Stallion of Ash and Flame (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

“Why don’t we check the house first, real fast?”

She nodded and turned to walk back inside. Trail didn’t tell her he’d just psi-sensed that the odd anti-freeze was an aerosol weapon and had been shot inside her dog’s bodies. Shades of his world’s medium technological capabilities. Yet, he knew the bullets hadn’t been meant for him, except as a witness. Following in her wake, he did his own psi-powers investigation as they moved from room to room.

“It’s gone.” She spun around to him, her eyes wide with alarm.

“What?”

“Our future.” Impatiently she whipped around, then thrust a hand through her hair. “We put it in a shoebox. Our whole future gone.” A terrible moan poured out of her. Then she began pacing frantically, making whimpering sounds. “I won’t be able to—” But she didn’t finish.

“What?” He grabbed her shoulders, hauling her before him.

She resisted at first, her body stiff with absolute refusal. Then she went slack. “Oh, what does it matter now?” She loosed a ragged long sigh. “We found... Rory and I found some amulets. Very ancient from what we could determine doing research at the library
and on the internet. The strange thing, the amulets weren’t of Native American Indian origin, or we would have given them to the tribe they belonged to.”

“Amulets.” His entire body rampaged with knifing tingles, a sure sign that what she’d discovered was a mystical technology sought by many groups on Earth.

“There were two of them. The symbols looked like a combination of Nordic and Egyptian. We were going to find out all we could before selling them. We’ve already had offers, but not so high I thought someone would actually steal them.” Tears welled up in her eyes again. “Or that Luke and Spook would be...oh God!” She shivered violently. “Is that why...they, they tried to kill me? Rory and I just thought we could get ahead financially, make some improvements. You know, a better life.”

“I think,” he began very slowly, “you might have found amulets so ancient they are actually power devices used by a civilization long lost to history books.”

“Do you mean like Atlantis or Lemuria?”

“No, I’m talking about the advanced civilizations before that time. The amulets might have been from the era when Death Valley was created by a giant air strike. Beam weapons were used.”

“Not an ancient nuclear strike?” She blinked, her eyes huge with delayed shock.

“A similar result. But, no.”

“How do you know? Your Apache oral tradition?”

“It is in the oral history of many Indian nations, although it’s not always recognized.” Now wasn’t the time to explain his true origin and how he actually knew Earth’s past. “Seneca, close your eyes for me and think back. Are you certain your shoebox is gone? Is this where you placed it?”

Why a Shoebox?

About to deny him, instead, she clamped her lips and acquiesced, following his instructions. Closing his own eyes, it quickly became easy for him to lift the images of the amulets, placing them into his own mind. He would study them in detail later.

“They’re gone,” she whispered, despair in every line of her body. Twisting out of his grip, she moved to a side window. “Now I wish we’d never found them. It’s not worth what—” She pivoted back to him. “You know, what just happened to us, to Luke and Spook. It’s not worth it. Now that they’ve been stolen, I guess I don’t have to worry about being attacked again.”

“There may be more than one group after them,” he cautioned. “Why a shoebox?”

She shrugged. “It’s not like we have an actual safe. And even if we did, that could have been hauled out of here. And I could be just as...dead.” She turned at the waist and gave him a penetrating look. “If you hadn’t been here,” she paused, “Trail.”

His name had been mere breath with sound added.

“Bank box?” He raised his brows.

“Oh, please.” She spun around giving him a look of pure annoyance. “If they’re as valuable as you’re saying, they could have been confiscated like they’re doing in California currently. Hey, put your valuables in a bank box. Trust us. Yeah, trust the state of California to take possession of the contents on the pretext that the box has been abandoned, even though it hasn’t been. Besides, if the amulets are some sort of ultra ancient technology, then some shadow government agency would have gotten to them.”

He knew she spoke the truth He’d asked because that’s what would have been expected in his role as a human man in her culture. Plus, he’d wanted to know her response.

Moving past him, she opened a closet door. Several hunting rifles were mounted inside. Selecting two of them, she handed him one, then strode toward the front door, grim determination in every line of her body. “They’re loaded,” she announced.

Trail moved beside her outside, and she waved her arm. “Why don’t you check for tracks and I’ll tend to Chief. Dammit, I hate this. Now I’ve also endangered the horses. All because we found those things and thought we could use them to make our lives better. I thought luck was on my side for once. I should have known better.”

“Seneca ”

“What?” she snapped. He felt the wildfire of her pain race through her. “I should have known something was wrong when Luke and Spook didn’t alert me to your presence.”

“I’ll check for tracks.” He’d have to calm her later when her flames died down.

She gave a short nod before striding inside the stable. Reluctantly, he moved away from her. It would take her time to rely on him because she generally took care of herself. What was he thinking? That would only devastate her if he did win her over, then had to leave her. No explanation. Just gone out of her life.

Focusing himself as he’d been trained to do since youth, he stretched all of his physical senses outward, along with his sixth sense capabilities, and searched for any telltale anomalies.

Entering a stream of consciousness state, he began tracking three operatives, human, but of indeterminate origin. Their energy signatures had swiftly dissipated as if they knew how to control them. With relief, he followed the thin streams of energy away from the stable area
.

Whatever had occurred had not taken place near the horses, or he would have picked up their distress when he’d first entered her stable. Heading off at a fast jog, he found the spot, near the entrance to her property, where Luke and Spook had been shot with the aerosol. The two dogs had probably been charging an unfamiliar vehicle.

Squatting, he inspected the tire tracks closest to her open livestock gate. Barely noticeable on the hard-packed ground were his pickup truck’s tracks, the jeep tracks from their attackers and another set of tracks. Chills skittered through him as he recognized them. The Fire Starters.

Their vehicle would have been invisible to the human eye. The only reason for tires was for the sake of visibility in the Earth’s population, whenever the Fire Starters thought it desirable to interact with humans.

Like a glove, they outfitted themselves in an energy field that made them appear as regular people.

Had the Fire Starters somehow tracked him here? Or had they followed the team responsible for taking the amulets? The Fire Starters didn’t have a need for the amulets themselves, given the level of their technology, or so he believed. However, they would have wanted to prevent the acquisition by their enemies. At least, that was his speculation until he found out different.

With great care, Trail sent the beam of his consciousness after the Fire Starter vehicle. They could detect his direct mental observation, so he remained in the outer frequencies. By the flow and route they took, it became clear the Fire Starters tailed their enemies.

“Damn the sucking sands.”

Drojovv Zyan of the V’Trailuc Realm cursed in his own language
,
once he stood up. His internal sight fastened on a secret US military installation, actually a troop station. The base was part of a hidden spidery network of underground bases, and the worst part, it sat near his realm’s Earth portal.

The portal was located inside a massive cave system near the largest entrance, and he had been sent on a mission to protect the sensitive technology from the stunning number of fires being started in the surrounding forest.

After checking his visionscape for any telepathic intrusions, he beamed his sight at the portal. The shimmery pool-like surface became visible to him, but would appear as a crystal-glinting surface on the cave wall to most humans. So far, he had stopped five fires in a manner that appeared natural. He’d used his ability to phase into the frequency of flame once he shifted to stallion, then gathered up the energy of the blazes, stopping the forest fire by racing through it.

“Find anything?” she called out to him.

Turning, he watched her approach on Chief, who walked sedately. She’d hopped on the paint bareback and used his halter like a bridle.

“Found my tire tracks, the jeep’s tire tracks, and another set of tracks that are difficult to identify.”

“What do you mean difficult to identify?” She halted Chief several feet away from him.

“The type of tire. It’s not a commercial brand.” He envied Chief her thighs and the feel of her butt on his back. The paint knew it, giving him a lazy wink of one eye.

“Oh, great,” she muttered, her gaze trained on the ground where he’d been crouched. “I can’t see anything except tiny ridges.”

“Grandfather began teaching me the moment I could follow him around.” Damn, what a relief to speak that truth to her.

“Anything else you need to follow up on?” she asked, worry edging her tone.

“I don’t think so. I might be able to find the location of the vehicle used by the team who stole your amulets.”

“Team? What do you know that I don’t?”

“I am a tracker, Seneca. This is the work of a team, probably five people, at least.” He pivoted, facing her fully. Her cheeks showed more color now, spiking relief through him. “They would have had three lookouts stationed. The other two would have hiked a back route onto your property. They would have used covert tech to detect where you were and waited for the right opportunity.”

“Grab the amulets, then get out. But first, poison Luke and Spook.” She shuddered, then released a sad sigh. “It’s so creepy knowing they were inside the house and what they did to my dogs.” The sudden intensity of her gaze cut through him. “Actually, I’d like to kill them.” She laid the rifle across her lap as if refusing herself that kind of retaliation.

Trail watched as the realization hit her
.

“I don’t understand. If that’s how the amulets were stolen, who shot at us?”

“Thugs hired to make it look like just a robbery gone bad.”

“Oh.” It had taken her a moment to respond. “No wonder the sheriff never hires you on as a tracker.”

“Wondered that myself. Guess he knows by my reputation I wouldn’t go along with any dirty dealings.” Moving to Chief, Trail looked at the gooey mixture she’d used to dress the paint’s cheek wound.

“Honey and goldenseal root powder,” she explained.

“Natural is best,” he agreed, seeing the healing frequency at work.

“What now?” she questioned, a sour note in her tone. “Other than watching over the horses and taking care of Luke and Spook. I checked on them before I rode down here and gave them another dose of charcoal.” She made a tiny sound of resignation. “I think they might recover. But who knows for certain?”

“Now, Seneca, I’ll take another look through the house. Might have missed something.”

She nodded. “Maybe I should contact all my boarders and suggest they find another stable. I just couldn’t stand it if something bad happened to any of their horses.”

Taking hold of Chief’s halter, Trail turned the paint around and walked beside them as they moved up the drive. He couldn’t stand how bleak she sounded, as if her light drained from her soul. Hell, he couldn’t advise her not to relocate her boarders, since his sense of the future suggested she wasn’t out of danger yet. He knew one thing. He wasn’t going anywhere else.

He also knew only his mission to keep the portal safe and viable would take him away from her. The portal remained crucial to both worlds, in part, because of a genetic sharing vital to his people and to help the wild equines of Earth survive.

“Truth be told,” she continued, “it’s probably time, anyway. Rory and I hoped to build more of a nest egg and get the amulets sold before we ended our boarding business.”

“Where did you find the amulets?”

She stilled, so silent inside, he could hear the vibrational hum of her being. “I can’t tell you.”

“Why? Are there more artifacts?”

“Yes.” She stretched the word out, trying to decide what to tell him, and what not to tell him. “Not anything like the amulets, though.”

“You realize neither you nor Rory are safe. Whoever stole the amulets knows where you found them
,
or they think they know.”

“And they don’t want us around talkin’ or interfering with their plans. Oh lovely, still a shooting target. And now Rory is a target. Crap! His accident might not have been an accident. Oh no,” she softly wailed, anxiously repositioning herself on Chief. “Actually, Rory doesn’t know the exact location. I found them. One of those strange coincidence things.”

“I don’ think he’s a target anymore.” Trail sought any way to reassure her.

“Why would you say that?”

“Remote viewing. Have you heard about it?”

“Of course. Why?” Slight irritation owned her tone.

“My family has their own version. From what I can ‘view’ he’s no longer in danger because whoever remote viewed him found out he didn’t know the actual location.”

“Okay, this has become suddenly more bizarre than...than—” She handed him her rifle. Dismounting quickly, she snapped Chief’s lead rope onto a long line so he could graze in the front yard. Whirling to face him, she took the rifle back and frowned at him. “And why should I believe you about anything?”

“Because you do.” He paused, nearly lost in the spirited sparks of her eyes. “Because your own intuition is aligning with mine, isn’t it?”