he had never heard of such a thing being possible.

“That’s exactly what he did. I have never seen
anything like it before. He drew the connections from your brother while he was connecting to you. Your connection to him was the last one he severed.” Dread said, staring at the now calm child as he held his father’s hand.

“He can’t speak to Traze or Koda anymore either?” Grai asked hopefully.

“He can’t speak to anyone through the Shengari’. Ever.” Dread said, still stunned. He knew people could lose their ability for various reasons, but he never knew someone could destroy it.

Grai gave Tristan
’s hand a gentle squeeze. “I always knew you were a little warrior. Thank you.” Grai said looking at his son with a smile. Tristan leaned down to give him a quick kiss before getting up and moving back over to the chair he was sitting in earlier.

“He say he love you too daddy.” Gibly said, nuzzling Grai’s hand before jumping off the bed and following the boy back to the other chair.

Grai was barely able to choke back the emotions as he heard the words he’d been waiting to hear since the birth of his son. Tricia was by his side instantly.

“It’s ok baby. I cried for so long when I heard that the first time I was afraid he’d never say it again
just so he wouldn’t have to hear me cry.” Tricia said with a chuckle, trying to lighten the intensity of emotion in the room.

Grai held her tightly for a minute before leaning back and brushing the
long hair out of her face. She looked a little more rested than the last time, and he knew he must have been out for at least another day.

“How long have I been out this time?” Grai asked Dread through the Shengari’.

“Six days total, since we returned.” Dread said gently, not wanting to hurt Grai’s head.

“The teams? The kids?” Grai asked, worry flooding through him.

Dread pulled a chair up beside the bed and nodded at Tricia. Grai knew that it was a pre-designed signal for her and Tristan to leave the room and tried to steel himself for what he knew was going to be bad news.

For some reason, Balduen was the first person to come to mind. And he asked about him as soon as Tricia, Tristan and Gibly left the room.

Dread sat in the chair and scooted it closer to the side of Grai’s bed before answering his question.

“Balduen is doing very well. Shrapnel from the initial explosion had severed his
spine, and the concussion kept him out for days, like you. However, he’s awake and doing much better. Funny thing is, you’re the first thing he asked about as well.” Dread chuckled for a moment before continuing.

“Two transports kept pace with the trucks with the kids until they were safe. Luckily, they were after us and not the
kids, so they didn’t sustain any casualties.” Dread said with a smile, having given Grai all the good news.

Grai knew the way Dread was avoiding it, that they must have sustained heavy casualties. Curling his hands into fists, he closed his eyes for a moment and tried to ready himself.

“How many?” He asked roughly.

“We lost six. Two Valendrans, one hybrid
female and three of yours. I’m sorry, Grai.” Dread said sadly, putting his arm on Grai’s and giving him a supportive squeeze.

Grai’s knuckles popped from the
pressure, and he gasped as if in pain and doubled over. Without waiting for Dread to continue he immediately tore through the Shengari’ trying to find the paths of those that were missing.

Grabbing his
head, he roared in rage and pain as he was greeted with silence. He knew everyone was in mourning for the lost, and none were willing or able to tell him who was missing among them. Their own pain still too great.

Grai listened numbly as Dread whispered the names to him, the guilt only a survivor could feel engulfing him until he broke down. Roaring out his pain, he didn’t hear the chair roll into the room and the footsteps that left.

Several minutes later, he pulled himself together. Wiping angrily at his face with the sheet that covered him, he held his head in his hands until he was much calmer.

Looking up he turned to apologize to Dread and saw the room was empty except for a tired looking
Balduen, who was sitting in a wheelchair beside his bed.

“Don’t even apologize. There’s no reason.” Balduen said before Grai could utter the words.

Grai looked down at his lap and nodded his head slowly, assuming that Balduen must have known the two lost Valendrans. Grai looked up as Balduen leaned forward and grabbed his arm.

“You have to let it go.
It wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault.” Balduen said gruffly, wading through the grief pouring off of Grai.

“You? Are you all right?” Grai asked, turning tortured eyes to the chair that Balduen was sitting in.

“Man, I’m alive. Amun already repaired my spine, but I need to stay in the chair to keep the pressure off until it fully heals. I’ll be good as new, in no time.” Balduen said with a small smile.

“You did some crazy shit to keep us alive. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to repay that kind of crazy back either.” Balduen said outright laughing, causing Grai to chuckle a little.

“I don’t even remember it.” Grai said, uncomfortable with Balduen’s praise.

Balduen laughed pretty hard. “All you have to do is ask Traze. I think he’s playing it on a loop on one of the vid channels. Koda had to smack the hell out of him for thinking about putting it
on something called a MeTube.” Balduen’s face was lit up with merriment as Grai groaned and leaned back in the bed into a sitting position.

“
How are Niklosi and Decano?” Grai asked.

“They are both fine. Tough bastards got to us first along with Reven. They were the ones that dragged us to the cover of the transports.” Balduen said with a slight grin as he thought of his friend and the impressive hybrid that helped save their lives.

“Is there anyone else still here in MedLab wounded?” Grai asked, trying not to think about the ones they lost. 

Balduen chuckled again. “No, only you and I somehow survived being blown up by an artillery shell and then had a burning helicopter land on us.” Grai just laughed thinking that Balduen was exaggerating to make him smile.

“You don’t know do you?” Balduen asked, surprised that Grai really didn’t remember what happened.

Grai just shook his head a
nd looked at Balduen curiously while Balduen grabbed the comm from Grai’s bedside table and pulled up a screen.

“Here I was hoping you could tell me what happened.” Balduen said with a grin then turned to watch the vid.

Grai watched as if emotionally detached as he saw him and Balduen thrown through the air from the blast of the first shell hitting the ground. He half crawled; half dragged himself over to Balduen. Just watching it caused him to rub the leg that Amun said had been shattered.

Balduen laughed. “I did that too when I saw this! It’s like your mind knows
better, but after you watch it, you just have to make sure it still works like it should. This is it. Watch your face.” Balduen said turning back to the vid.

He remembered this part.
Mostly, in large pieces from his memory. What the hell was that on his face?

“That was my question before… well… watch.” Balduen said.

Grai couldn’t take his eyes away as the helicopter bore down on them as he fired round after round at the craft. However, that wasn’t what held his attention.

His face was glowing. Nothing so bright like a beacon, but a subtle golden glow that seemed to glitter and spark. A bright flash, that if you hadn’t been watching his face to begin with, you would have assumed only came from the explosion of the helicopter.

But there had been another flash. The glow on his face had spread to his body right before he covered Balduen’s body with his own. A last-ditch attempt to protect him from the flaming piece of debris from the helicopter cabin that was rolling quickly across the ground toward them.

Both men actually flinched when the
huge piece made contact with their bodies before finally settling a few feet away from them. Neither man moved on the ground. The glow that had been around them moments before was now gone and Reven, Niklosi and Decano were at their side.

Balduen shut off the vid and turned to Grai.
“So, any thoughts?”