DarkWind: 2nd Book, WindDemon Trilogy (44 page)

“We are honorable!”

“No, you are not,” he said. “You allowed Yours to lie, to cheat, to betray, and to condemn to death those who were striving to help You. Yours acted in ways that no warrior would ever condone, and as such, You and Yours are not to be treated with the respect due to other gods and goddesses in the heavens. You do not deserve to be worshipped.”

“Do not dare say such things!” The green glow rose in a violent spiral and spread along the ceiling like tentacles.

“The truth hurts, does it not, Alluvia?” he asked, cocking his head to one side as he contemplated the enraged façade of the statue. “To be called a liar, a cheat...”

“We do not lie!”

“You lied to me!” he shouted, his hands doubling into fists as he slid to his knees before the statue. “You cheated me! You allowed Your women to betray me! Was there honor in that, Alluvia? Was there truth in that?”

The glow above him sparkled with angry red forks of lightning. There was the sound of a thousand enraged female voices arguing.

“I did my best for You and Yours and in thanks for what I did, You allowed them to make me a marked man. I was labeled the most wanted man in the universe and You allowed Yours to come after me even to the other side of the universe where I was no threat to You or Yours and drag me from my home and my lady.”

The angry voices rose in volume.

“You have no honor, Alluvia, and Your women are not to be trusted or honored!”

“You tread on dangerous ground, Reaper!”

“You owe me!” he bellowed.

The female voices stilled.

“You owe me,” he said again. “I demand Attribution from You and Yours.”

A soft whispering echoed through the room then silence.

“What is it you want, Reaper?”

Kamerone Cree drew in a long breath, held it for a moment then slowly exhaled. “Do not interfere with what will happen on Rysalia Prime. Allow me to take my bloodsons and leave this part of Your universe. Allow us to leave in peace.”

Another soft whispering.

“Will you vow never to return?”

“It was never my intention to return in the first place.”

There was a long silence then the whispering came and went, died out.

“We will not interfere, but neither will we aid you, Reaper.”

“I don’t need your aid.”

“So be it,” the voice said.

He waited but there was no further communication from the statues. He looked about him, then bowed his head and prayed.

But it was not to the old gods of his pantheon: Alel and His Court. It was to the one his lady prayed to each night.

“Help me, Blessed Mother,” he begged. “Help me get home to her.”

He closed his eyes and felt the tears scalding him.

 “I will come home to you, Bridget,” he whispered. “One way or another, I will come home!”

Tylan Khan knelt
in front of Bridget and waited until her eyes focused on him before he laid a gentle hand on her knee.  “Can I get you anything?” he asked.

Bridget drew in a long breath and pulled the shawl closer around her. Since that terrible day when her world had ground to a screeching halt, she could not seem to get warm.  “Are you feeling okay now?” she countered.

The former admiral shrugged. “The gods-be-damned headaches have tapered off but I still have a very unpleasant ringing in my ears.”

For months, Kahn had lain in a coma, his vital signs fluctuating so drastically Beryla feared he would not survive. Now, he was up and about though still weak and rather unsteady on his feet.

A low wail caught both their attentions and Khan stood, allowing Bridget to get up from the chair to go to her child. 

“When you’ve fed Jaelin, we need to talk,” Khan said quietly.

Bridget’s face paled. “There’s been word of Cree?” she asked, her eyes wide.

Khan shook his head. “No, but we’ll talk about it when...”

“We’ll talk about it now!” Bridget insisted. She became aware of Lares and Raine standing just outside the door.  Her heart began a wild pounding that sent pain through her temples. “Tell me!”

“It may not amount to anything but we thought you should know,” Kahn said, turning to motion the other two men into the room.  “You have a right to know what we’re doing.”

Bridget looked at each man in turn. “You’ve found a way to go after him?” she whispered.

“We believe so,” Lares answered for Kahn. “Troi has been working non-stop since the day those bitches took the Reaper, and we believe the ‘bot has developed a source of fuel for the LRC.”

“There won’t be a big supply but we believe it will be sufficient,” Kahn explained.

“Sufficient to do what?” Bridget queried.

“To get us out of orbit. If we can break free of the moon’s gravitational pull and make it to Montyne Vex, we’ll refuel there and slip into the wormhole like a warm knife through butter,” Raine said.

“From here to FSK-14 takes roughly ten weeks using the wormhole. They’ve got a two month lead on us, which means they’ll be arriving on Rysalia Prime in a few weeks,” Kahn, exchanging a look with the men.

“And if you left today, it would take you those ten weeks to get there. My husband will be dead by then.”

“We don’t think so,” Lares stated. “If our calculations are correct, they will wait to execute him when there is some national holiday.”

“The more women there to see him die, the better,” Raine put in.

“The Feast of Alluvia would make perfect sense to those bloodthirsty witches,” Kahn told her. “What better time to make an example of Cree.”

“When is this feast?” Bridget asked.

“By my reckoning, a little over three months from now. That will give us time to get there and rescue him,” Kahn replied.

“Or die in the trying,” Bridget said.

“We can do it, Bridie,” Raine insisted. “I know we can.”

“Tealson, Alexi, the three of us,” Kahn said. “Between us, we have eighty years of experience in the military. None of us has any compunction about blowing those women to hell and back.”

“We refuse to let Cree remain in their hands. He took Lares and me out of prison and we owe him our very lives,” Raine said. “He is our leader but more importantly, he is our friend.”

“We can do this,” Lares said.

“We can,” Kahn repeated.     

For the last two months, Bridget had spent hours sitting alone at the window, staring into the night sky. Every star that twinkled caught her eye and she wondered if that star was the ship that was hurtling her beloved husband into the void of the Abyss.  She was numb, her heart broken, her only salvation the tiny being who needed her to care for him. Her tears had long since ceased to flow but the pain of Cree’s abduction was as fresh as the day she had watched him vanish before her stunned eyes.

Only after the Reaper’s abduction did Beryla explain to Bridget why Cree would not hold his son. It was an explanation that made perfect sense to Bridget even though she knew in her heart that once Kamerone Cree had held Jaelin, there would have been no danger of him ever hurting their child. Such evil was no longer entrenched in the Reaper’s soul. Bridie’s love for him had changed the very essence of Cree’s being and she understood that whether the Reaper did or not.

“Bridie?” Kahn questioned.

She did not look at him. She turned from the men and headed for the growing sounds of displeasure that came yowling from her hungry son.

“Bring him back,” she whispered as she tugged the shawl around her shoulders. “Don’t come home without him.”  She turned and looked at them. “Alive or dead, I want him back.”

Without waiting for the men to speak again, she walked from the room, a small, slumped woman with trembling hands and a voice devoid of happiness.

CHARLOTTE ‘CHARLEE’ Boyett-Compo is the author of over 30 award-winning speculative fiction novels.  Married for 36 years to her high school sweetheart, Tom, she is the mother of two grown sons and the grandmother of two.  She is owned and operated by six demanding felines for whom she must have a day job in order to buy catnip and cat litter.  Her hobbies include reading, writing, and staying as far away from arithmetic as space will allow.

Other Books in the

WindDemon Trilogy

BloodWind

First Book in WindDemon Trilogy

On frontier station Khamsin-14, Prime Reaper Kamerone Cree is a man to be feared. When the shapeshifting assassin comes on board, women lock their doors and warriors shiver in fear as he passes. Garnering his notice is something no one wants, but one woman has caught the vampire warrior’s eye.  Dr. Bridget Dunne is terrified of the man they call the Iceman, but it is her job to seduce him and bring Cree over to the Resistance. Will she be able to control the Reaper’s dark passions or will they destroy her?

Yet to Come:

EvilWind

Third Book in WindDemon Trilogy

From different parts of the megaverse, Prime Reaper Kamerone Cree and his bloodson, Khiershon, race against time to save the remaining men of their race from the raging inferno of the Multitude’s vengeance. With the help of a ragtag band of Resistance fighters, a band of Terran women impressed into service against their wills, and an old adversary sworn by honor to protect the mate of the woman he loves, destiny awaits the Cree men and their Earth-born ladies.

      Will the be in time to save the Iceman’s progeny or will the vampire warriors meet their doom an the red planet of Rysalia Prime?