Crystal Tomb (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 3) (10 page)

Perhaps this was an opportunity to
speak to Lorel, who came from one of the most oppressed of the
clans. Surely the xenobiologist would sympathize with
him.

He had to plan it carefully. For three
years, they had been too busy, focused on learning the human
culture and language and tracking all references to crystals and
Inari—angels in human mythology—that they could find. Now that they
were close to the end, he would have to put his plans into motion.
The Nakor would fall and the oppressed clans would rule under a new
leadership.

Under his rule, they would destroy the
Inari, where their fellow soldiers had failed.

Dar Lorel strolled ahead, her
movements in the fluid grace of the Risaal far outclassing the
jarring pace of the humans or Inari. Kalas dropped his camouflage
and hurried after her. He focused on the hallway ahead and the
familiar colors of Risaal in camouflage, a visual adaptation of
their species.

One of them stood still along the wall
ahead, blending in perfectly to those without their secondary
vision. He would have to be careful what he said.

{"I am not the Inari."} The words came
from Lorel in a deep growl and her strides lengthened with the
clear intention of putting distance between them.

He restrained the ripple of spines
down his back at the unexpected rebuke from Lorel and easily kept
pace with her. This might be easier than he had expected. {"No, but
I must speak with you."}

She said nothing and they rounded a
corner together.

If she would join him, he would need
only a couple more supporters to gain power. If Rik remained
unconscious, Kalas might have enough support with Lorel on his
side. How fortunate that the crystal had knocked the Nakor
unconscious and potentially eliminated one threat.

Kalas scanned the corridor but they
were alone. {"Join me."}

{"Why?"} The spines along her back
rippled in a clear sign of anxiety.

{"Not here."}

Together they marched
through the dull corridors, passing a few soldiers carrying out
their duties. Some of them knew of his plan, while others had
displayed some disdain for their Nakor masters but had not yet
defected to his side. If—No,
when
the time came, he hoped they would join him. The
others he couldn't be sure about.

{"How long do you think the human will
survive?"} he asked.

{"Difficult to guess. He's already
lasted longer than the other three."}

Too true. The man in
holding also proved hardier than the others they had tortured. All
bore an Inari symbol tattooed on their hands. None had surrendered
the information they wanted, but research had linked the men
bearing the symbol to rumors of an Eye. The mythology of its
presence linked to the coming of winged beings, angels or Valkyrie,
had snatched their attention. Finding the monolith of Inari writing
had been another lucky find. One way or another, they would find
the stolen
D'Nuvar
.
The Inari were now the key to linking the clues to the
crystal.

{"Surik should not have tortured the
other three to death."}

The spines on Lorel's back lifted
slightly, but what part of his statement agitated her—leaving off
the title of their commander or his opinion of what Surik had done
to the prisoners? Lorel had been the one monitoring their life
signs and seemed to take a special interest in the humans'
well-being.

{"I warned him they were weak."} Her
voice hushed as they passed through the corridor. {"He went too far
with them."}

{"He learned, though. This one lives
longer."}

{"This one is hardier than
the others. He pushed this one near death while you were gone. I
fought to revive him. It's good for us that human anatomy is
sturdier than Inari. He will kill them too, and we will be no
closer to finding the
D'Nuvar
."} A snort blew from distended
nostril slits and she halted, her spines flattening. {"He will
listen to you."}

Kalas glanced back down the
hall through which they had walked without passing anyone. No one
approached. {"He listens to no one but his clan. Once he has
the
D'Nuvar
, the
Nakor will be powerful again."}

Her eyelids sank with her head and her
body took on a posture of attack. Perhaps he had said too
much.

Or not. The gurgling growl from her
throat indicated a foul mood, but against him or the Nakor? She
made no move to attack him.

{"It should benefit our whole world,"}
he whispered.

Lorel straightened and fell silent.
{"You believe this?"}

{"Many of us do."}

The padding of feet came from the end
of the corridor.

{"I will speak to you later."} Kalas
parted with her as a guard strode past, his gun holstered at his
waist.

Kalas had either given himself away as
a traitor to Lorel or gained another supporter. She was wise to use
caution, and he had tried, but one of them had to speak up. Now he
could only hope Lorel shared his feelings about the Nakor, although
he would be surprised if she supported the clan who had eliminated
most of hers.

Subtleties and Instigations

Darkness filled the room,
defined by the pinpoints of lights organized in sections, some
blinking while others shone steadily, until a piece detached and
approached.

A nightmarish face
materialized in the faint light, and spines shifted on a face with
four slits beneath the eyes and a lipless mouth stretching beneath
that into what appeared to be a smile. The spikes along the face
shrank to almost nothing. Fingers tipped with short claws partially
enclosed the view, touching it but not, as if separated by a
barrier.

The Risaal carried the
viewer; the scene shifted with movement, until a cloth thrown over
hid all sights.

Images blurred, until
after some time, a voice hissed and clicked and the scene opened to
a…forest? Giant alien trees filled the scene, interconnecting
branches forming walkways upon which other Risaal crossed. Orange
fan-like leaves spread about the tops with green blotches forming
bumps along the height. Clusters of artificial structures and
lights attached to the trees.

{"We have to hurry."} The
translation of the strange language made it easy. The speaker
sounded worried. {"The consular ship is almost ready to leave. The
dead guards will be noticed soon."}

{"The Nakor will soon
fall,"} another voice replied. {"We will be free."}

The scene shifted and
bounced, voices mingling. It settled once again, but this time on a
platform upon which a radiant ship berthed. The delta-wing shape of
the silver and blue arrow glistened in the light and a short ramp
descended from the underside to the platform.

An entourage of angels
approached from one of the nearby tree-like structures, their hair
and wings ranging in colors from black to various shades of brown
to the yellow of the lead figure.

{"It will soon
end."}

{"Are you ready?"} The
second voice spoke clearly this time. {"Go. Now."}

The Risaal carrying the
view source approached the lead Inari, a woman of regal presence in
a layered outfit of a translucent beige gown over lavender pants
and midriff-exposing top with gold trim. Golden hair cascaded down
her shoulders, matching the wings barely visible in their tightness
to her back. Her pursed lips loosened with the furrowing of her
brow as she halted. Four female attendants wore weapons belted to
their dark green uniforms, but they made no move for them. A lone
Risaal apparently presented little threat.

The Risaal knelt before
the dignitary, the view source held over the bearer's bowed head in
both hands.

["What's this?"] The lead
Inari turned aside to a young boy in the same green as the armed
women.

{"The lady wishes to
understand,"} the boy said in the guttural sounds of the Risaal
tongue.

{"We offer this gift on
behalf of the lesser clans,"} the Risaal said. {"Judge not all of
us by the self-interests of our rulers."}

The woman's frown
deepened. ["This is inappropriate…but I understand your
predicament. Your gift will be remembered."] She motioned to one of
the attendants to take the gift while the boy translated. ["We will
return when we are welcomed by your leaders as you have
demonstrated. Thank you."]

After the boy translated,
the kneeling pair of Risaal lifted their heads. {"We anticipate
that day with gladness, emissary."}

At the boy's translation
to the Inari, the woman smiled and entered the ship with her
attendants and the view source in her hands.

She took a seat in the
rear compartment surrounded by attendants, the gift in her hands so
she filled the view. ["Not all are suspicious of outsiders like
those in charge. There may be hope for the Risaal yet."]

.

Images merged with the harsh pain of
reality in Raea's head. Oh, man. It hurt. The hard floor she laid
on didn't exactly help. Memories turned back to the warmth of the
resonance consuming her in a fire she swore should have burned her
to ashes amid the tumultuous shrieking of the Starfire entities.
All she did was touch the center red stone of the
monolith.

The monolith—

She opened her eyes. Still there. She
hadn't been moved either, based on the ceiling far
above.

And neither had Elis, who lay next to
her with his eyes closed.

Her heart jumped from her chest in
fear. Was he hurt? "Elis?"

No answer.
Oh, God. Please, please, PLEASE let him be
okay.

His chest rose and fell
with his breath.
Thank
goodness
. Relief slowed her
pulse.

Awkward with her hands shackled, she
rolled onto her side and reached for him. At the touch of her
fingers on his cheek, he jerked his hands up as if to brush her
away.

"Elis, it's me," she
whispered.

Deep purple eyes fluttered opened and
turned to her with his smile, his hands stopping on hers.
"Raea?"

"I'm here." And so needing him to hold
her that she pressed close against the familiar musky scent of his
body. Things would be easier if they had their hands free, but that
would be too much to ask their captors, the Risaal.

The thought of them
returned the vision in crisp detail. Her shard must have been
there, which meant the Risaal were right about the Starfire being
their
D'Nuvar
.
That's the only way the Starfire could have shown her the scene and
translated their language. What were the two doing giving it to the
Inari emissary?

Kan Rikku
Nakor Surik had said the Inari stole the
D'Nuvar
, but the Starfire
had shown them giving it to the emissary as a gift.

Something didn't fit.

[No.]

What?

She blinked. Who had
spoken?

Warm lips pressed against her fingers.
Elis.

"Did you say something?" she
asked.

"Not until now."

"No. I thought I heard a
voice."

"The Starfire?"

"No. A clear voice…Nevermind." It must
have been her imagination. She shoved aside her concerns and
pressed closer to the security of Elis's warmth in the cold
chamber.

["I was worried about you. What
happened?"] His breath blew through her hair.

Good question. She wished she knew.
["I don't know. The Starfire reacted when I touched the stone. I
saw…I saw the Risaal offering the Starfire to an Inari
emissary."]

["Offering it... "]

["Yes. This Nakor Surik guy said the
Inari stole it from them, but the Starfire was there. It was
offered to the Inari delegation as...as a gift."] Except something
still didn't make sense. There was something else unclear. ["I
don't know the details. It just showed me that it was given to the
Inari right before they left the Risaal homeworld."]

He said nothing. She recognized the
distracted look on his face and the way he caressed her cheek.
Unfortunately, the hard floor wasn't her bed and her cuffed hands
reminded her she was a prisoner. The dank smell of the chamber made
things worse.

No, the click and scrape of the door
followed by the variable padding of steps made things
worse.

Raea rolled to her back and looked up.
Oh, no. Not him again.

Elis jumped to his feet, placing
himself between her and the Risaal. She rose slowly behind him,
giving her head a chance to quit the mild throbbing.

The man stopped before Elis in a stoic
posture, his eyes locked with the dark glare beneath Elis's wild
black locks. The Risaal fingered something in his hand and a calm
dread passed through Raea. Confidence plus something in his hand
equaled a bad combination.