Fire Island: Book 3 of The Chatterre Trilody (Chatterre Trilogy) (14 page)

Chapter 19

Nimri. Larwin and Thunder silently ate their evening meal, while Raine cooed and giggled with Mica.

"How certain are you that jumping to wherever Tem-aki is would be safe?" Larwin asked.

Thunder shrugged.

Nimri swallowed before she spoke. "How can we ever be sure about anything?" She frowned at both Larwin and Thunder. "I mean did any of us know if the Star Bridge would be safe before we stepped in?"

"I didn't realize that was what I was doing," Larwin said. "I mean, how could I have?"

"Well, its good that you did," Thunder said. "Otherwise, I'm pretty sure you'd have died a long time ago."

Larwin nodded in agreement. "True, but this situation is different. In this one, we know we are making a choice and we aren't sure if we can backtrack."

"You're worried that if Bryta's theory that Tem-aki is dead is true, then a jump to wherever she is would be one way," Thunder said. Larwin nodded, again. "That is a valid fear, at least in some ways, but we already tested jumping between our own two skulls and had no problem. The fact that we see her in our skulls suggests that Tem-aki is also in possession of a skull and there is nothing to suggest that a jump to her location would be any different."

"My concerns aren't over the 'to part', they're over the 'and back again' potential." Larwin cracked his knuckles. "Don't get me wrong, I would love to see my sister alive and well, but not at the cost of losing one of you." He covered her hand. "Nimri, until I met you, I didn't really know what a lot of things meant." He cleared his throat. "I thought I knew what things like unconditional love, home and family meant, but I didn't. Not really."

The sincerity in his gaze was so overwhelming that her vision blurred. Nimri put her hand on top of his. "I understand how you feel. Believe me, I never got that from my great grand-father, either." She squeezed his hand. "You, Larwin, are the love of my life. You are my family and you are my home and I don't want to do anything to jeopardize that." She cleared her throat. "But Tem-aki is family, too, and if there is any way to bring her here, as Thunder started to do, I think its worth looking into."

He stared at her long and hard. "So you are determined."

Nimri nodded.

Thunder cleared his throat. "I will jump first and if I can' jump right back -" He shrugged.

Raine sobbed, then a moment later, Mica began wailing.

"No, I will go," Nimri said. "Since Larwin is my family, that means Tem-aki is, as well."

Thunder squared his shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "By that definition, she is also my family." He cocked a thumb at Mica. "Now, you – we – have others to worry about, too. And don't forget I was the one who lost her. Plus you not only have responsibilities to family, you also need to protect your tribe. Trust me, if I thought there was any real danger, I would not go."

Nimri laughed. "Since when do you avoid dangerous situations?"

"As of when I lost Tem-aki." Not knowing what to say to that, Nimri swallowed hard. "I lost her. It is my responsibility to find her. End of subject."

Raine carefully settled the somewhat calmer Mica into his carry-basket, stood up, then sprinted toward the stairs.

Larwin's fingers tightened on her hand, so the only thing Nimri could do was watch her go.

~o~

As the sun set and the boys headed for their hammocks, Cameron watched Tem-aki and GEA-4 continue to hover over the skull.

What was their fascination with it?

Why did GEA-4 spend nearly all her waking hours next to it?

And had he actually seen shadowy figures in it, or had that been his imagination? He squinted at the skull, nearly certain that he saw more figures in it. Moving across the room, for a better look, he heard Tem-aki say, "Thunder."

GEA-4 said, "And Nimri."

Cameron wished they trusted him enough to speak the common language, but at least they had begun making a few comments. Nothing that he could predict the future on, but those few words were a beginning. As he had that thought, the larger figure inside the skull lay down on the floor, as if sleeping and he felt a chill pass over him.

Strange that he didn't feel a breeze, but then the weather this time of year could change in moments. He looked out the window to the cloudless sky and decided that he didn't need to secure the shutters against a storm, though it might be a good idea to have an extra blanket near his hammock, if the temperature dropped during the night.

~o~

Nimri kept half her attention on her skull because Thunder's myst form had just leaped to wherever Tem-aki and GEA-4 were. Turning, she looked at his corporal form. Seeing his chest rise and fall, she exhaled a breath she hadn't even known she was holding.

Had she expected him to die, as his myst passed?

Apparently so.

When Thunder moved out of sight, Nimri glanced back at Larwin, Mica and Raine, who had insisted on being present during the experiment. Larwin and Raine were seated on the floor, their backs to the bed, and pretending to show Mica her favorite fairytale book. The golden dragon on the cover twinkled as it passed through a stream of sunlight, but Mica was the only one whose attention was on the picture.

Raine touched Thunder's wrist, then visibly relaxed. Raine gave Larwin a genuine smile.

Larwin raised a brow. "The pulse is good?"

"Very strong, so I guess I should have trusted him instead of worry."

"It is almost impossible not to worry over a leap into the unknown."

Raine nodded in agreement, then turning her attention back to Mica and the book, she began telling him about how she used to be a Dragon Shepard.

Kazza strolled into the room and laid down next to Thunder.

Nimri, who had already heard the dragon-herder story, turned her attention back to the skull and was surprised to see GEA-4 hold up a smooth dark surface, with chalky words written on it. Tem-aki was staring at her, as if willing her to respond.

'Is Larwin there?'

She turned back in time to see Larwin hand Mica to Raine. A moment later, he was next to her, standing with his hand on her shoulder.

Tem-aki's smile turned radiant, then she quickly washed the words off the dark surface with the rag, grasped a chunky whitish cylinder and began writing down a meaningless series of letters and numbers.

Larwin grabbed the lumpy black box he kept on his belt and started poking it. A glance told Nimri that he was putting in the same strange phrase that Tem-aki had written, so obviously it meant something to him.

Once he had them recorded, he smiled at the skull and put both his thumbs up. Tem-aki jumped for joy, while GEA-4 calmly put down the gray board.

After what seemed forever, but was only about a half hour, Thunder's myst-energy returned.

Nimri said, "That's your idea of 'just hop over and right back'?"

"Sorry, I got distracted."

"Couldn't you have popped back, to assure me it wasn't a one-way trip before you 'got distracted'?"

"Sorry."

"Well, what 'distracted' you?"

"First it was the water running." Nimri blinked as he looked over her shoulder, then softly smiled "I don't think you're the only one who was concerned. Let's rejoin our bodies, so I only need to tell what I've seen once."

It was quicker to reconnect than disconnect. But what Nimri hadn't anticipated was Raine's reaction. Upon seeing Thunder sit up, she burst into tears, and a split second later threw her arms around him, as if she'd thought she would never see him, again.

Eyebrow raised, Larwin looked at her. Nimri shrugged, but knew they were both wondering if Thunder and Raine realized that their friendship seemed to be headed for a deeper level. But that wasn't the most important thing at the moment. Tem-aki was.

When Raine's sobbing quieted, Thunder continued to hold her close to his side, as he began to explain why he had taken so long. "First, thing I saw when I popped over was water running."

Larwin scowled. "Why did that distract you? We see that every day."

Thunder nodded in agreement, then said, "But this was coming out of a golden tube and pouring into a bowl, which never overflowed. It was magic I had't seen, before, except that when I looked closely, I realized it wasn't magic, because there was another tube in the bottom of the bowl that the water ran into."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?" Larwin asked.

"Not long, but when I turned back to the skull, I looked out the window and saw that there was only a bit of land before what looked like water that stretched as far as I could see."

"That sounds like the place I've been seeing in my dreams," Nimri said.

"Exactly," Thunder said. "So, I wanted to make sure."

"And did you?" Larwin asked.

"I think so." Thunder tightened his arm around Raine. "On one side, some steep stairs go down to a narrow strip of sand between waves of beating water and a sheer cliff and up the stairs that was on the other side of the place where Tem-aki is, there is a sort of public place."

"What was that like?"

"Some sort of permanent market, with shops selling things, but they were all closed." Thunder frowned. "It seemed like it was just before sunrise there. Or at least it was sometime in the night, but the stars were not fully out and there was a vague gleam, on one horizon, as if the sun might be either coming or going." He glanced out the window, where the sun was high in the sky.

Larwin cleared his throat. "So, assuming she is on this planet, she is nowhere near us."

"And the only way we can get to her is by air or boat," Raine said. "It won't be easy, but at least it is doable."

"Doable?" Larwin blinked. "On Kalamar, no doubt, but with the technology of this planet?" Mouth flat, he shook his head.

Raine nodded. "This planet has a lot more resources for building a boat than Kalamar does."

Nimri cleared her throat. "The little boats we have to convey produce and wares to market wouldn't be sturdy enough to cross all that water, would they?" Memories of the two times she'd been in a boat made it difficult to breathe. She reminded herself that the second boat had not capsized and she had not faced drowning. Even better, she now knew how to swim.

"They might be big enough, but we will need something bigger, so we can carry enough food to get there." Raine frowned. "Maybe even enough to get back, if wherever she is does not have adequate food."

Seeing her expression, Larwin pulled her close and began to whisper encouragement.

Raine tilted her head to one side and glanced at Thunder, who answered her unspoken question. "Other than on your world, the only time I've ever been in a boat, a storm came up and it was sunk. I barely survived. My parents didn't."

Raine's hand went to her throat. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

Thunder nodded. Raine looked from him to Nimri, another unspoken question in her eyes, which Thunder understood, and answered, "I don't know how she made it. She didn't even know how to swim."

Nimri found her voice. "Kazza swam for us both, but I really don't want to think about that." She shivered. "Do you really think that we have materials to build something that could get us there safely?"

"First, we need to be sure where 'there' is," Larwin said.

"True," Raine agreed. "That will be the most difficult part."

"Not really." Larwin held up his lumpy black box and pointed to the numbers and letters he had copied down. "These are the coordinates of where they are, so all I need to do is compare these to the coordinates where we are." He snapped his fingers.

Raine grinned in delight.

Nimri shivered with dread. Even though she wished that it could be that easy to find Tem-aki, she knew the location of Sacred Mountain's Peak was in sight and known, but that did not make the journey there and back any easier. Or safer.

Maybe they should be happy having found a way to communicate with them. What they actually needed to do was find something they could write on, then wash off, so they would have a two-way dialogue.

Yes, that was what they needed, not a boat, or some endless trip across water to an unknown place.

Larwin hooked his free arm around his knee and looked at Thunder. "You were gone a long time. Other than running water, time of day and water to the horizon, did you discover anything else about where she is?"

"Due to the time of day, I couldn't be positive, but it appears to be an island. A really big island, but still an island."

"How could you tell?" Nimri asked.

He raised a brow. "How to you think?"

"You soared."

He nodded.

"Could you see Sacred Mountain?"

He shook his head.

Nimri scratched her head. "How can that be? Everyone can see it."

"Everyone that you know has lived in this same place for generations," Larwin said. "Your laws made leaving this known area a virtual death sentence. I've never understood why those were made."

"Why?" Raine asked. "Because Guerreterre's main mission seems to be finding other worlds and plundering them?"