"Crap," Kiarra muttered. "What can we do? Somebody has to be putting those things out there, but we aren't getting any hits on the Ra'Ak folding space to those worlds." The Saa Thalarr weren't allowed to interfere unless the Ra'Ak were involved in some way.
"Who has weapons to fight these things?" Adam asked.
"There are only a few worlds that have proper weapons," Pheligar replied. "The Reth Alliance has Ranos technology which will kill the creatures, but they aren't willing to cooperate in defense of non-Alliance worlds. The Flakkar can scent most poisons so that is also not an option."
Griffin was listening to all of them discuss the situation. He wasn't about to interfere this time. Not at all.
I dreamed that night, and I hadn't had one of those dreams since I'd come back from the dead. I was seeing gates. Many gates. On so many worlds and in so many places on those worlds. Some had several gates. I don't know how I knew that, I just did. I knew I had the power to travel through all of them, and I could have described every one of those gates in detail if I had to. A voice whispered to me about Power. And desperation. And retribution. I jerked awake to find morning light streaming through my window.
I was having an omelette with orange juice later at the kitchen island. Mike and Jamie were off since it was Sunday. Dragon, Crane, Drake and Drew wandered in; they'd been sparring. Drake and Drew had obviously gotten a drubbing from Dragon and Crane, and both looked so pitiful I got up and cooked breakfast for all of them.
"These biscuits are wonderful," Crane was helping himself to another. They'd gotten scrambled eggs, ham, biscuits and gravy. There was plenty of jam and jelly to go with the biscuits, too; I'd made a large pan to feed everybody.
"Why didn't you send mindspeech that food was ready?" Radomir, whom I hadn't seen for days, wandered in, offering a beautiful smile. Mack and Justin came in a few minutes later, followed by Grace and Devin, all of them yawning. Mack slapped Crane on the back. Crane grinned and kept eating. I ended up making more biscuits, wondering while I worked just how things got coordinated with so many mates.
"We have schedules," Mack grinned after reading my mind—he was having another biscuit. Karzac had been up early and out somewhere; he folded in and sat down. I put a plate of food in front of him. He thanked me quietly and started eating.
"I haven't gotten breakfast on Sunday that I didn't have to fix in a long time," Grace heaved a happy sigh. She and Devin, being vegetarian, got scrambled eggs and biscuits with jam.
"So, you have a bulletin board somewhere that just announces who's with whom and when?" I asked, sitting beside Drew to have a biscuit with strawberry jelly and a glass of milk. A published schedule sounded embarrassing; I just didn't say that out loud. Drew rubbed my back gently—he was picking up my thoughts.
"Something like that," Mack laughed. He looked so much like his father.
"What are you doing today?" Drew whispered.
"I have some things to take care of today," I said.
"What about tonight?" he asked. "Come to dinner with Drake and me."
"Okay," I said. "Casual or dressy?"
"Casual," he said. I nodded. "Around eight?"
"I can do that," I said. I left them all at the island, eating and talking while I went back to my bedroom to find my sturdiest jeans, a pullover shirt and athletic shoes. I knew where the gate was on Merrill's property and I was going there as quickly as I could. Since I didn't want anyone to see me, I misted to the gate straight from my bedroom and focused on the first gate I'd seen in my dream the night before. I had no idea what I would find.
There was no mistaking the stench. This world was under attack by Flakkar, too. At least fifty nesting pairs—most with young, and all of them not far from the gate. If I couldn't take their heads, I misted inside them and caused them to explode. Nearly two hundred died that day, all in the space of two hours or so. I went straight home and napped when I finished.
"That looks nice," Drake complimented my outfit. I'd met up with the twins in the kitchen, dressed in a sleeveless white V-neck top with jeans and low-heeled sandals. Platinum jewelry went nicely with the outfit.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll find out," Drew grinned. We folded away. It was a pizza place in New York, and with the time difference, it was three in the afternoon there.
"Oh my gosh," I said, after biting into a pizza with everything. It was so good. We finished off the whole, huge pizza. We then folded to Port Aransas; Adam had a beach house there.
"This is where Adam and Kiarra met when Saxom was killed," Drew said when I told him I'd been there long ago. I discovered I was there working for Winkler a scant two years after all that had happened. We took off our shoes, rolled up pants legs and went wading in the waters of the gulf in front of the massive beach house. Winkler might have been jealous of that beach house, it was so big. I was splashed with water and I chased after the twins. Drake gave me a piggyback ride while he waded along and we found sand dollars and scallop shells. We sat on the sand after a while, content to watch the water lapping the shore.
The occasional tourist passed by, but we might as well have been there on the beach alone. Drew was lying on a beach towel next to me, smiling when I touched his cheek. His fingers buried themselves in my hair when I leaned down to kiss him.
We went to a bar in Austin after that to listen to jazz and have a few drinks. Yeah, I was a little drunk afterward and somehow let those guys talk me into getting into the hot tub with them when we got home, sans clothing. They undressed me and that wasn't erotic or anything.
"No touching," Drake laughed when he made his clothing disappear. "Karzac says you're still recovering, so no sex for another day." I wanted to find Karzac right then and have a few words with him. Drake and Drew both would have put just about anyone to shame, and they didn't try to hide their arousal. Yeah, I couldn't look away. It's a good thing they got in the water quickly. I was yawning before long and one of them, I'm not sure which one, lifted me out of the water, folded me to my bedroom, wrapped me in a towel while his brother helped and both of them got me into bed afterward.
"Jaydevik, why am I hearing now that there may be Croth and Drith on the Southern Continent and that you may have known about this already?" Glinda was poking a finger in Jayd's chest.
"Glindarok, we did not wish to trouble you with this," Jayd said, trying to pull her against him.
"Has anyone been farther south than Baetrah an Hafei to investigate this?" Glinda moved away.
"Not farther south. The area was completely covered in ash and impossible to get the wagons through to check. We found Kifirin there and he disappeared with Niff—I mean Lissa, shortly afterward. The reconnaissance party came home after that."
"Jayd, someone needs to go and soon. I do not trust any Croth or Drith left alive."
"I will send someone," Jayd sighed, successfully pulling her against him this time. He didn't tell her that he'd allowed Garde to wait until after the fall rains were over on the Southern Continent. Rumors were growing, however, and Jayd knew he should have sent a scouting party already.
The second gate from my dream was the objective when I woke Monday morning. I discovered it was Monday, May tenth. As Earth measured time, anyway. I misted away right after eating a quick breakfast. Mike and Jamie were off on Sundays and Mondays, so I cooked for myself. I figured the twins were out sparring with Dragon and Crane. The second gate I went through landed me in the middle of a jungle. The animals were all missing when I arrived and it wasn't hard to determine why. More stench. Thirty pairs of Flakkar this time, but they were scattered. I found deserted villages for hundreds of miles in all directions while I hunted. The predators were becoming prey as I tracked them and their scent. Just for fun, I attempted the Saa Thalarr trick of Looking. No, I hadn't tried it before. I assumed it wasn't possible. What can I say? I was going to have to be more adventurous. I found a few more nests that way; the knowledge just settled into my mind as if it belonged there. Breathing a happy sigh, I went after those Flakkar, ridding the planet of them.
It wouldn't have taken these very long to destroy all life on the planet; they'd already accounted for nearly a third of it. What did those creatures imagine they were going to live on, if no more prey was available to devour? It made me wonder where they came from, and in such great numbers, too. Did they have natural enemies? What about their homeworld—how had it survived with their predations? Questions for which I might have to Look to find answers.
I gated to the world I'd gone to the day before just so I could double check with my newfound ability, making sure there weren't any other Flakkar to kill. I found one nest and took it out.
"How much longer?" Queen Friesianna demanded of the newly crowned Ra'Ak Prince. "When may we submit our demand for the Ka'Mirai to be given to us?"
"We will give it another week or two to ensure the Flakkar devastation is severe enough," the Ra'Ak Prince smiled. He had no care for the Elemaiya and what they wanted. He only cared for his own desire, and that involved bringing the High Demons to their knees before destroying them. The Ka'Mirai could help with that. He already held her Dark Elemaiya counterpart, and if he had both, nothing could stop him.
He smiled at his subtlety—the Elemaiya had no idea he planned to ignore the bargain. The Elemaiya would serve him until he had no further use for them, and then they'd be eaten or destroyed. The creature that saved the High Demon world before was dead. That news was everywhere. There was nothing left to save them a second time, and he'd already made contact with allies remaining on Kifirin. He looked forward to using them just as his predecessor had, to eliminate others of their kind. Then it would be a simple matter to be rid of them completely. They would struggle against one another for power and that could kill them all. Prince Narval of the Ra'Ak would become King of the Dark Realm and all would bow to him instead.
