Echoes in the Dark (55 page)

That
was good. She opened her eyes as she heard someone approaching.

“The
lines have been drawn on the dreeth, Jikata, you must make the cuts on the
pieces you need. Then the others who helped kill it will get their share, good
dreeth leather for all. We only lost part of one wing,” Bastien said
cheerfully. He handed her a big knife that weighed in her hand.

Jikata
stepped from Luthan’s arms and looked at the beast. There were dashed lines
scored in the body. She straightened her shoulders and followed Calli as that
woman told her where to cut.

This
part seemed easier, as if some of the Power that vitalized the dreeth had been
extinguished along with its life.

“So,
um, Exotique Singer,” one of the Chevaliers addressed her, a female Shield
dressed in Faucon’s colors.

“Ayes?”

The
Chevalier ducked her head. “Ah, um, do you want the teeth? Or could I…”

Jikata
gasped at the idea, forced down her gorge. Swallowed hard. Glanced at the
wicked beak and the sharp teeth angled out from it. “No, I don’t want them.”

“She’s
claiming the leg spines, though,” Marrec said, murmured in Jikata’s ear,
“Equally valuable and I’ll sell them for you, get you a good price.”

“Merci,”
she said
politely. Obviously quite a few here on this battlefield had struggled for
money—zhiv—as she had, no matter what their circumstances were now.

Jikata
set her knife in the next piece of hide, gritted her teeth and cut. It took her
around so she was facing toward where Raine was doing the same thing across the
battlefield. Their eyes met.

I
am
never
doing this again,
Raine sent, and Jikata realized it was a
communication between the two of them. They’d bonded enough for that, then.
Probably in the last couple of hours.

Neither
am I,
Jikata replied.
Once was too much.

Ditto.
Raine grimaced
and resumed carving.

Jikata
did the same, trying to avoid the sight of other monsters being
butchered…soulsuckers for their tentacles, slayers for their poisonous spines,
renders for their claws and teeth. It made her angry to see their marks on her
friends. A nearby Chevalier was being treated for slayer poison, Bastien had
the imprint of a soulsucker tentacle cup on his face. The white scar on Alexa’s
face stood out palely. So Jikata slashed at her dreeth.

When
she moved around once again, she saw the third dreeth of the action. It was
much less mangled, more neatly killed than the ones Jikata and Raine had ended.
Professionals had done that, and were making the most of every inch of skin,
every tooth and claw and spine.

Jikata
was never so glad in her life to be an amateur.

Then
Luthan’s hand folded over her own. “It’s done.”

She
let him take the knife.

Luthan
led her to Hope, who watched from the sidelines with rolling eyes and flaring
nostrils. He didn’t like the smell, or the wild Songs of the humans, or the
sight of raw monster meat.

Neither
did she. Without protest, she let Luthan lift her to her saddle. Her mind was a
whirl of images, actions of the last few hours. Most of them bad enough that
she’d like to forget them forever, but she knew would haunt her nightmares.

Luthan
placed his hand on her knee and the warmth of it, the pulse of his Song was so
sweet everything inside her clenched.

“I
have apologized, and before the Exotiques, do you want another one here, more
publicly?”

40

“T
tho.” But she
met his eyes and scrutinized them. “You want to build anew, be lovers again.”

“Ayes,”
he said.

She
let out a breath. So much fate involved in this adventure of hers. He wouldn’t
remain a friend, couldn’t the way their Songs twined around each other. She
touched a small slice on his cheek, didn’t know what had caused it, and he
didn’t, either—it didn’t pain him because of the adrenaline still surging in
his blood.

She
needed to say the words aloud, knew he needed to hear them that way. “I forgive
you, Luthan. You can’t control your revulsion and didn’t mean to hurt me. And I
apologize if I hurt you. I…care…for you.”

His
hand pressed against hers. He said huskily, “Apology accepted. There’s some
wonderful hot springs caverns on the way back. We can—”

“Sounds
great!” Bastien clapped his brother on his shoulder. “Meet you there.” Then he
sent over the “Exotique link”—
We are going to Azure Caverns to soak!

The
feycoocus gave piercing whistles and took off.

Luthan
sighed. “
Merci,
brother.”

Bastien
winked and strode away.

Bathing Caverns, North Lladrana

L
uthan was
demanding. Jikata used the sex to pour out all the battle stress, used him, let
him use her.

Then
came the tender loving. The Song of the two of them, as lovers, mended and grew
until Jikata knew it would last a lifetime. And in the afterglow, she asked
about the repulsion reflex and he spoke of it.

Noise
that would drive a person mad.

She
could believe it and she let some tears come, for him, for her, for every damn
thing. More battle stress.

She
left Luthan sleeping, unusual for him after sex, but the last few days and the
battle had been rough on him. He’d
seen
visions of this particular
battle, too, that she hadn’t experienced. Because he was more in tune with the
monster invasions that had always been a part of his life?

She
wanted to speak with Raine. The woman’s Song had gone from triumphant back to
plaintive. The note of fear that had vanished for a while had returned.

They
had gone to the same battlefield and killed a dreeth, a bonding experience if
there ever was one.

Jikata
strolled to the large, steaming pool in the cavern where Raine was soaking
alone. Faucon was up attending to the volarans, Calli and Marrec had left, and
the others were still in their private hot tubs.

Raine
waved, and Jikata took a seat on a rocky ledge next to her. The water came just
above Raine’s breasts like a straight-cut décolletage gown. Jikata was shorter
by a few inches and the sensual slide of the water lapped against her
shoulders.

When
Raine looked at her with sad and vulnerable and anxious eyes, Jikata felt ages
older than the woman.

Raine’s
voice was low and husky. “Why aren’t you freaking out about this? The battle.
You know you’re going to have to Sing in the Dark’s Nest, be the anchor for the
rest of us. That’s your task, a life-or-death thing, no choice about it. No
choice and no Snap until you’re done.”

Jikata
said, “You said, ‘until’ so you think that it can be done, that I’ll survive.”

Shifting
her gaze to stare across the large pool, Raine said, “You are
Jikata
and
your confidence is…remarkable.” She sighed out a breath. “Ayes, if anyone
survives it will be you.” Her forehead furrowed. “I…hear an extra depth to your
Song. A better connection to Amee herself, maybe.”

That
surprised Jikata. “Maybe so. I’ve seen her several times. Much like the
figurehead you made for
The Echo.
”

“I
think I got that image from Luthan and you. It didn’t come until you joined the
circle, near the end.” She sent Jikata a sideways glance, opened her mouth,
closed it, blinked. “You see visions. The future. I won’t ask. I’m afraid to.”

“Good,
because our futures are still undetermined. May be in flux until the very last
moment when we succeed or we fail.”

“How
can you stand it!”

“The
uncertainty? The thought of death? I have moments.” She shook her head. “I just
spent some time crying.”

“Me,
too, but you’re still more sure than I am.”

Jikata
considered it. “Perhaps it was my upbringing. Perhaps because my parents died
when I was a teen and I formed my philosophy of death at that time. Perhaps
because I recently lost the last of my family.”

Raine
inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t
be. We weren’t as close as I’d thought, hoped.”

They
sat in silence for a moment before Jikata said softly, “What are you really
afraid of, Raine?”

Mouth
twisting, Raine didn’t look at her and said, “Big scary Dark. Monsters. Death.
A painful death. I’ve never lost anyone I loved that I can recall. I guess I
haven’t developed a philosophy for it. Failing to stop the Dark, hurting my
family. I want to live.” Her chin set. “I want to live and build boats and love
Faucon.”

“Children?”

“Ayes.”
Raine’s eyes flashed. “I know it’s rare for Exotiques to have children, but
yeah. After what we’ve done—will do—we deserve children. Amee owes us that.”

Jikata
found herself chuckling. “Amee owes?”

Raine
leaned back, lifted her feet from the pool and wiggled her toes. “If I’d made
that Ship in Connecticut, I’d’ve charged a pretty damn penny.” She sank back.
“As it was, except for the Power spheres, which we raised from the deep sea,
everyone kicked in zhiv for the materials. Amee didn’t pay for it.”

“No?
What about gracing us with our Power, with the Power to build it?”

“Not
enough,” Raine said decisively, lips firming. “After all we’ve gone through, we
haven’t been paid enough.” She looked at Jikata. “We all have nightmares. Every
one of us. Each of us have given, will give, our lives to free Amee from the
Dark. We should get a good return on that. That sounds mercenary, but none of
us asked for the Summoning, or this life.”

“True
love,” Jikata murmured.

Raine’s
eyes went back to being hurt. “Ayes, that makes up for a lot. But we live with
knowledge that our loves may die. That we may die. That factors into the cost.
Physical, emotional, mental, Power, all are affected and are what
we
are
paying to do this thing for Amee.”

“Like
last night, you have a point.”

“And
you listen.” Raine brooded. “Maybe I’m just mercenary. Maybe it’s that I don’t
have a philosophy of death or dying and fear the uncertainty of the battle and
the future.”

“Once
you were in the battle for your dreeth skins, you lost that uncertainty,”
Jikata said.

“Yes.
I’m hoping that will happen again when the time comes.” She nibbled her bottom
lip. “Alexa has a fierce spirit, and determination and knows what she’s—we’re—doing
is right. So she thinks of that, will think of that. She’s linked to Bastien
and the Marshalls, a team, who all believe like her, and are connected to the
rest of us. Excellent support. Marian is sure that her Power and that of the
Circlets, their combined intellect and flexibility is better than the Dark’s.
So she has that…intellectual confidence, arrogance. Calli…is Calli. She’s loved
by all the volarans of Lladrana, connected to all of them. She thinks of better
lives for her children, for the rest of Lladrana, and knows she will do her
best and that’s all she can do. Bri is naturally optimistic, and thinks death
is just another adventure. She has that link to all the common folk of
Lladrana, her healingstream, faith, I guess, in people and us and the Song as
the All.”

Jikata
was stunned at Raine’s reading of their friends, then Raine turned her eyes on
Jikata. “And you have that bond with Amee herself, and the Song, and your
belief in your destiny?”

“Yes.”
Jikata shook her head at Raine’s insight. “Ayes, and the payoff that I can
become the most Powerful person in Lladrana. True love. Composing. Endless
fame.” Then she turned her head and stared into Raine’s eyes. “What do you
have, Raine?” She lowered her voice so it could mesmerize.

That
didn’t work on Raine. “True love. I love Faucon, more than I thought I’d love
any man. My connection is to the sea, the ocean.” She laid her hand flat on the
pool. “Even here, I can feel the tug of the tide, how there’s an underground
river that feeds this and water runs wild to the ocean.”

“The
Seamasters?” Jikata asked.

Raine
shook her head. “Despite the Apology Ritual, and…uh…bonding with individuals,
we still aren’t comfortable with each other. It takes a while to be accepted
into the whole community.” She frowned. “I guess I think that what I have now
is more than what I’ll have after the battle. What I have now is wonderful, I
can only lose.” Again she stared off into the distance. “My man, my friends, my
family, my life. I don’t want to lose any of that.”

Before
Jikata could think of a reply, they heard whoops and splashing as others jumped
into the far end of the large pool and swam toward them.

Creusse Landing

T
he sailing
trials continued until the best crew was chosen. The stores were packed and a
launch date set. The summer days took on a hint of autumn coolness and the
hours passed until it was the last brilliant summer day before the invasion
fleet left.