Laura Jo Phillips (38 page)

Darleen’s eyes caught on the large, heart shaped stone at Saige’s throat and she approached Saige fearlessly to view it more closely.  It was all Saige could do to pretend she was still paralyzed.  But three against one were odds she really did not want to take.  She needed to be patient, she told herself.  The right moment would come, and when it did, she would be ready for it.

“Is that a gift from your boyfriends?” Darleen said snidely as she reached for the large, heart shaped gemstone.  Her eyes widened as the stone caught the light, and she felt the weight of it in her hand. 

There were some things that Darleen knew very well, and rare and expensive gemstones were high on that list.  She had never seen a diamond so large and of such high quality.  As she knelt on the ground next to Saige, the stone in her hand as she bent closer to get a better look, something strange happened.

She felt suddenly dizzy and disoriented and had to place her other hand on the ground to keep herself from falling.  Then a wave of ice poured through her body, starting at her head and moving slowly down to her toes, causing her to shiver uncontrollably in spite of the warm, sunny day.  Her mouth went dry and fear caused her heart to skip a beat.  She released the stone and stood so quickly she stumbled backwards a couple of steps before she regained her balance.

Darleen stared at the huge stone resting against Saige’s skin and, even though moments before she had meant to take it for herself, she now shuddered at the very thought.  If she tried to take that stone off of Saige’s neck, something very bad would happen to her.  She didn’t know how she knew that, but she did.  She turned and walked away from Saige as quickly as she could without running, her mind a jumble of thoughts and feelings that confused and frightened her.

One of the men went back to the car for Riata and dropped her carelessly on the ground beside Saige.  Saige winced inwardly when she heard a sharp crack and had to force herself not to immediately turn to check on the Healer. 

“Don’t forget, you wait right here until the pick-up comes to get them,” Darleen was saying to the men.  “Don’t you dare leave before that.  And don’t touch those two either,” she said, indicating Saige and Lariah with a wave of her hand.  “They are wanted unharmed.”

One of the men shrugged, while the other shot a sly look towards the women.  Darleen opened her mouth to say something else, then seemed to change her mind.  She turned towards the car, pausing a moment to look at Saige, then Lariah.  She deliberately lifted an elegantly manicured hand and waved gaily. 

“Bye now,” she sang as though she were taking her leave from a party, though her heart was no longer in it.  She got into her ground-car and pulled away, wishing she did not have to stop and pick up Lio.  She had an inexplicable fear that something very bad was going to happen to her if she didn’t turn around, go back, and release those women.  She shook her head.  The sooner she was off of this planet, the better.  It was starting to make her crazy.

Saige watched as Darleen got into her car and drove away.  She had never wanted to hurt anyone as much as she wanted to hurt Darleen Flowers in that moment.  Then her attention was diverted by the two men approaching them with matching leers on their twisted faces.

Saige watched the men carefully, shoving all thoughts of Darleen to the back of her mind, her senses attuned to every movement the men made.  They were both large for human males, but they were clumsy and stiff.  They relied on their height and bulk rather than muscle tone, and they were obviously lazy about caring for their bodies.  The only thing that gave her pause were the weapons they each carried on their hips. 

Was she fast enough to take them both out before one of them had a chance to reach for their weapon? she wondered.  She didn’t think so, but it was a risk she was going to have to take since the men were almost upon them.

One of the men reached down for her foot, intending to drag her away from Lariah and Riata.  At first Saige remained limp, glad that they meant to move her where she wouldn’t have to worry about the other women getting harmed.  Then the second man turned suddenly as though he’d heard a sound, and Saige knew that was her chance.

She pulled her foot from the man’s loose grip so quickly that at first he didn’t realize he was no longer holding on to her.  By the time he did realize it, Saige had struck out with her other foot, putting all of her strength behind the kick that landed directly on the man’s crotch.  His breath blew out of him in a sudden whoosh, and he bent over, both hands going to his injured testicles.  By then Saige was on her feet.  She spun around and kicked at the man’s knee with both feet, her body parallel to the ground for a split second before she caught herself with her hands and flipped into the air.  The sharp snap of his knee-cap cracking gave Saige a sense of primal satisfaction even as she landed on the balls of her feet and used the momentum from her landing to propel herself forward.  She slammed the edge of one hand hard into the man’s throat, shattering his larynx, a killing blow that silenced his scream before it began.  She threw herself into the air immediately, flipping back away from the man in case his partner was aiming at her with his hand laser.  She again landed on the balls of her feet, eyes going at once to the second man who was standing motionless, stunned at the sight of his partner still falling to the ground. 

By the time he turned to look at Saige, still trying to get his slow brain to accept that the slender female who was supposed to be paralyzed had just taken out his friend in a matter of seconds, Saige was on him.  This time Saige pulled back, not wanting to actually kill this one in case he had information that would help them understand why they’d been abducted.  She almost settled for breaking both of his legs, but at the memory of how this one had dropped Riata carelessly to the ground, she kicked him hard between the legs just once.  The man’s eyes rolled up into his head and he stopped screaming as he passed out.  Saige spared a moment to remove the weapons from both men and toss them aside before turning to check on Lariah and Riata. 

“Holy bulls-eye, Batman,” Lariah said in awe.

Saige grinned, relieved to see that Lariah was sitting up and seemed unharmed.  Her grin faded when she realized that Riata was still lying in the same position she’d been in when the man dropped her.

She hurried to the Healer’s side and dropped to her knees, momentarily relieved to see that Riata’s eyes were open.  But when Riata’s gaze met her own, Saige knew something bad was coming.

“Take my hand,” Riata whispered so softly Saige had to lean down to hear her. 

Saige automatically reached for the woman’s hand, shocked to feel how cold her flesh was.  “What is it, Riata?”

“Broken back, and something inside is broken too,” Riata replied, her lips barely moving as she forced the words out.

“Hang on, Riata,” Saige began but Riata interrupted her. 

“No time.  I must ask you for that which you offered when I healed you,” she said, her voice so soft Saige had to strain to hear her. 

“Of course Riata, anything I can do for you, I will,” Saige replied.

“Will you accept the healing?” she asked.  “I am afraid it is both a gift and a burden.”

“I do not need healing, Riata,” she said gently.  “You do.”

“Will you accept it?” Riata asked again, her brows drawing into a worried frown.  Saige had the sense that Riata was nearly frantic, but could not express the true depth of her feelings.

“Yes Riata, I will accept it,” she said, trying to soothe her though she now realized that the wonderfully gentle, kind woman was not going to live much longer.

Riata sighed at Saige’s words and the tension left her face. 

“Thank you,” she whispered.  She closed her eyes and Saige thought the end had come when she felt a rush of warmth infuse her hand from Riata’s hand.  The sensation intensified until her entire body felt warm, then increasingly hotter and hotter until Saige was nearly gasping.  The heat faded as quickly as it had risen.  Seconds later it was gone and she was just sitting there holding Riata’s cold hand in her own. 

Riata’s purple eyes opened and her lips drew up in a small smile.  “Use it well, Saige Lobo,” she said.  Her eyes closed, she took one last breath, and breathed no more. 

Chapter
31

A startled gasp from Lariah caused Saige to leap to her feet and turn, already knowing she was too late.  She had a quick glimpse of the same ethereally beautiful man she had seen in her compartment aboard the
Cosmic Glory
before something hit her hard in the chest and knocked her to the ground.  She was still conscious, but unable to move.  The man laughed, a rich, joyful sound that made Saige’s breath freeze in her lungs.  She forced her eyes open enough to see the man approach to within a few feet and stand imperiously over them. 

“Such annoyances you little humans are,” he said as though scolding a couple of children.  “Well, never mind.  You are mine now.”

He looked around himself, his eyes twinkling and glittering in the sunlight.  “I am not pleased to be so close to the Jasani prince’s domain, so let’s just get you off this planet first.  We will have more than enough time for talking later,” he said ominously.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out some sort of electronic device.  He looked down at it, taking his attention away from the women for a moment. 

Saige heard a strange tearing sound, then a roar that sounded oddly like Lariah.  Saige was trying to understand how Lariah could possibly make such a sound when her eyes widened a fraction at the sight of flames shooting over her body, straight at the beautiful man. 

He looked up, an expression of astonishment on his face as the flames engulfed him.  Saige felt a grim approval at the sight, until she realized that the man was not burning.  He didn’t like the flames, that was clear, but they didn’t seem to be burning him.  He was just standing there, his body jittering as though he was trying to force himself to move, but couldn’t.

When the flames stopped the man continued to stand still and jitter, as though he were attempting to move, but couldn’t.  Saige was disappointed to note that neither the man, nor his clothing, appeared to be burned. 

The man’s hand began to rise slowly and Saige felt fear crawl up her spine as she realized the man was struggling to point his weapon at Lariah.  Just as he succeeded in getting the weapon pointed where he wanted it, another roar sounded, this time from a distance.  The man stumbled as though something invisible had shoved him just as he pulled the trigger, hitting Saige instead of Lariah.  Saige had one brief moment to be relieved he had not hit Lariah before blackness settled over her like a shroud.

Lariah knew that if she did nothing this being, whatever he was, was going to take them off of Jasan and she might never see Garen, Trey or Val again.  Not to mention the fear of what would happen to her babies.  She had no choice.  Riata was dead, Saige was injured, perhaps dead, and she had to act regardless of the risk.

She focused herself, calling her dracon but trying to control it enough so that she would only partially change.  She had never done it before, but she had seen the guys do it and knew it was possible.  If she could change into her dracon from the neck up, she could at least use fire on the man.

A moment later she knew she had been successful.  Her body was still human, but her neck and head were dracon.  She realized at once that she would not be able to move in this form.  Her body was not strong enough to carry her dracon head.  But that was okay.  She didn’t need to move.  She opened her mouth, baring several rows of long, sharp teeth and spewed dracon fire at the man.

She kept the fire up for as long as she could but eventually she had to take a breath.  When she did, she realized with dismay that the man was unharmed.  No, she thought, not really unharmed.  He was not burned up, but he didn’t like the fire.  He was shaking all over, but otherwise seemed unable to move.  Perhaps if she kept the fire going long enough he would just give up and go away.  She took a deep breath just as the man pointed his weapon at her. 

“Noooooo!”
Garen screamed in her mind just as the man fired his weapon.  Garen used magic to shove the man with air, knocking him off balance and altering his aim.  The weapon discharged and hit Saige.

Lariah screamed in her mind as she opened her mouth and shot flame at the man once more.  The man ignored her, but he glanced over his shoulder and saw Garen’s, Trey’s and Val’s huge dracons in the air approaching him fast.  Lariah saw an expression of fear on the man’s face just as he reached for something on his wrist.  All three of her men shot their magical dracon fire at the man, engulfing him for a full second before he vanished.

Lariah released her dracon, her heart racing, fear clogging her throat as she crawled toward Saige.  She ignored the tears streaming down her face as she reached out with a shaking hand to see if her only friend was still alive.  A faint pulse beneath her fingers had her sobbing in relief.  She felt a distinct tightening sensation across her abdomen and gasped.

“Lariah are you all right?” Garen demanded as he plucked her off the ground and hugged her tightly against his body. 

“Yes,” she gasped when she caught her breath.  “But Saige is not, and I think I just went into labor.”