Storm of Arranon Fire and Ice (3 page)

Erynn’s gaze followed his. “You think it may
have been Zander, showing you?”

Jaer tensed. “Ghost lights,” he whispered,
running his hand up and down Erynn’s arm. “I have seen a similar
phenomenon inside the ruins of Deanaim. Restless spirits roam the
fortress.”

Tam stepped closer to Erynn. “You’re giving
me chills. Ghosts? Come on. Really?”

Snow swirled through the hangar door with an
icy gust. The coming storm responded to the validity of ghosts as
wind moaned across rocky crevices.

Erynn shook her head. “That’s not what I
saw.”

Cale frowned. “What did you see?”

Erynn’s brow drew together. She put one hand
over the other, palms down. “It looked like letters. An A
overlapping an L. But not exactly an A, or L. Like those letters. I
only saw them for a moment. The wind came up, making the surface of
the lake rough. But you’ve seen them. You know what they mean.” She
glanced at Cale.

Tam faced Cale. “Erynn thinks they’re from
some ancient ruins. Are they?”

“I’ve never experienced what you did, Erynn.”
Cale shook his head. “I don’t know what they are, or what they
mean.”

Erynn’s gaze darted between Cale and Tam.
“Let’s go out there tomorrow and check it out. That way, you can
both see for yourselves.”

Cale held up his hand. “That won’t be
possible.” He glanced outside to the snow beginning to fall in
earnest. “You wouldn’t be able to see the lake, let alone letters
under the water in this storm.”

Tam shoved her hands in her pockets. “I
couldn’t have gone anyway, Erynn. I have COM duty tonight.”

Erynn nodded. “Guess I’ll start doing some
research, then.”

Erynn returned to her quarters after an early
dinner with Tam. Jaer was on a night exercise with the Anbas and
some new recruits. Not due to return until morning, Jaer wouldn’t
be coming to her quarters to tell her goodnight, as was his
custom.

She sat curled on her bunk, a thick blanket
wrapped around her, a small computer on her lap. She leaned into
the corner. The uneven stone surface, rendered a pale, soothing
blue, was cold under the heavy white shirt she wore to sleep in.
She shivered and shifted over to the center of her bunk, piling
pillows behind her. On the wall opposite her bed, next to the door,
the DVSL [Dimensional Vid Source Link] allowed her to see and hear
the storm outside. Wind howled and drove icy grains of snow in an
irregular tapping against the panels protecting the powerful
observation lenses. She considered changing the view to the hangar
bay, but she wanted to feel, even if from a distance and safe in
her quarters, what Jaer was experiencing.

She entered
Farglas Lake
into the
device and read several entries of dry information regarding its
size, how it had been formed, the exact location, the types of
creatures and plants living in its depths, the chemical makeup of
the water, and the life that existed around the lake. She found no
mention of an ancient city or shrine, even when she requested the
information.

“Okay, try it from another angle,” she
muttered and entered,
A L
.

The computer’s blank screen glowed. Words
finally appeared.
In what reference
?

Erynn considered the request. She typed in,
Show me styles
.

The screen filled with hundreds of As and Ls
in different designs and fonts, along with explanations,
definitions, and history.

“Wow, there’s a lot.” She began to scroll
through them, studying each symbol and its origin until her vision
blurred. She leaned her head back, sinking into the pillow, and her
eyes closed. “I’ll rest, just for a moment.”

A distant cry, shrill and long, jolted Erynn
from a doze. She jerked upright and the computer slid from her lap.
She reached out and caught the edge before it clattered to the dark
stone floor.

“The wind or a dream?” she whispered and
glanced at the DVSL. Thick snow swirled in the dark. A screaming
gust propelled the large flakes against the night. “It must have
been the wind.” She flipped the top of the computer closed, set it
on her desk next to the bunk, and burrowed back under the covers.
More gusts moaned in the mountain’s crevices, lulling Erynn into a
deep slumber.

When dreams took her, high voices murmured a
warning through an undercurrent of foreboding.
“
Dainsear
.”

Danger.

AS WAS HER NEW DAILY ritual, Erynn climbed to
the highest room of the mountain base. Early morning light
attempted to break through clouds so dark gray they were almost
black, but to no advantage. Heavy snow buffeted the windows ringing
the sides of the round space. Wind sighed around the rocky crags
with a high lonesome whistle, and large snowflakes whirled in a
frenzied dance.

Here only days ago, Zander Tourani appeared
to her in his spectral form. The father she had never known asked
her to surrender to an alien enemy attacking their worlds.

“This is Arranon and Korin’s only hope,”
Zander had told her.

Zander was right. His plan had worked.

Once on board the massive alien vessel
waiting in space to ravage her planets, Erynn enlisted those who
were sympathetic. Together, they fought against the tyranny and
fear ever present in their lives. Captain Faylen, an alien soldier,
made the ultimate sacrifice and died saving his shipmates, Erynn,
and her worlds.

My people. My worlds
.

She was truly a child of both. Her mother was
from Korin, Zander from Arranon. Born from their forbidden union,
the combination gave her extraordinary abilities.

Long ago, the governments of the two worlds
had banned children of mixed couples from Arranon and Korin. The
knowledge of what these remarkable children would become prompted
fear and the creation of regulations. Leading authorities
claimed
this blend produced hideous mutations and certain
infant mortality. Their goal was to alarm the people and stop
further births. Their true motivation for this lie had been much
less altruistic. The government’s emphasis was on retaining their
reign of control and power. They murdered these remarkable children
and their families to preserve the propaganda that no child could
live.

Erynn walked to a window and rested her
forehead against the cold surface. Memories of her last
conversation with Damon, her adoptive father, rushed up from where
they lived in her heart. The final words she would ever hear from
him whispered through her mind. “
I love you, Erynn
.”

An alien assassin murdered him shortly
afterward.

“I love you, Dad.” She ran her hand down the
cool panel. Blue static popped under her fingertips. “Zander, have
you seen my dad? Is he okay?”

Erynn’s mother died before the baby girl she
gave birth to was a day old. All her life, there had only been
Damon, her dad. Damon Yager raised her as his own, alone. He gave
up being an Interceptor pilot, sacrificing his calling so he could
be with her each day. He took over a small fighter unit and quickly
rose to commander of Security Forces. No one questioned that Damon
was her biological father. Together, they kept the secret of her
true heritage.

Erynn came to the high round room each
morning, hoping to see Zander. She had questions only he could
answer. “Do I leave the base and seek the places of power on
Arranon you told me about? Or do I search for the portals the Anim
Blath spoke of? You said I would need to discover Arranon’s power
to save us, but we’ve been saved. The threat is over. Unless the
Anim Blath’s fears are true and Dhoran has returned.” Her voice
rose, echoing off the walls. She stepped to the center of the room.
“Tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

Nothing. Silence. Emptiness.

She raised her hands, imploring, and pleaded
to the sky of swirling deep gray. “If I return to the forest, to
the place I first met you, will you appear to me?” Sighing wind and
the light tick of snow against the panels were her only
answers.

Erynn stayed, sitting on the wide sill of the
panel, until blowing snow iced over her view.

The dining hall was crowded and noisy, the
bright space airy and open. The walls were the same pale blue of
her quarters. Erynn made her breakfast choices from the counter and
searched the long lines of tables, twenty-six wide, looking for
Tam. Sean sat at a middle table, and Erynn went to join him.

Sean was like her but not just in being a
pilot. He also had a mixed parentage and astonishing abilities. She
hadn’t known this when they first met as fellow students. Tam and
Sean became her friends at academy, despite her young age and the
influential standing of her father.

“Have you seen Tam?” Sean asked before
turning his attention to Erynn. His green eyes were accentuated
under the dark thickness of his lashes. He forked in a mouthful
from a lumpy pale yellow mound on his plate and chewed.

Erynn dropped into a seat across from him. “I
keep forgetting I’m not the only one who can sense emotions and
track others by their thoughts. I try not to unless necessary.” She
grinned. “But sometimes, it just happens.”

Sean smiled. “Well, that’s not exactly how I
knew you were coming.” He reached out and tugged on a strand of
Erynn’s long curly hair. “You’re the only redhead here. You kinda
stand out.” He frowned, gazing around the full, active energy of
the room. “Why do you think that is? No other redheads on Arranon,
I mean.”

She sneered. “They’re just lucky, I
guess.”

“Erynn, your hair is incredible. The color
fits you.” He chuckled. “You remind me of a tiny winged
Leannan
in those stories we heard as children.”

“Oh great, now I’m a small mythical
creature.” She laughed, her voice light and ringing.

“You may be small, but you’re powerful.” His
smile faded. He tipped his head, staring at her. “That reminds me.
When are you going to teach the rest of us how you influence the
weather?”

“Like I told Cale, when I know how I do it,
I’ll tell you.” She scanned the room. “As for Tam’s whereabouts,
she had COM duty last night. She’s probably in her quarters,
sleeping.”

Sean stared at his plate, scooped another
forkful, and grinned. “Jaer’s fine. They came in just before
dawn.”

“Will you stop that?” She lowered her face to
conceal the blush. “But thanks.”

He chewed, swallowed, and glanced up, meeting
her gaze. “Jaer’s good for you, Erynn. And you’re good for him.” He
chuckled. “Both of you are head strong and opinionated.”

A mixed group of men and women sitting at the
table behind Sean stood in a flurry of movement and hurried from
the room.

“What’s that about?” Erynn watched them
disappear into the dim corridor outside the dining hall.

“I don’t know.” Sean’s brow wrinkled, and he
glanced up at the DVSLs that ringed the large room. Each showed a
different view of the base, inside and outside. “Finish eating and
we’ll go find out. Cale will know.”

Halfway to Cale’s quarters/office, a relieved
Tam met up with Erynn and Sean in a deserted and gloomy corridor.
“Am I glad to see you. Didn’t appreciate being in this corridor
alone after learning…” Tam lowered her voice. “Did you hear what
happened? A woman was found murdered in one of the lower
passageways behind the storage lockers. She was torn apart.” Tam
grimaced and shuddered.

Erynn remembered her recent encounter with
meervorines
. Large beasts with beady yellow eyes, sharp
teeth, and razor claws, who lived in underground warrens and
carried the stink of rotting flesh. On her journey to find Cale,
she, Jaer, Sean, and Roni an Anbas Warrior, had been close to
finding out just how aggressive meervorines were. Surrounded by a
pack of the hostile animals, the idea that came to her seemed
absurd. Erynn understood that she must try something, or she and
her friends would die. In the ancient language of Comhra, a rarely
used dialect on Arranon, she’d demanded the meervorines leave,
driving the frightened and confused beasts back underground.

Shaking the memory of meervorines and the
unpleasant vision of damage they were capable of inflicting on the
human body, Erynn asked, “An animal?”

“Must have been.” Tam shivered. “If you’re
headed to Cale’s office, you won’t get close. There’s at least
twenty people lined up outside his quarters.

“When did this happen?” The scream that had
startled Erynn out of her dozing the previous night came to her
mind.

Maybe it hadn’t been the wind after
all
.

Erynn stared into the dim corridor beyond
where they stood.

Tam’s wide-eyed gaze followed Erynn’s. “Don’t
know,” she mumbled. “The body was just found.” She turned,
shivered, and leaned her back against the wall, better able to
watch both sides of the dark tunnel.

Jaer emerged from the shadows, flanked by his
brother, Aven, and another Anbas. All three men were tall and
powerful. They made an impressive sight in their black tunics and
quilted pants.

Erynn sensed the pleasure that swelled from
Tam and glimpsed the smile that brightened her golden-brown
eyes.

Aven grinned as he approached and leaned
against the wall next to Tam.

Jaer stopped in front of Erynn and ran his
warm fingers over her cheek. He must have known from their grim
expressions what the topic of conversation had been. “I am taking a
team into the warrens to find what did this.” His gaze darted to
Tam, then Sean. “Do not go out alone. Stay in common areas and in
large groups when in the tunnels.” He took Erynn’s hand and led her
away from the others. “Do not go out by yourself. Promise me.” He
cupped his hand under her chin and lifted, brushing a kiss against
her lips. “I could not bear my life without you.”