The Dragon Circle (10 page)

“I would guess that if people lived on the inhospitable planets, they'd have radio traffic,” Englebert said.

“If our quarry did indeed come to this system through that wild jump point, then my guess is they would head for the one place they could breathe. Helm, take us in. Slowly, with due caution.”

Kat smiled to herself. She set course for the little green planet. “Now we'll see what kind of audacity and courage the O'Hara brothers truly have. I'm sick of following legends and rumors. Time to bring them to justice.”

“We'll find you, Taneeo,” Loki said. “One skinny, young priest couldn't run too far away. There aren't that many places you could go.”

He jammed a long branch into the green fire at the center of the village. The fat-soaked moss bound to the tip flared immediately. He pulled it free and held it up. The eerie light illuminated a small section of the compound beyond the evening gathering space.

Just on the edge of the light was the doorway to the large square cabin he shared with Konner. Kim and Hestiia had built their own home adjacent to this one.

Primitive. Logs crossed and stacked, chinked with moss and mud. Lots of the moss. For many months the thatched building had been home. A place to call their own. A home Mum had not invaded and stamped with her personality. He liked that. When he returned to civilization, he would insist upon a home of his own, a place where he could take Cyndi. A place where Mum had to knock on the front door to gain entrance.

Suddenly he wanted nothing more than to get away from the people of his village and their demands upon his time, his energy, and his integrity.

But first he had to find Taneeo. He was eldest. It was his responsibility. “It's not like Taneeo to be gone for more than an hour or so,” he said.

“He's not well,” Hestiia added. “Where would he go?”

Kim raised his own torch and illuminated another sector of the village.

“
St. Bridget,
I hope Taneeo hasn't been kidnapped by the ghost we encountered in the caves,” Loki muttered. Surreptitiously, he made the sign of the cross. He found no comfort in his mother's ward against evil. What he truly wanted to do was cross his wrists and flap his hands in the gesture used by the locals to ward off the winged demon Simurgh.

“We could rescue him from kidnappers. Let's just hope he doesn't run into that big red bull who hangs out in the far meadow beyond the wetlands.” Konner added his own torch to the pool of light.

“The priest is that way.” The new woman, the Tracker, pointed in the direction of the wetlands and the bull. She started walking. Each stride was strong and confident, like a man's. She did not look back, as if she expected them to follow her without question.

“How can she be sure?” Loki asked. The hair on his spine bristled. Who was this woman to come into the village alone and start giving orders.

“She knows what she knows,” Konner said. He followed the woman with the same long, determined stride.

“Konner?” Loki scrambled to follow, more worried about his middle brother than the little bit of dignity he forfeited with his hasty, ungraceful steps. “Konner never follows anyone. Not even me—or Mum.”

“Looks like he found Mum's equal,” Kim said with a chuckle. He and Hestiia paced alongside Loki, Hestiia taking two steps to every one of Kim's.

“I like Dalleena,” Hestiia commented, a little breathlessly. “She will be a good addition to the village. To all of the Coros.”

“Hmf,” Loki grunted.

He caught up with Konner just as they all came alongside the woman. She kept her right arm outstretched, palm facing forward. Kim and Hestiia stayed a few steps behind, holding hands.

St. Bridget!
They'd been married two months and they still held hands, and smooched at any excuse. Sooner or later Kim would come to his senses and realize he had to leave the girl. Better sooner than later. If they did not find the beacon soon, they'd have to leave. Crystals or no crystals.

Loki did not want to be around to deal with the copious tears that would fall upon the departure of the Stargods.

Dalleena stopped short at the stone wall that divided the wheat field from the wetlands. The wheat had been reduced to stubble over the last week. She stepped forward, barked her shins upon the piled rocks, then backed off one pace. Then she repeated the process, seemingly blind to the obstacle.

“Doesn't she see the damn wall?” Loki growled.

“Apparently not. I guess that she has fallen into a tracking trance,” Konner mused.

“Trance?” Loki asked. “Like when Kim does his healing magic?”

“Or like you when you eavesdrop, or like I do when I ‘commune' with the ship's crystals.” Konner sounded so calm, so trusting of this strange woman.

“This way,” Konner said gently, taking Dalleena's arm. He led her to a crude stile over the wall. She followed docilely. But her right arm shifted to maintain her bead on whatever she sought.

Loki hung back. He did not want to leave the perceived safety of the cultivated fields. Primitive as they were, these fields represented civilization. Beyond was wilderness, the unknown. Disaster.

He knew it. He knew it as clearly as he knew his own name, and Cyndi's name, and how anxious he was to return to her and claim her hand in marriage.

Once clear of the retaining wall, Dalleena moved her arm back and forth, scanning, as if her hand were a sensor. Then she started off, faster than before. Her pace increased until she ran. She stumbled often, heedless of the rough ground and soggy patches. Konner was always there, steadying her, guiding her to an easier path.

Kim and Hestiia hastened after them.

Loki had no choice but to do the same. They had to find Taneeo. Had to protect their friend.

One thing Loki had learned over the past few months was that the Stargods did not let their people down. He'd be glad to get rid of that responsibility when he returned to civilization.

They circled the wettest of the wetlands. Not as soggy or dangerous now as when the brothers first landed on this remote little planet.

Konner's torch burned low. Loki's and Kim's didn't fare much better. The moss had its limits after all.

Dalleena kept moving. Could the woman see in the dark? Off to their left a series of barely perceived lumps shifted. One snorted and stood. The shaggy red bull warned them away from his harem.

Their path took them past the cattle and back around toward the cultivation.

“We could have gone straight through the barley to get here faster and safer,” Loki complained.

“She follows the path that Taneeo took,” Hestiia explained.

“Does she detect his scent?” Loki asked, intrigued despite his reservations.

Hestiia shrugged, as much as she could while keeping up the pace.

And then they were back in the middle of the barley. Loki dug in his heels. He nearly catapulted onto his face. The lump in the center of the field loomed menacingly. But this was no cow. This was a rock. A rock that might be sentient.
The
rock that Konner had lifted with his mind to free Raaskan and save his life.

Taneeo sat at the base of the rock. He rested his back and head against the solid granite. His face was streaked with dirt, his trousers and vest ripped. His leg stuck out in front of him, twisted at an odd angle.

“We didn't kill him. We can't kill him,” Taneeo whispered.

“Kill who?” Kim knelt before the village priest. He ran his hands over him assessing his injuries.

“Hanassa. Only the dragons can kill Hanassa.”

The blood drained from Loki's face. The ghost of their greatest enemy was real.

Kim concentrated hard. His hands burned every time he came close to an injury on Taneeo's battered body. Two cracked ribs that would heal with time and tight bandaging. One eye swollen shut. The Bruise Leech® would take care of that. But that leg.

“We've set broken bones before, Kim,” Konner reassured him with a firm clasp on his shoulder.

“Yeah. But I need the portable ultrasound unit. And some splints, and a stretcher and a bunch of stout men to carry him on the stretcher back home.” A quick look around told him that Loki, as usual, was edging away from them—useless in a crisis. The oldest brother tended to charge into situations and then leave Kim and Konner to clean up the aftermath.

“Loki, he needs the US unit and the Leech. Can you get it for us?”

Loki bristled and clenched his fists.

“That is, unless you'd rather set some bones and . . .”

“Never mind. I'll get what you need,” Loki grumbled. He turned sharply and set off across the acres of barley at a brisk trot.

“I'll go, too,” Hestiia said quietly. “Pryth and Raaskan can help.”

Kim's heart swelled. He knew she'd do her best to calm and soothe Loki. She was good at that. But would even Hestiia be able to ease Loki's mind tonight?

Firing the lethal needle rifle at Hanassa had cost Loki a great deal of emotional stability. Taking a life . . .

Kim shook his head to clear it of his own memories of the one time he had caused another man to die. Years later he still had nightmares about it.

Now to find out that perhaps Hanassa had not died must upset Loki's equilibrium.

Dalleena produced a skin of clean water. Kim accepted it gratefully. He took a long drink, offered some to Taneeo, and used the remainder to cleanse the priest's face.

“I tried to keep him out,” Taneeo whispered. Suddenly he grabbed the fronts of Kim's vest with a strength that belied his injuries. “I fought him as hard as I could, Stargod Kim. I promise you I tried. But he is strong. Much stronger than I thought.”

Taneeo swallowed with difficulty. Kim brought the guttering torch closer. What he had thought were streaks of dirt on the young man's face and throat turned out to be bruises. In the shape of fingerprints.

Kim's vision fractured and he suddenly saw ghostly hands clasping his friend's throat. He shook himself free of the frightening sight. He needed some Tambootie to make the vision clearer.

“Drink, Taneeo.” Kim offered the skin of water once more.

“He punishes me. Even now he punishes me,” Taneeo whispered. He clawed at his throat. Somehow his hands precisely fit the bruises.

Again Kim had to separate himself from the sight of a second hand atop Taneeo's guiding it, clenching it.

“Who? Who punishes you?” Kim pressed. He felt cold with the certainty he knew what was coming. If only he had some Tambootie, he could sort this out.

“Hanassa.”

“We killed Hanassa. The flywackets dumped his body into the lava pit. No one, not even a dragon could survive the heart of the volcano,” Kim insisted.

“Dragons are not limited to the life of the body,” Taneeo squeaked.

“Dragons can't shapechange into humans,” Konner insisted. “They can shrink to the shape of a flywacket, a flying house cat. If they choose human form, they have to—borrow a body. I wonder if they can later move from one body into another.” He hunkered down beside Kim. The little lines around his eyes deepened and his shoulders arched toward his ears, sure signs of inner stress he did not allow to reach his voice.

“I have an awful feeling they can.” Kim swallowed deeply, then turned back to Taneeo with resolution. “Whose body did Hanassa take?”

He had a sudden sinking feeling in his gut. How long could the ghost of Hanassa linger in the caverns before it forced its way into a human body? Which human?

Taneeo's eyes opened wide, staring into the distance. He gurgled and choked. “I fought him. I continue to fight. He will not have me!” Then his eyes rolled up and he slumped into unconsciousness.