The Source: Book III of the Holding Kate Series (41 page)

“What’s wrong, Corey?” Stealthlin teased. “Wish you had saved more room for dessert?”

“Dinner was delicious, Donnie. Thanks.”

“You learn to cook and fend for yourself when you grow up in foster care,” Donnie said with a stretch and pat of his tummy.

“This is Kate’s favorite dessert,” Corey said. “We couldn’t make it right in Spear Cathair. She would be in hog heaven right now.”

Candol snorted. “Yeah, I remember the mushy results.”

Corey and Stealthlin laughed.

“That’s right!” Mel interjected smiling from the memory. “I remember from her jump, raspberry cheesecake and fake Dr Pepper.”

“Coffee?” Candol asked and poured cups for everyone.

“I don’t know what the next step is.” Corey went back to the original topic. “I don’t think revisiting sites will necessarily produce anything different. I thought about just jumping to Ampeliagia to be on the same timeline. I can’t stand the thought of my minutes here being her years there.”

“Let’s just go get the others. That will put us on her timeline and give us a larger search team,” Candol offered.

“Yeah, I think everyone would be back by now if they were able to return. I am afraid that something happened to their remotes,” Donnie agreed.

“Okay, here is what we will do.” Corey took a sip of coffee then continued. “We’ll each go back to rescue one of the teams. Candol and Stealthlin, you go for Drayse and Eunavae. Donnie, pick one of the Chartreuse team and go for Dirk, Brashtor, and Najwa. I’ll go retrieve Trip and Tara. If you get to the coordinates and they are no longer in the area and you have no leads, return to QHR immediately. We’ll coordinate a larger search when we are all back together.”

“But Corey, decades or even centuries could pass before you can coordinate a larger search party. They could be dead for all we know. Wouldn’t it be better to just stay and continue the search? The search party could follow when able?”

Corey placed his palms out flat on the table. “I don’t want to lose any of you. I can’t bear the thought of you getting lost in there, too.” He looked at Donnie. “Your wife can’t go with you, Donnie. You would be condemning yourself to a lifetime without her.”

“No, I wouldn’t stay that long. Just long enough to get a good lead.” He took Mel’s hand and patted it.

A screeching sounded and they all looked at each other for a split second, then jumped up and ran to the boathouse. They burst through the door and ran into the QHR.

Brashtor turned around and held his arms open for inspection. “Back in one piece!”

Candol and Stealthlin ran forward and clamped him in their arms. “Sword Brother! Come tell us of your journey.” They pulled him to the couch and everyone gathered around him.

“Where is the rest of your team?” Corey asked.

“I assume they are living happily in the Wildenland Desert. After we were dropped into an ocean on our arrival, lost our equipment, and water logged the remote we were stuck there.” He scratched his head. “It’s a long story. Do you want it in bits and pieces or from the beginning?”

“Sorry, I’m glad you’re back.” Corey ducked his head. “I want to hear it all, but we’re pressed for time. We’ll hear your story in a few minutes. We need to jump back for the others right now.”

“We are about to jump to find Drayse and Eunavae. You are welcome to join us.” Stealthlin pounded Brashtor on the back.

“Are they lost?”

“They have not checked in. We are assuming that they are not able.”

“Let’s go!” He stood up.

Mel let out a huff of incredulous breath. “You’re just ready to jump back? You were almost stuck there once, and without any qualms you are ready to return?”

“We never leave a warrior behind, miss. If Drayse is lost, we will not rest until we find him.”

Wallace had been busy stacking crates through the conversation. “The jump pad is packed with fresh supplies and ready for transport.”

“I have a question,” Brashtor asked. “Instead of sending us to the exact coordinates, could you send us to Meanfach, say a hundred years forward from their original point?”

Wallace cocked his head to the side. “Sure.”

“Why do you ask, Brashtor?” Corey questioned.

“I heard legends of a powerful ruler and his wife who lived on the Island Meanfach.”

“What makes you think it is Drayse?”

“They have ruled there for seventy years. They are rumored to be immortal. They never aged.” Brashtor smiled and looked at Stealthlin. “The king was a great seaman and warrior and his wife was unmatched with the bow.”

“That’s them! Let’s go.”

“Wait!” Mel cried and ran up the stairs to her apartment.

The others watched her run off, and glanced around at each other curiously.

“What’s that about?” Brashtor asked and searched the ceiling where her footsteps echoed. She returned a few moments later, took their remotes from them, and zipped them into plastic freezer baggies.

“I don’t want to take any chances. Just in case you end up in the ocean again.” She grinned and winked at Brashtor.

“Why didn’t we think of that before?” Donnie murmured to Corey.

Corey shook his head in bewilderment.

KATE STARED INTO
the malevolent eyes of the Kiarnusk, wondering if they were the ones who had worked for The Mother. She wracked her brain to remember where Gregory had taken them in the timeline. Were these the same Kiarnusk? She couldn’t tell, they all looked exactly alike. They smelled like a decaying carcass. She decided to take action first.

“Where have you been?” she snapped at them in her haughtiest tone. “I have been looking all over for you. Did you run at the first sign of defeat?

They shuffled on their cloven hooves and glanced back and forth at each other. Did they even speak? She’d never heard them.

“Get me out of this gorge! Now!” She walked forward and handed the reins to the largest one. “Take care of my horse!”

He glanced down at the reins draped over his fisted hoof, then rolled his bulbous eyes to the others. Kate’s heart hammered. Would they believe she was still The Mother?

“Well? What are you waiting for? Lead me up to the ridge!” She motioned her fingers to be walking up the incline.

They turned and fell into line and began escorting her up the ridge. Kate couldn’t believe that worked. Either these Kiarnusk were terrified of The Mother or they were natural followers. She wasn’t going to trust this feeble truce for long, but for now, maybe it was a good thing. Rogues and predators would think twice before attacking this terrifying crew.

They got to the top of the ridge without incident. Kate grabbed her pants off the saddle. Threading her legs through them, she spat out orders. “We need to move fast across the plain. Are you capable of moving quickly?” She stuffed her other clothes into the saddle bags.

They grunted and fell on all fours, taking up stations in front and behind her horse. She mounted up and they began running alongside Awen. Kate still wasn’t sure who was leading whom, but they were headed in the right direction so she was content for now. The rumble of their hooves and the storm cloud of dust they kicked up would be seen and heard for miles around. She just hoped it would camouflage her from pursuers. They would be looking for a lone rider, not a herd of stampeding rhinos.

They ate up the distance in short time and stopped on a rise that overlooked a settlement. Trails of smoke wafted from the center of huts in lazy spirals. Kate considered skirting the town altogether, the fewer witnesses to her crossing, the better. But the Kiarnusk pushed forward and her horse seemed to be more in their control than hers.

They stampeded into the middle of the settlement and made a circle around Kate’s horse. “Why have you brought me here?” The haughty tone was starting to fade into a fearful plea.

A niggling suspicion had been growing about the Kiarnusk over the last few miles. Quantum time fluctuations were difficult to keep track of, but Tara had said something that made Kate realize more time had passed since The Mother died than Gregory had led her to believe. Tara said the dragons came to them four hundred years ago. There was no way these beasts had survived that long. They must be descendants.

The Kiarnusk all stood up on their hind legs, pulled their long jabber sticks out and aimed them at Kate. “Whoa, now, just a minute.” Kate held her palms up and swiveled her head around the circle. Those long electrodes would incapacitate a person with one jab. She had been taken captive by them once before.

One of the hut flaps pushed back and a dark skinned woman walked out and barked a command. The Kiarnusk deactivated their electrodes, slammed them to their sides, and stood at attention.

Kate turned her face to the newcomer.

“We thought you were dead.” The woman circled Kate’s horse, scanning her.

“Do you know me?”

“You are The Mother.”

“No, I am not.” Kate shook her head. “I am Kate Ch-Chastain.” She stumbled on the last name. She hadn’t called herself by that name in a while.

“Are you sure? You don’t seem very convinced of that.”

“I am sure that I am not The Mother.” Kate slowly dropped her hands. “I witnessed her death myself.”

The woman stopped her circling and stood before Kate with a stoic expression. “Did you? Then that would make you either the dragon slayer or the Kate of a Thousand Years.”

“I am not the dragon slayer. I am Kate.” She didn’t like the way this woman was toying with her.

“Yes, I see. What are you doing here, Kate of a Thousand Years?”

Kate searched this woman’s face and saw no reason to lie. “I am escaping from the man who loved The Mother.”

“The Sphere Master.”

“Yes. I am trying to get to Lumisfere.”

“Why is he after you?”

“He loves me. He hoped to replace The Mother with me. I have been in his castle for thirteen years.”

“Why escape now?”

Kate huffed an impatient breath. “Listen, I don’t know who you are or why you have detained me, but I need to move on. I need to get to Lumisfere before he comes.” Kate jerked the reins of her horse to leave, but the Kiarnusk all suddenly activated their electrodes and pointed them at the horse.

“Are you going to keep me here against my will?” Kate snapped at the woman.

“Perhaps.”

“Who are you?”

“I am Midri, leader of the Children of the Dragons. We were left without caregivers when The Mother died and the dragons scattered. The dragons stopped talking to us and fled. We have pursued them to this place, but lost their trail.”

“That was centuries ago.” Horror traced creases in Kate’s face.

“Yes, we have wandered in search of our dragon friends for many generations. We have no home, but what we make out of hay and stubble.” She swept her arm around including the huts.

“I know where the dragons are.” Kate leaned forward in her saddle and spoke with conviction. “I can leave a trail for you to follow.”

The woman took this information and processed it with a skeptical frown. “Where are they?”

“They are in the east, with the dragon riders.”