Rylan's Heart (23 page)

There they were, three of them, hiding behind a boulder protected by an elaborate shield. It made for good camouflaging. Rylan would have to teach her that trick someday but for now she needed to find a flaw in it. Someway to infiltrate it.

Death, the word sang in her head. Would she have to kill again? It was the last thing she wanted to be branded as, murderer, but she was already that. She killed to save her life, the life of her daughter, and still just the memory made her hands shake. A trickle of sweat poured down her face. There was no way she would ever be the same again.

Rylan pulled her into his arms ignoring the backs of the three Urom in front of them and kissed her.

“You’re not a murderer, Aviana. Talum would have killed you and taken pleasure in it, but he would have taken more pleasure in Mckayla’s scream as he killed her. You gave the Urom hope without realizing it.”

She looked at him, determination on her face. “Let’s do this. I don’t like being under siege.” She’d ask him later what he meant about giving the Urom hope.

“You’re right. This end’s here.”

Together they moved closer. “The only way to break that shield is to start with a fire bolt. Are you ready?”

“Yes,” she tilted her head and formed one waiting for Rylan’s signal.

Together they shot the first one off. They fired in rapid succession not giving the Urom time to regroup.

She watched as one of the Urom broke out of the shield and eluded every bolt sent his way as if he was timing them and knew when to dodge. He advanced on them growing closer.

This was it, if he broke through their shields; he would be able to hurt one of them maybe both of them. There was no regret in his gaze, only determination to take her out as he came closer. She winged him with a bolt but he kept advancing, refusing to stop with his prize so close.

He was close enough now that they could almost fight hand to hand. She could hear his breathing and felt his breath on her. She sent another bolt that pierced his leg. He limped but kept coming as Rylan found himself in a fight with the other two.

Lifting a long knife, he came after her as she retreated trying to flee as well as throw a fire bolt his way, not caring if she was caught in its back draft as long as he was dead. Her foot slipped and she fell backward.

He was all over her now breaking through the hasty shield she erected to cover himself. Triumph lit his face when he broke through. He raised his arm, the glyphs moving, rearranging.

“Everything changes now,” he spit out and brought the knife down over her heart.

There was an ear piercing cry. Was it hers? Is this what death felt like? Sorry Mckayla, her numb mind whispered before the world went black.

*~*~*~*

Rylan stopped. His world was torn asunder as he watched Aviana’s shield fail and knew there was no way he would reach her in time. It was the voice of Mckayla that made his legs stumble. Her cry of “Mommy, No…” echoed through his head as he watched the world explode in green.

The assailant over Aviana crumbled, the life leaving his body. The other two Urom dropped unable to defend themselves. A green shield covered him and Aviana confirming his suspicions.

All he could hear was the crying of an inconsolable six-year-old who would kill them because she didn’t know how to control her power and didn’t realize her mother was still alive.

“Kalya,” he whispered out of cracked lips that were being denied air. “Kayla, listen to me.”

“You promised to protect her,” she sobbed.

“Mckayla Marks! Young lady you listen to me now.” He wasn’t sure what he was doing; all he knew was she needed a firm hand and the only one she had was his.

“Dad?”

“Yes, dad. Now listen. Your mom she is still alive but you have to stop or she won’t be. Where are you, Mckayla?”

“Outside of Mommy’s bedroom.”

“I need you to come in the room, Mckayla, and go to your mom and hug her. She needs you. This is important.”

“All right.” Her voice trembled.

He watched Aviana as her body arched in the air. Mckayla was hugging her. Her love was penetrating Aviana but Aviana’s love was penetrating her daughter. The oppressive green shield began to retreat. Aviana reached up, still unconscious but responsive and hugged Mckayla allowing the rest of the shield to evaporate.

Slowly Rylan got to his feet looking at the three Urom surrounding them. There was no hope for them but there was hope for his family. With tired steps he dragged himself over to Aviana picking her up making his way back to their bodies.

*~*~*~*

He opened his eyes to find Mckayla lying between the two of them as she hugged her mom.

“Kayla,” he stroked the side of her face.

“Will she be ok?”

“Your mom’s going to be fine.”

“I didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” she cried harder. “They were going to hurt mommy and you. Take you away from me so the terrible people could get me. I just wanted mommy and you to be ok.”

“Daughter, you did just fine. I’m so proud of you.”

She threw herself in his arms and cried until her little body finally shuddered and fell asleep.

“I knew you would be a great father.”

Rylan lifted his eyes to look at Aviana. “Your back, I was beginning to become concerned.”

“Lack of oxygen had for me a minute, then you were there talking to our daughter, loving her, directing her in the right things to do. I’m so glad we found you, Rylan.”

“Our daughter.”

“Yes, our daughter.”

He rose with Mckayla in his arms. “You stay put. I’ll lie her down in her bed and then make you some tea for your sore throat.”

“Are we still under siege?”

“No, but I expect we’re about to have visitors.”

He walked out into Mckayla’s room and laid her gently on the bed. How could he, the boy who was broken by the Sudir, ever guess he would become the father of one of the most powerful children on the face of the Earth?

A smile lit his face when he left the room. Life was just about to get interesting.

The knock on the door came when they were all sitting in the living room recovering from what had happened yesterday. They were no longer under siege although Aviana half expected to feel that heavy presence at any moment. She had decided to keep Mckayla home with her for another day. Selma had chosen to do the same with Vick.

The knock at the door made her flinch. It wasn’t until now that she realized no one ever knocked at that door. Could it be a new client wanting to stay at the bed and breakfast now that the weather was thawing out?

Victor got up and crossed to the door opening it slowly. Before him stood a male and female of such regal bearing that Aviana had to fight back the urge to kneel before them.

“May we come in?” the male asked. He was surrounding by what looked like guards.

There was no doubt he was Urom, the glyphs on his arms were easily discernable. Mckayla made her way to her mother and climbed into her lap as she saw the male and female staring at her.

Aviana wanted to scream no. The last thing she wanted was to come face to face with more Urom but she kept silent noting that Rylan wasn’t upset. He was in her mind telling her to give them a chance; these were the visitors he was waiting for.

Instead she held Mckayla and whispered soft words telling her not to be afraid. Victor opened the door wider.

“You are welcome in, but only two of your most trusted guards may come in with you.”

The male nodded and entered, the female came behind him, and two guards followed her. They were escorted into the living room and given chairs to sit in.

“Please allow me to introduce myself. I am King Ulum of the Urom people and this is Queen Tabia. I have come to first apologize for what has happened to you and your people. Then I have come to hopefully tell you a story.”

Victor looked over at Aviana and she nodded her head yes.

“Please,” Victor said once again, directing them to the chairs that they refused the first time.

Ulum nodded and helped his queen to sit before he took a seat.

“This story is old and unfortunately covers a lot of history. May I ask your name?”

His question was directed at Aviana as he and his queen had not taken their eyes off of her since they walked in.

“My name is Aviana.”

“Nice to meet you, Aviana. And the little one?”

Mckayla was peeking at them from the safety of her mother’s arms.

“This is my daughter, Mckayla.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mckayla,” the king said.

“I am also pleased to meet you, Mckayla,” the queen said. “I like your outfit,” she whispered.

Mckayla gave a small giggle and a shy smile to the queen.

The king cleared his throat and wiped away the smile his queen’s words brought before he started.

“There have been whispers of change in the Urom royal court for centuries. Some believe the people would fare better with someone other than the ruling family. There are even those who think there should be no rulers and definitely no ruling family. Why do we need one since we are on Earth?

“When we came to this planet, there was no intent to make it part of our home world or to have a people and a ruling body here. A simple accident led to the coordinates of a ship under fire being placed in the wrong sequence bringing my family here.

“The years were hard. There was no communication on your planet back then and no way to fix the ship that brought us here. We were stranded until someone from our planet could come to help us—one young ruler and over a thousand military.

“We established a base on Earth and did our best not to change your future by influencing it with our advanced technology. Since you were such a young race, that was easy enough to do. We kept to ourselves. You heard stories about us, rumors, but nothing substantial.

“We thought our stay here would be relatively short, but as the years passed our people began pairing up, having children, and of course adapting to a new life.

“Eventually we gave up hope of rescue as a century of your time passed. The young ruler, now a king, eventually took a wife. She was human and he found it fitting that he would blend with the new people they found quite by accident.

“The years passed; a certain harmony flowed through the land until a ship from Urom came looking for the lost ruler. The ruler was asked to come back home, to leave all he had built, and to leave his wife. She wouldn’t be accepted back home. The bloodlines must be pure and that also meant his one son would not be accepted either.

“This gave that ruler many sleepless nights. The joy of being reunited with his parents as well as his siblings was just one answer away. That answer would also bring separation from the things he held close to his heart. In the end it took no thought at all. He declined to go back. He had siblings who could rule on Urom. He had family he loved here and was more than content with his small kingdom. Since he was not the first born, he did not think it would be a problem.

“Unfortunately, his father wanted him back. After many years of back and forth, his father finally broke down and visited him on Earth. Although the occasion was joyous, it set another chain of events into motion. His father wanted to be able to send more Urom to Earth so they could be trained by the young ruler. This way the people of Urom would not be as soft after learning to survive on Earth. The young ruler, not knowing what had been happening to the ruling body of his planet, agreed to this.

“Many years have since passed. Some of the evil and corruption from Urom has invaded the kingdom on Earth.

“If you will remember, I told you this ruler had one son. Time had been good to both the ruler, his queen whom he loves, and their son until a conspiracy came to their small court…a plan, if you will, to kill the son and leave the ruler without an heir. At that point, either one of his sibling’s children would have to be willing to be exiled,” he made air quotes around the word, to Earth. Or a whole new policy of who would lead the Earth colony would have to be drawn up.

“His son, my son. Kalith, was poisoned. There was no cure. He knew that dying without an heir would change our world as we know it for the worst. There were those poised to take over as soon as his glyphs were no longer active. One night he stood before me, head bowed, and apologized for what he had to do. His time was short, he wouldn’t live much longer. You wouldn’t have known if you could see him, the only thing that gave it away was the uncontrollable green of his eyes.

“He asked me if I could accept a female ruler. My answer was swift. Of course I could, if only he would live long enough to give us a female ruler. That night he hugged both his mother and I and left.

“When he came back two days later he was near death. All he said was it is done—find her.

“We had no knowledge of what was done or who the ‘her’ he referred to was. I waited after his death for his glyphs to fade away. They would disappear and everyone would know that the lineage ended with me. They never faded away. They became lighter but still they persisted. Months after his death, approximately nine months, they darkened again and changed shape to indicate the new ruler was a princess. A child.

“We were plunged into civil war as those who waited patiently were tired of waiting. There was a faction in our colony that waged war on us even as we tried to find the child we believed one day would save us. I believe you met some of them; they wanted things to change with the ruling family and the easiest place to start was on Earth.

“Last night we found her. Power the likes of nothing we have ever seen in one so young couldn’t be missed as she cried for help.”

The king stopped his story to stare at Aviana. She hugged Mckayla tight before she sent her out the room with Vick to play.

“Your son, Kalith, raped me,” she said, after making sure Mckayla was out of hearing range. “I had a future, a plan for my life, and he ruined it. My parents kicked us out and I have been fending for my child ever since and now you walk in here with some story. Do you think I’m just going to hand her over to you? I don’t care who you are!”