“It must have been terrifying,” Ricki whispered. “No child should go through something like that.”
”No,” he agreed. “But, for me, I think it is worse for a child to grow up knowing that their planet is dying.”
Another shiver ran through Ricki’s body as she thought of Earth. How would she feel if she knew it was dying? Even worse, how would she feel if she brought a child into the world knowing that they would almost surely die or would be forced to leave their home for someplace unknown.
“Oh, Ristéard,” she choked, turning her face into his neck. “It must be heartbreaking.”
For several minutes, he didn’t say anything. What could he say? Yes, it is heartbreaking to watch the home you love die? That the feelings of helplessness sometimes almost drown him in their intensity? It was only his determination to not let it happen that kept him going some days. Before Ricki, he had nothing but his drive to save his world to keep him going.
“Alcolsis executed my grandfather before us,” he continued in an emotionless voice. “The next day, we were transported to the underground city of Elipsis. There, anyone who did not swear allegiance to Alcolsis was imprisoned.” A bitter smile curled his lip. “What Alcolsis didn’t expect was the advancement of the people that lived there before us or our will to survive. Our people had lived for centuries below ground before, using the natural elements contained underneath the surface of Elipdios to build and prosper. Every few months, a shipment of supplies was delivered. My father suspected it was by the families of those held captive.”
“Did you have any family above ground still?” She asked.
Ristéard shook his head, his hand pausing on her arm. “No,” he replied in a quiet voice. “The only family left was my father, my mother, and my little brother who was born in the underground city a few weeks after we were sealed in. He was almost two months early and the healer imprisoned with us didn’t think he would live through the night. He did, but he was very sick, as were many of the other young children. The scientists studying the period and the underground city later learned there was a type of fungus growing in the caverns that released spores into the air. Our immune system would normally not be affected by it, but those that were very young, sick, or elderly could not fight against it. It would settle in their lungs and they would slowly drown. My brother, Erindos, was seven when he died. My mother never fully regained her strength after his birth and passed away just days after we were freed. My father devoted his life to righting the wrong done to our world. I have continued his fight.”
“I’m so sorry, Ristéard,” Ricki whispered. “You’ve been through so much. To live through that, and to have the fate of your world on your shoulders, must be overwhelming at times.”
He released a low chuckle. “I have very broad shoulders,” he teased, before sobering. “Sleep now, my beautiful Empress. Tomorrow, I plan to give hope back to my world.”
Ricki snuggled closer, enjoying the feel of his arms. A reluctant smile curved her lips as she remembered him telling her about some of the mischief he, Andras, and the other men with him used to get into, in an effort to distract and calm her when he had increased their altitude during the flight. For as gruff and arrogant as his persona was, he really was a man who cared deeply under all the rough edges. The stress from the day, combined with a lack of sleep the night before, lured her into an exhausted sleep.
I’m definitely falling in love with him, she thought as she faded into the vivid world of a young boy and his adventures in a magical underground city.
A satisfied grin curved Ristéard’s lips at Ricki’s softly whispered words. He knew she didn’t realize she had spoken aloud, but he had heard her. One step at a time, he reminded himself. To reach the top of the mountain, he needed to focus on the step ahead of him. It would be the same with Ricki.
Chapter 19
Ristéard glanced down at the scanner in his hand. He turned as Sadao moved down the rocky surface toward him. The grim look on Sadao’s face told him that the scanners weren’t wrong, they were about to have company.
He glanced up at the sky. Already, the horizon to the east showed the early morning light on it. His lips tightened into a line of frustration as he counted the number of heat images on the screen.
“Twenty-five,” Sadao confirmed, sliding on the slippery surface and kneeling on one knee beside him. “I can lead them away while you get the others to safety.”
Ristéard shook his head. “They have spread out, I counted another ten images coming up from different angles.” Touching the comlink attached to his ear, he waited for Ajaska to answer. “Wake Walter, Nema, and Ricki. We have company.”
“They are already awake,” Ajaska replied in a calm voice. “How many?”
“Thirty-five, maybe more,” Ristéard replied in a clipped tone. “Tell Marvin and Martin that Ricki is to be protected at all cost. I want them to get her away from here now.”
“What of Walter and Nema?” Ajaska asked in concern.
Ristéard closed his eyes as he thought of the small couple. Ricki would not like the decision he was making, but she was the key to his world’s survival. As a leader, he sometimes had to make the decisions that he didn’t like, especially when he knew the outcome could result in death.
“Ricki is the priority,” he replied harshly. “My world needs her. She is the only one that matters.”
Silence greeted his statement before he heard Ajaska’s hard voice. “I’ll order them to take her.”
“Sadao and I are returning to camp,” Ristéard said, severing the connection. He glanced at Sadao and nodded. “Let’s go.”
“How will the Kor d’lur get her past those surrounding us?” Sadao asked under his breath.
Ristéard glanced at Sadao’s concerned face. “They can blend in with the surroundings. If they cover Ricki, we could walk right by and never see them,” he said.
Sadao looked surprised. “How do you know this?” He asked curiously. “I have never seen one of them before.”
Ristéard didn’t have a chance to respond. Instead, he jerked to a stop and held up his hands when he suddenly found that they were surrounded. The figures, covered from head to toe in the same colors of the sand and rocks, carried long power rods in their hands. The tips of the rods glowed the same red as the Blood Stones.
Rage and frustration welled up from deep inside him as he thought about how close, and yet how far, he was from the goal he had spent his life working toward. He kept his eyes on the smaller figure in front of him. Manderlin had warned him about a tribal group that lived along the base of the Eastern Mountains.
“They are like ghosts, moving in and out among the mountains,” Manderlin had quietly told him when he visited him shortly before they left. He had wanted to check on the elderly councilman and to thank him for standing and fighting beside him when Texla had attacked. “There is little reason to travel to that area as it is barren for the most part. There are the sands of the desert to the east and the rugged rocks of the mountains to the west. Few individuals live there and it is said to be haunted with the spirits of the creatures that once attacked our world.”
“How can they survive if the land is so harsh?” Ristéard asked. “Surely they must exchange with some of the merchant travellers?”
Manderlin had tiredly shaken his head, wincing when he jarred his still healing wound. “Nay, the few that have survived an encounter with them speak of hideous, black-eyed creatures that carry deadly sticks that glow with the Blood of the dead.”
Ristéard had a better appreciation for what Manderlin meant. The creatures wore large, rounded covers over their eyes. The covers were black, and more than likely helped to prevent sand and the sun from blinding them. Their clothing helped camouflage them. What captured his attention was the glow of the Blood Stone on the tips of their staffs. He had not seen crystals that large since he was a very young boy.
“I demand you let us pass,” he said harshly, glaring at the three
figures standing silently in front of him.
His eyes flashed when they suddenly parted and another figure, this one larger than the others, stepped forward. The cloaked figure studied him for several long seconds before he flicked his hand. Ristéard heard Sadao’s shout of warning when the three smaller creatures lowered the staffs and pointed it at them just as a burst slammed into his chest.
He fought against the darkness threatening to take him for a fraction of a second after he collapsed. His eyes blinked rapidly as his vision blurred and the shadowy figures surrounded him. He didn’t feel his body being lifted and carried across the uneven ground or see the way the large creature paused to look as the bodies of the others in his party were also taken.
*.*.*
Ricki peered between the stiff bodies of Marvin and Martin. Shock had coursed through her when Ajaska bit out a harsh order for the two men to hide her. She had fought when she realized that they were leaving her parents behind.
“No!” Ricki cried out, turning toward her mom and dad. “Take them, I’ll follow.”
Marvin had grabbed her and pulled her back against his body, looking worriedly at his brother. “We can fight,” he told Ajaska. “Few things can harm us in our shifted state.”
“We can’t take the chance, Marvin,” Ajaska stated. “Ristéard is right. Ricki is the priority. She must be protected at all cost.”
“Mom,” Ricki whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“You go with Marvin and Martin, Ricki,” her dad ordered. “I’ll protect your mother. Ristéard knows that you are the key to saving his world. He is doing what needs to be done.”
“No!” Ricki hissed in dismay, looking at her dad and shaking her head. “I won’t leave you two.”
Nema pulled away from Walter and hurried over to Ricki. “You do as your father says, Ricki,” Nema said sternly. “We’ll be fine, and if not… Well, we’ll be together.”
“You have to think of what is at stake, Ricki. It is more than you or your parents, it is an entire planet,” Ajaska interjected. “There is no time to argue.”
The weight of responsibility struck her hard. Her mother had squeezed her hand before returning to her dad’s opened arms. Nodding, she shrank back against Marvin. She felt him shift as the hard plates covered his body. This time, they were the same color as the rocks around them. A moment later, Martin’s hard body had closed around her until she was cocooned between them with only a very narrow line of vision.
She bit down on her fist when she saw the first shadowy figures slip into her line of view. Her dad roared out in rage. She heard her mother’s cry of fear before everything went silent. Tears blinded her a moment later when she saw the limp bodies of her parents being held in the arms of several of the creatures. Another was talking, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. She pushed against Martin’s stiff body, but it was like pushing against the stones littering the area around their camp.
Bowing her head, she silently cried. If Ajaska and her parents had been taken, she had no doubt that so had Ristéard and Sadao. Closing her eyes, she waited until Marvin and Martin felt it was once again safe.
*.*.*
Ricki rose stiffly, nodding to Martin when he slid a hand under her elbow to help her up. She looked around with worried eyes. The creatures had taken everything, including the air skids. She shivered. She knew shock was setting in. Tugging the black cap lower, she wrapped her arms around her waist and turned to face the mountain.
“What do we do now?” She whispered, staring up at the jagged points.
Marvin came up and stood next to her. “We find what we came for,” he replied, laying a soothing hand on her shoulder.
Tears burned her eyes again, but she blinked them back. “And what about my parents and the others? What about… Ristéard? Shouldn’t we go after them, try to help them?” She asked, turning to look up at him. “You swore to protect my parents.”
Marvin’s face softened and he looked to his brother for guidance. A moment later, Martin stood in front of her. He raised his hand and brushed the back of it across her cheek.
“You have always been our first priority,” Martin replied, glancing back toward the mountain. “Something tells me that if we find the maze, we will find the others as well.”
“I agree,” Marvin said quietly. “I think those that were here guard the treasure that we seek, Ricki.”
Ricki’s jaw tightened and her face drew into the cool, calm mask that she wore when she didn’t want others to know what she was feeling. Turning back to both men, she raised her chin in determination.
“Then let’s go find the treasure,” she said calmly.
Marvin’s lips curved upward in approval. “It might be dangerous,” he warned her.
Ricki’s eyebrow rose and she raised her hand. Ice swirled from the tips, forming a long, sharp blade. She gazed at it for a moment before she looked back at the two men standing before her.
“So, am I,” she replied coolly. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 20
Ristéard looked up at the tall entrance carved into the side of the mountain. The figure of the First Empress of Elipdios was carved above the doorway where she looked down on those that entered the mountain. A series of pillars rose up to support the roof of the entrance. He swallowed when he saw that the dozen huge supports were carved from Blood Stone. That much crystal would power the shields for a couple of years. A dozen steps led up to the twenty-foot tall entrance. Beyond it, was inky darkness.
He staggered forward when the creature behind him pushed him in the back with the long staff he carried. His gaze swung to Sadao and Ajaska when they stumbled to a stop next to him. The three of them now stood side by side. Glancing briefly over his shoulder, he heard Walter angrily snap at one of the figures standing near him.
“You touch my wife and I’ll shove that staff up your ass,” he growled, pulling Nema closer to him. “Just point where you want us to go, damn it. We don’t need you shoving us or pointing those damn things at us to do it.”
Ajaska’s low chuckle echoed through the group. “I always did love a good fight,” he said. “What about you, Ristéard?”
Ristéard shook his head. The Kassisan warrior had a strange sense of humor that he was still trying to understand. How he could think being tied up was a laughing matter, he would never know. Ristéard reluctantly stepped forward when the tall figure he remembered from before turned and silently looked down at him.
Silently following the figure, he blinked as his vision adjusted to the darker interior. It didn’t take long for him to realize that they were crossing a long narrow footbridge. Sadao’s loud hiss of shock confirmed what he had already noticed, the entire bridge was made of the crystals as well.
“How did all our explorations and searches miss this?” Sadao whispered in awe. “This many Blood Stones could save our world for several more years.”
Ristéard had already thought the same thing, but he didn’t want to just save it for a few more years, he wanted to save it for hundreds of centuries to come. He didn’t want future generations of Elipdios children to be born wondering if they would one day have to leave their world or die. He wanted them to live, grow, and plan for a future.
I want a future, he silently admitted. I want a future for my sons and daughters.
His thoughts turned to Ricki. He wished he’d had one more chance to see her, to be with her. Regret filled him at only having the one night with Ricki. He wanted hundreds, thousands, more.
“Ristéard, look!” Ajaska’s voice echoed as they neared the end of the bridge and saw the bright glow of the large room on the other side. “I think you have found your treasure!”
Ristéard stared at the brilliant reflection of the chamber. The polished walls glowed a dark red. Everything in the room was made from the Blood Stones; the walls, the floors, the chairs and alter, even the ceiling. The small group stopped in the center of the room. Ristéard rotated in a slow circle taking in t
he entire area.
“Will you look at that?” Nema whispered, staring up at the ceiling. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful before.”
Ristéard glanced up. From the ceiling, large deposits of crystals hung in majestic spirals. His eyes moved back to the tall figure that paused before a tapestry similar to the ones that hung in his office. In the center of the tapestry was an image that looked eerily like Ricki when she stood looking down at him from the tree by the river on Kassis.
A sharp pain lanced through him as he stared at it. Her hair was unbound like it had been that night and was blowing around her in wild abandon. There was a look of determination in her eyes and her chin jutted forward just like Ricki’s did when she was feeling stubborn. He drank in her beauty, knowing he would never get tired of looking at her.
In his mind’s eye, he could see her spread on his bed looking up at him with her vivid blue eyes. Keeping his gaze on it, he stepped forward.
“You look as if you have seen the Empress before,” a husky voice stated.
Ristéard reluctantly pulled his gaze away from the tapestry. He swallowed and gave a sharp nod. The figure reached up and slowly pulled the mask shielding its face off. Surprise lit his eyes when he saw it was a female. She was a slightly lighter blue than most Elipdios’ females.
“Where?” The female asked. “Where do you know the female?”
“She’s my daughter,” Nema said in a soft voice, staring up at the tapestry as well. “That’s our Ricki.”
The female stared down at Nema and Walter in confusion. They looked nothing like the Empress with their dark coloring. Then, again, they didn’t look like any species she had ever seen before.