The Last of the Ageless (40 page)

A beep interrupted their conversation. Soledad’s eyes widened; she put a hand into the baggy blue shirt she wore and pulled out the Ancient communication device.

Kaia’s voice came through. “Do you read me?”

“Loud and clear,” Soledad said. “But I have to admit I’m a little surprised.”

“Don’t be. I realized you’re probably right.” Soledad didn’t respond. When the silence grew awkward, Kaia continued, “About a lot of things.”

Soledad leaned back against the rocks and held the Ancient device to her lips, but said nothing. Her eyes gleamed with an expression Korreth would’ve described as equal parts triumph and malice. He shuddered.

“Are you there?” Kaia’s voice sounded worried.

“Zen hasn’t found me yet, if that’s what you’re asking,” Soledad said levelly.

“What I’m trying to say is… I know who attacked Searchtown. It wasn’t Zen.”

“What makes you think I care?”

“Soledad, don’t be like this. Don’t you want to save the others?”

“Don’t try to manipulate me.”

“I… I was wrong about Liang.” Even though Korreth guessed that Kaia told the truth, her admission still felt like manipulation to him. “He’s alive, and he’s not far from where you are now.”

Soledad’s nose crinkled like she’d smelled something disgusting. He imagined she didn’t like to be reminded Kaia could spy on her whenever she wanted.

Jorrim leaned back against the rocks near her. He winced, then relaxed. Korreth joined them against the rocks.

Since Soledad didn’t reply, Kaia went on, “And I think the people who attacked Searchtown might be his, not Zen’s.”

Jorrim shook his head. “What difference does that make now?”

Soledad gave a slight nod to Jorrim, and then pressed the button on the device. “Whether his or Zen’s, they’re still hostile. Why do you suddenly think Liang’s alive?”

Kaia hesitated, making Korreth suspicious. “Alright, look. I noticed a strong signal outside Searchtown just before we were attacked. I’ve seen it before, but never this close.”

“Why didn’t you mention this sooner?” Exasperation filled Soledad’s voice. “And how do you know this strong signal isn’t something coming from Zen?”

“Because on the day you watched Zen kill Cerrit, the signal was far from Cerrit’s cabin.”

“That doesn’t mean—” Jorrim started, but Soledad held up a hand.

“And now this strong signal is…?”

“Some distance south of you,” Kaia responded. “And the four K’inTesh relics are traveling straight toward it.”

Soledad stared at the transmitter in her hand. “If we go to investigate, what will you give me in return? Are you ready to tell me where the others are?”

Korreth rested his head against the rock, soaking up the heat as the sun fell. The night would be cold. He tapped to Jorrim,
Maybe we should make camp here.
Korreth tuned Soledad out as she and Kaia negotiated back and forth about what information Kaia was and was not willing to divulge, and how deep their alliance ran.

Jorrim tapped slowly, seeming distracted.
The slaves may be Zen’s.

I don’t believe the Changeling boy works for Zen.
Korreth’s gut instinct said Dalan was different than most Changelings they’d encountered.

But the feline may.
Jorrim’s taps were heavy. Korreth knew they’d be in trouble if Nyr crossed paths with them again, which might be all too soon.

“Fine. My men and I will investigate. We’ll talk again soon, Kaia,” Soledad said and then turned off her device.

Korreth answered Jorrim’s taps.
The feline has no loyalty to anyone. So if not with Zen, maybe they’ll help us.

Why would they?

Korreth could tell Dalan hadn’t known Ti’rros or Nyr for long, yet he’d fled to safety with them in tow. He might help other acquaintances as well.

Because if we fall to Zen, he’ll kill off the rest of the Ageless, and then he’ll attack our people... and theirs.

Chapter 19

Caetl decided to make camp well past nightfall. He found a small tree to tie the horses to, but didn’t dare build a fire. He didn’t sense anyone nearby, but firelight would be visible for miles and might attract unwanted attention. Though he was a Changeling, Caetl’s mystic abilities wouldn’t save him if someone wanted to slit his throat in his sleep.

After bedding down, he pushed his mental senses outward while listening for the sound of footsteps over the horses’ breathing.

For a while Caetl lay awake, trying to imagine how he might convince Dalan, Nyr, and Ti’rros to follow him. Anything he told them would be perceived as a lie. Trust the Wizard to send him in after he’d already made a mess of things, just like he had after unleashing Nyr on Mapleton. Caetl had to go in and save the day—or that’s how he’d felt, when he helped rescue Gryid from the burning village.

Later he realized he’d delivered the man into a worse fate. He’d seen the Wizard changing for the worse, slowly growing more and more paranoid, but to torture one of his own kind… Caetl shuddered, remembering the reverberations in his own head as the Wizard’s screams pounded inside Gryid’s mind.

Hearing nothing unusual in the grasses, Caetl eventually fell into a fitful sleep. In the early morning he awoke with the need to relieve nature’s call. As he blearily got up, he felt a mental presence nearby, which brought him fully awake.

He surveyed the vicinity with both physical and mental senses. Like stones on top of a suspended net, multiple minds weighed down one spot in the psychic landscape. Confident they were far enough away, Caetl took the time to roll up his bedroll.

He mounted up and continued onward, with the other two horses trailing behind. Farther away he sensed an entire settlement—Searchtown. He hoped to be able to stay far from there, since some of the townspeople might recognize him from the Wizard’s ill-fated attack.

Caetl gazed up at the light morning sky and found himself lost in its wonder. Overhead, the largest piece of space debris, familiar to any skywatcher, crossed his line of vision. He wondered whether the stories were true about it being the lost alien ship that had brought the Joeys to Earth centuries ago.

Caetl shook himself and tore his gaze away. The sun was almost overhead. He kept losing himself to the sky lately; his mental discipline had slipped.

Two of the mental presences neared him. They gave off thoughts like animals—confusing aerial images, lacking the emotions that laced human thoughts. Caetl spotted them in the distance: a bird dwarfed by a giant dragonfly. Side-by-side, they flew toward him. Compared to his horses’ thoughts, the two creatures’ presences were boulders weighing down the psychic net.

Caetl gasped in realization. Gryid, Ti’rros, and Nyr’s minds linked to his through the devices, but he couldn’t sense Dalan’s. Above, the bird’s mind betrayed curiosity—not something Caetl had ever noticed in an avian before.

He’d stumbled upon Dalan himself.

As to why the dragonfly had such a strong mental presence, Caetl couldn’t be sure. More importantly, he couldn’t let the Wizard notice that he could tap Dalan’s thoughts while in a different form. That was one of the few advantages they might have over the Wizard.

Keep going southwest,
the Wizard said in his mind.
You should catch up to them in a couple hours.

Fine,
Caetl replied back through the device. He calmed his racing heart. The Wizard didn’t seem to suspect anything, but Caetl kept the shutters of his mind closed. He still wasn’t sure whether the Wizard had pierced his mental defenses earlier, but he couldn’t afford not to be paranoid.

As Caetl continued toward the other mental presences, he identified them as Nyr and Ti’rros. Once he passed underneath the dragonfly and hawk, they trailed behind him for hours. The breeze made the grasses sing, and he enjoyed watching the insect and bird ride the updrafts overhead. He periodically glanced over his shoulder to be sure the other horses still followed.

At one point, he sensed wariness in the horses’ minds; they smelled something. When he glanced back, a silver-skinned figure popped up from the grasses.

Caetl nearly fell off his horse.

“Show your hands!” called a female voice.

Recovering his wits, he pulled up on the reins and raised his hands as Nyr emerged from the grasses ahead. Caetl’s horse reared, and the other two horses screamed and bolted. He hung on for dear life as the gelding’s weight shifted.

Nyr grabbed the reins and pulled his horse back down. Its eyes rolled, and Caetl realized Nyr was the fearful creature the horses had scented earlier. Though she was in her feline form, he saw the device around her neck with her other necklaces.

Something fell out of the sky, making his horse shrill in fear. Caetl surveyed his surroundings, expecting to see some debris or a meteorite sizzling on the ground. Instead, a strange feathered thing stood nearby, about the height of a small child. From the other side, Ti’rros approached, holding a gun.

In a distorted voice, the feathered creature said, “Nyr, don’t kill him.” It hesitated, then added, “At least, not yet.”

The mystic mentally pushed at it and identified Dalan. Caetl’s heart dropped. So the peaceful transmelder wasn’t as peaceful as he used to be. The Wizard corrupted everything and everyone he came in contact with.

“I’m alone,” Caetl said, meeting each of their eyes.

Why didn’t you warn me?
He asked through the device.

He checked for the dragonfly and found it buzzing in a large perimeter around them.

“Followed him for a while. Tells the truth.” Though Dalan’s beak pointed toward Nyr and Ti’rros, his voice sounded clear and human, making Caetl wonder whether he had both a beak and a human mouth. He wrinkled his nose.

Ehhh… I got bored. I have other things to do, you know.

“Then what should we do?” Ti’rros asked, not pointing her gun at anyone. Caetl tapped the Joey, but she remained as difficult to read up close as over the network created by the linked necklaces. He could only sense caution and concern.

The horse neighed, its weight shifting from one side to the other, dismayed that its companions had fled. They kept their distance, but when their attention wandered, they began grazing. The only sound was of the horses greedily plucking up stalks. Caetl patted his horse’s neck and pulled some burrs from its mane.

They’re thinking about killing you. The least you could do is pay attention.

Caetl started, worried the Wizard had tapped his mind again. Then he remembered the Wizard could see him from the other necklaces.
Can’t you just tell them not to? Oh, that’s right. They’re not taking your orders any more, are they?

He refocused his attention on his captors. The Wizard’s use of the amplifier created pressure in Caetl’s mental landscape, making it difficult to marshal his thoughts.

“Perhaps it would make sense to simply ask him,” Ti’rros said.

Dalan and Nyr looked at him. Dalan’s beak retracted under his feathers, disappearing entirely before he asked, “What do you know about the necklaces?”

Oh, yes. I may have mentioned that I was sending someone along to collect them.

All of Caetl’s hopes slid away. He hadn’t expected them to know he had any connection to the devices at all. They definitely wouldn’t trust him now.

He put his hands back up, though they were getting tired fast. “If you want, I’ll hop down and you can check me for weapons, Nyr. I brought these horses for you anyway.”

Surprise registered in both Dalan and Nyr’s minds, but not their faces. Of course, he couldn’t hope to read Dalan’s expression anyway, since brown and red feathers still covered his entire body.

Nyr raised one black eyebrow. “Do it. Then we can see what other stuff we might want.”

Caetl slid off the saddle. The other two horses made their way toward them, unwilling to leave their fellow behind once they believed the danger past.

Nyr stepped behind him and patted Caetl down. When her hand touched his chest, he held his breath.

Caetl tapped her. She thought of other questions to ask him. As she peeked into the pouches tied to his belt, Nyr considered taking them but decided to wait. She could take them after she killed him.

Caetl wrenched his thoughts away.

Dalan hopped closer. Bloated bird legs extended beneath his grotesque in-between form. “Who are you? Who sent you?”

“I am Caetl, here to give you all the answers you’ve been looking for.” He bowed his head, trying to seem as humble as a Purebreed who found himself among Changelings and Joeys.

Nyr’s suspicion darkened his mental landscape, and Ti’rros felt the same, though he couldn’t sense her deeper emotions. Dalan, as usual, was more willing to be convinced. Strange that the naïve one had become the one most difficult for the Wizard to control.

Caetl shuttered his mind. Best that the Wizard never realized that although he couldn’t peek into Dalan’s mind when the boy was shifted, his mystic could, up close.

Dalan started to ask what race and tribe Caetl belonged to, but Nyr spoke first. “Good. Then tell us if you’ve got any rope.”