The Tigrens' Glory (25 page)

Summer thought for a moment, watching Glory as she stroked her fingers over the mosaic she held.  “Is that your focus?”

“Yes,” Glory said.  “Hope Bearen gave it to me.  The tigrenca depicted here are those that I speak with in my dreams.”

“You are certain of this?” Garen asked, shocked. 

“Yes,” Glory replied, frowning at Trey and Val.

“We forgot to tell him,” Trey said with an apologetic smile.  Glory laid the mosaic flat on the table and pointed to each of the three tigrenca.  “They told me that their mother made it when they were young men.  They also warned me that their mother was powerful, and that I should be careful with it, but I don’t know what they meant by that.”

“May I?” Summer asked, getting up to walk around the table to where Glory sat.

“Of course,” Glory said, handing the mosaic to Summer.

Summer looked at the images created with the different colored gemstones, then looked beyond the images to the truth of the object itself using her talent for
knowing
.  Everyone waited in silence, allowing her to focus without distraction.  When she handed the mosaic back to Glory she was smiling. 

“There is much more to that than a pretty picture,” she said, returning to her seat across from Glory.  “It’s a power safe.”

Garen glanced at Faron, then Maxim.  They all wanted very much to ask questions, but this was not the time or place for their curiosity.  They held their tongues and watched as their Arimas worked through the problem. 

“What is a power safe?” Saige asked.

“Pretty much what it sounds like,” Summer said.  “It’ll hold whatever power is fed into it until someone draws it off.  We three need to form a circle with the mosaic.”

“I don’t understand,” Lariah said.  “How do we do that?”

“The three of us hold hands,” Summer said, frowning in thought.  “You and I have to trade places, Saige.  You need to be in the middle.  You hold hands with Lariah and me, and she and I will touch the mosaic with our free hands.  Don’t worry, this will not cause harm to you or your sons,” she added with a reassuring smile.  “Glory, you’ll need to put your hands on the mosaic as well.  We will gather Spirit, feed it into the mosaic, and you will take it from there when you’re ready to use it.”

Saige and Summer traded places, and Glory slid the mosaic into the center of the table so they could all reach it.  Summer frowned again as she looked at the four of them sitting around the table.  “Once we’ve filled the mosaic with Spirit, we’re going to have to push it toward Glory when she’s ready for it.  If we don’t, she’ll use too much of her energy just drawing on it to succeed in opening a tank.  I’m not sure we’ll be strong enough after we’ve gathered the Spirit, though.  If we’d already gone through the jump point into the LMC we’d be physically closer to the Tigren, which would make it easier for all of us.  But, from what Glory’s told us, I don’t think we can wait that long.”

“I think we can be of help with that,” Garen said.  “We can feed our Arimas power.  Will that work?”

“Yes, it will,” she replied with obvious relief.  Maxim placed one hand on Summer’s shoulder while Faron did the same to Saige, and Garen did the same to Lariah. 

“Once you begin drawing on Spirit you’ll have to focus really hard on what you need to do,” Summer said to Glory.  “Go as quickly as you can once you begin, and don’t let anything distract you.”

“I’ve never used magic before,” Glory said.  “I have no idea how to do this.”

“You’re not actually going to wield it,” Summer explained.  “You’re just going to fill yourself with it to increase your own strength.  Just imagine that it’s raw energy, and that you’re drawing it into yourself through your fingers.  Then, imagine your hand becoming solid enough to manipulate the latch.”

 “Okay, I think I can do that,” Glory said.  “What happens once I open a tank?  Do you think there’s air in the building that they can breathe?”

“Yes,” Trey said.  “The Xanti and the Damosion, both beings from that galaxy, breathed air as we do.  That doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a compatible atmosphere in that building, but it is, at least, probable.”

“Will they need medical assistance once they leave the tanks?”

“Glory,” Garen said, leaning down to look directly into her eyes, his voice soft but firm.  “Our choices are limited, and simple.  We must either risk opening the tanks, or hope that their tanks don’t fail before we are able to reach them.”

“No,” Glory said, shaking her head.  “The backup system won’t last long.  I just know it.  They have little time.  Minutes.  An hour, maybe.  No more.”

“The fluid they are in is certainly breathing fluid,” Trey said.  “Once removed from the tank, they will have to expel the fluid from their lungs.  Their bodies should cough the fluid up automatically.”

“You’ll only be able to open one tank,” Summer warned.  “It will be up to the one you release to open the other tanks.”

Glory’s heart was thudding heavily in her chest, but this was the right thing to do, the
only
thing to do, and she knew it.  She took a deep breath and turned her eyes back to the mosaic.  “Kyerion is strongest,” she decided. “I’ll open his tank.”

“Take the time to explain to him what you’re going to do, and what he can expect,” Summer said.  “He’ll have no experience with technology, so if you don’t tell him what needs to be done, he won’t know.  That will give us time to gather Spirit and feed it into the mosaic for you.”

Glory nodded, then closed her eyes and slowed her breathing before reaching for the familiar, trancelike state again.  She’d never Dream Walked twice within a twenty four hour period before, but the first Dream Walk had been very short.  Hopefully that would make a difference. 
No
, she told herself.  Not hopefully.  Definitely.  It
would
make a difference.  She would
not
fail.

She focused on the Flame and the Door, clearing her mind with the ease of practice.  It took a little longer than usual, and she refused to allow herself to feel relief when she found herself staring at the candle.  Instead, she closed her eyes again and imagined the building filled with hibernation tanks, hoping to bypass the valley in an effort to save time.  She focused specifically on the area in front of the Tigrens’ tanks.  A few moments later she opened her eyes to find herself exactly where she’d hoped to be.  This time she allowed the relief to wash through her.

“Kyerion?”

“That was fast, Glory,”
he said.  “
Or it seemed so to me.”

“Yes, it was only a few minutes,” she said.  “I’ve got some help now.  They said I’ll only be able to open one tank, so I’m going to open yours since you’re strongest.  You’ll have to open Kirk’s and Cade’s tanks once you’re out.  Prince Trey said that the fluid you’re in is breathing fluid.  Your lungs will need to expel it before you can breathe, and we think there’s a good chance you’ll have a breathable environment inside the building.  There are no people around, so I can’t be sure.”

“Glory,”
Kyerion said, his voice gentle. 
“We understand the risks.  Don’t worry.  Whatever happens, we thank you for aiding us.”

“Don’t forget,” she said worriedly, “you need to open your brothers’ tanks as soon as possible using the handle on the door.  Once I’ve got your tank open, I’ll feed you as much energy as I can, but I don’t think you’ll have much time.  I think there are fewer blue sections now than there were before I left.”

“
I’ll open their tanks,”
Kyerion said.  “
You have my word.”

“Here goes,” Glory said.  She studied the latch mechanism carefully.  She’d have to turn the handle from upward to downward, then pull to break the seal and open the door.  She raised one hand until it was just above the handle, careful to be sure her fingers were barely touching the metal itself.  Then she pictured the mosaic in her mind and reached for it.  She breathed out slowly when she sensed the warm pool of Spirit it now held.  She imagined drawing it into herself through her fingers, just like Summer had told her, relieved when she felt it flowing into her body and mind.  She drew on it until she felt the cold metal against her fingers and her hand looked more solid than the rest of her. 

She said a quick, silent prayer, then wrapped her fingers around the handle and pushed downward.  For a long moment nothing happened.  She drew more Spirit and pushed harder on the handle.  A spike of pain shot through the center of her head, but the handle moved a few inches.  Encouraged, she pressed even harder, ignoring the feel of blood trickling from her nose. 

The handle swung all the way into the down position and all the lights on the control panel began to flash rapidly.  She tightened her grip on the handle and drew every bit of Spirit left in the mosaic.  Then she pulled.  For a long moment nothing happened, and she feared it wasn’t going to work.  She pulled harder.  Another sharp pain sliced through her head, this one going deeper and lasting longer, but she gritted her teeth against it and continued to pull with everything she had.  At the last moment, just before her hand became transparent again and slid through the metal handle, the seal around the door gave way.  But, after all of her effort, the door was only open a bare fraction of an inch. 

There was no more Spirit left to draw on.  She’d failed.  She looked up at Kyerion, and decided that she would stay there, with the Tigren, until their tanks went dark.  If she couldn’t save them, she would at least remain with them until the end.

She was gathering herself to speak with Kyerion one last time, to give him the bad news and tell him how sorry she was, when she noticed that the door was widening.  Surprised, she looked down and saw that the pressure of the fluid in the tank was pushing the door open.  She backed away, watching as a trickle became a flood that soon shoved the door open wide.  Kyerion’s bare feet hit the bottom of the tank, then he slumped forward and fell out onto the floor with a rush of fluid, his body limp and lifeless.

“Kyerion?”
she called, feeding what remained of her own energy into him as fast as she could without thought to herself. 
“You have to breathe, Kyerion, please, breathe!”

She waited for a response, fighting the strange pulling sensation that threatened to drag her back to her body by sheer strength of will.  The harder she fought, the bigger the pain in her head became, but she didn’t care.  She could
not
leave until she knew whether he’d live, or not.

Kyerion began to cough, weakly at first, and then more strongly.  He rolled over onto his stomach and expelled great gouts of fluid from his lungs.  He coughed some more, then gasped as he inhaled deeply. 

“Kyerion?”

His eyes opened, then closed before he called out to her with his mind.  “
Glory?”

“Yes,” she said, sobbing with relief.

“Thank you, Glory,”
he said. 
“You must return to your body now.  Don’t worry.  I’ll release Kirk and Cade in a moment.  I’ll not fail you, or them.  I give you my word.”

“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Glory promised as she felt herself drift away.  She wasn’t ready to leave, but even her indomitable will had given out.  She closed her eyes, and darkness closed in on her. 

“Call Doc,” Garen told Val in a low voice as they all watched Glory begin to bleed from the nose and ears. 

“He’s on the
Vyand
,” Maxim said.  “Loni and I will go get him and Darlene.”

Val tapped his vox and nodded at Maxim.  “They’re waiting for you in the infirmary.”  Maxim nodded, then he and Loni vanished.

“Should we try to awaken her?” Garen asked Summer.

“No,” Summer said, her eyes glistening with tears.  “If we stop her now, we will lose them all.  She has to finish this, and we have to let her.”

Lariah bit her lip as she forced herself to remain in her seat.  She’d come to like and respect Glory a great deal in the short time she’d known her, which made it even more difficult to sit back and watch her suffer.  But she sensed the truth in Summer’s words.  If they interrupted Glory now, she and the Tigren would die.

The tension in the room rose as Glory’s bleeding increased.  Summer, Saige and Lariah, tears streaming down their faces, gripped each other’s hands so tightly their knuckles were white, but none of them even considered letting go of each other.  They’d long since exhausted their ability to channel Spirit into the mosaic, or channel at all, for that matter, but, by unspoken agreement, they wouldn’t break their circle until Glory was finished. 

“Trey, contact Admiral Falcoran and apprise him of the situation,” Garen said.  “Let him know we need to postpone the jump into Xanti space until morning.  Lariah, Summer, and Saige are drained.  They’ll need a good night’s sleep to recover.”

Trey nodded and stepped away to make the call just as Glory’s eyelids fluttered.  A moment later her hands fell away from the mosaic and her head tipped back.  The steady flow of blood had run down her neck, drenching the front of her shirt, leaving her golden brown complexion dull. and gray.  She slumped sideways in her chair, but Garen caught her before she fell to the floor.  He lifted Glory in his arms and turned, vanishing from the room. 

The women relaxed with soft sighs as they released each other’s hands.  “Do you think she did it?” Saige asked Summer.

“I don’t know,” Summer said, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

“She did it,” Lariah said without a trace of doubt.  “Glory doesn’t know how to fail.”

“I agree,” Saige said.

“You’re right, of course,” Summer said, sitting up straighter in her chair.  “None of us would leave our Rami in such a state regardless of the consequences to ourselves.  Glory would do no less than any of us.  She is a fighter.”

“The only problem now is that we don’t know where the Tigren are,” Lariah said. 

“We have to find them,” Saige said.  “After all that Glory has done, we simply can’t fail her.”

Chapter Twenty One