Defy (8 page)

Caleb felt his firstborn son slipping away
from him. Though he didn’t discuss his fears with Skye, he knew
they had no way of predicting what Tate’s death would ultimately do
to Tiege. In the case of fully avowed pairs, if one of the pair
died, the other inevitably followed. They all knew that Tiege and
Tate shared a special bond due to their shared blood and unique
anatomies. The idea that Tate’s death might somehow result in
Tiege’s was a thought too awful for any of them to bear.

But, in considering his son’s almost
catatonic condition, he couldn’t help but wonder if there was a
fate worse than death.

Although he participated in his required
daily training sessions, Tiege completed his routines without any
enthusiasm. Speaking to no one, he went through the motions as a
matter of course, possibly just trying to avoid a lecture if he
refused. Caleb’s brothers noticed that Tiege seemed off-balance,
though…that his weapon forms seemed unnatural. It took them several
days to understand why.

Tiege was used to training with Tate.

Watching Tiege try to work through the
routines that used to have Tate paired with him just about
shattered Caleb. He deliberately avoiding mentioning this to Skye,
knowing her condition was fragile enough as it was. Quincy had
imposed bed rest on her several times in the past week-and-a-half.
He knew he wouldn’t be able to bear it if something happened to
Skye or their unborn children, so he planned to do whatever it took
to keep her in good health.

As if she sensed his thoughts, she started
murmuring in her sleep. He turned from the window, moving to the
bed and sitting beside her.

“Tate…”

He swallowed hard and stared at the ceiling
for a long moment to control himself as Skye whispered their
daughter’s name. She sounded as though she was speaking to her.

“Tate…”

“Skye, wake up,” he said, reaching out and
brushing some of her hair away from her face. “Come back to me,
love.”

Eventually, Skye’s eyes fluttered open. She
gazed at him in sleepy confusion at first. Then her eyes filled
with tears.

Lifting her up, he pulled her against him.
Doing what he could to send her calming thoughts, he asked, “Was it
a good dream this time?”

She nodded, her tears soaking his sleep tank.
“She called out to me.” Her words ended on a sob. “It felt like I
could have communicated with her if I could…”

“If you could what?” he asked, more out of
the desire to comfort her than to learn the answer.

“I don’t know. Tune into the right frequency,
I guess.” She pulled back and caught his gaze. “It felt so real,
Caleb.”

“I know.”

He wiped what tears he could from her cheeks,
fighting his own. They had both had similar dreams on and off since
Tate’s death. Malukali performed scans of their minds and assured
them the dreams were a natural reaction to their loss.

In short, they shouldn’t read more into the
dreams than what they were…their hearts’ wish to see their dead
daughter again.

Zachariah walked through the forest, his
senses highly attuned to the nighttime noises after decades of
living among them. The stars in the sky were blacked out by a heavy
bank of rainclouds, but that didn’t diminish his sense of
direction.

Nyx moved just as quietly beside him, weaving
gracefully between the trees. They had traveled together long
enough that communication between the two of them mostly relied on
instinct. With her highly attuned senses, she could tell him if
there was something ahead to be avoided. He knew her cues now as
well as he knew the areas of the mainland he had to avoid if he
wanted to live in peace.

He had decided to make his way north after
leaving the cave. He told himself it wasn’t because he had seen
those footprints on the ground indicating a group of males was
traveling in this direction with a single female. After all, he
avoided confrontations with others, and had done so with high
effectiveness for fifty years.

Luvania had been the first being he had
spoken to in a long time. That was more than enough social
interaction for the next half-century, in his opinion. Sure, his
gaze scanned the ground for evidence of anyone’s passing, but he
did that whenever he traveled. It certainly didn’t mean he was
following that group.

Thoughts of Luvania continued to intrude on
his usually uncomplicated thoughts. He had known her fairly well
once upon a time. She was a talented Scultresti who was often
called on to create and present an Estilorian form when a
Corgloresti brought a new soul across the planes. He had worked
with her a number of times himself, having paired with those
Corgloresti during their transitions. She had been kind and
capable.

Now he would always remember her clawing at
the ground, naked and beaten.

He set his back teeth against the image.
There was nothing more he could do for her. Going after this group
wouldn’t change a thing.

Yet his feet continued on their course as
though ignorant of his logic. After nearly an hour of arguing with
himself, he ultimately decided to just go with it. If nothing else,
he could find out what this group was doing and determine whether
their actions had any impact on him.

He didn’t need anyone bringing more attention
to this part of the mainland that he claimed as his territory. As
it was, he had some concerns that Luvania had recognized his voice
when he assisted her. She might have identified him to the other
Estilorians, revealing the fact that he was still alive.

That was the last thing he needed.

A crippling pain suddenly seized his chest.
He stumbled and fell to one knee, fighting back a bellow of pain
that would alert any being in the area. A sound left his throat
that sounded rather like one of Nyx’s growls.

It was over nearly as quickly as it happened.
Nyx sidled up to him, her faceted eyes as concerned as a kragen’s
could get. He reached out to touch her snout in an effort to let
her know he was okay. But it took him more than a minute to center
himself and regain his feet. Although the pain faded, he still
felt…
off
. Maybe he had eaten something he shouldn’t.

Deciding that this was officially going down
as the damndest day in history, he rubbed a hand over his chest and
once again started walking.

Tate had no idea how long she thrashed on the
hard ground as the pain ate at her. She lost consciousness more
times than she could count. Fortunately, each time she regained her
senses, the pain had lessened.

Her mind felt like shards of broken glass.
Thoughts winked in and out of her head, none of them lasting very
long.

What had happened to her? Where was her
family?

She couldn’t remember. She wished for the
first time in her life that she could share thoughts with
someone—anyone—to try and get both help and answers.

When her mind cleared enough, she tried to
reach her thoughts out to her mother. Of any Estilorian in
existence, her mom had the most open mind. Tate and her siblings
had heard the story many times of how her mother once transported
to Quincy in a locked cell using nothing more than his detailed
description of his surroundings and some of his blood on her hands.
She had saved his life.

Surely she’d be able to save her own daughter
in a similar manner.

Pushing past the ratcheting and pulsing pain,
Tate did what she could to open her mind, using the skills taught
to her by Knorbis and Malukali. She knew that in order for this to
have any chance of working, her mother either had to be asleep or
in a meditative state that would allow Tate access to her mind. She
could only pray luck was on her side.

Mom…

It felt as though the thought went out and
didn’t circle back, giving Tate hope. Another pain had her
writhing, scraping her back on the stone beneath her. Fighting it,
she tried again.

Mom, can you hear me?

She received no response. Maybe it wasn’t
working. Maybe she didn’t have the ability to connect with someone
this way. Maybe…maybe she needed to be able to convey where she
was, she thought, panic and defeat rolling through her.

How could she possibly do that if she
couldn’t see anything?

Tears trailed down her cheeks as she decided
her efforts to reach her mother were in vain. Just as she started
to pull her focus fully back to herself, however, she felt a mind
connect with hers.

Tiege?

Tate?

Elation surged through her, overriding her
pain.
Oh, thank goodness! Tiege, you have to help me. I don’t
know where I am. I—Tiege?

The connection was severed.

Wishing she could move so she could pound a
fist into the ground in frustration, she issued a scream instead.
The way the noise echoed told her she was probably underground.
Filing that away in her still-fuzzy brain, she centered herself and
thought of Tiege, determined to connect with him. If she had done
it once…

That one time had been a fluke, however.
Though she lay there for a while, thinking of nothing but her
brother and the gradually-easing pain in her body, she never
achieved the mental connection again. That fact brought on a whole
other kind of pain.

Eventually, she came to the distressing
conclusion that help wasn’t going to be forthcoming. Unlike
throughout her life, when her family had been there to pull her
through anything, she would have to try and escape this place on
her own. That knowledge brought a fresh dose of fear and another
round of tears.

She waited until her pain eased enough that
she could think around it before she moved. Even when she felt
ready to go, she remained as still as she could and listened again
to the environment around her. When she had been focused on the
pain, she hadn’t paid much attention to her surroundings. In
hindsight, that had been quite foolish. She could easily have drawn
attention to herself, bringing wild animals or similar creatures
right to her.

Since her screams echoed, she knew she was in
a large, cavernous space. The dank, musty odor indicated that she
wasn’t near the entrance. She could only be grateful that she
didn’t scent any animals.

The darkness around her was so pervasive
that, for a panic-filled moment, she wondered if she had lost her
vision altogether. When she stretched her neck and looked around,
however, she thought she noticed a subtle light at the edge of the
space containing her. Being in the dark wouldn’t have been an issue
at all if she had the ability to generate balls of light like most
Estilorians. Unfortunately, since she wasn’t yet eighteen, she
couldn’t.

She heard dripping and bubbling and imagined
there was a water source nearby. The thought of going into inky
water without being able to see what was in it kept her from going
near it, though.

Rolling onto her belly and groaning at the
lingering pain that resulted in her chest, she reached above her
head to make sure she wasn’t going to hit anything and then began
dragging herself in the direction she thought led out of the
cavern. The action opened up multiple lacerations on her chest and
stomach, but compared to her earlier agony, the scratches were
rather dismissible.

She moved slowly, pausing often to regain her
breath. She fought back the exhaustion that threatened to make her
pass out again. Every time she moved forward, she checked all
around her with her hands. Fear of finding bones, mutilated
carcasses, insect nests, sleeping animals or other unsavory things
had her heart beating uncomfortably fast. She heard the
unsteadiness of every breath and tried her best to calm down. It
did little good.

After a while, she struck a hard surface.
Encouraged, she moved until her body was alongside the rock wall.
Then she continued her slow progression, now following the hint of
fresh air that reached her nose. It made her realize how bad it
smelled in the cavern. It also prodded her to move a bit more
quickly.

Finally, she sighted the cave opening. She
realized that it was night outside, as the opening was only subtly
lighter in color than the rock face around it. Now to the point of
desperation, she used her elbows and her knees to help propel her
even faster. When she reached the edge of the cave, however, she
paused. It seemed recent events had finally taught her the value of
caution. She carefully gauged what awaited her.

The forest outside the cave was alive with
night noises. She heard the wind shifting through the trees.
Animals rustled through the leaves on the ground. An owl let out a
somber hoot. Not too far away, a wolf howled.

Tate was used to hearing the muted crash of
the sea heaving against the cliffs. The forest near her home was
never this empty-feeling, as there were always beings about and
playful panthers lurking. All she had ever had to do was walk out
her door to find someone to keep her company. Now, she listened to
the relative peacefulness and shivered. There was no way she was
still near home.

As fear once again overcame her curiosity,
she fully comprehended how lost and alone she really was.

Missing Tiege with an intensity that pained
her, she shook herself from her dark thoughts. She knew she had no
choice but to move on. She quashed her fears and other debilitating
emotions and wedged her arms under herself so she could use her
elbows for leverage. She’d made a huge mistake and managed to get
herself into this mess. Now she’d have to get herself out of
it.

It took her a few minutes to pull herself
upright and brace herself before exiting the cave. She had never
hurt like this before. If Aunt Amber or Uncle Gabriel hadn’t been
around, Quincy was usually there to help. Her parents, as well,
could do light healing on their children, though not nearly to the
extent of her aunt and uncle. Now, she felt like she had been
struck in the chest with an arrow and then rolled through a pit of
razor blades.