Tablet of Destinies (29 page)

The Lord of the Otherworld stood, shaking his head.
Beyond a pure heart and a willingness to learn, there is nothing else you require.

Her mouth open and ready to utter another protest, Rebecca was stumped to find she had none. ‘I believe I do possess those prerequisites,' she admitted finally, daring a smile.

And always have had,
Gwyn added.
For this is the end to a journey you and this Sage began long ago … as you shall see.

 

Hawk had excused himself from Tory to go take a look at their potential target, and she figured he didn't want her tagging along. As she was feeling like eating, she made her way down to Seagull's domain to find what was on the menu.

When she arrived the old Delphinus chef was pulling a variety of long, flat loaves of bread from the oven and Chook was hovering around in anticipation of scoring a few samples.

Seagull spotted their guest in the hatchway and laughed. ‘The smell of fresh bread always brings them running.'

‘'Tis seldom I am compelled to eat,' Tory strolled in, breathing deep the aroma, ‘but that heavenly smell is teasing my taste buds.'

‘I could say the same of you,' Crow teased, having crept up behind her. As he placed his hands on her thighs, he experienced a sudden numbing agony.

Tory pressed each of her thumbs into the pressure points on his wrists. ‘Are you so much recovered from your last beating that you desire another?'

‘Ah, no … I'll pass,' Crow resolved, to the amusement of his crewmates, and was much relieved when Tory let him go.

‘I heard that was a really amazing display you put on earlier,' Seagull commented, as he broke off the end of a fresh loaf.

‘Was it ever,' Chook confirmed, breaking himself off a piece.

As Seagull held out his offering to Tory she noted that this Delphinus male had no webbing between his fingers and this was most confusing to her.

‘You want to know where's my webbing?' Seagull guessed her curiosity, as she was slow to take the food.

Tory noted Chook standing behind the old chef, shaking his head furiously, as he feared she might offend the man. ‘It's just that I read that —'

‘Your information is correct,' Seagull granted, a little warily. ‘And to the best of my knowledge, I am the only exception.'

‘Well,' Tory forced a smile, to make the best of an uncomfortable situation, ‘thanks for clearing that up for me.'

‘Welcome.' He decided not to take offence. ‘I've been told I'm also a tad pale for one of my kind, but that could just be old age.'

It was true his skin was not as blue as most Delphinus, having a slight pinkish tinge.

The chef returned to his oven to pull out more loaves. ‘I used to have dark hair in younger days, which is also unusual, as most Delphinus are fair.'

‘Were either of your parents dark?' Tory pursued the conversation to Chook's apparent horror, but she felt Seagull comfortable with the subject matter.

‘Were yours?' he queried abruptly, and Tory was taken aback by his sharp retort.

‘I … I don't remember.'

‘Exactly,' he explained with a nod. ‘I'd taken a bad knock to the head when Hawk found my tiny craft spinning out of control in deep space … like you, my
past was taken from me and who knows,' he shrugged, ‘perhaps it's for the best.'

‘I like to think so.' Tory felt more at ease when she realised that Seagull wasn't annoyed with her, but rather, trying to make a point. ‘So you learnt how to cook and heal after you joined Hawk's crew?'

‘I did, indeed,' he confirmed with a broad smile.

‘That reminds me.' Tory raised her right wrist, around which Crow's restraining device was attached. ‘How much longer do I have to wear this?'

Crow had just taken a huge bite of hot bread when he saw Seagull frown at Tory's query. Crow recalled that he and Hawk had yet to tell Seagull anything about the device. Crow spat out his morsel in one sharp hack. ‘He has to discuss that with Hawk.'

‘Why?' Tory looked to Crow, immediately suspicious.

‘Because …' Crow racked his brain for a believable reason.

‘Because Hawk has assumed full responsibility for your welfare,' Seagull intervened, understanding that Hawk had been spinning tales; as a devoted member of his crew, the cook was bound to play along. ‘I'm not allowed to make any decisions concerning you without consulting him first,' he babbled, and pretty sure the explanation was unconvincing, Seagull thought it best to change the subject. ‘Can I get you something to drink with that?'

‘Look lively crew. We have a target.'

Upon hearing Hawk's announcement, Tory made for the flight deck. As Seagull and Crow breathed a sigh of relief, they noted Chook serving them a filthy look.

‘She knows you're both full of shit,' he smirked, confident they'd get their comeuppance if they were deceiving her in any way. ‘I really wouldn't mess with that woman, if I were you.'

‘Well, you're not me,' Crow snarled.

‘Thank heavens.' Chook backed up, and quickly went in pursuit of Tory as Crow threatened to attack him.

‘What the hell was that all about?' The huge Delphinus smacked Crow in the head from behind. ‘He's right, I don't want to be pissing
her
off.'

Crow was suddenly more humble and made a swift retreat after Chook — the Delphinus may have been old, but he was still large and gnarly. ‘I'll explain later … or ask Hawk!' He suggested an even better solution.

 

Their target was a Pantheon deep space vessel that seemed to be stranded, or perhaps partially shut down for repairs, as the craft had no shields operating. This particular type of vessel was one of Hawk's favourite targets to pilfer, as it was a low risk, high gain target. All its cargo holds were under the belly of the vessel and could be drilled into directly from below.

Built to negotiate asteroid fields, the Bil-me was primarily designed for drilling into large moving objects. Their cloaking device enabled them to come up underneath their target and attach their craft without detection. This security measure had not come with their ship, however, as any honest deep space mining vessel would have precious little use for such measures. Hawk had procured the system from a small luxury vessel he'd hijacked off one of Nergal's high officials.
Chook and Raven had tailored the cloaking system to suit the Bil-me.

They could never know beforehand if the hull of the vessel they were drilling had security sensors. However, on a ship this size, it usually took a while for a group of guards to get down into the bowels of the vessel where the breach was taking place. The idea was to furiously load booty into the Bil-me until the guards showed up, whereupon the pirates would shoot their way out and the Bil-me would pull away, leaving a gaping hole in their target's cargo bay. The vacuum of space took care of the ensuing force.

Once they'd approached and attached the Bil-me, drilling through the reinforced charichalum hull of the craft only took moments, as the laser drill on their vessel was designed to cut through thick, raw deposits of the metal.

‘We're through,' Chook advised his crewmates from the flight deck via the intercom. Raven, Hawk, Crow and Tory were standing under the hatchway located behind the laser drill head atop their craft. ‘Retracting drill head and opening hatch … happy hunting, chaps.'

Hawk guided Tory into taking a few steps backwards, which puzzled her, until the hatch door opened and the piece of metal that had been cut from the hull of the ship above crashed to the floor at her feet.

‘What is that smell?' Crow was repulsed by it and appeared none too eager to discover the source.

‘Don't be such a girl,' Hawk jeered at him. ‘Just go.' At his word his accomplices spread their wings and flew up through the hatchway into the vessel above. Hawk gripped Tory about the waist to carry her with him.

She pulled away — not because she disliked being close to Hawk, but because she wanted to make a point. ‘I am capable, even for a
girl
,' she advised, and without so much as springing off from a standing position, she rose steadily upward after the others.

‘What an asset,' he mumbled, before shooting up through the hatchway after her.

‘I don't blooming well believe it!' Crow grumbled.

Hawk rose to where the others were hovering in mid-air and looked down to discover what so disturbed his brother.

‘
Kids.
' Crow verbalised the problem.

Fifty or so children — Delphinus, Falcon and Leonine, aged between two and ten — were cowering around the walls of the dimly lit storage hold. They were dirty, smelly and, more than likely, starving and sick as well.

‘What on earth are they doing here?' Hawk gaped at the sight, as it brought horrid memories of his own youth back to haunt him.

‘Well, whatever they're doing here, clearly, we have to get them out.' Tory lowered herself down to the floor.

‘Typical bloody woman!' Crow growled as he landed beside her.

‘What were you going to do?' Tory retorted harshly, as she moved to confront him. ‘Take off and let them all be sucked into space?'

Hawk joined them on the ground and stepped in between them. ‘She's right.' Hawk said reluctantly. ‘We don't have a choice.'

‘Oh … for crying out loud,' Crow protested. ‘What are we going to do with a bunch of kids?'

‘All we have to do is find them a safe haven.' Raven joined in to reason with Crow. ‘We could get in contact with Nova. He might be able to suggest somewhere.' They were all confirmed bachelors and none of them wanted to take responsibility for this lot, but the alternative was unthinkable.

‘Ah, fu…dge.' Crow accepted the inevitable, and grabbing up a couple of the horrified youngsters he proceeded to the hatch of the Bil-me. ‘Best get the little buggers loaded quickly then,' he commented on his way past his captain, his voice more gravelly than usual.

Hawk knew it was not suppressed anger that was causing the harshness in his brother's voice, but empathy. Raven was also teary-eyed, although he played the loveable clown very well. He explained to the children that they were pirates come to whisk them away to safety, and, as if he were the Pied Piper, all of them followed him to the hatch of their own accord.

Only one little Falcon female resisted his charms, and had taken to fluttering around near the ceiling to avoid capture. ‘I'm not going without my brother,' she yelled defiantly. She looked to be all of seven years old.

‘Leave her here then,' Crow resolved.

‘We can't leave her,' Tory insisted, floating up slowly to get nearer to the girl. ‘Where is your brother now?'

‘He climbed out through the air-duct to try and find out where we were being taken and he hasn't come back yet.' She burst into tears. ‘He is all the family I have left.' In her already exhausted state, the girl's weeping depleted her, and as she hadn't the energy to flap her wings any more, she fell towards the floor.

Tory was quick to catch the child before she hit the ground. ‘I've got you.' She held the girl close for reassurance and stroked her head to calm her crying as they came to land on the floor.

Hawk's heart did a backflip into his throat as he witnessed how the immortal Goddess cared for the Falcon girl. She was truly concerned for the girl's welfare. She addressed the little mortal stranger as if she were the child of a dear friend put into her keeping, instilling in her charge the feeling that she was precious and cared about — something Hawk had never felt.

The door to the storage hold opened and a large Falcon guard entered, towing a young Falcon lad. ‘I
will
find that sister of yours, and when I do, you
will
tell me what you did to our drive system.'

Where Tory was situated, she wasn't in the intruder's direct line of sight and she urged the child she held around behind herself. The guard had a pulse laser in hand and none of their crew had a weapon drawn. Raven was down inside the hatch, so it was Hawk and Crow that the armed man spotted as he looked up. ‘What the …?'

The Falcon brothers both reached for their weapons as the guard raised his and took aim at Crow.

‘Mine!' Tory cried out as she willed the intruder's weapon from him.

In the split second between the guard pulling the trigger, and the gun leaving the guard's possession, the pulse laser bullet was thrown off its course and missed Crow by a fraction of an inch.

Before either of the brothers had got a shot away,
Tory had the weapon in hand. She switched it from kill to stun to save hitting the lad, swung it around and fired.

As her target dropped, she spotted a second guard entering the room, and launched herself at him to take him into custody. Kicking his weapon aside, she gripped him tightly about the throat. ‘Where were these children bound?'

‘Kila,' he gasped, startled by the attack.

‘Why there?' Hawk approached to give Tory a hand.

‘I don't know,' whined the guard, until Hawk tried to shove the end of his weapon up his nostril. ‘Nergal planned to torture them, in the hope of forcing the outlaw Lahmu to give himself up.'

‘Thank you.' Hawk blasted the guard into unconsciousness.

Tory frowned. ‘But I wanted to ask —'

‘No time,' insisted the captain, grabbing her hand to urge her along.

‘Finch!' The little girl ran to lead her brother down through the hatch after the other children.

‘Was she made for this occupation, or what?' Crow appealed to his brother. ‘I guess I owe you a favour, now.' Crow winked at her, thankful for her timely intervention.

‘I guess so,' Tory smiled amiably.

‘My body is at your disposal anytime you're ready,' he said, glancing at Hawk to see what he was making of their dialogue.