Authors: Charity Bradford
The Magic Wakes (7 page)
Chapter 9
T
alia found herself in a strange place. Metallic gray walls surrounded her, sparse furniture and no clutter. The air tasted stale and smelled like pure oxygen when it leaked from the tanks in the lab.
She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Instead of soft skin, a hard covering of scales encased her well-defined muscles. Legs, arms, hands, and torso burned a deep scarlet that caught and reflected the light in the room. Not a shimmer, but close to it.
A mirror hung on the wall, and Talia hurried to it, holding her breath. Her nose was elongated, ears sharp and pointy. She fingered the boney ridges that ran down her neck and onto her shoulders. The only thing that looked like Talia were the eyes—still violet.
The image in the mirror smiled, and Talia screamed.
She bolted upright in bed, called for the lights, and touched her face. Her fingers met smooth skin and her nose was back to normal proportions, but the room was wrong. Her mother’s quilt was missing and so was the bedside table.
I’m in Joharadin, not Gneledar.
Talia crawled out of bed to find her dream journal and sat at the kitchen table to write. Her body had reacted differently to this dream. Instead of the usual weakness and shakes, she felt strong
.
She didn’t even need to wake Keeta for comfort. Let him sleep.
The Dragumon in her nightmares were always green and genderless. Yet in this dream, Talia sensed the red one was a female. One with a sense of power, pride, and a viciousness that made Talia’s stomach churn.
What did it mean? She didn’t understand the original dream set and now here was something new.
Why would I dream of myself as one of them?
Kansisi gazed through the starship viewport at the planet glowing bright enough to cause his green scales to shimmer in its light. The blue and green sphere hung like a jewel in the sky, finally within his reach.
For nine hundred years, he lived with only one desire—to return to the planet of his birth and claim it for the Dragumon.
After the dragons exiled them to Demaria, his people patiently gathered the technology needed to travel the stars. They suffered through slavery at the hands of imbeciles, but it was worth it when they stole their starships. That had been easy compared to locating Sendek’s galactic address. Fortunately, exile had one redeeming factor—long life. No Dragumon had died of illness or old age since walking through the portal taking them from Sendek.
Sick of starships, Kansisi struggled with his desire to attack immediately and establish the new order for his people. He could wipe out the cities of men in a matter of days, clearing the way for the Dragumon. He had done it many times before, but now he played a game of cat and mouse to please Shishali, his lover, and Nysyk, his best friend. They thought it enjoyable but he craved the surface of Sendek under his feet.
Shishali glided into the room. The sleek, red-scaled female with violet eyes had retained the graceful walk of a dragonkin after all these years, even though most of the Dragumon adopted the more efficient human-like walk.
She moved beautifully and Kansisi enjoyed watching her. Her scales were dull in the light of the spacecraft, but he remembered how they shimmered and glowed in the light of the suns.
“Shishali, this is not a good time.”
“I know you better than anyone else on this ship. I know all this waiting is driving you crazy, but try to enjoy the game.”
She walked past his desk and stood close to him, Sendek brightening her as she passed into its light. She reached up and caressed his face.
“Think how it will be to watch them fight for their lives, knowing how useless it is. You must tell them of all the worlds you destroyed in their name. Will they agonize over the loss of billions?” Her mouth curled into a cruel snarl as she bared her pointed teeth.
He pulled her close. “Will you ever tire of death and war? What do you want?”
“The same thing you want—a second chance to live. Give me that and I will always be yours.” She slipped from his arms. “I dreamed I walked on Sendek, and when I returned to the ship, someone came with me. A woman with violet eyes, a descendant of Father Elvin. The Signum lie about the mages being gone. I thought you needed to know.”
She left before he could comment.
Kansisi pulled up the planet schematic at his desk. The Dragumon satellites were programmed to monitor a special kind of energy force on the planet—the energy given off by a mage.
The satellite color-coded natural energy forces present on the planet: greens for the forests, blues the oceans, and small pockets of red around volcanic areas. Most of the world glowed with some form of natural energy, but Joharadin remained solid black, filled only with manmade energy sources. Werner was an idiot.
Kansisi laughed at the memory. When the Dragumon entered the Sendekian solar system two weeks earlier, they had picked up a looped coded message from a group of people looking for them.
“The Signum wait and hope for an alliance with the Dragumon to overthrow the current system of government.”
Shishali and his second in command, Nysyk, thrilled at the irony of it. The last time Dragumon walked on Sendek, the humans wanted to destroy them, and now they wanted an alliance.
Once communications were established, Nysyk had convinced the Signum leader that the Dragumon were allergic to trees. Everyone enjoyed a laugh as the Signum proceeded to pull up all the trees in the city as a sign of good faith.
When asked about the presence of mages, Werner swore they had eradicated all the mages thousands of years earlier. Kansisi, however, trusted Shishali’s instincts, and he trusted her dreams.
Mages were somewhere on this planet, and he needed to find them.
Chapter 10
T
alia spent the morning tweaking the landing sites in the colonization simulation, a nice change from her usual electrical and engineering work.
A strange hope grew as she thought about the prospect of a moon colony on Daedalus. If the Royalists lent financial support, the SEF could pull it off within two or three years. Maybe she could get herself assigned to the project. Getting off the planet might be the best chance of avoiding the fate of her dreams.
A smile played in the corner of her lips as she saved her work. She hadn’t felt this much hope in a long time.
She headed down to B Warehouse for lunch. The habitat was fully functional and Talia found it a nice place to eat in seclusion. She called up chicken salad from the metabolizer and waited at the science station to read about the myths and mysteries of Sendek.
She was reading the legend of the defeat of the dragons when Major Sutton sat down at the station across from her. Her heartbeat sped up, and her cheeks warmed. He looked calm and in control sitting there uninvited. Those blue eyes pierced right through her as he waited, giving no clue to what he wanted.
Talia didn’t speak until she was sure her voice would be strong and steady.
“I’m afraid you’ve caught me on a lunch break. How can I help you, Major Sutton?” She snapped off the computer screen.
“I didn’t plan on coming in today, but I had a question for you and was close by. I apologize for interrupting your lunch.” He sounded patronizing and superior, his face impassive.
“It must be some question for you to track me down in here.” She kept her tone cool and folded her hands in her lap. The sooner this interview was over the sooner he would leave.
“Miss Zaryn, it’s my job to seek out and find any possible conspiracies that would endanger the Royal family. There is currently within this city a very dangerous group of people who would like to see the Royalists removed from power.”
“I assume you are referring to the group who’s been sabotaging and stealing from our trams?” Talia watched him closely.
What game are we playing
?
Landry leaned back comfortably in the chair, resting his arms lightly on the armrest.
“Yes. After the meeting yesterday, I reviewed the records and histories of those present. Everyone checked out. Your records, however, have some inconsistencies in the government database. Why is that?”
His voice was strong, commanding.
Is he accusing me of being a traitor
? Talia straightened in her chair and squared her shoulders. This was unexpected; the confrontation simmering behind his gaze was unmistakable.
“I don’t know what inconsistencies you are referring to. Maybe you can enlighten me?” She frowned at him as he leaned forward in the chair, bringing him much too close.
“We have no birth record for you. I looked up your university application in order to find your parents’ names and hometown. The couple you list as your parents had a son, no daughter. Why is that?”
“How can that be? You looked up Helen and Donnelly Zaryn from Gneledar?” Confusion furrowed her brow.
“Yes, and they have one son, Roan Zaryn. When we first met, you seemed uncomfortable around Colonel Rankin and me. Is it because you were afraid we would discover your secrets? Secrets that directly affect our kingdom?”
Shock coursed through Talia. How could he know? Her mind raced over everything she had said in the meeting. Nothing could have hinted at her secret.
Perhaps her face had betrayed that brief moment of unexplainable anxiety, but even that would not be enough for him to discover her powers. She took a shaky breath.
Focus
.
“I don’t understand how mistakes in your records concerning my parentage tie me to this group you mention. As for secrets, Major, everyone has secrets. That doesn’t make them a traitor. Helen and Donnelly are my parents and Roan my brother. I don’t know why our information isn’t linked in your records, but I don’t have to prove to you or anyone else who I am.”
Talia stood up, hoping he would take the hint and leave.
Sutton stood as well, bringing him close to Talia. He glared down at her, his lips tight and eyes blazing.
Fear crept in to accompany the anger that already warmed her blood. Talia struggled to control her temper.
“Unfortunately, Miss Zaryn, you must do just that. If we called the Zaryn family to come for a visit, would they claim you as their own?”
Talia clasped her necklace tight. Was he serious?
Call the Zaryn family to visit?
“Who do you think you are?” Her voice shook. She pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“I’m good at my job, Miss Zaryn, and I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”
“Your job? If you were good at your job, you would know my father died twelve years ago, followed by my mother and then my brother, Roan. If you want, I can supply you with the exact date and time of death. As well as where I was when I lost yet another person I loved. Within five years I lost everyone. And you have the nerve to threaten to take them away from me again?”
The anger melted to pain as his accusations forced Talia to recall the darkest days in her memory. Without waiting for his reply, she ran out of the airlock.
Chapter 11
L
andry Sutton’s special talent had never failed him before.
Two days had passed since he had visited Talia Zaryn, and the interview still didn’t make sense. He had expected a well-trained Signum agent; but her surprised expression when he hinted she might be the traitor was easy to read—no sixth sense needed—as was her initial confusion about her parents. Up to that point, he had not been able to sense her emotions, but his threat to call the Zaryn family had opened a floodgate.
When her anger flared, he could feel it all. Usually, when he listened to people’s emotions, they came to him like distant echoes that he had to strain to understand. Miss Zaryn’s had hit him hard, as if she hurled them at him. As intense as her anger was, it quickly burned itself down to a crushing sorrow.
The look on her face haunted him. There was something more to this woman and Landry needed to learn what. He never liked loose ends. A trip to her hometown of Gneledar might provide the answers.
Landry flew straight to Gneledar. The hospital had no record of her birth; they gave him the name of a midwife who had been present for the delivery.
Jayne Andsen was more than willing to talk about the Zaryn family.
“Why didn’t the Zaryns go to the hospital for the birth of this child?” Landry asked her.
He had never heard of a home delivery. It sounded archaic, but he carefully hid that opinion from the midwife.
“I don’t think they had time. The husband called me just before dawn and I hurried over. His wife, Helen, had some complications with her first delivery, and he was worried. Anyway, just as the suns rose, the baby moved, and in no time at all made her way into the world. No complications. Helen told me she felt no pain, no anxiety, and only the slightest urge to push. It was as if magic called that child out of the womb. As the suns’ first rays peeked through the curtains, the baby took her first breath.”
Jayne paused and leaned in closer to Landry. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but I saw something very strange that morning. I saw the baby breathe in the light that filtered through the window. That girl is different. No doubt about it.”
“What do you mean breathe in the light? Was it cold and you could see her breath?”
“No, she sucked the light right out of the air and into her mouth. Like magic, you know?”
Babies sucking light?
“You said she’s different. What do you mean?” Landry asked.
“Well, nothing you can put your finger on, but she does have those eyes. Did you know there was a boy born in Gneledar with violet eyes? He was also born on the sixth day of the first period, but three hundred years before Talia. He could do extraordinary things. Horrible things.”
The midwife kissed her thumb and shook it in the air.
“I’ve never heard that story. How does it explain why Talia is different?” Landry prompted.
“Well, you know that the year has one hundred and eleven days in it, divided into three seasons or periods. Have you ever wondered why they are not three equal seasons, or why the first season is only eleven days?”
“No, our elliptical orbit around a binary system determines the seasons.”
“That’s what they teach in school, but those eleven days of the first period are the most magical of the year. The sixth day, or middle of the first season, is the one day of the year when magic is at its highest concentration on Sendek.”