Grounding Gracus (First Wave Book 6) (15 page)

Rebecca shook her head and asked Gracus. “So what’s the deal with these Relians? Why are they bad?”

Gracus grunted at the name coming from her lips. He hated that she even need know of them. “They are evil. A parasite race that has destroyed countless worlds and murdered billions of innocent people among many galaxies. They want to rape your world of its resources and enslave your people,” Gracus said, his hatred bleeding heavily from his energy.

Rebecca sucked in a sharp breath. “Wow… yeah… nice plan they got. How do you intend to stop them?” she asked nervously, wondering if they were about to get into the woo woo world again.

Gracus grinned, knowing she was going to hate this story. “We’ve got a coalition of forces, here on the planet and in space. We work together with the hybrids and even our beast brothers, the Tezarians, to hunt down and destroy them. We’re finding our own people in the process of assisting the humans. Even if the humans don’t know we exist,” Gracus said the last with a grin, knowing that Rebecca would assume she was being lumped in that category.

She did. “Hey! I never said I was a non-believer. I specifically said that I did believe in aliens. I’ve seen way too may strange things in the skies out here to deny it. I just never expected it to be so complicated or for them to look like you,” Rebecca said, wondering why the hell she’d said that.

Blushing deeply, Rebecca added, “You know… more than three feet tall and with normal human features…”

“Stop!” Lanze screamed in her mind and Rebecca instantly obeyed.

“Run!” Gibly yelled out from several feet in front of them.

Rebecca was trying to understand what was happening when something tall crashed through the trees in front of her, with a yowling, wildly clawing and biting Gibly on its back.

Gracus threw himself in front of Rebecca and drew his weapon, just as shots rang out from beside him. He watched in surprise as the dark one that Gibly was fighting grabbed its chest before dropping to the ground. Gibly jumped lightly to the ground as the body fell.

“Good shooting,” Gibly said with a smile and twitch of his tail.

“Thanks,” Rebecca said as she stared at the horrible looking humanoid creature on the ground.

Rebecca turned to Gracus, who looked a little impressed, and pointed at the creature with her gun. Her hand was surprisingly steady. “What… the… fuck, is that?”

Gracus ignored her for a second. “Gibly, do a full perimeter search.”

Leaning down on the ground, Gracus held a light stone to the body until it superheated it dust, before stomping on the body to disperse the ash. He looked up as Rebecca sucked in a sharp breath.

Gracus pulled her into his arms. “That was something genetically altered by the Relians. It’s called a dark one. Are you alright?” he asked, worrying over how calm she appeared.

Rebecca held tightly to Gracus, burrowing her head into his large chest. His arms felt wonderful around her and his warmth made her feel better. She took a deep breath and reluctantly pulled away from him at the insistence of her beast, who kept reminding her that they weren’t out of danger.

She looked up at him and nodded her head. “I’m fine. Really. The annoying thing in my head says we aren’t out of danger and need to keep moving.”

Gracus still held her hand and instead of letting go, he resumed walking, keeping her hand in his own. Gibly spoke to them both through the Shengari’, warning them that he’d returned, before he broke through the underbrush and skidded to a stop a few feet in front of them.

“There is nothing else. It is odd. Unless they lost control of it, someone must have sent it,” Gibly said, his wariness obvious in his tone of voice.

Gracus nodded his head, he’d wondered about that as well. “We need to keep moving. If necessary we can better defend ourselves in that cave than we can out here,” Gracus said as they started moving again.

Rebecca looked up at Gracus as they walked. “Are there more of them?” she asked, keeping her gun in her other hand. Just in case.

She sighed when he shook his head and said, “I have no idea. Grai and the others don’t think there are very many of them out here. There were five Relians that had been in Blanche’s Diner and they dropped in a possible ten more. So we’re looking at a total of fifteen.”

He helped her over a large, fallen log and added, “Decano and Amun took out two, the dark one you got, makes three.”

Rebecca sighed. “So we’re still outnumbered and split up. Great,” she said sarcastically.

Gracus chuckled at her attitude, only because he not only felt her determination and strength, but he’d watched her put three bullets into the heart of a dark one without blinking an eye.

“The dark ones are the most dangerous weapon they have and it didn’t stand a chance against you and Gibly, so I think we have the upper hand. Besides, the Relians aren’t beast bound. The clones are not beast species at all. They’ve got size, but not much intelligence,” Gracus explained, before warning her.

“Don’t let your guard down though, their stupidity makes them rash and dangerous. And they usually follow orders unquestioningly. Whatever they are up to out here, they will try to accomplish it.”

Rebecca snorted. “Yeah, yeah… big bad wolf is loose. Trust me, there isn’t much I’m not currently paranoid about, so I have no intentions of letting my guard down,” she said, waving her gun, still clasped in her right hand.

Gracus nodded and informed the others about their encounter. They also thought something was strange about it. Two different teams hit, but only by one or two. It was as if someone was testing their defenses and reaction time.

Gracus didn’t like it at all. Neither did Grai and Scaden.

*****

Jalorn chuckled as he looked through the binoculars. His hunch had been right. The hybrid and Valendran were definitely heading somewhere. Even after he’d sent that fool Blint and a dark one after the two Valendran protectors, they’d stayed on the same path.

The fact that they still didn’t deviate after the dark one attack, assured him that they knew where they were heading and a cave was the perfect place to hide. He didn’t believe for a second that they were moving to high ground to be picked up.
No
, he thought,
they could have already been picked up
. Instead, they remained out here.

While that fool, Caden, got himself killed chasing Grai, he’d take the rest of his men and not only find the cave, but capture himself a hybrid as well. One that had to know something about the mysterious place or she wouldn’t be leading the Valendrans to it.

He chuckled again. Not only did he have better clones with him thanks to Caden, he’d gotten rid of Blint and the dark ones. Without those fools, he felt a lot more confident that he would succeed. All he had to do was follow the female to the cave.

If Caden couldn’t kill Grai, then he could always use the woman as a hostage to get away. Hell, Dagog would send him a ton of backup if he thought he could get his brother himself. Either way, this was looking better for him by the second.

Yes
, Jalorn thought,
I might be able to pull this off after all
.

Chapter Thirteen

Two hours later, Rebecca, Gibly and Gracus were standing in front of a large, rock outcropping, near the base of Burnt Tree Ridge. Gracus and Gibly didn’t see why Rebecca was so enthralled with the rock and the almost indistinct symbol on it. Until she touched it. The symbol appeared clearly on the rock and was illuminated by blue light. Even Gibly looked impressed as he stared at the display on the rock.

“That’s a Valendran word for haven… underneath all these other swirls and stuff,” Gracus said as he gestured at the symbol.

Rebecca didn’t pay too much attention. The energy running through her was bouncing back at her from the rock. There was something else though… something she could feel building in her… needing a way out.

Suddenly, she exhaled sharply and looked up as three shimmering blue forms appeared beside them. There was a really large, dangerous looking blonde man with long, disheveled hair and deep, blue eyes.

A smaller, petite, dark haired woman who had both of her hands on the same rock that Rebecca was touching, while another dark haired female had her hand flat on the other woman’s back. It was she, who looked right at Rebecca. And spoke.

“There is safety. We can protect you. Follow the message in the stones. We will be waiting to help you,” the woman said.

Rebecca was so startled she yanked her hand back from the rock and the freaky blue hands that had rested near her own. The images immediately vanished. Gracus and Gibly looked just as startled as Rebecca.

Gracus finally said, “That was Fiorn Erikson.”

Rebecca looked at him like he was stupid. “That was creepy as hell! Are they ghosts?”

Gracus looked startled at the suggestion. “I don’t think our people are capable of becoming shades. But, as the planet goes through the energy shift, it is possible that spirits can become trapped. I believe one of your holy books speaks of the dead rising, referring to the trapped shades finally being released.”

Gibly sniffed. “Fool. It is what happened when the female recorded the message and symbol in the rock. Like the way her grandfather did on the pages of the journal. It’s like a playback button on your comm. Touch it again. You see, I’m right,” Gibly said confidently.

Rebecca looked at Gracus for a second before she turned back to the rock. This time placing her hand somewhere farther away from where the creepy blue hands were the last time. She still jumped a little when the three blue figures appeared again. Gibly smirked as the scene played out exactly as it had the last time.

Rebecca wasn’t nearly as scared now as she was fascinated. She took her hand off and placed it on the rock again and again, watching the figures appear and reappear around them. Finally, she stopped and stared at Gracus.

“Let’s find the next symbol,” she said, a little excited about what they’d find next.

Gracus looked around them, wondering which way they were supposed to go when Rebecca grabbed his hand and pulled him west, along the base of the mountain.

“It’s this way,” Rebecca said with a grin.

Gracus followed, but couldn’t help but ask, “How do you know?”

Rebecca chuckled. “Because Fiorn was pointing this way.”

Gracus tried to think back to the image and he was surprised to realize that she was right. Fiorn had been pointing in this direction. He’d been so stunned by the whole thing that he hadn’t paid enough attention to the details. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

About a quarter of a mile later, Rebecca stood next to a large crack in the solid rock of the mountain. It was the only thing that marred what appeared to be a large, smooth section, free of jagged edges. She looked at Gracus and Gibly, holding her hand up to the rock and another severely weathered pattern without touching it.

The moment they nodded, Rebecca placed her hand flat on the rock and watched the symbol appear clearly and the same three figures pop up in front of them. Even though she was standing in a different place than the last time, touching the rock differently, the woman still looked right at Rebecca as she spoke. It was eerie and Rebecca fought to control the shiver that ran through her.

“There is safety. We can protect you. Follow the message in the stones. We will be waiting to help you,” the woman said.

Gracus noted that Fiorn was pointing upwards this time and he searched the side of the mountain for how they could get up. The rough trail was easy to see in the early morning light and Gracus didn’t think there would be a problem trying to navigate it.

Rebecca took her hands off of the stone and watched as the images disappeared. It was so weird. She felt like putting her hands on and off the rock a hundred times to see it again and again, but knew that now wasn’t the time to play around.
Crazy looking creatures and guys with guns were hunting them
, she thought with a shake of her head.
Who sounded crazy now?

She looked up at Gracus and saw him point to the mountain trail. Rebecca knew it. Her and her grandfather had come past this same one around ten years ago. And he’d never mentioned a word to her. It was she, who had pointed it out to him. Rebecca sighed, pushing aside her hurt. She climbed up on the first set of rocks and headed towards the trail as Gibly hopped up and ran past her to scout ahead.

She looked up as Gibly disappeared and noted what appeared to be a well-hidden trail. If it wasn’t for the minor rock climb to get to it, it would have been completely hidden. Now that she was on it, it was easy to see that the trail had been well used at one point.

Now it was overgrown enough that she knew it had been a while since anyone had used it.
A few years at least
, she thought as she held a branch for Gracus, before continuing up the moderate incline.

Unwilling to speak out loud and possibly give out their location to another creature, Rebecca decided to practice her mind talking thing with Gracus.

“It looks like the trail scissors up the side. If there’s a cave we should find it soon,” Rebecca said.

The strange energy vibration in her head when she spoke was a little odd, but not unpleasant and the responding energy before she heard Gracus’s voice was different enough that she would know it was him by the feeling. She grinned, it was kind of like a different ringtone on your phone.

“Yes, each new connection you make will have a different
ringtone.
Because what it really is should be treated as something so common,” Lanze said sarcastically.

“Look asshole, I’m trying really hard to look for the things that I can relate to in order to deal with the fact I’m a half breed alien freak with a talking bug in my fucking head! So back off and cut me some slack!” Rebecca said angrily, only realizing she’d spoken aloud when she heard Gibly chuckling up ahead and Gracus obviously trying to stifle his own laughter behind her.

She turned to Gracus with a look of frustration. “How the hell do you turn it off?”

Gracus smiled wryly and spoke in her mind. “You can’t. A beast is basically a miniature person that lives in your head. Neither of you, can get rid of the other. In fact, your lives are tied together forever.”

Rebecca stopped and turned to look at him in horror. “I’ll go crazy, for real, if I have to put up with the arrogant, condescending asshole that lives in my head, for that damn long!”

Gracus tried not to sympathize with her. Instead, he tried to explain to her how he tried to look at it. “Just like people, beasts have different personalities. Each one unique unto themselves. My beast Clatz, is similar to yours in attitude. I just try to look at it as a personality quirk,” Gracus said, unable to stop the grin from taking over his face. Even he knew how lame that sounded.

Rebecca stopped to glare at him before she turned in front of another strange rock formation with a symbol, barely visibly through the overgrowth close to the mountain. Gracus was still amazed that she’d even found it when she put her hand on it and the same image popped up and said the exact same thing as before. The only difference this time was Fiorn pointing towards the path they were already on.

This time, Rebecca kept her hand on the rock and studied the figures. “He looks like a Viking. Look at that long hair, the leather over his chest like armor and swords and knives all over him. And the women… the leather leggings, tunics with the same kind of leather armor. How long ago did he make this trail?” Rebecca asked in amazement.

Gracus sighed, knowing she probably wasn’t going to handle the truth really well. He couldn’t blame her, from her viewpoint, it was all unbelievable. “Possibly over a thousand years ago. Our people tried to adapt and blend in as well as they could, which would explain the clothing,” Gracus said.

Rebecca just snorted. “Of course… of course. Why would I ever have thought of something more reasonable? Silly me. I mean hell… who wouldn’t have assumed that the Vikings discovered this area a thousand years ago.” Rebecca threw her hands up in the air dramatically.

“Technically, he was an alien before he was a Viking so I think that would make him an Alien-Viking,” Lanze said with a snicker.

Rebecca felt like screaming. “Yuck it up, brain turd. You can either learn to play nice in the world of crazy or I can make it my life’s mission to find out every single thing that bothers, annoys and peeves you and I will employ every one. Daily if I have to. Try me, turd. Try me,” Rebecca said threatening, while Gracus smothered his laughter.

The shocking silence that followed made Gracus sift her energy and he was stunned that all was calm. Rebecca wasn’t angry anymore. Just curious about the cave. As if the argument with her beast had never occurred.

Rebecca stopped again and this time she turned to Gracus and pulled her packs off. “I really need some food and water and Gibly probably does as well. The higher we get the thinner the air. We need to hydrate,” Rebecca said as she dug through her packs and took out a canteen of water and several food bars.

Gracus nodded and pulled off his own gear and squatted down next to Rebecca as he looked out over the valley below them. They’d gone a lot farther up the mountain than he expected. Shielding his eyes against the brightening sun, he looked upwards and saw that they hadn’t even come close to the top yet. And there was still too much vegetation to see very far up.

Gibly came bounding back to them and before he could ask why they had stopped, Rebecca put a small collapsible cup of water in front of him. Next to the cup she’d laid out some fresh leaves and put bits of jerky on it.

Gibly was a little surprised, but recovered quickly. He bowed with his front paws and said, “I thank you, for thinking of my needs. The water is much appreciated, but please save your food for yourself. There is plentiful food out here for me. It just jumps in front of my path! My people could grow fat and lazy out here.”

Rebecca chuckled at the cat before she grabbed a piece of jerky off the leaves and popped it in her mouth. “So, why haven’t they rushed us yet? They know where we are, but they obviously aren’t trying to kill us yet or they would have all hit us by now. Don’t you think?” she asked, looking intently at Gracus.

Gracus chuckled. She was a lot more intelligent than he’d given her credit for. He’d been discussing that same thing with Grai and the others and the still hadn’t figure it out yet. He saw no reason not to tell her the truth.

“We’ve been trying to figure that out. The best we could come up with is that they are trying to keep us divided. But at the same time they are thinning their own herd as well. Could be we’re dealing with some really stupid ones too,” Gracus said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Or they could be keeping us divided so that when we find the cave for them, we’ll be the ones easy to pick off,” Rebecca said, thinking her idea made a lot more sense.

Gracus looked up at her sharply. “What makes you think they know about the cave? Or that you would know where it is?”

Rebecca shrugged. “It makes sense that they are out here looking for something. Why the hell else would bad aliens be out here? I just don’t get the impression that these guys would pick this place to vacation. Do you? It makes more sense that they are dividing us from help, while letting us lead them to the cave.”

Gibly snorted. “She’s a very smart mate,” he said with a nod.

Gracus agreed. “Yeah, I know. It does make more sense. The problem is, if they were following us, we can’t go back down, all we have is up,” Gracus said, nodding towards the trail leading up the mountain.

Rebecca followed his gaze up the trail and nodded. They probably should have had this conversation before they’d trapped themselves on the mountain trail. They were too high up to do anything other than rappel down and that could end up dropping them right on the bad guys if they were on their way up.

She shrugged. “That’s ok. For some reason I think we’ll have better luck protecting ourselves at the cave. We know they aren’t already there or they wouldn’t have needed to follow us to find it.”

Rebecca took one last sip from her canteen before putting everything back into her packs. She stood just as Gracus did and pulled her packs on while he did the same. Seeing that Gibly was finished with his water, Rebecca collapsed the cup and put it in the side pocket of her backpack.

Gibly bowed, then turned and disappeared back up the trail in front of them. With a grin at the adorable cat, Rebecca followed, gun at the ready. She may have a strange feeling that the cave would offer protection, but she wasn’t dumb enough to think that they were assured of getting their unmolested.