Fenturi Fate (Spacestalker Saga Book 1) (27 page)

“Where did you get this?”

“Myla gave it to me,” Zebram answered.
“She said it was her husband’s.”

Mikhel met Thela’s gaze in amazement before he stared back at Zebram.
“Then Myla is actually Melylna, the wife and seeress of Fentra.
But that would make her—”

“Over three hundred years old.
Only she’s claims it’s more like a thousand.
Yeah, she told us that earlier.”
Castor shrugged impatiently.
“I realize you have a lot of anger toward Bylar.
Damn if I don’t agree with you about Zedrax.
He was a dick.
But Zebram is not his father.
T
he truth is, if you start a war now, there’s a slim chance you could win Bylar back.
But you’ll lose it to the Horde soon after.”

Mikhel considered all he’d heard. “I need time to think on this.
You three will stay here.”
He left the dwelling and gave orders to his men to stand guard.

If what they said were true, then the future hung in the balance by a thin thread.
He recalled Myla’s words about the Mari’s importance to the System.
That he could believe.
But to find out that the Fenturi had a part to blame in the Bylaran civil unrest would cause all he had fought for and lost these many years to be in question.

 Knowing he had little time to decide but needing a moment, Mikhel sat down away from the others and began to read the ancient script Myla had taught him to understand.
After a while he closed the book and sat in silence, debating what to do.
Then he moved to an obscure section of the rebel forest and engaged in an interesting discussion.

Two hours later he spoke quietly to another of his men before turning back toward his shelter.
Though the Bylaran people still had much to answer for, Mikhel could not deny the greater truth.
He composed his unruly thoughts and rejoined the three waiting in his modest dwelling.

He entered to find Zebram and Castor speaking quietly, Thela’s gaze centered in puzzlement over the king.
If Zebram did mean to make Thela his wife, things would certainly be different in the future.
Thela was by no means a female to trifle with, and if she agreed to the marriage she would have to feel more than passing feelings for the king.

He stared at his sister, then at Zebram.
Thela had a strong passion for life and for the Fenturi.
He knew she would never do anything to hurt her people.
If she said she trusted this man, he could do no less than to agree to her terms.
 

“We have much to discuss.”
Mikhel broke the sudden stillness his arrival had caused.
“But I will have your word that the Fenturi will not be ill-used in this endeavor.”

Zebram stood and placed his hand over his heart.
“On my honor, and my life, do I give you my pledge.”

Mikhel stared at Zebram for a moment before he turned to Castor.
“I will escort Zebram and my sister back to the palace.
You will come with us as well—under
his
guidance.” Mikhel gestured to the figure now joining them in the small room.

Dark black eyes caught and held the attention of all those in the room.
They seethed with anger as they settled on Castor, and Mikhel heard the large warrior swear under his breath, saw him stiffen defensively as Mikhel’s blond ally neared.

“By the five hells of Dark World.”
Castor grimaced. “I had hoped you were dead, Jace.”

***

Myla found Garen and Dare walking hand in hand out of the forest.
She noted the relaxed posture, the possessive glow on Ren’s face and smiled.
You old demon, Zedrax
, she said to the Beyond.
You could bind him, but you couldn’t break him
.

For years she had been forced to watch Zedrax whip the Fenturi out of Garen.
She had been helpless to prevent the mad king from nearly exterminating her people and chipping at his eldest son’s very soul.

But her visions had shown her that Zebram needed her efforts far more than Garen did.
O
nly with Zebram’s help could the Fenturi ever hope to prosper again.

She’d stroked and groomed Zebram carefully, though it had been no hardship.
The boy had loved freely, almost Fenturi in his concept of play and laughter.
H
is accepting nature would prove him a great and steady king, she had thought as she watched him mature.

Now the time had come.
Zebram would do well with Thela by his side.
And Garen, well, he still had further to go, but the Mari had already done more for him than Myla would have thought possible in so short a time.

Myla knew Garen didn’t trust her visions and perhaps never would.
But already the Mari had him under her spell.
Hatred and distrust couldn’t grow under the love blossoming around the pair.

“Garen, Dare.
I trust your walk proved fruitful?”

Dare flushed, a becoming shade of pink on her golden skin.
Her eyes glowed with promise, and she continued to hold onto Garen as she nodded a greeting to Myla.

Garen’s laughing eyes faded into a distrustful lake green, but he held onto Dare as well, and Myla couldn’t contain her grin of satisfaction.

“I don’t wish to erase the peace I sense between you. But Dare, we have to talk about your past if we are to see to the future.”

She could see the Mari did not want to venture down that path, but the strength Myla had hoped for stood the woman proud.

“I suppose we have to,” Dare said.
She moved to pull away from Ren, but he stood firm.

“Lead on, Myla,” he ordered with arrogance.

Myla couldn’t help mentally comparing Ren to her long-dead husband.
Shantuk had been strong and hardy, his manner superior and unafraid.
Yet Shantuk had not been able to bend.
Garen had been conditioned to bend throughout his harsh childhood.
He would not break, and for that perhaps he had Zedrax to thank.

Coming back to the present, she knew she needed to regress Dare back, to reaffirm the link to Shalyl, Dare’s mother.
Before Shalyl had died, she would have passed on to her young daughter the secrets of the Thrax in a burst of Starfire.
And they desperately needed that information now.

They moved into Myla’s cottage, and she immediately cleared a place at her table for them.
Dare sat down across from Myla while Garen stood solidly behind her, protectively.

Myla nodded at him before focusing her attention on Dare.
The girl’s arresting features and blazing blue eyes looked so much like her mother’s that for a moment Myla was taken aback.

“You have Shalyl’s features,” she said fondly.
“Yes, I knew your mother well.”

Dare touched her temple, as if in pain, and Myla reached inside of herself for the courage to get this done.
 

“Ren,” she said, using his nickname instead of the more formal Garen.
“Dare will need your help.
Please, sit down.
I want you to take her hand and hold tight.
No matter what images flash before you, do not let go of her.”

He seemed skeptical but did as she asked.
She grabbed hold of his hand and Dare’s, creating a link that would not be broken until she released them. Then she released her power, entwining with the Mari.

Images flashed like lightning.

A dark haired man lying in a pool of blood, reaching out to a small dark haired girl.
Legion troops streaming through the woods everywhere like fat drops of rain, seeping through the forest, allowing nothing to go untouched.

Myla grabbed the girl and thrust her toward a Fenturi woman battling the Legion.
The child moved slowly until a large guidecat lifted her in its strong mouth and carried her toward the woman.

Blue Starfire quickly struck the Legionnaires threatening the female, yet the child did not flinch at the sight but ran to her mother for safety.

Cradling the girl to her breast, the woman flew through the forest on speedy legs.
The girl encased in a blue aura, she didn’t feel the wounds shot into her mother, couldn’t know the sheer grit and determination the woman used to get her daughter to safety before collapsing to the ground.

“Mama?” Dare said, too young and innocent to be surrounded by such grief and destruction.
The dark of the Fentra woods occasionally lit with  red laser sparks, courtesy of the Legion.
But in the dim patch of Mari moonlight, the small girl stared down at her mother, watching as blood pooled under her.

Shalyl reached out to stroke Dare’s forehead.
As she did, a blue energy flowed from mother to child, and Shalyl spoke Fenturi words quickly, softly.

Then Dare shrieked in fear as the guidecat did his mistress’s last bidding and picked her up, dragging her away.
The girl left Bylar in a small escape pod, never seeing her mother’s last breath as Shalyl watched her daughter disappear into the stars.

Myla opened her eyes and released her hands from Garen and Dare.
Garen opened blinked his eyes open in shock.

Dare had finally revisited her past, and the girl would now know why she had always blocked it.
Her eyes swam with tears. She stumbled to her feet, murmured a short excuse and escaped the small cottage.

“No.” Myla stopped Ren from following her.
“She needs to settle down on her own.
She’ll be back.”

Ren studied, as if in debate with himself. “So that was true?
All that really happened?”

Myla nodded sadly, remembering the battle as if it were yesterday.
So many dead, so many lost…

“Hell, no wonder she didn’t want to come back here.
Pretty traumatic for a young girl.”
He shook his head in disgust.

“But no less horrible than what you suffered.” She watched his eyes blaze with unsatisfied rage. “I know you saw your cousin fall, that your father ordered the mass destruction of everyone you held dear, everyone except Zebram.”
She watched him frown, trying to bury the hurt under anger but not succeeding as he normally did.
“Ren, don’t you think it’s time you let go of Zedrax’s hate and started believing in yourself and what you know is right?”

Myla thought she might actually have penetrated his thick shields, but then he scowled and said,
“Stop, witch.
I know you need Dare to recall her past, but my life is none of your concern.
I won’t allow harm to befall the Mari, nor will I let Zebram die under the Horde’s attack.”

Myla wanted to slap the stubbornness from him.
“It’s not about them this time, Ren.
It’s about you and your brother.
Your whole life is open before you.
Will you allow Zedrax to prevent you from getting to know your heritage?
Will he continue, as he does now from the grave, to step between you and your last living relative?

“Your brother loves and needs you in his life.
N
ot as the Captain of the Stalkers, but as his
brother
.
He’s always looked up to you and could readily use your guidance now, as Bylar looks to change significantly under his rule.
That is, if we have a future to deal with after the Horde.”

Ren shook his head, not yet willing to deal with Myla’s words.
He could hear the truth in them, and any notion of letting Zedrax win anything caused him immediate anger.
But Dare needed him first and foremost.
He could confront his demons once he’d slain hers.

He would have gone after her when Dare suddenly returned.
Her eyes looked like huge pools of hurt, and Ren felt an answering need to comfort her. A throbbing necessity, to soothe her pain.
Before he could go to her,
Dare threw herself into his arms.
As before, he felt a rightness holding her, a warmth that moved through him in her presence.