[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
The two scientists and their families who disappeared a couple years before you?
Your sister Rebaccah was married to McCrory, wasn t she? What about it? he asked,
bewildered by her question. What do they have to do with this?
I understand that you ve met Samara? Her last name is McCrory, Jade revealed
gently. Her father is Hamilton McCrory. Ham and Rachel came through the passage
with their oldest little girl Elizabeth. Rachel was pregnant with Samara. Three weeks
later, Nathan and Morgana Taylor came through with their oldest boy Joshua.
Okay& Bish was still confused. Suppose they did? What does that have to do
with you, aside from the relationship?
Sighing so deeply it hurt to hear him, Merlyn explained, They left some of their
working notes behind when they disappeared. They discovered some anomalies they
couldn t explain that led them to postulate the possibility of this place or at least some
place like it a place with an invisible entrance that took up unseen time and space.
They speculated that it might be a different dimension or a hidden UFO base or& I m
sure you can fill in the possibilities yourself.
So far, I m with you. Then what?
Dad had Jade working on the papers before we married. The week before the
wedding, she finally figured out what they found. When she realized what she had, she
decided that she couldn t let Dad get his grubby mitts on it so she destroyed all of the
notes, set the computer programming to self-destruct, got rid of every scrap of paper.
He raised Jade s hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. Dad found out the day of the
wedding. When we were abducted, we were brought to the Bright Shadows Mountains
and locked in a hut with Nikolas. Dad came along and threatened to kill Nik and me if
Jade didn t tell him what she knew. He swiped at a stray tear that trickled down his
cheek. Jade told him to kill us all as she would never tell him anything. He had them
strip our clothes off and locked us in.
91
Anny Cook
I don t know if you remember but it was December and below freezing. Jade did
that mind trick she used to do on the lock. It took hours! He remembered with anguish.
Finally, she had it unlocked and we spent a good hour crashing against that door until
it jarred the hasp loose.
You got away? Why didn t you tell someone? Bish demanded.
Jade screamed in frustration. You still don t get it, do you? Who were we going to
tell? The Department has sticky tentacles in every office in our government. Wherever
we went whoever we told, we were endangering more innocent people. She wanted
to hit something but she calmed down when she felt Merlyn squeeze her hand. So!
When we got out, we decided to try to find the hidden place. Hell! For all we knew it
was a complete void and we would die! I just knew that your father couldn t get his
hands on it.
So you found it. How?
The same way you did. We took shelter in a cave. When we smelled the roses in
December! we followed the scent but Nik refused to come and we couldn t wait there
to convince him. For the first time, Merlyn smiled. Dai was meditating in the little
cavern when we came through. He didn t turn a hair when we arrived stark naked and
blue with cold.
Jade laughed out loud. He was so funny. There we were, freezing and he s talking
to Merlyn about some bonding. All we wanted to do was get warm. Well, we certainly
got warm! Her laughter took on the edge of hysteria. We haven t been that warm
since. We almost died from schalzah but I can definitely say we weren t cold anymore.
Merlyn got up, plucked Jade from her chair and sat back down with her in his lap.
He held her close and comforted her, Shh. It s over, Jade. All over. Looking at Bishop,
he added, Dad s still looking, you know. When we searched Dancer s clothes, we
found a tiny electronic device. Ham s pretty sure that it s some kind of transmitter. He
destroyed it but there may be others.
You think he was following Dancer to find this place? That all that rot about the
Waterloo Group going after him was just to get him to find the valley? Bish just stared
at them. What about Trav and me? And why is it so important?
We don t know. You didn t seem to have too many hiding places on you but Trav
seems to have brought quite a pile of stuff with him. We ll have to go through his things
carefully. As for why? Dad said something about an old journal he inherited from
Great-Uncle Cage. I think he thinks there s a treasure here.
Huh. What about the Taylors? You know that Morgana is Dancer and Trav s aunt,
right?
What? Merlyn frowned at him. Are you sure?
Pretty sure. She s their dad s sister. Bishop s brow wrinkled in concentration. It
was in all the papers last year when they were murdered. All about how tragedy
continues to strike the family.
92
Traveller s Refuge
Nate and Morgana went down to Rebaccah s Promise right before Dancer arrived.
They probably don t even know that they re here, Jade whispered softly.
If Dad knows, that would be two strikes against the Devereauxs. Merlyn stared at
Bishop angrily. They re in more danger than we even imagined.
Jade smiled sadly. Not much of a reunion, is it?
Better than a poke in the eye with a stick, he pointed out morosely.
* * * * *
Dancer paced back and forth across the round living area impatiently. What s
taking so long? he demanded. Trav could have taken ten baths by now.
Perhaps, Dai answered agreeably, but it would be rude to rush through a bath
with his promised bond mate just so he could visit with his brother. After all, a bond-
mate comes first always as you well know.
Bond mate! He stopped dead, thunderstruck at the idea. He just got here! How
can he have a bond mate?
Except for the day Traveller arrived, you have been in seclusion, Dancer. As I
recall, you took a bond mate the first eight-day you arrived, Merlyn reminded him
with a smile. Compared to you, he s been quite slow. The others laughed when
Dancer s cheeks turned ruddy lavender. He is also still quite fragile, so he must move
slowly and carefully. Sit. Rest while you can. Eat some of those baby bars that Llyon
concocted. You may be out of burda but Eppie is still in schalzina. You may have to have
energy to care for her at a moment s notice.
Dancer nodded and sat down. Dai says that you are expecting twins again? And
the babies are due when?
A faint glimmer of a smile passed Jade s face.
They are due the same day as our baby, Dancer. It seems that the bonding-rite
storm caught women all over the valley by surprise, Eppie told him with a smile. I
think Dai told me there are twenty-three pregnant women due then. The healers will be
busy and it will be wonderful to have so many new children.
Well, they should have been in the middle of the storm!
It was quite a storm, Jade agreed with amusement. Merlyn thought he was
going to be devoured whole.
I was devoured whole, he corrected with a smile. I m a mere shell of a man now,
between the schalzina and then the schalzah after she was pregnant, I bet I ve lost twenty
pounds. Being a bond mate is a dangerous job.
Bish leaned forward in his chair. Then why do it? Why not just get married?
When they all laughed, he said, Well?
I suppose you deserve a serious answer, Merlyn replied soberly. Dai and I have
talked many times about this. We think that the valley changes us in some way. Maybe
93
Anny Cook
the change happens in the passage. Whether a man or woman comes through the
passage, within a short time of their arrival, they start to change. If they don t have a
semtorn who transfers the enzyme within about a year, their brain starts to slowly
deteriorate until they eventually go insane, like Homer Brown.
Dancer was here less than an eight-day when he was bonded with Eppie.
Obviously, there was something working there, because at the end of the oath-binding, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
The two scientists and their families who disappeared a couple years before you?
Your sister Rebaccah was married to McCrory, wasn t she? What about it? he asked,
bewildered by her question. What do they have to do with this?
I understand that you ve met Samara? Her last name is McCrory, Jade revealed
gently. Her father is Hamilton McCrory. Ham and Rachel came through the passage
with their oldest little girl Elizabeth. Rachel was pregnant with Samara. Three weeks
later, Nathan and Morgana Taylor came through with their oldest boy Joshua.
Okay& Bish was still confused. Suppose they did? What does that have to do
with you, aside from the relationship?
Sighing so deeply it hurt to hear him, Merlyn explained, They left some of their
working notes behind when they disappeared. They discovered some anomalies they
couldn t explain that led them to postulate the possibility of this place or at least some
place like it a place with an invisible entrance that took up unseen time and space.
They speculated that it might be a different dimension or a hidden UFO base or& I m
sure you can fill in the possibilities yourself.
So far, I m with you. Then what?
Dad had Jade working on the papers before we married. The week before the
wedding, she finally figured out what they found. When she realized what she had, she
decided that she couldn t let Dad get his grubby mitts on it so she destroyed all of the
notes, set the computer programming to self-destruct, got rid of every scrap of paper.
He raised Jade s hand to his mouth and gently kissed it. Dad found out the day of the
wedding. When we were abducted, we were brought to the Bright Shadows Mountains
and locked in a hut with Nikolas. Dad came along and threatened to kill Nik and me if
Jade didn t tell him what she knew. He swiped at a stray tear that trickled down his
cheek. Jade told him to kill us all as she would never tell him anything. He had them
strip our clothes off and locked us in.
91
Anny Cook
I don t know if you remember but it was December and below freezing. Jade did
that mind trick she used to do on the lock. It took hours! He remembered with anguish.
Finally, she had it unlocked and we spent a good hour crashing against that door until
it jarred the hasp loose.
You got away? Why didn t you tell someone? Bish demanded.
Jade screamed in frustration. You still don t get it, do you? Who were we going to
tell? The Department has sticky tentacles in every office in our government. Wherever
we went whoever we told, we were endangering more innocent people. She wanted
to hit something but she calmed down when she felt Merlyn squeeze her hand. So!
When we got out, we decided to try to find the hidden place. Hell! For all we knew it
was a complete void and we would die! I just knew that your father couldn t get his
hands on it.
So you found it. How?
The same way you did. We took shelter in a cave. When we smelled the roses in
December! we followed the scent but Nik refused to come and we couldn t wait there
to convince him. For the first time, Merlyn smiled. Dai was meditating in the little
cavern when we came through. He didn t turn a hair when we arrived stark naked and
blue with cold.
Jade laughed out loud. He was so funny. There we were, freezing and he s talking
to Merlyn about some bonding. All we wanted to do was get warm. Well, we certainly
got warm! Her laughter took on the edge of hysteria. We haven t been that warm
since. We almost died from schalzah but I can definitely say we weren t cold anymore.
Merlyn got up, plucked Jade from her chair and sat back down with her in his lap.
He held her close and comforted her, Shh. It s over, Jade. All over. Looking at Bishop,
he added, Dad s still looking, you know. When we searched Dancer s clothes, we
found a tiny electronic device. Ham s pretty sure that it s some kind of transmitter. He
destroyed it but there may be others.
You think he was following Dancer to find this place? That all that rot about the
Waterloo Group going after him was just to get him to find the valley? Bish just stared
at them. What about Trav and me? And why is it so important?
We don t know. You didn t seem to have too many hiding places on you but Trav
seems to have brought quite a pile of stuff with him. We ll have to go through his things
carefully. As for why? Dad said something about an old journal he inherited from
Great-Uncle Cage. I think he thinks there s a treasure here.
Huh. What about the Taylors? You know that Morgana is Dancer and Trav s aunt,
right?
What? Merlyn frowned at him. Are you sure?
Pretty sure. She s their dad s sister. Bishop s brow wrinkled in concentration. It
was in all the papers last year when they were murdered. All about how tragedy
continues to strike the family.
92
Traveller s Refuge
Nate and Morgana went down to Rebaccah s Promise right before Dancer arrived.
They probably don t even know that they re here, Jade whispered softly.
If Dad knows, that would be two strikes against the Devereauxs. Merlyn stared at
Bishop angrily. They re in more danger than we even imagined.
Jade smiled sadly. Not much of a reunion, is it?
Better than a poke in the eye with a stick, he pointed out morosely.
* * * * *
Dancer paced back and forth across the round living area impatiently. What s
taking so long? he demanded. Trav could have taken ten baths by now.
Perhaps, Dai answered agreeably, but it would be rude to rush through a bath
with his promised bond mate just so he could visit with his brother. After all, a bond-
mate comes first always as you well know.
Bond mate! He stopped dead, thunderstruck at the idea. He just got here! How
can he have a bond mate?
Except for the day Traveller arrived, you have been in seclusion, Dancer. As I
recall, you took a bond mate the first eight-day you arrived, Merlyn reminded him
with a smile. Compared to you, he s been quite slow. The others laughed when
Dancer s cheeks turned ruddy lavender. He is also still quite fragile, so he must move
slowly and carefully. Sit. Rest while you can. Eat some of those baby bars that Llyon
concocted. You may be out of burda but Eppie is still in schalzina. You may have to have
energy to care for her at a moment s notice.
Dancer nodded and sat down. Dai says that you are expecting twins again? And
the babies are due when?
A faint glimmer of a smile passed Jade s face.
They are due the same day as our baby, Dancer. It seems that the bonding-rite
storm caught women all over the valley by surprise, Eppie told him with a smile. I
think Dai told me there are twenty-three pregnant women due then. The healers will be
busy and it will be wonderful to have so many new children.
Well, they should have been in the middle of the storm!
It was quite a storm, Jade agreed with amusement. Merlyn thought he was
going to be devoured whole.
I was devoured whole, he corrected with a smile. I m a mere shell of a man now,
between the schalzina and then the schalzah after she was pregnant, I bet I ve lost twenty
pounds. Being a bond mate is a dangerous job.
Bish leaned forward in his chair. Then why do it? Why not just get married?
When they all laughed, he said, Well?
I suppose you deserve a serious answer, Merlyn replied soberly. Dai and I have
talked many times about this. We think that the valley changes us in some way. Maybe
93
Anny Cook
the change happens in the passage. Whether a man or woman comes through the
passage, within a short time of their arrival, they start to change. If they don t have a
semtorn who transfers the enzyme within about a year, their brain starts to slowly
deteriorate until they eventually go insane, like Homer Brown.
Dancer was here less than an eight-day when he was bonded with Eppie.
Obviously, there was something working there, because at the end of the oath-binding, [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]