cosmicshifts (17 page)

Phillip nodded. He trailed his fingers down her cheek carefully.

Herman squeezed his hand. “I know you
didn
’
t know about the baby. I
’
m sorry. I hope that I can…”

The other male growled something, but his mother came back into the room. “
Heragthan
, your father is not going to be happy about this. I can
’
t hide the three of you. The guards who saw you, the scientists will talk. Whoever saw you
…
You can
’
t stay here. They
’
ll
come to your cave and find the other woman you
’
re hiding. The guards will go out on another patrol. You won
’
t be able to stay
here
.”

“Where can I go?” he asked.

She rushed over to a trunk in the corner where she kept all of her ceremonial jewelry and attire and dug into it. She came out with a metal tablet and handed it to him. “This will show you the way.”

Herman glanced at the tablet and his eyes widened. “You know what this means?”

“I do. Your father
doesn
’
t know about this. He
’
s never known. It
’
s been protected by my line. Go out the back. I
’
ll
distract them the best that I can.” She drew him into his arms and gave him a quick hug. “Never let anyone tell you that you
’
re not worthy of the gifts you
’
ve
been given.”

He nodded, unable to find the words to respond. He handed the tablet to Phillip who had donned his cloak and it covered his beast form. He shot him a questioning look, but there was no time to explain what was going on. Herman scooped up
Alika
and held her close while also taking another fur from the bed and wrapped it around her so she would stay warm in the frigid environment. He gestured to Phillip to go out into the garden next to his mother
’
s quarters. They sneaked out, and the plants were larger and more overrun than the small courtyard where they had first come into the palace. His mother screamed something to the guards. They clamored toward them. They would have to go around the rest of the palace. Once they passed, he pressed a series of buttons in the wall, and a panel slid back. Herman could see his exit. If they could get around the bend and out of the open before the others noticed, then they would have a chance to get into the caves. No one knew the cave system like he did. He glanced back at his mother but
didn
’
t see her. A pang of sorrow hit his heart because this was goodbye.

They dashed from the compound and slipped out into the open. As they did, he heard the blaring alarm. They moved as quickly as they could through the snow drifts and into the cave. Above them, Herman heard the distinctive sound of wings cutting through the air from the guard searching for them. They tread further in as he saw the first shadows of the winged creatures fly overhead.
Alika’s
breathing was shallow, and he didn’t want to put her in anymore danger, but they had to press on until they were out of sight. The guard would see their tracks in the snow, unless another storm had blown in and covered them. So Herman led Phillip an alternative way back. This would give him some time to stabilize
Alika
without being interrupted. He would have to work quickly so he could get back to
Elarna
. Phillip knelt next to the female and held her hand. Herman laid a hand on his.

“It
’
s going to be okay. Hang onto the tablet and let me know if you hear or see anyone coming. I need you to let me work on her. Once that happens then we can get back to
Elarna
. Then we can talk about what is on that tablet. Okay?”

The other man nodded and stood up, keeping the tablet next to him. Once Phillip was out of range, Herman concentrated all his attention on
Alika
. Moving her had not helped. It had thrown her systems out of synchronicity, so he had to make sure everything was working congruently once more. Her breathing was labored. Her hearts beat erratically. Something was wrong with her spleen. He gritted his teeth against the work ahead of him and let his hands guide him to where she needed to be healed. He tried to get her body back in a harmony with itself.

Chapter Seven

Elarna
lay snuggled in the furs that Herman had left for her after he had departed with Phillip to rescue
Alika
. She prayed to all the goddesses she knew they would retrieve
Alika
and get her back safely. She hoped her friend wasn’t beyond helping.
I wonder if his ability to heal is passed down through his family. That’s how it is on
Rovan
with our healers. Sometimes there are things that technology can’t heal.
If it is, it would be a great asset to the planet. Although when I mentioned going home and getting off this ball of ice he didn’t seem too happy.

She
hadn
’
t assumed he would want to go, but maybe he did. He had seemed to share her attraction to him. He didn’t discourage her when she made advances toward him. They had consummated their relationship, but it could have also been in response to the physical need she had within her. Nonetheless, her hearts warmed when she thought about the gentle giant. He had saved her life. It was at least fair to repay him in some way.

Whenever he was around her,
Elarna
’
s head swam with the sight and the smell of him. His animal scent triggered her desires. Maybe it was something to do with the energy that had passed between them or maybe it was a pheromone. Either way, the
Yetan
had been kind to her and was risking his life to save her friend. She had traveled to the farthest corner of the universe to some backwater planet to rescue
Alika
. Not that she minded because her friend had gotten her out of many tight spots in the past, but
Elarna
never figured that she would find a male in all of this. Or that she would crash land on the hunk of ice that was forbidden because of what they knew about the planet.

The planet had been put off the list for the procurement of males because many years ago a distress was picked up. A woman had landed on
Kraztarn
and the Yetis were waiting for her and her partner when she got off. Her partner made it back in wounded, but she sent out a warning that they were taken hostage and doing experiments on them. It
wasn
’
t safe for anyone to come down to the planet. Someone had gotten into the ship and had killed her. Now their ship had been destroyed in the crash. She had no means of getting home. They would be on the run for the rest of their lives. How could she survive on such a hostile world for the rest of her life?

Something clattered to the cave floor and echoed through the cavern.
Elarna
held her breath and remembered what Herman had told her. She listened again and it sounded again.
The sound of feet crunching stone.
The clothes Herman had set out for her were on the edge of the bed. She slipped those on. The shirt was too big and hung to her knees. So were the pants and the boots, but at least they were something to keep her warm. His words went through her mind as she tried to stay calm.
Elarna
took a couple of
luma
stones and wrapped a fur around her so she could stay warm. She poked her head out and didn’t see anyone in the main room. She found the animal he had killed and wrenched a leg off it and took a bite.
Elarna
hugged the wall as she inched down the corridor and heard low growls coming toward her. She recalled the entrance for her escape might not look like an opening at all. The stones scraped along her back as she inched further down until she found a niche to hide in.

It was then she saw the other
Yetans
.

If they were in the cave, then they must have figured out Herman was the one who had taken
Alika
. The large, hairy beasts grunted, and she prayed they would not see her.
Elarna
blew on a
luma
stone as Herman had said to do and it lit up in the darkness. She could see further down the tunnel as it declined deeper into the earth. The others said something; they sounded closer. She had no time to spare.
Elarna
descended as quickly as she could and discovered a long staircase that went further down into the ground. She
couldn
’
t see the end as she kept on going, and the air grew warmer so she didn’t need the pelt. But she wasn’t about to drop it in case the guards came looking for her. The
luma
stone only provided enough illumination for her to see a few steps in front of her. Everything was eerily quiet; she could only hear her pulse pounding in her ears and her breathing. She stopped what she thought was half way down to catch her breath. She had to blow on the
luma
stone again to make sure it stayed lit. It was clear the stairs were ancient because some were chipped and appeared cracked, but she wasn’t too concerned and finally made it down to the bottom. When she did, she was met with a large stone carving of some creature with its mouth wide open. Herman
’
s warning rang in her mind. There were hiding places in the temple that she should find.

The crystals gave off enough light to examine the temple. It appeared to be old. If it predated the evolution of the
Yetans
, then whoever had carved it was an advanced civilization because of the precision of the carvings and how tightly the stones fit together. She ran her hands over a column that stretched upward into the darkness. Maybe the race had been giants because everything around her was massive. The writing on the pillar was faded so she couldn’t make it out.

Utter silence surrounded her except for her footsteps reverberating around where the temple resided. It
didn
’
t seem like it had sunken into the ground by some earthquake. The structure seemed intact.
Elarna
walked down a large promenade with statues of wolf like creatures lining either side spaced about every ten feet. They appeared to be alive, staring at her. Their teeth were barred and several of them had two tails. She placed her hand on one just to make sure it was cold stone. The further she ventured into the temple, the hotter she got. She was sweating with the fur and set it behind one of the stones, out of sight. She realized that she was heading toward something. This was not just a temple, it was an underground city. She just didn’t know how large it was because she didn’t have enough light to see by. From the main promenade she saw more hallways that went left and right and diagonally, more than she could count. There appeared to be openings to homes, but she wasn’t sure.

Instead she kept on going straight until the road ended at the steps of another building.
Elarna
went up the steps and found that she was in what seemed to be a large temple. Curiosity drew her into the bowels. She headed toward the altar and saw two doors on the side. The right one was closed, so she went into the left one. She blew on the
luma
stone and it brightened some. In the center of the room was a statue of a
Yetan
. Its arms were outstretched and the fingers pointing in different directions. Which direction would bring her to the temple’s inner sanctum? If this was a place like some other cultures she had come across then certain tunnels could lead to traps or nowhere at all. Or they could be a labyrinth. A draft of air blasted from her right she decided it was best to go in that direction because the air was fresher.

As she walked down the corridor, she noticed a painting along the wall. It was a mural of a
Yetan
reaching out to lights in the sky. There was another being
who
resembled
Alika
with green skin, but the features were not defined. As she moved along the mural it depicted the
Yetan
and the other alien mating. A child was born and then the green skinned alien left the
Yetan
with the child. On the next panel, the child was elevated in status. The
Yetan
held the babe and pointed toward the stars. The next panel depicted the child laying hands on a
Yetan
, but he was hairless. The last one showed the child older, hairy and he was still held in reverence. Her mind began to work at the things she had seen. The statues of the two tailed wolves looked similar to
Alika
in her
canis
form. On
Rovan
they had healers who could shift into an animal. The painting showed a green skinned woman coming out of a spaceship. It was too much of a coincidence.

“That
’
s interesting,”
Elarna
muttered. Maybe the child was some ancestor of Herman’s because he was special among the
Yetans
even if he
didn
’
t see that. He healed and technically had a dual nature. If he carried
Rovian
genes that meant they were related and it also showed that the procuring of males had been going on for longer than anyone knew.
I wonder if he knows about this. If not, he should.

The corridor she was in came to a sudden stop. At the end of the passageway the
orangish
red glow of lava lit up the space. The room had a large crack in it from where the stone had fallen into the magma. It was obvious that she was in a volcano. There was no telling when it would erupt. From the size of the chamber, it would be a colossal disaster when it did. She couldn’t see to the other side of the mammoth lava lake.
Elarna
glanced upward into the volcano’s throat and saw the blue and purple light of
luma
stones that resembled the night sky with the stars winking in and out. Half way up was a ledge that looked large enough to land her ship on, if she still had a ship.

Elarna
stayed by the lava pool for a while and enjoyed the silence while eating the leg of the animal Herman had cooked. It had a tangier taste to it than what she was used to, but she enjoyed it. She wondered if she was okay to return to the cave and see if Herman had come back. She
couldn
’
t have them be captured. She
couldn
’
t have all of the work he had gone into healing her and them rescuing
Alika
go to waste. She decided it was best that she go look because maybe he was searching for her as well.
Elarna
headed back down the corridor, retracing her steps.

As she walked, she noticed hers were the only footsteps in the dust that had settled onto the floor. When she got past the mural, she heard someone whispering. Creeping closer, she gripped the
luma
stone ready to use it as a weapon. It was the only thing she had besides shifting her shape and she
didn
’
t want to be caught naked if she changed back. If she needed to communicate it was easier to be in human form. She slid along the wall and peered around the corner.
Alika
leaned against the
Yetan
statue wrapped in a long fur. Her friend looked tired, as if she had been through all the under dimensions, but she was walking around.
Alika
stepped into Phillip
’
s arms.
Elarna
glanced at Herman who had switched back to his beast form. He smelled like something she had never detected before. It was an intoxicating mixture of musk and something with a darker edge to it. She knew it was safe and came out from around the corner. When she did, she stood before him and bit her lip, realizing how awful she must look. He smiled at her. Her reservations melted away and she hugged him.

“You got her out,” she said.

He nodded.

“How did you get down here?”
Elarna sked.

He withdrew a metal tablet and held it out to her. The writing on it was foreign, but it appeared similar to the script on the columns in the temple. She figured it must have been something significant. Maybe it was a map. “Can this get us out of here?”

He grunted which she took as a yes.

She walked over to
Alika
and placed a hand on her arm. “Hey, are you okay?”

The other woman chuckled. “
Wonderful. I feel like a troop of gorenauts ran over me.
”

“Do you know what happened with the crash?”
Elarna
asked.

Alika
shook her head. “
No. I don’
t remember much except shoving Phillip into the escape pod and then we hit the ground. I thought I smelled something burning. It might have been an electrical fire. Something went wrong internally to trigger those sensors that went off. It
wasn
’
t like we were hit with something.
Didn
’
t I tell you not to stop at that outpost because they had cheap labor?”

Elarna chuckled.
“
I don’
t think it was the outpost labor that did it. I guess we
’
ll
never know exactly what it was. But it
’
s good they got you out.”

Her friend nodded, but
Alika
wasn’t her chipper self. Something had happened to her that she
wasn
’
t ready to face yet or at least talk about because of the haunted expression she wore. She snuggled into Phillip who was in his Bigfoot form.
Elarna
went back to Herman. They
couldn
’
t spend the rest of their lives in the corridors of this temple. They
couldn
’
t go back up because of the guards. She hoped Herman had another plan.

“You were right about the guards coming to the cave. I came down here. Thanks for the hint. Do you know a way out of here? I assume it has to do with this tablet.”