Falcorans' Faith (17 page)

“Thank you, Mr. Fray,” she said.  “If I’m lucky enough that one of these little guys will accept me, I promise, I will take excellent care of him, or her.”

“Actually, all
raktsasa
are female, Miss Faith.  The males are much larger, and are not allowed to leave their home world.  Now, shall we see what they have decided?”

Faith nodded as she turned her attention back to the clear box on the table before them.  She was surprise to see that all of the little balls had unrolled themselves and were now rather thin and flat.  They were each about two inches wide and about six to eight inches long.  They had six small legs spaced evenly along their underside, tiny black noses on the end of little pointed snouts, and big oval shaped eyes that matched the color of their fur. 

All six of them were standing in a row facing Faith, their noses pressed against the side of the box nearest her.  A rumbling sound came from the box, reminding Faith of a cat’s purr. 

“Oh my,” Mr. Fray said as he stood up and approached the box.  “I must say that this is a first for me, and I’ve been handling
raktsasa
for many years now.”

“What’s a first?” Faith asked, suddenly worried that none of them would choose her.

“They have all chosen you, Miss Faith,” Mr. Fray replied.  “They have all found you to be worthy of their love.”

Faith blinked rapidly at that.  Then a thought occurred to her.  “Mr. Fray, please tell me they won’t fight over me,” she said.

“No, no, not to worry, Miss Faith,” Mr. Fray said.  “Unbonded
raktsasa
will not fight among themselves.  They will
compare notes
, so to speak, and decide which of them has the strongest need and deepest desire to bond with you.”

“All right,” Faith said, relieved.  “May I ask another question?”

“Of course, of course,” Mr. Fray said, returning to his chair and lowering himself carefully into it. 

“If the
raktsasa
doesn’t have any others of its own kind around, will it become lonely?”

“No, no, no indeed not,” Mr. Fray replied.  “Once they bond, their bonder is all they need.  In fact, having more than one
raktsasa
in the same household can be problematic unless they are very carefully trained to accept one another.”

“Okay, that’s good since I’ve never even seen one of these before,” Faith said.  “What does it eat?”

“You will be provided with a full supply of food, supplements, grooming supplies, a bed, and a booklet that will answer the most common questions,” Mr. Fray said.  “And of course the vid terminal should answer anything that is not in the book.”

“Okay,” Faith said, then hesitated.  She didn’t want to ask the next question, but from all that Mr. Fray had told her about the little creatures, she knew it was necessary.  “I have just one more question.  I have nightmares sometimes.  Bad ones.  How will the
raktsasa
react to that?” 

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Mr. Fray replied.  “Many people have nightmares, Miss Faith.  The
raktsasa
have a rudimentary understanding of such things, and will know that you are sleeping and that there is no tangible threat.  It may be upsetting at first, but she will become accustomed to it.”

Faith was relieved that her nightmares wouldn’t prevent her from having a
raktsasa
of her own.  She’d been watching the
raktsasa
in the box as Mr. Fray spoke, fascinated by the brightly colored creatures.  They’d all turned to face each other in a circle, their noses together in the center.  After a few moments the purple one rose up, cast her a sad look, then rolled itself into a ball.  A few moments later the turquoise one did the same.  She continued to watch as the others followed in the same manner until, finally, there were only two left.  The red one and the yellow one.  Her heart was pounding with anticipation.  Then the yellow one gave her a sad look and rolled into a ball, leaving the red one to approach the side of the box and rear up on its two hindmost legs.  It’s bright red eyes were fixed on her as it made soft little noises that sounded to Faith like the popping of bubbles. 

Mr. Fray approached the box again and raised the lid.  But he didn’t reach in for the
raktsasa
as she expected.  Instead, he stepped back and gestured her forward.  “Miss Faith, if you would,” he said.  “Now that the
raktsasa
has chosen her bonder, she will not take kindly to me should I attempt to touch her.”

Faith stood up and bent over the box.  She looked uncertainly at Mr. Fray.  “Just place your hand beside her and she will walk up your arm to your shoulder.”

Faith did as Mr. Fray said and smiled happily as the little creature climbed onto her forearm.  It was very light, and its tiny feet were soft and warm as it walked calmly up her arm.  It paused a moment to look into her eyes, and Faith saw its joy, and shared in it.  The red eyes looked almost unreal, like they were made of plastic, but even though the color was strange, there was intelligence and warmth in them.  The
raktsasa
climbed the rest of the way up her arm to her shoulder where it took a moment to rub against her neck in a gentle caress before making itself comfortable.

“Now, I will take these
raktsasa
to the other room and leave you in peace while you bond,” Mr. Fray said.  “It will take only a few minutes.  I will return when it’s complete.  If I may suggest, it is a good idea to give your
raktsasa
a name at this time.  They like having names, and look forward to the day their bonder gives them one.”

“Thank you, Mr. Fray,” Faith said.  She turned her head to look into the
raktsasa’s
big eyes.  “How about
Bubbles
?” she asked it.  “That little noise of excitement you were making reminded me of popping bubbles.”

The
raktsasa
made the popping noises again and rubbed against Faith’s neck at the same time, it’s fur tickling her jaw.  Faith laughed with delight.  “All right then,
Bubbles
it is.”

Tristan, Gray, and Jon were mesmerized by the sound of Faith’s laughter.  It was the first time they’d heard it.  They’d heard a few soft chuckles from her over the past few days, but never anything like this. 

Getting to know Faith had done a lot to ease Tristan’s anger over the past week.  He had come to enjoy her company, and he wanted her suffering to end as much as his brothers did.  But his wounds ran deeper then theirs, and though he wanted Faith to be a part of their lives as a friend, he’d steadfastly refused to reconsider claiming her as their Arima.

Until now.  The pure, unrestrained joy in the sound of Faith’s laughter acted as a healing balm on his wounds.  For one brief moment he allowed himself to wonder what it would be like to claim her.

Chapter Fourteen

Saige Lobo stood beneath the bare branches of an ancient tree at the edge of a deep gorge, her eyes closed, head tilted back slightly, hands resting comfortably on the large bulge of her belly.  Her Rami, Faron, Dav, and Ban Lobo, stood close beside her, their eyes focused on the floor of the gorge, a jumble of boulders, dirt and gravel.  A harsh grating sound suddenly filled the air, but the Lobos didn’t move, even when the sound grew louder, and louder still, until they would have had to yell if they wanted to speak to each other. 

The bottom of the mile long gorge, three hundred feet below them, shifted, then began to rise, sending gigantic boulders rolling around like marbles.  The Lobos remained motionless, though a light sheen of sweat broke out on their foreheads.  The floor of the gorge continued to rise, higher and higher.  Fifty feet.  Seventy five.  One hundred.  Faron wavered slightly and the enormous chunk of earth held steady.  He blinked and refocused.  The mass rose again, a little jerky now, but still rising nonetheless.  A hundred and fifty feet.  Two hundred. 

Dav swallowed, not allowing himself to think about the fact that they’d never managed to get it this high before.  Not allowing the excitement to bleed through his concentration.  Not wanting to be the weak link. 

A tiny whimper came from Saige, so soft it was almost nonexistent.  But the Lobos heard it.  They released the earth immediately and turned to their Arima, barely noticing the enormous crash that shook the granite walls of the gorge beneath their feet.

“Are you all right?” Dav asked worriedly.

“What happened?” Faron asked at the same time.

“We need to get you home,” Ban said, just before the Dracon princes flashed to their sides with Lariah.

“Is she all right?” Lariah asked, hurrying to her friend.

“I’m fine,” Saige said as soon as she got a chance to speak. 

“We should not have pushed so hard,” Faron said.

“It wasn’t the magic,” Saige said.  “It was your eldest son.  He just kicked my bladder.  Hard.”

“Only a couple months left to go,” Lariah said sympathetically.

Saige smiled.  She didn’t mind.  She’d gotten a good dose of the bottomless fear that came with nearly losing her babies a few weeks earlier, and had no desire to experience such a thing again.  As long as her sons were healthy, they could kick to their heart’s content.

“So how did we do?” she asked, turning her gaze to Garen Dracon.

“Amazing,” he said with a grin.  “You raised a full mile of earth and rock, twenty feet deep, over two hundred feet high and kept it level the entire time.  That’s double what you could do a month ago.”

“Astounding,” Faron said.  “Your turn.”

They all turned to face the field behind them which held a decommissioned ship roughly the size of the average Xanti cruiser.  Lariah stepped in front of the Dracons, closed her eyes and focused.  An ear splitting shriek of tortured metal filled the air.  Lariah’s eyes flew open and she smiled to see that the cruiser was now little more than a ball of metal.

“Reverse?” she asked.

Garen frowned.  “Never satisfied, are you?”

“Of course not,” Lariah replied.  “Come on, you can do it.”

“We’ll try,” Garen agreed, inwardly pleased with Lariah’s enthusiasm.  “Focus,
sharali
.”

Lariah closed her eyes again and concentrated, opening herself to the immensely powerful magics that flowed through and around Jasan, letting them pour through her to her Rami.  Seconds later the shriek of tortured metal filled the air once more, but it lasted a lot longer this time.  When Lariah opened her eyes the ball of metal was roughly the shape of a cruiser.  Sort of.  If one of their daughters had created it.

“It took seven seconds to remove all the air inside that cruiser and turn it into a vacuum,” Faron said, grinning from ear to ear.  “Its hard to believe how quickly our powers are growing.”

“Understanding that our Arimas are our conduits makes a huge difference,” Garen said.  “We can’t forget, though, that they are drawing directly from the source.  Once we are not only in space, but in a different galaxy, things may change drastically.”

“I keep telling you, that’s not going to make a difference,” Lariah said with a small sigh.  “I know you don’t believe me, but the Gryphons and the Katres are going to prove me right.  Just you wait and see.”

“It is not that I don’t believe you,
sharali
,” Garen said.  “I am only worried.”

Lariah shook her head and let it go.  Once Garen started on the path of worry, there was no arguing with him.  She decided to change the subject instead.  “The bigger concern is how are we to get around the barrier Roska told us about.”

“I have an idea on that,” Garen said, gaining the instant attention of the entire group.

“What is your idea, Highness?” Faron asked.

“According to what Roska told us, the barrier in place around Xantara is Narrasti magic, which, as we know, blocks Jasani magic completely,” Garen said.  “However, he said nothing about it blocking a mundane attack.”

“Attacking in that manner may destroy Xantara,” Lariah pointed out.  “I thought we were in agreement that genocide was to be avoided.”

“There are more than a few Xanti here in the Thousand Worlds,” Dav Lobo said.  “Destroying Xantara would not kill all Xanti.”

“We cannot be certain of that,” Saige said.  “Dr. Davis told us that the Xanti are hive creatures.  If their queen, or queens, are killed, it may well kill them, too.  Even if it didn’t, the Xanti we’ve seen have no reproductive organs.”

“It’s times like this that I most regret Roska’s death,” Trey said.  “I know it’s selfish, but that little blue guy was a fount of knowledge that we barely tapped.”

“True,” Garen agreed.  “But destroying Xantara was not what I had in mind.”

“I apologize,” Lariah said.  “I jumped to conclusions.”

“It’s all right,
sharali
,” Garen said with a smile.  “I’ve done the same to you on occasion.”

Lariah rolled her eyes at the gross understatement, but said nothing more.

“What is your idea?” Faron asked.

“I think we need to enlist another world to join us on our journey to Xantara,” Garen said.  “A world that we can trust not to push for the total annihilation of the Xanti, and one we can trust to keep our mission secret.”

“That’s a rather tall order,” Trey said.