I whirled, looking around for the owner of the voice. Only a few Rada-kin were in the Dome and each of them were engaged in conversations with others.
‘Who are you?’
The owner of the voice was disappointed I couldn’t detect this for myself.
‘I am your Great Aunt, Jaalta.’
A thin old lady in about four layers of green and white silk approached me. Her two protectors hung back, talking quietly. She raised one slim hand to her right shoulder and bowed her head. I returned the greeting, allowing her to then take my hand and hug me. She looked up into my eyes, placed her hand on my cheek and smiled. I noted the messy scar across her throat. Sarlice, having missed the conversation, looked startled. I quickly introduced her to my mute, but telepathically gifted aunty.
We stood for a time absorbing each other’s presence in the waves, a startling experience for me with another human being. Aunt Jaalta’s Anzaii-kin was named Galtoro and her Sleffion-kin was Reen. She had been in Tanza ever since my father wrote his letter to the people of Jaria. Coping with the injury to her throat had taken her thoughts far from Jaria.
‘I apologise for not contacting you,’ she said through the waves. ‘I have been absorbed in myself and in things here in Tanza.’
‘I get the feeling Tanza can be like that,’ I replied. ‘Are you going to be in the strike force?’
‘For certain. Galtoro, Reen and I have been part of it before.’
‘And what about your Rada-kin?’ I asked, unable to sense it.
Jaalta shook her head. ‘Although I grew up in Jaria, I have no Rada-kin. I think I was always destined to come here.’
She lifted a thin silver chain from around her neck and showed us a glowing blue stone.
‘This is Galtoro,’ she said, ‘my Anzaii-kin.’
Tiaro’s wave-senses came alert as she inspected the new Anzaiikin.
‘Greetings Tiaro.’
‘I heard it speak,’ I exclaimed to Sarlice, who I felt was missing out. ‘I heard the stone.’
Sarlice nodded, a slight frown creasing her brow.
‘Greetings to you as well Talon of Jaria,’ the stone said to me. ‘My kin is greatly pleased to meet you here.’
I grinned at Jaalta. Sarlice was interested in the stone, but had not realised what it was.
‘It’s her Anzaii-kin,’ I explained. ‘It is talking to Tiaro and I.’
Sarlice gave me a small smile, but then glanced back at the Table of War.
‘What do you know about my mother and father?’ I asked Jaalta eagerly.
‘An aunty should never have to see the death of a beloved niece,’ she said, through the waves. Even though her emotions were masked, the sadness welled through. ‘Kerra was captured by a Zeika raiding party, while on a mission as one of Jaria’s Anzaii. They stole two dozen Jarians and their kin for experimentation that day. Mandus and I lead a company of Jarian warriors after the Zeikas. Eight months, we pursued them, and there were many Jarians who abandoned the chase.
‘The Zeikas met up with another Legion and over a hundred captives from Tanza. An Anzaii from Tanza made contact with us and an alliance was formed. Together, we and the Tanzans defeated the Zeika legions.
‘Kerra had just given birth to a baby boy.’
Shock arced through me like a bolt of lightning.
‘By the nine trees!’ I exclaimed. ‘I truly have a brother.’ My father’s letter had mentioned a baby, but it was something else altogether to hear about it from someone who was there.
‘A half brother, yes,’ said Jaalta. ‘If he’s still alive, he is half Reltic half Jarian and almost certainly a follower of the Zeika religion.’
‘A Zeika brother,’ I echoed out loud.
Sarlice looked startled so I quickly explained what Jaalta had told me.
My aunt continued. ‘The Zeikas fled with the child, a wet-nurse and a few other male children, leaving the girls behind. Mandus told Kerra he would protect her child, she passed away not knowing he had been taken. As far as I know, the child was never seen by him again.’
So that had been part of my father’s anxiety after he came back to Jaria.
‘It’s a shame he never told you or Ella,’ Tiaro commented. Only Ciera, Rekala and I could hear her, but Jaalta sensed my anger through the waves. I had a feeling she was hiding her own emotions. She laid a hand on my shoulder.
After a while I said, ‘Father hardly even spoke of it to Ella and I.’
Allowing my thoughts to flow, I shared a bit of my childhood with my Great Aunt. She winced at the pain my father’s grief had caused my sister and I. When I told her about the letter and finding Tiaro, though, she smiled.
‘It is wonderful to see you again, after all these years.’ The tenderness in her thoughts was unmistakable. A virtue of wave communication was the raw honesty and understanding that could pass between us. Although I didn’t remember her from my childhood, I felt like I knew her well. Finding family in this place, after being so long alone, was strangely calming.
Ciera turned from the Table of War to face us.
‘I’m glad to see you found Jaalta, Talon,’ Ciera said to both of us through the waves. ‘She can teach you far more than I about Anzaii ways.’
‘Truth be told there isn’t much to teach,’ Jaalta countered. ‘It’s one of those things you must learn from doing. The most important thing to remember is to call upon Krii.’
I nodded, knowing what Krii wanted me to do. The wolf spirit had led me down this path, leaving Jaria, confronting the bigger picture of what was happening to Kriites in the world. For now at least, my place was with Tanza. Although it frightened me, I knew the strike force was the best place for Ciera and I to be during the coming battles. It would give us an opportunity to grow together.
‘What about me?’ Rekala asked, with a loud yowl. She dropped low to the ground and her ears were back.
‘I’m sorry, Rekala,’ I crooned aloud. ‘I know it means we’ll be apart.’
Sarlice’s lips formed a tight line, but she made no comment.
‘I should be at your side too,’ Rekala complained. ‘That is my place, especially during a battle.’
‘I know, dear one,’ I said, ‘but how can that be when I must fly with the skyearls?’
‘Maybe I can learn bird form…’ she said, but her wave voice trailed off as she faced the fact that she couldn’t, and didn’t want to, do that.
‘You can understand why I need to do this?’ I asked.
‘I suppose so,’ she conceded. ‘But you are my Talon, MY Talon!’
She took my arm in her mouth as she said this, clenching her jaw muscles, but not closing her teeth. One paw reached around my calf, pulling me toward her and I staggered a little. I crouched down and grabbed her ruff with both hands, reaching my nails through the thick hair to scratch her. I hugged her and she pushed her nose against my chest, nearly toppling me.
I could sense Jaalta’s empathy and Ciera’s guilt. After a few minutes had passed, Rekala let me go and I got back to my feet.
‘I will go with you and the strike force,’ I said aloud.
Sarlice and Kestric looked almost as forlorn as Rekala.
‘There there, little one,’ Ciera said to my Rada-kin. ‘You will be needed as well. Along with Sarlice and Kestric, your place in this fight is also an important one. Just because we’re apart physically doesn’t mean we can’t support each other through the waves.’
Rekala hissed at Ciera, but there was no animosity behind it. She allowed the immense skyearl’s calming presence to flow into her being.
‘I am well-pleased with your decision Sleffion,’ my skyearl declared. ‘My armour is stored in the room at the end of that hall.’ He gestured behind the dais down a blue-lit corridor. ‘It will need to be taken outside and made ready for me.’
Many different people had been given the honour of preparing Ciera’s armour over the centuries. It was a momentous occasion for his own Sleffion to be doing it.
‘Yes, Emperor,’ I replied with a bow.
Jaalta squeezed my hand, saying, ‘I too must see to my Sleffion-kin. Not much time to get ready for our departure.’
‘See you soon,’ I said to her.
When I turned back to Sarlice, she was looking dispiritedly at the ground.
‘Will you walk with me?’ I asked her softly. The Rada-kin sensed our desire to be alone together and stayed where they were.
Without looking up, Sarlice bobbed her head. Sensing her disappointment, I put one hand on her upper back as we walked down the hall. She glanced at me over her shoulder, but still said nothing.
We passed several rooms where people were gathering and packing supplies. At the very end was a red door painted with the silhouette of a skyearl in armour. It was dark inside. Sarlice borrowed a torch from one of the sconces in the hallway and lit three in the skyearl armour room.
I looked around in wonder at the beaten metal of all shapes and sizes from head and chest pieces to shoulder plates, claw sharpeners and tail spikes.
‘Must you join the Anzaii strike force?’ Sarlice asked me, ignoring the armour.
I nodded. Sarlice bowed her head. With such a small Sleffionkin, she could not go with me.
‘You don’t have to go,’ she said. ‘You can use your abilities here.’
I turned to face her, suddenly aware of how alone we were back here—it was a relief to get away from the crowds. Sarlice had not spoken the words, but I had a strong feeling she was thinking, ‘What if I never see you again?’. Did our friendship mean that much to her?
‘Our place is by your side,’ she said, referring to herself and all three of her kin.
‘It won’t be for long,’ I told her. ‘We’ll be fighting side by side again before you know it.’
The depth of my emotion made my voice tremble and I fought to keep it hidden. Sarlice smiled fondly but glanced away.
‘I want to be with you, wherever Krii may send us,’ I said sincerely. ‘I will find you as soon as this mission is done.’
She raised her eyebrows and sighed.
‘I’ll come back here,’ I added, trying to be cheerful.
She looked away. ‘I don’t know that any of us will come back.’
‘Come along now; that’s not the Sarlice I know,’ I punched her playfully in the arm.
Outraged, she advanced on me. I backed away, a big, silly grin on my face.
In a playful, teasing voice I jibed, ‘The Sarlice I know never backs down from a fight.’
She jumped on me, grabbed my head in an armlock and messed up my already-messy hair. I didn’t mind the contact.
‘You taught me the most important things I know about combat…’ I struggled to kick her legs out from behind.
She easily twisted out of my reach and threw a punch that I barely managed to duck under. I knocked over a stand of skyearl helms, which clattered across the floor. Embarrassed, but laughing, I ran at her. She easily sidestepped and elbowed down hard on my right shoulder, sending me sprawling to the dusty ground. She pinned me there with one arm twisted up behind my back. I could feel her muscular thigh through the dress she was wearing.
‘And what of Kestric and Rekala?’ Sarlice said, pulling my arm up even higher.
‘Ouch,’ I protested, but she didn’t let go.
‘They’ll have to stay with Thita and me,’ she added.
‘You should go back to Lantaid,’ I replied. ‘Close to the chasm…’ If things went badly for Tanza, I wanted my loved ones close to an escape route.
Having relaxed under her grip, I suddenly wrenched my arm free and rolled. Laughing at our antics, she resisted me. But I pushed her down with one arm across her collar-bone, sliding the other under her head to stop it from hitting the ground. My own elbow landed badly, shooting pain up my arm. I winced, but still managed to clench my knees against Sarlice’s sides, pinning her to the ground.
‘Perhaps all of you can go back through the shield into the chasm,’ I added breathlessly. ‘To escape.’
As I lay there, cradling her head, I almost forgot what I was saying about Rekala and Kestric. She lay still beneath me, breathing heavily. The scar on the top of her shoulder stood out white on the flushed skin there… just like my dream. I remember…
Sarlice made no reply. Her chest rose and fell beneath my arm. I was careful not to squash her, which she seemed to have noticed. Her skin was covered with a light sheen, which glowed in the torchlight. Her lips, still bearing paint, were close to mine. And her eyes—those dark blue eyes like a forest pool at night—stared at me, pleasantly surprised… wanting?
I hesitated. My lips knew what they wanted to do, but my mind recalled another time and another place where I had lain like this with a woman. But I said ‘no’, didn’t I?
Sarlice turned her face away and resumed her struggles. I let her push me away and we rolled up to our feet, dusting ourselves off.
Sarlice nodded to herself and then admitted, ‘You know I just wish I could go with you.’
‘I know,’ I replied. ‘But no matter how good a shrouder Thita is, you could never keep up with a flight team.’
She scowled at me, knowing I spoke truth.
‘Couldn’t Ciera bear me?’
‘He could,’ I admitted, ‘but I don’t think it’s allowed. Every member of the Anzaii strike force must have a skyearl of mount size.’
‘You don’t really need a guide anymore anyway,’ Sarlice said. ‘No human alive could compare to Ciera.’
Behind us in the Dome, the emperor skyearl stood up on his haunches and announced that he would lead the skyearls in the Anzaii strike force as was the tradition. Prince Tyba and Captain S.T. Dathan would lead the humans alongside him. Through my link with Ciera, I sensed a group of Tanzans follow him outside where he waited to be fitted with a battle-seat for me, several throwing spears more than twice my height and sacks of provisions.
Sarlice took me by the arm and led me toward the largest of the armour in the room.
‘Come,’ she said. ‘You are the emperor’s Sleffion. You must fit his armour and sharpen his horns.’
Including Ciera and I, the strike force consisted of two hundred humans and two hundred and sixty-seven skyearls. Three dozen of the humans were Anzaii-Sleffion-Tolite or Anzaii-Sleffion. The rest were Sleffion-Tolites or Sleffion-Rada. The non Anzaii members were solely there to protect and provision the Anzaii. I was the only Astor and was treated with special respect, even though I was technically only a rookie in the army.