Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) (36 page)

Maybe now Nare would shut up about
Elis and start seeing the truth in him.

Silence. Good.

Raea huffed and pulled her wings back
down from lifting with her anger. Now for the controls revealed by
the open section.

Red lights. Blue lights. Yellow
blinking. Thick tendrils throughout and some smaller. It looked
like some magnified nerve cluster. How was she supposed to release
the crystal?

"Can you do it?"

Dar Lorel's question grated on her
nerves, but a firm hand on her shoulder with the comforting
presence behind her lifted her confidence. A familiar scent carried
to her the calm strength he offered. The hand slid from her
shoulder and rubbed the tension from between her wings, drawing her
from the present and into memories and feelings she had feared
gone. They would be if she didn't pay attention.

Focus.
The Starfire and Atia had shown her how to open the
thing.

[We saw no
more.]

Great.

"Hurry." Dar Lorel glanced out the
open door through which she had come in. "We have
company."

Company?

A bare arm reached around her towards
a thin strip near the center. ["This looks like it might do
something."]

["Good or bad?"]

Elis hesitated. ["What choice do we
have?"]

Right.
Um…nothing?

Why couldn't these things be
easy?

Because this was
her
life, which apparently
had been chosen specifically to make things difficult.

["All right."] He would probably know
best. She knew nothing about Inari technology, but she remembered
seeing the opened door control box in Naviketan and the organic
filaments within serving like wires in human technology.

Elis reached forward and wrapped his
fingers around the filament. His Starburst marks glowed.

Aha! Now she got it. He wasn't sure
about the controls either, so he interfaced with them. Leave it to
Elis to come up with the most obvious solution.

Thank goodness he was
alive.

Raea leaned back slightly to feel the
warmth of his bare chest on her back. She'd missed him so much, but
it all dissipated into the mist of unreality now that she stood
with him again, the two of them together as if nothing had
happened. Her insides fluttered excitedly and he dropped his free
hand to her waist and pressed closer, his breath tickling her ear.
For those fleeting seconds, she could imagine them
alone.

But those seconds disappeared when the
center hissed and dissolved around the aquamarine crystal
cluster.

"
D'Nuvar!
"

The Risaal voice sent a cold shiver
down her spine. Raea quickly snatched the crystal in her hands and
held it close, forgetting about the danger involved. They would
never have it.

The crystal could have hurt her, but
no objections came from the entities about her handling them. The
voices of the Starfire blended in her head, drowning out Atia and
igniting the resonance through Raea.

"Raea…" Elis's voice trailed
off.

"You will not have it!" The sharp
voice snapped from the dark figure ahead.

The last she saw of the Risaal rushing
her faded as the heat of the Starfire's resonance rose through her
body with the increase of voices finding unity. A black orb
crackled with lightning before her.

Not now!
Raea tried to stop the resonance or redirect the
energy into something else but couldn't stop them. They formed the
portal.

[It cannot wait…Thank you,
Raea.]

Stop! They'll collapse the
structure on us. The gravity is too strong.
That was, if the portal touched the wall. All matter would be
disintegrated on contact with the portal if she understood the
entities' purpose; those in the cluster wished to return to their
dimension, not pass through to materialize somewhere
else.

Amid the swirling wind and flashes of
lightning, the black ball ceased its growth about two feet wide and
not yet touching the wall.

Raea gasped in relief, but the Risaal
had gathered at the wall away from the portal with two dead at her
feet and Dar Lorel standing with Nare to her left.

"Now what?" Nare asked.

The black sphere exploded outward into
a spiraling vortex.

The crystal in her hands glowed with
their energy, the voices quiet but the emotions warming through her
clear in their intent. Only one option remained.

Raea looked at Dar Lorel, who stared
at the portal. That one had helped, and Elis trusted
her.

"Do it," Dar Lorel said. "Send it back
where it came from." Triple-pointed lenses in those eyes fixed on
Raea.

Perhaps the Risaal weren't all
bad.

Raea stepped to the edge of the
portal, careful not to touch it. "Thank you, Atia."

[Thank you for helping us,
and so long. Remember—every moment is precious. Make the most of
each.]

I will.

[Farewell, my
friend.]

"Farewell." Raea tossed the crystal
through the portal. Something shoved her aside, but strong arms
caught her from hitting the floor too hard as a dark green blur
disappeared through the darkness.

She grunted from the impact on her
side and rolled over, her pulse racing in readiness to defend
herself.

A second Risaal jumped through after
the first.

Only a few remained. She hurried to
cut off the resonance and closed the portal before any more died in
stupidity. The warmth faded from her body and the black hole shrank
and disappeared.

"They shouldn’t have gone." She
climbed to her feet with Elis's help.

"Stupid Inari!" One of the Risaal spat
and raised its weapon at her.

Not again.

Something flashed.

Raea winced. Nothing happened to her,
but something made a heavy thump. She opened her eyes to another
Risaal lying on the cement floor of the chamber and a stream of
black-clad figures rushing in to surround them.

"Drop your weapons!" The commanding
voice came from the doorway, where several armed soldiers stood
with weapons raised into position to fire but not at them. Rather,
they aimed at the Risaal across the room.

Raea's breath caught, her wings tight
between her and Elis, who held her.

The eight remaining Risaal hesitated.
None fired, but the tension in the room froze Raea in the midst of
waiting for something to happen. Her pulse thumped in her
ears.

Someone say something.
Please, no shooting…
They had to see
reason, both human and Risaal.

Seconds ticked away until she could
stand it no longer. "Who are you?"

"Major Terrence Shuler, United States
Army."

Her stomach twisted. The army was
involved? They knew about her? How? What would happen
now?

"What do you want?" Elis's calm voice
dissipated some of the tension in the room.

"Assuming you are Elis, Raea, and
Nare, I have orders to defend you at all costs."

Defend them at all costs…Defend them?
The answer jolted her. "Anita." How did she know where they'd gone?
Anita was too good at her job. Raea hated it but couldn't help
feeling grateful and hated that more; Anita was a pest.

"Yes, ma'am. Miss Cross awaits your
return. You will come with us."

"What of them?" Elis asked.

"These…creatures are to be questioned
and held."

"We are Risaal," Dar Lorel said, her
head held proudly.

Although part of her jumped at the
idea of the Risaal receiving the same treatment they had inflicted
on her and Elis, the look on Dar Lorel's human face when she met
Raea's eyes pleaded for mercy.

"Whatever you are, you're coming with
us." Major Shuler motioned to the others, who inched
closer.

Not yet. Pity moved Raea to spread her
arms to stop them. "Wait. Let me send them home. They won't hurt
anyone."

Dar Lorel stepped closer to her. "How
can you? You have no ship."

"It's part of the way we use the
Starfire."

"Another?" Dar Lorel's eyes shifted to
Elis.

"We are the vessel for the entities'
powers."

"I see." Was that amusement in the
Risaal's voice? "You truly have merged with it. From what I've seen
and understand, this was to prevent what we could not."

"Yes." Elis's hand slid around Raea's
waist, chasing out the hesitation and the ache in her leg, but he
also leaned on her for balance.

"Then we will accept your wisdom." Dar
Lorel's eyes returned to Raea with a hint of a smile. "Thank you,
Raea, for saving us."

Thanks? A Risaal was actually thanking
her? She must have heard that wrong. "Saving you?"

Dar Lorel looked down at the two
bodies nearby. "It's a long story." Her eyes lifted to Elis, a look
of exhaustion and relief on her face. "Your mate will explain after
we're gone. If you can…I'd like to return now. It's been a long
time since I've been home."

Guns shifted. "I can't allow that. You
will come with us for questioning."

Irritation rubbed Raea's patience raw.
"For God's sake, let them go. It's been twelve thousand years since
they saw their home." Someone had to see reason. At least no one
had fired yet.

["If you're going to do something, you
better make it quick."] Nare's eyes shifted around them.

Dar Lorel fingered her weapon. "Do it
now."

"You will cease
immediately."

Not on his life. Okay, not a good
thought.

["Hurry,"] Elis whispered.

Yeah. The soldiers crept closer, their
weapons unwavering. Man, she hated being rushed, especially when
she wasn't sure of this herself.

Raea focused on the resonance,
allowing it to warm through her while focusing on expanding her
consciousness beyond herself. A million voices whispered in the
background, unintelligible and fleeting, layering upon one another.
She had to find the Risaal homeworld. Through the connection with
the Starfire, the other dimension opened up, connecting her to
infinite worlds at once. Like a beacon, one of those worlds zoomed
to the forefront. Although she could not see it, she felt it, like
the Risaal standing close to her, a similarity in their energy.
That had to be it.

The portal formed before her,
expanding in the empty space between the monolith and the wall.
Careful not to let it expand too far, she stopped it's diameter at
approximately three meters.

The soldiers halted their
advance.

"What is that?" Major Shuler
asked.

Raea ignored him and looked aside at
the wonder on Dar Lorel's face. "I don't know if it's right, but
it's your best chance."

"Is that where Kalas went?"

"No. He's gone. This will take you
home."

"What option do I have?" Dar Lorel
glanced aside at the soldiers.

{"Is it safe?"} one of the other
Risaal asked.

Elis let go of her, a look of concern
on his face, but he stared at Dar Lorel. "First, where's
Torres?"

"Torres? He's here?" Raea's insides
twisted at the possibilities flitting through her head. "They're
the—" She glared at the Risaal. "You're the ones after the
Eye?"

Dar Lorel stared at the portal. "Were.
No more."

"Where is he?" Elis asked.

"Safe. I left him at the stairs. He's
still unconscious."

"Unconscious?" She didn't want to
imagine what the Risaal had done.

"We—" Elis indicated himself and Dar
Lorel. "—Saved his life. They tortured him."

She shuddered and caught movement from
the soldiers. The initial shock of the portal was wearing
off.

"Nakor Surik tortured him," Dar Lorel
corrected. "The one you call Torres will live, but you must hurry.
He needs medical attention."

"All right. Just go. We'll take care
of him."

Dar Lorel stepped to the edge of the
portal, her eyes fixed on the black, spiraling disk.
{"Home…"}

"Halt!"

At their commander's voice, the
soldiers regained their attention.

"Go!"

Dar Lorel ran through the
void.

"Stop them!" Weapons clattered into
position, threatening the remaining Risaal.

"Elis!" Nare's hands already glowed.
"Wide sweep."

"Got it."

The wide spray of energy covered the
soldiers. For a moment, Raea feared for the men and women, but a
heartbeat later realized the chance they gave the
Risaal.

"Go now!" she called to
them.