walker saga 06 - dronish (6 page)

“You must hate me.”

His first words were rushed, and I could see the anguish in his shiny bronze eyes.

I let the slightest smile cross my lips and took another step toward him. “No, had you betrayed us willingly, then I would hate you. But as far as I’m concerned, this is the same as Samuel: you were used by something much more powerful, and I’m sure …” I hesitated here just briefly, “that feels a lot like torture or rape; when you have no control over your mind and actions. Forced to do something that you hate.”

A single tear fled the corner of his left eye. I followed its slow trail as it drifted down the sculptured lines of his face.

“I think maybe you should tell us everything though, Josian.” Brace’s voice was a little harder than mine, but still sympathetic. “Your laluna wasn’t that forthcoming with information, but they seemed to think they’d stacked events in the right direction, the damage had been done. They weren’t that concerned about concealing their involvement any longer.”

Josian laughed a few times. It was harsh and in no way did he sound amused. “No, trust me they didn’t want to tell you. They just believe it’s of utmost importance to keep you and Aribella unmelded.” He turned to me. “And I’m here right now asking you to meld with Brace. Don’t worry about me. I might be stuck in these caves for an eternity, but you need to beat the Seventine.”

I sucked in a loud, ragged breath. “I would accept their offer, Dad, except I know that they have another plan, and another. In the end, I won’t forsake you, only to lose to the Seventine anyway. Not to mention we’re going to need your help to eliminate the lalunas.”

“Don’t say anything more, Red,” Brace bit out. “Can they hear your thoughts?” he asked Josian.

My father shook his head. “No, they’ve never been able to do that. They contact me, and can force themselves into my head to control me. But I know when they’re there; their presence isn’t hidden. They don’t hear thoughts the way a mate would.”

That was a relief.

Over the next hour Josian told us everything that he could remember about his laluna. Even though I hadn’t wanted to know the details, it was actually good to feel there were no more secrets.

I was thankful to know that he hadn’t been aware of his actions for a lot of the nasty shit. Every one of his reactions when he first met me had been genuine, and that was important to me. His love and unwavering support was a precious memory I held on to.

I had to bite my lip when he spoke of kidnapping Lucy, which had allowed her to be goddamned tortured on Earth by Olden. I might have had a few nasty thoughts about Josian then. But in the end I accepted what he said. It could have been any of us; it could have been me. Brace had it right: the laluna needed a puppet. My poor father was just the easiest one to manipulate. Samuel and Lucy’s dreams of the strings on Josian’s arms and legs made perfect sense now.

Brace had tightened his grip on me a few times during the story. But he refrained from expressing too many thoughts. Right until the end when he chimed in.

“You need to tell everyone of this, Josian. All of the princeps and the Walker clans. I’m guessing they’ll ask you to abdicate as princeps.”

Josian nodded. “I’ve tried many times to reveal this information, basically from the moment I started to be aware of my actions. Tenni wouldn’t let me. They tied up pretty much any avenue I had to confess.”

“No!” I said, Brace’s words running through my head. I didn’t want another princeps for Doreen; Josian was the best. “I don’t want Dad to lose everything because of this. We have to fix it.”

Josian reached out and captured my hand in his huge one. “Thank you, baby girl, but as long as I have you and your mother, I’ve lost nothing. Besides, no one is going to trust me anymore. You can’t hold the mantle of leader without trust. It’s fundamentally important.”

Brace’s gaze softened as he met my angry stare. “Josian speaks the truth. I’ll throw my support a hundred percent behind him, but he’ll have a battle to regain trust.”

“I’m ready now.” My father stepped a few feet back and in the same instant opened a doorway. “Let’s go to the war council. The princeps should all be there. It’s time to figure out how to break these lalunas down.”

As he spoke the cuff on my wrist started to heat.

“Is my laluna going to do the same thing to me?” I spilled my current worry. “Why has it attached itself to my wrist?

Josian’s eye flicked down to my arm. He stared at it for a few tense heartbeats before exhaling loudly. “Lalunas aren’t bad. In fact, they don’t even understand the concept of good or bad, right or wrong. They’re original powers and have one real job to do: keep the balance in the universe. But something happened to Tenni. Once they burst from their stone, they started to develop a consciousness. Feelings. Emotions. And with this allowed the seeds of crazy to bleed in.”

He looked from Brace to me. “They’re certain that they’re doing this for the greater good, that the worlds are corruptible and need cleansing. There’s no malice or greed in their actions. They still don’t have the capacity for that.”

That was the scariest part. Those who believe very strongly in their cause will do anything to make sure it comes to fruition.

“So you’re saying that Tenni is a once-off and there’s very little chance that my laluna will be going bonkers anytime soon?” I double-checked.

Josian gave me a real smile then, the first I’d seen from him in a while. “Yes, baby girl.” His strong arms wrapped around me and I didn’t tense; I truly was not mad at him. “I don’t deserve you.”

I patted his arm. “If it hadn’t been you they used as a pawn it would have been someone else.” I knew that. Powerful beings don’t stop in achieving their end game. “And now they can no longer use you. I promise that we’ll do everything to make sure you remain free.”

He was more serious as he pulled away. “You and Brace have to be careful. A bond as strong as yours … it’s going to try and force you to meld. If you’re serious about remaining unmelded for the period of time it will take us to dig through a million years of ancient scrolls to find if there’s any way to contain a laluna, I think you two will have to stay apart.”

Brace growled low then, shaking his broad chest. “I can’t let Abby go off to planets by herself. It’s too dangerous.”

Josian sucked in deeply. “I understand. Maybe you two will be strong enough, but try not to be alone too much. Take others as a buffer between you, and try not to touch too often. Touch increases the need.”

Not touch. Holy shit. I’d have better luck not breathing. I tried to slow the rapid exhalations I was emitting from my mouth.

Brace was sort of resembling the stone walls behind us, his features rigid.

“Maybe Josian is right,” he finally said. He spoke slowly, as if it were hard work getting these words out. “I can just stay in mental connection with you and see you on occasion so I don’t completely lose my shit by being permanently away from you. But you’re still not going to Dronish alone.”

That plan was so not cool with me, but we had no other choice.

I sighed. It had been a long day, and for the fiftieth time I wanted to scream and stamp my feet. But again it was time for Abigail to put on her grown-up hat and acknowledge that I was going to be suffering a little longer.

“Alright, let’s head to the war council. It’s time for me to face the music,” Josian said. His expression was grim, and something told me it wasn’t about to get happy any time soon.

We’d spent so long on the cave world that it was early morning when we returned to First World.

It took a long time to deal with the fallout of Josian spilling his massive secret to not only the Walker community but also to the faeries, pixies, sprites and random other feys who had joined our movement.

Let’s just say there was quite a lot of screaming, power balls and tears. The Doreen contingent were particularly devastated. They loved Josian and his actions cut them deep.

Eventually Brace blasted out a few shock waves, which worked to startle the masses out of their hysteria. He told them to pull their heads in and act like the incredibly complex and ancient beings they were. This was not a black or white situation; it was solidly gray. When you lived hundreds to millions of years, there was no way to have perfectly clean hands. All of them should be able to understand what Josian had been through. I was happy that a sense of calm descended after a few of these home truths were voiced.

I knew eventually everyone would come to terms with what had happened with the lalunas and, to be fair, most seemed to have accepted Josian’s role and forgiven him. The real emotion behind their initial anger had been fear. They feared the power of a corrupted laluna, something which had never happened in billions of years.

In the end it was a mixed vote from the princeps about whether Josian should abdicate. My father had been the one to decide to step aside. His second, a red by the name of Gerry, had been elected as the interim leader. There wouldn’t be time for anything official until after the final battle.

The one who took all these revelations the hardest was Lallielle. She had been shocked – to put it mildly.

“I knew something was off with him, but I never guessed in a million years that the lalunas were controlling him, that he was the facilitator for so many of the woes in our lives.”

My mother and I were in the Doreen area. I’d pulled her aside after the vote to see how she was taking the news.

“I’m not sure what to think about this, Aribella …” A few sobs escaped her. “I can’t believe it.”

Josian was on the other side of the territory, stuck in endless debates and discussions about the lalunas with the seven princeps. They were grilling him for any tiny snippet of information. There was no Walker with as much laluna knowledge as Josian.

“It wasn’t his fault, Mom.” I softened my voice. My hand reached out to stroke Cerberus. Since I’d returned, my faithful hound had barely left my side. “He was mind-controlled, and for most of those events wasn’t even aware of his actions.”

“Logically I understand that, but emotionally I still feel betrayed.” She clasped my biceps in her hands. “Why aren’t you taking this harder? Have you fully considered everything his actions have caused?” Her voice rose.

Uh-oh, Lallielle was pissed. And I could understand that. She’d lost both her children for many years, and the thought that Josian had anything to do with that, even second-hand, was riling her momma bear.

I started to speak, my words slow. “I’m not happy about it, that’s for sure. But in my mind it wasn’t Josian; it was just a shell used for the lalunas’ bidding. If it hadn’t been Dad’s shell, it would have been someone else’s. Josian’s innocent, and he’s beating himself up worse than I ever could.”

She huffed a few times, before crossing her arms. “I think I need a few minutes,” she muttered, before walking off.

I watched her as she strode away, head held high, tension riding her entire frame. I was thinking the next part of the journey was going to be a bumpy road for Lallielle and Josian. But I had every faith that they would make it. I knew from my melding that mate-bonds were hard to break; the connection was soul deep. Cerberus nudged me gently and I started scratching his ears again.

“Hey, Supes.”

I smiled as Fury and Delane wandered across to me. Lina was close behind her Angelica. The massive unicorn cut a path through the milling Walkers with ease. In a way it was lucky that the sacred animals had started reappearing. It had helped ease some of the fear caused by Josian’s revelations. A positive light in the very dark days we were living.

“Where’s Dune?” I asked Fury.

Her face got all dreamy. “He’s on Crais, looking into the energy thing.” She recovered quickly, her gray eyes pinning me to the spot. “We hadn’t discovered anything yet, since you called me back like eight seconds after I left.”

It had been more like five hours, but I understood her point. I’d had no choice. We needed to regroup and the half-Walkers needed to know about these new developments. Delane was silent as she reached out and rubbed Lina’s smooth, shiny black forehead.

I picked at an edge of my nail. “I know my timing sucks, but I said no more secrets, and I knew you’d all want to know who the big, bad Seventine-releasing asshats were.”

Fury shook back her mane of white hair. “Honestly, I’m a little shocked. Firstly, poor Josian. I know everyone’s jumping all over him right now, but I’m kind of feeling sorry for him.”

I’d found it unexpected and slightly amusing the way Fury’s big heart took over, forcing her to do things that were out of character. Most would think she’d have been the first to judge and berate Josian, but instead she’d been one of his biggest defenders.

“And secondly,” she continued. “I did
not
suspect the lalunas, those evil little suckers.”

My bracelet warmed as she spoke. It had been doing that a lot. Especially during the explanation to the clans about Tenni and how the laluna was the superpower behind the whole release-the-Seventine-in-time-for-convergence plan. It almost felt like it was apologizing for its brethren’s involvement in the entire thing.

“Where’s Brace?” Fury asked.

Everyone had their memories back now and seemed constantly surprised that we weren’t attached at the hip.

“In some sort of serious Princeps’ meeting.” I sighed. “Josian is still getting the third degree and they’re trying to formulate a plan for the lalunas.”

“Shouldn’t we be in that meeting?” Delane said, just as Talina and Ria joined our group.

“They offered, but I declined,” I said.

Delane opened her mouth. I cut her off before she could start arguing.

“There’s no point. They don’t have any new information at the moment. We need to wait for Jedi to finish his research, especially now he knows about the lalunas.” I looked at the four girls and realized how much I missed Lucy. It wasn’t the same without her. “I think we should spend this time right now connecting our powers? I can’t leave for Dronish yet.”

I didn’t have enough information about this world. I needed to talk with Brace and Josian before I left. I had never gone to a planet on my own, and I doubted I was about to start then. They’d have some type of plan, and at least I could trust everything about Josian now. The lalunas had to keep their word. They could do nothing unless I reformed the melding bond.

So right now I didn’t want to waste this time waiting for the meeting to be over. We needed to be building power.

Ria tucked her chestnut hair behind one ear. “Yes, I think that’s a great idea.” With the same hand she reached out and squeezed my fingertips. “I’m so proud of you, Abby. I see your strength increase every day … and I mean more than physically, or even power. Your mental strength and character are to be commended.”

I stilled, her words hitting me right in the heart. “Thank you.” My voice was just above a whisper. “I feel as if I’m barely hanging on. We scrape ourselves over one hurdle, only to find ten more have risen.”

“Yep, and these ones have poisonous spikes on the top,” Talina said.

“Word,” I said. I was reminded of Lucy again. She’d better be okay. “Come on, let’s go somewhere with more space.”

As the five of us started to move out of Doreen I decided not to waste another moment. I threw out my tethers and connected us together. With a whooshing flood I could now feel them, their energy, distinct powers, not to mention multiple voices in my head.

I spoke first.
We need to learn how to be in each other’s heads and still focus on our surroundings. And something has been bothering me about how one-sided the control is like this. I’m not sure I’m supposed to have so much of the control. We need to figure out how to spread the power.

It was getting easier to mental-talk and also focus on the outside world, dodging around the multitude of different species milling around the center field.

Delane spoke next.
So Jedi said that each of us will hold one of the elements of the ancients, right? Who has what power?

I answered her.
Walkers’ powers in general are built on seven elements. Fire …”

Which is me,
Fury piped up.

Yes, fire is Fury,
I said.
Water is Talina. Earth is Ria.

I was interrupted by the Regali half.
I’d think I was more nature. Are you sure?

I nodded, which was stupid. No one could see me.
Yes, earth and nature are the same. One can’t exist without the other. You seem to have power over the living earth components, in comparison to Grantham, who controls the inanimate earth components, such as rock and stone.

We were all quiet for a minute, absorbing this information, then I continued.
Delane, you’re … wind, I’m guessing.
I’d never seen her powers directly. Just, from the fights on Nephilius, she’d often seemed to use the winds to push away her opponents. But I could be wrong.

I wasn’t.

Yes, I can control the elements of the air. I can take away breath or force so much oxygen in that you black out. I can use the minute particles of air to see things no one else would, and they whisper information to me. I can spy. I can send out gusts and buffets to stop any in their tracks. I’m wind.

As always, the warrior-Walker was all facts and succinct information.

Wicked,
Fury said.
I love my fire, but sometimes I wish I could have all these powers.

I laughed.
I guess that’s what my role is. As the conduit, I bring all the other elements together and form one big superpower.

We were drawing a few stares as we sauntered casually through the crowds. Half-Walkers were still mythical creatures to most Walkers and we weren’t often in a large, visible group like this. Not to mention when we were connected there were glowing tethers flowing around us. I’d seen it through Brace’s eyes before, and we looked scary and powerful. Not to mention we had a unicorn and hellhound following us around.

So we still need shadow and spirit?
Talina asked as we came to a halt in the center.

We’d discussed all the elements in the early days, so she knew the seven.

Yes.

Connected as we were, I could feel the muted powers of the two unknown half-Walkers. Their tethers were there, but sort of invisible, not tangible.

Delane had told me that she’d never felt any connection with me until I’d arrived on Nephilius. With that in mind, I was hoping once I made it to Dronish I could throw out my tether and pinpoint the half-Walker female that way. The closer I was to the half-Walkers the stronger the connections were.

We now stood in the middle of a large space, our two sacred animals waiting patiently off to the side. The five of us were silent. There was no movement of our energy, powers were muted and we were simply connected to each other on a mental level.

I was comforted to have Cerberus and Lina close by. Not only were they beautiful, powerful and loyal, they were also very useful for crowd control.

From the corner of my eye I could see a Doreen Walker striding right near my back, and suddenly there was a massive two-headed hellhound standing between him and me, growling and showing his lethal fangs. I refrained from laughing as the male literally cried and ran away.

Go, Cerberus.

Call your power,
I said, focusing back on the girls.

One by one, I felt the surge of energy. Talina, who could literally pull water from the very air, was surrounded by her turret of liquid. It didn’t happen much now, but her clear lens flicked down to cover her eyes. It was little things like this that reminded me how diverse our group was. We were all half-Walker, but for some the other half was quite alien.

Next was Fury. She was encased in blue flames.

Ria had vines, grass and flowers bursting up from the ground and lovingly embracing her.

And lastly was Delane; a whirly bird started to form beneath her feet, and the short strands of her very black hair began to fly around her as she was surrounded by an air whirl, but she somehow remained safe in the center.

In fact, none of us seemed to be harmed by the powers of the others when we were connected.

What happens now?
Delane asked.
Because I’m struggling to do anything else with my power.

I was trying my best not to pull all that delicious energy into myself. My greedy little well inside loved itself some half-Walker power.

Generally Abby controls us when we’re like this,
Fury said.
She can move the energy around, allowing it to go where needed.