Page 41 of Drake
She chuckled. “I was just thinking that.” She slanted him a loving glance. They’d been together for fifty years now. It had been so long since the Federation had vanished from the skies and yet it felt like only yesterday too.
Talon had taken the lands on the far side of the planet, near the dark-blue waters of the sea there. Renall still held the city they stood above. Jeval and Margie had a hunk of the interior under their leadership, and she and Marik held a large set of interior lands as well. People traveled from all over the universe to attend the school they had begun there, a school for those who had both natural healing abilities and those who wanted to learn to heal with science and medicines.
She added, “I bet that was a lot more than you and your brothers bargained for when you stopped the slaver ship that we were on.”
Marik roared laughter. “I’ll say.”
They began walking down the hill, both of them lost in their own thoughts. The universe was at peace, but always there was a planet at war with itself and its citizenry or systems fighting within themselves.
One day, peace would end.
But they had known it in their lifetimes, and for that they were grateful.
They hadn’t planned to visit that city soon, but they’d had to come now. Clare, Renall’s mate, had passed away the night before. She’d died doing what she loved best: sitting before a carder table and fleecing Renall of his credits while her children and grandchildren had looked on.
Tara was also gone now. She’d died the year before, and Blade had followed her into the long night that was death. Jenny believed he had simply died of a broken heart, and she was not the only one.
The Oracle had been born and sat in her small temple, always watching for a sign from the universe that war was on the way and helping to guide them all in their decisions. Margie had three other children, and Jenny and Marik, who had never had a child, doted on all the progeny of his brothers.
Peace.
Finally.
Jessica spoke. “There you are.”
The four of them stood looking at each other outside of Renall’s home. Jessica had aged, of course, and she’d softened a bit as well. She’d given Talon one child—a precocious youth who was not just a warrior and sky captain but a laughing thing with good looks that guaranteed that he would never worry about finding a mate.
They entered the house. Renall sat in the small parlor, his head bowed before the casket that held Clare’s body. Jeval and Margie sat nearby, their faces wearing mournful expressions.
Jenny swallowed hard as she looked down at her old friend’s face. Clare had saved her life many years ago; she’d kept her alive on a ship that had been taking all of them to a slaver planet. To see her lying there so still hurt Jenny’s heart.
Renall spoke. “Be quiet, please. Don’t scream.”
Jenny blinked. Don’t scream? Before she could really wonder why he had said such a thing, the Oracle appeared. In her hands, she held a spinning globe that spilled colors against the walls. Jeval asked, “What is that?”
The Oracle spoke quietly. “It’s the key to the doorways beyond this one. Not to other universes, but to the universes that exist as part of this one. Imagine, if you will, that we are here, and right beside us, just beyond where you can see, is another place where you also exist. Where this world exists, and in some of those universes, Revant Two is much like it is now, and in others of those parallel universes it is a much different place.”
Jenny shifted uneasily. Margie reached for her hand, and Jessica did too. The three women stood there, staring at their mates and the Oracle—and the glowing, twirling globe that balanced on her palms.
Renall said, “Blade brought it to me. He said Drake had returned that day, a very old Drake, and gave it to him.”
Talon stepped forward. “What does it mean?’
The Oracle said, “It means war has begun, but not here. Not yet. And it is up to us, your children, to stop it before it spreads here.”
Jenny stared at the thing. It was beautiful and so fragile. It pulsed and shone, spilling light along the walls of Renall’s parlor. Her heart sped up as she moved closer and looked within the globe to see universes and galaxies and stars all whirling and spinning and milky belts turning in on themselves. Worlds formed and fell as she watched.
The Oracle spoke. “War has begun, and the war now is not for our universe, but for every universe in every world. And our enemy is ancient. They know we possess the Orb, and they are coming for it. Look into the Orb, and you will see them.” They all crowded closer. Jenny’s lips parted in a soft moan as she saw beings unlike any she had ever known hurtling through space in ships that held weapons so lethal nothing could stand before them.
They were coming.
And they were bringing death with them.
