Post 31: The Clearing and The Conduit

The flowers were bright, almost neon colored, in the field surrounding her. She lay on her side, playing in the grass; curling her toes into the soil. Throwing her head back, Ana laughed as a soft kiss of a butterfly touched her cheek. It was quiet of city life and loud with nature, here in the clearing. A trickle of a lake surrounded her, rimming the clearing just before the trees formed to a forest.

            “Ana, we need your help.” A soft but strong voice spoke behind her. A softly rounded woman sat on a tree stump just barely jutting from the ground. Her outstretched legs were covered in dirt and the soft white linen dress she wore lay bunched at her knees. She leaned back, stretching her arms behind her until her palms rested flat against the top of the stump.

            “But I don’t know how I could help.” Ana rolled onto her right side so she was facing the woman. “You seem…so familiar to me.” Propping up on her elbow she took in her features. The soft brown skin, honey colored trusting eyes and brown hair called to her. There was no trickery here, she asked her of her help with hope that she’d be willing.

            “I know why you left Senatus. I know why you and Chase separated. I know you really didn’t mean to deliver his mate to that devil. They, however, don’t know this. You committed treason, Ana Guile. They have no trust in you.” The woman rose from the stump and came to sit next to Ana. Despite the soft roundness to her body and hips, she gracefully sat with her knees tucked to the side.

            “And you do?” Ana sat up, crossing her legs before her making sure to tuck her own linen dress tight around her knees.

            “Yes, I know that seems weird or rather hard to believe but I also was an Eidyia Woman. Although we might not have worked in groups or even well together in teams as the Dark Warriors, we still were a unit. I have many centuries of experience, the loneliness doesn’t get any better without someone. Knowing that Chase was not the one for you must have killed you and the thought to deceive him, that’s why you left. And initially, it was only because you had no choice; then the allure of the dark power was so bright. It seduced you, just as it had me.”

            “It’s not that hard to believe,” Ana said “you being an Eidyia Woman. I sense it in you.” She leaned forward and glanced down at the clasp hands in her lap. “I loved him, I did, just not in the way mates should love each other. I never even felt tempted to complete the Mauma, we never had the shared visions of the Codra Mauma. I’m sure our passion was..” she blushed “just as great as any. I just…”

            “Couldn’t connect?” The woman leaned forward and smiled, tucking wayward strand behind Ana’s ear. “I know, sweetheart, I know.”

            “I just couldn’t deceive him any longer and I knew the only way to get out of it all was to become a Woman of Ganesha. Being a traitor is hard. I…You have to do things you don’t want to do. I knew Devlirus was up to something. I just didn’t want to believe that my part would be the end all.” She shook her head as the tears fell.

            “End all?”

            “Yes, he spoke to me, after he’d captured the woman and her mother. He said “thank you for giving my race back its home.” I didn’t understand what he meant so I did some research. Malvroy is dying. Not like the Moen and not like Plutos. It will surely implode. The anger, grief, strife and destructiveness of the Malus tipped the balance. The dark power took over the light source of the planet and for the last centuries it’s been destroying itself piece by piece and soon there will be nowhere for them to go.” Tears streamed faster down her cheeks and she looked up and stared right at the woman. “Can you imagine? Arinth being destroyed? Us never being allowed to go back home. Can you imagine us having to move our entire race to a different planet, with a different solar system, different gravity, and different essence?” She shook her head.

            “That is their own fault.” The woman nodded as a stricken look covered Ana’s face. “It is! While not every species on that planet is evil or bad or angry, they were warned. Several times. Over my rein as Eidyia on Malvroy, I held secrets for their government. Ones that, to this day, I cannot share; not even with you. They knew, they thought they had time and despite my judgment and guidance they ignored me and the warning signs. I had to…” the woman shook her head as her own eyes misted, “leave the man I loved behind when the Council retired me. Conflict of interest, my want to save them, is what they called it.”

            “You lived there? Before the resistance? Before the attack on Earth began?”

            “Yes, and while I loved and loved deeply and tried the best I could, I couldn’t save them. But you have the chance to save a race. The Malus had their chance. Pray, what do you think they will do with Earth when they set up here? They will destroy every species on this planet all the while enveloping themselves further into the darkness.” She shook her head angrily. “They weren’t so bad in the beginning but desperation is an evil poison.”

            “Earth? I’m sorry, you have it confused. If I remember correctly, I can see it all now. By the grace of Light Warriors, they don’t want to inhabit Earth. They want to steal its life source. Earth is the center of the galaxy, is it not?” she didn’t wait for the woman to respond. “It’s the only planet strong enough to transfer life and light source to another. They need the essence of Earth to replenish the light on their planet, to heal their planet. That’s why they need a conduit! If I’m not mistaken, the only other conduit besides Egeria Shen is Anders Culvert. They are both well-guarded. Maybe they plan to use Chase’s mate to get to her father.”  

            “They don’t need Anders. Adrian is also a conduit. If her kidnapping was truly a body possession, they can make her do anything. I don’t know if she’s strong enough to resist. Removing the light source from an object not only destroys it but destroys the vessel. Adrian will die before she even knows what happened!” The woman jumped to her feet in one fluid motion and reached down to pull Ana to her feet. “Will you help us?”

            “Yes, whatever I’ve done must be undone. I will help willingly.” Ana nodded.

            Blinking against the light that shone into her eyes, Ana threw her hands up against the beams. A strong metal smell filled her nose and she took a deep breath of musky air. Glancing around, she noticed she was no longer in the clearing dressed in her ceremony linens. She stood in a cell, alone. A clanking sound from just before her face, startled her. Stepping backwards, Ana gasped as the woman she’d stood in the clearing with stepped into the cell.

            “I’m Arinth. You said you’d help willingly, does that still stand?” Her voice was still soft and strong, despite the fierce look on her face.

            “Yes, I’ll help anyway that I can.” She glanced behind her as she saw Chase and what looked to be the other warriors of his team, watching. “Hunter, I swear, I had no idea she was your mate. I promise I didn’t know what would become of her.”

            “If you really mean that then you will help us find her.” He spoke before turning and exiting the dungeon. The rest of the warriors followed suit. Arinth turned back to her, a softer look on her face.

            “By the grace of the Light Warriors, you must be hungry.”  She then turned and shuffled from the dungeon; Ana followed just on her heels.

"The only way to be a writer is to write, write and write. The only way...is to write." -Jade Elyzabeth

Post 30: Rocket Scientist

            “It’s not that I love him, it’s that he wasn’t there for me. I don’t care how much I love him; if there isn’t trust there is no relationship.” Adrian huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. The soft plush couch that she sat on dipped as she brought her shoeless feet underneath her. As beautiful as the room was, she knew it wasn’t real. She was still held against her will and her mother was still in danger because of her. The room looked somewhat like the suite she’d shared with Chase at the safe house.

            “I know Adrian, I’m just saying. The telepathic bond between mates is the most intricate and beautiful thing you could ever share. However, in the beginning it is also vulnerable. While it can’t be severed it can be tampered with. Didn’t you say this…this Devlirus was stronger than you? He might be able to block Chase out of your mind or vice versa. You said as you were leaving you kept trying to get into the leader’s mind but he wouldn’t let you. Maybe it wasn’t his resistance you were feeling but the force field around your mind.” Annalise crouched next to her daughter, her hands resting on her knees and her head tilted slightly. Adrian could see the concern on her face but didn’t quite know how to respond. She might very well be right. Adrian wanted to believe it so much. She needed to believe that the group would fight for her, that Chase wouldn’t block her out and use her as bait, that at least one of them trusted her after all this time.

            “What do you think he wants from us?” Adrian asked.

            “I’m not sure. I think that initially it was about me. I’ve seen him before…don’t look at me like that. I didn’t know he was trouble. I don’t have your gift to read auras, remember?” She shook her head before rising and collapsing on the couch next to her daughter. She slid her feet forward and tucked them behind Adrian’s knees.  “He was the first actual date I’d been on since your father. He was nice, charismatic, charming in a mysterious way; if you will. Then he asked me about you and your father. He pressed me to find out about Anders. I didn’t really want to go into the topic and he kept at it. Eventually I knew it had something to do with the Dark Warriors and you. When I told him that it was uncomfortable how interested he was and he said it was not important. That he’d have you either way and with you; your father. I rose and pretended to use the restroom. Of course he is smart and he waiting for me outside along with five of his goons.” They giggled at the word ‘goons’, sharing an inside joke from years before. Lifting a hand, Annalise trailed a line from her daughter’s forehead to her chin. “Your father did that to me, when he left. He said he wanted to remember the contours of my face, always, remember my beauty. Adrian, no matter what happens…”

            “I don’t even want to hear it. I am stronger than they gave me credit for. I will find a way to get us out of here.” Adrian raised a hand to her mother and repeated the action. “To remember you always,” she whispered. Patting her mother’s knees, Adrian rose and crossed the elaborately designed room. The window that sat high above the shelves could fit the two of them but judging how long it took them to get to the room, escaping that way would lead to a very long fall. “I just had a thought, it’s not me that’s blocked. It’s the house, it’s protected. It holds a barrier. What if that barrier was broken?”  She studied her surroundings harder. Annalise rose gracefully from the couch and stood next to her daughter.

            “What are you thinking, how can I help?” She clasped her hands together, eager.

            “We need to bust that window. Maybe if the barrier is broken…” Adrian trailed off in thought.

            “What’s wrong? What is it”

            “If the barrier is broken, I can get a signal out. That would confirm or deny our theory. If I break the barrier and reach Chase, then we were right. But what if I break the barrier and he is shutting me out? I just don’t know…”

            “Listen to me,” Annalise grasped her daughter by the shoulders. “Whatever you have to do to get us out of here do it. Whether Chase is on the other side or not is up to him. Yes, you love him but he isn’t here. We can find another way to do this.” At that moment a soft knock rang against the wooden door across from them. They both stiffened and locked hands; unified.

            “Ahhh…I see you both have awaken. It’s been hours, I thought I’d let you sleep. We do have a busy day ahead of us.” Devlirus Malus walked smoothly into the room. His tall, lean figure dressed in a crisp Armani suit commanded the room. He stood straight, looking down his nose at them with a slight curve to his lips. “Now, for today’s agenda.” He turned and snapped his fingers towards the door. “We can’t have you looking like prisoners, can we?” Two women with blank expressions and stoic movements shuffled into the room, both holding a box tote in their arms. One motioned blankly to Adrian and the other to Annalise. They helped them change into their new dresses as Devlirus looked on. Adrian glared at him from beneath her lashes as he smirked at their undressed state. “Don’t worry, human women are of no interest for me. At least not…at the moment.” His hardy chuckle rang into the silence as he shook his head.

            “What do you want with me?” Annalise, who’d finished dressing before her daughter, met his gaze head on. She grimaced as his irises turned silver and a pain shot in the back of her mind. A shuffling, a scurrying feeling filled her and she tried to block him out.

            “I see I don’t have to sow confusing and mistrust. The two of you have done that already, humans.” He spat in disgust. “So emotional, too emotional for their own good. My dear Annalise, I’ve already told you. It’s not you that I want. It’s your daughter, you’re just an added bonus to enjoy with we watch the show.” He walked over to Adrian just as the silent woman zipped the zipper. Reaching up towards her, Devlirus smiled widely when she jerked away from him. “Come, we have work to do.” He turned abruptly and led them from the room. He stopped just in time to call out orders to the zombie like women.

            “You still haven’t told me what you want me to do.” Adrian followed right behind him to keep her mother as distant as possible.

            “Fine, you knowing won’t matter as much anyway. I’m sure you’ve had your experience with my men over the last few years of your life. You just didn’t know it. The unexplained disappearances and the catastrophic accidents. They’ve been attributed to by UFO legends and aliens in a far distant place. That is not the case. Well, in all sense of the word, we are aliens but we are here; on earth. My planet…Malvroy, is dying. At first, we thought we might take over earth and live here but the longer I stay on this blasted planet the more I hate it. I’d rather go home. In order to heal our dying planet we need the life of another.”

            “Earth.”

            “You are smart. I’m sure it wouldn’t have taken a rocket astronaut to figure that out.” He chuckled.

            “Scientist,” she whispered.

            “What?” He looked at her quickly.

            “The phrase, the human phrase would be ‘it wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist to figure it out’.”

            “You should soon find, I don’t like to be neither interrupted nor corrected.” He’d stopped and stared down at her.

            “Well, if you didn’t want to be, maybe you should’ve thought about that before you kidnapped an editor.” Adrian stood tall, staring back at him, meeting his icy glare with her own. She didn’t say anything else and cleared her mind as much as possible. She didn’t want him reading her mind or taking control of her body. She lost.

            “If I were you, I’d be more concerned about the welfare of your mother than my grasp on your races grammar.” Leaning slightly towards her, Devlirus kissed her softly across the lips, his eyes wide. Adrian’s body nodded and leaned in to respond. He turned and continued his walk down the hall. Annalise touched her daughters hand and gasped as she found the skin cold. The body turned its head towards her, the eyes blank. Adrian was gone, she didn’t know to where but whatever it was had taken hold of her daughter’s body. The empty vessel grabbed Annalise’s arm and threw it away, causing her to stumble.

            “Your daughter isn’t here.” It spoke, the voice lower and yet musical to Annalise’s ears. She softened and smiled, unafraid of the danger. “You must help us. It’s the only way you and Dark Warrior Anders Culvert can be together; forever.” The soft tones rang through her eardrums and Annalise nodded.

            “Yes, yes I will help.” She followed the two before her out into a large field just behind the castle like house. Before them stood a tall white alter with small symbols much like the tattooed men from before had on their heads. Taking her daughters hand, Annalise led her toward the alter. They would do this and then all would be alright, they would be a family again. Anders, Adrian and her could live in peace; forever.

            “Now, we may begin.” Devlirus stated as he smiled at his two counter parts.

"The only way to be a writer is to write, write and write. The only way...is to write." -Jade Elyzabeth

Post 29: Trust

“…so you mean to tell me that Adrian left, betrayed us, and you didn’t think to tell me?” Chase stood in front of Tristan’s desk, both hands placed flat against its wooden surface. “How…dare you? I know none of you have been ever so lucky to have a mate just yet but I have mine and you just fed her to the wolves. Did you even try to stop her?”

            “This is my team Hunter, or have you forgotten? And might I mention, I don’t consult you on what goes on with my missions why you are off dallying with your ex. This same ex that you have brought into our safe house, this same ex that has confessed to you that she was the one who told Devlirus where to find your mate. So before you go asking what rights go where I suggest you check your own decisions, brother.”

            “Brother? Bah!” Vectio, finally rising from the silence he’d fell back in since they’d first discovered her betrayal, straightened from his position against the wall. “None of you know the meaning of brotherhood. You have all battled together, yes. You have all saved each other once upon a time, yes. You have all even shared the carnalities of this world, yes. The one thing you do not know of is trust.” He turned to each of them, shaking his head in despair. “My team, may the dead rest…” they each repeated the soft endearment for the dead. “We were brothers. Two among us, in the blood sense. You want to know why I refused to interject with this team it lies before you. There is no trust amongst you.”

            “What do you know? We place full trust, of our minds, bodies and gifts in each other’s hands. If that is not trust then it does not exist.” Mendax felt his blood hum as he stepped in front of Vectio.

            “If you so trusted each other, why hasn’t Tristan told the team he can’t get in touch with the Council? He’s been trying for a long time now and he hasn’t heard a word sense. If there is trust why Mendax wouldn’t tell Hunter that every day he feels himself drawn to Adrian as if their blood bonded? Also, if you trusted each other, as true warrior brothers do; why hasn’t Hunter told Mendax he knows he infiltrated his mind to think he was mated to Ana those centuries ago? Trust holds no grudge or secret.” Turning to each other Mendax and Hunter stared into each other’s eyes, searching their auras for deception.

            “Ana told me that it was the Councils wishes that she and I mate. They brought you in to introduce us and to convince me that Ana and I were meant to be together. I remember the day now. You followed me after the Serist Adantra and put your hand on my shoulder, telling me that if I wasn’t going to Marry Ana Guile you’d snatch her up. I remember thinking that I’d never considered mating her before. I loved her, sure, but I’d never thought her and I would be together. Then it all made sense somehow. It was like I’d come to a realization that I was in love with her and had to have her.” He stepped back and ran a hand over his face. Mendax shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

            “I never thought you’d become my Abasha, that we’d fight together. I never thought Ana would be a traitor. It was my job, one of the parts of my past in Senatus that I don’t share. I was commissioned by the Council to consult on many galaxy issues. They needed a union, one of great minds. They brought me a list of Dark Warriors and a list of Eidyia Women. The two of you just made sense. It was easier to convince the two if they were already acquainted.” The rest of the warriors stood silently as Chase Hunter processed the information.

            “And Ana, she was convinced as well?”

            “No. Ana we nearly had to threaten, subtly of course. She loved you but she wasn’t easily convinced. The Eidyia Women are chosen at birth for their ability to hold Intelligence.  They also are chosen for their abilities to thwart Influence and I couldn’t hold her mind long enough. Since she already held love for you the only thing I could convince her of was that it was in your best interest and your life depended on it if you were to be mated. That you were truly meant to be together and didn’t it make sense considering your history? Eventually she agreed and having already been enthralled; you pursued her relentlessly and she gave in.” Chase sat in the chair he’d kicked to the side when he’d entered the office. He studied the surface of the desk before him and shook his head again.

            “You don’t know…how happy that makes me. I wasted centuries with her but I knew something was off when I met Adrian. I knew there was something just…more. I felt, though we are no longer married, that I was betraying Ana somehow by completing the Mauma with Adrian. And speaking of her, you are in love with her?” The segue was quick, to the point and for a moment none of the warriors breathed. The tension rose and enveloped each of them as they watched Mendax’s face draw blank.

            “I do love her, I’m not in love with her. I am drawn to her though, for some reason her blood calls to mine and I’m not sure why. I am an honest man, despite my history and employment by the Council. She isn’t mine to have and daresay I will not attempt to take her. You don’t need to keep your eye on me, brother.” Mendax held out an arm to Chase, palm up and extended. Chase didn’t hesitate but grasped Mendax’s forearm and placed his other hand on his shoulder.

            “I believe you.” The forgiving energy between the two cut the tension and bled to the other warriors. Together they turned to their leader with their arms clasped behind their backs; waiting.

            “It’s true. I’ve been disconnected from the Council for a very long time. So has Shepard, the European team had the communication cut a lot longer than us. We’ve been meeting without you to find a way to repair the portal and have been unsuccessful. Shepard and I thought it best to not discuss this with our teams until the need arose; that time has come. They are rising and soon. They need Adrian for something and we aren’t quite sure what it is. The only one that seems to know is in our dungeon. First, let us go and speak with the traitor. Ana must have something on the Malus that we can use to find out why they really need Adrian. The Council isn’t available; for now, Chase, your mission to capture and turn her over has been voided.” He nodded and rose from his seat behind the desk where he’d been lounging.

            “I used to be an Eidyia Woman. I retired. They sent me here to live out my life. I have been living here, protecting, watching over and guiding the Dark Warriors that inhabit this safe house. I’ve kept it a secret from the Council. Now you know my history. I am sure, should you allow my help, Ana would be more…susceptible to answer your questions if she talks to me.” The warriors turned at the soft voice. Arinth, Cook, stood there in the door with both arms wrapped around her waist. Her brown skin glowed slightly as she let down her guards, allowing them to see her true aura, a soft trusting white.

            “Yes, Arinth. We’d appreciate all the help we can get.” He walked towards her and placed a hand over his heart.

            “Good, now if you’re done sitting around moping like girls, dinner should be ready in five and don’t forget to wash.” Pausing to make sure she received a nod from each warrior, Arinth turned and left the room.

            “Ahhh….trust.” Vectio smiled slightly at them before disappearing.

 

"The only way to be a writer is to write, write and write. The only way...is to write." -Jade Elyzabeth