Rayne's Return (Hearts of ICARUS Book 3) (18 page)

“To say the least,” Con said, then frowned.  “Are you sure she didn’t hurt herself?”

“Her shield is all the way down,” Landor reminded them.  “Did either of you sense any pain coming from her?”

“No,” Ari said, “But there’s plenty of fear and exhaustion.”

“Yes,” Con agreed.  “It occurs to me that we now know why she dissociated herself from pain.”

Landor stiffened.  “It is difficult knowledge to possess, but we must accept it, and use it in our efforts to help Rayne.”

“Agreed,” Con said tightly, struggling to block the thoughts and images that kept trying to push their way into his mind.  “I need to run a bit more.”

“Me too,” Ari agreed. 

Landor nodded, taking a moment to smooth a wrinkle on the blanket covering Rayne’s shoulder, then place the pendant she now wore so that they could see her on their hand terminals while she slept.  “Sleep well,
Kisu
.”

Chapter 8

363 Days in the Future

Rayne waited until the lights went out, then sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the narrow cot that served as her bed.  She pushed herself to her feet, holding onto the thin mattress until she was sure she had her balance.  Her body was telling her loud and clear that she’d over done the exercise the night before.  She felt weak and shaky, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her.  She didn’t know how far she’d have to walk to find Wolef when she escaped from her cell, and she had so little time to prepare.  She knew she was lucky to be able to stand up at all after spending so much time immobile, and that she owed that to the drug the Doftle had given her.

“Wolef,”
she said as she took her first step of the night.  “
Feel like talking?”

“I am happy to distract you while you pace your cell in order to gain strength for the benefit of us both,”
he replied.  Rayne sent him a smile. 
“Did you have a particular subject in mind?”

Reaching out to place one palm against the wall for balance, she stepped around her cot. 
“Would you tell me how they managed to capture you?”
she asked hesitantly. 
“I know how powerful Tani and Steel are in their dragon forms.  It’s hard to imagine how the little blue thugs could have bested a dragon.  If you’d rather not, I understand.”

“It wasn’t my finest hour, I admit,”
Wolef said. 
“But, strangely, I do not object to sharing the story with you.”

“Strangely?”

“I’ve never shared it with anyone before,”
Wolef said.
  “But then, no one has ever asked before, either.”

“Well, I’m asking,”
Rayne said.
  “When I get out of here, I intend to make sure that your name is remembered, and that it’s high on the list of crimes laid at the Doftle’s feet.”

“You are very kind, Rayne Dracon.  I like the idea of being remembered by one such as you once I’m gone.” 
There was a long silence, but Rayne didn’t break it, understanding that the dragon was gathering his thoughts. 
“I encountered the Doftle five hundred years ago.  They sent out a call for help, claiming that a fire dragon had been in battle against an entity that had tried to destroy their world.  The call indicated that, although the dragon had won the battle, he was near to losing his life.  I answered the call, following it to a distant planet.  The moment I landed, a Doftle walked out to meet me.  

“While listening to the Doftle, the one called Weeble, tell his story about the wounded dragon, I sensed that something was amiss.  Unfortunately, I was rather young and foolish, and did not act on my feelings when I should have.  Seconds later a large number of Doftle suddenly popped up out of the ground where they’d been hiding and shot me with dozens and dozens of tranquilizer darts.  I fought off the effects at first, but there were simply too many of them and before long I succumbed to the drug. 

“The next time I awoke, it was to discover that I was no longer able to fly, move, open my eyes or do any of the minor magics common to dragons, such as call down lightning to destroy my enemies.  Or myself.  They’d mutilated my body, and they’d cut into my brain, deliberately causing irreparable damage.  In time I overheard enough to know that I was the third dragon they’d captured, but the only one who survived what they referred to as
modifications
.  I also discovered that they thought me to be completely brain dead.  In fact, that was their intention.  They wanted a dragon body, but they did not want the risk that even a disabled dragon would present to their safety.”

“But you can still fold time, right?”

“Yes, I can do that,”
he assured her.
  “That ability is located in a different part of my brain than the area they destroyed.”

“Why didn’t you call for help, Wolef?  If you can duplicate my calls, surely you could’ve called to your own people.”

“I considered it, of course,”
Wolef replied.
  “But I could not lure another dragon to share in my fate.  Instead, I sent a death call, so that none of my people would risk themselves attempting to trace me.”

“Five hundred years all alone, a prisoner not only of the Doftle, but of your own mind and body as well,”
Rayne said, silent tears running down her face. 
“And here I was, feeling sorry for myself because I’d been here for one lousy year.”

“You are too hard on yourself,
Solin
,”
Wolef said. 
“Anyway, I did not spend all of that time alone.”

“No?”

“For the first hundred years after my capture they moved me around from space station to space station every decade or so.  I was something of a curiosity that everyone wanted to study, you see.  On occasion I was able to find other prisoners to speak with, which was usually a nice diversion, but it never lasted long.  Either I was moved, or they were, or they lost their minds, which happens sooner or later with most Doftle captives.  About two centuries after I was captured the Xanti destroyed a world called Jotunn.  Have you heard of it?”

“I know that it’s one of the worlds destroyed by the Xanti, as you said,”
Rayne replied. 
“But aside from that, I know nothing about it.”

“The Jotunn are magical creatures, which drew the unwelcomed interest of the Xanti.  The Doftle captured a few of them before the Xanti annihilated their planet for refusing to cooperate with them.  One of the Jotunn, a fellow by the name of Jinjie, was taken to the same station where they were keeping me, and managed to escape his cell shortly thereafter.  No prisoner had ever escaped before, and it drove the Doftle to distraction as they tried to figure out how he’d done it, and where he’d gone.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t actually escape from the station itself even though the Doftle eventually concluded that he had.  We spent years trying to find a way to do it, but it’s impossible.  The only way to leave a space station is to transport from the station to a nearby ship, and the only ships nearby are always Doftle ships.  Jinjie hid in my cell for a century or more, and we kept each other company.”

“Are Jotunn naturally long lived, or did the Doftle do something to him?”

“It’s natural for them as it is for most magical beings, including dragons.”

“What happened to him?”
Rayne asked.

“
I don’t know,”
Wolef replied sadly.  “
I was moved to another station, but there was no way for Jinjie to accompany me without being caught.  As far as I know, he’s still there.”

“You couldn’t send him back in time, could you?”

“No, I couldn’t,”
Wolef said. 
“He’s a magical creature, so his magic automatically defends against other magic, and he did not have the ability to release it long enough for my magic to work on him.  We made many attempts over the years, but without success.”

“I’m sorry, Wolef,”
Rayne said. 
“If you tell me where your friend is, I can try to rescue him.”

“I know only the Doftle’s terms for the station, and the world it orbits, and I don’t know if it’s still in the same place after all this time anyway.  But I thank you for the thought,
Solin
.”

“Wolef, why did the Doftle capture you?  And the Jotunn?  And me?  What is their purpose in all of this?”

“What their ultimate purpose is I do not know,”
Wolef said. 
“What I do know is that they are in a competition, of sorts, and they mean to win it.”

“Competition?”
Rayne asked, stunned. 
“Do you mean…like a game?”

“As I understand it, yes.”

“What do we have to do with their game?”

“We’re the game pieces.”

“That’s not funny, Wolef,”
she said, feeling sick at the thought.

“It’s not meant to be
,” Wolef said. 
“I’m quite serious, I assure you.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“The Doftle here, in the Thousand Worlds, are all part of what they call a Tentacle.  There are other Tentacles in other galaxies and, perhaps, in other regions of this galaxy, but I don’t know how many, or where, exactly, they are.  And before you ask, no, I don’t know where the Doftle are from, either.”

“They don’t even discuss their home world among themselves?”

“Once, about three hundred years ago, I overheard a conversation between several Doftle.  One of them was bemoaning his fate at being sent here, to the Thousand Worlds, and at one point came very close to naming his home world.  Before he got the word out of his mouth, his friends killed him.”

“They killed him for nearly speaking the name of their planet?”

“Yes,”
Wolef said. 

“Why not just tell him to hush up?  I don’t understand.”

“Neither did I, to be truthful, but that is the Doftle for you.  It was a difficult blow for me as I’d been trying to learn that bit of information for a very long time, but at least I learned why nobody spoke about it.  They are very protective of information regarding their origins.”

“So it would seem,”
Rayne said, sitting down on her cot to rest her trembling legs for a few minutes. 
“What is this game you were talking about?”

“”From the bits and pieces I’ve been able to put together I believe that these Tentacles are in competition with each other.  The Tentacle here, in the Thousand Worlds, was very excited for a few decades because they felt that they were on the cusp of winning, but something went wrong and it set them back.  I don’t know what their objective is, nor do I know what their reward for winning would be.  The Doftle are gifted manipulators, though.  They’ve been here, in the Thousand Worlds, for more than ten thousand years and yet only those of us who’ve been so unfortunate as to become their prisoners know of their existence.”

“That’s quite a feat for a technologically advanced race,”
Rayne said. 

“Indeed,”
Wolef replied.

“Wolef, is the Weeble who lured you into a trap the same Weeble that’s here, now?”

“Yes, he is.  They live an extraordinarily long time but it’s not natural for them.  They’ve either discovered how to extend their lives themselves, or they’ve stolen the knowledge.”

“Have you ever seen or heard of a female Doftle?”

“No, not once.  I’ve never even heard them speak about females.”

“The one thing I’ve learned about Doftles is that there are more questions than answers,”
Rayne said with a frustrated sigh. 
“It sure would be nice to know what it is they’re trying to accomplish.”

“Yes, it would be,”
Wolef agreed. 
“But after five centuries of eavesdropping, I’ve yet to discover that.”

Chapter 9

Before Rayne opened her eyes she knew that she wasn’t alone.  She raised her shield automatically and sat up, already knowing from the unique combination of oak and lime that it was Ari who sat in the chair near the bed.  “Hi,” she said.  “How do you feel?”

“We’re all fine,” he said.  “You?”

“Hungry again,” she said.  “Or maybe I should say
still
hungry.  It seems like all I want to do is eat and sleep.”

“That’s good,” he said.  “It’s exactly what your body needs right now, especially after pushing yourself so hard today.”

“What time is it?”

“Dinner time,” he said, just as the door opened. 

“I slept all day again?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes, you did,” Ari replied as Rayne turned to watch Landor and Con enter, both carrying big trays.  “We tried to wake you up for lunch, but you were too tired, so we let you sleep.”

“We brought dinner,” Landor said, setting a tray down on the table before turning to face her.  “I know it’s forward of us to invite ourselves to dine with you, so please don’t hesitate to kick us out if you want.  We’ll understand.”

“No, please stay,” she said, getting off the bed.  “I’d rather not eat alone.  Will you excuse me for a minute?”  They nodded and she crossed to the bathroom on legs that still felt a little shaky, but much better.  By the time she came back out, the table was set, drinks were poured, and they were waiting for her.

“This is nice,” she said as she took her seat and reached for the glass of
sasuna
.  “Thank you.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Con said.

“Ari said you were all fine, but are you?  Really?”

“We are, really,” Landor said, glad that she’d taken off the brown contacts.  The brown hair didn’t bother him so much, but he didn’t like the contacts.  He’d come to rely on her eyes to tell him the truth of her feelings, but the contacts hid everything.  “Thank you for helping us, Rayne.  I thought we’d be able to control ourselves enough to avoid a blood rage, but it was more…difficult…than we expected.”